Chapter Two
Pieces of the Puzzle- Day 8 (Time of Return/Departure: 8am)
Last Time on Infinite Crisis
Last time each Spidey had their respective battles that led to shattering The Tablet of Order and Chaos at the same time across the four dimensions. Along with three tablet pieces disappearing away into another dimension that none of the Spider-Men could follow, a villain from each dimension disappeared with the remaining fourth piece. Amazing Electro, Venom 2099, Doctor Octopus Noir, and Ultimate Green Goblin. Its now been a week since the tablets were shattered without any clue where the pieces went. Amazing hasn't been able to get into contact with Madame Web since the pieces broke. Madame Web was the powerful psychic that was able to help Amazing and the other three Spider-Men in collecting the tablet pieces when it broke the first time. Now exactly one week and eight hours later, each Spider-Man is about to receive his first clue of the crisis ahead.
Amazing Universe: Dude, Where's My Glider?
The Amazing Spider-Man has been stressed since being involved in breaking The Tablet of Order and Chaos, for the second time. Not even web slinging can help with the stress, which is why he is sitting on top of an old church beside a stone gargoyle. Why would Madame Web be mad with him anyways? He didn't break tablet, it was Electro. Sure Amazing was the one that doused him in water that led to Electro exploding while holding the tablet, but...yeah Madame Web isn't going to be happy. Speaking of which, Amazing can't help but wonder where Madame Web went. She's not at her apartment and when this happened the first time she got in contact with him immediately. All Amazing can do is hope that wherever or whenever the tablet pieces and Electro went, that there will be someone there to stop him and recover the pieces. As Amazing ponders beside the gargoyle, his spider sense goes off alerting him of danger. Leaping off the edge and turning around, Amazing spots someone atop a glider and with three pumpkin bombs already being hurled towards the hero.
"Missed me Spider-Man?" Amazing Hobgoblin yells out followed by his always sinister laugh. "It really has been a while." The bombs go off with Amazing just barely outside of the blast zone, but that doesn't mean much in the end. Amazing is forced towards the ground faster because of the explosion with pieces of the roof and gargoyle, where he was just sitting, plummeting towards him and the innocents on the street. Amazing goes for a nose dive straight to the street to ensure he goes faster then the debris. Closer towards the ground, Amazing makes a giant web to catch the debris. Ensuring everyone below is safe, Amazing sends out a web line to save himself but its too late. The web line did slow his momentum down, but not enough to avoid crashing onto a parked car. Thankfully his spider strength and the web line prevented him from being seriously hurt...didn't mean it didn't hurt though.
"Good save Web Head, but don't you even start to think we're done yet!" Hobgoblin says as he tosses out another pumpkin bomb. Still hurt, Amazing rolls off the car and hides underneath. The bomb goes off destroying the car, sending debris everywhere. Nothing remains of the car but it does reveal the sewer hole that was underneath the car. Hobgoblin goes to inspect the destroyed car but finds a web line thrown out catching him on his chest. Amazing pulls hard coming out of the sewer hole forcing Hobgoblin off the glider and onto the ground.
"How about you come down to my level Hobby?" Amazing shouts coming out of the sewers. Amazing leaps forward going for a tackle. While Amazing is in midair in the corner of his eye he sees a flash of blue light, and in front of him the Hobgoblin pulling out a serrated circular disk. Amazing lands on Hobgoblin grabbing hold of the hand with the disk, then immediately leaps off of the villain before the weapon can be used on the hero. Quickly the combatants get back to their feet and have a stare down; however they are interrupted by the sounds of the glider turning on. Goblin and Amazing look to where the glider was. They spot a starved, half naked African man trying to use the glider. The big thing that catches Amazing's eyes is that the half naked man has a piece of the tablet is his arms!
