THE THIRD SPIDER
by Gunman

Disclaimer: I do not own Eva or Spider Man.

Summary: Shinji and his allies track down the mysterious signal, only to find a secret cloning base of the deadly Jackal, and must then face a new threat in the form of The Frightful Five!

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Chapter 4
Family Matters

The Fantasti-Car and the Blackbird flew through the skies following the signal that Reed was still tracking from the Cloning Tank back at the abandoned building.

Spider Man and Scarlet Spider were riding with the Fantastic Four in the Fantasti-Car while Human Torch flew alongside the vehicle. Dark Spider, Dr Strange and Black Cat rode with the X-Men in their Blackbird stealth jet.

"How are you holding up, Shinji?" Cecilia Reyes asked, sitting next to Dark Spider.

"Not bad, Dr Reyes." Shinji replied, rubbing his bandages lightly. "Still a little tender."

"Really? Just how sensitive are we talking here?" Black Cat asked, rubbing her hand over his leg.

"What are you doing?" Phoenix asked the feline adventurer, coming over to the group. "Trying to cop a feel?"

"Why? Do you want a turn?" Black Cat asked.

"Just don't touch the bandages!" Cecilia snapped.

Wolverine looked over to see the quartet talking.

"How did the kid get so popular all of a sudden?" Wolverine asked.

"Don't know. But at least he doesn't act like Gambit." Cyclops said.

"Right, like we need another one of him." the razor-clawed brawler said.

"Should we do something?" Dr Strange asked.

"No. Situations like these are learning experiences to someone like Shinji." Professor X said. "From what I gleamed from his mind, he has very little social interactions with people his own age."

"But... he's a fourteen year old boy, isn't he?" the sorcerer supreme asked.

"Biologically, yes. But physically he is around 25 or so. Given the possibility of age-regression that happens when a younger body merges with an older body." Xavier said.

"Hmm. I guess that makes what? Age Regression? When did you..."

"It was in the back of Reed's mind. One of many theories I gleamed on accident while trying to read Shinji's."

"Gleamed on accident?" Dr Strange asked.

"That man's mind is in a constant state of thought, contemplating of all sorts of... confusing things. Some of his thoughts overlapped with Shinji's on accident. Nearly gave me a headache." Professor X groaned, pointing at his head.

"So.... in Shinji's case," Dr Strange said, trying to get back on topic, "It's the mind of a child, the body of an adult." the sorcerer stated.

"Precisely. But because his life has been so tumulus, he has been forced to grow up faster than most other children." the professor said.

"So what you're suggesting, is that we nurture his maturity, not repair his childhood." the sorcerer stated.

"A lost childhood cannot be recovered. If one attempts to recover something like that, it would cause a person to become unbalanced. And the combination of an unbalanced mind like Shinji's, with the powers of Spider Man, would be quite disastrous. Better to move forward, temper his life with responsibility and a righteous sense of justice."

"But that doesn't mean he shouldn't have a little fun while doing it." Dr Strange grinned.

"So you're really from an alternate dimension?" Phoenix asked Dark Spider.

"Apparently." the ebon arachnid said, looking down at the floor as the jet flew through the air.

He seems a little shy. I wonder if.... "Shinji?" she asked, causing him to raise his head up. "Tell me what your world was like." Phoenix asked.

"Well.... it's not like this one. When Second Impact happened in the year 2000, 3 billion people died within less than a month."

The trio of women gasped at this. Phoenix more so because she knew he wasn't making this up.

"Everyone believed that Second Impact was caused by a meteor striking and destroying Antarctica. But it was actually caused by a being called an Angel. I was born just months after that.15 years later I became part of a secret organization that.... well, was in charge of defending the rest of mankind against the Angels when they returned."

"Defend against them? How?" Cecilia asked.

"I was supposed to pilot a giant robot called an Evangelion." Shinji said.

"To prevent these 'Angel' creatures from destroying mankind?" Phoenix asked.

"I don't know why they called them that. They looked more like movie monsters to me. Anyway, the organization I worked for, called NERV, were the only ones equipt to battle the Angels when they attacked mankind. The military couldn't stop them, so it was up to us. And we used everything, from the Eva's on the front line to the Magi inside our headquarters to stop them." Shinji said.

"The Magi?" Cecilia asked.

"It's NERV's super computer. Three individual computer systems linked together to form a.... hive consciousness? If that makes sense. I don't really remember how Dr Akagi explained it. It was used to calculate the best plan of actions against the Angels."

"Angels. Evangelions. The Magi." Black Cat said.

"Yeah. Sounds like someone's fighting a holy war or something." Cecilia said.

"Well, don't worry, Shinji-kun." Phoenix said, using the honorific she knew Japanese often use. "We'd never force you to save the world by yourself."

Hmm. I wonder.... are all the redhead's of this world so nice? Shinji thought.

Phoenix smiled as she heard his thoughts. But in the same vein hearing that thought, she wondered what his own experiences with redheaded girls has been like. She didn't figure them to be positive, but didn't venture further into his mind to find out.

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"So... what are we gonna do about him?" Scarlet Spider asked from the backseat of the Fantasti-Car.

"What do you mean?" Spider Man asked over the whipping winds.

"I mean.... what do we do with Dark Spider now that he's alive and well, and here?" the crimson arachnid asked.

"You mean... where is he going to live?" the wondrous webslinger asked.

"And do about a job? He doesn't have an identity that's.... official."

"Oh. I see what you mean."

"Do you?"

"We'll have to figure out something else later. For now, let's just focus on finding the source of this signal." Spider Man said.

"That's another thing. How useful is finding this signal?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... how does finding the location of this signal help get Shinji back to his world?"

"Well... I'm not sure... unless Reed needs a regular clone to study in order to separate Shinji from the clone body."

"But he said the DNA signatures were merged. How could he separate the genetic strands from..."

"Don't know. I still don't know how Reed's mind works at times. Too complicated you know." the wondrous webslinger said, gesturing to his head with his finger.

"So... I guess we'll have to wait and see what Reed comes up with for Dark Spider." the crimson arachnid.

"By the way... just how did you come up with that name?" Spider Man asked his brother.

"What name? You mean... Dark Spider?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"Yeah. I mean... I would have figured... you know.... Black Spider would have been good too."

"Nah. He didn't need the competition."

"Competition?"

"Black Cat. Black Panther. Black Knight. Black Widow. Black Marvel. Black Bolt. Black Goliath. Black Tarantula. Black Mamba. Black Dragon." Scarlet Spider said, counting the different names on his fingers.

