The Spectacular Spider-man

by choejhulkp9

One happenstance trip to Central City in December changed the life of one individual in a way he never imagined. You wake up one day and all of a sudden, your body changed, you gain super powers and you find yourself wondering if it was an accident or maybe it was meant to happen. Who knows but all I know is with great responsibility comes...a lot of weird crap.

8. Happy Holidays Doc Ock

Here is Chapter 8. Captain Boomerang is taken care of and the Sandman has joined the Rhino, Vulture, and Shocker in Iron Heights. Spider-man is quickly developing a Rogue's gallery of his own and it's not over yet. Time to find Octavius and stop Kingsley only things don't do as planned. When do they ever? Enjoy!

The Spectacular Spider-man: The end of a rather unusual year.

November 2014-Starling City

Thanksgiving, a day for giving thanks for what you have in your life. Some families have more, and some don't have anything at all. It can bring families together or divulge into arguments that tear them apart and make the holiday a living hell. For Will and his mother, it was a day that reminded them they were lucky enough to still have each other. They often spent the morning helping at a nearby homeless shelter along with many of the workers at the hospital. It was sort of a hospital tradition and something he and his parents did every year around the holidays and not just at Thanksgiving.

Will was in the kitchen of the shelter washing the dishes while his mom was working on the food line. Spider-man washing dishes on Thanksgiving, there's got to be a joke in their somewhere. He put three plates on the drying rack followed by several cups as Spencer walked over with a tub of dirty dishes.

"Here you go." Spencer placed it down on the counter next to him where he put them in the sink and submerged them in soapy water.

"Thanks." He grabbed a sponge and put some more soap on it while Spencer grabbed a tub of clean plates and utensils. "You know you didn't have to come here, Spencer. I'm sure this isn't what you hoped to do on Thanksgiving."

"Are you kidding? If I were with my parents and my sister right now, I'd be listening to Ian moan to my parents about how he lost his chance at the NFL during tryouts while they're watching a game." Spencer told him. "This is practically a spa day. Are you sure it's ok with your mom that I'm crashing your Thanksgiving?"

"It's fine. My mom loves you. She keeps saying you're like the daughter she always wanted. Granted, she says that to Aria and Emily which just does wonders for my self-esteem." He pointed out, earning a chuckle. "Besides, it's actually good you're gonna be there. Captain Lance is coming to dinner and I would have felt like the odd man out."

"Right, your mom's new boyfriend is Spider-man's friend in the police. How's that working out for you?" Spencer asked.

"Weird." Will told her. "They both know about me and about Spider-man so there's no secret to be kept but it's not at all how I expected things to go. But…she's happy and that's good enough for me."

"Oh, you're all grown up now." Spencer joked.

"Very cute. Don't you have clean plates to take up to the front?" He wondered. Spencer did grab a tub of clean plates and playfully bumped him before heading back to the front. He got back to washing dishes when his phone went off. "Crap…" He put the sponge down and took off one of his rubber gloves with his teeth but it ended up slapping him in the face. It was rather comical if someone were there to see. He managed to get his phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Spider-man. How's it going? Keeping the city safe while I'm gone?" Aria wondered earning a chuckle as he put his rubber glove back on.

"Absolutely. I'm currently battling against the deadliest of grime and oil-soaked supervillains who have stained plates, cups, and bowls. Helping me are my sidekicks of hot water and Palmolive soap." He replied as he washed a plate with a sponge. His joke did earn a chuckle from Aria who was back home with her family for Thanksgiving. "How are things back home?"

"They're fine. My little brother finally settled on a school. He got a scholarship to Penn State." Aria told him.

"Oh, that's good. How are your parents?" Will washed two more plates and placed them on the drying rack while making sure not to spray himself with water. "Glad to have you back home?"

"Yes, they are. Although the first night I got home my dad grilled me about our relationship and when he was done my mom wanted to talk to me about us as well. Longest three hours of my life."

"That had to have been awkward. Well, we went through something similar with my mother so it must be a parent thing." He commented, putting another clean dish on the drying rack. One plastic cup was accidently knocked over so he reached out with his foot and caught it. It balanced precariously on his sneaker before he kicked it up and caught it with his left hand and put it back in the sink. "Well, it's Thanksgiving so here's hoping that things run smoothly."

"Well, my extended family are essentially copy and pasted versions of one another so we'll be fine. I think the most my family has argued is during a football game." Aria joked which earned a chuckle. His phone began ringing again so he checked and saw Emily was calling him.

"Emily's calling. Hang on, I'll connect her." Will managed to remove his rubber glove and answered before merging her with him and Aria. "Hey, Emily. Aria's on too."

"Hey, Em. How's it going?" Aria wondered.

"Pretty good. My mom, my aunt, and I are getting dinner ready and my dad, uncle, and cousin are watching the game. How about you guys?"

"Things are good at home. We're about to leave soon for my grandmother's house for dinner. Although my dad interrogated me about Will and my mom wanted to gossip." Aria explained which earned a chuckle from Emily.

"I know how you feel. My parents are really understanding and totally onboard with Maya and I but talking about it is not fun. My aunt and uncle are supportive which is nice but my cousin keeps asking me questions." Emily said.

"The curious and supportive questions or the accusatory and condescending questions?" Will wondered.

"More like the questions you'd expect from a teenage boy. The perverted ones." Emily replied.

"Ah. Hope you give him a smack upside the head for that." Will told her. "Better yet use your boxing training and take him down. Make it a Thanksgiving to remember."

