Reticence Saga

Severed Web

Chapter 27: Neo-Gotham (Part 1)

"You know those days when everything's just going your way, but just when you think you're on a roll, something happens that breaks your stride and ruins your day? Well, I know I've had days like that. Though it's a worse day for others. We finally got Lady NegaMorph, but her boyfriend, Gary, made a desperate deal to make her good again. Except the guy he made a deal with was Mephisto, one of the worst demon lords around. You won't catch me making any half-brained deals with him."

"Now they're scrambling to get after her after she stole a ship. I'm a bit worried about Matt though. He's been...weirdly calm. Usually he's telling me to stop-"


NegaMorph yelled over, "STOP MONOLOGUING! It's giving me a headache...and that's Morph's job. Why do you even need to recap? We were all just there!"

The ship of choice was getting some funny looks from the Triskelion staff, an old Nasa space shuttle settled on the roof. Only the weapons under the wings indicated it was out of the ordinary but after Matt had glared at a tech who'd called it a piece of junk, it was clear either Matt liked this ship or it had some hidden talents.

"Nice ship," said Spider-Man, "Did she make the Kessel Run in two parsecs?"

"Parsecs are measurements of distance, not time," said Matt in mild annoyance, "All she needs is a little polish."

Spider-Man leaned into NegaMorph and whispered, "Is he mad? It's kinda hard to tell."

"Oh, he's definitely mad. But it's an intense, focused anger, laser-point. It's a very rare thing," said NegaMorph.

"I think you're pulling my leg," said Spider-Man.

NegaMorph sighed. "There's a place beyond basic anger, kinda the mental version of turning coal into diamond where all you think about is what you're going to do to whoever pissed you off. I should know. Back in my villain days, Matt used to send me there all the time. He's experiencing his first trip. I do not wanna be my niece when he gets her," he explained.

"Well, at least he appears to be functional," said Spider-Man.

"That I am," said Matt casually, "Speaking of which, this seems like a good time to break in that new armor of mine." The armor seemed to form on thought at that. "I love this thing," said Matt with a grin as Chloe ran up.

"Aria, she's tracking the trail.. You're not going to like where it is," she said panting.

"Let me guess, she's gone to one of those evil mirror universes," said Matt.

"No, Combine territory, their inner worlds," said Chloe.

Matt's glare came back before he started snapping in Avalarian...and when dragons start swearing, it's really impressive. Then he turned towards NegaMorph and said, "We're going to be leaving as soon as the ship is ready. Any questions?"

"Well...what happens when you get an itch under that armor?" asked NegaMorph.

Matt's eyes blazed for a second...


"Repeat that request in a way that doesn't sound completely insane," said Fury flatly.

"Fury, they look like they could use as much help as they can get," said Spider-Man, "And who's been through more dimensions than me?"

Matt was also present. "It's true. My main ship can do it. So can that old corvette on your roof. The corvette will be faster," he said calmly.

"It'll be a lot smoother flying than with the Siege Perilous," said Spider-Man.

"Spider-Man, as much as your sense of responsibility is admirable, you should know by now that some things are just not your business," said Fury.

Matt got an idea at that, "You still want Lady Nega?"

"It rubs the wrong way that she slipped away like that," said Fury.

"You want a shot? You send a representative," said Matt icily.

Nick Fury turned his eye towards Spider-Man. "I don't want any meandering," said Fury, "Get her and bring her back."

"She'll be back and then we can finish this little conversation of jurisdiction," said Matt still in a cold voice.

"Uh-huh, I'll believe that when you bring her in here," said Fury.

"Come on, Spider-Man. Let's go hunting," said Matt, putting a hand on Spider-Man's shoulder and all but dragging him out.

NegaMorph was waiting outside, his head smoking "So...is he in?" he rasped.

"Yes, we're going and Fury is sending his photographer to get the big scoop," said Matt.

"Ok, that's more insulting than average," said Spider-Man.

Matt slowly turned to look, showing his grin was literally twitching at the edge. "I'm sorry?" he said, his eyes red and twitching.

"Just let it go," hissed NegaMorph.

Spider-Man said a little nervously, "Ready to get your good side?"


Matt settled down in the seat. He'd owned two 'Skyraids' over the years, both the same class. One was stranded...a long way away, probably self repaired by now. This one, however, was the original. "Ok, welcome aboard. We'll be flying between the very realms of the multiverse so please, try not to get motion sick. If it gets on the upholstery, you die," he said cheerfully over the intercom.

"Will there be any snacks?" asked Spider-Man.

"You won't want snacks," said Chloe.

The ship serenely took off from the roof before shooting off. "Signal uploaded to your Navcomp. Good hunting, sir," said Aria before signing off.

"Okay...show on the road." he muttered, looking over to see Chloe settling into the co-pilot seat.

"Energy trail: Locked. Rip engine: Locked. Stand by. Jump will engage in 5...4...3...2...1..." said the computer before the view in front turned to white and into a tunnel of light. "Estimated time of arrival: 2 minutes," the computer said.

"How exactly are we following her?" asked Spider-Man.

"Rip engines are nasty, dirty little ways to travel. It's like leaving an exhaust," explained Chloe.

"Hey, don't insult my ship," said Matt.

Spider-Man looked out the window and saw that the colors were fading until everything whited out. "Uh, where are we?" asked Spider-Man.

"The void...or a section of it. If the engine cut out, this would just be pure blackness," explained Matt.

"Right now, we're between multiverses," said NegaMorph, "Megan is wandering farther away than we thought."

"Stand by for emergence. Location Dimension Zulu D-453. Alert...location is claimed by Combine Confederation. Full caution is advised," warned the computer.

"How bad are they?" asked Spider-Man.

"You remember those researchers we met down in the Savage Land?" asked Matt, "The ones who were a little too interested in researching mutagens?" before the whiteness of the rip opened up into black space, a red planet seen below them.

"What planet's that?" asked Spider-Man.

"It's Mars," said Matt, "We might be off-course."

"Or Megan decided not to appear right over Earth," said NegaMorph.

"Sensor cloak operating at 94%. Energy trail continuing to Sol 3," said the computer before an urgent beeping began. "Alert: Combine vessel detected. Type S-55 heavy corvette."

"Yeah, she wanted to be less noticed," said NegaMorph.

"Time to go," said Matt, pulling to the right, the ship turning towards the distant dot that was earth.

"Warning: Corvette has altered to intercept course," said the computer.

"Please tell me this ship has stealth features," said Spider-Man.

"Against a Combine ship?" snapped Matt, speeding up.

"Warning: Time to weapon range: 2 minutes. Time to Sol 3 orbit: 4 minutes," said the computer sternly.


A cat anthro, the captain of the ship pursuing them, sighed. "Do you have an ident yet?" he asked.

Another cat anthro nodded, "Looks like an old Thunderstriker class light frigate. NSC used them till about 30 years ago. You can get em anywhere."

"I have an Ident...belongs to a NSC celeb this one," another sneered.

The captain rolled his eyes and asked, "So who is this?"

"Must be a fake Ident," said the crewman.

The captain sighed, "Continue intercept. Start hailing them. If we don't get an answer when they're in range, aim to disable their engines."


"Incoming transmission...accept?" asked the computer again.

"We have to say something. NegaMorph can't go on. I'll be spottable and no humans are allowed in combine space so that's Spider-Man out," said Matt a little manically.

"What about your dragon face?" asked Spider-Man.

"Again...too spottable. They'll know it's me then, if we're really lucky, they'll board us," said Matt.

Chloe, shifting to her werewolf form, said "Isn't there a race called the Lupinians in Nullspace?"


"Connection in, sir," said a crewman, an image of a lupine face appearing.

"Hello?" she said in a lofty manner.

"Good morning, I assume there's a reason you're flying a NSC piece of junk in the inner sphere?" the captain said.

An angry moan was heard off screen before the lupinian said "One moment." going off screen, a thud and a yelp heard before she came back. "I assume we're not in some restricted area."

The captain glared, something about this voice being familiar. "No...but you need to get that ident changed to a Combine one. Next captain might shoot you down. Where are you going?"

"I need to stop by Earth," said the Lupinian.

"I assume you know to use bio-cloaks. May I ask your reasons for going to Earth?" said the captain.

"Beeswax," said the Lupinian.

"Beeswax?" asked the captain.

"That's right, as in none of your beeswax," said the Lupinian.

The line went dead at that. "Shall we fire, sir?" said a crewman.

The captain smirked, "Typical Lupinian...or not. Get me on line with Central Command. Do a check on that voice...and get the colonel to assign a couple of ships to our sector."


"You shoulda been an actor," said Matt, now sporting a black eye before adding, "But did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Yes," said Chloe.

"Uh-huh, now how about finding out where on Earth Megan is?" asked NegaMorph.

Matt pulled a console over, before saying, "Looks like a city on the US east coast." before wincing. "Sorry...headache," he said before he continued, "Yeah...definitely the city...no, this can't be right...scanner can't pinpoint her."

"I would think she'd stand out pretty easily," said NegaMorph.

"Take a look. There's gotta be an easy couple of thousand hybrids in the city," snapped Matt, adding, "This old scanner's not good enough to do anything better than spot the hybrid, not what type it is."

"So she could be anywhere," said NegaMorph in annoyance.

"It'll take days to weeks to check every signal..." said Matt.

Chloe nodded. "Then we'll land and..." she said, pausing to the scanner screen. Admittedly she had little knowhow of all the controls on the ship, Matt being the bigger fan for the old junker, and as such, she tried to work out what the dot was on the screen before the computer "Alert: Incoming missile."

"And we're gonna land right now," said Chloe quickly before sending the ship into a dive.

"Incoming transmission," said the computer, the Combine captain reappearing.

"Shall we try introductions again, General Silvia?" he said as a green engined missile narrowly missed and exploded.

"Alert...tracking 3 Type S-55 heavy corvettes and one S-71 light cruiser on course. Corvettes have weapon lock."

