"It appears that one of you possesses some knowledge about this technology," Morlun observed with predatory satisfaction as he slowly lowered his arm, his pale lips curving into a sinister smile.
"However, you're mistaken about one crucial detail. This device is called the Nemetrix, not the Omnitrix. While it may not be strictly necessary for dealing with such weak prey, testing its capabilities could prove... entertaining."
He pressed his fingers against the hexagonal core with deliberate ceremony, his voice rising to a commanding roar: "Nemetrix, activate!"
The alien device immediately erupted with blinding crimson light that painted the darkening Manhattan skyline in shades of blood and shadow. Morlun's lean frame began expanding with violent force, his pale skin shifting to a dull blue-gray coloration that resembled diseased scales.
His human anatomy stretched and distorted as a lengthy tail erupted from the base of his spine, while portions of his vertebrae began protruding outward through his expensive suit like serrated bone spurs that tore the fabric to ribbons.
Within moments, Morlun had transformed from his original refined English gentleman appearance into a massive four-legged predator that moved with reptilian grace and murderous intent!
Tyrannopede, Kaosseffexx Ultimasauria
The natural enemy of the Vaxasaurian species.
While the Nemetrix lacked the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Ben's Omnitrix, it seemed capable of instinctively understanding its user's tactical requirements and selecting appropriate transformations accordingly.
"He's turned into some kind of reptile!" Peter shouted with obvious alarm as he studied the monstrous transformation. "We should call Dr. Connors for expert consultation!"
Morlun completely ignored their attempt at psychological warfare, instead reveling in the intoxicating surge of enhanced capabilities flowing through his transformed physiology. The alien creature's tremendous power had been directly superimposed upon his already formidable Inheritor abilities, creating an exponential increase in strength, speed, endurance, and sensory acuity.
More importantly, he retained complete cognitive function during the transformation.
The original Nemetrix had been designed with significant limitations that prevented its use by intelligent species. The device could only be safely worn by animals with limited intelligence who had undergone specialized training, creatures like Khyber's hunting friend, Crabdozer.
If an intelligent being attempted to use the Nemetrix, the transformation process would cause severe intellectual deterioration, potentially affecting even their baseline consciousness and reducing them to feral, instinct-driven behavior.
However, these dangerous side effects posed no threat to Morlun whatsoever.
As an Inheritor and natural totem bearer, wildness and predatory madness had never represented problems for his kind, they embraced such characteristics as fundamental aspects of their nature.
Rather than fighting against the alien beast's instincts, he welcomed them completely.
Apparently, some form of supernatural chemical reaction had occurred between his existing Inheritor totem and the Nemetrix's predatory essence, amplifying both his own abilities and those of the transformed creature to devastating levels.
Now, the four triangular eyes positioned across his elongated skull focused on Peter with laser-like intensity as he moved forward on powerful legs. Each step of his crimson claws gouged deep furrows in the reinforced concrete surface, reducing solid construction materials to scattered debris!
Despite his massive size, the transformed Inheritor moved with remarkable agility and speed. Within seconds, he had closed the distance between himself and the wall-crawler, appearing directly in front of Peter with his enormous claw raised for a killing blow.
The razor-sharp talon descended toward Peter's chest with enough force to punch through reinforced steel plating.
Harry reacted faster than Peter's conscious mind could process the threat, quickly shoving his friend aside with desperate strength.
This occurred because Morlun's supernatural abilities hadn't disappeared during the transformation, Peter's spider-sense remained completely useless, but the young hero had grown dangerously dependent on his precognitive warnings during combat situations.
The deadly claws swept past Peter's torso with mere inches to spare, but even that minimal contact sent sharp pain lancing through his chest, as if an ice pick had been driven directly into his nervous system.
He executed a perfect flip and launched himself away from the building just as several scarlet energy blades crossed through his previous position with surgical precision, slicing through the structure's peak as smoothly as a heated knife cutting through butter.
Immediately afterward, Morlun's powerful tail swept Harry aside like a discarded toy, and with a explosive push from his hind legs, the transformed Inheritor pursued Peter through the urban landscape.