"My aunt already took care of that for me but I did warn him. How about you, Will? How are things?" Emily wondered.

"Things are fine. I woke up a little early and did a morning patrol in the city. Not a lot going on but helped out with a car accident and some families in need before my mom and I came to the shelter to help." He told her. "Spencer joined us to help as well and my mom invited her to Thanksgiving. In her words, she's relieved to avoid Melissa and Ian."

"That's just like Spencer." Aria commented. "It's nice of you and your mother to host her."

"Well considering how Ian is I don't blame her. It'll be nice for the three of you for dinner." Emily stated.

"Actually, it's not going to be just the three of us. Captain Lance is going to be joining us. So…yeah. Dinner with my mom's new boyfriend. That'll be fun." He remarked.

"Well after you caught them acting all lovey-dovey in her office having dinner with them should be fine. Besides, he knows who you are as Spider-man as does your mom so there shouldn't be an issue. But play nice." Aria told him.

"I'm always nice and I like Captain Lance. I'm just getting through the weird awkward stage of seeing him and my mother being all…relationshippy…if that's a word." He assured her. "I just never expected my two worlds to come together like this, that's for sure. And I was thinking of inviting Laurel to dinner."

"Inviting Spencer's boss and Captain Lance's daughter. Interesting choice." Aria commented.

"Aren't she and Captain Lance still on icy terms?" Emily asked.

"Sure, they're not the close father and daughter they used to be and yes, things are tense between them but Thanksgiving is a time for family. Granted it also tends to break them apart but I've been known to be lucky. It's how I managed to get such amazing friends." Will commented and could hear their chuckles. "With everything going on…helping Captain Lance get back in good terms with his daughter seems like something I can do."

"Well, you took down a man made of sand and had a team up with the Arrow and a red clad running man. Weird to think we're actually talking about this like it's real." Aria pointed out.

"I know what you mean. But my new super friends love the suit you made and since they have better equipment and actual money…we might be able to make more of your designs a reality." He suggested.

"That would be amazing." Aria replied.

"Well, it sounds like you're going to have an interesting Thanksgiving." Emily remarked. "Make sure to take a lot of photos. We'll be back on campus in a few days."

"Enjoy your breaks. Hard to believe it's almost the end of the year." Will said when he saw Spencer walk in with another tub of dirty dishes. "And here's someone you two girls can gab with and she can explain how she's grateful to not spend Thanksgiving with her family. It's Spencer. Hang on."

He removed his rubber gloves and handed Spencer the phone. She chatted with Emily and Aria while he moved her to the sink and grabbed a bucket of clean dishes. He mouthed sucker before backing up and heading to the front. Spencer gave him the finger while she talked with Emily and Aria and was now stuck washing dishes. Will moved to the front and put the tub of clean dishes and cups at the front of food line. More families and people in need grabbed clean plates and got on line for food while he took stock on what they were running low on and what they needed. He saw his mom serving food and at the happy looks on the people they were helping.

It was the little things that mattered too.

A few hours later…

After helping out at the shelter, Will and his mother returned to their house with Spencer joining them. They got cleaned up and dressed in their nice attire. Will wore dress shoes, a nice pair of Khaki dress pants and a light blue button-up. His mother was wearing a nice black and green dress and Spencer was wearing a black off-shoulder dress. They were busy getting the Thanksgiving dinner ready but with the three of them it was going much easier. The turkey had been brining since yesterday and would be done in the oven in two hours just in time for their six o'clock dinner.

Will was working on some mash potatoes and putting the bread rolls on a pan to put in the oven while his mother finished with the stuffing and vegetables while Spencer set the table. May assured her that she could relax but Spencer wanted to help. He put the pan in the oven and took the jug of apple cider out of the refrigerator when they heard the doorbell.

"I'll get it." May took her apron off and walked to the front door while Will watched over the food. Spencer watched May head over to the door before looking over at Will who was diligently mashing the potatoes.

"Easy their Spider-man. It's mashed potatoes, not destroyed potatoes." She joked.

"Very amusing but leave the jokes to me." He told her.

"You ok, Will?" Spencer wondered and he thought it over for a moment.

"Actually…yeah. Ever since my dad died it's just been my mom and me. It's kind of hard to enjoy a family holiday when it's just the two of us. All you I can do is remember that he's not here. But this year…it feels more like a holiday…and I have a lot to be thankful for." He replied and Spencer smiled before she walked over and gave him a hug.

May opened the front door and saw Quentin standing there in a nice suit with two boxes of pie. "Happy Thanksgiving, May."

"Happy Thanksgiving, Quentin. Come in."

Quentin walked in and was met with a very delicious smell and her lovely home. "It smells delicious in here."

"We've been cooking for hours but it'll be ready in time for dinner. And you brought the pies." May said and he held them up.

"That I did. One pumpkin and one apple from Giardo's. One of the best bakeries in town. The owner's a friend." Quentin explained.

"They'll be perfect. Come in." May led him through the hallway into the kitchen where they saw Will and Spencer tending to the food.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Captain Lance." Spencer greeted him.

"Good to see you, Captain Lance." Will added.

"Please, just Quentin. Something smells delicious." Quentin commented, putting the pies down on the counter.

"My mom's cooking has that effect on people. Always a hit at barbeques." Will joked, pouring a cup of cider for Captain Lance. "Here you go. Don't worry, non-alcoholic."

