The dimensional portal shimmered with malevolent energy as two figures stepped through with predatory grace. Bora and Brix moved like aristocrats attending some twisted social gathering, both wore immaculate red coats with crisp white linings, their long white hair slicked back in perfect symmetry. Despite their refined appearance, there was something fundamentally wrong about them, an aura of barely contained violence that made the air itself seem to recoil from their presence.
Brix casually tossed the unconscious Peter Parker to the ground like a discarded piece of luggage, the young hero's body hitting the concrete with a sickening thud. His sister Bora glanced down at their captive with mild disinterest before fixing her brother with a questioning look.
"Didn't Morlun specifically instruct us to return immediately?" she asked, her voice carrying the kind of casual authority that came from centuries of unchallenged superiority. "Why exactly are we making a detour to another universe?"
Brix inhaled deeply, his enhanced senses detecting the distinctive spiritual resonance that all Spider-totems carried. The scent was intoxicating, like the finest wine to a connoisseur, promising power and sustenance beyond measure.
"One piece of prey isn't nearly enough for our entire family to share," he explained with the patience of someone discussing dinner plans. "Besides, there's been no communication from that pathetic fool Karn for quite some time. Daemos mentioned he might finally be dead. What's your opinion on that?"
Bora's delicate features twisted into an expression of complete indifference, as if they were discussing the weather rather than the potential death of a family member.
"Wouldn't his death be a blessing?" she replied with genuine relief. "That weakling should have died decades ago. We never expected such a defective specimen to survive this long."
The truth was that every member of the Inheritor family desperately hoped for Karn's demise. He represented everything they despised, a complete aberration within their bloodline, someone who actually experienced guilt and remorse over the lives they took. His capacity for empathy made them physically nauseous.
The poor, deluded fool actually believed he needed to atone for accidentally killing their mother during his first feeding. It was pathetic beyond description. Who could possibly care whether that woman lived or died? She had served her biological purpose and became irrelevant the moment she was no longer useful.
They had placed Karn in mystical shackles and exiled him for over a century, hoping that this genetic anomaly would die quickly during his mandated Spider-Man hunts. To encourage his destruction, they had even assigned him to hunt a Spider-Man who had been chosen by space forces, a target so powerful that Karn's death seemed inevitable.
But against all expectations, Karn had somehow managed to kill his supposedly invincible prey and continued his miserable existence.
Brix shook his head dismissively, forcing the disgusting image of his bleeding-heart brother from his mind.
"Regardless," he continued with renewed enthusiasm, "let's collect a few additional Spider-Men while we're here. It's rare that we get to venture out for recreational hunting, and I haven't had nearly enough entertainment yet."
Bora nodded with eager agreement, her eyes beginning to glow with predatory anticipation.
For the Inheritor family, hunting Spider-Men wasn't merely about sustenance or survival, it represented their primary form of entertainment and pleasure. The exquisite satisfaction of watching hope die in a Spider-Man's eyes as they slowly drained away their life force provided more intense gratification than any other activity they'd discovered across the centuries.
"I've detected one," Brix announced, his enhanced senses locking onto a nearby spiritual signature. "The trail leads in this direction."
He began moving between the city's towering buildings with inhuman speed, his body flowing like liquid shadow as he closed in on their next victim.
Bora spared one final glance at the unconscious Peter Parker sprawled on the ground, then dismissed him entirely as she followed her twin. They had injected him with a specialized serum created from their own blood, a concoction designed to suppress Spider-totem power at the cellular level. For several hours, Peter would remain in a weakened, catatonic state. Even if he somehow managed to regain consciousness, his abilities would be severely compromised, making escape virtually impossible.
It didn't take long for them to locate their target.
The Spider-Man of Universe 2818 appeared virtually identical to every other Spider-hero they'd encountered across the multiverse, wearing the classic red and blue costume, possessing average size and strength. Nothing about his appearance suggested he would provide any unusual challenge.
Within moments of their initial attack, the Inheritors had gained a decisive advantage.
