Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man, nor the versions of the Spider-Man characters seen in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
- New York, Home of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man! -
It was a beautiful, placid Manhattan night: the air was brisk and calm, though not quiet – never quiet in New York. It was loud as always, and it was bright with the glare of a million lights, yet there was an odd kind of peace that shone through in its constant commotion. Despite the usual shouts and sounds of people living their daily lives, there was nary a sign of something more dangerous – no sirens, no screams, no bursts of violence or ominous mark on the horizon… though if one were to look up at just the right moment they might see a the shape of a young man swing across the sky, before losing sight of him on the next street over.
This was not just any man, of course, but New York's own friendly neighborhood Spider-Man: Peter Parker, to his closest friends. A dauntless force for good, despite what the newspapers might say. Behind his wide-eyed mask his gaze swept back and forth, trying to spy any criminal that might be victimizing an innocent in the dark of the night. His spider-sense was always on the ready, but not a single tingle swept through him – which meant that no enemy was out to hurt him tonight (unless Venom was back, but he severely doubted that). Yet even though he seemed stalwart and alert on his superheroic outside, on the inside his teenage mind was just as tumultuous as his city itself, if not moreso:
Tell me there's something better on the horizon, he thought glumly. Behind his mask his eyes drooped, but he never stopped paying attention – just in case. Seriously, someone tell me my life has ever been worse. I could really use the confirmation. Gwen's with Harry, and that's just killing me. I feel like there's just a wall there, and I can't intrude on that. It wouldn't be right… but I need to, somehow. Liz is still… well… angry beyond belief, and she took all the "friends" I had in the popular sect with me. I figured this would happen, but I thought I would've had Gwen to… soften the blow, I guess. But then Harry… sigh…
Ugh, maybe I'm being selfish. The city is safe. Sure, some of my absolute worst enemies are still out there, but Tombstone's still behind bars – no more Big Man for a while! Silvermane is locked up too, along with the Enforcers. And… no more Goblin. Poor Harry. Here I am jealous that he gets the girl of my dreams, when really Gwen is all he has. His relationship with me has been pretty strained recently, cause he knows I still take pictures of Spider-Man and… well… I think there's some other hostility there too, but I can't tell what it is. His father is gone, his mother has never been particularly attentive, and now it's like the future of his family is falling down to him. Gwen is the only good thing he's got. I guess we're alike that way. Except he has her, and I have… what? It's not even a busy night! I wish I had a mugger or something to take my anger out on… no, that wouldn't be healthy at all, would it? Still, it's nice to dream…
Spider-Man continued to swing uptown, never breaking for a moment in the middle of one of his usual inner monologues – which have become even more common than usual as of late. He didn't have many other outlets for his feelings these days. Still, despite his personal problems he knew he still had a responsibility – which meant trying not to let his personal life interfere with what he knew he had to do. Though on the other hand, it didn't seem like he would need to deal with any responsibilities today: a quiet night means no hang-ups for Spider-Man to arrive just in time at, which meant there was little else for him to do but go home and go to bed. His Aunt May was already starting to worry that he wasn't taking good enough care of himself as it is…
With a shrug and a yawn, he was off and away and bound for home.
Meanwhile, only a short distance away – close enough to catch a glance of the webslinger swish past – a very similar man sat casually upon a rooftop, with his arm around a gargoyle and his eyes watching the skies. As Spider-Man passed by, he hid slightly behind the gargoyle – keeping himself out of the webhead's line of sight. When he was sure Spider-Man was gone, he relaxed and turned to his stony companion.
"Whew," he said out loud. His voice was very different from Spider-Man's – deeper, calmer – but there was still an odd sense of similarity there, were anyone to hear them back to back. "That was a close one. I didn't think he'd be here so late. It is a school night after all. Then again, I'm a glutton for punishment, and that seems to be a chronic trait amongst people like me." He chuckled. The light of the moon peeked out from behind the clouds and revealed that he was dressed very similarly to the wall-crawler. The gargoyle showed no visible surprise.
"Well, buddy," the man continued, addressing the gargoyle directly. "You're no Bruce, but you'll do for some light conversation. After so long and no sign of her, I have to talk to somebody, right?"
The gargoyle gave no response.
