Finding himself inside his base Josh couldn't help but hear as the vampires thrashed around for food. "Hey I can get you a whatever you want, money, girls whatever it is you want." Josh couldn't help but yawn he was surprised at how calm he was.
After making his way over to the begging vampire he couldn't help but feel a begrudging pride at what he was able to do so far. Closing in on where the vampire's were tied up he made sure they could hear as he got closer.
The man's begging became even more fervent, "it was the money yeah I knew that that would get your attention. I'm vice president of a company money is no issue for someone like me."
Hearing the man brag Josh couldn't help but to be curious how was he supposed to control someone. Making his way over to the desk near where their confined, Josh began to meditate trying to recall the falling feeling he felt before he passed out.
After a few minutes of struggling he immediately felt a snap as the feeling immediately ramped up swallowing him whole.
As Josh found his way back to the dark room he decided that the sooner that he figured out that the sooner he could get them under his control the safer it would be. Making his way to where he could see his blazing soul he immediately began looking around for any sign of the spider powers, while he found silk connecting all of the fires but there's nothing else but darkness.
After looking around the dark space he noticed a single small thread leading into the darkness, a thread so small he would've never found it if he weren't looking so closely. Making his way following the string he found another room with a single small spider the single spider seemed to be hiding away.
Getting closer to the small spider he could feel as his will could be forced on to it. Making his way towards the spider he could feel its influence on this place. Placing his hand on the spider could feel how this place was weaved in much clearer detail. 'This place is my hive mind it's small because there's only a single mind hum, I can change that soon enough.'
Leaving the hive mind Josh made his way over to where the spiders were being kept he decided that to start he would begin with the third iteration of the spider project for the ability to produce a medical silk as he could possibly use it to enhance his ability to heal.
Taking the spider in his hands he could feel his connection to it. Josh tested the connection by having the spider crawl across his arms to his other hand. After giving the spider a few more orders he soon gave it the order to give him a bite.
The bite was definitely more painful than a direct injection but it soon came to a head as Josh immediately began squeezing silk from his wrist to under his nails at first it hurt with an immediate burn that slowly calmed down it felt like being burned all over before calming down. His connection to the spider became even deeper the spider went onto his hand before I'm immediately burrowed into his skin it was so painless he almost didn't notice he was expecting pain like the bite itself.
After running his hand over where the spider was he immediately sat back down entering back into the hive mind. Making his way over to the spider room he saw something strange there wasn't just a single spider or the two he expected there were 3 spiders. The original mind controlling spider and two sea spiders he basically could make a whole spider army with enough time he basically just cloned a spider .
Linking closer with the two cloned spiders he felt something strange the spider on the right was strange on spider felt closer than the other, it was like the difference between a hand and a finger as he had the two spiders leave the hive mind. Watching as the spiders dug down leaving the hive mind he was surprised at the ease and speed.
Looking closer at the original room he noticed a new flame looking at the flame he could definitely tell that this was the spider powers were putting his hand in the fire he was correct, with the addition on the sea spider bite he was able to create and assimilate living tissue but due to his mutant gene there's no issues the spiders were created to be his avatars he could tell through his connection that all powers gained leave imprints on his soul created based on himself and the spiders in the hive mind.
Leaving the hive mind he easily began to notice that he could control his avatar far more easily compared to the other spider. After the success of experiment he decided to study his avatar a bit because surprisingly his avatar body is just a vessel based on the spider, it was basically just a living harddrive with part of his information it could be used to fake his death if he ever needs to though the loss of a body would suck.
Already having two avatars is like already having two alteritive lives as long as one manages to escape he'll be able to live on through he might loose the powers he gain from said avatars. He decided that the best thing he could do is bolster the number of spiders and other beings into his hive mind afterall why stop at spiders.
As Josh got lazy on his way to bed he decided to dose himself with every venom so he could deal with the rest tomorrow. He was exhausted with all the experimenting he's done he decided to put off dealing with the vampires for tomorrow morning when the sun is up and bright, it was close to 3 in the morning with him working and experimenting since morning with only a slight nap.
The Hivemind
As Josh awoke in the mindscape he immediately saw the golden light shine brighter alongside the flame. Making his way over to the spider nest he immediately began to look around until he smugly spotted his new avatar's, it was like collecting new lives it was like Pokémon and Mario mixed together,The only downside is that so far it only makes a single avatar for every spider venom. He's taken the leftover sea spider venom alongside everything but he couldn't sense another sea spider Avatar so he can only create an avatar once.
Being alone in such a big place felt strange but he had a strange idea what if he could make this place into a dimension of his own as there are many people who have done the same. He believed that he could definitely make something like a bootleg one below all aftall he could already cheat death it's just about surpassing it as being tied to a dimension grants an infinite lifespan as they will live as long as their realms exists.
He was curious about how to go about it though while he definitely wanted to use cool powers like the ghost rider but he was definitely way to weak compared to most hero's currently with their loads of experience fighting criminals and villains.
Josh didn't really know how to go about it because pretty much every dimension is already taken by one demon or another. Like the gods with the Odin force or Wanda who is a conduit for the power of chaos. So for he seems to be alone in this world since there was nothing too strange so far so he thought about something.
'Since so far there hasn't really been anything unusual happening so far it should be alright to try to get into more abstract powers but how most abstract power's choose their holders for the most part. The best thing he could think of is to either try making a new comic force or search for a new one' He knew what to choose afterall 'if I try to join an already existing force I will need to be accepted by the force. The best thing I could think of is recreating a force from DC afterall they were once connected canonically meaning that they are compatible forces in this world and since this is probably way byond the source wall won't connect to the already existing speed force making my own.'
