I hadn't been in New York for a full year. I was still having trouble believing that it was only one year. The life I was living two years ago was practiclly a dream now. It felt so weird when I passed the comic shop I used to work at or even the places I used to fight super villains at. I wished things were as simple as they were back then.
I saw a few wanted posters hanging on the sides of buildings and electric poles. That meant there were other heroes hiding like I was still. Considering almost everyone Echoe had with her got captured that was a good thing for us. If we ever found a real weakness to Reshef we'd have people on the outside still who might be able to pull off a miracle. I started looking at the posters: 3-D Man, X-23, Wolverine, Gauntlet, Armory, Taskmaster, two of the Scarlet Spiders, Deadpool, and then I saw my own poster. It wasn't too flattering seeing my own face on a wanted poster. Even if I had my costume on in the pic. Thing is they had a sketch artist get my face, it was pretty accurate too. I pulled it down, folded it up and placed it in my pocket then kept walking. It might make a nice souvineer if we ever get out of this mess.
I ended up walking around the city until I got to Midtown High. I looked at the time and saw it was 4. Part of me had wanted to see Miu but the rest knew how dangerous it was. If anything I would just look at her before leaving. I went to the back of the school to check the soccer field. There was a game going on for the girls' team. I scanned the field until I found Miu running down the field. She looked just as beautiful as she did the last time I saw her. How much longer was it going to be before it would be safe to be with her again?
I stared at her a few minutes longer before I she came off the field at the end of the half. I saw her starting to look up at the bleachers. I almost stayed long enough for her to see me, maybe she did, but I turned my back before she could recognize me and left. It wasn't easy for me to do. More than anything I wanted to go down and talk to her but I couldn't.
Part of me was regretting coming back to New York. Just seeing Miu didn't do much for me other than make me want to go talk to her and I knew how dangerous it was heading back here. Reshef had a better chance of finding me in a city than he did when I was in the middle of nowhere.
My spider sense started to tingle. Looks like that part of me was right. I turned and saw the bat creature I fought last year. "Well look at what we have here," the bat creature(Z'Fett) said.
"Would I be wrong if I guessed you were here to welcome me home?" I asked sarcasticlly.
"In a sense. You shouldn't have come back Wheeler. Reshef's been looking for you," Z'Fett told me.
"Looks like he'll have to keep looking," I told him before I swung off. Z'Fett flew after me. Running might have been one of my best plans for once. This city was my playground, not his. I could do this with my eyes closed if I wanted. All I needed to do was shake him off my tail or kill him then get out of the city. Considering I had doubts I could kill him on my own I aimed for my first plan.
I jumped off of a rooftop and touched ground, then lept back into the air and swung around the corner and into an alley.I turned another corner and emerged into Time Square. I landed on a sign advertising Coke and looked back at the bat. He stopped and then I realized he was like a bat on Earth: blind. He was trying to track me with sonar. His sonar must've been detailed though so I slowly dropped down to the ground and walked down into the I blended in with the people of the city then maybe he wouldn't find me. If that worked then I'd be safe.
My spider-sense went off, Z'Fett found me. I ducked and tackled him onto the subway tracks. He kicked me off of him and into the ceiling as a train drew closer. I punched him as hard I could in the jaw and he stumbled around disoriented before falling over. I picked him up and waited for the train. "Can you regenerate by any chance?" I asked him as I placed him in facing the train before myself as he struggled to free himself but he hadn't recovered from my hit yet.
I felt a rush of pain as the train slammed into us. I didn't bother paying much attention to it though, instead I broke his head through the glass of the subway train. "Don't mind us. I'm a good guy," I told the conductor. I knew there was a good chance at this point that I could die, my regeneration probably wasn't fast enough for me to recover from this, but I refused to go out without taking Z'Fett with me.
I pulled Z'Fett's head out of the subway and threw him onto the tracks, the train quickly ran over him. I jumped onto the next platform and waited for the train to pass. Next I jumped back onto the tracks and saw Z'Fett's motionless body. Motionless and broken. There was no way he could survive getting run over by a subway, could he? Either way I had to check. I walked over and picked him up. He groaned, still alive. Damn! I opened up his mouth and shot a load of web down his throat until I knew it was clogged enough to suffocate him. I dropped him, turned my back and left.