"Nah," the man said, playing along with his own game. "It's not crazy. It's just articulating problems. Worked like a charm for me back home. Hey, maybe one day it'll work for this guy here." He gestured in the direction where Spider-Man disappeared. After a moment's silence, he sighed. "Well fine, if you're going to give me the silent treatment I might as well follow up on the usual leads. Madame Webb left me high and dry as usual – I'm starting to get a little annoyed at her sorcerous ways, to be honest. Guess I could see if there's another her here too, but-"
A faint crash in the distance interrupted his fake conversation, and he froze. To the untrained ear it might've been a bottle falling onto the ground or the sound of someone throwing something a little too hard into the trash. But the man had a sense about these things, and he knew right away that it wasn't anything so harmless. It was the sound of someone breaking into someplace they weren't supposed to, and trying not to be heard.
He turned back to where he knew Spider-Man had gone, and saw no one on the horizon. Evidently, the city's protector was halfway to home by now. No cops seemed to be on the way, and no one else had noticed anything, so it seemed that it fell to him to respond. For a moment, he considered ignoring it. It wasn't his problem, after all – he could just let it go.
That didn't last long.
"Why is it that I always have to do things like this?" He groaned as he rose to his feet. He threw his arm out with an odd gesture of his hands and a web-like thread shot from his wrist, just like Spider-Man. With a leap he started swinging towards the source of the sound, leaving the rooftop empty and his temporary stone friend alone once more. If this bothered the gargoyle, it said nothing.
"It's probably just some cat-burglar trying to get a late-night score," he reasoned. "I'll swoop in, tie him up and leave before anyone gets the wiser. Everyone will just assume I'm this Spidey, so unless he's the paranoid type… aw, darn. I'm the paranoid type." He sighed in resignation. "Well, I hope I'm not here for too long, then."
He quickly zeroed in on the place where the sound came from: a window in a high-rise building, which looked to be a tech firm of some sort. It was broken inward, but the debris hadn't been cleaned up yet – which could mean the crook was still inside. "Ok, simple. In and out in less than a minute. No problem. Done it a million times before."
Positioning himself just right, the man swung towards the broken window with just the right angle to swoop in through the crack with minimal further damage and land in the room right behind where he assumed the thief would be…
"Alright. Let's do this the easy way! Hands up!"
… to find himself facing not a common cat-burglar, but the odd sight of what looked like some sort of bipedal lion wearing animal skins and a short, stocky man with four mechanical arms. Both of whom looked very unhappy to see him.
"… aw, darn."
"Spider-Man! My prey! What luck for the predator to have found you in this hunt as well!" The lion man grinned, revealing a mouth full of dagger-sharp teeth. Without missing a moment, he leapt toward his target with murder clear in his eyes. His claws extended as he moved to tackle his victim to the ground as painfully as possible.
The man's mind was ready for that, though. "Spider-Sense! Danger! As if I didn't already know!" He flipped out of the way and landed gracefully on the other side of the room. The lion, however, kept going and smashed violently through the wall, shattering the windows and blowing any chance of any of this happening covertly.
"Kraven." The multi-armed man said, with surprising calm given the sudden situation. "Calm yourself." Surprisingly the lion's feral rage subsided, if only slightly. The multi-armed man, obviously the leader, adjusted his glasses and regarded the newcomer carefully. "This is not Spider-Man."
"Oh, no?" The man replied. He gestured to the spider-shaped symbol on his chest. "Then what do you call this? The horseshoe crab-symbol, perhaps?"
"A copy of course." The shorter man sniffed. He seemed entirely unconcerned. "You can't possibly expect me to believe you are the webslinger. To tall, too old, your voice is all wrong… obviously, you are one of his insipid little fans, playing dress-up and convinced you can mimic your hero. Foolish. For the sake of ease, I will show a small mercy and let you go. Provided, of course, that you don't make this worse for yourself and do anything… rash."
The man dressed as Spider-Man made no motion to leave. Instead, he dropped into a fighting stance. "Sorry doc, I'm all about rash. And I can't let you get way with whatever you're doing, so why don't you surrender?"
"Very well." The thief's arms suddenly whipped into action, producing blades at their tips and flailing towards one who dared defy him with blinding speed. The man's mind, however, was faster. He ducked, dodged, and zipped around the initial attacks, grabbing onto the arms and using them to vault towards their master, who pushed back against the ground to avoid a possible attack.
