Disclaimers
All characters appearing in Marvel Comics are copyright Marvel Entertainment and Walt Disney Company. No infringements of these copyrights are intended and are not authorized by the copyright holders.
All original characters are the property of Celgress.
Another Strand In The Great Web – Episode Forty-Two Spider-Verse Part Three: Web War!
A World Inside The Dimensional Rift
Avengers Tower
"Tell me again, why are they here?" Iron Spider asked thumbing at Norman Osborn in his newly revamped Iron Patriot armor (in a rare moment of unity between superheroes and supervillains, everyone agreed him being Green Goblin carried far too much baggage), a maniacally grinning Menace who had rejected Spider-Man's offer of a cure to her condition (there was no time to convince her otherwise), and many other recently furloughed supervillains from the Raft.
"Our present predicament involves them every bit as much as it does us, soldier. If the city falls their heads on the chopping block too." Captain America answered while hunched over a three-dimensional tabletop green-colored model of NYC and its nearby environs. "Besides we need all the help we can get. All hands on deck in a crisis I always say."
The past few hours saw much frantic movement of assets and personnel by both the City Hall and the Superhero Community. It had taken a herculean effort on the part of Cap & Ironman with an assist from Superior Spider-Man but finally, Mayor J. Jonah Jameson agreed to release all inmates of the Raft, (except for Alistair Smythe who he insisted must remain locked up) so they could assist in civil defense. An extremely uneasy alliance now existed between the two camps of foes many of who were embroiled in bitter personal feuds spanning many years.
Spider-Man put his hand on Iron Spider's shoulder. "Bro, focus, they aren't important saving the city and our loved ones that is important," He said.
"You're right." Iron Spider said.
"Aw, how heartwarming to see you show love for each other, boys. But where is your love for us?" Menace taunted.
"Burn is Hell, she-goblin." Scarlet Spider said elbowing Menace aside. Kaine smiled beneath his mask. His body twinged in pain due to his lingering injuries but it was worth it to see the scowl on Menace's face.
"How dare you! I should beat you within an inch of your life, brute!" Menace yelled while Norman held her back.
"And I should snap your neck, witch!" Scarlet Spider shouted back.
"People, we don't have time for pointless bickering." Captain Marvel said. She continued falling into a military mindset. " Thus far, our enemy has been content to marshal their forces outside the force field containing our landmass. No doubt, they are preparing to launch a major offensive but on their terms. I say we deny them that ability by striking first." She pointed at enemy positions which were each marked by a flashing red E symbol on the display.
"Any idea how we perform a successful strike, Captain Marvel?" Agent Toxin asked.
"I have a few possibilities in mind, but nothing concrete." Captain Marvel said.
"Our primary problem is how we transport our fair city and adjacent areas back to our universe of origin." Superior Spider-Man said.
"Do you have any ideas?" Spider-Man asked although he was loath to do so.
"I always have a plethora of ideas, you should know that better than anyone." Superior Spider-Man said smugly.
"Superior Spider-Man," Mr. Fantastic said pausing due to the distasteful absurdity of the moniker. "And I have crafted a potential solution: by linking several Manhattan towers together should be able to teleport home."
"But that means shutting down our protective energy shield." Invisible Woman pointed out from over a comlink. Ever since they had been transported to wherever they were the Baxter building was used to channel Sue's forcefield so it could protect the entire area. The strain upon her was excruciating.
"I'm well aware of that fact, Sue," Mr. Fantastic said to his wife. "We both know you can't maintain this effort indefinitely. We require a permanent solution to our daunting problem."
"How long will the teleportation process take?" Menace asked.
"I estimate it'll require roughly three to five minutes for completion." Superior Spider-Man answered.
"What's to keep the forces gathered outside our protective bubble from swarming the city and us once the shield is lowered, unless you can keep it up and also teleport us?" Norman Osborn asked.
"No, I'm told that would be impossible. A distraction will be required. We attack them then return when we receive the signal from Mr. Fantastic. It'll be a tight timeline, but doable. " Ironman said.
"Unless anyone has any better options this should be our plan." Captain Marvel said. No one did.
"Good luck everyone, I fear we may need it." Captain America said. "I'll inform Mayor Jameson of our plan."
After the meeting broke up and everyone else had hastily departed, Iron Patriot approached Superior Spider-Man with Menace. "What do you want? I have no time to chat. I'm extremely busy." Superior Spider-Man said.
"Too busy to reminisce with an old friend about old times, huh, Otto?" Iron Patriot said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Superior Spider-Man said visibly stiffening.
"Don't bother denying it. I know who you are inside that stolen clone body." Iron Patriot said.