"Okay, okay, okay, I get it." Spider Man groaned.

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Eventually, the group arrived at a large, abandoned oil drilling platform off the coast of Texas.

"Such wonderful places you lead us to." Johnny said to Spider Man as he stared at the large rusting derrick.

"At least it's not a sewer." Spider Man quipped.

"The signal is coming from the lower levels." Reed said, examining the tracking device in his hand.

"You were saying?" Scarlet Spider asked the pair.

Suddenly, three new figures arrived, flying towards them.

Two of them were women, the third was a guy.

The guy was dressed in a blue and white costume with a flowing cape behind him. He had short brown hair and seemed only a little younger than Shinji now looked. His build was athletic, though just a little larger than the Spider Trio's. (Real name: Vance Astrovik)

The first woman was a shapely redheaded girl dressed in a red and yellow costume with her gloves, boots and shoulders being black, and an orange flame-patterned mask across her eyes. (Real name: Angelica Jones)

The second woman was an athletic woman with long blond hair and blue eyes, dressed in a pair of skin-tight white pants, a shirt with mesh webbing for sleeves that also covered her stomach. She had white shoes on her feet, with wings on her ankles and pointed ears. (Alter ego: Nita Prentiss)

"Justice. Firestar. Namorita." Scarlet Spider gasped, recognizing his old teammates in the New Warriors.

"What are you guys doing here?" Spider Man asked.

"One of our teammates has gone missing, so we followed a lead down here to the Texas coastline. Only our lead turned into a dead end." Namorita said to the group.

"Then we say the X-Men and the Fantastic Four flying out towards an old oil drilling platform in the middle of the night." Justice said.

"So... we were kinda hoping we could... bum a ride back to the Big Apple." Firestar said, somewhat timidly.

"I guess that wouldn't be a problem." Phoenix said to the trio.

"Nita." the Human Torch said, approaching the female submariner with a smile.

"Johnny." Namorita smiled at the flaming hero.

"Huh? Who's the new guy?" Firestar asked, noticing the black-garbed webslinger.

"We call him Dark Spider." Spider Man said. "And he's kinda the reason we're here."

The group proceeds into the lower levels, with the elastic-skinned scientist leading the way.

"So... what's going on here?" Justice asked the webslinger.

"We're looking for a cloning lab." Spider Man replied.

"Seriously?" the telekinetic gasped.

"Seriously." the webslinger exclaimed.

"But why?"

"Well, we didn't want to lose the franchise."

"So you're a clone of Spider Man?" Firestar asked the ebon arachnid.

"Uh... mostly." Dark Spider said.

"Mostly?"

"I'm... not actually from this universe."

"Really? So that means you don't have a team yet?" she asked with an odd gleam in her eye.

Dark Spider looked at her. "A team?"

"Yes. A team."

"Like... the X-Men or the Fantastic Four?"

"Actually, Justice, Namorita and myself are members of The New Warriors."

"I've never heard of you."

"If you're from an alternate dimension, then you wouldn't have." she said with a smile.

"What is she doing?" Johnny asked the blond New Warrior.

"I think she's recruiting." Namorita answered.

Eventually the group came to a large steel door that blocked their path.

"The signal's coming from... behind that door." Reed said.

"Is it me... or does that door seem brand new?" Scarlet Spider asked as he tapped the metal door.

"It is." Wolverine said, sniffing the door. "I'd say about a year or two."

"Well then let's light the candle on this thing." Johnny said as he lit his arms on fire and was about to burn through the door, when his hands were snuffed by an invisible force field around his arms. "Huh?" he gasped.

"Johnny.... in case you didn't notice... we're in an abandoned oil derrick. If there's any residual oil left around here, you could be lighting a tinderbox." Sue said to her brother.

"Oh. Right." he said sheepishly.

"I could cut it open." Wolverine said.

"I could tear it open." Ben Grimm said.

"Which might trigger an alarm or activate a failsafe device." Reed said as he pocketed his device.

"Here. Let me." Dr Strange said as he crossed his legs and hovered in mid-air. Within seconds a ghost-like image of himself separated from his body and phased through the door while everyone just looked on.

"It still freaks me out when he does that." Spider Man said.

"I'm starting to see why." Dark Spider said.

The ghost-image of Dr Strange suddenly emerged from behind the door and phased back into the Dr Strange who was still floating in mid-air.

"There's a keypad on the other side of the door. According to the Eye of Aggamoto, the code is 5-6-4-2-9-8-7-3-5-0." he said.

"Okay, but how do we access that keypad on this side of the door? It's air-locked, so I couldn't get my fingers to squeeze through it." Reed said.

"I wish Nightcrawler was here." Phoenix said.

"I can do it." Justice said.

"Oh?" the redheaded telekinetic asked.

"I'll use my telekinetic powers to punch in the code-numbers." Justice said.

"Good idea. Except for one problem." Phoenix said.

"What problem?" he asked.

"You can't see the numbers on the keypad to open the door on this side." she explained.

"Dr Strange has." SPider Man said.

"He told us the combination, but only he has seen the keypad itself. You haven't." she pointed out to Justice.

"Hmm. I think I can help." Professor X said as he took both Justice's and Dr Strange's hand, using his telepathy in order to link their minds together.

Through the mentoring mentalist Justice saw the keypad that the sorcerer supreme had glimpsed. Using his telekinetic powers, Justice reached out and punched in the code.

With a sharp hiss, the door depressurized and slid open to the side into the wall.

"Way to go, Vance!" Firestar smiled at her boyfriend.

"Well, I did have a little help, Angel." Justice said to the girl.

'Jean, what was that? You could have done that easily'. Cyclops thought to his wife.

'True, but if what I'm sensing on the other side of the door is right, it's better to let Justice open the door'. Phoenix thought back to her husband.

The group entered the facility, shocked when they found out that the entire complex was far larger than they could have imagined, like that of a warehouse. All around the heroes were numerous computers, medical scanners and recording devices, not to mention hundreds of tubes set up all around the lab, and all of them containing a body, suspended in greenish liquid, that was the spitting image of Spider Man, even dressed in his usual red and blue outfit. The only difference... they lacked the black web pattern all over the red parts of their costumes.

"What the hell is this place?" Namorita asked as she gasped at the large room.

"Professor Warren's cloning lab." Spider Man said.

"But this place is huge! How is it possible he got all this set up without anyone noticing?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"Don't know. But there doesn't seem to be anyone else here."

"Logan?" Phoenix asked Wolverine.

