Two months later and Spider-man is mostly healed from his battle against the Scorpion as he and Fire Star enter the Spider's Web, where the other heroes are waiting. "Hey everyone, nice to finally meet you all." He says
"How are you holding up?" Frogman asks as he sits on top of a crate.
"Well considering I had a building dropped on me, pretty good."
"Hey Spidey, do you mind if I talk to you for a second?" Scarlett Spider says as she and the other two walk behind some crates. She then punches Spider-man in the arm.
"Hey, what was that for?"
"For keeping me out of the loop Peter." She says as she removes her mask.
"MJ!"
"How could you not tell me?" she says furiously, then looks at Fire Star. "And you knew all along."
"Hey I was sworn to secrecy." Fire Star says, shrugging her shoulders. "How'd you figure it out by the way?"
"Well it wasn't that hard. Peter ends up in the hospital and Spider-man disappears. It was pretty apparent from that point."
"Sorry MJ but I try to keep a low profile in the hero business."
"We're friends Pete, don't shut us out. We can help you if you let us."
"Alright, from now on no more secrets between the team. By the way how are the powers working for you?"
"Pretty good actually. I can bench press a van with strength to spare."
"So are we telling the frog?" Fire Star asks.
"Oh no way." MJ says. The group then returns from their spot where Frogman waits.
"Well if you're all done with the club meeting I wasn't invited to we should probably introduce you to the terrible trio." Frogman says as he leads Spider-man into the next room where there is a steel door. He slides back the huge door, behind it a sheet of glass. On the other side of the glass sit the three spider kids, who look up at the new guest.
"Oh great, the progenitor." Patrick says sarcastically as the other two jump up.
"What do we have here, the Spider-man fan club?" Spider-man jokes.
"Not exactly, we did try to kill you." Vana says as she looks at him.
"Yeah, by the way what's up with that?"
"The Father orders us to do something and we do it, no question." Michael says.
"Who is this Father?" Spidey asks.
"Don't bother. They won't budge on that question, haven't since you've been gone." Frog-man says. He closes the large door and the two head back to the main room.
Before he leaves, Fire Star grabs Spider-man by the arm. "We need to talk." she whispers. "Look I took some samples from each of them and had them tested. They didn't show up in any of the databases in the city."
"So they're orphans?"
"Not exactly, we examined it further and the closest genetic match was you."
"You mean they're clones, of me?"
"Sort of, they're a mix of several people, mainly you. Each of them is extremely different though. Michael seems to be the leader, he's pretty level headed. Vana's the only girl and the shy one. And Patrick, well he's the problem child. Plus he's got quite the temper."
The two then hear a loud beating on the door next to them. "I heard that! Wait'll I get out of here!" Patrick shouts.
"Maybe I can talk to one of them, just one on one, see if I can't break the ice." Spider-man says. "They seem to know me well enough; maybe I can get to know them just as well."
"If you want to try I'd suggest Michael. He's the most outgoing of them all." Fire Star says as the two walk out.
Elsewhere in town Hobie Brown plays basketball with some kids at the Rec center. He gets the ball and easily scores a three pointer over the kids. "Come on you guys, that's forty-three zip. You've got to pick up your game."
"There you are." Hobie turns to see his girlfriend Mindy who walks up to him and the two kiss. Some of the kids begin to make faces at the two and pretend to throw-up. "We're still on for tonight right?"
"Sure we are. I wouldn't miss tonight for the world." Hobie looks across the street to see Manuel, one of the boys he mentors, talking to a shady looking man as he hands the boy a small bag. "I'll be right back." he tells Mindy as he runs over to the man and pushes him.
"What's your problem man?"
"Beat it bub." Hobie says as he grabs the guy by the shirt and punches him in the face. Suddenly the man pulls out a knife and attempts to stab Hobie. He dodges and counters by flipping the thug over his shoulder. Two of the dealer's friends rush to his aid from a parked car and begin beating the boy, knocking him to the ground and continuously kicking him. Mindy and the kids begin to scream and call for help. Just then two web-lines catch the two crooks and suspend them from two lamp posts. The third attempts to run but is caught as well. Spider-man and the young clone Michael jump down as Spidey helps up Hobie.
"You alright pal?" the wall-crawler asks as he helps his friend up.
"Yeah they got me pretty hard. I thought I could take them." Hobie says as Mindy and the kids run over to him.
Mindy slaps him in the face. "Are you crazy?" she then kisses him again. "Thank you Spider-man."
"Hey we're just doing our job." Michael says as he begins showing off for the kids by displaying his acrobatics.
"Mr. Brown I'm really sorry." Manuel says as he runs over crying.
"It's okay, it's okay. Mindy, why don't you take the kids inside while I call the police?"