"We both do." Menace giggled.
"What do you two want?" Superior Spider-Man hissed lowering his voice.
"The same thing you that you want, of that much I'm sure." Iron Patriot said.
"Which would be?" Superior Spider-Man said.
"A world in which we are freed to do as please." Iron Patriot.
"A world without Spider-Man or his friends." Menace said.
"I'm listening." Superior Spider-Man after a moment of hesitation.
Skyline of Manhattan
"I have a favor to ask of you," Spider-Man said to Iron Spider as they made their way above the city. He had already sent the others on ahead.
"Name it, bro," Iron Spider said.
"Would you stay with MJ, Aunt May, and the kids until this is over?" Spider-Man asked.
"Sure thing," Iron Spider said.
"If anything goes wrong,-" Spider-Man began.
"It won't." Iron Spider said cutting him off.
"If anything goes wrong I'm counting on you to make sure they're safe," Spider-Man said.
"You can count on me, bro." Iron Spider said.
"I know I can," Spider-Man said.
Outside Sue's Force Field, an hour later
Every superhero and supervillain who could fight did: everyone was there from the Avengers to the X-Men to the paramilitary group SHIELD (and their infamous helicarrier) to lesser groups. Miles Morales and the other Jessica Drew were also present. Things were soon looking poorly for our heroes and villains. They were hopelessly outnumbered by Spider Reaper's mighty army. When all seemed lost they somehow pushed the gathered enemy back but they knew not for how long they could maintain the advantage even with assistance from Superior Spider-Man's thousands of security bots retrofitted with weapons.
"Hurry up, we're in a bad way out here!" Spider-Man shouted over his comlink while fending off a trio of hunger Man-Spiders. Over his shoulder, Spider-Man saw Iron Patriot turn tail and run carrying off Menace along with him went over a dozen other supervillains. 'Cowards,' He thought.
The rooftop of the Baxter Building, a few minutes later
"The equipment is fully charged, Superior Spider-Man! Prepare for-," Mr. Fantastic said only to be knocked off his feet by a hard impact from a blue and white blur.
"Not just yet, hero. Otto, please, take us someplace more pleasant." Iron Patriot said using an ice blast to freeze the stunned Mr. Fantastic in place, "now!"
"My pleasure," Superior Spider-Man said activating the device. In a dazzling flash of light, NYC was gone leaving our surrounded heroes stranded on the rocky alien surface!
Parker Residence On Western Long Island
Mary Jane (who remained behind due to her condition), Aunt May, Jarvis, the twins, Ben, and the ever petulant Cindy Moon were gathered around the living room TV watching events unfold (thanks to a special feed setup by Peter before he left). They were horrified by what they saw.
"Citizens we thank you all for your support against Spider Reaper." Superior Spider-Man said appearing next to Norman Osborn who had removed the faceplate of his Iron Patriot helmet. The pair were surrounded by a large group of fellow supervillains many of them foes of Spider-Man including Menace who looked more insane than ever.
"Unfortunately, it was all for nothing," Norman said with a smirk. "Your champions are lost. We are your new rulers. Cooperate you will be rewarded resist you will suffer."
"Further instructions regarding our new order will be forthcoming in due time. Until then, be loyal or else." Superior Spider-Man said. The screen went blank.
"He's wrong! We do have champions." April said jumping off the sofa. She looked to her mother and uncle and even Cindy and Jarvis and Aunt May.
"April is right. Papa wouldn't give up, he'd fight. We should fight too." Mayday said likewise jumping onto the floor.
Mary Jane had never been prouder of her girls than at that moment. "And so will we." She said. 'Somehow,' She thought feeling her baby kick. 'Peter, I wish you were here.'
To Be Continued
Next up – Spider-Verse shifts into high gear. The dimension-hopping journeys of our various characters will be wild ones indeed.
Author's Note One -
While this chapter was very short compared with most I've posted to this story, I couldn't think of a way to pad it more so here we are. It contains all the necessary details to move the plot forward.
Now we come to it. The meat of this story I have planned for since the beginning. I hope you'll all enjoy what I have in mind. Stay tuned true believers!
Author's Note Two -
I've always thought that having 90% of Earth's superheroes concentrate in or around NYC is a major weakness a clever supervillain or supervillains could exploit, thus here we are. Earth 621-B is about to learn a hard lesson about resource allocation.
Author's Note Three -
I made a continuity error by including Jackal (who Kaine killed) in an earlier version of this chapter. I have since corrected said error by replacing Jackal with Menace. LOL, such things can happen when you have multiple ongoing stories.