"Get off of that!" Hobgoblin warns as he grabs a pumpkin bomb from his bag and tosses it out to the man stealing his glider. Amazing goes for the save sending out a web catching the bomb and tossing it to where no one will get hurt. Sending out a hard right, Amazing levels Hobgoblin. Turning back, Amazing sees the African man starting to get the hang of the glider and takes off. Amazing sends out a web line onto the glider and takes off along with the African man and the tablet piece. Flying into the air, Amazing climbs up his web trying to get to the glider but the half naked man turns and begins to panic. The man starts to lose control of the glider because of his panicking (not that he was driving well to begin with). The chaotic flying sends Amazing crashing into a building, forcing him to let go off the web attached to the glider. Soon the glider stops flying out of control and makes a straight line for Hobgoblin, who activated his glider controls located on his belt. The glider lands beside the villain with the man looking on terrified. Picking the man up by the throat, Hobgoblin sees the tablet piece in his arms. Taking the tablet piece and throwing the African man to the side, Hobgoblin gets back on his glider. Hovering into the air, Hobgoblin pulls out another pumpkin bomb and gets ready to throw it. Seeing what Hobgoblin is about to do after recovering from flying into a building, Amazing leaps forward and web slings towards Hobgoblin trying to save the half naked man.
"I'll show you for trying to steal from me!" Hobgoblin yells, but before he can release hold of the bomb he, the glider, and the tablet piece disappear into a blue light. Amazing lands just missing Hobgoblin before he disappeared. Looking around, Amazing becomes even more confused. Why did the tablet piece come back now of all times, disappear again, and leave behind this starved, half naked, African man behind?
"Where's Madame Web when you need her?"
Noir Universe: Return of the Damned
Its been a hard week for sleeping but at least its been quiet, too quiet. At least he has an increase in his powers like the last time this happened. Ever since since the explosion Noir has been able to web swing and use all of the other spider powers the other Spideys had. A week ago the slaves under Dr. Octavius were freed from their cells and the mind control. Thankfully after Octavius disappeared, the mind controlled slaves ceased attacking him and after a few days the mind control wore off. Thankfully the serum used to cause the mind control is only temporary. You'd think the disappearance of a Nazi sympathizer using mind control on visual minorities would cause some stir in the criminal community. Maybe no one liked him to begin with? Not to mention the tablet being shattered causing three slaves being teleported away holding onto a piece of the tablet. Images of what happened to Octavius after the tablet was broken come to mind, him being fused to his wheel chair and metal arms pleading for help. Spider-Man Noir thinks about all of this as he sits atop of a building while hiding in the shadows. For a few moments Noir imagines Octavius being fused to his chair and metal arms, the very image that's been keeping him awake. That's the only reason he dressed up in his costume at 8 in the morning, if he's not going to sleep may as well be ready when a tablet piece finally shows up, if it ever does. Thankfully its a cloudy day at least so it won't be so hot. Suddenly the impact of Octavius pleading for help returns to his mind. Shaking his head, Noir looks out into the crowd of people walking the streets hoping to distract himself. While looking into the crowd Noir stops someone he never expected to see again.
"It can't be," Noir mutters to himself, "he's dead." In the crowd Noir spots the only individual not walking and who is staring right back at him. No man, including Noir, knows how to describe the feelings of seeing a dead man standing alive again. Out of all the men in the world, it had to be him: Kraven Noir, former ring leader at a circus and hitman for The Goblin. Noir and Kraven have fought before, which eventually led to Kraven's death. Kraven and Noir keep eye contact, even as Kraven walks towards an empty alley beside the building Noir is hiding atop of.
Hiding deep in the alleyway where no one can see, Kraven looks up to the rooftop and calls out, "Well, well, its been a while Spider. You coming down to speak to me or would you like to never find out what brought me back?" Noir slowly and cautiously climbs down the building till he is standing face to face with Kraven.
"So Karven, how did you come back?" Noir states coldly, getting to the point. Responding without words, Kraven simply holds up a tablet piece that is seemingly on fire. Noir gets into a defensive stance.
"Ahhh...so you do know what this is Spider," Kraven points out as he tosses it towards Noir. Noir catches the tablet piece but immediately lets go as he starts to burn through his gloves. Quickly, Kraven shoves Noir back and picks up the tablet piece. Noir looks up noticing that after Kraven let go of the piece, his body started decomposing. After getting the piece back, Kraven's body begins to heal back to his living state. "You see Spider, I woke up buried under dirt. No casket, just dirt. Not even the respect for a proper burial. When I woke up, I started digging my way out, with my barehands. When I got to the top I found this piece of rock on top of my grave, burning and smoking. When I tried walking away from it I started to feel weaker. Eventually I picked it up out of curiosity, but it didn't burn me. It doesn't burn me. How is that possible? So I try a quick test, throw it to you. Apparently I am the only one that can hold it, no?
