Chapter 127: The Astonishing Clone Factory

After the brief interlude, Jabul turned to his younger brother with a puzzled expression.

"What exactly is going on right now? I just met Peter Parker not long ago and took him to where you're staying."

He looked toward Miguel.

But at that moment, Miguel seemed uncertain about how to explain the current situation to his older brother.

"Well... he's not—never mind. Long story short, there are thousands of spider-powered people wandering around New York City right now, and there's someone trying to kill us."

Spider-Man 2099's words made Jabul realize the gravity of the situation his brother was facing.

"Who is it?"

He wanted to know who could be crazy enough to hunt Spider-Men so relentlessly.

This time, it wasn't Spider-Man 2099 who answered him, but rather Spider-Woman and Six-Armed Spider-Man.

"His name is Daemons. He comes from a family that lives to hunt spiders."

"They drain our life essence to maintain their youth."

Suddenly, Jabul spoke up, "So he's in New York City right now?"

Six-Armed Spider-Man nodded. "Most likely."

"And he's hunting you?" Jabul was clearly getting a headache.

"That's basically it. I need to find another place to gather reinforcements. I need a more diverse team. Daemons and his kin specialize in taking out Spider-people—so I need people who aren't spiders."

Just as Spider-Man 2099 finished speaking, the wall behind them exploded.

BOOM!!!

"There you are! You really made me work for this—I spent a full ten minutes looking for you!" Daemons loomed over the trio of Spider-Men. "Where did you stash the body you stole from me?"

"Someplace you'll never find, Daemons!"

Six-Armed Spider-Man responded and charged toward him. All six of his arms shot out webs, trying to entangle Daemons.

"Go! I'll hold him off!" Perhaps that's always been the Spider-Man way—facing terrifying enemies without fear.

But Daemons easily caught the webs with one hand.

"Oh really? And what's your plan?" Using the webs shot at him, he yanked Six-Armed Spider-Man forward and smashed him to the ground.

"Gonna outwit me? Mock me with your intellect? Seduce me, maybe? You've really got a few tricks up your sleeve, huh? But think carefully before you open your mouth again." With that, Daemons completely overpowered him. He held Six-Armed Spider-Man's neck close to his mouth. "Me? I don't need to think. I just eat!"

Seeing Six-Armed Spider-Man about to be devoured, Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Woman rushed forward to save him.

But they were no match for Daemons. With a mere flick of his arm, he flung both of them away like rag dolls.

"You're next." Daemons said coldly, looking at the two who had been thrown aside, then hoisted Six-Armed Spider-Man up.

"You're actually quite delicious, Peter. Your unique essence makes you richer, more flavorful than the others. I doubt that's why you created your formula, but the result speaks for itself." In a golden glow, he drained every last drop of Six-Armed Spider-Man's life force.

Then he casually tossed the lifeless body out through the hole in the wall he'd smashed open.

With a twisted grin, he looked at Spider-Woman and Spider-Man 2099.

"Now... who's next?"

Spider-Woman dashed up to Daemons and punched him square in the face, shouting, "Back off, monster! Run, Miguel! I'll hold him off!"

Her words actually made Daemons laugh, even though the punch had knocked him off balance.

But that didn't stop him from retaliating.

"Oh yes, of course. Gotta hand it to you—didn't one of your predecessors try the same move just now? Worked like a charm." While taunting her, Daemons grabbed Spider-Woman by the neck.

That's when he noticed something different about her—something unlike the other Spider-People.

"What's this? You're not a spider." He dragged her closer by the throat.

The totemic energy he sensed from her was... odd.

Daemons' powerful grip left Spider-Woman unable to speak.

"You're not. You're just a poser with mechanical spider legs. You've dressed yourself up like a spider, sure, and you do have some essence... but it reeks of tech—rust and metal." Daemons looked at her face, now inches from his. He stuck out his tongue and licked her cheek. "Maybe I'll have a different kind of fun with you."

The next moment, a beam of energy slammed into Daemons—courtesy of Jabul.

He was holding a strange, uniquely designed weapon aimed straight at Daemons.

Daemons looked stunned—this guy dared to shoot him?

"You dare—?" Before he could finish, Jabul fired again, blasting Daemons straight out of the building.

Spider-Man 2099 was stunned. His brother had this kind of firepower?

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"Daina's. She left it here in case of emergencies," Jabul replied as he gently lowered the weapon. "Go. Take him down."