"Thanks." Lance took a sip and watched in amusement as he saw Spider-man was diligently plating the mash potatoes in a bowl. "I got off the phone with the head of Palmer Tech. Their new cell for Marko is ready and he's being moved as we speak. He's not getting out."

"That's good. He and O'Hirn can be buddy-buddy together in jail like old times." He pointed out.

"I'm not even going to begin to ask how a regular guy turns into the Sandman and a part of me doesn't want to know. You think he'll tell us anything?" Lance wondered.

"Marko did during his attempted bank robbery. And while he's not the brightest career criminal there is, he's loyal. I'll give him that much. Any luck on tracking down Octavius in Starling?" Will asked and Lance shook his head no.

"Not at the moment. I put Watanabe on it. With everything going on and Tombstone making more and more charitable donations and hand shaking with city hall, I'm dubious as to who I can trust in the station." Lance stated and Will agreed.

"Then we work it one person at a time. Octavius gets us Hammerhead and he'll get us to Tombstone." Will said when his mother came over.

"That's enough Spider-man talk you two. It's Thanksgiving. You can worry about it tomorrow. Even heroes need a holiday." May told them before taking out some things from the fridge.

"If only that were true." Will muttered.

The dinner prep continued and after a little awkwardness in the beginning, things began to settle and felt easy. Two hours later the turkey was resting and just about ready to be plated when the doorbell rang again. May, Spencer, and Quentin looked at one another in confusion.

"Is there someone else coming?" Quentin wondered.

"Yeah. I invited someone. Give me a second." Will put his oven mitts down and flattened his shirt before heading to the door.

Quentin, May, and Spencer shrugged before they began putting the food down on the kitchen table. Will opened the door and saw Laurel there in a lovely burgundy slit-front dress with a jacket on top and a nice bouquet of flowers in her hand. "Happy Thanksgiving, Laurel. Glad you decided to come."

"Believe me, a part of me isn't really ready for this." She said as Will let her in. He took her jacket and hung up it while Laurel took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. "Maybe this is a bad idea."

"No, it's a good one. You and your dad need to bury the hatchet and Thanksgiving is a time for family. You two are all the other has. Just wait here and let me bring him over." Will told her and she nodded. He walked back into the kitchen where he saw everyone getting the table ready. "Captain Lance, can I talk to you for a second…in private?"

"Sure." Quentin placed a napkin down and walked with Will down the hallway where he saw Laurel standing there. "Laurel?"

"Happy Thanksgiving." She greeted with a small smile.

"I invited her to dinner. No one deserves to be alone on Thanksgiving." Will said as Quentin looked at him. "I understand that things between you two are not in the best place and I have no right to try and wiggle my way into your personal lives but considering we're met in mine I'd make an exception. You two are all the other has and I know things are hard but family is important. My dad used to say to forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness but because you deserve peace."

"It's a little more complicated than that, Will." Laurel told him.

"I know. Everyone makes mistakes. Some bigger than others with lasting consequences. But if you can't forgive others don't expect others to forgive you when the time comes." He wisely stated, channeling a bit of his dad. "Life isn't easy for anybody, whether you're normal or super. We can't change the past. We can only affect the future. And I think it's a future where you both deserve to remain in each other's lives. I'm not saying it's going to be easy or that it'll happen overnight. A week, a month or even a year but starting now is what's going to make the difference. Thanksgiving is all about celebrating gratitude…about what we're lucky enough to have in our lives that we take for granted every day because we're scared or don't know what we have until its gone."

Quentin and Laurel took a moment to let it all sink in. Things hadn't gotten any worse between the two since Lance found out the truth but they didn't really get better. They had kept their distance so this was their first real chance to talk.

"At least for today…cherish that you are both still in each other's lives over some very delicious food and the turkey coma that follows." Will suggested.

Lance took a deep breath before he managed a nod. Laurel smiled before she smiled as well. "A turkey coma sounds nice." Lance commented.

"It'll be one to remember." Will assured him as Lance gave his daughter a hug before they walked to the kitchen. Laurel looked back and mouthed thank you and he smiled as he walked with them.

Spencer and May were just about done setting the table when Captain Lance and Will returned with Laurel. "Laurel…" Spencer wasn't expecting to see her today.

"Happy Thanksgiving." Laurel said to both of them. "Sorry for the interruption."

"I invited Laurel. Thanksgiving should be spent with family." Will stated and May smiled.

"No apologies necessary, Laurel. Will's right and we have plenty of food and space." May said, taking the bouquet and getting a quick table setting for her while Will brought over a chair. Laurel sat down next to Spencer while Lance sat down next to May across from them. He took a deep breath as May held his hand in comfort. That small token of affection was enough to help him.

Will walked over to the table with the serving plate for the Thanksgiving turkey. It was cooked to a golden-brown perfection and smelled delicious.

"Whoa…."

"Wow…"

"That looks delicious."

"Well done."

Everyone was ready to eat as Will put the turkey down near his spot at the head of the table. He was taking on the responsibility of carving the turkey, having spent hours on YouTube and watching instructional videos. He looked around at the table of new friends that joined him and his mom and smiled.

"If I could have everyone's attention, please. I'd like to make a little announcement. Um…our family has a tradition. It goes back…way before I was even born. Where everyone takes a moment to say what they're most thankful for in their lives. I would just like to say that I'm most thankful for my mom and dad…whose faith in my taught me to have faith in myself. I wouldn't be the man I am now without either of them or be here with friends, both old and new." Will smiled at everyone as his mother was on the verge of tears. "Happy Thanksgiving."