His monstrous form leaped between Manhattan's towering buildings with predatory grace, his sharp claws digging deep gouges into reinforced walls. Wherever his path took him, architectural surfaces were reduced to ruins that cascaded toward the street below in thunderous avalanches of destruction.
CRASH!
The events from Universe-65 were being repeated with horrifying accuracy, as falling debris from damaged buildings struck the pavement with bone-crushing force.
But the crucial difference was that Peter possessed several highly capable allies in this reality.
After being struck by Morlun's tail attack, Harry immediately engaged his glider's anti-gravity systems to stabilize his trajectory, then rapidly pursued Peter and their transformed enemy. As for the dangerous projectiles falling from tremendous heights, he addressed that threat by deploying several sonic charges under his direct control. The high-frequency sound waves instantly shattered all falling debris into harmless dust particles.
Agent Venom, whose symbiote physiology was vulnerable to sonic attacks, chose to take a longer route that avoided Harry's defensive bombardment.
It represented a more circuitous approach, but by taking advantage of the twisting path created by Peter and Morlun's aerial chase, he quickly caught up with both combatants.
His roar made the evening air vibrate with subsonic power as the black symbiote, with Flash Thompson's consciousness guiding the assault, crashed into Morlun's reptilian form.
Venom raised his massive arms high above his head, and the liquid symbiote matter underwent dramatic reconfiguration, transforming into an enormous scythe that gleamed with metallic luster under the setting sun. The curved blade descended toward Morlun with enough force to cleave through reinforced steel.
CLANG!
Sparks erupted like Fourth of July fireworks.
The Death Scythe struck Morlun's transformed back, but Venom felt as though he had attempted to chop through solid granite with a butter knife, sending painful vibrations through his enhanced nervous system.
Even if the target had been actual stone, it should have been split apart by such tremendous force.
"Get away from me, you contaminated pest!" Morlun snarled through his alien mouthparts, his voice distorted by the creature's predatory anatomy.
He whipped his powerful tail forward like a spear, and with a wet thunk, the appendage pierced directly through Venom's chest cavity, eliciting simultaneous shouts of alarm from both Peter and Harry.
Agent Venom ignored his serious injuries and instead wrapped his massive arms around Morlun in a desperate bear hug: "I've got him restrained!"
Peter immediately spun around and pressed the emergency release on his web-shooters with two fingers, activating what appeared to be unlimited ammunition mode. The mechanical devices poured out every strand of webbing in their reservoirs simultaneously, and within moments Morlun was tightly bound within a white cocoon of synthetic spider-silk.
"Venom, get clear of the target zone!" Harry's warning echoed from above as his distinctive glider cut through the darkening clouds.
The Neo-Goblin's aircraft tore through the atmosphere with a terrible whistling sound that spoke of incoming devastation.
Harry dove toward the battle zone while six miniature pumpkin bombs deployed from concealed launchers beneath his glider, arcing toward the web-wrapped cocoon with deadly precision.
Agent Venom had already released his grip on Morlun the moment Peter began his webbing barrage. Seeing Harry's explosive ordnance approaching, he immediately swung his arms with gorilla-like power and leaped toward an adjacent building to escape the blast radius.
Violent explosions erupted in the sky above Manhattan, triggering the city's automated air defense sirens. Sharp, piercing alarms blared continuously as orange flames bloomed against the darkening horizon.
The devastating attack seemed to flip a switch throughout the city.
The holographic projection systems of the Daily Bugle immediately materialized above New York's skyline, and J. Jonah Jameson's weathered face appeared in the display with his characteristic burning cigar still smoking between his lips.
"Oh, here we go again!" Peter touched his mask in despair, already knowing exactly what would follow.
As soon as Jameson's image stabilized, he immediately began broadcasting current situation reports, evacuation protocols, and emergency procedures to the entire metropolitan area. Simultaneously, he wasted no opportunity to assign blame for all the chaos directly to Peter's heroic activities.
"Once again, Spider-Man has brought our peaceful New York City into absolute chaos and destruction!" the publisher declared with righteous indignation.