"You know, I really can explain, but I don't have the time and you probably won't listen to me anyways," said Chloe.

"You're right. I don't. Kill your engines or we blow you out the sky. Please don't surrender," said the captain, the line going dent, before the computer said "Incoming missile...incoming missile." Two more dots on the scanner were closing fast.

"I'm open to suggestions," called Chloe.

Matt took the controls, before snapping, "Hold on." before pushing down, the view ahead filling with blue as the ship made a nosedive. One missile flew past before the ship shook, sparks flying from a couple of consoles. "Warning...missile impact. Shields at 73%."

"Uh, Matt, you might want to pull up if you don't want to crash," said NegaMorph.

"I know what I'm doing. Combine don't want exposure so that missile cruiser will keep back. And when we reach that city, the others will too...and if they don't..." snarled Matt, pulling the ship up over water, low enough that the speed was kicking up waves.

"One corvette in pursuit," said the computer, Matt seeing a rear view of the ship, yellow beams lancing out and picking at the ship's shield.

"Well, if you won't take the hint," Matt growled, in a way that caused NegaMorph to peer over just for a second. Matt reached up to flip a switch, one of several that looked much newer than the other controls...


...and as soon as he did, a small hatch opened, a cloud of small orbs flying and into the pursuer where they stuck.


"Goodbye, you little ship wrecker!" snapped Matt, clicking the switch back, all the sticky orbs exploding at once and causing the other ship to nosedive at high speed into the water and tear apart.

"I think we should expect repercussions for that," said Chloe.

"Screw em!" snapped Matt, looking at the damage in the cockpit. "He dented my baby!" he snapped.

Spider-Man gave a confused look to Chloe and NegaMorph who only shrugged. Matt winced. "It was that or death...just tell myself that," he muttered, the city they'd scanned coming into view.

"Optical cloak, engaged," said the computer.

"We may have to search for Megan the old-fashioned way," said Matt.

"Agreed...we'll need to land somewhere though. Keep us high. Look at all those flying cars," Chloe said, pointing, before Matt aimed the ship higher.

"Huh, wonder what century this Earth is in," said Spider-Man.

"Teckpack says its 2039 local history," said NegaMorph calmly.

"Not 2099?" asked Spider-Man, "I went to a future Earth and met Spider-Man 2099 once."

"Nope...some verses develop alot faster. Local reality field's passive class. No need for special gear, thank god," said Matt, checking a readout.

"Yeah, not like any of us would stand out in a crowd," said NegaMorph sarcastically.

"NegaMorph, you surely have something. Me and Chloe can look human..." said Matt, before everyone turned to look at Spider-Man.

Spider-Man just pulled off his mask. "There are days where being Peter Parker is more important," said Peter.

"I see a good landing. Looks like the building's abandoned. We can land there," said Matt, looking at a camera view.

"You sure the building could hold?" asked Spider-Man, "Your ship looks a little..." He paused when he saw Matt's expression. "...denser than average," said Spider-Man.

"Scanning structural integrity...target zone integrity within safe zone," said the computer before there was a thud and an ominous creak from outside.

"Ok," said NegaMorph, before passing everyone watches. "Trackers...the ship'll be cloaked. This'll let us find it again," he explained.

"No chance of anyone jacking this ship?" asked Spider-Man.

Matt chuckled darkly and said, "Let them try."

On cue, a segment of the roof moved, sprouting mechanical legs and scuttling across the roof. "Spiderbots...I brought a few dozen," said Matt with an evil cackle.

"Matt, you know the rules about invasive species," said Chloe.

"They're not gonna get off. These boys have been aboard since the beginning," said Matt.

"Ok then," said Chloe, "NegaMorph, can you detect your niece at all?"

"Sorry, she's hiding herself," said NegaMorph.

"Ok, rule one: we have to be smart. If you see something you don't know, try not to ask how it works. That tends to be a big giveaway if it's something like an ATM," said Matt, before pressing a few buttons. "Local currency is creds, plastic credit cards with set limits. 10,000 each should be enough to open doors when we need to find things out," he explained as a small hatch opened to reveal four faintly green cards.

"You can counterfeit cards just like that?" asked Spider-Man dubiously.

"Law...there needs to be 'travel money' for people like us," said Chloe, before she said, all business, "Parker, with me. NegaMorph, you go with Matt. We have a better chance of finding her if there's two teams. We stay in contact, once an hour."

"Also, try not to draw attention to yourself," said Matt, "We're not here to right this world's wrongs. They have their own heroes here for that."

NegaMorph snorted at that, the Lynches glaring at him. "Ok, that particular rule is stupid. The only rule that really counts is don't get caught," said Chloe. NegaMorph laughed out loud at that, only to get zapped by Chloe.


The streets of the city were quite impressive, flying cars, space age clothing. For the Lynches, it felt, shamefully to themselves, like home, having gotten used to their sci-fi lives after the years.

For Peter, this place had an odd mix of futuristic and old-fashioned, like what people thought the distant future would look like 20 years ago. For instance, the cellphones he had seen didn't look nearly as advanced as his smartphone.

As if she'd sensed it, Chloe said, "Yeah...different futures for different verses. Ok, first we need a library. Look up tech and news archives. If Megan's here, she must want something to help make hybrids for herself," she said.

"Hope they still have libraries," said Peter.

Chloe took a look at her gauntlet. "3 in this area," she said happily, before trying to wave down a taxi.

Just then, they heard some obnoxious laughter. Peter looked over to see a few guys dressed in rather shabby-looking clown costumes. So why were they making his spider-sense tingle?

"Hey...you look new to our city," said the leader, wearing clown white makeup and a purple suit, Chloe's hands forming into fists. The way this guy talked was reminding her inner Mist of how highwaymen back on Nirn would talk to their victims.

"We're not hiring anyone to entertain childrens parties right now," said Peter.

"Aw, don't be like that," laughed one of the others, the group moving to surround them.

Chloe gave them an annoyed look. "Well, at least they're not mimes," she said, "Matt would never let me live it down if I assaulted mimes twice."

The thugs just laughed at that. "Maybe the little lady will like to see what it's like to be in a small box," said one of the thugs before grabbing Chloe.

However, she wasn't as easy to move as she looked. "Little?" asked Chloe in annoyance.

"Hey...is this one of those androids?" snapped the goon trying to pull her before Chloe lost her temper, grabbed the guy by the shirt and threw him over his compatriots and into a dumpster.

"I see waste management is the same here," said Chloe dryly.

The group glared before pulling out various weapons and charging "Been a while since I've done an old-fashioned street fight," said Peter before easily ducking under a swung pipe and kicking the guy's legs out.

Chloe blocked a blow before bumping the heads of the two goons attacking her together before pushing them over, leaving their leader, who was trying to run, before she sent a stunning electrical blast at him. The leader jittered in place before falling over. "Well, I'm loosened up," said Chloe, "But we're looking for bigger fish." She looked around before shooting a blast into a box, causing a burglar alarm to start wailing. "Let the cops mop these twits up," she said smugly.

"Yeah, think I should leave a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man note?" asked Peter.

"That may be a bad idea here," said Chloe.


Matt and NegaMorph meanwhile had gotten the same idea, heading for a library. "Ok, Nega, look for any information that could fit our little runaway," muttered Matt as soon as the two were alone.

"I could look in the newspaper archives, if they still have newspapers here," said NegaMorph.

"I doubt she used a time drive. We'd have arrived in the same era. Check the data records," muttered Matt, wincing again. "You got a painkiller in that techpack?" he asked.

"Stomach problems?" asked NegaMorph offhandedly.

"No...maybe I shoulda brought a reality field?" grumbled Matt, before there was an explosion from the lobby. Matt pulled his blaster on reflex. "What the hell?" before he snapped at Nega, "I'll go see what that is...you keep looking." before he ran towards the sound of a second explosion. "Where did that come from?" asked Matt.

"Uh...I think it came from that DMV office down the street," said NegaMorph.

"Oh, well that's hardly unexpected," said Matt.

Then there was another explosion. "No wait, it was the car dealership across the street from them," said NegaMorph.

"Why the hell is there a car dealership across from the...you know never mind. Find Megan while I stop whoever's doing that from killing anyone," snapped Matt.


Whoever was doing the exploding had been busy. Several cars were never going to get off the ground again. "Ok, so who's causing this?" asked Matt, who had armored up. His attention was quickly grabbed by a big guy who was wearing a vest laden with explosives and a maniacal grin on his face.

"Ok...maybe it's the crazy survivalist with enough explosives to blow up a small city," said Matt sarcastically, walking forward, his blaster armed before activating the suit's helmet, which was permanently in a muzzle form.

A brief look in the city's online database quickly pulled up a profile. Stanley Lebowski, more commonly referred to as 'Mad Stan' for very obvious reasons. He had a very long list of crimes involving, well, blowing stuff up. He grinned as a list of Stan's armaments appeared. Plasma explosives. This was almost going to be unfair. "Ok, loony toon, drop the explosives," he called, wondering where he'd heard the name before.

Mad Stan turned to look at him. "Who are you? Another so-called 'hero' that wants to perpetuate the problem?" he snapped.

"Er, what problem?" asked Matt.

"Isn't it obvious, man?" asked Mad Stan, "The manufacturers, the government, they're in cahoots! They're pushing everyone to keep driving! We're all just little toys running their tracks while they get richer! There's only one way out of it! BLOW IT ALL UP!"

A second later, Matt saw two more bombs thrown before blasting them with practise before they finished arming. "Good...let's talk about this problem peacefully. Nobody has to be hurt," he said carefully, keeping his aim.

"The Earth is already hurting!" snapped Mad Stan, "The land is being smothered with tarmac! The skies are choking on our fumes! It all ends now!"

"Yes...all the tarmac," he said, before trying to reach out with his plasma control to drain the bombs and feeling...nothing...uh oh.

"If you ain't here to end the problem, then you're part of it!" yelled Mad Stan before throwing another explosive at Matt.