"And an ambulance." She says as she takes the children back inside.
"Thanks for the save Spidey. I see you brought one of the little terrors with you."
"Yeah, just wanted to see if I could get through to him, see if I can understand what's going on."
"Yeah we were all thrown for a loop with them. Still now that your back I could use your help."
"Oh yeah, with what?"
"These dealers have been coming around here a lot more often now that Mr. Negative and his crew moved in. I've had a hard time stopping them myself. Whoever this guy is, he's responsible for me hurting Mary Jane, and I want to catch him more than anything. The only thing is I've got plans tonight and I really don't want to disappoint Mindy again so I was thinking maybe you could make a few rounds tonight?"
"Yeah no problem Hobie."
"Thanks Spidey, really good to have you back."
As Hobie leaves Spidey turns back to Michael. "Hey kid ready to do some serious villain smashing?" Michael looks up at him, and even under the mask, Spidey can tell he is anxious to get started.
That night a black limbo pulls up in an alley as four inner demons exit the vehicle and after a few seconds their boss Mr. Negative emerges as well, his skin as black as coal with white hair and a white suit, with an unnatural glow around his body. He and his men then enter the building. Unknown to them the two spiders are lurking above and make their way into the building via an air duct. The two slip in quietly and scale the ceiling making sure not to make any more noise than necessary. They see Mr. Negative and his men conversing with some of the local dealers from the surrounding areas.
"Alright gentlemen let's have it." Negative says as the dealers each step forward giving him his cut of the proceeds that month. As one of the men begins to step back Negative gestures to one of his inner demons, who grabs the dealer by the wrist. "You wouldn't be trying to short me now would you? A very unwise career move I think." Negative grabs the man by the head as an white glow surrounds the man and he falls to the ground.
"We've got to do something." Spidey whispers.
"Why? These guys are criminals. Why not let them die? Less of them on the street." Michael asks.
"With great power comes great responsibility kid." Spidey says as he jumps down leaving Michael a bit confused. Spider-man lands down and kicks two of the inner demons away as the other two rush him with batons. He nimbly dodges the attacks and throws the two to the ceiling where Michael webs them up. "Mr. Negative I presume? Nice to finally meet you. I think you know me." He rushes Negative and throws a hard right.
"Spider-man, hero, minor annoyance." Negative says as he catches the heroes punch and tosses him aside. Michael jumps down in front of him only to be smacked away by the boss. "Gentlemen, entertain our guests." He orders as the dealers rush to the exits while the two inner demons walk toward the heroes, joined by the two others who rip the web off and leap down to the floor.
"How did they do that?" Michael asks Spidey who just shrugs. The inner demons rush the two as they engage each other in close quarters combat. To the heroes it seems that no matter how many times they knock the crooks down they get back up just as strong as before. "This isn't working." Michael ducks under one of their stun batons and grabs it from the henchman shocking him with it. The victim however doesn't even flinch and grabs him by the throat.
"Hey, no rough housing you two. Fine I'm separating you until you can play nice." Spidey webs Michael and pulls him from the criminals grasp. As he does this the inner demons halt their attack and back up into the shadows. The duo then look down on the floor and see a time bomb fastened into the ground. Suddenly the windows are sealed off with sheets of steel.
"Now what do we do?"
"I was hoping you had a plan." Spidey says to a panicked Michael. "Nah I'm just joking, hold on." Spidey says as he grabs some of the tables and chairs in the warehouse and packs them around himself and the youth before covering the pile in webs. The timer reaches zero and the entire building goes up in a massive explosion. The structure collapses and, after a few minutes Spider-man and Michael emerge and swing to a nearby rooftop. They both fall back breathing heavily and look up into the sky. "How was that for an exciting first day huh?"
"It was so cool there were gangsters and these really creepy masked guys that kept on moving every time you knock them down." Michael excitedly tells Ms. Whitman as she treats his injuries. "It was so much fun."
"I take it you've enjoyed yourself." She says to him. "Just make sure you're more careful okay?" she kisses him on the forehead.
"I will Deborah. Well I better get going before they find out I'm not there." He says as he heads back out the secret passage way.
As he leaves Bernard Gou and the Jackal enter, having a discussion, Gou not very happy. "You said they would take care of him. I paid you 20 mil to get the job done, a small investment compared to what I was supposed to gain. Now I'm a laughing stock."
"While I do regret my team not meeting your standards, I do have them operating on a more long term plan to solve your problem." Jackal says calmly.
"I don't have time for long term. The bosses have decided to go back to Sable's plan. They are organizing right now and I need to get to the target before they do." Gou stops in front of one of the tanks and looks over at for others. "How much for the set?"