The razor-clawed mutant inhaled deeply before turning to the female mentalist. "Nada. We're the only ones here. Then again... then place smells like it was sterilized recently."

"Must be fully automated." Reed thought as he examined the equipment. "Dr Reyes?" he asked as the African-American mutant doctor came over to help him examine the equipment.

"So, Warren built this lab and just left it to run itself?" Dark Spider asked as the group started to look around the large lab.

"Independently functioning bases. Best way to protect something is if no one knows it even exists." Cyclops said.

"Guess that makes sense." Black Cat said.

"Warren doesn't even have to come back to maintain a place filled with nothing but clones." Namorita said.

"And all of them look like Spider Man." Phoenix said.

"This one doesn't." Dark Spider said, pointing to one of the tubes.

The group came over as Firestar and Namorita gasped. Inside the tube was an athletic Japanese woman with long dark hair, dressed in a dark blue bodysuit that showed off all of her curves, a pair of mechanical wind-generating devices on her wrists and ankles and a silverish helmet on her head. (Real name: Michiko 'Mickey' Musashi)

"Oh my god! TURBO!" Firestar gasped.

"Your missing friend?" Dark Spider asked.

"Our missing teammate!" Justice said.

"We gotta get her out of there!" Namorita shouted as she grabbed the door of the tube.

"No! Wait!" Reed shouted as the female submariner ripped the door off forcefully, causing the young woman to fall out of the tube along with the greenish liquid that caused the heroes to jump out of the way.

Dark Spider leapt forward and caught the young woman as she fell out of the tube.

"Is she alright?" Justice asked.

"I think so. She's coming around." Dark Spider said.

"Huh? Wha... what happened?" Turbo groaned as she looked up and gasped when she saw the dark-garbed young man holding her in his arms. "Uh... hi."

"Hello." Dark Spider said.

"Uh... who are you?" she asked.

"Dark Spider." he answered.

"Turbo!" Firestar shouted behind the ebon arachnid.

"You alright, kid?" Namorita asked, also peering around Dark Spider's shoulder.

"She might be, but we won't be!" Reed stated as the group came over to them.

"Why?" Namorita asked.

"Because... as I tried to tell you before you forcefully ripped the door off that tube... it was probably equipt with an alarm or failsafe that..." Reed started to say, as the other tubes suddenly hissed and started to drain out the fluids from the tubes themselves. "Might activate."

"So basically what you're saying is..." Justice started to say.

The group webslingers spider-senses suddenly went off.

"IT'S A TRAP!" Spider Man, Scarlet Spider and Dark Spider shouted as the various cloning tanks suddenly hissed and opened.

From the hundreds of tubes around the gigantic lab, hundreds of Spider-Men leapt out and attacked the heroes.

"And here we go." Spider Man groaned as the clones leapt at the heroes.

Spider Man quickly lashed out and punched one of the clones in the face, knocking him back, as two more clones jumped on his back. He grabbed the clone and tossed him off his back and into one of the tubes they had escaped from.

"You know... the irony of this is just sickening!" Spider Man said as he hurled another clone across the room.

Scarlet Spider fired his Impact Webbing at two clones, webbing them up as he was tackled by a third clone from the side. He tumbled to the ground and managed to kick him off into one of the computer consoles.

"You mean," he started to say, punching out another clone, "about fighting yourself?"

Dark Spider was forcefully tackled by two clones onto the ground, his head hitting the hard metal floor, but quickly spring-boarded the pair off of him with his feet into two more clones that were trying to join in the fray.

"It feels more like a bad metaphor." Dark Spider said as he rubbing his head.

Black Cat leaped through the air and kicked down one clone as another leapt to try and grab her. She let her body drop to avoid the fake Spider Man, who crashed into another on-coming clone.

"Never cross a black cat. You often get scratched." Black Cat said.

Cyclops pressed the control release on his visor and let loose a broad blast of optical force energy that knocked down nearly a half-dozen clones across the lab and into several tubes.

"This almost feels like fighting your own friends." Cyclops groaned as another clone leapt at him.

Phoenix used her telepathic powers to levitate several power cables to wrap up a half-dozen clones before they could wrap her up with their webbing.

"I know what you mean, sweetie." Phoenix grinned

Wolverine extended his claws and leapt at a trio of clones, slashing through them with an almost animalistic savagery for which he was known for.

"And yet somehow, it feels almost like a granted wish." Wolverine grinned as he slashed through another clone.

Professor X focused his telepathic powers on the clones that were about to attack him, wiping out their minds and causing them to drop to the ground.

"Strange. I don't sense any real intellects coming from them. Just programmed mentalities. Like they were robots or something." Professor X said.

Dr Strange summoned and collected energy solar energy in his hands before unleashing it in a fury of solar bolts that even the super-quick spider-clones couldn't avoid.

"I know, Charles. I don't get much in the way of these beings having souls at the very least." Dr Strange said.

Cecilia Reyes, not being much of a fighter, used her force field powers to defend herself from the clones attack as her teammates quickly came to her aid.

"Argh! These clones are too quick and too strong. Can't let my shield down even for a second!" Cecilia Reyes gasped.

Mr Fantastic stretched his body to incredible lengths, forming his hands into giant hammers that he used to slam into several more attacking clones both above and below him.

"Personally I'd rather be studying these clones, not fighting them!" Reed exclaimed as the clones started jumping up and down on his body.

Invisible Woman turned herself invisible to avoid the spider-clones, then used her force field powers to knock them out and strike them from behind, which confused them no end.

"Consider this a different way to study them, dear." Sue stated.

Human Torch blazed through the lab, hurling fireballs at the various spider-clones that tried to attack him from higher up that he was.

"Hope Spider Man doesn't mind that I'm barbecuing a few of his look-a-likes." Johnny said.

The Thing was swarmed by dozens of clones, who tried to force him down with sheer numbers, only to have the rock-skinned hero explode from the center of the spider-clone swarm and threw punches that managed to connect with the disoriented clones.

"It's Clobberin Time!" Ben shouted as he punched another clone down.

Justice blasted several clones with his own telekinetic powers, hurling them back into their tubes. Though he felt odd for some reason, as they reminded him off his web-slinging friend.

"These guys are quicker than I expected. I telekinesis can't lock onto all of them!" Justice said.

Firestar was fighting back-to-back with her boyfriend as she let loose a fury of microwave energy bolts in an attempt to knock out several attacking clones. She was, however, unaware of what her powers were doing to the equipment around the battling group.

"Just don't let your guard down, honey!" Firestar said.

