Malrick stepped out and shot into the air, dodging the incoming web.
"You can fly too?" Gwen asked in surprise, tugging down her mask as she swung forward.
"Isn't it normal for a mage to fly?" Malrick shrugged casually.
"But you're not even riding a broomstick," Gwen muttered, swinging toward the control room to join the fight. "Take Little Peter and get him to safety!"
Shadow Spider-Man leapt after her.
Meanwhile, Spider-Ham smacked Deadpool's cheek. "Hey! The enemy's here, stop lying around!"
Deadpool pouted, pointing at his face. "Not until I get a hot, passionate kiss. Without it, my body's too rusty to stand up."
"…You should just stay down," Spider-Ham muttered, letting him drop.
But Deadpool immediately started rolling around on the floor, whining, "Just one kiss! My brain's mush thanks to your Mjolnir stunt!"
Spider-Ham groaned, grabbed Deadpool by the foot, and started dragging him up a wall. Deadpool swung back and forth like a ragdoll, his head thumping against the surface with each slam.
After a few hits, Deadpool suddenly pulled a katana from his back, stabbed it into the wall, and yanked himself to a stop. He tapped his own cheek with a finger. "A kiss. That's all I'm asking!"
"You #%$&!" Spider-Ham blurted out, his words automatically censoring themselves.
From above, Malrick had been watching with a sigh. Now he understood why 616 Spider-Man never had patience for Deadpool.
"I'll handle this," Malrick said, flying closer. He pointed a finger at Deadpool. "Transformation spell!"
A flash of magic struck Deadpool, twisting him into a scruffy little dog.
Spider-Ham picked him up by the hind legs and frowned. "He turned into a dog? You swear you're not from Hogwarts? This mutt is the ugliest dog alive, looks like a lawn that got sprayed with weed killer. Still, at least he's not talking. Thanks."
He slung dog-Deadpool over his shoulder and dashed toward the control room.
Dog-Deadpool blinked, then suddenly licked Spider-Ham's face with a wet tongue.
"Ugh, what is that? Don't lick me! Why's your tongue so long?!" Spider-Ham's complaints echoed as they ran.
The battle began abruptly when Kingpin stormed back into the lab, furious that his collider had somehow been restored. He wasn't alone—Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Scorpion followed behind him.
But the Little Spiders had strength in numbers: ten Spider-People, plus one very angry dog-Deadpool.
Even as a dog, Deadpool refused to sit out. Knife clenched in his jaws, he darted at Kingpin whenever he could, stabbing at ankles in petty revenge.
The fight was short. Overwhelmed by their combined force, Kingpin and his allies were soon defeated and webbed to the wall.
As the others left the control room to activate the particle collider, dog-Deadpool slipped away. His little knife glinted as he silently slit the throats of the villains one by one. Then he spat the blade out and barked, "Woof! Woof woof!"—a string of curses that thankfully translated poorly.
Malrick swooped in and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck before he could keep ranting.
Finally, in the collider chamber, all the Spider-People gathered to say their goodbyes. Hanging from the ceiling, they watched as Spider-Man inserted the overload key into the control port.
"I'm reversing the collider's operation now. The gateway is open!"
He looked around at the others, voice heavy with emotion. "I never imagined I had so many allies. I hope one day we meet again."
"We will," 616 Spider-Man promised, giving him a wave. He dove into the glowing stream of energy and vanished with a crackle of dimensional light.
One by one, the others followed.
As Garfield-Spiderman high-fived Toby and Holland, Malrick released dog-Deadpool into the stream. "Goodbye, Deadpool. I don't know which universe you're from, but you've convinced me I never want to meet another Deadpool again."
"Woof! Woof!" Deadpool barked furiously, legs kicking in the air.
"He doesn't want to leave," Malrick observed with a raised brow.
"No, he's worried he'll stay a dog forever!" Gwen said quickly. "Aren't you going to change him back, Malrick?"
"It won't last that long. A few weeks at most," Malrick replied calmly. "Besides, he seems to like it."
Still, after a beat, Malrick waved his hand, releasing the spell. "Fine. Better change him back before his ex sees him like this and decides to reconcile."
Gwen stared at him in disbelief. "You're a demon. In my world, you'd be a full-blown supervillain."
As Deadpool reverted mid-air, he flipped Malrick the finger. "Screw you, Harry Potter! Why'd you change me back? I was just starting to enjoy my life as dog-Deadpool!"
Malrick smirked. "See? Proved my point."
The Spiders around them could only groan.
"This creep… glad there's no Deadpool in my world," Holland muttered.
"Same. Wait—something's happening!" Toby warned.
Their Spider-Senses all flared at once.
Just as Deadpool fell toward the collider's stream, a pulse of energy ripped outward, tearing across the barrier of universes. A massive hand reached out from the void and seized Deadpool by the throat.
______
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