"Happy Thanksgiving." They replied. "Let's eat."

Will began carving the turkey while the others got to work on piling their plates with food. Quentin and May clinked their water glasses together in a little cheers, Spencer and Laurel talked to one another and laughed at a joke as they put a dinner roll on their plate before handing it over to May. Quentin put some stuffing on his plate before helping Spencer plate hers. Laurel put some cranberry sauce on her plate and exchange it for a bowl of mash potatoes from May. He looked at everyone at the table before looking at his mom who smiled back. A good meal with new and old friends like this…made everything worthwhile.

December 2014

The delicious fall air and turkey coma of November had made way for December which was winter, hot coco, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year's. The weather turned cold and people were bundled up in their winter clothes while shopping for gifts for their loved ones. It was the time of the year where people spent a lot of money. And for Will and the girls it meant the last two weeks of classes and their finals before the semester was over.

Will was in his room back at his house looking at himself in the mirror. His normal fitted red, blue, and black Spider-man suit was all puffy and made him look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man. The reason for that is because of the sweater and sweatpants he put under his suit to keep him warm with the weather turning cold. 'Oh, great. The sweats keep the knees from knocking but they also make me look like the Spectacular Spider-mush. That's what we get for making my suit when the weather was nicer. I'm really starting to miss that sweatshirt. Not so much fun in the snow. I'm gonna need a pair of those expensive skin-tight thermals. I should have enough saved up.' He thought to himself before taking off his suit and putting it back into his backpack before changing back into his regular clothes.

He walked downstairs with his backpack and using his phone to look for a sports apparel store that sold the skin-tight thermals he'll need when he walked into the living room and saw it looked like the North Pole threw up in his house. There was Christmas lights strewn all over the place, a lot of tinsel, Christmas wreathes, Christmas stockings, and boxes of what he could only imagine as more decorations. That's when he saw his mother sitting at the kitchen counter drinking her coffee while reading the newspaper.

"Mom…why does it look like Santa Claus exploded in the living room?" He wondered.

"That would be Emily." May told him, turning the page of the newspaper before sipping some more coffee. "She wanted to do something nice for us with everything we've done for her and she offered to help decorate the house and make it all festive for the holidays."

"Emily does love Christmas." Will carefully walked through the piles of decorations so he didn't accidently step on anything. "I don't remember there being this much stuff in the garage."

"Oh, all of our stuff is in the corner. The rest she brought from home. Extra decorations that her family never uses." May finished her coffee and put it in the sink. "Well, I have to go to the hospital so have fun decorating. I expect the house to be clean when I get back."

May kissed him on the cheek and went upstairs to get her purse and car keys while Will looked at the literal army of decorations he was now stuck with. "I bet Oliver never had to do this."

He walked out the front door and saw Emily there pouring eggnog into cups and putting them on a stool next to a plate of cookies. Out on the lawn were even more decorations along with Aria, Spencer, and surprisingly Thea who were trying to sort through everything.

"Uh…Em…what did you do?" He asked.

"Do you like it? We're making your house all Christmassy. My mom and I decorated our house before I had to come back to school and we had a bunch of stuff leftover. So, as a way to say thanks I came over to decorate your house. Last year it was not very festive so we're changing that." Emily smiled before handing him a cup. "Eggnog?"

"Thanks." He took the cup and sipped it. He was eh on Eggnog but it was the holidays and it was Emily so he didn't want to risk getting an eye poked out. "Emily, don't you think this is a bit…a bit much?"

"Your mom said it was fine. And if anyone deserves a festive house and Merry Christmas, it's you, Spider-man." Emily told him and he smiled. There was no fighting her on this.

"Fair enough." He replied when he saw Thea walk over and sort through a box of Christmas lights with Aria. "What's Thea doing here?"

"We were at Big Belly Burger and when I told Aria and Spencer it was time to go, she volunteered to come help." Emily told him before putting the eggnog down and getting back to work.

Looking around at the yard, a part of him was tempted to leave but Aria and Emily would most likely kill him if he did. Emily for not helping and Aria for trying to escape without her. He walked over and began sorting through the pile of boxes when Thea came over to plug in the Christmas lights. "Hey, Thea. I didn't expect you to be here. How did Emily drag you into this?"

"Well, Emily said she needed some help with Christmas decorations and that was always my favorite part of the holidays. And she said she'd help me decorate my loft. I hope it's ok." Thea said.

"It's fine by me. Emily sort of skipped over the whole asking part and got right to the planning phase. And knowing her she'll be happy to decorate your place too." He joked as Thea plugged in the lights and began untangling them. He walked over to Aria and hugged her from behind before giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Happy early Christmas. Hurricane Emily strikes again."

"This year she's back with a vengeance." Aria joked before giving him a kiss on the lips.

"So, I'm glad to see things with Thea are going amicably. Thank you for being nice." He told her.

"Well, she's ok when you get to know her and she's growing on me." Aria admitted.

"That's my girl." He gave her another kiss but before their make-out session could get any more heated, Emily came over with a large box of decorations.

"Less kissing more decorating. Will, get the ladder. You're going on the roof." She told him.

"Oh joy…" He muttered before taking the box and heading up to the roof to put the Christmas decorations on.

About two hours passed and while most of the house and yard was decorated there was still work to be done and then they'd work on the stuff inside. Will just finished putting up the fake snow and hanging the lights all over the roof before putting on the plastic Santa sleigh and reindeer. Next was the Snowman with the scar.