Namorita was punching out several clones as more tried to swarm her. She took the opportunity to grab one of the cloning tubes and hurled it at the clones, knocking them down like bowling pins.

"Stop jumping around you ugly water bugs!" Namorita shouted.

Turbo, who was still dazed after being imprisoned in her tube, lifted her arms up and wind-blasted several clones back into dozens of mechanical devices on the other side of the room.

"This is just ridiculous! I want out of here!" Turbo shouted.

Suddenly, several panels around the lab opened up, revealing small laser guns from the ceiling and mechanical arms from the floor.

"Look out! Lasers!" Spider Man shouted as he dodged the laser grid as they started firing.

"Not again!" Turbo shouted as she ducked for cover behind another set of machines.

"Watch the arms!" Scarlet Spider shouted as he started dodging the rather quick, whipping arms, which he swore reminded him of Dr Octopus's mechanical harness.

"What a revolten development this is!" The Thing groaned as the mechanical arms wrapped around his legs, spider clones were grabbing his arms, and the lasers were pelting his head from above.

However, it was Reed who noticed that there were several gaps in the laser grid, and some of the lasers weren't firing and some of the arms were just lying dead on the ground.

Is something disrupting the electrical systems? Reed wondered as he was now dodging clones, laser fire and the mechanical arms. He looked at Firestar. Of Course!

Dark Spider tore off one of the mechanical arms and swung it wildly, knocking one of the clones into one of the tubes, which hadn't opened when the others did. Instead the impact of the clone had cracked the tube and released the greenish liquid from it. Dark Spider quickly raced over to the tank and noticed the occupant was a teenage girl about his original age, before his merger with the spider-clone. The girl herself had long brown hair and an athletic figure, as well as being dressed in a red bodysuit with a white spider on her chest. Her mask was tucked in her belt.

Before Dark Spider could do anything he was attacked by another pair of clones, who dragged him away from the tube.

"Get off of me!" Dark Spider shouted as he struggled against the clones.

Suddenly, a third clone sighted the tank and leapt at it.

"NO!" Dark Spider shouted and grabbed both of the clones and swiftly hurled them at the third one, knocking it away and into a large computer console. With the clones dealt with, Dark Spider went back to the tube and peered inside to find the girl's eyes blink open.

"Are you alright?" Dark Spider asked, suddenly feeling his spider-sense tingling as the girl raised her left arm and fired a glob of webbing at him.

Dark Spider pulled back as the girls webbing shot past him and nailed another spider-clone in the face, causing it to stumble backwards into a wildly whipping mechanical arm.

He then turned to the female figure who had emerged from the tank, mask over her face, and stared at the ebon arachnid.

"Uh.. thanks." Dark Spider said.

"You're welcome." the spider girl said.

The pair were quickly attacked by more clones, dodging laser fire just like their heroic allies.

"Why do I get the feeling you enjoyed that?" Spider Man asked as Wolverine stood over the dead clone body that had several slash marks on it.

"What can I say, Webs? You do tend to annoy me at times." Wolverine smiled to the original as he was suddenly grabbed by a pair of mechanical arms. "Argh! This is worse than the Danger Room!" he shouted as he was waved through the air like a flag.

"IT'S CLOBBERIN TIME!" Thing shouted as he ripped the mechanical arms from the floor and started hitting the spider-clones with them. And all while shrugging off laser fire, which was more like stun lasers, not killing lasers.

"We have to wrap this up, and fast!" Reed shouted as he wrapped his arms around another clone and hurled it across the lab into another group of tubes.

"Why? You got a date?" Namorita asked as she flew through the air, dodging another round of laser fire as well as clones.

"In a manner of speaking. Firestar!!" Reed shouted as he hurled another clone into the laser fire.

"Yes?" the microwave mutant asked, dodging more laser fire.

"I need you! Now!" he shouted over the fighting.

"Heck of a thing to say with your wife right here." Spider Man said as he kicked down another clone.

"I need you to scramble the computer systems failsafe protocols!" Reed shouted.

"What? How?" Firestar asked.

"Shoot The Big Computer!" Dark Spider shouted as his new partner tossed another clone to the side.

"Right!" she shouted as she flew over and fired a bolt of microwave energy at the console, frying the internal circuits and scrambling the next set of protocols, which stopped the lasers firing as well as the mechanical arms attacking.

"Well, that helps." Spider Man said as he punched out another clone, only to see Dark Spider get tackled by two more.

"But we still have these copy-cat clones to deal with!" Sue shouted as she force field-pushed another group of clones out of her way.

"Spider Man! I Need You!" Reed shouted as he started punching the keyboard on the console as Scarlet Spider and Dr Strange were brought down by the spider-clones sheer numbers.

"So Nice To Be Needed!" he shouted as he swung over to the elastic scientist as the female spider clone leaped through the air and kicked down another clone that was about to attack the Invisible Woman from behind. She herself was tackled by another pair of clones, as was Sue.

"Here. Help me with this." Reed said as he punched in the new programming commands while the Thing hurled another clone across the room, while several of the clones started webbing him up.

"Alright. I see what you're doing." Spider Man said as he punched in the commands along with the scientist as Cyclops, Phoenix and Wolverine were webbed up by the spider-clones.

The heroes kept fighting the clones, though they were quickly becoming overwhelmed. Suddenly the laser grid came back on-line, and started firing at the clones, striking each of them and missing the heroes in the process.

Within seconds, the fight was done. The clones were all down, and the laser grid was deactivated.

"Okay... what happened?" Ben Grimm asked, clearly confused.

"Simple. We reprogrammed the laser grid to fire on the clones instead of anything that moved." Spider Man said. "We didn't have enough time to get the mechanical arms working."

"Once Firestar's microwave energy scrambled the laboratory's protocols, it was a simple matter to reprogram the failsafes to something more advantageous to ourselves." Reed said.

"Well.... I'm at least glad that's over." Cecilia Reyes said as she stretched her limbs, which had been wrapped up by the mechanical arms, before they had become dead weight.

"And who's this?" Dr Strange asked when he noticed the young spider-woman.

"One of the clones." Dark Spider said. "I think."

"You think?" Namorita asked. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Well.... her tube didn't open like the others did. And she didn't attack us when she got out. So I think it's safe to trust her." Dark Spider explained.

"You're right. It is safe to trust her." Professor X said.

"You read her mind?" Sue Richards asked.

"Yes. There's no mental programming like the other clones." the bald man said.

While the X-Men and the FF talked to the girl, Dark Spider had slunk away, rubbing his face under his mask. It was Black Cat, Scarlet Spider, and Cecilia Reyes who noticed this.

