Three Spider-Men gathered in front of a jar, gazing at the swirling black liquid inside. One of the Spider-Men pointed at the jar and said, "Are you sure this thing is an alien life form? Why does it look like a pile of sludge?"
"Don't say that," another Spider-Man retorted, "I remember that it really annoys him being called sludge. You may think he looks evil, but he's actually quite nice. His previous host was a friend of mine. You guys stay back, I'll talk to him."
The other two Spider-Men stepped back, one of them expressing apprehension, "How do you plan to talk to him, where is this thing's mouth?"
"I also have a symbiont in my body, the two of them can communicate, but their way of communication is..."
Before Spider-Man could finish his sentence, the black sludge inside the jar surged upwards fiercely. With a loud "bang", the ceiling was busted open by a massive black tentacle. Spider-Man jumped up as a flood of red symbiont slime burst from his back.
Once the two sides collided, it was like a large can of paint had been knocked over. Sludge was splashed everywhere in an instant, the entire room looked as if it had been met with a paint explosion, everywhere was black and dark red.
About two minutes later, both sides finally stopped this friendly communication. Another voice echoed from inside the room's Spider-Man, "Damn, no matter which universe Venom is in, he's always so disgusting. Ugh..."
"Who the hell are you, country bumpkin?!" An eerie yet evil voice echoed, "Get lost, this body is mine!"
"Can you be reasonable?! Venom! Do you not understand the concept of 'first come first serve'? Spider-Man is my official host, we signed a contract, you should be the one to get lost!"'
"Did your brain get fried when you entered the atmosphere?! Back off!"
"Stop arguing, stop arguing!!" Spider-Man raised his voice, "If you don't stop, I'm going to blast some rock and roll music!"
Both symbionts remained eerily silent for a moment. Spider-Man took the opportunity to shout towards the door, "Bring in another Spider-Man, Venom needs a host, otherwise he won't stop bickering."
The other two Spider-Men glanced at each other. One of them swallowed hard, gritted his teeth and stepped forward, murmuring as he walked, "I've already been bitten by a zombie, a bite from this sludge won't make a difference. God, he looks like a melted asphalt road..."
"Show some manners, kid!" The Venom shrieked, quickly morphing into a highly mobile form, leaping onto Spider-man and instantly covering him with black sludge. Venom's mouth appeared on Spider-Man's body.
"What's the matter with you? I smell a disgusting scent from you, you wouldn't be one of those annoying cosmic special agents, would you?"
"Venom, I warn you, show some respect. You're the number one wanted criminal on Klinter Star. The thing about you and your host dumping feces on the Pixies Dwarf Star Harbor..."
"Alright, alright, Red Bee, that's a matter of two universes, let's not mix things up. Let's talk about the important stuff." Spider-Man interrupted their argument.
Spider-Man took a small holographic device from Stark's hand. After pressing a button, a projection of the nano computing module appeared. Venom immediately let out a surprised "huh?"
"You recognize it?" Spider-Man asked.
"This thing... Where did you guys get this from?"
Under the influence of Spider-Man's rational thinking, Venom calmed down a bit, he leaned forward and studied it carefully, then looked at the sample of zombie blood in the syringe provided by Spider-Man and shook his head, saying: "These are my progeny factors."
"What?!" Everyone's eyes widened in shock.
"It means exactly what it sounds like," Venom growled impatiently, "This is an offspring of my symbiotic factor, but I don't know who turned it into this ugly thing. What is it for?"
Spider-Man and Iron Man looked at each other. Spider-Man followed up, "Are you saying that this thing is actually a modification of your offspring's symbiotic factors?"
"No!" Venom roared again, explaining impatiently, "My offspring would be another symbiont, but this thing isn't a symbiotic factor, it's a derivative of the symbiotic factor. It's a factor of mine, but it's been evolved and iterated upon externally, turned into a progeny factor."
Waving his hands, Venom explained, "If it was a symbiotic factor of my offspring, then they could combine to form a symbiont, but this thing can't because they've lost the features of the symbiont during external evolution, it's just a simple special factor."
"Could it be like this?" Stark proposed a possibility, "In some universe, Osborn caught this sludge, extracted its symbiotic factors and cultured it externally, then created this nano computing module for stealing the computation power of human brains from other universes?"
But the gaze of the three Spider-Men all fell on Stark.
Stark paused for a moment, then glanced back at himself, "You aren't trying to say that I'm the mastermind behind all this, are you?!"