"Hey, Em how's this look?" He asked as Emily walked over to check.

"Uh…little more to the right." She told him so he moved it. "No, my right not Snowy's right."

"Snowy?" He asked.

"Yeah, I named him when I was three." Emily replied before pointing to two light-up penguins in a box. "And this is Pingy and Wingy."

"Very cute." Will placed Snowy down before hanging up the rest of the lights on the roof.

Thea and Spencer were going through the third box of Christmas lights and were untangling them when they suddenly cut out.

"What happened? Which one did you touch?" Spencer asked.

"All of them. I don't know." Thea tried to figure out what went wrong when Emily walked over carrying the Candy Cane marker for the North pole.

"Oh, try one of the red ones. They always go out." Emily told them. Thea touched a red light and they all came back on. "Told you. Let's deck the halls and fa la la la la."

"Wow. Her shirt is right. She does love Christmas." Thea commented.

Emily put the Candy Cane marker down before heading over to the Nativity scene to see something was missing. "Where's Jesus?"

"I have him." Aria held him up.

"Oh." Emily walked over and placed him down back in his spot at the Nativity scene. "Looking good, everyone. Almost done. Then we can work on the decorations inside."

"Dear lord." Will muttered as he finished with Pingy and Wingy.

Line Break xxxxx

Will was at Palmer Tech working in the lab with Dr. Connors on their project. He was busy adjusting RNA sample #13.46 for their next cancer test. Their work with the Recombinator and their current sample they were testing was showing real promise. It essentially cured early phases of Cancer Stages 1 and 2. With Stage 3 cancers, the Recombinator treatment was much more effective than anything currently available to medical science and if their data was any indication, it helped put most cancers into complete remission while improving the survivability of others up to around 80%. With Stage 4 cancers, the Recombinator was able to do what modern treatments could do to Stage 3 victims. It was a better treatment than anything available for a stage of cancer that was unlikely to be cured in the long term.

Their progress reports were tantalizing to the board and Dr. Palmer was enthusiastic, hoping that more work at Palmer Tech would be able to help make more of a difference. Most of the board was ready to put it into human trials for early stages of cancer treatment and Dr. Connors was ready as well. Will had noticed that Dr. Connors was pushing for their Recombinator trials to be moved to human testing. He figured it probably had to do with his own dreams of using it to try and restore his missing limb. He just hoped Dr. Connors didn't get his hopes up. Science could do a lot but regrowing an arm still seemed impossible.

He was working on a computer and running some simulations on different variations of the formula for their next batch of tests. Dr. Connors had stepped out to go to the bathroom so it was just Will. While the computer worked on the simulations, he was working on some chemical ingredients in his notebook for a new web formula along with web shooter modifications. Once he was back at his dorm, he would send them to STAR labs via the email Felicity gave him for Cisco, Caitlin, and Barry. They were being serious that they wanted to help Will with his Spider-man gear and given that STAR labs is one of the most advance laboratories on the planet then they'd be able to do a lot more with his stuff then he could at the University. And even though he and Dr. Connors just started their new jobs at Palmer Tech, skimping from them would put Dr. Connors in trouble and he didn't want to risk it. Along with the formulas and designs, he'd send over copies of the suits that Aria designed.

Will went to the cabinet to retrieve some more chemicals when he his phone buzzed so he took it out and saw it was Laurel. "Hello?"

"Hey, Will. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."

"Not really. I'm at Palmer Tech right now working but I've got some time to talk. Everything ok?" He wondered.

"Yeah. Things are a little hectic with the holidays and end of the year coming up but we're fine. Spencer is definitely getting full use of her internship here. She's got a real mind for this kind of stuff." Laurel pointed out.

"If anyone has the career of scaring someone into a confession as a lawyer or potential future DA, it's her." He joked as he closed up the cabinet and went back to his workstation. "Just don't tell her I said that or she'll kill me."

"Your secret is safe with me. I also just wanted to say thank you for what you did for me and my dad. Things have been difficult with me and him since he found out about Sara. It was my fault but since Thanksgiving we've managed to move to a better place." Laurel stated.

"That's good. I've noticed he's been chipper than usual. How are things?" He wondered.

"We're back on good speaking terms. Things are still a little tense but they're a lot better then before. I can't thank you enough for how you've been helping him." Laurel told him.

"It's what I do. Saving the day and bringing families together in time for the holidays. I deserve my own holiday special." He joked.

"Well, I'd be happy to help you with the legal work if you need it but I'm also happy to help however else I can. You've been keeping the DA's office really busy. Anything I can do to help?" She wondered when Dr. Connors walked back into the office.

"Yeah, but I've got to get back to work right now so we'll talk later." Will told her.

"Ok. Just let me know. Bye." Laurel said and he hung up.

"Everything ok, Will?" Dr. Connors wondered.

"Yeah, just talking to a friend." He replied.

"Got it. So, Dr. Palmer and the Board of Palmer tech are sending out the FDA requests for our Genetic Recombinator human trials tests." Dr. Connors told him as he sat down at his desk.

"Are you sure we're ready for human trials, Dr. Connors? I know our cancer trials are progressing better then we had hoped for but there's still some work to be done before we can start exposing human's to this kind of treatment. We're still not sure of the lasting side effects if any." Will pointed out.