Noir gets back to his feet and looks Kraven in the eye, "So what do you want? What now?"
"Nothing at the moment. I figured it wouldn't be long before you found out I was back, so I decided to find you first. Didn't expect to find you during the day though."
"Kraven you have to give me that tablet piece. You don't know what it can do. Its dangerous."
"Are you really asking me to give up my life and give you this rock?"
"Sorry Kraven, but I can't let you walk away with it."
With that Kraven leaps forward pulling out a knife and Noir gets his webs ready. Before the fight can start though, Kraven disappears into a flash of blue light.
"Kraven, no!" Noir shouts as he disappears into the light. This isn't what happened last time Noir thinks. Why did the tablet burn him and not Kraven? Somethings different this time round and its not good. It never is.
2099 Universe: Dr. Frankenstein Becomes His Own Monster
What happened last week? The tablet seemingly cured Scorpion and turned him back into Kron Stone. Unfortunately, the tablet also gave him back his symbiote recreating Venom. Spider-Man 2099 has fought Venom but to win he needed to turn the sonics on all around the city, he may not be so lucky to pull the same stunt off twice. Thankfully, Venom disappeared before he got the jump on 2099; however that means in some other dimension Venom is running around with a tablet piece and the other three pieces are missing as well, each having a bit of black ooze on it. Nothing in terms of the tablet has popped up during the last week, but at least 2099 got a clue on who sent Stone to steal the tablet to begin with. Dr. Locke-Connors, a wealthy and brilliant scientist who got rich off of his family fortune. Apparently a descendant of his found a serum to regrow lost limbs. An impressive feat but still an expensive procedure that many people, including some of those who are rich, can never afford. Luckily for Dr. Locke-Connors, when he lost his left arm during an experiment gone wrong, he was one of the few wealthy people who could afford the serum. Also helped he knew how to put the serum together to regrow his arm, avoiding the doctor fees. It was two years ago that he lost his arm and only now has the elbow part of it the finished growing, leaving him still without a hand. Its a long and painful process from what 2099 understands.
Wanting to catch the doctor at his office, 2099 decided to wait till morning to confront him. Arriving at the doctor's window, 2099 peeks inside and finds a surprise. Dr. Locke-Connors is inside staring at a jar containing a source emitting strong waves of electricity. Looking closer, 2099 spots the source of the electricity, a piece of the tablet. Using a series of machines, Dr. Locke-Connors has found a way to direct some of the electricity from the tablet into a device attached to his elbow. Activating the device, Dr. Locke-Connors screams in pain as electricity begins to take over his body. 2099 goes to jump in but stops when he notices the doctor's arm is regrowing at a faster pace. Soon the entire arm is regrown in a matter of seconds but there's one problem: the machine is still pumping electricity into Dr. Locke-Connors with no sign of stopping. Soon and rather quickly, the doctor's arms and face begins to turn green and scaly. His fingers to claws, a large tail breaking out from behind his lab coat, and his mouth becomes lined with sharp fangs. Very soon it is obvious what is happening, Dr. Locke-Connors has turned into a giant reptile, he has become Lizard 2099. His mind turning into pure rage, Dr. Locke-Connors begins to destroy the equipment stopping the surge of electricity and turns towards the tablet ready to destroy it.