"Kraven," he nodded towards his cohort, who had been moving in for a sneak attack. "Go get what we came here for. I will handle this." The catlike beast growled, but followed his instructions. As his ally started for the exit, the shorter man turned to his opponent and smirked, arms at the ready. "You are nearly as fast as Spider-Man, I will give you that. An acrobat, perhaps? Or maybe someone with training?"
"Nearly?" The man froze in mock-indignation, but was forced to duck when another arm whipped in his direction. Now on the defensive, the man began murmuring strategies to himself. "hmm… Kraven's with Ock here. That sort of thing's always odd to get used to, but weirder things have happened. There might be others around, who knows, but-"
The other man, getting slightly annoyed with his arms' constant missing, caught onto his enemy's odd whispering. "What's that you're babbling?"
"Nothing really. But listen doc, you don't suppose you would be willing to give me a little handicap, huh? Take me with four arms behind your back?"
"No. I did warn you, however. You had your chance…" The arms to surround their victim, the blades starting to spin and edging in closer and closer…
"What about in my case, doc? Wouldn't you rather use your A-Game on your #1, instead of wasting it on a wannabe?" Everyone inside the room, even Kraven (who had just made it to the door) froze. There at the ruined window stood the one and only genuine article Spectacular Spider-Man, having obviously been closer than his double thought and drawn in by the sound of Kraven smashing the wall. His hands were on his hips like a disapproving parent, but his voice was mocking and snide. "I can just see the headline now: 'Dr. Octopus Picks On Cosplayer.' Not a good look, doc."
"Aw, darn." The man in the Spider-Man outfit said under his breath. Spider-Man glanced at him, and he could swear the eyes of Spidey's mask were narrowed slightly.
"Spider-Man." Doctor Octopus replied, bringing his archenemy's attention back to him, and the merest sound of distress could be heard in his otherwise calm voice. "Vulture's lookout skills and not what they used to be. I was not ready for this. Very well. Kraven!"
Kraven leapt into action once more, this time grabbing a capsule from his belt and throwing it onto the ground. It exploded immediately, and a yellowish gas exploded into the air, filling the room with thick, pollen-like particles.
"Gas! Get back!" Spider-Man said. Using the same kind of gesture his double had used earlier, he pressed his fingers to his wrist and out shot the same kind of webbing. It formed into a shield that covered the area of the room they were in from the window to the wall, protecting them from the gas. On the other side of the shield came an audible crunch – the sound of the wall being smashed open. Then came the sound of four mechanical arms stomping into the distance, getting fainter and fainter until it was gone.
Realizing his enemies had gotten away while he was protecting the civilian, Spider-Man turned to his double to let loose some of the pent up anger he had been complaining about earlier. "Alright, buddy. Want to explain what you thought you were… hey! What are you doing now?"
The man dressed as him was standing next to the window, looking flustered and very much in a hurry. "Sorry. Can't explain. Trust me, not worth it to find out. Bye!"
Immediately cottoning on to the fact that the man was about to jump, Spidey moved to stop him. "Wait, don-" Spider-Man reached out, but before he could get to him the man fired a strand of web from his wrist and swung out of the building.
"Okay… what?" Spider-Man rushed over to the window and inspected the strand the stranger had left behind. Its design was unsettlingly familiar. "Webbing? How in the heck..?"
For a person who had only a short time before been complaining about too little to deal with, Spider-Man was now faced with a trying dilemma. On the one hand (or hands, in this case) Dr. Octopus was still on the run – if he hurried and looked hard enough, he might be able to catch up to him and apprehend him as well as Kraven (and Vulture, if he was still around). But if he failed, he would have no answers at all. On the other hand, there was someone swinging around out there with his webbing, masquerading as him and doing… who knows what? In his experience this was never at any point a good thing, especially since this person didn't set off his Spider-Sense. There were very few people who could do that, and none of them were anything Peter was comfortable with leaving unchecked.
"Hey you! Get back here!" He leapt out of the building and scanned the skyline for any sign of his doppleganger. He was nowhere to be seen. "Oh… this guy is good…"
Meanwhile on a different rooftop a short distance away, the man dressed as Spider-Man attempted to hide, somewhat confident that Spider-Man had not seen him duck this way. After few moments passed and nothing interrupted him, he let his guard down slightly and stood upright.