"I understand but moving forward with our simplest tests to human trials is going to help push our research to where we need it to go. Not to mention it'll help Palmer Technologies drum up more funding for our research so we can expand into other diseases and conditions." Dr. Connors told him. "Trust me, Will. This is the right path."

"If you say so, Dr. Connors." Will replied. A part of him was hopeful but another part was worried.

They continued with their RNA sample testing and adjustments before they called it a day. Dr. Connors had an early class tomorrow and Will had some studying to do for his Western Literature final. His other three finals were science based and was confident he could pass them in his sleep. It was his Western Literature final that he needed to brush up on so he headed back to campus where he met Aria, Emily, and Spencer in his room for a study session.

Spencer was helping Will memorized what he needed to know for his upcoming final while Aria and Emily were looking through textbooks and rereading everything they needed for their final tests. Scattered around them were notebooks, coffee cups and some Chinese takeout. Their study session was going on about two hours when Will decided to call it early for the night and head out into the city to do a patrol.

He swung through the city and was thankful that he bought the skintight thermals he was wearing underneath his suit. It was cold and they helped but wearing thermals underneath a thin cloth suit wasn't ideal. He toughed it out and adrenaline tended to help. Will swung high into the air and landed on the side of a building and ran alongside it when he saw the red and blue of police lights nearby. He fired a web and swung away.

The SCPD were in the middle of a hostage negotiation after a robbery that failed. Two masked robbers were robbing a convenience store when a uniformed female police officer walked in for a soda. The officer was shot and the owner plus two civilians who were shopping were taken hostage. The officer was alive but bleeding pretty badly and needed medical attention. The SCPD were trying to get the robbers to give themselves up and let the hostages go but they were hopped up on drugs and wanted ridiculous demands, threatening to kill the hostages if they weren't met.

One of the robbers looked over the hostages as the owner did his best to stop the bleeding of the officer's gut shot but she wasn't looking good and getting paler by the minute. The other robber, the leader of the two was pacing back and forth and his hand was shaking. He took out a small vial of cocaine and snorted some before putting his mask back on.

There was a clatter from one of the shopping aisles so he walked over to check and saw a bunch of soup cans were knocked down from a shelf. Before he could do anything, a soup can hit him in the head and someone caught him as he fell to the ground.

The robber looking over the hostages looked back at his friend after hearing the clatter of cans. "Hey, everything ok back there?" The only response he got was webbing snagging his limbs and then pulling him up into the ceiling.

The police outside the store were kept on high alert when they saw the hostages rush out from the store and Spider-man supporting the injured officer. "She needs help!" Two more officers came over along with paramedics and a gurney. They put her on and the paramedics stopped the bleeding, put an IV in her arm and put her in the ambulance to take to the hospital. "The two robbers are inside. No one else was hurt."

"We'll take it from here, Spider-man. Thanks. You saved that officer's life." An officer told him as the rest rushed inside to take the two robbers into custody.

"Just doing my job. Stay safe!" He super jumped into the air and web swung through the city until he landed on the side of a skyscraper. He walked around until he sat down on a ledge next to Bob the Gargoyle. "Hey, Bob. Hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving and have a Merry Christmas."

He let his feet dangle and looked out at the city. This was one of the perks of being Spider-man. The city could seem chaotic and jam packed but at the height he was sitting…there was something magical about it. He relaxed and let the cold December breeze brush past him with his suit and skintight thermals giving him the needed warmth so he didn't get hypothermia. He grabbed the backpack stashed next to Bob and took out a bottle of water, raising him mask over his mouth to drink it when his earpiece began to buzz so he tapped it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Spider-man. I heard you saved one of my officers during a robbery gone wrong." Lance said to him.

"Yeah. I saw the police lights in the distance and went to go check it out. It's a good thing I left my study session early. Is the officer, ok?"

"The paramedics stabilized her on the way to the hospital. She's in surgery at the moment but the doctors are confident she'll pull through. Any longer though and her chances wouldn't have been so good. Nice work. But that's not why I called. I paid Marko and O'Hirn separate visits and they're not saying anything. Neither is Toomes or Montana. You were right that they won't give up Tombstone. So, Yuri and I have been doubling our focus on Octavius, Hammerhead, and Roderick Kingsley. If we get any one of them then we can go after Tombstone." Lance suggested.

"Except old pale face isn't going to make that easy. We were able to find Smythe's because of the Black Widow so we're gonna need another angle to exploit." He stated.

"And that angle is Octavius. If Tombstone is using him to make people like Rhino and Sandman then he's gonna need a lab and place to work so we're checking out all the science labs in the city for a possible lead." Lance told him.

"Not a bad idea but do you think they'd really use a lab in the city? The bad guys have shown to be able to adapt. If anything, they'd want to create a makeshift lab someplace hidden so no one would find them. The more obscure the better. A place that no one would bother to look at twice." Will pointed out.

"All right. I'll have Watanabe look at leases and permits along with energy usage from the city. Something tells me that creating your…supervillains takes a lot of power. I'll let you know what I find." Lance told him.

"Same here." Will replied before hanging up. He sat there for a bit, trying to think of their next move when he remember dealing with Sandman and that the STAR labs team took a sample of his sand back with them. Maybe they could find a lead so he called Felicity.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hey, Felicity sorry to bother you but can you put me in touch with Caitlin or Cisco at STAR labs?" Will asked.

"Sure. Is something wrong?" She wondered.

"No, nothing's wrong. Caitlin took Sandman's sand sample with them when they went back to Central City so I'm wondering if they managed to analyze it and find something useful for us to track." He suggested.