"Shinji? Are you alright?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"I... I think so. But my face feels... weird." Dark Spider said as he pulled off his mask and looked into a reflective piece of glass from one of the tubes.

He gasps when he sees it.

"My-my face!" Shinji gasped.

The trio looked at Dark Spider and gasp as well, realizing that there was indeed something different about him. To start with, Shinji's facial features, which were once that of Peter Parker: brown hair, brown eyes, and an obvious Caucasian-influenced face, were now different. Sporting jet black hair, blue eyes, and a more Asian-influenced face, Shinji looked a little different from Peter and Ben, though the basic facial features, his bone-structure and all, still had that 'Parker' influence.

"Incredible! Obviously your merger with Spider Man's clone has had a delayed reaction in changing your facial features from Caucasian to Asian. Though.... not completely." Reed said as he came over to look at the young man.

"More like, half-Asian, half-Caucasian." Cecilia Reyes said as she turned away from him and started to examine the bandages on his chest. Not that he isn't attractive.

"At least you don't have to dye your hair to look different now." Scarlet Spider said.

"Oh, and you do?" Dr Strange asked, having come over to the group.

"Yeah. I dye my hair blond. Why?" the crimson arachnid asked.

"Perhaps I can help you in that." the sorcerer said as he raised a glowing hand to the young man.

Before Scarlet Spider could reply, Dr Strange had fired a bolt of energy at the young man, changing his brown hair to blond, which affected him even down to his DNA. He pulled his cowl from his head and stared into the reflective surface of the cloning tube.

"Whoa. Mystical dye-job. Nice." Ben said as he rubbed a hand through his now blond hair.

"It's something I've been working on in my spare time." Dr Strange grinned.

The pair of spider heroes put their cowls back over their faces and walked back to the group.

"So... what do we do about you?" Thing asked the female teenage Spider Clone.

"Well... she did help us out." Invisible Woman said, putting her hands reassuringly on the girls shoulders from behind. "We can't just put her back in one of those tubes."

"And we can't put her down like a dog." Firestar commented.

"You sure?" Wolverine asked.

"LOGAN!" Phoenix snapped.

"Alright, alright!" she said, the man backing off.

"What about you guys?" Namorita asked the spider men.

"Us?" Spider Man asked.

"Well... she is your clone." Johnny said.

"Yeah." Spider Man said.

"Right." Scarlet Spider said.

"Sure." Dark Spider said.

The trio looked at each other, as if thinking about this.

"Well.... I can't really take her. It would be a little awkward with my wife and all." Spider Man said.

"And people in my building might talk if they find out I've got a teenage girl staying with me. And what would I tell them who she is?" Scarlet Spider said.

"Your sister?" Phoenix asked.

"Technically speaking." Firestar muttered.

"And we can't ask Reed or Professor X to take her in." Spider Man said.

"Or Dr Strange." Scarlet Spider said.

At this point the female spider-clone was starting to feel both sad and depressed.

"I'll take her." Dark Spider declared.

"Huh?" the girl asked.

"What?" Spider Man asked.

"Really?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"She's a clone of Spider Man. And technically, so am I. That... kinda makes us family. So she can come with me, if she wants." Dark Spider said.

The girl looked at Dark Spider, feeling not so depressed anymore.

"You... you want me to come with you?" she asked.

"Yes. I do." he said, with seriousness in his voice.

"But why?" she asked.

"Well.... I've never had a little sister before." he said simply.

The girl smiled before leaping into Dark Spider's stomach, hugging him tightly. He was startled for a second, until he returned the hug himself.

It was a hug that was slightly less awkward than it should have been.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

While the group was returning to New York, Turbo told her teammates how she had been traveling across the Gulf of Mexico when a sudden storm forced her to take cover on the oil drilling platform. It was there that one of the floor panels, which was actually a trapdoor, opened up and dropped her into the lab, where the laser grid started shooting at her. The lasers eventually struck and rendered her unconscious. However she didn't remember getting into the cloning tube, which lead the group to conclude that either one of the other clones had put her in there, or the mechanical arms that had come up from the lab floor that they had encountered had done it.

They had been lucky enough to get out of the lab when they did, as right after Shinji had decided to take the teenage spider-clone with him, did another lab protocol suddenly initiate. Namely, the self-destruct system, which only gave them a minute to escape.

They had all escaped in time, which included getting into their vehicles and lifting off, when the entire lab and the oil-drilling platform went up in a fireball.

Without another clone body to study, Reed wasn't able to separate Shinji from his spider-clone body. And what with his promise of trying to take care of this female spider-clone, who was different than the other clones by far, Shinji was rather stuck in this world.

The group eventually returned to the Baxter Building where they started patching their wounds.

"I don't know how I'll be able to take care of both of us, but... maybe together we would be able to figure something out." Shinji said as Cecilia re-bandaged his chest.

"That's not much of a plan, Shinji." the young spider-clone said as she sat in a chair next to him.

"I know, but it's something." he said. Just then, Shinji realized something. "Uh... by the way... what do I call you?"

"Call me? Oh, you mean my name!" she asked as Cecilia finished the bandaging.

"Yeah." he said, pulling his shirt back over his chest.

"I.... I don't really have one." the girl said as Sue stepped into the room with a tray of food for the pair seeing as they probably hadn't had anything to eat in a while.

"Hmm." Shinji thought. "How about... Jun? Jun Ikari!" he said.

"Jun Ikari?" she asked.

"Well... you know... June comes after May, as in, Aunt May, and my last name is Ikari. I don't really want to change that. So, we just drop the 'E' at the end of the name and..." he explained.

"Jun Ikari." she said.

"Is that alright?" he asked.

"Well... since I didn't have a regular name to begin with... yeah!" she smiled.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Reed, Dr Strange and Professor X were talking when Johnny suddenly came up to the trio.

"Uh, Reed? There are some... people here to see you." Johnny said.

"I'm a little busy, Johnny. Can it wait?" Reed asked.

"Uh... I don't think so."

Sigh. "Alright who is it?"

"The President of the United States and the Japanese ambassador."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Greetings Mr President. How can the Fantastic Four be of assistance to you today?" Reed asked as he, his wife Sue and her brother Johnny, along with Professor X and Dr Strange meet the two groups of assembled parties in the lobby of the Baxter Building.

"Actually, Doctor Richards, the ambassador and I have come here hoping to be of assistance to you. Or... to an associate of yours." The President said.

"Oh?"