"It could be another universe's you, Mr. Stark," Spider Man suggested. "Cultivating factors outside of the body isn't hard, what's challenging is converting them into nano computing modules, which probably only you can accomplish."
Stark, supporting himself with one hand on the experiment table and the other covering his forehead, asked, "But why would I do that? For what on earth would I need the computational power of human brains from multiple other universes? What am I calculating?"
Spider Man's demeanor darkened. "If an evil Iron Man from another universe needed that much computing power, it'd mean that the scale of his scheme is unimaginable."
The others fell silent. They understood Spider Man's implication. Under normal circumstances, the ingenious mind of Tony Stark could handle almost any trouble, and given his character, he wasn't particularly fond of asking for help.
But if he did one day decide to do so... and not just for a minor assistance, but to orchestrate a grand conspiracy that affected numerous universes, just to steal the computational power of human brains... what on earth would he be up to?
Stark stayed put, pensively. "When the computation module is doing its calculations, it can operate independently. But to upload the results, it needs a path. If we can find that path, perhaps we could directly communicate with the one behind the scenes," he said after some thought.
Spider Man perked up at the idea. One of the Spider-Men looked at Stark and asked, "How do we find this path? Can we hack the nano computing modules?"
Stark was particularly meticulous when it came to professional knowledge. He didn't exaggerate, but, after considering his response, cautiously said, "I would need to understand how the nano computing modules are networked. However, the clues we have right now are insufficient. If I tried forcefully hacking into it, we might alert them to our presence."
Spider Man was somewhat despondent again. However, the Spider Man who'd originally looked like Venom returned to his normal look and said, "My universe, the Zombie Universe infected by the Zombie Sentinel, might have some key hints. Previously on the moon, I met a big head who claimed to be a Multiverse Observer. Perhaps we should ask him."
"I need to get back to my lab to continue studying this module," Stark said. "If all works as I presume, I may be able to make some adjustments on it."
After some discussion, the decision was made. The Spider-Men would take Venom back to the Zombie Universe while Stark returned to his own universe to continue his research. Dr. Pym also stayed in his lab to work on hacking the module. Taking a multi-pronged approach seemed to be the most efficient strategy.
Soon after the Spider-Men arrived back in the Zombie Universe with Venom, they found that the superheroes, who were just beginning to recover, were fighting again. Their opponent this time was Magneto.
All three Spider-Men rushed into the fray. However, Iron Man from the Zombie Universe shouted at them, "We must stop him, Spider Man! He's the one who introduced the zombie virus into our universe. He's the cause of it all!"
"He wants to obliterate the human race!" chimed in Captain America. "He's an extremely dangerous individual, Spider Man. Subdue him at once."
The comments baffled Spider Man. He joined the Avengers in their fight against Magneto, but Magneto didn't show much resistance, whether due to an injury or unwillingness to fight, and was soon apprehended by the Avengers.
Magneto was brought into Stark Group's lab by the Avengers and locked inside an energy cage. Everyone then noticed a certain lethargy about him, as if he was saying, "I'm tired, let's get this over with."
"What's going on, Erik?" Stepping forward, Spider Man pleaded, "There must be a reason for this. We can discuss it. Is destroying Earth going to make you feel better? Mutants will suffer as well."
Magneto, standing in the cage, let out a sigh without opening his eyes. "Charles is dead."
"What?!"
Steping closer, a confused Spider Man asked, "What are you saying? Professor Xavier is dead?! You..."
Spider Man intended to ask "why didn't you save him," but the resigned demeanor of the elderly man standing before him drew his tongue. He instead rephrased his question. "When did he die? And how?"
After a long silence, Magneto said, "You don't understand the costs of uncovering the truth. I am the one saving the world."
"What on earth are you saying?" Steve stepped forward in frustration and demanded, "Where did you get the zombie virus? Why did you release it here on Earth?"
Spider Man interjected, "Erik, I know you must be devastated by Charles' death. But you must also realize that even if you destroy the world, he can't come back. What you're doing will ruin the mutants... "
Magneto watched Spider Man, his voice filled with sorrow and indignation, "I am merely carrying out Charles' wishes!"
About to voice his anger, Steve was silenced by Spider Man who declared, unmoved by Magneto's glare, "If you've got something to say, say it now. We don't have the time for you to play coy and we're absolutely not obliged to save the world your way. If you stay silent, we might have to take matters into our own hands."
Magneto looked at Spider Man and said, "Accepting the truth also comes with a cost. Are you truly prepared for that?"
"At least I'm more prepared than someone who's teetering on the brink of destroying the world."