"I can send them a message but they've likely gone home for the night. I'll have them get back to us first thing in the morning." Felicity promised.

"Thanks, Felicity. Any luck on finding Octavius?"

"No, he's hidden really well. Wherever he is, I haven't been able to find him." Felicity replied.

"All right. If Octavius is the brains that created Rhino and Sandman then he's gonna have to have a lab to work out of. Lance is already trying to drum up a lead to track down where he could be working so maybe you could search from your end. Working with Oliver for the past three years you've probably noticed patterns with criminals." He pointed out.

"They tend to be of similar minds when it comes to hiding their criminal activities. Knowing that Octavius has to have a lab to do what he does, Hammerhead and Tombstone probably have it hidden somewhere in the city where no one, especially the police, would think to find." Felicity stated.

"And they'd need a lot of power to do something like this so finding abnormally high electrical usage might help narrow down possible locations." He added. "Once we get those factors then we might be able to find out where the lab is."

"I'll get started and we can start the search tomorrow." Felicity told him.

"Sounds good." He replied when he heard more police sirens in the distance. "I've got more work to do. Talk to you later, Felicity."

He tapped his earpiece again before standing up and jumping off the edge. Nose diving to the ground and picking up speed, he fired a web and swung high into the air to follow the police cars.

Line Break xxxxx

The next day after his morning class, Will took a bus into the city to Verdant where he met up with Felicity at the Arrowcave to go over tracking down Octavius. He and Felicity were at the computers working through the gigabytes of data they compiled for all the variables they could think of. Leasing permits and ownership papers for various places around the city that were remote or isolated and then cross referencing them with other variables to try and narrow down the most likely locations. Lance managed to get most of the city's building permits and records and had Yuri narrow down the list of thousands to a few hundred for warehouses. And they managed to get the data from the city's electrical grid to monitor high usage of power after removing obvious places like business buildings and laboratories throughout the city.

After a few hours of sorting through all the data and plotting everything on a map, Will was left with about 16 possibilities throughout the city. "So, after all that work, we went from thousands of possibilities to 16. That's something, I guess." He muttered.

"We need another variable to help narrow things down." Felicity told him when she got a phone call and it was Caitlin so she answered. "Hey, Caitlin. Thanks for getting back to me. I'm with Will right now. Let me put you on speaker."

Felicity connected her phone to the computer and pressed a few buttons. "Hey, Caitlin. How's Cisco liking my list of gadgets and possible suits?" Will wondered.

"Like you gave a child a hundred dollar bill in a toy store. But he and Dr. Wells are very intrigued. You should come to STAR Labs when you get the chance." Caitlin told him.

"When I get some free time, I'll try and visit. Were you able to get anywhere on the sand sample you took from Sandman? I know before that you only had limited time at the Arrowcave but I was hoping that at STAR labs you might be able to find something that could help me track down where Marko underwent his transformation." Will suggested.

"Well, I analyzed Sandman's sand and like I told you before he's essentially turned into sand now. He's not human but I've managed to find small traces of dark matter infused within the sand. Miniscule traces but it's how Marko went form a normal person into the Sandman and its how you have your powers." Caitlin explained.

"The dark matter from the particle accelerator must have infected the spider that bit me when I was in Central City." Will stated, now fully understanding how he got his powers.

"That explains how Will got his powers but what about Sandman? We know he wasn't in Central City so how could his sand be dark matter infused?" Felicity asked.

"That's what we've been trying to figure out but we haven't come up with a viable idea." Caitlin admitted. "I'm sorry. I wish I had more to tell you."

"Now we're back to square one." Will dropped his head onto the desk with a bang. "Ow…"

Felicity rubbed his back in a soothing manner as she looked at the map of the city they marked up with all their variables. She looked at Will and at the map and that's when she got an idea. "Caitlin, is it possible to trace dark matter?"

There was a moment of silence as Caitlin thought it over. "Give me a second."

"What's your idea?" Will asked, his head still on the desk.

"Maybe a way for us to find a needle in a haystack with a magnet." She suggested when Will popped his head to look at her weird. "You didn't like the pun? I thought it was good."

"I think you should leave the funny quips to me." He told her and she flicked him on the ear. "Ow…"

"Hey, guys I'm back and I have Cisco with me." Caitlin answered.

"Hey. Caitlin told me about your idea to trace dark matter." Cisco stated.

"Yeah. Do you think we could use the STAR labs satellite to scan Starling city? If dark matter is what made Sandman, then maybe we can use the satellites to scan for trace dark matter residue and narrow down the lab where he came from." Felicity suggested.

"That could work but Caitlin told me that there were miniscule traces of dark matter in the sample from Sandman. That would mean that whatever made Sandman might not have a strong enough dark matter signature for you to track in the city." Cisco warned her.

"It's a start. At the very least, it might be able to at least give us a trail to follow. Can you, do it?" Will asked.

"Sure. It'll take us a few minutes to get the satellites into position and to do an in-depth scan of the entire city…give us about an hour." Cisco replied.

"Just do what you can Cisco and feed everything to Felicity." Will told him before he got up and opened his backpack to take out his suit.

"Where are you going?" Felicity wondered.

"Out into the city. I'll start heading to the places of interest and do searching the old fashion way. Who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky." He said before taking off his sweatshirt and then his t-shirt underneath to reveal his chiseled and muscular form. Toned and muscular arms, back muscles to rival an Olympic athlete and an 8-pack to make the girls swoon.