I climbed back onto the platform and walked through the awe-struck onlookers. I didn't need to be attracting attention now. I already drew too much attention and I half expected Reshef himself to be waiting around the corner for me and I still hadn't fully recovered from the impact of the subway hitting me.
I was almost right. While I was walking down the street my spider-sense went off, I side-stepped a needle of some sort and looked back to see Ruin before the needle turned back and hit me in the neck before I could react. Everything went black.

*A few hours later...*

I woke up and paniced immediately. I was strapped to a surgical table in a room I'd never seen before.
"Awake at last?" Reshef asked. I tried to lash out at him but couldn't. "Adamantium cuffs," he explained.
"I'm gonna kill you! I swear!" I barked at him.
"Oh really?" Reshef asked me. "I doubt it. But while you're here I have a few questions for you before I get to your punishment."
I glared at him.
"Where are the others?" he asked patiently.
"What others?" I asked retoriclly.
"You know which others," Reshef walked over to a table and picked up something, it looked like a tazer.
"Oh. Them? I haven't heard from them in months. You're out of luck," I replied. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of beating me mentally too. Whatever he did I had to take it.
Reshef wasn't happy with what he heard, he shocked me with the tazer, "Wrong answer."
"Dude, seriously look at me. I'm not much of a team player these days. Who would I be in contact with at this point?" I asked.
"You do run a good point. But I'm sure there is something you can do for me, other than what you've already done," Reshef started.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You were passed out for quite some time," Reshef ignored my question.
I tried to break free and attack him, "What the hell did you do to me?"
"Simple. I borrowed some DNA from you and.... enhanced it. Then I cloned you. It wasn't the most difficult process in the world. I was rather worried in the beginning though but the results were phenominal," Reshef explained.
"I'll kill you!" I barked at him.
"Jason, I'm shocked that you would say that. I would imagine that you'd want to at least see the new you," Reshef went on.
"Hey Jason," someone walked into the room. It was me. Well, not exactly. He looked like me a bit, his face was the same but his eyes weren't. He has six of them for starters. Six black eyes. And his teeth were sharp like razorblades. He had two normal arms and four spider arms. He was grinning evilly at me. My clone.
I didn't even know what to say. I was cloned. Kind of. My DNA was enhanced and then this... thing was created from it. What was I supposed to say to the other half of me?
"Now... shall we proceed to your punishment?" Reshef asked me. "I was thinking I could send you to Demstar IV. The king there has been looking for new gladiators lately. He'd probably like you. You're scrappy," Reshef sat down in a chair. My clone hung upside down from a web next to him.
"I like that idea," Spider-Jason agreed. Then he turned to Reshef, "I speak for myself, aka him, when I say he's ready, willing, and able for it."
"I'm gonna kill you!" I yelled at him. "I'm gonna kill all of you! I swear!"
"So you say," Reshef sighed. "Now, before I sell you to King Zelku, the king of Demstar IV if you haven' figured that out, I have an old friend who's been dying to see you."
Rachel walked into the room.
"I'll give you kids some privacy," Reshef said as he walked out.
"Jason, long time no see," Rachel sounded like she didn't know she was evil at this point.
"I liked it that way actually," I replied.
"Aww... you know that would have hurt my feelings a year ago. I used to have a crush on you," Rachel said.
"I'm flattered," I told her sarcasticlly.
"Fine, don't tell me what you're REALLY thinking I already know. Jasey here told me all about it," she was reffering to my clone who was now standing by her side. "We make such a good couple, don't you think?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Two complete psychoes should be together, that way they can die together," I told her.
"Hmm... well I just happen to see the big picture here. Reshef rules the world, he's one of the most powerful beings in the universe, being on his side is a smart move. It means we won't die no matter how you 'threaten' to. Rebelling against him is suicide, you already know that. And now you're going to be sold as a gladiator to King Zelku, and you'll just fight until you die," Rachel explained my fate. "Face it Jason. The 'good guys' aren't going to win this one."
"I swear I'll kill you two," I stared into her heartless eyes.
"Right," she replied carelessly. Rachel's eyes glew as turned the table I was on into a ball and chains that wrapped around my arms and neck. Next she used her powers to lift me and bring me into a small space ship. "Bye Jason." They waved at me tauntingly before the door closed.
"You're a bitch," I told her. The ship took off and I couldn't do anything about it. I lost. Game over.