Bora flicked her wrist with casual precision, sending a razor-sharp throwing knife whistling through the air. The blade tore through the atmosphere with lethal accuracy, striking Spider-Man center mass and pinning him against the side of a building.
"This is easier than I anticipated," Brix said with a predatory grin, already moving forward to claim their new prize.
But as he approached, something unexpected happened. The supposedly mortally wounded Spider-Man straightened up without any apparent difficulty. Instead of blood pouring from the wound in his chest, brilliant electrical sparks began cascading from the puncture point in his costume.
Brix stopped dead in his tracks, confusion replacing his confident smirk. This wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting.
The Spider-Man of Universe 2818 was a Spider-Cyborg.
His body had been extensively modified with cybernetic enhancements and robotic components, making penetrating attacks largely ineffective. At this moment, he completely ignored the blade protruding from his chest and raised his right arm toward Brix. The limb began transforming with a series of metallic clicks and mechanical whirs, the red and blue fabric retracting to reveal sophisticated silver plating. Within seconds, his entire forearm had reconfigured itself into a high-powered energy cannon, its dark muzzle aimed directly at Brix's startled face.
"Spider Cannon!" the mechanical hero declared, unleashing a devastating blast of concentrated plasma energy.
The explosion erupted directly in Brix's face with enough force to level a city block, the brilliant fireball temporarily blinding everyone in the vicinity. The shockwave shattered windows for miles around and left a crater where Brix had been standing.
Bora watched the devastation with mild surprise, though she wasn't particularly concerned about her twin brother's wellbeing. Instead, she found herself contemplating the practical implications of their situation.
How exactly were they supposed to consume a mechanical Spider-Man? Would she have to spend the evening chewing on iron and copper wiring? The prospect was distinctly unappetizing.
As the smoke and flames began to clear, Brix rolled out of the destruction in a disheveled heap. Though he appeared essentially uninjured, his once-immaculate appearance had been utterly ruined. His pristine white hair was now singed and curled from the intense heat, giving off the acrid smell of burnt protein. Dust and debris covered his expensive clothing, making him look like a vagrant who had been living in a coal mine.
Spider-Cyborg had used the explosion as cover to put significant distance between himself and his attackers. He now stood on the opposite end of the building, studying Brix intently through his mask's sensor arrays.
"Direct plasma cannon fire proved ineffective," he muttered, his voice carrying the flat tone of someone processing disappointing tactical data. "Threat assessment: Extreme. Recommendation: Immediate retreat."
After just that brief exchange, Spider-Cyborg's combat analysis systems had reached a disturbing conclusion. These opponents possessed power levels far beyond anything he'd previously encountered. In the past, he'd been forced to hold back against human criminals to avoid causing permanent injury, but against Brix and Bora, his full offensive capabilities had proven woefully inadequate.
The gap between their respective abilities was becoming increasingly obvious with each passing second.
Brix hauled himself upright with obvious irritation, fixing the cyborg hero with a murderous glare. His enhanced canine teeth were grinding audibly, as if he was already imagining the satisfaction of tearing his prey apart piece by piece.
Spider-Cyborg's danger sensors weren't registering any immediate threat, but his combat experience warned him that this might actually be a very bad sign. His opponents appeared calm and controlled despite being attacked, the kind of confidence that only came from absolute certainty of victory.
He was outmatched from the beginning, and now many of his internal components had sustained damage during the failed ambush, making his situation even more desperate.
He needed to reach a repair facility and replace his damaged parts before,
The thought was cut short as Brix's figure suddenly materialized directly behind him with impossible speed. Before Spider-Cyborg could react, powerful hands seized him, one gripping the back of his neck like a vice, the other clamping around his right ankle. With a casual display of inhuman strength, Brix pulled in opposite directions and tore the mechanical limb completely off.
Sparks cascaded through the air like a metallic waterfall as damaged circuits sparked and failed.
Spider-Cyborg screamed in agony, not from physical pain, which his systems barely registered, but from the cascade of error messages flooding his consciousness as critical systems went offline.