"Whew, that was easier than I thought. Can't believe I blew my cover on my first night."
"I can. You're good, but you're not that good."
He whipped around. Spider-Man was behind him, standing by the edge of the roof. "Naturally." The man sighed. "Not bad, kid." There was no response. Spider-Man's figure was tense - he couldn't tell whether the young hero behind the mask was angry or simply pensive, but he decided to play it safe. "Look, before you ask. I'm not the Chameleon."
Spider-Man scoffed. "Of course you're not. Chameleon doesn't have the skill to pull off moves like yours. He couldn't copy my webbing this well either. Plus, I can't feel you with my Spider-Sense, even now. And that can mean only one thing."
"What? Oh… wait, no-"
"So what is this, symbiote? Got a new host to play Venom? I'd be flattered by the dye-job, but I'll have you know that I'm not in the best of moods. So if you don't mind, I'll just gene cleanse you now and be done with it." Spidey reached for something in his belt. Seeing this, his doppleganger started to panic.
"Wait listen, I'm not Brock. I'm not Venom, I'm not Carnage, or anybody like that."
"Who's Carnage?"
"You haven't met him yet." It wasn't a question. Spider-Man wasn't even sure it was even directed at him. It seemed more like a mental note. "Ok. Well, I'm not Venom."
Spider-Man started advancing menacingly towards the stranger, getting visibly angrier every second. "If you're not Venom, then how do you know about Eddie? Nobody knows he's really Venom but me and the symbiote. Everyone else thinks he's crazy."
The copycat cringed. Obviously, this had not gone anywhere near as well as he had planned. "Look, I…"
"Aw, geez. Have you been following me around? What else do you know? You've obviously figured out how to copy my webbing, not to mention my fashion sense. So what, you really are a fan? Or maybe you're just using my image to get away with something?"
"I don't have time for this."
"Well, make time. I've tried the whole 'copycat pulls my name through the mud by looking like me' thing before, and it's not really my cup of tea if you catch my drift. Last thing I need is the misadventures of a loony fan trying to fight supervillains on his own to bring my name down even more."
"I'm looking for something. Once I find it, you'll be rid of me – I promise."
"Oh, well in that case go right ahead! Use my likeness as much as you want! Hey, do you wanna sleep on my couch? I'll even make you my famous Spidey-face pancakes! Those are trademarked, by the way." The doppleganger tensed at the sickly sweet tone of his counterpart's voice, and seemed quite relieved when Spider-Man started being serious again. "Please. You're going to take off the suit and give me answers – not necessarily in that order – unless you want to see what a real Spider-Man can-"
"Like I said, I don't have time for this." In a move nearly as fast as the webhead himself, the double aimed his webshooters and fired a shot directly at the genuine article's face. Once again his Spider-Sense failed to give his any warning, and as a result he was unable to dodge in time. The web shot hit him square between the eyes, covering his mask and impeding his view.
"Gah!" He shouted, frantically putting at his face to get the webbing off. "So that's what that feels like!"
By the time Spider-Man pulled the webbing clear, the copycat was gone – which was not something he wanted to deal with on a day like the one he was already having. He must have searched the rooftops for a half hour before he realized that whoever it was behind that mask had disappeared seemingly without a trace. He spent another five minutes on top of that ranting on a quietest rooftop they could find.
"I can't believe this. Another copycat? Seriously? What, is the universe out of original ideas? Now I've got this clown to deal with, no leads, and Doc Ock and Kraven got away with whatever it is they were doing to boot. And why in the heck were they breaking into that office in the first place? I… aw crud."
Realizing a bit too late that he left himself leave the crime scene without any information whatsever, he forced himself to put the issue of the copycat aside - Bad mood or not - he swung back to the office building before all the good evidence was taken.
By the time he returned the high-rise was swarming with cops, so he was forced to listen in at the window. The office, as it turns out, was owned by some hi-tech firm called Macendale Labs. The police weren't exactly sure one way or the other, but their best theory so far was that Octavius was out to steal some kind of device for amplifying electrical currents, but Spider-Man's intervention prevented him from doing so.
