Marvel: The Amazing Spider-Man in the Multiverse

"Damn it!"

The Chameleon's curses were drowned out by the rustling surge. Countless spiders crawled out from the cracks in the rubble, their segmented legs scraping the ground like a malicious drizzle. He stumbled backward, dragging the leg pierced by shrapnel, gun muzzle spitting fire in short arcs through the darkness—each bullet blasted a spider into sticky green goo, but more dark shapes climbed onto his ankles.

"MacDonald? Quentin? Dammit, the mic's dead! Screw this!"

The Chameleon fired as much as he could, but it was useless. Countless spiders had already climbed onto the Chameleon's body, still in its Spider-Man disguise. They opened their mouths, attempting to bite, but found that the mimetic armor the Chameleon wore was incredibly tough, merely emitting the friction of polymers tearing under the spiders' gnawing.

But these creatures soon discovered the bullet hole ripped through the armor by an armor-piercing round. They swarmed in, eager to enter. The first spiders that burrowed in opened their mandibles and began to bite savagely, and the tearing of flesh made the Chameleon scream in agony.

"Don't be so eager."

The Punisher's arm blocked Spider-Man's chest like an iron gate. He stared at the figure engulfed by the spider swarm below, his knuckles rubbing against the trigger: "Chameleon's going to die anyway. What's the difference between being shot dead or being bitten to death by spiders?"

"Just so you know, I can't control spiders."

Peter shrugged off his obstruction, his web already adhering to the rooftop edge. The Punisher, watching from the rooftop, simply shook his head, pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket, took one, and then, weapon in hand, headed downstairs.

Swinging into the ruins, Spider-Man immediately shot a web at the Chameleon. A high-voltage current then passed from his web-shooter to the Chameleon. As the Chameleon screamed in agony, blue-white electrical flashes erupted. The smell of charred protein mingled with the screams, and the spider swarm fell like popcorn.

Perhaps it was his imagination, but the large group of spiders not hit by the current all turned and looked at Spider-Man. Peter was a bit confused: "Uh, hey, everyone?"

The spider swarm suddenly collapsed into a writhing black pyramid, followed by the slimy sound of tearing skin. Secretions oozed from their bodies, weaving into pale skin, and clothes made of webbing—finally, faces emerged from this nightmarish substance, their mouths stretching to their ears. A villain Peter knew all too well appeared before him.

"Not 'everyone,' it's 'me'!" Karl King laughed maniacally, taunting Spider-Man: "Did you ever think this day would come, Peter Parker!"

"Karl? So you thought that was me? So you killed him?"

Peter finally pieced everything together: Karl King had somehow gained this bizarre ability, then found the Chameleon disguised as Spider-Man, intending to kill him. And the Chameleon had detonated the bomb. Did this mean Karl was also impersonating Spider-Man?

Two fake Spider-Men fighting, both believing the other was real. If the Chameleon did it to help his boss get rid of Spider-Man, what was Karl King's motive? To... replace Spider-Man?

"I thought you were already disgusting, Karl, but I didn't expect you to reach this level. How about you tell me how you got your powers?"

"That spider! I put that spider on your neck! I made you Spider-Man! Now, I ate it and took back what's mine!"

Karl King's fingertips suddenly split open, a finger bone shooting out like a casing, replaced by spurting web-fluid—not synthetic fibers, but "ropes" woven by hundreds of tiny spiders. Peter dodged this disgusting attack. But Karl King's loud shouting wasn't as easy to avoid.

"But you're using the power I gave you against me?"

"First, you need to go back and study logic. Second, I'm not Harry Potter."

Spider-Man, having jumped to dodge, hooked a concrete slab and threw it at Karl King. To his surprise, Karl King's body was extraordinarily fragile and was instantly smashed in half—countless spiders poured out from within, reassembling him.

"You have no idea what I can do, Parker." The reassembled Karl King let out a crazed laugh he hadn't felt in a long time. When was the last time he laughed like this? Right, when he put that spider on Peter Parker's neck.