The president explained how Dark Spider saved his and the ambassador's children.

"Fascinating." he exclaimed.

"Indeed." the ambassador said. "We had one of our men watch the Baxter Building to inform us of your return. We had hoped that you would be able to locate Dark Spider, for we wish to show our appreciation for his heroism."

"Appreciation? You mean..." Johnny started to ask.

"There must be something we could do to reward him for what he has done." the president said.

"I don't think he's exactly the type to accept rewards for a job well done." Dr Strange said.

"Actually.... there is something you could do." Sue interjected.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

While the president and ambassador put Mrs Richards request into effect, the heroes from The New Warriors, The X-Men, and the Fantastic Four did some mild entertaining of the politicians while Black Cat tried to get more information out of Spider Man and Scarlet Spider.

Meanwhile, Sue went to check on Shinji and his new sister, who were in one of the Baxter Building guest rooms.

"Is everything alright, Shinji?" Sue asked.

"Well, actually....I was wondering if you could help me with something." Shinji said.

"Oh? What?" Sue asked.

"Well.... I was... kinda hoping to... change this outfit." he said, pulling at his black costume.

"Change it? How?" she asked.

"Well...."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(One hour later)

"Arigato, Mrs. Richards." Shinji said as he looked at the costume in the mirror.

It was still black, but the white Spider/Venom symbol on the front was gone. In it's place was a new white spider symbol that looked more like Spider Man's, only that it's white legs wrapped around the upper torso and connected to the other, smaller spider-symbol on the back. The top four legs wrapped over his shoulders, while the bottom four legs arched downwards and basically stopped below the waist. The head of the symbol no longer had pincers, it was just a round head. In addition to this new symbol, he had white lines going from his shoulders down across his arms where they ended in circles around his wrists. On the lower parts of the legs were white bands that also had a line going down the outer sides of the costume, and ending in what appeared to be the trim edges of his boots, which was no different than his original costume.

"It's a lot better than before." Sue said to the ebon arachnid. "And I've got your outfit, my dear." she said to the girl, handing the girl her own remade outfit.

Her outfit was a mostly dark blue with a bright red spider symbol across her torso, it's legs arching around across her shoulders and around her chest. Her gloves were red and ended about at her elbows, a red line around her waist, like a belt, the tips of her shoes dipped in red as well. She had a dark blue mask with white eye lenses that left the lower half of her face exposed. Her long brown hair would be loose and flow out the top of her costume just past her shoulders. Sue would have included a small cape, or glider-like web-wings underneath her arms, but thought that it would be overkill.

"Thank you, Mrs Richards." she said as she examined the costume in the mirror.

"You're welcome." the Invisible Woman smiled as the girl went into the bathroom to change. "And how are you doing Shinji?"

"Well.... all things considered, not bad." Shinji said, sitting on the small bed of the guest room.

"All things considered?" she asked.

"Within the last 24-hours I've been teleported to another universe, merged with the clone body of a superhero with spider powers, fought nearly two dozen supervillains who wanted me dead, been shot three times, told that there was no way I can go back to the way I used to be, I've nearly been incinerated, blown and beat up, and now that I think about it.... I have no place in this world. No identity, no home, no job." he explained.

She stared at the young man with some pity.

"So... all things considered, I guess I'm not doing bad."

Before she could say something, he spoke again.

"Don't worry. As soon as I'm fully healed, I'll be out of your hair." he said.

"God! You really are too hard on yourself! You act like you're a burden, but you're not." Sue snapped at him.

"Aren't I? I mean... I'm not from this world. Not born here, not raised here, not educated here. I'm like a second spare tire in a car. I don't have a birth certificate, or any kind of identification."

"Yeah, well, I'm kinda in the same boat, you know." the girl said.

"Sorry."

"Well... maybe we can do something about that." Sue said with a smile.

"Shinji? Can I ask you something?" Jun asked.

"Of course." Shinji said.

"Why... I mean... I'm not like you." she said, having finally heard the story of Shinji's rather unique origins. "So... why would you adopt me like this?"

Shinji took a few seconds to form his thoughts before answering.

"Because... I know what it's like to be alone. To have nothing, and no one to care about you. To not have... a family." he said with a sad smile. "So... I figured... maybe we could give each other what we didn't have before."

Jun actually smiled at the warm sentiment that came from the young man.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

While the president and the ambassador were talking to Reed, Dr Strange and Professor X in the rather comfortable lounge area of the Baxter Building, waiting for their assistants to return with the special documents they had sent them for, the members of the New Warriors and the X-Men had stepped out for a few minutes.

Turbo was still in recovery after her incarceration on the Oil Derrick, so the New Warriors would be back to collect her later. And the X-Men had an errand to run for the Professor.

It was during this time, that five rather sinister individuals decided to visit the Baxter Building.

"Reed! We've got a problem!" Sue said as the front of the lobby was blown open and the five walked in as if they owned the place.

Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben rose up and stood between the president and ambassador as they took in the group.

They were known The Wizard, a high-tech purple armor-clad inventor named Bentley Whittman. Trapster, an orange and red costumed adhesives expert, equipt with a back-pack and glue-shooters on his wrists, named Peter Petruski. Klaw, also known as Ulysses Klaw-the master of sound, who was red-skinned with a strange sound-amplifier on his right hand. The only woman of the group was Mary MacPherran, code-named Titania, who was a tall muscular woman with long brownish-red hair who was dressed in a purple costume with spikes on it. But the most noticeable member of the group was the 25-foot monster standing behind them called The Dragon Man, who was actually an advanced android with incredible strength and the ability to shoot fire from his mouth.

Titania was perhaps the most noticeable of the group, being 6'5" with an athletic, buxom figure. Her costume was purple and looked like a long-sleeved swimsuit with spikes on her arms, a gold belt on her waist, and exposed a generous portion of her ample chest. She had thick purple boots that came up to her knees and a mask over her eyes.

"Hello, Bentley. And am I to assume that it is The Frightful Five this time?" Reed said to the group.

"Hello, Reed. It's been a while. Hope you don't mind that my friends and I dropped by unannounced. But when we heard that the President was here, we just had to introduce ourselves." Wizard said.

"You truly picked a most inappropriate day to pay us a visit." Reed said.

"Oh? And why is..."

It was then that the group noticed a group of other people behind Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing.

The first people they saw were Professor X of the X-Men, and Dr Strange, the sorcerer supreme, whom they didn't notice right away when they arrived.

Spider Man, Scarlet Spider and Black Cat suddenly appeared behind them.