Brix examined the severed robotic leg for a moment, then tossed it aside like worthless garbage. With the same casual brutality, he proceeded to tear off Spider-Cyborg's remaining limbs one by one, reducing the hero to nothing more than a torso with a head attached.
Throughout the entire process, Spider-Cyborg had no ability to fight back whatsoever.
"This kind of specimen won't make for a very impressive presentation if we take it back home," Bora observed, kicking one of the discarded mechanical limbs like a stone on the roadside. Her hands remained casually tucked in her pockets as if she was discussing something mundane.
"I think we should just consume him here and now," she continued with a cunning smile, her tongue darting out to lick her lips in anticipation.
Although Spider-Cyborg possessed very little organic tissue, the Inheritors weren't actually interested in consuming physical flesh and blood. Their true sustenance came from Spider-totem power itself, the spiritual energy that connected all Spider-heroes across the multiverse.
The cannibalistic displays they sometimes performed were purely for psychological effect and personal amusement.
Brix laughed with cruel satisfaction as he tightened his grip on Spider-Cyborg's throat, applying enough pressure to begin crushing the reinforced metal components. Both Inheritors' eyes began glowing with writhing lightning-like energy.
The vampiric totem revealed its true nature as Brix's claws extended into Spider-Cyborg's neck like supernatural fangs, beginning the process of draining his soul directly from his body.
Spider-Cyborg released a shriek of pure agony unlike anything he had experienced in decades of superhero work. The sensation of having his very essence torn away was indescribable, like having his skin flayed off in microscopic strips while remaining fully conscious.
"I can already smell the sweet totem essence emanating from his soul!" Bora exclaimed with the enthusiasm of a shark detecting blood in the water. Her previously delicate features had twisted into an expression of sick pleasure as she crowded forward, eager to compete with her brother for the first taste of their prize.
However, before either Inheritor could complete the feeding process, a powerful voice rang out from behind them with unmistakable authority and protective fury.
"Get away from my nephew, you parasitic scum!"
Both Bora and Brix spun around in startled surprise, only to be met by brilliant flashes of energy accompanied by searing heat. The twin blasts struck them with devastating force, sending both Inheritors flying through the air with half their bodies severely burned.
Uncle Ben stood in a classic gunslinger pose, proudly blowing imaginary smoke from the muzzle of his advanced energy weapon. His black Plumber uniform gleamed with embedded technology, and his face showed the kind of grim satisfaction that came from protecting family.
His moment of cool triumph lasted approximately two seconds before Aunt May grabbed his ear and began scolding him with the authority of someone who had been married for decades.
"Language!" she snapped with obvious displeasure. "And you fired at maximum power setting! What if you had accidentally hurt Peter?"
Uncle Ben immediately wilted under her disapproval, bowing his head sheepishly. "I'm sorry, May. I've been spending too much time with Captain America and picked up some of his colorful vocabulary."
Having been a Captain America fan for forty-five years, Uncle Ben had naturally gravitated toward Steve Rogers during their space missions. Unfortunately, prolonged exposure to a soldier's battlefield language had corrupted his previously pristine speech patterns.
"Don't let Ben learn bad habits from you," Aunt May warned sternly, releasing his ear but continuing to glare.
Miguel O'Hara observed this family dynamic with growing bewilderment. He'd expected legendary Plumbers to maintain professional composure during combat situations, but the reality seemed considerably more domestic than anticipated.
After several seconds of awkward silence, he felt compelled to point out the obvious.
"That shouldn't technically be your nephew, should he?"
"Any Peter is our nephew!" Aunt May declared fiercely, pointing an accusatory finger directly at Miguel's face.
Miguel considered the implications of that statement, thinking about all the Spider-Men from his future world in 2099. According to that logic, Uncle Ben and Aunt May had accumulated quite an extensive family tree.
"If you don't mind a suggestion," he said carefully, "you might want to visit our future timeline eventually. There are numerous Peter Parkers there who could benefit from some family counseling and emotional support."
