Peter and Gwen stayed in Earth-1616 for a few more days, mainly because there were still some loose ends to tie up—specifically, the Jackal's secret base. It was best to blow it sky-high. Though it was a pity to destroy such technology, Peter Parkers from almost any universe were unlikely to hand something like that over to the United States government.
However, figuring out how to detonate it without affecting the rest of New York City was a delicate craft that required careful planning. Peter spent two days helping out before the problem was finally resolved. With the issue settled, it was naturally time for them to leave.
"So, he really doesn't plan on being Spider-Man anymore?"
Before they left, Gwen asked curiously about Ben Reilly. He had dyed his hair blonde, adopted a hairstyle completely different from that of the out-of-shape Peter, and was even planning to grow out a bit of a beard.
Furthermore, he wore a completely different Spider-Man suit. The spider emblem on the chest of this suit was massive, with its legs wrapping around most of his torso. This was Ben Reilly's own suit as Spider-Man. Before destroying the Jackal's base, he had used the equipment inside to completely stabilize his genetic sequence. Now, he could live like a normal person without having to worry about an accelerated lifespan.
"Not exactly," Ben Reilly said, scratching his chin as he spoke. Even now, he felt it was a bit strange for a clone like him to be saying these things. "He plans to find a job, lose weight, get back into training, and most importantly, go back to MJ and learn how to be a father."
"Spider-Man will return one day. But until then, this city still needs one."
"Perhaps by that time, this city will be big enough to accommodate two Spider-Men."
Peter handed a hard drive to Ben Reilly. "A little parting gift, you guys might find it useful. It's a shame we have to run, but some of the Jackal's messes still haven't been fully cleaned up."
The Jackal had left behind two major headaches. The first was the Green Goblin clone who lacked genetic defects. During the Sinister Sixteen's assault on the Daily Bugle building, this guy had managed to escape in the chaos. It was easy to foresee how frequently Ben Reilly would have to deal with him in the coming days.
The second was that, according to data found in the Jackal's computer, he had once attempted to create another clone of Spider-Man. However, that attempt had failed. A severely disfigured Spider-Man clone, whose powers were wildly unstable yet incredibly powerful, had escaped into New York's sewer system. Peter hadn't been able to locate this clone over the past two days, so he had no choice but to leave the matter in Ben Reilly's hands.
Fortunately, after this battle, both the out-of-shape Peter and Ben Reilly agreed to join the Spider-Society. They realized that the Society could assist them in various ways, so they both signed up. If they ever encountered something they couldn't handle, they could always call the Society for backup.
After saying goodbye to Ben Reilly, Peter and Gwen used their multiverse travel watches to return to headquarters. Seeing Peter looking somewhat lost in thought, Gwen waved her hand in front of his eyes. "What's wrong? Seeing you like this, did something happen?"
"No, nothing. Or rather, nothing major... wait, that doesn't seem right either."
In the wider multiverse, Shathra and the Inheritors had suddenly fallen into a dead silence for some reason, with no new movements detected. Meanwhile, back in Earth-616, there was still a complete lack of news, as if nothing at all was happening on Mephisto's end.
Before this bizarre stalemate could even be resolved, a new problem had cropped up—a Superior Spider-Man had appeared on Earth-1616, instigated the Jackal's transformation, and provided him with a massive amount of funding and resources from various Spider-Man villains. All of this proved that he wasn't working alone.
Even if it was just a small team of two or three people, given their current level of technology, they would still be incredibly troublesome to deal with.
While Peter was lost in thought, the portal finished forming and brought them back to headquarters. Upon stepping through, Peter noticed that the others weren't around. Neither Miguel nor his senior classmate was anywhere to be seen.
Instead, Cindy quickly hurried over, likely having caught wind of Peter's return and rushing down immediately.
As for Peter, he was glad to see Cindy up and about.
"Is your body doing okay now, Cindy?"
"I'm fine, much better now. Thanks for asking."
"Good to hear. By the way, where is Miguel? Where can I find him?"
Cindy actually knew where Miguel was. After she told Peter, he hurriedly took off, leaving only Cindy and Gwen standing there. The two girls looked at each other in silence for a moment before Cindy broke the ice. "Can you tell me what you guys encountered this time?"
"Sure!" Gwen replied.
On the other side, Peter successfully tracked down Miguel, who was currently working with a few other Spider-Men at the energy core to repair the power supply. The latter seemed to take a moment to verify exactly which universe Peter had just returned from before standing up. "I won't ask why you're a few days late getting back. To be honest, I've found myself getting used to hearing that you've gotten into trouble again."
"This time is a little different. The good news is I recruited two new members. The bad news is that during the process, I ran into a multiversal Spider-Man organization. This group isn't our Society, and it's not the Spider-Army either."
Miguel looked at Peter with an expression of sheer disbelief, as if saying, What kind of nonsense are you talking about?
Peter then recounted everything to Miguel. When Miguel heard Peter mention the details regarding Superior Spider-Man, his expression grew deadly serious. He looked at Peter and asked, "What do you think this Superior Spider-Man's ultimate goal is?"
"I don't know his deeper motives, but I can guess some of his immediate goals."
Synthesizing the comic books he had read in the past with his current analysis, Peter had a pretty good idea of what the opponent was trying to achieve.
Simply put, what Superior Spider-Man wanted most was to recruit anti-hero Spider-Men into his ranks—those who didn't adhere to a strict no-kill rule, yet hadn't fallen far enough to become lackeys of the Spider-Deities.
"But this time, Superior Spider-Man's actions have clearly crossed the line. He actively created monsters and enemies."
Miguel shook his head. Peter continued to ask, "Speaking of which, do you have any suitable universes that need help? I feel like we might just cross paths with a similar universe and take these guys on head-to-head."
Miguel didn't react right away. After a moment, he pulled up a map of the entire multiverse and looked at Peter.
"There is indeed one universe you can try."
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