However, since every story in Peter's life these days seemed to require a downside, he was still able to download enough of the blueprints for the device off of the office's computers before Spidey or the copycat arrived to reverse engineer it – at least that's what Jason Macendale, the head of the firm, kept shouting in between yelling at the police and chewing out his own personal security team.
"Jeez, that guy needs a chill pill," Peter mused as he watched Macendale try to shout the police out the door – which only got worse when a hapless officer pointed out that the incident might lead to an investigation. Aunt May could've probably heard his shouting all the way in the Bronx. Still… crabby though he may be, he wasn't entirely wrong about how serious this situation could become. "Amplifying electricity… three guesses what they're planning on using that for," he said to himself, "and the first two don't count. Looks like Doc Ock's planning to do with our mutual pal, Max Dillon. Which means I ought to keep a close eye on Ravencroft for now, just in case he's about to break Electro out."
He yawned, unable to keep his tiredness at bay for any longer. That "close eye" would have to take a rain check. Aunt May was likely going to have a conniption when he walked in the door – another good reason to call it a night, as if he needed one. There were unfortunately no other trails to follow, which was as good an excuse as any to stop for now, so he shelved this mystery for tomorrow and set out for his original plan in the first: swing home as fast as possible.
"Ock will keep for now. And if I do run into that copycat again," he growled, though a bit too tiredly to sound intimidating, "he better hope he doesn't catch me on another off day…"
- Meanwhile, A Short Distance Away -
Much like his counterpart, the copycat swung through the night, his mind heavy with thoughts – the first of which was "get away before this Spider-Man makes me get more involved than I should." He had had a real problem with that during his various adventures of late, and he had really been hoping to avoid it this time. No such luck.
After making sure he wasn't being followed, he dipped into the rafters of an old abandoned church – an hidey-hole that reminded him a bit painfully of an old friend from back home. At the moment he was making it his home: he had enough money to pay for a nice hotel for at least a few weeks (the benefits of powerful extradimensional allies, he supposed), but he wanted to get a good feel for the city and whether he would need to stay long before doing something that. Unfortunately, it was starting to look more and more like that was going to be the case.
Once he was settled he pulled off his mask, revealing a face that – just like his voice – was vaguely similar yet very different to the face behind the mask he had just fought with. But while that face was that of a teenager, this one was clearly in his mid-twenties. And he looked very disgruntled.
"Well, that didn't go well," he chided himself. He looked down at his "bed:" an old mattress he found thrown out on the street, and sighed. Tomorrow, he was definitely getting himself a hotel. "No sign of her so far, but Madame Webb hasn't contacted me yet either. I really hope that doesn't mean she's got some sort of plan going. I've asked her not to do that, not that she ever listens to little old me."
The copycat threw himself down on the mattress, wincing a bit as it softened him from the impact a little less than he would like. Once he made himself comfortable, or as comfortable as one could be on a cushion as flimsy as that, he relaxed somewhat and pulled a picture out of his suit. It was worn, especially at the edges, and it was clear he looked at it very often. So much, in fact, that the color was starting to fade. He stared at it for a long moment, and sighed.
"Don't worry, Mary Jane." He said. The tell-tale traces of an old sadness crossed his face, and his eyes became misty. "I'll find you. Soon. I promise…"
Author: If there was ever a show I wish got a continuation, it was the Spectacular Spider-Man. That show and its characters were the type where you just plain wanted to see it all play out, so the fact that it never did is very disappointing. And, wouldn't you know, when I was a kid I also wondered why Spider-Man The Animated Series ended so abruptly.
Thus came a plot idea that wouldn't leave until I did something with it. Despite the crossover, this is actually going to be more of a Season 3 fic for Spectacular Spider-Man with the additional twist that the Spider-Man from the 90's show continuity is also wandering around trying to accomplish his own goals and occasionally play mentor. Here, 90's Spidey has been traveling for quite a while. He's been in most of the Spider-Man continuities that exist, and a few we've never seen (I'm won't be referencing Spider-Verse, but he's doing the basic idea by jumping through universes looking for his Mary Jane).
On the other hand, I probably won't update this one very often. I don't work on my fics as much as I used to, and when I do it's usually Wolfbatman. That isn't to say I won't give it my all to do this, but just forewarning you guys...
Anywho, the next chapter will likely not be so short.