"We've actually been wanting to do exactly that for quite some time," Uncle Ben replied enthusiastically, apparently unaware of the psychological chaos he would be walking into. "We just weren't sure how to bring up the subject."
The couple hurried over to check on the dismembered Spider-Cyborg, whose cognitive systems had completely crashed from the traumatic experience.
"What... what am I seeing?" Spider-Cyborg whispered in disbelief, his voice crackling with electronic distortion. "This must mean I'm already dead."
His mechanical body began trembling with emotion that his systems struggled to process, and coolant leaked from his optical sensors like tears, dampening his torn mask.
But rather than fear or despair, his voice carried overwhelming joy and relief.
"It's so wonderful to see you, Uncle Ben! You have absolutely no idea how much I've missed you both!"
"We're happy to see you too, son," Uncle Ben replied gently, reaching out to pat Spider-Cyborg's torso. Beneath the tattered costume was cold metal and circuitry, a heartbreaking reminder of how much suffering this Peter had endured. Uncle Ben couldn't begin to imagine the painful experiences that had led to such extensive cybernetic modification.
Before traveling through the multiverse, he'd only heard abstract reports about most Spider-Men living difficult lives. He'd never expected the reality to be quite this devastating.
"You must have been carrying an incredible burden all these years," he said with deep compassion.
Aunt May knelt beside them, tears streaming down her face as she carefully embraced the cyborg hero's damaged form.
Spider-Cyborg's emotional state immediately shifted to rage as the implications sank in.
"Why are you here? Don't tell me that monster actually managed to hurt you too!" He genuinely believed he was dead and had somehow reunited with Uncle Ben and Aunt May in the afterlife. The thought that the Inheritors might have killed his family after murdering him filled him with such fury that his electrical systems began overloading.
"I'm sorry, Peter," Uncle Ben said soothingly. "Life can be incredibly painful sometimes, but we still have to keep fighting to survive and protect the people we care about."
"What do you mean?" Spider-Cyborg asked in confusion.
"He means you're not dead yet," Ben announced as he approached with a large medical syringe in his hand. Without ceremony, he jabbed the needle directly into Spider-Cyborg's exposed torso.
Immediately, a flood of liquid nanometal began flowing into the damaged hero's body through the injection site. The advanced material started rapidly reconstructing his destroyed limbs and repairing damaged internal components with fluid precision.
Within moments, Spider-Cyborg had regenerated from a torso-and-head into a fully functional humanoid form.
"Incredible! It's like something from Terminator!" he exclaimed in amazement, marveling at his restored mobility and functionality.
Ben shrugged casually. "Time constraints prevented me from building you a complete biological body, but this should be sufficient for immediate needs."
He wasn't referring to something as simple as cloning technology, but rather the sophisticated regeneration cradle systems that had created Eunice's synthetic body, technology that could essentially build a living person from scratch.
While they were having their reunion conversation, Miguel's form suddenly flew past them like a cannonball, crashing through a concrete wall and barely managing to pull himself out of the rubble. His ribs felt like they were on the verge of breaking, and he could barely speak through the pain.
"Exactly how long are you planning to chat?" he wheezed weakly. "I'm getting killed over here!"
Brix and Bora hadn't been eliminated by Uncle Ben's weapons. From the moment they'd recovered from the surprise attack, Miguel had been desperately trying to buy time for the family reunion, engaging both Inheritors in single combat. He just hadn't expected the others to become so thoroughly distracted by their conversation.
It was such a Spider-Man family thing to do, prioritizing emotional connection over tactical efficiency.
"A few more victims have arrived to die," Bora observed with cold satisfaction as she and Brix tore off their scorched coats, revealing the pale, predatory forms beneath. Both siblings studied Ben and Miguel with bloody anticipation in their glowing eyes.
Although they had suffered some minor injuries from the surprise attack, neither Inheritor was particularly concerned. If anything, they felt fortunate about the development.
"Three Spider-totems," Brix said with obvious relish, "now we'll have a proper feast for tonight's entertainment."
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