2099 leaps through the window and tackles the Lizard. Using both hands 2099 tries to keep the Lizard's jaw open to stop him from biting. 2099 tries to keep the Lizard pinned and talks to the creature hoping to reach the doctor, "Dr. Locke-Connors, are you in there? Stop this! Can you hear me? Wake up!" The Lizard's jaw proves to be stronger than 2099 predicted, snapping shut with 2099 barely able to get his hands out in time. 2099 raises a fist hoping to get a quick knock out, but the Lizard gets his feet under the hero and kicks him off. Landing on his back, 2099 immediately jumps back to his feet but only to receive a painful tail whip sending him crashing into more machines, further destroying the lab. This leads to a fire sparking and spreading throughout the lab. As 2099 is finally able to get back to his feet, he spots the lizard destroying the glass protecting them all from the electrical power of the tablet piece. Picking up the tablet piece, fighting against the pain running through his body, the Lizard prepares to throw it against the ground. Just as the Lizard is about to succeed, he and the tablet piece disappear in a flash of blue light. With the fire running rampant, 2099 decides not to stick around and bolts swinging out the window. Just as 2099 gets far enough, the fire reaches some explosive chemicals blowing up the lab and its contents. Landing on a nearby building, 2099 stops to think to himself while looking out to the flaming side of the building he was just inside. "I am not paying for that, what happened to Dr. Locke-Connors? Why did it turn him into a giant lizard?"
Ultimate Universe: Sting of the Clone
"There is no way, no way I can deal with this alone," Ultimate Spider-Man says to himself as he swings towards his meeting place with S.H.I.E.L.D. A week has passed since his fight with Osborn and the tablet breaking. Ultimate remembers how all the pieces of the tablet burned as though they were on fire before disappearing. Last time something like this happened the old woman, called Madame Web, from that other world came and organized everyone into finding the tablet pieces. Its been a week now and if she isn't going to be popping in to help, then Ultimate has no choice but to turn to Nick Fury. "What are the chances S.H.I.E.L.D has a transdimension portal thingy mabob? Fury is not going to be happy when I tell him what happened and long ago it happened, then again when is he happy?" Ultimate lands at the meeting point ahead of schedule, a rarity for him. "Oh man I just realized, how am I going to explain how I got the black suit again?" At the very least the venom symbiote isn't affecting his brain, thankfully its like what happened last time the tablet broke. As long as it gives me a power boost and stays out of his head, Ultimate is willing to live with it till the tablets back together...and not a second later. Soon Ultimate's ride to get to the helicarrier arrives. Luckily, for right now, everyone on the plane believed it was just his new stealth costume.
"No teenager should have to be up this early, especially on a Saturday," Ultimate mutters to himself during the ride to the headquarters. Almost at the helicarrier, Ultimate and the personnel flying the plane get a distress signal from Nick Fury over the radio.
"Warning to all S.H.I.E.L.D agents, do not, repeat do not come back to home base," Nick Fury orders over the radio, "We are currently dealing with a prison break. Repeat no one return to home base."
Before the pilot can turn around, Ultimate stops him and convinces the crew to drop him off on the carrier at least. Once close enough, Ultimate sends out a web line and jumps into the carrier. Along the way Ultimate helps the agents take out non-super powered villains with ease. After some time, Ultimate finds Nick Fury and some agents sealing off a door. Ultimate rushes over and speaks to Fury.
"Fury what happened?" Ultimate trying to get to the point.
Fury looks over to the young hero, choosing to ignore asking about the black suit for the time being, "I have reports saying that people saw a blue flash come from one of our cells, which led to a prisoner breaking out, who is now running havoc across the station. Including letting the other prisoners go."
"A blue flash?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Oh man, remember when you set Carnage with that tablet piece? It happened again?"
"And you think that's what caused the prison break?"
"Yeah, must be. Any idea what cell it popped into?
Before Fury can answer a very familiar person dressed in green armour with a tail, drops down on Ultimate. So familiar that he shares Ultimate's face. The assailant holds up a tablet piece covered in black goo, the same as his suit, Ultimate looks into the eyes of his clone, Ultimate Scorpion. Laughing maniacally, Scorpion spins his tail around throwing Fury and the other agents away. Looking down at his prey, the imperfect clone of Peter Parker prepares to kill the original, prepping his tail for a fatal blow. Just before the tail strikes down though, Scorpion flashes and disappears into a radiant blue light, along with the tablet piece covered in black goo. Ultimate sits up glad to be alive but becomes worried immediately. There stands Nick Fury before him tapping his toes and crossing his arms.
"One: what the hell just happened," Fury continues to question, "Two: where did you get that suit?"
"It's a long story Fury," Ultimate points out.
"You better get started then."