But what was worse was the other group of heroes who suddenly arrived in the lounge, and were right behind them.

Justice, Firestar and Namorita of the New Warriors. And Cyclops, Phoenix and Wolverine of the X-Men.

"...that?" he gasped as he counted fifteen super powers who had now surrounded him and his team.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"What's happening?" Shinji asked as he suddenly felt the building shake slightly.

"Sounds like a fight." Jun said, while admiring herself in her now costume in the mirror.

"We'd better go see." he said, getting off the bed and going over to the door.

"But you're still hurt." Jun said, trying to stop him.

"With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility." he said as he pulled his mask over his head.

She sighed. Why do I get the feeling he'll be using that one on me a lot in the future? She thought as she followed him out.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"SUE! Protect the President and the Ambassador!" Reed shouted as he dodged Wizard's energy blasts.

Thing, Human Torch, Justice, Firestar, and Wolverine were battling Dragon Man, dodging both his massive fists and his fireballs.

Spider Man and Scarlet Spider were battling Titania, mostly dodging her concrete-shattering fists.

"Maybe we should have let Namorita handle this one!" Scarlet Spider said as he fired his webbing at the woman's feet.

"I know. Fighting women isn't something I really enjoy." Spider Man said as he started webbing up her hands as well.

Phoenix was battling Trapster, and using her telekinesis to redirect his ultra-sticky adhesives back towards himself.

Cyclops, Namorita, Black Cat and Dr Strange were battling Klaw and his sound-created monsters, Cyclops actually causing them to explode as he blasted them out of the building.

Just then, Franklin and his little sister Valeria came into the room.

"Mommy? What's going..." Franklin started to said, rubbing his eyes as the noise from the fight had woken them up.

"FRANKLIN!" Sue cried out in horror at seeing her children arrive at one of her fights.

The Presidents daughter and the Ambassadors son tried to get Franklin and Valeria out of the way, only to have one of the many fireballs from Dragon Man blow the ceiling out over them and cause it to come tumbling down upon the quartet.

"NO!" Sue shouted in tandem with the president and ambassador, all who were still being protected from bombardment by an invisible force field.

Suddenly, a pair of blurs snatched the quartet before they were crushed by the debris.

Sue looked over and breathed a sigh of relief, along with the President and Ambassador, as Dark Spider held Franklin and the presidents daughter in his arms, and Spider Girl was holding the Ambassador's son in her arms with Valeria on her back.

"Oh, thank god." Sue sighed as another energy blast from Wizard ricocheted off her shield.

"AGAIN!" Franklin shouted excitedly to the ebon arachnid.

"No again." Dark Spider groaned.

The group quickly changed up dance partners. Namorita punched out Titania after Reed had wrapped her up with his elastic arms. Spider Man and Scarlet Spider webbed up The Wizard after Cyclops had force-blasted him down. Phoenix used her powers to hurl Klaw across the room and into a stone statue, created by blind sculptress Alicia Masters, which knocked him cold. Trapster was mentally controlled by Professor X, who used the man's special adhesives to contain the other members of the new Frightful Five.

As for Dragon Man, it took a combined effort to defeat him, mostly with Trapster gluing his feet to the ground, Dr Strange using his mystic powers to weaken his upper body's mobility, Wolverine slicing a hole in his skin, Thing ripping the hole a bit larger, and Firestar shooting a concentrated blast of microwave energy into the super android in order to disrupt it's internal circuits.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I can't believe I listened to you again!" Trapster said to Wizard as they were being carted off by the green-armored Sentry's from the Vault to their special transport.

"How was I supposed to know that there would be a dozen other superheroes there when we were attacking!" Wizard shouted back.

"You said that we'd be able to beat them this time with Dragon Man on our side!" Klaw shouted to the inventive genius.

"Which didn't work out too well, you know!" Titania shouted at the others.

"Oh put a sock in it, woman!" Wizard snapped.

"What was that?" she hissed.

The heroes just watched the villains bicker back and forth as they were carted away.

"Well, now that that's been taken care of..." Johnny said to his friends.

"I've already got the maintenance robots doing a clean-up." Reed said.

"And the President and the Ambassador have safely left." Sue said, not needing to include that they had thanked Dark Spider and Spider Girl for saving their children.

"And I guess we should be getting on our way." Justice said as Firestar, Turbo and Namorita stood behind him.

"And ourselves as well." Professor X said, while Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine and Cecilia Reyes stood behind him.

"We should probably be going as well." Spider Man said with Scarlet Spider, Dark Spider, Spider Girl and Black Cat behind him.

"Do you have to?" Franklin asked the group.

"Franklin! I'm sure they have their own problems to deal with instead of helping us deal with our's." Sue said to her son, holding him in her arms.

"Well, there is still the problem of what we're going to do." Spider Girl said, pointing to herself and Dark Spider.

"Especially since we still don't have any real identifications in this world." Dark Spider said.

"Actually... we've managed to take care of that." Sue said, handing her son to Ben Grimm, who was already holding Valeria.

Shinji and Jun looked at each other, then looked back to the blond woman.

"You have?" Shinji asked the Invisible Woman.

"Yes. The President of the United States and the Ambassador of Japan have arranged a special duel citizenship for you. As a reward for saving their children." Reed said, handing Shinji a pair of birth certificate's and social security cards. One for the US, one for Japan. There was no picture, but then again they didn't require one.

"Wow! Really?" Shinji gasped, accepting the new documents.

"Yes." Sue said.

"But... how did..."

"The President had pair of US Marshals create a new identity for you and rushed the documents right over." Reed explained.

"The Japanese ambassador did the same thing." Sue said.

Just then, a thought entered his mind.

"But.. what about Jun-chan?" he asked.

"Oh. Right. Well, I guess she's going to need these." Sue said, presenting a new birth certificate and social security card to the girl, also for both the United States and Japan.

"You mean..." she gasped as she accepted the documents.

"That's right sweetie, you exist!"

"Alright! I exist!" Jun cried out, jumping up and down.

It was then that Jun looked at the birth certificate and noticed something.

"Mary Jun?" she gasped.

"Huh?" Dark Spider asked, looking at her.

"My name is Mary Jun Ikari!" she said, showing him the documents.

Mary Jun? Spider Man gasped, realizing that it sounded a lot like his wife, Mary Jane.

"You know... this actually works on several levels." Dark Spider said.

"And as far as anyone knows, these are your real identities." Sue said to the pair.

"I.... I don't know what to say." Dark Spider said.

"Well, 'Thank You', would be a good start." Sue said.

