----
The issue with Electro has been resolved for now.
Max Dillon was in training, under constant monitoring, and already adjusting well to his new identity as the first member of Nolan's superhuman strike team.
But Nolan himself had locked back into the lab, immersed in what he called the Project Arachne Initiative a gene-editing experiment that might push the very limits of human evolution.
And it was consuming him.
---
Several days later…
Nolan rubbed his bloodshot eyes. He'd been staring at formulas for hours, calculating mutagen decay rates and synaptic compatibility thresholds.
"Begin sequence," he muttered, tapping a button.
The massive screen lit up, running a new comparative algorithm.
On one side: Peter Parker's genome.
On the other: the genetic makeup of various enhanced spiders alongside Nolan's own hybridized DNA.
A flurry of data zipped across the screen. Protein structures are locked into place. Cross-referenced gene markers blinked green one by one.
Progress: 89%… 97%… 100%.
[GENETIC MATCH SUCCESSFUL]
Nolan exhaled.
"Finally…"
---
He hadn't just been experimenting on any spiders. These were genetically unique specimens carefully bred from Richard Parker's original prototype batch. Some were evolved for speed like jumping spiders. Others carried brute-force wolf spiders. The deadliest were modified black widows.
And from each, Nolan had extracted and edited the genes most suited to human augmentation.
He had spent hours and days editing the spider embryos, using precision gene-editing tools to induce specific mutations just before they began producing venom.
Once the venom was present, any edits risked killing the host.
Now, only one goal remained.
From the final specimen, he extracted two precious drops of venom, stabilized it in a vibranium-tipped injector, and stared at the amber fluid.
"Let's see if it was worth the effort."
He plunged the needle into a vein.
Instantly, a searing coldness shot through his bloodstream spreading like frostfire across every nerve.
His vision swam.
Then darkness.
He felt… weightless.
Then unbound.
Nolan's consciousness left his body, accelerating beyond light, pulled through something… vast.
A web.
An endless, shimmering lattice connecting glowing orbs each a universe.
The Great Web.
He stood no, floated in an impossible void, a space beyond time or material. The multiverse sprawled before him like a living tapestry.
Three colossal, humanoid shapes waited for him in the center of the web. Silent. Unmoving.
And above them—
A shape.
It looked… arachnid. A colossal, shadowy figure with countless legs curled beneath it.
Its presence crushed him, not physically, but spiritually. Like gravity itself had a voice.
"Curious little thief," it said.
Then everything blurred.
Nolan was falling backward spinning through a kaleidoscope of stars, webs, and glowing worlds—
---
Back in the lab.
His eyes snapped open.
He gasped.
"Was that… the Spider Totem?"
He didn't dream that. He knew it. Felt it. He'd tapped into something far bigger than just a genetic upgrade.
He had touched the source of spider-powered beings across the multiverse.
And somehow… it let him go.
"Strange," he murmured. "Why didn't it stop me?"
But his thoughts halted as a new sensation surged through his limbs.
Power.
He leaped off the lab stool—
—and landed across the room, perched on the ceiling.
He grinned.
Strength. Speed. Reflexes.
His body now carried the precision of a spider. The durability of a super-soldier. The raw power of Jessica Jones.
He clenched his fists.
"Time to run some field tests."
----
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