Matt tried to raise a plasma field, only again for nothing. "Oh, this is gonna hurt," he said weakly before the explosive blew up in his face. Matt was thrown back and hit a truck hard enough to be partially embedded in it. "Uh, can I call a timeout?" called Matt, dizzily, "Kinda having a little technical problem."

The response was another explosive heading at him. "It's all gotta go, man! The Earth is being bled dry by the fossil feeders!" yelled Stan.

"Never pegged you for the environmentalist type, Stan," said a voice.

Matt looked up, his eyes blurred before they focussed sharply on a black figure. "Go team," he said dizzily.

"Let me guess, they suspended your driver's license and you got ticked off by the prices here too," said the black figure.

"This about the fat cats using a place like this to keep the little guy down while they asphalt the planet!" snapped Mad Stan, readying an explosive.

A thrown disc knocked the explosive out of Mad Stan's hand. "Newsflash: the roads are safer with you off them," said the figure.

"Agreed...someone could get hurt," said Matt, dizzily getting up unsteadily.

"Better stay down," called the figure, "Mad Stan's not a starter villain for amateurs." Then he rocketed at Mad Stan.

Mad Stan staggered back as the figure hit him, before managing to grab the figure's feet, swinging him round. However, when Mad Stan threw him, he just flew around and punched him again. "You need new ammo," said the figure, "You're getting predictable."

"Grr...I was saving this one," snarled Mad Stan, tossing a black disc that the figure leaned to the side to miss, the disc latching onto an abandoned truck before a line of hieroglyph-like letters appeared, the one on the right changing rapidly.

Matt however could read them perfectly...a 30 second countdown merrily ticking away. "IMPLOSION MINE!" he yelled, running towards it. If he was fast he could disarm it…

However, he was grabbed from behind and was jetting upwards, Mad Stan being dragged with him."For the love of God, grab onto something!" Matt yelled, before a white light blazed from the disc, the truck starting to distend and contract into the light, followed by two other cars...part of the road, the windows and doors of the building behind it...the ones across the street.

Matt was worried that the rocket boots didn't have enough thrust to escape the implosion's gravity field. And he really didn't want to be reduced to an atomic state.

After a few more seconds though, the light ceased, the sudden return of thrust sending them through a glassless window in the opposite building. Matt surprised himself by rolling into a crouch, before he glared at Mad Stan and stomped over. He picked Stan up by his vest and shook him. "Ok, that was not Terran ordinance. Who gave it to you?!" he snapped.

"I don't have to tell you anything!" snapped Mad Stan.

Then Matt's helmet retracted to show a white furred and pissed lupine face, yellow eyes glowing. "Wrong answer," he snapped, walking to the window and looking down. They'd ended up on the third floor. "Can you fly?" he growled.

"Let the professional handle this," said the other guy.

Matt turned and snarled, "And who are you to..." He trailed off as he finally got a good look at the other hero. He was wearing a hi-tech suit with a visible utility belt. He had no cape, the cowl's ears were a little too long, but the bat insignia on his chest was unmistakable.

"2 hours...new record," he muttered, glaring at Mad Stan, before throwing him back into the room. "Gravity ordinance, clean but somehow still stupid," he growled.

"Where was the boom? I was told it'd be a big boom!" snapped Mad Stan, "Lousy chick cheated me!"

"What chick?" snapped Matt, stomping past 'Batman', his hearing picking up a very faint voice, too quiet to make out.

"What's it to you, freak?" snapped Stan.

Matt twitched, before the werewolf picked Mad Stan up with ease. "Because, I'm peckish," he snarled.

"Uh...you're bluffing, man," said Stan, starting to lose some of his bravado. Matt just snarled, baring his fangs and let drool drip off them.

"I'm wondering..." he smirked before leaning in, "Ketchup or mustard?"

"OK! OK! I'LL TALK!" screamed Stan.

"Very good," said the werewolf, his tone changing to a cheerful tone as if there had not been the discussion of fresh Stan on the menu before tossing him at Batman's feet.

"So, you heard the dog. Speak," said Batman.

Mad Stan glared before he said, "She turned up last night instead of my usual supplier. She said she had something better. Cost me a whole lotta creds. When I get my hands on her..."

The wolf, deciding to let the 'dog' comment slip, said, "You'll do nothing."

"How about a description, Stan?" asked Batman, "Or were you paying too much attention to the gear?"

"She was one of those weird splicers. Black scales. Her bodyguards were weirder," said Stan.

"Two birds and a gargoyle?" asked Matt.

"That's right," said Stan, before going into a tirade that the other two filtered out, Batman cuffing him and the wolf bending, with some difficulty, a piece of window frame around him.

"Ok, your turn. Mind telling me who you are and what you're doing here?" asked Batman.

The wolf's eyes glowed a bit more before saying, "I'm...all I know is I'm on the trail of the person who sold that lunatic an implosion charge."

"Uh-huh, is there a particular reason attached to that?" asked Batman.

"She's dangerous. My head feels like it's in...a..." the wolf said before seeing his reflection. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no..." said the wolf frantically. He peered closer. "This can't be happening...it really can't..." he said, his voice getting more slurred.

Just then, a voice yelled, "Yo, Lazard or whatever you're calling yourself, where are you?"

The wolf stood up again with an air of control not visible earlier, "Come in, NegaMorph..."

NegaMorph flowed through the broken window and said, "You won't believe what city we're in." He paused when he saw Batman. "Uh, scratch that, you probably already know," he said. Then NegaMorph saw Matt's furry face. "Oh for crying out loud! We don't have time for this!" he snapped.


Meanwhile, Batman was contacting Bruce, "Any idea of who these guys are?" Batman asked.

"I'm not quite sure about the black one, but the wolf is definitely familiar," said Bruce as he was pulling files on the Batcomputer, "His name is Silver. He used to be part of the original Teen titans, at least for a while. He escaped from a Cadmus facility in Alaska and led them across america."

"Cadmus, the old government agency that screwed everything they did?" asked Batman.

"Don't make light of Cadmus, Terry," said Bruce, "They might have slipped up, but they were a serious threat to the League back in the day. Waller's still sharp as ever I hear."

"So...how dangerous is this guy?" asked Batman.

Bruce sent an old feed. It was a CCTV from Alaska, showing Silver, cross-legged in the lotus position with a katana across his knees. The door silently burst open, a dozen armed troopers bursting in, US special forces, yelling something silently.

The wolf's eyes opened slowly, before the screen flickered, when it came back, the wolf was using a piece of ripped uniform to clean his blade, the team down, clutching arms or out cold.

"So how comes I haven't heard of him?" asked Batman.

"Because he disappeared years ago," said Bruce.

"So what's he doing back?" asked Batman.

Bruce said, "That's the question...but if he's here, it can't be good."

"They're looking for whoever gave Mad Stan his new toys. Any idea of who that could be?" asked Batman.

"Silver appears to be having trouble with his memories. Why not ask his friend?" said Bruce with a smirk.


Batman turned to glare at NegaMorph, who actually found himself feeling nervous. "I'd answer him," said Silver smugly.

"You seem to know who gave Mad Stan his new bomb," said Batman, "Mind telling me?"

NegaMorph paused before saying, "My niece...she's...she's not well and as a result she's dangerous."

"Like putting dangerous weapons into lunatics' hands?" asked Batman.

"That's not much of her style," said NegaMorph, "I think she was just doing that for some quick cash."

"So, what's she after?" asked Batman.

Silver thought before saying in a curious voice, "Hybrids...this city was full of hybrids."

"Splicers. Yeah, still have them around here. The law says they can't splice themselves, but it can't force them to take the cure. And plenty of splicing going on underground," said Batman.

"Great...no wonder the ship couldn't detect her," snapped NegaMorph.

"Still, there has to be a way to find her," said Silver, "Maybe we're thinking too small. Gary isn't actually a splicer."

"So?" snapped NegaMorph.

Silver concentrated before he said, "It's weak. The city's too large but if I am able to concentrate..."

Just then, there was a ringing sound and Silver glared at NegaMorph. "Sorry, thought it was on vibrate," said NegaMorph before answering his comm, "What is it?"

"Well, good news, bad news, and more good news, and possibly more bad news," said Chloe.

NegaMorph put her on speaker before asking, "Ok...what's the news?"

"Well we found her ship," said Chloe, "But she's not on it. However, doesn't look like it's going anywhere."

"What's the rest of the bad news?" Nega said suspiciously.

"Well, this is Omnirus's ship," said Chloe.

"So?" snarled Nega.

"Well, I assume he wouldn't want to give this ship without a fight," said Chloe, "Also, I notice one of the escape pods is missing."

"Nuts...tell me you have an idea where my runaway niece is," sighed Nega.

"We're looking through her ship's search history right now," said Chloe. Chloe flicked through the screen. "She did a scan for prominent genetic specialists and supplies," she announced.

"If splicing's illegal, can't be many of them around," said Silver.

"Yeah...just one hit...a Dr. Cuvier," said Chloe.

"He would be the one guy to go for illegal splicing. Considering how he started the whole thing and the reason it got banned," said Batman.

"Sounds like a real Dr. Moreau," muttered Silver.

Chloe said, "It's not just that. There's a list of corporations that have the materials needed."

"Too many to cover?" asked NegaMorph.

"Wayne-Powers, Gen-u-tek..." said Batman.

"Oh please, they're not even trying to hide themselves," snarked NegaMorph. He paused before he said, "Gen-u-tek's a major player back home. Back in the day, me and Silvia raided...ooooh..." Realization hitting him over the head. That explained the fracas in orbit. "Right, we'll need to fly below radar at Gen-U-Tech," said NegaMorph before turning to Silver, "Which means not showing your hairy mug." With that, he slammed Silver's helmet shut.

"Ow, my nose!" snapped Silver.

Chloe said over the com, "Me and Peter can check one of these splicer hangouts. See if any one has loose lips, especially any new guys or gals."