"I am immortal!"

Karl King tore open his own chest with his hands. A swarm of spiders surged from beneath his skin, rejoining him. His skin peeled off like an ill-fitting costume, revealing the writhing mass of insects inside, which then wove a completely new suit.

"I can become anyone I eat!"

New skin coalesced, and then Karl King transformed into another person, someone Peter had never seen before. But what was more shocking was what he said.

"People you eat?"

As if taken aback by this question, Karl King, in his new appearance, froze for a moment, seemed to finally understand something, then grinned.

"Yes, not only can I become that person, I can also gain all of their memories and everything they've learned! I can get the compensation I want! I'm going to eat you, Parker! I'm the one who should be Spider-Man! I got that spider! Once I eat you, I'll be the only Spider-Man!"

"I'd say you're really sick, Karl!"

Finally understanding that Karl King had gone insane, Spider-Man decisively chose to engage in combat. He shot webs from both hands, then used them to grab two concrete slabs, which he began to violently smack the bastard with. After all, when dealing with spiders, there's not much more effective than stomping them flat.

Peter Parker? Is that Spider-Man's real name?

Noting this, the Chameleon struggled to crawl across the ground. Luckily, he wasn't dead yet. As long as he could reach a safe place, he could find Spider-Man and get Kingpin's money.

Taking advantage of Karl King and Spider-Man's fight, the Chameleon endured the excruciating pain, slowly crawling out of the combat zone. He knew he had a sliver of hope; if only he could reach that place, if only he could reach that place...

A pair of military boots appeared in front of him.

He looked up and saw a pair of tired but deep eyes, filled with unextinguished rage, an unkempt stubble, and a striking white skull on a black T-shirt.

That man had come. No, he had never left.

The Punisher raised a submachine gun and fired continuously at the Chameleon's legs, arms, and palms, making the Chameleon howl again and again. Then he shot him in the heart, before emptying the rest of his bullets into his head.

"You got off easy, you bastard."

Having finished, the Punisher looked at the battlefield. Spider-Man, who had been repeatedly smashing, caught his breath and lifted two large stones. Beneath them lay countless spider corpses. He paused for a moment, but soon, a large number of moving spiders emerged from the corpses. They instantly devoured the bodies of their comrades and then burst open, transforming into countless spiders.

This time, these spiders did not form Karl King's likeness. Instead, they transformed into a giant fist composed of countless spiders, clenched together, and slammed towards Spider-Man. This enormous fist actually flipped the large stone, sending Spider-Man tumbling onto the ground—though it caused no harm.

"This was originally for Mysterio, but now it's for you, Karl! Taste this!"

Webs instantly stuck to the giant fist, followed by a high-voltage current that fried countless spiders, leaving them charred outside and tender inside. Then, a well-timed grenade was thrown onto the disgusting large hand, and a powerful explosion instantly pulverized the monstrous limb.

The Punisher pulled out two more incendiary grenades, igniting all the scattered spider swarm on the ground, then looked at Spider-Man.

"I don't quite understand what this monster is, but this way, he should be dead, right?"

"Probably... if all the spiders are dead..."

Peter said, panting. But soon, both heard a strange sound, not from the burning spider swarm, but from the already dead Chameleon's corpse. The corpse began to twist eerily. Spider-Man was the first to realize what was happening and tried to pull the corpse directly with his web, but the mimetic battle suit, having been shot repeatedly, was already very fragile. Peter didn't pull it over; instead, he tore it apart.

Inside were the bones of the Chameleon, his flesh already consumed, and a large swarm of spiders. They moved in unison, scrambling towards the nearest sewer opening. Even though the Punisher quickly threw a grenade, a small group of spiders still managed to slip into the sewer.

Spider-Man immediately lifted the manhole cover and jumped down, but just as he expected, there was no trace of the spiders to be seen.

"What do you think the probability of a spider dying naturally in the New York sewer is?"

He asked the Punisher dejectedly, then climbed back up.

"We need to find a new approach."