Spider-Man 2099 was about to say something more, but when he heard his brother's words, he leapt through the shattered wall, shouting back, "On it!"

Spider-Woman walked up beside Jabul and patted him on the back. "Thanks!"

"No nee—" Before he could finish, she cut him off—by kissing him.

Then she turned and sprinted after Spider-Man 2099.

Jabul smiled and waved after her. "Come back and visit sometime."

Meanwhile, on Earth-13, British Spider-Man had just finished explaining to Peter Parker and the others what had happened after they'd left.

At that exact moment, Bruce opened his eyes. He was awake.

The first face he saw was Jessica from Earth-616.

"You're awake," Jessica said with a warm smile.

Gwen, standing nearby, also noticed Bruce was conscious.

Although Bruce hadn't personally experienced all that had happened, the memories flooding back were enough to tell him that he'd been resting his head on Spider-Woman's lap.

"Wow, she's the first woman I've ever seen getting this close to him." LEGO Batman looked thrilled. He even ran out of his own prison cell, trying to get into Thomas's.

Ever since he'd appeared in Bruce's mind prison, he'd never seen Bruce in any kind of intimate situation. The most interaction he'd had was with Jessica, his assistant.

But LEGO Batman's glee clearly infuriated someone else.

"Shut up, you little runt! Or I'll stomp you into pieces when I get out!"

Red Death slammed a fist against the bars of his cell.

He never imagined he'd be subdued by two people working together.

In the end, the lingering side effects Bruce had suffered were all Red Death's doing. He'd withdrawn the Speed Force protection just before Bruce stopped moving.

But Barry Allen had tried to shield Bruce with his own Speed Force, which meant the guy outside had only ended up with broken limbs.

And yet that damn Spider-Man had completely healed Bruce's body with his energy.

Everything Red Death had done had become meaningless. And before Bruce passed out, he'd even managed to shove Red Death back into the mind prison.

"Oh, sorry, but you must not know—minifigs are the tightest and hardest of all LEGO parts. Careful not to hurt your feet." LEGO Batman didn't care about Red Death's threats. He even strolled to the door of Red Death's cell, taunting the newly re-imprisoned villain.

Meanwhile, another Batman—Ben—was calmly reading a book inside his cell.

Each Batman's prison was customized to reflect who they were. LEGO Batman's was a LEGO castle.

It didn't even restrict his movement in and out of the cell.

Ben's cell, on the other hand, was filled with books.

In that place, he had somehow found peace—something he hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Although it was quite noisy outside, it didn't bother him at all.

News of the Bat's awakening had already spread among the spiders. They all knew that without him, this battle could have become incredibly difficult.

Peter Parker flashed to the Bat's side and helped him up.

"Looks like you're pretty badly hurt, man," Peter said with concern.

"You've brought back some pretty powerful spiders, it seems," Bruce didn't respond directly. His gaze was fixed on a few of the Spider-Men he had never seen before.

Especially the one who had just climbed down from Leopardon.

Bruce also noticed that a few of the Spider-Men who had been present were now missing.

"Long story short, we hit the jackpot," Peter Parker said, introducing the Spider-Man who had come down from Leopardon. "This is Takuya Yamashiro from Earth-51778. Oh, and that big robot behind him? That's Leopardon."

"So, what's the plan now? Just sit around here and wait for the Inheritors to come knocking again?" Bruce stood up straight. He no longer needed Peter Parker's support.

The cosmic energy within Captain Universe Spider-Man had fully healed his body.

Even the hidden injuries he'd sustained previously were completely gone.

No wonder—Solus once referred to that energy as the purest form of life force.

That power was indeed what allowed Solus to consume and grow stronger.

"Don't worry, Bat. We always find a way. Besides, this is spider business, isn't it?" Peter Parker replied confidently.

"Where did you send them?"

Bruce's question made Peter Parker grin. "To deal with those guys' immortality."

Earth-805.

Ben Reilly from Earth-94, Kaine Parker from Earth-616, and Jessica—who now served as Bruce's assistant—from Earth-1610 had successfully arrived here.

They had entered the most eye-catching building on this Earth—or more precisely, the most prominent building in New York on this Earth.

And once they entered the Baxter Building, what they saw left them dumbfounded.

Honestly, for a world ruled by a supervillain, Earth-805 was far cleaner than any of the three had expected.