"Fine, but try not to stare," said NegaMorph.

"So...how bad is this Cuvier?" said Silver in a muffled voice.

"He was his own first subject," said Batman, "And he's kept 'improving' himself."

"That...sounds really bad," said Silver.


There was still a splicing subculture alive in Neo-Gotham, though it's gone underground now. Quite literally in this case. "Stick close to me," said Chloe, who was currently in her werewolf form, "I'm betting these people won't like humans."

"Starting to think it's time to switch to my worksuit," said Peter.

"No offense, but red and blue are horrible choices for blending in," said Chloe.

Their destination came into view, a pressure door with what she assumed was a bear splicer on guard. "Hey...no norms," he growled at the two.

Chloe smiled. "Oh...he wants to get a feel of the community before taking the dive," she said sweetly.

"Uh, yeah, I've always wanted to be part-spider," said Peter.

"Whoa, swicked extreme," said the bear splicer, holding out a fist to bump.

"So, can we come in?" said Chloe happily, readying a few sparks behind her back just in case.

"You gotta voucher?" asked the bear.

Chloe's smile faded. "Voucher?" she said.

"Yeah, someone vouchin' for ya on the inside," said the bear, "Too many undercover cops tryin' ta frag our way."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Do I look like a cop? How many splicers are on the cop payroll?" she said icily.

"Hmm...I guess so. Just ain't seen you around before," said the bear.

"I'm from out west," said Chloe, "Where there are still splicers who aren't banned."

The bear shrugged, before tapping a code into the keypad next to the pressure door and pulling it open to reveal a nightclub on the other side. "Just keep an eye on your boyfriend. Some twitchy people in the club tonight," the bear warned.

"Uh, sure," said Chloe before they walked in. "Don't mention your real age," she said, low enough to not be easily heard over the music.

Peter looked around, seeing a mix of various splicers dancing, sitting at tables in groups or at the bar, laughing and drinking. It seemed weird, but harmless enough. "Why are people worried about this splicing? Seems fine to me." he said.

"Well, you know, people tend to discriminate against what's outside of 'normal'," said Chloe, "But on a more serious note, apparently the splicing here ramps up aggression and clouds good judgment. Too much animal in the brain."

At those words, Chloe pulled Peter back as a literal cat and dog fight went past them. "Case in point. So try not to draw attention. Won't take much to put these guys in a frenzy," said Chloe.

To their surprise, it was a human behind the bar, him saying before they could ask "None of these guys can pour a lager to save their bleedin' lives." in a London accent before saying "What'll it be, lass?"

"Nothing alcoholic," said Chloe, "Need my head clear enough to hunt with."

"GCPD and the Bat don't take lightly to hunts," said the barman calmly before noticing Parker. "What about you, yank?" he said.

"Nothing for me, but we are looking for someone," said Peter, "Maybe you've seen her. Five eyes, four arms, red tentacles for hair."

The barkeep raised an eyebrow, cleaning a glass before he said "I don't know nothing."

Chloe sighing and slipping her cred card over. The barkeep, without missing a beat, said, "She came in once...was looking for lackies. Don't need to be spliced or a meta to see her companions couldn't have been more hypnotized if Spellbinder had gotten to em and everyone else knew it too. After that didn't work, she wanted to know where she could find splice tech."

"Can't be a lot of places to look," said Chloe conversationally.

"Good luck. Couple of undercover cops came in once. They actually got the doc's hideout...never saw em again and we never got busted," said the barkeep.

"This doctor, would I know him if I see him?" asked Peter.

The barkeep grinned. "If the stories I hear are true...uh oh," he said, his smile vanishing before walking down the bar as two hands fell on Chloe's shoulders, Chloe spun to face two cat splicers before a pistol was pushed into her ribs.

"Don't make a scene, general. Collateral looks bad on the report," muttered one of them.

The other said, "All 6 of us are just gonna stroll out of here nice and quiet and transmat up to our ship." Chloe and Parker noticed 4 more splicers watching them from their positions across the room.

"Well, I'm not sure if I feel like going," said Peter.

"We'll see about that," said one cat splicer before grabbing Peter and pulling. However, Peter didn't move an inch. The cat frowned before grabbing and trying to pull him up.

"Tell your friend to move or you're dead," snarled the splicer with the gun before the pressure door opened, everyone looking as a red-eyed Gary walked in, in his 'manhattan' form, a grumbling Omnirus with him.

Someone called, "Whatta you want, LARPer?" several laughs heard.

"Anyone interested in getting an upgrade?" asked Nightclaw. The response was a thrown can that bounced off his horns. "Morons," he muttered before he noticed Chloe at the others. "Well, look who followed us," said Nightclaw.

"Big whoop," said Omnirus.

The cats began drawing blasters, most of the splicers spotting this as an indication to run. However, a lizard and a frog weren't as quick to run off. "Check out that guy," said the frog, "Wonder what he had to do to get an upgrade like that?"

"Probably more than that bear cub he's with," said the lizard.

Omnirus turned to glare at them before stomping over to them. When he got close, he activated his Omnitrix and turned into Diamondblast. "I see you guys like body modification," said Diamondblast before grabbing the lizard by the front of his shirt. He extended his other arm out into a spike and asked, "Anyone want to get a nose piercing?"

"No thank you," gulped the lizard, before all three ducked as the combine agents began firing at Nightclaw.

The gargoyle's stone hide protected him, but he was still being buffeted. "Do something!" he snapped.

"Yeah, yeah," said Diamondblast, passionlessly before throwing fireballs towards the agents.

The agents scattered, one fireball hitting above the bar and the barkeep yelling sarcastically, "Yeah...toss fireballs at the alcohol."

"Who cares?" called Diamondblast before building up a bigger fireball in his hand.

"You idiot, you'll blow us all up!" snapped Nightclaw, grabbing an agent who tried to taze him and crushing his neck.

"Not me, I'm invulnerable," said Diamondblast.

Chloe glared before sending the blast she'd saved directly at Diamondblast. Of course, igneous crystal wasn't quite so conductive to electricity, especially with the heat haze disrupting the electric field. But it at least caught Diamondblast's attention. "And as for you. If you'd just left me in peace I wouldn't even be a chauffeur to that crackpot and her pet lawn ornament!" he snapped, aiming his arm and firing a hail of shards, his aim thrown off by a blast of webbing. Several more web blasts covered his arms.

"Careful with those," said Spider-Man, hopping over Diamondblast's head and pulling the lizard out of his clutches, "You could put someone's eye out with them."

"You brought him here?" asked Diamondblast incredulously.

"You brought an out-of-verser?" snapped one of the agents.

"Like you play by the rules either," snapped Chloe.

The agent was ready to say something else before a blast hit him, Diamondblast snapping "I've had enough." before firing another fireball.

The few splicers that had hung around to watch quickly started running now.

The fireball was watched as it sailed through the air, the barkeep vaulting over the bar and running out just as the fireball hit the many many bottles...

At that point, Spider-Man grabbed Chloe and as many nearby people as he could before swinging for the door.

Nightclaw and Diamondblast looked at each other before the fireball hit them in the face.


Neo-Gotham's fire department is nothing else but prompt. Peter noticed the hovering firetrucks with mild interest, but there were more important things that mattered. He was pretty sure that Nightclaw and Omnirus had gotten out and who knows where those combine agents were now?

"Stupid, stupid...of course there'll be combine mercenary outposts here," Chloe was snapping to herself.

"Couldn't be too many," said Spider-Man, "I think they'd tip off the locals if there were."

"The coffee shop bunker at its height woulda had 300 personnel, along with vehicles. We're good at not being noticed," said Chloe.

"Ok, so we probably shouldn't stick around too long," said Spider-Man.

"Agreed...but Gary could be anywhere," said Chloe glumly.

"Not just anywhere," said Peter, "My spider-tracer still ought to work here, right?"

"It should...wait, you slipped a tracer on him?" said Chloe, grinning.

"Yeah, I just hope there aren't too many signals in this futuristic city to cause interference," said Spider-Man.


Lady NegaMorph looked up as Nightclaw returned before blinking, the gargoyle blackened. "Ooookay...do I want to know?" she said calmly.

"They followed us here," said Nightclaw.

"Who?" snapped Lady Nega before pausing, "Where's Omnirus?"

"Haven't seen him since he blew up the bar," said Nightclaw in annoyance.

"Oookay. Please tell me you actually found some recruits? Till we find this doctor and his support, we need some minions other then the bird brains," Lady Nega growled.

"I'm afraid not," said Nightclaw, "There was an altercation with Chloe, Spider-Man, and some Combine agents."

"I told you to lay low. Miss Lynch and that spider-brat we can deal with. The combine will just stomp us," snapped Lady Nega.

"In my defense, they seemed more interested in Chloe," said Nightclaw.

"I don't care. We need to find Cuvier and get what we need and MOVE ON!" she snapped.

"Have you made any progress on that?" asked Nightclaw.

"Shut up, that's what!" snapped Lady Nega.

Nightclaw rolled his eyes before noticing what was on Lady Nega's worktable. Particularly the large vial with the very prominent biohazard symbol on it. "You're not messing with the Virk virus, are you?" he asked.

"Yes, I've managed to dial back the nanites to version one: the Khan version..." muttered Lady Nega, carefully adding a black liquid to the vial.

"That still sounds very dangerous," said Nightclaw, "You never used this stuff before for a reason."

"Well, maybe I should. I managed to combine it with that splicer chemical we got off the dealer last night. All I need is a damn test subject," snapped Lady Nega before there was a clunk at the back of the 'ground floor' building they'd found. "I thought we were keeping the riffraff away," said Lady Nega.

Iceshaide looked around before nodding to Antumbra, the two walking into the box stacks. What they found was one of their food boxes torn open. "We have a scavenger," said Iceshaide.

