Spider-Verse: A Tangled Web We Weave
Fifteen
"So, if this is a Spider-verse fanfic, where are the alternate universe Spidermen?" Spider Gwen asked, frowning.
Spider Man 2099 nodded, "It DOES seem weird.
"Goo!" Spider Baby noted.
Hobie Brown, Spider Punk, pointed out, "The lazy ass writer probably doesn't want to juggle any more characters."
"Probably," Gwen sighed.
"Who wants to go to the cafeteria and get lunch?" Spider-Girl suggested.
"Yeah, I could eat," 2099 agreed.
Ben Reily, the Scarlet Spider sighed, "I need to go off and ANGST awhile."
"What's his issue?" Gwen whispered.
"90s character," 2099 noted.
"Ah," Gwen nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Oof!" Spider Man grunted as the black and red clad boy dodged under a wild swing.
"Sit still!" the gangster yelled.
"How about no?" Spidey quipped as he pushed him back, them webbed him against a wall.
"SOMEBODY JUST SHOOT HIM!" a dude yelped,
The gangsters had pistols, but Miles' spider sense and reflexes were such he could dodge well enough. Really, his biggest worry was wild shots hitting civilians.
Bouncing between goons Spidey carefully punched each one out, even as he heard police sirens getting closer.
(Using 'the proportional strength of a spider' against normal guys took some care. If he hit too hard, he could do huge damage to a normal person. His strength seemed to limit itself SOMEWHAT on it's own, but he was still very careful.)
"This is so unfair!" one webbed up guy grumbled, "Prowler said you'd be occupied across town."
'So they ARE using Prowler as a distraction,' Miles mused.
Before he could question them more the police arrives, so he used his cloaking ability to watch the cops round them up.
(The author had NOT completely forgot about Miles' invisibility power, it just hasn't come up. Yup. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.)
'I should get back to the dorm,' Miles mused, 'and Cindy and Ned wanted to finish up our spider-drone too...'
With that, Miles swung off over the city.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tombstone, dressed up in the borrowed Prowler gear, had his own problems.
"MOON KNIGHT?!"
"The Fist Of KHONSHU will punish you," the white clad figure cried, attacking with a knife in each hand.
"Is he nuts?" one good wondered.
"Is that a trick question?" another wondered.
Moon Knight was super strong and tough, due to super soldier treatments. He was also mentally ill, and had multiple personalities, some of whom was a super hero and the other a VILLAIN, Ronin. And he was incredibly violent.
"Ack!" Prowler yelped as Moon Knight tore into his armored costume.
If Prowler's armor wasn't kevlar reinforced, Moon Knight would have GUTTED him. As it was, he was pretty sure he's gotten some cuts already.
"BACK OFF," Prowler used his wrist blasters to force Moon Knight back.
"Vengeance has come for you!" Moon Knight snarled.
Prowler bounced away, his cape fluttering as he saw the members of his gang had escaped. "Not today, Moony," he snarled, and used the jet boost in his boots to escape at high speed.
"Coward!" Moon Knight roared.
'Fuck, I need a doctor,' Prowler realized, aware he was bleeding in various places. 'And Kingpin is NOT going to like this,' he mused.
Later...
"You got your ass kicked by MOON KNIGHT?" Scorpion scoffed. He added, "Hombre, that is just SAD."
"Hey, he's a super soldier. Don't underestimate him," Kraven noted as they watched Tombstone get bandaged up.
"Even if he does dress in bedsheets," Beetle noted dryly.
"Ha!" Scorpion chuckled.
Tombstone just sighed...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Moon Knight is active again?" Kingpin frowned.
Moon Knight had been part of a plan to bring him down, a few years back. He had posed as a Fisk enforcer, 'Ronin' but his Dissociative Identity Disorder caused Ronin to manifest as a seperate person, one who supported Fisk.
"Yes, he engaged Prowler," Caterina reported calmly. "He was trying to intercept a drug delivery," she added.
"They got away?" Kingpin asked.
"Prowler distracted Moon Knight long enough to cover his people's escape," Caterina said. "No merchandise or money losses as well," she added.
"Good," Kingpin nodded.
Caterina puffed out a breath, "To complicate matters, we've had sightings of Black Cat as well."
"I thought she was dead?" Kingpin barked, and Caterina shrugged.
(In fact Wilson Fisk had SHOT the thief, who had attempted to steal a artifact from him that might revive his wife. Apparently due to a vendetta she had with him... but he had been CERTAIN it was a kill shot. Damn it.)
Caterina continued, "I'll alert out team, but..."
"She's slippery and hard to find," Kingpin sighed.
Black Cat was on one hand striking, but she was excellent at disguising herself and being covert. And, of course, was one hell of a cat burglar. And she had been very annoying in targeting Wilson Fisk whenever she could,
Kingpin said to her flatly, "Clear my schedule tomorrow. I need to check in on the projects at Horizon Labs..."
'They'd best have made some progress,' Caterina mused, 'he's not one to tolerate failure.'
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Miles Warren, brilliant biochemist and clone researcher, was WELL AWARE that failure would end badly.
"Okay, open up the chamber," Miles ordered.
Sam Sterns pressed buttons on a seperate console, and the class slid down as the fluid within drained. A woman lay in the device, the spitting image of Vanessa Fisk.
"Readings are good," Sam noted, "all vitals within range."
Miles walked up to the bed, looking her over. "Miss Fisk?" he started.
Without warning a hand suddenly grabbed him by the throat.
"URK," Miles gurgled.
Vanessa's eyes were wild as she bared her teeth and growled ferally. Her other hans started to come up as her skin seemed to shift, becoming green-ish.
"Tase... her..." Miles managed.
A security guard used the taser on the woman, making her jerk backwards. She swayed in place, then something like ROT spread swiftly across her body. In moments, she just collapsed into a blob of organic sludge.
"Hurk.. ha...," Miles rubbed his throat.
"Well, it took longer for clone degeneration to kick in this time, sir," Sam offered.
Miles grunted in anger. His rapid cloning process could create s near perfect copy of a person. But the clones didn't last, and all underwent clone degeneration, collapsing into themselves. So far, he couldn't create lasting clones.
Even his copy, 'Jackal' had broken down days ago.
"We need SOMETHING to strengthen the cell structures," Miles grumbled.
Sam gave a pointed look at the frozen Green Goblin. "Not using OZ," he quickly said, "but splicing in some of his altered DNA."
Miles frowned thoughtfully but didn't toss the idea out immediately. "We'd have to be very careful," he mused.
"We've extensively mapped Osborn's DNA. I'm sure we can do it," Sam said.
Finally Miles nodded, "All right, one test run..."
To be continued...