Chapter 118: The Bat’s Collider

Verna could only wave her hand and take the corpses of her hounds with her.

Just as that figure activated the portal, Bruce paused the footage.

He zoomed in on the other side of the portal. Though the glow made it somewhat unclear, he could still make out the general appearance.

It was a grand, resplendent hall, but its decor was steeped in a medieval aesthetic.

Even Verna's attire resembled that of a noblewoman from the Middle Ages.

However, judging by how she controlled those hounds earlier, it was likely a highly technologically advanced world.

As for why they were hunting Spider-Man…

From Verna's final words, it sounded like they considered Spider-Men their food.

Eating living humans as sustenance.

Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that they weren't after Spider-Man's body itself but rather something specific about him.

Something within the Spider-Men.

Moreover, when Verna entered the Batcave, she had clearly been uneasy.

It was as if something inside the Batcave made her feel fear.

Bruce looked around at his Batcave, at the bat insignias he had marked all over the place.

Was Verna afraid of his bat symbol?

But how could that be possible?

The bat symbol was his own creation—he knew it better than anyone.

There was nothing special about it.

If something so simple could instill fear in a Spider-Man hunter, it was clearly abnormal.

Bruce shook his head and patched into Captain America's comms, who was still dealing with Hydra.

"Captain America, have you seen Miles?" Bruce wanted to confirm whether Miles had really been taken away by those Spider-Men.

At that moment, Captain America, who had just barely caught a break, immediately scanned his surroundings.

"Hold on, I'll ask around." After glancing around without spotting Miles, he relayed the question to Bruce.

He then approached the people who had fought alongside Miles earlier.

But after asking around, no one knew where Miles had gone.

That made Captain America anxious.

He didn't want to lose another Spider-Man due to his own oversight.

Even if it was only a temporary disappearance.

"Do you know where he is?" Captain America suddenly recalled Bruce's message—if Bruce was asking him about Miles, then he likely had an idea of his whereabouts.

"He'll return safely," Bruce said nothing more, simply giving this reassurance before cutting the comms.

To Captain America, that response was incredibly frustrating. What did he mean by "he'll return safely"?

Did that mean the Bat had no idea where the kid had gone either?

Bruce sat back inside the Batmobile and switched the core data feed to New York's surveillance system.

But instead of seeing the cityscape, the footage showed a small house he had purchased in Queens.

It was now the new Parker residence.

Sure enough, he saw the same glow flickering there.

The Spider-Men had found this universe's Peter Parker.

Bruce took a deep breath. To be honest, this development came rather suddenly.

But he wasn't without options.

He just needed some time to pinpoint where Jessica and the others had gone.

He pulled up Kingpin's original collider schematics.

At that moment, Jessica had already regrouped with the other Spider-Men.

The Ultimate Spider-Man let out a breath of relief—he had successfully brought back all three Spiders from that universe.

"I need to take care of something. You guys stay here for now." With those words, he stepped into his lab.

Miles, meanwhile, was looking around at the gathered Spider-Men, feeling a mix of excitement and awe.

Although he had met a few Spider-Men before, this situation was clearly on a much larger scale than anything he had previously experienced.

Then, he spotted a familiar figure—

Spider-Man Noir from Earth-90214.

Spider-Man Noir also noticed Miles and walked up to him, giving him a gentle hug.

"Looks like you've been through a lot," he remarked, noting the wear and tear visible on Miles.

When they first met, Miles was just a little guy who had only recently gained his powers.

Now, he seemed to have grown into a fully independent Spider-Man.

"Thanks to the help of the Ultimate Team... and that bat." Miles scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.

"So, it looks like you two know each other." The six-armed Spider-Man from Earth-92100 stroked his chin with two hands, crossed his arms with another two, and placed the last two on his waist.

"We've been through some things together," Shadow Spider-Man replied, not elaborating further.

That alone was enough.

"So, can someone tell me what's going on right now? Who exactly is that guy trying to kill me? And what are the Inheritors?" Jessica was more interested in figuring out what was up with the old woman who had suddenly appeared.

Why did she try to take her life the moment she showed up?

"It's not just that woman—there are many like her hunting us across the multiverse." The Spider-Monkey from Earth-8101 leaped onto the Spider-Assassin's shoulder and spoke to Jessica.

"Ultimate Spider-Man was the first to discover this and started gathering the Spider-Army."

Jessica was surprised, both by the talking Spider-Monkey and by what he had just revealed.

"Alright, alright, I can already guess what you're thinking—something along the lines of 'Why can this monkey talk?' or some other monkey-related offense."

Spider-Monkey sighed helplessly.

He had seen this reaction far too many times recently.

Almost every newcomer had to make some kind of remark.

If they weren't all Spider-Men, he would've clawed them already.

"No, no, I'm just shocked by what you said," Jessica replied honestly. She could hardly imagine why someone would be hunting Spider-Men across the multiverse.

"This is far worse than what happened last time," Miles had already grasped the severity of the situation.

Even though he hadn't seen the old woman Jessica mentioned, anything capable of crossing universes was a huge deal.

And then, at that moment, Miles noticed something.

He didn't feel any resistance from this universe.

This was completely different from before.

Logically, they should be considered anomalies in this universe.

Miles looked up at Shadow Spider-Man.

Shadow Spider-Man immediately understood what Miles was asking with his gaze.

"I asked about it. According to Ultimate Spider-Man, Kingpin's collider actually took a shortcut. By using energy collisions, it forcefully created spatial instability."

"The universe naturally corrects its own flaws, which means anyone who arrives through an unstable space is instinctively treated as a flaw."

"And must be repaired."

"But this time, we traveled through a stable universal anchor, which is permitted by the universe's rules."

Miles pursed his lips at Shadow Spider-Man but didn't say anything.

"I didn't really get it at the time either, but as long as we don't have to feel that kind of pain, that's all that matters," Shadow Spider-Man admitted, clearly not too concerned about the technicalities.

That feeling of being rejected by space was hard to forget.

"By the way, where's Gwen?" The first thing that came to Miles' mind was Gwen, his classmate.

He didn't see her anywhere here.

"We couldn't find Gwen's universe," Shadow Spider-Man, who had been part of Ultimate Spider-Man's early recruits, replied.

None of their subsequent searches had located Gwen's universe.

They hadn't even found the other Spider-Men who had gathered in Earth-1610.

This left Miles feeling a little down, but he quickly pulled himself together.

Maybe nothing had happened in Gwen's universe.

Meanwhile, on Earth-1610, a collider designed specifically for the Bat was already being constructed right in front of Bruce.

(End of Chapter)

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