After weighing their options, the Guardians of the Galaxy eventually decided to collectively call Clark "Dad"... Oops, wrong, they decided to collectively join the Avengers.
Of course, their affiliation with the Avengers was in name only. As the Guardians who used the starry cosmos as their playground, they were never going to settle for just hanging around Earth.
Given the sisterly bond between Nebula and Gamora, Clark decided to keep Nebula with the Guardians and, in accordance with an earlier agreement, appointed Rocket Raccoon as the captain of the Heart of Clark spaceship.
Within their group, it didn't matter who was in charge, but where the ship was headed was entirely Rocket's call when Clark wasn't around.
This arrangement also prevented issues like the previous ones caused by Rocket and Star-Lord's quarrels about how to pilot the ship.
Handing over the Heart of Clark to this gang, Clark saw it as making the best use of resources. After all, in his hands, the ship was mostly just being carried around like a matchbox, which was somewhat of a waste.
Plus, Clark needed someone experienced in cosmic navigation to be his chauffeur. After all, why should the boss drive himself?
Ensuring availability on demand while allowing the driver to familiarize themselves with the ship's capabilities seemed only reasonable. Having taken their benefits, they naturally had to work.
Clark's demand from the Guardians was simple: "I don't care where you take the Heart of Clark for your adventures, but you are responsible for gathering information on two things for me: the whereabouts of the dark apostle Cassilius and any clues to the last piece of the Phoenix Force."
No matter how slim the chances of these targets being found, by setting these tasks, he had done his part.
If they succeeded, great; otherwise, they'd just have to wait for these foes to stir trouble themselves and then eliminate them in one fell swoop.
After using his space abilities to return to Earth with Daisy, Clark decided to take a good long rest and also to console Hill and Ava, who had been neglected for over a year.
Although venturing out to challenge the cosmos was his main affair, the logic with women didn't always follow that rationale.
Clark spent ten whole days managing both sides of his life, painstakingly explaining himself clear and through. He was worn out with a sore back and tired legs from all the talking and planning, but eventually, he managed to appease the two beauties, leaving them happy once again.
On the eleventh day, Clark didn't seek anyone out but stayed alone in his office at the Avengers' headquarters to rest.
Yes, this time he genuinely intended to rest.
After a hot shower, just as he was about to enjoy some ordinary sleep back in bed, a sudden surge of energy vibrations came from the wall of the room.
What now?
Clark, startled and instinctively donning his clothes for survival, watched as the space energy on the wall peaked and formed a visible spatial vortex.
Following that, a pair of long legs clad in green ballet shoes and black tights stepped out from the vortex. After the legs, an arm wrapped in a white spider-webbed suit emerged, followed by the rest of her body.
The black-and-white suit outlined a nearly perfect silhouette, her head covered with a white hood and mask that obscured even the eyes with large white lenses, making it impossible to see even a hair on her body. The ensemble was undeniably unique.
Yet, more familiar to Clark than her appearance was the divine power emanating from her body—it was his own.
"Gwen?" Clark furrowed his brows in confusion as he gazed at the young woman who had crossed universes, "Didn't your universe lack the technology to traverse parallel universes? How did you suddenly show up here?"
Clark had previously been in touch with the divine power residing within Gwen, so he was somewhat aware of her situation.
Operating under the principle that one must continually stir events to reap impression points, the divine power hidden within Daisy had been ceaselessly inciting her to jump out and cause major incidents.
Being Spider-Woman was too simple an identity, capable of making waves only within a city at most, hardly befitting the status of a multiversal entity like Clark.
Guided by Clark's divine power, Daisy decisively abandoned her music career to delve into science and technology. In just half a month, she developed a simplified version of a cosmic cube-style new energy reactor, becoming one of the top magnates of her parallel universe. Her various groundbreaking inventions made this high school Spider-Woman both famous and wealthy.
The next step was a universal conquest plan, still in the planning stages given its enormity. With their world's technology, crossing parallel universes seemed far-fetched. Even with guidance from Clark's divine power, it wasn't likely to be achievable within a decade.
"I came here using a space-time travel device developed by Doctor Octopus," Gwen stated
, baffling Clark completely.
Doctor Octopus, that second-rate villain, had become so capable?
Seeing the confusion on Clark's face, Gwen asked, "Can't you communicate spiritually with your divine power? Didn't it tell you about this?"
Before Clark could respond, the divine power residing in Gwen spoke up: "The connection between me and my original form is one-way. I can't contact him directly; he needs to initiate contact. The last time he contacted me was two months ago."
Clark nodded, understanding, then magically produced a bottle of Shandar star juice, handed it to Gwen, and gestured for her to take it easy and explain further.
Gwen then removed her mask, revealing beautiful eyes that appraised Clark for a long time before speaking: "It seems that little Peter wasn't lying, your attractiveness could indeed crush anyone I've ever met, even knowing you're a heartbreaker, one can't help but think..."
"No wild thoughts allowed!" Clark quickly interrupted, adopting a serious tone, "Tell me about Doctor Octopus."
His intuition told him that this bizarrely skilled Doctor Octopus was likely at the heart of the matter.
Seeing Clark's determined, monk-like demeanor, Gwen realized he wasn't as frivolous as he claimed.
She took a calm sip of the alien juice and explained, "The Doctor Octopus I mentioned isn't from our world. He comes from another parallel universe."
"He killed that universe's Spider-Man, Peter Parker, and took over his body, turning into a good person influenced by Spider-Man's legacy. It's better to say he's a fusion of Doctor Octopus and Peter Parker, inheriting Spider-Man's will..."
In short, after turning good, Doctor Octopus began acting heroically like Spider-Man. However, during an accident, he was thrown into their universe's year 2099, where he learned advanced future technology. He used this technology to create a device capable of traversing time and space, originally intending to return to his own timeline.
Then, a mishap occurred—he traveled to the wrong timeline. Such mistakes are normal...
However, misdirected as it was, he unexpectedly discovered other murdered Spider-Men across various universes, eventually uncovering the dark force behind it all: a mysterious family known as the Inheritors. The two clone vampires who had attacked Gwen and little Peter were members of the Inheritors, with one named Morlun.
Clark nodded slightly, about to comment, when he turned back to the spatial vortex from which Gwen had emerged, only to see seven or eight figures in Spider-Man suits step out, forming a spectacle reminiscent of a previous gathering of seven Spiders.
Watching the crowd of Spider-Men, Clark was about to say something when another wave of spatial fluctuations came from another wall, and seven or eight more Spider-Men entered his lab, including the familiar figures of the Shadow Spider-Man and Spider-Ham.
Seeing a room full of Spiders, Clark couldn't help but chuckle, "It seems your lineup this time is much more splendid than before."
Gwen shrugged helplessly, "We had no choice. The enemies this time are far more terrifying than before by many magnitudes. If we had fewer numbers, we couldn't stand against them."
"Actually, those who've arrived are just a small part of our companions." At this moment, a Spider-Man with six metallic arms stepped forward, introducing himself to Clark, "My name is Otto Gunther Octavius, now merged with Peter Parker. You can call me Peter Parker."
___________________
(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)
If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters
Read Ahead
Patreon.com/INNIT