"So? Deal with it." snapped Lady Nega's voice, the two birds heading forward, before a box landed on Antumbra, Iceshaide turning to a shadowy figure on the top of a stack, the box pusher, before she fired an ice beam, the figure dodging it.

Antumbra glared before throwing dark energy balls at the intruder. "I think we got him," he sneered, looking up at the two boxes his attack had blown to bits, before a creak was heard and an entire row of boxes fell on the two of them, a raven-haired teenage girl landing on the pile, grabbing a can of rations.

"Better luck next time, suckers," she laughed, before running out of the building.

Lady Nega walked over to her minions with an annoyed look. "You let a runaway run circles around you and get away?" she asked. The two birds, their heads free, looked ashamed at that, a small part of Lady Nega missing what would have been some sass from Antumbra at least before reminding herself that's also why they tried to rebel.

"We will try harder, mistress," said Iceshaide gloomily.

Lady Nega rolling her eyes. "That said. Nightclaw, go find Omnirus then go find that girl," she ordered.

"Why do we need to keep him?" asked Nightclaw, "He's nothing but a loose cannon."

"Because he's the only one who knows the start up code for the ship," said Lady Nega.

Nightclaw sighed and said, "I think finding the girl would be easier."

"The birdbrains can handle that. Now go do it!" snapped Lady Nega, her eyes glowing as she forced the order.

Nightclaw winced and clutched at his head before saying, "Yes, milady."


Matt, in his head, was at the stage where they explained Nullspace. "Ok, Omnirus is basically an artificial lifeform...and a tough one at that. He can shapeshift easily," he was explaining to this Batman. He had a feeling this wasn't the Batman on NSC records...sounded too young.

"So he could look like anything?" asked Batman.

"Not just anything," said Matt, "He has a limited selection of forms. But each form is a hybrid of two superpowered alien species."

"He has all sorts of tricks. His favorite's Diamondblast," said NegaMorph calmly.

"Combination of a Pyronite and a Petrosapien," said Matt, "You probably don't have them in your universe. Basically, he's got fire and crystal powers."

Batman raised an eyebrow at that, "Really?" in a voice Matt knew well...he'd probably not believe it either.

"NegaMorph...the party trick please," he sighed. NegaMorph shrugged before morphing into various experiments and back. "Tadaaa...now do you believe me?" said Matt in an annoyed tone.

"That doesn't quite prove you're from another universe," said Batman.

Matt sighed, pressing a few buttons on his wrist. A deep voice said, "Dimensional frequency identified as DC-83341." before he pressed a button, aiming his wrist at a wall and the wall rippling before a tear opened, showing a field. "Rip portal to dimension DC-99234 active," it said, Matt walking forward and sticking his hand in for a second.

"Uh, Matt, I don't think you should do that," said NegaMorph.

"Be quiet, I'm fishing," snapped Matt. A confused...almost human's head was pulled through, the pointed ears giving it away.

"Who is this supposed to be?" asked NegaMorph.

"No idea. I think it got the coordinates off," said Matt.

"Erm...can I help you?" said the apparent elf in a very British accent.

"Hello, we're from the dimension next door, please tell him that," said Matt, pointing at Batman.

The elf noticed Matt's twitching eye before he frowned, "Wait...aren;t you the rebel lea-" before Matt snorted and pushed him back through.

"Not in the mood," he muttered, the rift closing with an organic zipper noise.

"Ok, I don't know what kind of hocus-pocus is going on here, but shouldn't we focus on this shapeshifter on the loose?" asked Batman.

Matt gave him an annoyed look before saying, "Fine, we just need to meet up with my sister first."

"Sister?" asked Batman. Just then, a werewolf jumped onto the rooftop they were on. "Matt, I'm-" she started before Batman threw a batarang at her. Chloe's hand shot up on reflex, catching it. "No...I am not in the mood," she snapped in a scolding voice, "That moron, Omnirus just bumped into us with Gary. He blew up about a gallon of alcohol in my face." She crushed the batarang in her hand, a faint 'whumph' heard from her fist and a little smoke wisping out between her fingers.

Spider-Man landed next to her and said, "More like a whole bar."

"Who's the guy in the Spider-Man costume?" asked Batman.

"Who's that supposed to be? Batman from the future?" asked Spider-Man.

"Welcome to dimension hopping. If you're going to freak out, do it now and save time," snapped Matt before starting to rant in Avalarian with such language Chloe looked shocked.

"You're yanking me. No way this is the real Spider-Man," said Batman, pointing at Spider-Man.

"I'm more real than you are," said Spider-Man, pointing back. Just then, red and blue sparks jumped between their fingertips, causing them both to snatch their hands back.

Even Matt jumped back at that. "Ok...that's new..." said Chloe carefully.

NegaMorph glanced around before saying, "This may have been a mistake."

"Ok...are we all up to date? Gary was with Omnirus. He said he needed volunteers," said Chloe, shifting to human form.

"Volunteers for what?" asked Matt.

"Well, Megan will be shorthanded right now," said NegaMorph.

"No, she's got 3 heavy hitters. She doesn't need more," said Matt.

"Doesn't mean she doesn't want more," said NegaMorph.

"Probably using the same stuff that made all those hybrids at the bar," said Chloe.

"Well, I think we can handle a few animal-powered mutants," said NegaMorph, "They're not that tough."

"Hey!" protested Spider-Man.

"No offense, but you can't breathe fire or cause earthquakes," said NegaMorph.

"If she wants splicing technology, there's only one person she'd want to see," said Batman sternly, "Dr. Cuvier."

"Matt...you know anything about him from the records?" asked Chloe.

"Less than you know," said Batman, "Which is also the point. You don't know Cuvier like I do and I'm not sure about letting a bunch of superpowered wrecking balls loose in the city."

"We are not WRECKING BALLS!" snapped Chloe, punching a hole in a wall next to her as NegaMorph facepalmed.

"You know what, how about you let Spidey go with you? He's the least destructive among us," said Matt.

"Uh, you sure that's a good idea?" asked NegaMorph, "Spider-Man kinda...stands out around here."

Matt looked at Batman. "And a guy in an augmented bat suit doesn't?" he said skeptically.

"Batman blends in here," said NegaMorph, "Spider-Man...well, 'sore thumb' doesn't say enough."

"Hey, I can be subtle if I wanna be," said Spider-Man before touching the spider on his chest and fading out of sight.

Batman frowned before saying, "Fine...but you do what I say when I say it. This is my city and my world."

"Fair enough," said Spider-Man, becoming visible again, "At least here I won't have to worry about Jameson calling me a menace."

"What about us?" asked NegaMorph, before taking a step back as Batman glared at him. "Lemme guess. Get out of the city?" he said nervously.

"We're not leaving without Spider-Man. Or anyone else we're chasing," said Chloe, "They shouldn't remain here any longer than we should."

"No. You could barely handle Mad Stan," said Batman coldly.

Matt raised an eyebrow, "Lady NegaMorph and Omnirus is our problem. How are you gonna stop us tagging along?"

Chloe facepalmed. "Look, those two are real powerhouses. How many super villains do you face with actual superpowers?" asked Chloe.

"More than you think," said Batman.

"Ok, that may be, but you don't know what they're capable of and no one can face them one-on-one," said Chloe.

NegaMorph said, "My niece isn't like your usual villains. She won't monologue or stall. She'll just kill you and be done with it. She's used DNA and magic not even from this world to make her minions," he said coldly.

"And Omnirus has the power of..." Matt paused to count them out in his head, "8 alien hybrids, not including himself. Could you handle that all at once? Omnirus has managed to stay ahead of us for years. He knows how to escape, fight, and use anything...and he knows how to manipulate. We know how to handle him."

"One problem at a time," said Batman, "So who do we hit first?"

"Omnirus. Lady Nega will be too busy trying to build connections. If Omnirus gets to his ship, he'll be gone and he could probably cause alot of damage leaving," said Chloe.

"But we've been to his ship," said Spider-Man, "Couldn't he have left at any time?"

"I don't think he has the keys," said Chloe, "But he does have an escape pod."

"He's already on a planet. What good would an escape pod do him?" asked Batman.

"Escape pods have a rip engine to escape with. If he can get that running, a ship-sized drive, even on the pod, could pancake half a block," said Matt.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure Omnirus doesn't really care about who gets hurt," said Chloe.

"Fine, you've convinced me. What'll he need to get his pod working?" asked Batman.

NegaMorph said, "If it's broken, which it must be otherwise he'd be gone by now, he'd need unique energy. The sort of power needed would be anything from ion energy to Hadron energy..." activating his techpack before saying "Of course...nobody's dumb enough to use Hadron energy. That stuff's unpredicta-" he said with a smile, one that froze as he looked at the results.

Batman activated his comm and asked, "Anything significant in those categories?"

"The reactor in the BR Research Center used an experimental form of energy, it's an unprecedented form of radiation," said Bruce.

"The BR Research Center? Where the Terrific Trio was created?" asked Batman.

"And destroyed," said Bruce grimly.

"Urgh...this is why I hate Earth. Oh look, we found a possibly unstable and highly dangerous energy. Let's make a big reactor out of it," snapped NegaMorph.

"Hey, they might not have known what they were tapping into," said Spider-Man.

"Uh-huh, you ever wonder what would have happened if the spider that bit you was exposed to something else besides genetic-engineering?" asked NegaMorph.

"I thought that spider was supposed to be radioactive," said Batman.

"Hey...how do you know?" asked Matt, as NegaMorph tried to pinpoint where the radiation was coming from.

"Everyone knows," said Batman, "It's in the old comics."

"Comics?" asked Spider-Man.

"Ooookay. Lets just drop this before culture shock," said Matt a little too loudly.

"Yeah, we already saw a few sparks of it," said Chloe.

NegaMorph swore in tantalog before snapping, "Where's this reactor?"


"Is she just punishing us or does she actually want something from that girl?" asked Iceshaide as she and Antumbra flew through the city.

"I'm not even sure if she knows," said Antumbra, "You know how unhinged she's getting."