The best way would be to recreate what gave him powers the dark matter and lightning or he could try something a little bit different, he remembered that in the show they created the forces meaning that it's possible to create it but he needed lightning and dark matter alongside a lot of energy, he had no clue what places would have dark matter.
After making a quick google search he found several places using dark matter for research was down in North Carolina it would take a couple hours that he really didn't want to take.
Looking over at where he had the vampires captive Josh had a very devious plan come to mind 'since the spider venom's enchantment works on vampires I could definitely do a little buisness with decon frost before he dies to blade.'
Making his way over to where the vampires were held captive the lady was laying there begging for some blood he couldn't help but feel a bit repulsed by her current state he never wanted to be in her current state.
Ignoring the begging the vampires were doing he immediately made his way over to the spiders as he got closer he instinctively beggan feeling his feeling connection to his avatars. Drawing them all out of his body all the spiders broke out of his hand feeling nothing as he had them organize to attempt a few formations testing his current control before attempting to control a vampire.
Josh was surprised at how easily he could control everything, from making shapes to seeing from their perspective he could feel his essence in so many forms it became a bit unsettling, It was like looking into a bunch of different mirrors at the same time.
Josh decided to try checking what would happen if someone got venom from his avatar, grabbing his avatar he easily extracted their venom after labeling each vial it was far easier collecting the venom from a piece of himself taking only an hour to collect venom from all the spiders.
After collecting venom from all the spiders he sent them back to the hive, after collecting his avatars he made his way over to where he kept the original spiders. collecting the spiders Josh slowly one by one slowly had them enter into his hive, the process took a few hours leaving him starving .
Feeling starved he decided to go get himself something to eat before leaving he gave the remaining vampire the venom from his avatar before leaving for breakfast.
Making his way over to a nearby deli and ordering a few sandwiches alongside a bunch of other types of animal feed, making his way over to a pet store he bought several species of both native and foreign spiders along side four lizard of two species. After getting some new animals for his collection And some food food to feed them he ended up paying 200$.
Making his way home he decided to go back because he forgot that he needed to feed the vampires back at his base 'damn I forgot that I need to feed marvel vampires.' Vampires in marvel don't die immediately if they don't drink blood they will slowly and painfully starve until they enter what is called the death sleep where they will stay comatose until they get any blood.
Going back to the pet shop he went over and ordered two rats paying an outrageous 30$ for 2 rats. Going back to the base he immediately heard as they screamed and hollowed in pain he was glad that the werehouse was so well built letting no noise leave the building.
He could already feel the new connection with him and the new vampires he was excited both trials survived and he already has a way to grow his influence. Making his way closer to where the vampires were being held Josh heard as they wiggled and thrashed against their bindings, going over to his little workshop Josh grabbed the two samples of the vampires he took before the enhancement and split them up in smaller groups before grabbing one of each for further examination.
After slightly transforming his hand into claws he gave himself a slight cut from his hands drawing and collecting some blood before dropping some in the containers for study after a fit of mixing the clear solution became a vibrant green.
Making his way over to where the vampires were being kept he easily felt his connection to the vampire, sitting down on the nearby bench he immediately entered the place he decided to call the hive.
Entering into his mindscape he immediately found the new string it was further away from where my soul was being held connected to where the spiders were being held. Making his way to the new space he was immediately able to see into his being.
Into his mind
The vampires name is mitchel he worked under Eric for close to a century being a turned vampire he was heavily looked down upon by the pure bloods he worked hard for decades doing grunt work, he was grateful for being embraced by the Eric family line they aided his growth being on the council witch is better than some of the other tribes, Of the thousand tribes apart of the council he was blessed to support directly under a council member.
Mitchel was absolutely pissed we was just supposed to look after everything Decon frost was planning, he had just entered into an agreement with him increasing the amount of blood being distributed in exchange for some of their records and translations.
Mitchel couldn't stand decon frost he was absolutely a pain to deal with
Flashback
As Mitchel entered the elevator up to Frosts penthouse he couldn't help but look around at the filth he kept around him, with drugs and prostitutes of all kinds it was a disgrace that he was held in such high regard.
Arriveing at the penthouse nobody was sent there to greet him absolutely disrespecting everything the council stands for, he was desiccating the traditions that had pushed them to where they were today. With the rise of the clubs under Decon frost the blood vampires were able to amas rose but he never had to deal with the true dangers like the children of varcolock or the magicians.
Finally meeting with Decon Frost was the worst part, As Mitchel arived at the Decon's office he was immediately hit with the smell of alcohol and sex it was almost unbearable. The only thing keeping him there was his orders to watch for anything suspicious during their deal.
Mitchel made his way over to a chair sitting down before saying "chansolor Eric wants to increase the amount of blood sent over in exchange for the information, we have also have room for cooperation if the amount is sufficient."In a haughty tone afterall he's directly under the chandsolor and has been for years.
Mitchel relished at the displeasure on his face hearing him say "so what if you have some scrolls. I have what you need afterall everybody has to eat." Showing off his fangs.
Frost's reply had him silent for a second before clapping back with "just because you can do something doesn't mean you aren't just as replaceable afterall you are far to young to play that game you are just a mixed blood." He couldn't help but smirk at the anger frost showed on his face.
Mitchel continued saying "after all that little project of Yours needs a baking right, while some of the council might tolerate your existence the others aren't as welcoming as my master is being." He couldn't help but put the upstart in his place, he had no respect for the council.
Leaving the building he was making his way into the dark night, slowly walking away.