"He remains the acknowledged menace of our great city!"
"The Plumber organization must have been deceived by his web of lies to make such a dangerous individual a member of their elite forces!"
Jameson naturally spared no effort in slandering Spider-Man's reputation, particularly since he was now being handsomely compensated for such editorial content. He wanted to pin every conceivable problem on Spider-Man's masked head, if the neighbor's dog had gotten pregnant, Jameson would have somehow blamed that on Spider-Man as well.
Spider-Man: I didn't do anything wrong, people!
But Peter and his allies had no time to worry about Jameson's propaganda campaign.
From the flames and smoke of the explosion, an even more massive monster emerged with ground-shaking steps.
With every footfall, the reinforced pavement seemed to tremble as if a mobile mountain of gray stone was advancing toward them.
Rhinoceros-like horns gave the creature's face an intimidating appearance that resembled a death's head skull carved from living rock.
Crabdozer, the natural enemy of Heatblast.
The transformation represented a colossal rock-based life form whose powerful physiology granted tremendous strength and virtually impenetrable natural armor. Combined with its massive horn, almost no obstacle could withstand Crabdozer's devastating charge attacks.
The creature possessed sufficient speed to keep pace with flying opponents, sharp reflexes that seemed disproportionate to its enormous size, and complete immunity to extreme temperatures.
Even Heatblast's most powerful emotional eruptions of space flame couldn't inflict the slightest damage to its stone hide.
Temperatures reaching tens of thousands of degrees meant nothing to Crabdozer, let alone the relatively modest firepower of pumpkin bomb explosives.
Morlun opened his massive jaws and expelled some form of organic secretion that instantly extinguished the burning flames. The substance functioned as a natural fire suppressant with extremely powerful inhibitory effects on combustible materials.
Then he displayed a ferocious grin and charged toward Peter like an unstoppable tank!
Contrary to his seemingly ponderous appearance, Crabdozer's speed was phenomenal. Even an agile warrior like Spider-Monkey would struggle to avoid such attacks. At this moment, Peter stood frozen and didn't react to the incoming assault at all.
Harry moved with lightning reflexes, quickly pushing Peter aside and taking the devastating blow in his place.
BOOM!!!
The impact launched Harry backward as if he had been struck by a freight train traveling at highway speeds, and his Neo-Goblin armor shattered completely under the tremendous kinetic energy transfer.
"Harry!" Peter shouted with desperate concern.
However, in the next moment, Morlun's stone-armored hand pressed down on Peter's body and began the systematic absorption of his totem power.
"You should worry about yourself instead!" the transformed Inheritor growled with satisfaction.
"Spider-Man!" Flash called out with obvious worry from his position on a nearby rooftop.
"He's draining Peter's life energy!" Venom quickly explained the immediate threat.
"We have to rescue him immediately," Flash declared without hesitation.
However, the symbiote shook his massive head with grim realism: "Our attacks can't penetrate his defenses."
He studied Flash with solemn determination before making a decision that would change everything: "It looks like I have to say goodbye to you for now!"
Flash was still processing this statement when the Venom symbiote suddenly separated from his body, shooting toward Peter like a black serpent. Within moments, the alien organism had reconfigured itself into a protective suit that completely covered the wall-crawler's form.
Instantly, Morlun's totem absorption process was interrupted as the symbiote suit isolated his supernatural abilities from making contact with Peter's enhanced physiology.
But even this desperate measure couldn't solve their fundamental problem.
The Nemetrix core on Morlun's collar flickered with crimson light, and he reverted to his original human appearance. He grasped Peter, who was now wearing the Venom suit, with one powerful hand and spoke with cold finality: "Do you honestly believe hiding inside a symbiote will protect you?"
He glanced briefly at Flash, who was now calling for Plumber reinforcements after losing his symbiotic partner, but offered no additional commentary. Instead, he immediately activated his dimensional transportation portal.
If other superheroes arrive, the situation will become unnecessarily complicated.
Regardless, I have secured tonight's dinner. I can return home and enjoy my meal at leisure.
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