"Why not run? We could get lost in the crowd here," said Iceshaide, before both of them stopped in midair, choking as they felt like they were being strangled for a second. They clawed at their throats, but there wasn't anything there. Well, except for the glyphs on their skin that were glowing red.

After a second, the pressure paused. "I guess not." rasped Antumbra, the two landing on a rooftop and sitting on the edge. This time it was worse...their memories of being human were there and they were still forced to be monsters. You know...I half-wish I'd stuck with the name, Falcore. The Antumbra thing's a mouthful after a few drinks," Antumbra said cheerfully, the two scanning the streets below, the long distance no trouble for their raptor eyes.

"Well, you don't look much like a falcon at this point," said Iceshaide.

"But aren't I an awesome bird of prey?" asked Antumbra, puffing out his chest and flexing.

"You look more like a cormorant," said Iceshaide. She laughed as he deflated before she said with a sigh, "We couldn't stay here anyway...splicing is illegal." Then she paused, her eyes narrowing. "I spy little miss box dropper," she hissed.

"Does our lady need her intact?" asked Antumbra as a dark fireball appeared in his hand.

"Yes...anyway, even if we're having to work for a villain doesn't mean we have to act it. We can just give her a...uh oh," she said happily, her smile and tone fading as she spotted a few goons following their target.

"Guess we're not the only ones she's ticked off," said Antumbra.

"Well we have dibs. Come on, Mr. Bird of Prey," Iceshaide teased, stepping off the edge and into a dive.


Skyla couldn't help but feel smug. Whoever these splicers were, they had plenty of stuff that could be peddled or eaten...and they were morons too. "Ok, this thing ought to get me enough credits for a hotel room this winter," she said cheerfully to herself, looking at the small computer device she'd nicked from the warehouse morons. She wasn't sure what it did, but there's always someone willing to buy tech.

She paused, seeing a reflection in a window. Great...Ceph and his T's, recognizing the white faces with red T's across them. "Skyla, Fat T wants to see you," said Ceph as soon as he saw she'd seen him.

"Can't he come see me himself or has his nickname really caught up with him?" asked Skyla.

"You still owe him," said Ceph darkly, his mates spreading out.

"Hey, look, I got stuff I can sell. Look. I dunno what this is but it's real advanced. Might even be alien," she said nervously, holding up the pad and trying to turn it on.

The pad indeed did power on, only for a red symbol to flash before it sparked and she dropped it, the pad melting into harmless goop at her feet.

"Might have been," said Ceph, "But now it's just slag. And so are you."

Skyla backed up nervously "Come on...lets be reasonable." she said nervously as they advanced, one T swinging his chain only for a blue beam to strafe over him, freezing him solid, another blinking as the air seemed to ripple, and his pipe fell in half.

"Where'd that come from?" demanded Ceph.

"There," called one of the other T's pointing up at two shapes lunging before one spat the same blue beam out, freezing two more before knocking another down, the other landing on top of Ceph.

"Hi...you like picking on helpless humans?" he said evilly, lifting Ceph up.

"What kind of freaky splicers are you?" yelped Ceph.

"Who said we were splicers?" sneered the male, before saying "Iceshaide dear...Pull." before throwing Ceph at a wall, the female freezing Ceph to it before they looked at Skyla, eyes glowing red and blue.

"Uh, I don't have the tech anymore," said Sklya nervously.

"We're not after that." said the female 'Iceshaide'.

Skyla gulped before turning and running. A second later, her legs went numb up to the knees and she couldn't move them.

"Ah, ah, ah...we have orders to bring you to our boss and we really do have to do it," said the male with a grin, Skyla shivering as she looked down at her frosted-up legs.

"Couldn't be worse than the jerk those guys were going to bring you to," said Iceshaide.

"Well...I wouldn't say that," said the male.

"Look...I just wanted some food," said Skyla nervously.

"Oh, I'm sure our lady will give you a bite," said the male before chuckling nastily.

Skyla gulped before Iceshaide slapped the back of the male's head, "Antumbra, that joke was soooo bad. Let's just get her back."


Omnirus, meanwhile, was trying to get his pod working, without much success. "System error...insufficient energy for warp jump," said the computer cheerfully.

"Grr...should have charged them up," growled Omnirus before doing a mocking impression of Dark Start, "Should we keep these escape pods just in case." Switching to his normal tone, he snarked, "No, because we still have a functional ship and we're not going to lose it." Switching back to mock-Dark Start, he trilled, "Well, someday you'll wish you had and then I'll get to say 'I told you so'. Tee-hee-hee."

He kicked a console, a small sign popping up saying "Do not kick this again' with a buzzing noise before Omnirus looked around. "Ok...gotta be something. This city can't have gotten this advanced without a suitable energy...hello," he said cheerfully, the scanner homing in on a building across the city. "Hadron fuel...well it's not like my DNA can get any more screwed up," he muttered.

He hefted up his escape pod. One of the most annoying things was that it was large and awkward to carry. Not that he was too weak, but weight distribution was still a pain.

"You look like you need a hand," said a deep voice.

Omnirus, on automatic, passed it over. "Thanks man," he muttered before pausing, turning slowly to look at Nightclaw who was holding the pod, before the gargoyle put it down before drawing back a fist. "Aw no," muttered Omnirus before he was punched down the alley.

"Ouch. That was a big mistake, Lesog," growled Omnirus as he got up, "I am not going to be dragged back to that crazy witch. Especially not by her big stone lapdog."

"Really? I'm not flammable and I'm alot stronger than you," sneered Nightclaw, advancing and cracking his knuckles, "So you can go quietly or go in a cast."

"It's not always about the flames, rock hound," said Omnirus before shifting into Frankenvine, "Sometimes it's the lightning."

Nightclaw snarled before charging. Green lightning hit his stone hide, but it only buffered him a little. "Stone doesn't conduct electricity," he said smugly. Just then, roots burst out of the ground and started tangling him up. "Wood beats earth," said Frankenvine smugly as he started squeezing hard.

Nightclaw tried to pull free only for the vines to dig in, his stone seeming to feed them as Frankenvine walked up. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna kill you. Frankly, I just see you as too pathetic to be worth putting down," said Frankenvine, "Always her yes-man, fawning at her feet, even before she turned evil."

Nightclaw snarled at that, Frankenvine just sticking another root in. "So this is how it's gonna be: you tell your owner that next time, send her A-game or leave me in peace, cause I'll do all I can to send the next person she sends after me, back to her in a box," Frankenvine sneered, before throwing Nightclaw flying.

With that, he grabbed his escape pod and moved on. Though he'll have to be a bit more cautious until he timed out. A cyborg plant alien was bound to draw undeniable attention, even in a place like Neo-Gotham.


Skyla looked at Lady NegaMorph, in her anthro dragoness form. "Ok, you expect me to believe you wanna do me a favor?" she said skeptically.

Lady Nega, wearing a strained smile, said, "For the third time...yes."

"Well pardon me, but I think I should be skeptical when being offered something that sounds too good from an actual demon," said Skyla.

"I'm not a demon," said Lady Nega carefully, ignoring her chuckling minions

"As I see it, the only thing missing is the pentagram," said Skyla.

"Look...do you wanna have super powers or not, you little snot-nosed git?" snapped Lady Nega, losing her cool.

"Will they cost me my soul?" asked Skyla.

"NO! SHUT UP ABOUT THE DEMON STUFF! THIS IS SMEGGING SCIENCE, NOT LORD OF THE SMEGGING RINGS!" screamed Lady Nega,

"Is she often like this?" whispered Skyla to Iceshaide.

"She's had a rough few days," whispered Iceshaide.

"Still, it's pretty funny, isn't it?" asked Skyla.

Iceshaide smirked and said, "Oh, I like you."

"Ok...but no Cthulu on the first date," said Skyla.

Lady Nega made a gurgling scream before shoving an injector gun into Skyla's hand. "Do it yourself!" she snapped, turning to walk off.

Right after she left, Nightclaw dragged himself in, cracks over his stone hide. "Did I miss something?" he asked.

"Oh, just missed the opener, but here comes the next event," said Antumbra.

Lady Nega was staring in horror. "Nightclaw...what happened?" she said in shock.

"Lost a fight to a power plant," said Nightclaw in annoyance.

"Omnirus..." snarled Lady Nega, Skyla looking at the injector before shrugging and shooting it into her arm.

"You should have put a collar on him," said Antumbra.

Lady Nega was glaring before she spun to face Skyla. "You want to know what I want?" she snapped, grabbing Skyla and holding up a picture of Omnirus...well a selection of pictures, each one of the hybrid forms. "I want him as pummelled as badly as possible without killing him," she snarled.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" asked Skyla.

"You'll know how in just a minute." sneered Lady Nega, watching as Skyla's pupils began to thin...


"The hadron reactors in there?" said Matt, the group peering down at a darkened building.

"Yeah, hasn't been used since the Terrific Trio tried to nuke the city," said Batman.

"Didn't you say they were heroes?" asked Spider-Man. "They were...until they found the mutation was killing them and they were betrayed," said Batman.

"Ouch," said Chloe, peering closely, "So...what happened to this place?"

"It's just unused military property now," said Batman.

"So...there's supposed to be no guards?" asked Chloe.

"Probably some drones to keep out punks," said Batman.

"Omnirus'll go through them," muttered NegaMorph.

"Quite easily I bet," said Matt.

Spider-Man asked "So...we wait for him to come here?"

"Well, how else would we find him?" asked Matt pointedly.

"He'll hear us at this rate," muttered Batman before peering to see a small koala-like creature heading for the building. "That's Omnirus?" asked Batman skeptically.

"Don't let his cute and fluffy appearance fool you," said NegaMorph, "Even without transforming, he's a lot stronger and tougher than he looks."

"He's bulletproof, his brain's an organic supercomputer..." said Matt. Omnirus paused at the blast doors before grabbing them and tearing them loose. "And pretty strong," Matt finished.

