With the Bugle now empty of ponies, there was nothing to prevent our heroes from tracking down the source of the symbiote spawning. Something or someone had to be behind it. The newspaper's office was now a breeding ground for the alien invaders, a breeding ground that had to be stomped out at all costs!
Stepping back into the elevator, Spider Mare quickly climbed up the ceiling hatch and then down the other side. "It seems like these symbiotes are coming from down below," She said to Black Cat. "We'll have to get down there and do some investigating."
"How are we gonna do that?" Black Cat questioned. "The elevator's out of commission."
The wall crawler giggled. "The elevator itself might be stuck, but the cables are still attached. We'll ride them down as far as they go, and go from there. Hope you can keep up with me!" She promptly began to slide down the elevator cables as fast as her powers and gravity would let her.
Black Cat hesitantly followed, but instead of sliding down the cables he merely climbed down them. That meant his descent was much slower than that of his partner's.
At last, the very bottom of the elevator shaft came into view! Spider Mare carefully brought her hooves up and slowed her descent down so that she was level with the lowest floor the elevator doors had access to. "Come on, slowpoke!" She called up to her still descending partner.
"I'm coming! I'm coming! Just hold your horses!" Black Cat retorted with a grumble as he slowly but surely reached the same spot as the wall crawler.
Once both superheroes were level with each other and with the elevator doors, Spider Mare forced the doors open with her strength. It took her a good deal of effort to do so, visible bands of sweat formed on her face before she finally got the doors open all the way. "Alright, time to get to the bottom of this!" She firmly declared even as she shivered and sneezed again. "Man, the heat being shut off is really messing with me. Sure hope I'm not catching a cold."
Black Cat stepped forward and helped his partner through the open doors. "Just think warm thoughts, dear. Besides, nothing gets the blood pumping quite like busting up some bad guys."
Spider Mare nodded and grinned. "You're right about that! Now let's see what we can see!" She rushed forward, soon finding a large door with the words "Printing Press" written on it in faded lettering. It was possible to hear the sound of heavy machinery coming from the other side of the door. Without hesitation, she reached a hoof out to the door and found that it was unlocked. Something that struck her as most odd. "Nopony came down here before the symbiotes cut the power," She thought with concern. "Even if the presses have back-up generators, there should be no reason for the door to be open."
Those were thoughts for another time and place, though. The open door was a blessing, one that the web slinger was not going to question. Besides, her 'Pinkie Sense' wasn't flaring up, yet.
The wall crawling, crime fighting, costumed earth ponies slowly trotted into the printing press room properly. Sure enough, above them and scattered all across the room were a series of huge mechanical presses that were cranking out copies of newspapers. They were operating all by themselves, there was not a pony to be seen anywhere, and neither was there a sign that somepony had been there but had fled.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Spider Mare noticed something that stood out even with all the clutter and confusion going on in the room. It looked like some kind of long and tall scanning device, and attached to either side of it were these strange looking, purplish-pink cocoons that seemed to be pulsing and breathing. Then, from up top, a patch of pink slime dropped down. When it hit the ground, the slime quickly transformed into a very familiar sight: A symbiote!
"What is that thing?!" Black Cat jumped back in surprise as the symbiote left the device that had created it, and slithered away in search of a host.
"It looks like some kind of generator. A symbiote generator!" Spider Mare gasped in realization! "This is how they're being created. Now it all makes sense. They must've been using the impostor me as a distraction while they set up shop down here. Then they turned off the heat so the temperature wouldn't get too hot and kill them off. And scaring everypony away was to make sure no one could interrupt them," She then clenched up her fists. "Well, they'll have to go! If this keeps up, all of Manehattan could be overrun by the symbiotes in a matter of days!"
Black Cat eyed the generator nervously. "How are you gonna do that?"
In response, the web slinger wrapped both her fists in webbing. "Simple! I'm just gonna hit it as hard as I can! I doubt that thing's a match for my spider strength! I could easily crush pipes if I wasn't careful," She promptly ran up to the generator and started attacking it from the left side. But it seemed like her kicks and punches were having little effect, the generator's cocoons weren't reacting at all. But then, suddenly, she felt one of her hooves sink right through the cocoon and make contact with the device proper. About a second later, it shattered completely and showered its attacker with slime! "A little messier than I anticipated, but it works."
"There's bound to be more of them," Black Cat commented with concern. "This place is huge. I can see why it would be the perfect nesting spot. You could hide almost anything down here."
"Then it looks like we'll have to split up!" The wall crawler firmly declared as she brushed off the slime with a hoof. "We'll cover more ground a lot quicker that way. Just keep an eye out for anypony or anything suspicious."
Black Cat nodded and grabbed his baton. "Alright. See you soon, honey. I hope." And the couple split up without further fanfare.
Not long after parting from her partner, Spider Mare made a most fortunate discovery near some crates in the back of the press room. Opening them up, a familiar label greeted her eyes. "Bingo!" She said to herself as her eyes lit up! "Good old magnesium ion. Just the thing to give the symbiote slime balls a bad case of heartburn!" She was quick to slip it under her wrists and add it to her webbing fluid, ensuring that it would now burn when used for anything.
The magnesium ion made destroying other generators far easier. The cocoons barely resisted it for all of a few seconds, before they burst into flames and the generator attached to them blew up! The sound of explosions both near and far began to rock the vacant room.
Suddenly, just as the wall crawler finished destroying her fourth generator, her 'Pinkie Sense' began to flare up. She turned to look, and saw a massive drum of some sort being rolled down a ramp, heading straight for her! She jumped out of the way as the drum rolled past her and crashed into the side of the stairs leading up to the presses themselves. Two symbiotes then emerged, making it clear who was responsible for the attempted sneak attack.
"Oh, you like to play dirty, huh?" Spider Mare grinned as she flicked her wrists. "Well, let's see what you think of this!" Her webbing shot out towards the symbiotes, soon engulfing them in flames and causing them to melt away. If there was one good thing about these symbiote creations, it's that they didn't seem to be as durable as Venom or Carnage. Both of them had managed to slink away when exposed to their only weaknesses, whereas when either fire or sonics made contact with these symbiotes, they dissolved into that pink slime.
After destroying a few more generators, however, Spider Mare received a call on her headset from Black Cat. "I've destroyed every generator I can find. I've swept this place from top to bottom at least twice. How are things on your end?"
The web slinging mare called back through the headset. "I've taken out more than a few generators myself. Doesn't seem like there's any more around here. But the symbiotes are still here. There must be another nest or something somewhere else."
"But where?" Black Cat questioned. "The building's abandoned, and the symbiotes couldn't reach the top floors. They only got as high as the second level."
"Then we need to go lower!" The wall crawler firmly vowed! "I spotted a shaft that looks just big enough for us to drop down. Wherever it leads is where the last of the symbiotes are being created! We take them out, and this would-be symbiote invasion is stopped cold in its tracks!"
The web shooting stallion reluctantly replied. "...Okay then. I just hope you know what you're doing. I've got a very bad feeling about all of this."
Pinkie reassuringly answered. "So do I, honey. But we can't turn back now! Meet me at the shaft and we'll go from there! Be ready for anything!" And then the communication channel was silenced.