Miles Morales: New Spider Chapter 35: Clash of Spiders

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*Earth-803 Clone World – Jennix's Base*

Exiting the portal, we were greeted by the stench of rotten biomatter and chemicals that polluted the abandoned passage.

"April, deploy Aracnite Unit Omega," I ordered.

"Yes, Boss," came the quick response.

Black Widow wrinkled her nose. "Oh man. This place reeks."

"Chemicals. Rot. Decay," Ben Reilly added, his voice tired. "Just once, I’d like for a villain to switch it up. Actually, Silvermane used to smell pretty good… until he turned into a withered old man."

I tuned out the banter as we advanced down the corridor. Spotting a side door, I led the group through it, stepping into one of the most surreal sights I had ever seen. It was like Wakanda, minus the vibranium. This world was immensely advanced, the silver structures reflecting the light from the clear skies. Hoverships zipped between towering skyscrapers, but something was missing—there were no birds, no animals, no trees, no grass. It was all concrete, metal, and glass. Lifeless.

"Oh my God," Ben breathed, his eyes wide at the view.

"We gotta get back inside," Black Widow said, pulling him back in.

"But it was beautiful! And I didn’t even see a Starbucks. What kind of villain base doesn’t have one?" Ben quipped.

"Yeah, I saw it," she replied. "But we can’t go out like this. The device Superior Spider-Man gave us stops them from sensing us, but it doesn’t make us invisible. We’ll be noticed immediately if we go swinging around."

Scratching his head, Ben nodded. "Err, okay. What now? You guys don’t wear regular clothes under your costumes, do you?"

Kaine reappeared, holding several hospital gowns. "We’re in some kind of hospital. Found these."

"I don’t need it. I can turn invisible," I said, refusing the gown.

"You’re like Miles," Black Widow remarked, glancing at me.

"That’s because I *am* Miles. Well, from Earth-1999985," I said, retracting my mask. "Yeah, found out my Earth number. Bit of a mouthful, huh?"

"...Wow, I did *not* see that coming," she said, staring in disbelief.

Kaine muttered something about the "weird stuff" that kept happening, but Ben interrupted him.

"Kaine, where’s your gown?"

"I’ve got a stealth suit. How do you think I got it in the first place?" he replied, pointing at himself.

"Alright, let’s move," Black Widow ordered.

"I’ll scout ahead with Kaine." Activating my camouflage, I blended into the surroundings as Kaine followed suit.

We continued through a door into an even larger corridor. Holographic screens lined the walls, endlessly displaying Jennix’s speeches. Jennix, the brains of the Inheritors, ruled this clone world.

"Jennix sees you within the machine. There is nobility in your utility. There are elegant secrets in complexity. You are complex," the holograms droned.

"Oh yeah, this is definitely one of their worlds," Ben said dryly, gesturing to the screens. "That guy’s a TV star."

"Group coming down the hall," I whispered.

A cluster of identical clones approached us. Their helmets resembled bulky neural scanners, their eyes glazed over, movements robotic. They passed Ben and Black Widow without so much as a glance.

"That was… unsettling," Kaine murmured as we advanced.

"They’re clones," I noted.

"No way we stumbled into their clone factory on our first try. Even I’m not that lucky," Ben said, scratching his chin.

"I doubt it," Black Widow said. "Those weren’t Inheritors. Too normal, too docile. This is probably a facility where they engineer the population."

Jennix was a twisted genius. He had taken an entire world and warped it into a perversion of life—mindless drones to serve the Inheritors. As we dug through the files, my hatred for him only grew.

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*Earth-13 – Home of Cosmic Spider-Man (aka Safe Zone)*

A purple portal hummed to life as Spider-People emerged. May Parker rushed toward Cosmic Spider-Man, her face etched with worry.

"My brother… is he…?"

"Right here, May," Cosmic Spider-Man said, handing over a toddler—Benjy Parker, her last living relative. May hugged him tightly, whispering soothing words.

Gwen surveyed the new arrivals. "I don’t see the old man."

"Sorry, Gwen. We lost him. And not just him," Spider-UK said wearily.

"Oh my God! Spider-Woman, she didn’t—?"

"She’s alright, Anya," Spider-Man 616 assured her. "We need to talk."

Superior Spider-Man cut in angrily. "No! The time for talking is over! Don’t you get it? This is war! From now on, *I’m* in charge!"

"No, you’re not," 616 retorted, stepping forward. "I am."

"I’ve studied the Inheritors for weeks! I’ve formulated strategies based on data from the Arachnid. I’m the future you. Logically, I have all your experiences and *more*. I am the *Superior* Spider-Man," he said smugly, removing his mask to reveal his true identity—Doc Ock in Peter’s body.

"That doesn’t make you superior," Peter growled. "And I’ll show you why."

In an instant, Peter’s fist collided with Superior Spider-Man’s face, sending him stumbling back. Four mechanical tentacles extended from Superior Spider-Man’s back, poised to strike.

"You really want to settle it this way?" Peter taunted.

The sidelined Spider-People erupted into cheers for Peter, the *real* Spider-Man.

Superior Spider-Man unleashed his tentacles, taking a swipe at Peter, who easily dodged. "Swing and a miss!" Peter teased, shooting webs to tangle the tentacles.

"I outgrew jokes. I *evolved*. This isn’t child’s play—it’s war!" Superior Spider-Man fired energy blasts from the tentacles, but Peter dodged every one, getting closer.

"War? You don’t get it. I’ll never be that ruthless."

"Oh, but you will. When you’re me."

Peter landed in front of Superior Spider-Man. The tentacles froze, their deadly tips hovering inches from Peter’s face.

"Alright, show me. Kill me," Peter challenged.

"What? But I’m—"

Thwack! A kick to the jaw sent Superior Spider-Man flying back, unconscious before he hit the ground.

"You were saying?"