"Anything else?" asked Batman.

"He has very acute vision," said Chloe. Omnirus paused at the entrance before turning to look at where they were. "As well as very sharp hearing," said Chloe with chagrin.

Batman quickly activated his cloak while the others ducked down, Omnirus was seen squinting before shrugging and heading into the buildings, after a minute some panicked particle beam fire heard and the cries of people being knocked out.

"Huh, didn't think he'd go full-frontal at first," said NegaMorph.

A soldier was thrown into the courtyard from the door, Omnirus walking out, snapping a rifle in half before looking around expectantly. "This isn't his attempt. He's testing security. Seeing what happens," muttered Batman, still cloaked.

"Considering he'll be attacking the army directly, he may not want to take them all on at once," said Spider-Man.

On cue, a hover vehicle could be seen approaching, Omnirus leaping up out of sight as it landed and troops poured out.

"If he's wanting to fuel up his escape pod, it has to be somewhere close by," said NegaMorph.

"This is the place alright," muttered Batman.

Matt added, "At least we know he's not going for it tonight."

The troopers left, before Chloe added, "So what else is he waiting for?"

Batman replying coldly, "Me. If you know about me, he probably does too."

"Yeah, he always did have a thing about showing off," said Matt.

"In that case, why make him wait?" asked Spider-Man.


Much like New York City, Gotham had rather spacious sewers. Even in the latter half of the 21st century, the sewers were still cavernous. Omnirus half-expected to find giant rats down here. He wasn't completely disappointed.

He peered at the giant rat skeleton in front of him. It was big enough that it looked like, when it was alive, could swallow him whole. "I am so glad you're smegging dead," Omnirus muttered with relief. If there were any more rats like this still around, they'd probably cleared out long ago. Though judging how scorched this place was, it was very unlikely there were any still alive.

He looked at his pod. This area had been the only place big enough to hide it after he'd escaped Lady Nega. "I need to find a better location," he muttered, picking up a burnt doll before shuddering.

In Gotham's sewer system, Omnirus expected to come across something like Killer Croc. This...this place was even creepier. "The sooner I'm out of here, the better," he muttered.

Then he paused as he thought he heard something. He looked around, but he couldn't really see anything. Smelling was no good. This place stank of rats, smoke, and chemicals. That said, Omnirus hadn't remained loose for so long without trusting his senses. He concentrated, listening, before dodging a blast of webbing. "I smegging knew it!" he snapped, reaching for his blaster only for a batarang to blow it apart.

"I hear you're too tough to need toys," said Batman's voice.

"True, I just need a bite," growled Omnirus before ripping up a piece of the floor and chomping it. He finished chewing before spitting a glob that exploded on impact.

"You didn't mention he could do that," said Batman's voice.

"He doesn't do it as often," said Spider-Man's voice.

"And for good reason," said Omnirus, sticking his four tongues out in disgust, "This is the worst place for ammunition."

"It's over Omnirus..." snapped Chloe, landing on a pile of junk, Matt landing on the other side.

"Tell us where Lady Nega is," he snapped.

"Hey, I want to get away from her," said Omnirus, "She was always obnoxious before, but now she's downright psycho."

"Then tell us where she is and, once we're back in New York, I'll give you and your gang a shuttle and an hour's headstart," snarled Matt.

"Sure, and maybe you'd like to sell me Brooklyn Bridge while you're at it," said Omnirus sarcastically.

"You're right. I'm still pissed about Kala..." admitted Matt.

Chloe said, "But I'll make sure you get your headstart."

Omnirus glared at her and snapped, "You, I trust even less, Silvia." He paused. "Wait...you're never anywhere without your little shadow," he said suspiciously.

Just then, Omnirus was punched in the back of the head. "That was for calling my niece a psycho," snapped NegaMorph.

Omnirus staggered up only for NegaMorph to sink his feet into his own shadow. "Hey, cut that out!" snapped Omnirus as he tried to move.

"Nuh-uh...and unless you wanna go all the way in, you'll tell me where my niece is," said NegaMorph darkly, Omnirus only seeing his red eyes due to the light behind the ex-general.

"Not that you'll be able to go anywhere without your ride," said Spider-Man, appearing beside the escape pod.

"Urgh...bloody heroes. I have no idea where she is. This city looks the same everywhere," snapped Omnirus.

Batman appeared right in front of him at that. "I think you can try harder," he said darkly.

Omnirus smirked at that. "What is this? Impersonation day? Maybe if you were the original, kid," he sneered.

"Well, what would the original do here?" asked Batman, walking away, "If I had to guess, I think he'd make sure you won't be able to get away with what you want." He approached the escape pod, a batarang appearing in his hand.

"Hey, hold on, that thing may be on fumes but it'll fry everything in here," said Omnirus with worry.

"I think this is where the original would call your bluff," said Batman, holding the edge of the batarang very close to one of the escape pod's panels.

"OK! OK!" yelled Omnirus in a panic.

"Now about my niece..." growled NegaMorph.

"I mean it. I don't know where she is. We moved using the sewers and this place is a smegging maze," snapped Omnirus.

"Oh come on!" snapped Chloe, "We already found your ship!"

"And she won't be leaving on it anytime soon because I still have the activation code," said Omnirus, "Why else would she still be after me?"

Just then, they heard a sound echoing from somewhere in the sewers. It sounded a lot like a growl, the growl of a big, angry reptile. "Uh...do you have sewer gators here?" asked Spider-Man. Matt and Chloe though had tensed up at the snarl, their heads turning in creepy unison to return snarls. "Please tell me that's not a lizard-man of some kind," said Spider-Man.

Omnirus gulped, his eyes glowing green. "No it's not," he gulped before a blast of blue lightning shot out the shadows, knocking Matt off his feet. Chloe was about to throw her own lightning bolt when a powerful gale of wind started blowing everyone back.

A blue and white-striped anthro dragoness jumped out of the shadows at that, a visible corkscrew of clouds coming from her hand, the origin of the gale force wind, the dragoness grinning.

"Good news, it's not a lizard-man," said NegaMorph dryly, "It's a lizard-woman." The dragoness turned to glare, before swinging her free hand out, a spear of hail ice slamming into NegaMorph's head.

Batman winced at that. "It's ok, he can regenerate," said Spider-Man.

"Brain...freeze...still...hurts..." said NegaMorph through gritted teeth.

The dragoness looked at Batman next. "So you're Batman?" she sneered.

"I take it you're from out of town?" asked Batman.

"Just a girl who was under everyone's notice," the dragoness commented, before saying, "The koala's mine. Get out the way and there's no trouble."

"Koala?" snapped Omnirus, insulted.

Chloe glared. "Not a chance," she snapped, readying her own elemental energy.

"How cute, you control lightning," said the dragoness, "But I also control thunder." With that, she clapped her hands together, causing a literal crack of thunder to ring out.

Batman and Chloe were knocked back, caught off guard, Chloe first on her feet and charging with a snarl. The dragoness laughed before blowing at Chloe. For Chloe, it felt like she was in a wind tunnel, one that was continuously getting colder.

The dragoness paused, Chloe shaking before she tried to move forward again. The dragoness blasting her with ice again. Chloe continued to stagger forward, even as ice started forming on her. "You really need to give up, girl." sneered the dragoness, before her head span to face Batman as a batarang bounced off a energy field around her.

"A batarang? Really? Have you never faced superpowers before?" asked the dragoness.

She opened her mouth to breathe at Batman, only for him to toss a capsule into it. "Yes I have," he said.

A second later, freezing white steam came out her throat, the dragoness gagging as she staggered back. Then Chloe leaped forward and punched her between her wings, knocking her to her knees. The dragoness yelped, still hacking and falling to her hands and knees before she coughed out an ice ball.

"Bit of advice: train a bit before going against the big girls," said Chloe.

The dragoness panted before looking up at Chloe and grabbing her ankle, ice spreading from the touch rapidly. "You talk too much," she snarled, Chloe howling in pain.

"Get off my sister!" snapped Matt before punching her.

Omnirus watched as the fight continued, managing to slip his feet free. "Time to split." he muttered, running over to his pod

He picked it up and staggered a little bit. Why couldn't this thing be easier to carry? He headed over to one of the tunnels, only for a web to be spread across the entrance. "Leaving so soon?" asked Spider-Man.

"As a matter of fact, I am. That splicer could only have been sent by one person and I want nothing to do with her," snapped Omnirus.

"Yeah, but considering you're planning on potentially nuking this city, can't let you go," said Spider-Man.

"You really think I'm that careless?" snapped Omnirus only to yelp as a batarang tied him to his pod. "This doesn't change the fact I'm not that careless to nuke a city," he said darkly.

"Not taking that chance," said Batman, "But I am taking your fuel cell."

Omnirus grinned. "It's part of the ship to stop, say, nosy primitives stealing it," he sneered.

"I'm sure you say that to all Earthlings," said Batman as he started applying a batarang to one of the pod's panels.

"I mean it. Escape pods are just armored engines," snapped Omnirus, before the panel gave in,. revealing circuits and glowing computer crystals.

"Uh, maybe you should stop," said Spider-Man, whose spider-sense was starting to throb.

A second later, Matt was thrown into the pod, an angry buzz coming from the circuits.

"What did you do?!" snapped Omnirus.

"She did it," said Matt automatically.

One of the crystals popped like a lightbulb, multicolored energy crackling. "Ok, that's not good," said Batman.

"No duh. Thought you were supposed to be a detective," said Spider-Man.

"Hey, I didn't mean-" started Batman.

But just then, a red aura surrounded Spider-Man. "Uh, is this really bad?" asked Spider-Man.

"I think we should assume so," said Batman as a blue aura appeared around him.

"Get away from there before you tear apart-" snapped Omnirus when both auras flared and sent bolts of energy at each other, with Omnirus caught in the middle.

The blinding flash and crack of explosion caused the fighting dragons to pause, turning to look. Omnirus was lit up like a Christmas tree, his shape rapidly shifting through blocky configurations. His Omnitrix was shining so brightly that it looked like it could explode.

