Spiderman: The Clone Saga Part 2 (The New Warriors and The X-Men)
Ben helps the NWs deal with Helix
Black Cat finds out about Peter’s clonage and is distraught which the demon D’spayre tries to capitalize on
Reilly passes on being Spiderman a 2nd time
Reilly recalls his past 5 years ago and how he met Seward Trainer. At a cottage where he is staying to gain some clarity, Seward warns him to get out before it explodes
He goes back to Seward’s lab where he is attacked by Octobots and imprisoned along with Seward. They manage to escape
Scarlet Spider and Vulture become involved with a father/son dynamic when Reilly meets Malligan senior at Uncle Ben’s grave who tells him his son is involved with criminals. Simultaneously, Vulture is seeking youthful males to steal their life force and finds the criminals at a warehouse at the same time that SS does. Reilly stops Vulture and the Malligans are reunited
The next arc sees Peter trying to kill Mary Jane because of a biological implant imposed by Jackal
The NWs and Scarlet Spider all try and stop him as he outmaneuvers the NWs likewise to the X-men during the Secret Wars
MJ stops Peter by memory recalibration by going to Aunt May’s old house. They share an emotional moment
Justice of the NWs asks Reilly to share his secret identity for trust reasons to which Ben replies he will eventually (Ben has been a NW for some time)
They gain a new member- Timeslip
A rescue mission for Namorita is unsuccessful
Robbie Baldwin (Speedball)’s enemies, a bunch of D-list cronies, cause a diversion for Rebound, a scientific enemy of Speedball’s, to capture him and steal his kinetic energy. Rebound fails
A new Dr. Octopus who is female attempts to steal Seward Trainer’s data on organic matter virtual-reality simulation. She desires to know how he projected actual living matter into cyberspace
Reilly and Seward deduce that an attempted hacker is involved with Dr. Octopus
Peter has himself tested by Seward for more genetic implants. His and MJ’s child kicks for the first time
The new Doc Ock reveals herself to be Seward Trainer’s daughter Carolyn. She confronts him, demanding him for his tech or his life is forfeit
Ben saves Peter’s life at the cost of letting Carolyn Trainer get away
The next story begins with Shinobi Shaw, son of Sebastian Shaw, and Benedict Kine arguing what to do about Jonah Jameson when he releases an expose on mutants
Not taking Jameson as a serious threat, Kine invokes the rite of challenge against Shaw who will have his Black Knights combat Kine’s White Knights and whoever is victorious shall be the new leader
The Black and White Knights begin the battle for Jameson’s fate. Peter senses it and confronts them at the Bugle. The X-men become involved when they are pulled by a psychic screech. They are led to the Hellfire Club
They stop the Knights together and end on peaceful terms with Shinobi. After Peter drops an unconscious J.J at the Bugle, he bitterly thanks him for some of the worst years of his life
MJ goes into critical condition while Scarlet Spider and Spiderman are looking for Carolyn Trainer
Seward arrives at the hospital to tell Peter that it may have been his radioactive DNA that caused MJ to be sick
Carolyn calls Seward and offers the antidote in exchange for him and the access codes to his computer
Spidey and SS track Seward by Spider-Tracer to an underground lab
Spidey takes Carolyn down while SS saves Seward. They get the antidote to MJ after which Spidey confronts Ben a third time about being Spiderman of which Ben finally accepts
The penultimate chapter of the book relays the history of how Kaine became the way he is now and is a historical chapter for Kaine and Reilly
For 3 years Ben has been nomadic since his inception and is currently in SLC
Kaine is also in SLC tracking Reilly. He meets Louise Kennedy at a bar who is operating undercover in a gang to get to a crime boss named Vincent Tanmen’s drug operation
Reilly gets a job as teaching assistant and meets a red-head waitress named Janine, his future girlfriend
Kaine and Louise become an item. Dt. Raven is kidnapped by Tanmen’s men. His house is bombed whereafter his wife dies in the hospital. Reilly saves him from the kidnappers and Louise tells him the tragic news once he’s found
As Reily confronts Tanmen’s nephew ‘Jimmy the Mouth’ in a warehouse, Kaine’s degeneration process catalyzes and causes him agony so he finds Reilly and transitions his pain by beating him, wanting him to suffer because he believes Reilly is not a clone and must suffer like him
Suddenly, Louise Kennedy appears holding a gun to Reilly’s head, clearly in cahoots with Tanmen who is also there free from incarceration as Kaine watches. They also have Dt. Raven’s son hostage
Kaine crashes in, angry and hurt that someone he trusted and thought was good was actually not. The criminals flee
Ben returns Raven’s son to him safely
Janine confesses to Ben that she killed her father because of abuse. Ben confides that he’s a clone
Dt. Raven and Louise Kennedy attempt to apprehend Janine Godby at a country highway diner while she and Ben were heading east. Reilly tells the detective to back off as a favor for saving his life
The detectives follow them just as Kaine ambushes Reilly again but also kills Kennedy in anger. Kaine leaves. Reilly knocks Raven unconscious. In the future, Kaine’s prints on Kennedy’s gun would be used as incriminating evidence against him
The final chapter shows Peter and MJ on a rooftop with Peter burning a lot of photos he had taken of himself as Spiderman combating his greatest enemies and expressing they all meant nothing. MJ contrasts his pessimistic outlook by focusing on his heroic achievements and that his life will always mean something
The concluding story to the Clone Saga will be revealed in the Spiderman Ben Reilly Omnibus Vol 2