Ben Reilly even joked that he hadn't seen a single Starbucks here.

Clearly, this was very different from the villain-ruled worlds they'd encountered before.

They had already taken down a squad of guards.

A fully armed unit, in fact—and they had even defeated this world's Tony Stark, who worshiped Jennix as the supreme authority.

To be honest, when Tony Stark declared that Jennix was the one true ruler of this world, none of the Spider-Men present could hide their disgust.

That just wasn't something the Tony Stark they knew would ever say. Arrogant, proud, and narcissistic—he never saw anyone as superior to himself.

Back then, Jessica and Ben Reilly had intended to have a good chat with Tony Stark, hoping he might reveal the location of Jennix's cloning facility. But unfortunately, one member of their team had a bit of a temper.

Kaine Parker's wrist suddenly sprouted two sharp spikes.

He tried to intimidate Tony Stark, but Stark wasn't having any of it. He just laughed and said, "He's the smartest man in the world. Where do you think his command center is? Of course, it's in the Baxter Building."

As for why he so casually gave up that information—

He believed that delivering three spiders directly to Jennix would surely earn him a reward.

Truly, the Tony Stark on this planet was nothing like the one they knew. His behavior was utterly repulsive.

They suited Ben Reilly up in Iron Man armor. It took them nearly an hour, but it was a win in their books.

They had successfully infiltrated the Baxter Building.

Next up was splitting up.

Jessica was to buy time for Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker by drawing the guards' attention.

Everything was going according to plan—until Kaine and the others ran into trouble.

"Hey, what's going on? Iron Man, hold up!" A very familiar voice called out to Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker.

For them, this was definitely bad news. Anyone who recognized them posed a serious risk of blowing their cover.

And just as feared, the man recognized Kaine Parker's face.

"That's Peter Parker! I'd never mistake that face!" The man, wearing this world's version of a military uniform, walked up to them. A badge and nameplate on his chest identified him clearly.

Jonathan Storm.

The famous Human Torch.

"So, what's going on here exactly?" Jonathan instinctively felt something was off about the two in front of him.

Logically, if Jennix needed this Spider-Man, he would've been informed.

And if it was a covert op, Iron Man certainly wouldn't have entered through the front door with Spider-Man in tow.

"None of this makes any sense—" Jonathan hadn't even finished his sentence when another voice cut him off.

"Then stop trying to make sense of it."

A flash of black-and-red shot past them—the mysterious figure delivered a powerful kick to Jonathan Storm's back.

Even the Human Torch couldn't react in time.

The spider's strength was overwhelming—Jonathan couldn't get back on his feet. It felt like his spine had been completely shattered.

"What just happened?" Kaine Parker had been ready to blow his cover and take down Human Torch himself, but this unexpected interference left him stunned.

"We won a battle elsewhere, so now we've got time to come help here," another two Spider-Men arrived at that moment, having dismantled the guards Jonathan brought with him.

"So many Spider-Men—Jennix is going to be thrilled," Jonathan muttered as he forced himself upright, his body erupting into flames.

But the very next moment, a metallic spider leg pierced through his chest.

The flames vanished instantly. His eyes widened, trying to see who had just killed him. But sadly, he never got the chance to identify the face.

Ultimate Spider-Man flung his body aside.

"We need to move faster. We have to destroy the Inheritors' cloning facility while we have the chance," Ultimate Spider-Man said, unfazed by the blood trickling down his metal spider leg.

He turned to face Kaine and the others.

But the commotion they caused had drawn in reinforcements—guard units were now charging their way.

The two Spider-Men who had arrived with Ultimate Spider-Man immediately moved to intercept the guards.

"Honestly, this kind of thing is usually Jessica's job. Not ours," Kaine said as he donned his suit again—the Scarlet Spider had returned.

"Trust me, she's already doing her part," Ben Reilly grunted as he removed the Iron Man suit piece by piece.

"Before we came in, I scanned the building. I've got a pretty good idea where the cloning facility is," Ultimate Spider-Man projected a 3D map of the Baxter Building.

He even marked the location of the cloning lab.

"Holy shit!" Scarlet Spider couldn't help but curse when he saw the map.

Because the entire Baxter Building had been built around the cloning facility.

Or rather, Jennix had transformed the entire structure into one massive storage unit for the Inheritors' clones.

The cloning lab spanned from the very bottom of the building all the way to the top.

(End of this chapter)

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