"That's...not...good." said Chloe, her opponent nodding before they both ran for cover.

Then there was a bright flash of green light that left everyone seeing spots. When their vision cleared, Omnirus was lying on the floor, smoking. "Ok...that was kinda cool...but pretty painful..." he groaned.

Chloe glared, getting up before feeling a cold pain through her chest. "Not smart to turn your back to me," sneered the dragoness.

"I'm not smart?" asked Chloe, "You're touching me with water."

The dragoness looked down, moving to let go a fraction too slow. While in a frozen state, ice isn't that conductive to electricity. But the ice spear was already wet with melting and gave Chloe's electricity a clear path.

The dragoness was thrown back and out of sight, but it did leave one problem: Chloe now had a sizable hole in her chest. "Least I got her," Chloe said weakly before slumping over. Her opponent got up unsteadily before gripping her ears as a high-pitched keening noise was heard.

Omnirus clutched his head and yelled, "Not so loud!"

Matt didn't seem to be listening, having shifted to feral dragon form and had galloped over to Chloe's prone form, nudging her gently before slowly looking in the other dragoness's direction, somehow seeing her even in the shadows.

"Boy, did she make a bad move," muttered Omnirus as he propped himself up.


Up till now, Skyla had felt rather proud, if a little stunned. She'd managed to take down one of these big shots that Lady Nega had told her to watch out for. Though she hadn't expected the other to be some overdosed splicer...which was somehow looking in her direction...and opening his mouth-oh shit.

She leapt to the side as an almost white beam shot out from the reptile's mouth, burning a neat hole through a support beam, the edges glowing and dripping molten metal.

The guy in the spider-suit quickly shot webs at the hole. "Hey, fighting under a city, remember?" he called. The reptile's head shot around to glare at the spider-suit guy before hissing.

"Ok, I'm out," Skyla muttered, making for an overflow pipe and yelping as she heard a roar and the crashes of that...thing in pursuit.

Lady Nega told her she had power over the elements of weather: wind, water, ice, and electricity. They didn't seem like a decent matchup against this beast. She managed to make it into the tunnel before screaming as a clawed paw closed over her ankle, squeezing painfully, Skyla turning to see the thing trying to ram its head in, its mouth full of serrated carnivorous teeth. "NOOOO!" she screamed in a panic, the small trickle at her feet growing into a deluge, one that curved around her but hit the dragon right in the mouth, the paw releasing her.

Skyla scrambled away, but the dragon was right on her heels. Her heart was pounding in her chest, pounding with more force than she ever felt. She looked back to see the dragon had shrunk down enough to fit in, snapping at her heels. There was nothing but hate in those eyes. They weren't the eyes of some animal wanting to eat her, though no doubt it was going to. This was rage: pure boiling blood rage, the sort of rage that consumed every other thought to the point it hurt till the person suffering it had to satisfy it.

"Keep away from me!" she screamed, "KEEP AWAY!" She clutched at her chest. She wasn't sure if her heart had stopped or it was going so fast she couldn't feel the individual beats. But it was far too much at once.

The dragon seemed to sense something, covering its head with its wings, a glowing field springing up just before everything for Skyla went white.

She wasn't quite sure how much time passed after that. 10 seconds? A minute? Surely not that long. But within that small time, it looked like a hurricane had swept through there. The dragon was shaking its head, stunned. Skyla chose to make a run for it, not even noticing that she was flying down the tunnel in her panic.


Matt wasn't the only one in rage, NegaMorph was looking at Chloe's body, his eyes hard. Only one person could have made that thing and sent her. "I've forgiven Megan for a lot up to this point," growled NegaMorph, "But for this, I am going to split her mind open and rip out that Virk personality with my own hands."

Batman walked up beside him. "I'm sorry...you were close to her?" he said solemnly

"She was my first friend," said NegaMorph.

Spider-Man landed next. "I lost sight of Matt..." he began before seeing Chloe. "She isn't... She's come back from worse, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"I don't know..." said NegaMorph in a small voice, before noticing a brief flare of green flames around the wound, then a little more, the wound starting to close.

"Ok, her gamma powers are healing her," said Spider-Man with relief.

"Uh...that doesn't look gamma to me," said NegaMorph.

Batman nodded. "Back," he said sternly, as more of the flame licked over Chloe's limbs and under her eyelids before her eyes, glowing that green before they shot open and she gave out a snarling gasp.

"Well, we can tell Matt-" started NegaMorph before Chloe grabbed him with her mouth and shook him like a rat. NegaMorph gave a cheerful 'She's back' as he was thrown over the side and into the pits below before Chloe turned, baring her teeth to look at the others.

"Easy girl...easy..." said Spider-Man slowly.

"What are you doing?" hissed Batman.

"Trying to calm her down?" said Spider-Man.

"Does she look like a dog?" snapped Batman.

There was a flare of energy as Chloe's subconscious, as it was, decided her werewolf form was more useful.

"You were saying?" asked Spider-Man.

"Is that any better?" asked Batman dryly.

"Now that you mentioned it..." started Spider-Man.

Chloe snarled, before gripping her head, panting heavily before she moaned in pain, falling to her knees just as Matt returned. "The little witch got away," he snarled before seeing Chloe, the rage leaving his expression to numb confusion.

"Wasn't she just-" he started.

"She got better," called NegaMorph.

"She...I...I..." Chloe stammered, shaking.

Matt sighed and said, "What matters now is you're alright. We can worry about the 'how' later."

"Megan's upping her game. That was a Shar! She made a Shar!" snapped Nega, emerging from a shadow.

"One packing more than one element," groaned Chloe.

"Yeah, and I just found out why purples are the only ones who should have that," said Matt, "She...exploded...I dunno how. It was like an Avalarian fury blast on steroids."

"You mean completely exploded?" asked Spider-Man.

"No, no, there would have been...pieces left," said Matt, "Pretty sure she couldn't have atomized herself...yet. Megan got it wrong. She's not made a Shar, she's made a ticking time bomb. Don't ask me how I know...just a feeling...a dark one," said Matt grimly.

"Ok, so we should really try and track her down," said Batman.

"Yeah, we just need to lock up this guy first," said Spider-Man, pointing a thumb at Omnirus.

Just then, his Omnitrix, which had been offline, lit up and pinged. "New DNA sequences unlocked," said a computerized voice, "Arachnichimp and Pturbosaurian form available."

Matt glared, his eyes narrowing. "Don't you even dare..." he began before Omnirus slammed his paw down on the Omnitrix face.

There was a bright flash of green light before a new hybrid creature was standing there. It looked like a cross between a monkey and a pterodactyl, with blue fur and red scales. Although it also had three pairs of eyes and an extra pair of arms. Each of these arms had a biomechanical extension built into the forearm. The wings on its back were connected to a similarly biomechanical jetpack-like structure. The hybrid hooted and squawked in excitement and said, "Ooh, ooh boy, a new alien! This is awk-some!"

"Oh look...a punching bag," growled NegaMorph, firing a few fangs. However, the alien hybrid whipped out an energy whip from his forearm and swung it around, deflecting the fangs.

Matt growled, charging only to clutch his chest and turn back to human. "Feeling tired? Maybe you should stick this one out," said the alien hybrid before shooting webbing from the tip of his tail, gluing Matt's legs to the floor.

Matt yelped, falling on his face, Chloe leaping over him to charge the alien The alien jetted up into the air, leaving an energy ring that hit Chloe and knocked her back. "Hmm...star energy, webbing, flight, I wonder..." he said before pointing two arms at Spider-Man and Batman and firing energy webbing at them. The two heroes dodged the shots, but not before one shot down into the dark.

"Not bad, not bad," said the alien, "I think I can get a lot of use out of Spiderdactyl." He let out a squawk of alarm as flames suddenly shot up from below. "Erm...my bad," he called, swooping down to attach some webbing to the escape pod. "Like to stay and test this new alien, but I got places to be," said Spiderdactyl before flying off with the pod.

Matt yelped as there was another explosion. "What was this place? Nitro storage?" he yelled.

"Chemical waste," said Batman.

Chloe grabbed Matt. "Let's go! Nega, shadow portal, now!" she yelled as more blasts went off, a chain reaction starting.

NegaMorph quickly opened up a shadow portal under them as more fires started going off. The portal spat them out on the surface, an explosion seen in the distance out of a sewer cover. "Not our best work." muttered Matt, gloomily

"It was worse last time," said Batman.

"We have no leads and Megan's made a bio-bomb!" snapped Chloe, adding, "And I think she killed me...man that sounds weird saying it out loud."

"You were probably only mostly dead," said Spider-Man.

NegaMorph chose not to say that his techpack had said otherwise, "Megan's crossed a line. We need to find her immediately..."

"Does she always make splicers that powerful?" asked Batman.

"Her splicers are tough, but never that overpowered," said Matt.

"Then she's either gearing up for something big or she's really trying to impress someone," said Batman, "And I have an idea of who that someone might be."

"That Cuvier person?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah, I think creating a weather dragon would get his attention," said Batman.

"So...we find Cuvier, we find Megan..." said NegaMorph.

"Except he's probably not that easy to find," said Spider-Man.

"Unless you know the streets well enough," said Batman.


And we're finally back to updating thie story. I'm sorry this took so long, but this is the start of a rather long arc and I wanted to make sure all the chapters were ready before I started posting it. This is a bit like the two Spider-verse arcs that happened in the show, but we are going far broader afield. In this first part, we're in Gotham City, specifically the futuristic Gotham City from Batman Beyond. I find it an interesting comparison because Terry McGinnis's Batman is a lot closer to Spider-Man's personality. And we have a few familiar faces in New-Gotham, namely the unforgettable Mad Stan.

This was one of those stories where the plot ran away with you, so it's being split into two chapters. The second chapter will be out tomorrow so keep an eye out for it and please review.