"Thank You!" the pair said, bowing deeply to the blond woman. Actually, Shinji bowed, Jun just followed suit.

"Now we just need to find them a place to stay." Scarlet Spider said.

"Actually.... I think I can help with that." Spider Man said.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(Residential neighborhood, early evening the next day)

"I have to say, Peter, this is really weird." Ben Reilly said as the group walked down the street, dressed in casual street clothes.

"I have my doubts about this actually working as well." Peter Parker said to his brother.

"So... let me get this straight," Mary Jane Parker whispered. "I kissed a clone?"

"Kinda sorta." Peter said with a small shrug. "Actually... he's a fourteen year old Japanese boy who somehow merged with one of my clones." he explained. "But he's a good person, MJ. That's why I think this is a good idea."

Behind the trio, two figures were casually talking to each other.

"Are you alright, Jun-chan?" Shinji asked the young woman, who was dressed in a pair of jeans, tennis shoes, a red shirt with a blue jacket and a backpack hanging off her left shoulder.

"I'm a little nervous about this, Shinji-kun." Jun replied to the young man, who was dressed in a pair of brown slacks, black shirt, a long brown coat, and a backpack over his shoulders

"In a way... I am too." he replied.

Within a few minutes, the group had arrived at the familiar house.

"Hello, Peter!" May Parker said as she stepped out the front door. "And how are you feeling now?"

"Hi, Aunt May!" he said, giving the woman a warm hug. "And I'm feeling a lot better now. I hope you don't mind us dropping in like this, but I have some people I'd like you to meet."

"Oh? Really?" she asked.

"Yes, right behind me." he said.

May looked back and gasped. The first person she noticed was a young man with blond hair and the same features as Peter. The second person was a younger girl with soft wavy brown hair who could have passed for Peter's twin sister when he was fifteen. The third person was a young man with raven dark hair who also looked a little like Peter as well.

"Uh... Hello." May said to the trio.

"Hello." the blond haired young man said with a smile.

"Hello." the raven-haired young man said with a bow.

"Hi." the girl said.

"And what are your names?" May asked.

"Ben Reilly, ma'am." the blond man said.

"My name is Shinji Ikari," the raven-haired man said. "And this is my sister..."

"Mary Jun Ikari." the girl said.

"Really. My daughter-in-law was named Mary." May said.

"Really?" the girl said with a knowing smile.

"Though it is a little odd to find an American girl with a Japanese last name."

"Well, it's more for Shinji." she explained.

"Really?"

"Well, he kinda adopted me."

"I see." she said. "Oh! Where are my manners? Come in, come in, all of you." she said as she stood aside and let the group into her house.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I have to say, the resemblance between you all and my nephew is rather uncanny." May said.

"Peter said the same thing when he met us." Ben said.

The group were seated in the living room, just talking while Peter seemed to be doing most of the explaining.

"So... you are related to my Benjamin Parker." May said to the blond-haired man.

"Or at least his side of the family." Peter said.

"And what about you two?" she asked Shinji and Jun.

"Well.... we think that Shinji might be the son of my father, Richard Parker." Peter said, a feeling of dread welling up inside him.

"What?" May gasped.

"Do you remember back when he was a special agent with the government?" Peter asked.

"Of course." May said. "How could I forget the trouble that caused. It took you months to clear your parents names of those espionage and treason charges."

"Exactly. Well, you know how spies and special agents have a reputation of... sleeping around?"

At hearing this, May practically snapped.

"Peter! You're not suggesting that your father..."

"Well, no, but... I can't think of anything else that could explain this."

"But how could you even think that..."

"Aunt May! I know that my father was a good man, but given his occupation, it's not unusual for a spy or special agent to do whatever was necessary in order to... get the job done."

"But what you're suggesting is..."

"I know, Aunt May, I know. It sounds like something out of a movie or a television mini-series, but... I can't think of anything else. I mean he looks like me, doesn't he?" he asked, pointing to the raven-haired young man.

"Yes. I suppose he does. But so does Ben, and he's from the Parker side of the family. But then, why does he have my maiden name?"

"It's just his name, Aunt May." Mary Jane said. "For all we know, a woman from the Parker family married a man from the Reilly family, and... well..."

May sighed as she heard that. "It's a small world we live in." she said.

"Aunt May? Are you alright?" Peter asked.

It was then that May finally smiled.

"Yes, Peter. I just... before it was just you, me and Mary Jane. And now... it seems as if our little family has doubled in size almost overnight."

"So, you're not upset about all this?" he asked.

"Well... I would be lying if I said that I wasn't expecting anything like this. But... to be honest, I am a little suspicious as to the real reason you came here."

"Well...."

"We were hoping you knew of a place where they could stay." Mary Jane said.

May smiled at the girl and her nephew.

"You mean... stay here, don't you?" she asked.

The group looked at each other in shock.

"You know?" Peter asked.

"I may be old, Peter, but I'm not that old."

"Sorry, Aunt May." he said sheepishly.

"Don't be, dear boy. Under the circumstances, I quite understand."

"I just thought that... well, with Mary Jane and I living in our own place, and Ben already has his own place, and I figured you must be a little lonely here, and ... when I met Shinji and Jun here... with no real place to stay, well..."

"You thought they could live here, in order to keep me company, and so that you would be able to keep tabs on our family." May exclaimed.

"Well..." he said, slightly embarrassed by all this.

While Aunt May was a fairly good judge of character, she had the feeling that Peter was keeping something from her.

Still...

"Yes." May said. "At the very least I could use the company, to get to know our little family better."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Authors Notes:

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, long though it may be. (It's 30 pages and over 10,000 words) I hadn't really intended for it to be this long, but one thing kept coming up after another, until finally I had a thirty-page chapter. And on top of everything else, I gave Shinji a sister, and a clone at that, the idea coming from the Ultimate Spider Man comic series following the Clone Arc. And just so everyone knows, there is no Mattie Franklin in this universe. Which is why I gave the female clone the identity of Spider Girl, as well as one of Mattie's spider-girl costumes.

I hope no one minds that there are no omake's. After writing so much I just couldn't think to include them and make the chapter longer than it had been. Furthermore, I made several changes to Shinji, including making his features more Asian, and less 'Peter Parker', changed his costume a little, and then had him and 'Mary Jun' move in with Aunt May, after giving them new identities of their own.

And as always, leave a review to let me know what you think.

And just so everyone knows, my next updates will be for 'Shinji X' and 'Shinji Meets The Avengers'. Hopefully for tomorrow.