Felicity blushed as she was caught staring at Will who put on his skin-tight thermals before grabbing the upper half of his Spider-man suit when she realized what she was doing and focused. "He's younger than you and in college, he's younger than you and in college, he's younger than you and in college…" She whispered to herself over and over as she averted her eyes so he could get changed.

Once he was suited up, minus the mask he took a screen grab of the places all over the city so he knew where to go. "All right. Let me know if they get anything. I'll be out there. Hopefully, they find something." He pulled his mask on and adjusted it. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck, Spider-man!" Felicity told him as he walked out of the door into the alley behind Verdant and super jumped into the air. One web line at a flagpole and he was off into the city to investigate the 16 locations in hopes of finding Octavius.

He checked an old building that belonged to an old defunct company in the Glades, an old warehouse by the bay that the city was in the middle of tearing down, an old rundown restaurant that used to belong to the Bertinelli family, and an old apartment building near the edge of the city where some homeless were squatting. He left them alone along with checking all the places and his spider-sense nor other senses picked up anything. That's when he went to a warehouse in Triad territory and rather than finding Dr. Octavius, he stumbled on a Triad smuggling ring. Which of course, he was more than happy to stop as a concerned citizen.

If someone were walking by, they would see flashes of light from the windows along with the sounds of gunshots accompanied by the shouts and grunts of pain. Three Triad enforcers fired their pistols in the same general direction only for Spider-man to jump over them. He grabbed the middle guy by the jacket and threw him as he rolled on the ground so he flew into a shelf. Before the other two could shoot him, he back rolled kicked them both in the gut before snaring them with webbing and hurling them into a wall. A shotgun blast attempted to blow a hole in him only for Spider-man to jump into the air with a 720 spin before firing a venom blast. The shotgunner was paralyzed in place allowing Spider-man to take him down with a flying head scissor takedown. He then kicked the shotgun up before kicking it like a soccer ball and hitting another Triad member in the face before ducking a crowbar to the back of the head and hitting the guy with a bicycle kick.

Spider-man did a kip up to block and parry the knife attacks from a Triad enforcer before he knocked the knife away and caught it in reverse grip like you'd see in a kung fu movie. He then spun to his knee and stabbed him in the leg with the knife before dropkicking him in the back so the goon was sent flying into a car. He double punched two guys before taking them out with a jumping split kick. A web pull yanked a guy up only for Spider-man to grab him mid-air and throw him into a truck before web pulling himself to ground and landed on another Triad goon and riding him like a surfboard, giving the Triad member a serious case of road rash. As he tornado kicked a guy in the face, his earpiece went off so he backflipped to avoid a grab and landed on the guy's shoulders to throw him before answering.

"Hello?" Spider-man answered, knocking another guy into the air with an uppercut and then landing a jumping back kick that sent one Triad enforcer crashing into another.

"Hey, Will. Am I interrupting?" Felicity asked, hearing some gunfire and grunts of pain.

"Not really. I can multi-task." He web pulled a nearby trashcan and shove a Triad goon in it before kicking him into a friend like a bowling ball. A knife thrust was avoided by moving his head at the last second and he grabbed his arm, broke it at the joint by bringing it down on his shoulder before throwing him to the ground and taking him out with an axe kick to the head. "What's up? Tell me you have some good news."

"I do. The STAR labs scans came through for us and managed to find the only trace of dark matter in the entire city and it just so happens to match up with one of the 16 places we found in our search. It isolated it to someplace near the Glades underneath the interstate bridge. The satellites weren't able to get an exact reading but tracked it to a block on 6th street." Felicity told him as he slid in between a guy's legs and kicked him in the back before flipping up into the air where he landed a 720 kick to two dudes. "Do you want me to get Oliver and Roy to head there to help you?"

"Probably not a great idea." He gainer kicked the last guy into the air before web pulling him to the ground so he slammed down hard. "I'm gonna have Yuri and Lance with me and they're not on the best terms with him."

"Right."

"I'll let you know if something comes up." He tapped his earpiece to hang up before pressing it twice to call Yuri. "Yuri, it's me. Send some officers come to Green Dragon Tea warehouse on Lexington. I've got a bunch of illegal goods you can impound and Triads who have a date at central booking and then Iron Heights."

"Got it. I'll send some patrol cars on the way." Yuri replied, writing down the address to send to the dispatcher.

"And I hope your free because I think I've got a lead on Octavius. My source told me there's a chance he's somewhere on the block of 6th street in the Glades underneath the interstate bridge." He told her.

"That's oddly specific but if it gives us a chance to take down Hammerhead and Tombstone then I'll take it. I'll tell Lance and head there to meet you." Yuri replied before hanging up.

He tapped his earpiece and looked at the Triad henchmen splayed all over the place. There was even one hanging from the ceiling via a web. "Might as well put you all together to make it easier for them."

A little heavy lifting later and all the Triad enforcers were tied up in webbing with all the circumstantial evidence the police would need to bring down their smuggling operation. A serious blow to the Triad and while he would normally stick around to savor this victory he had to leave.

On the stretch of 6th street underneath the interstate bridge in the Glades, there wasn't a lot there. Some shops, a few apartment buildings, a gym, laundromat, and a storage warehouse. There were people walking around and going about their business and aside from the intense graffiti all over the place, nothing was out of the ordinary. Several cars were parked on the street and in a black sedan parked outside a convenience store Yuri was sitting in her car with a cup of coffee. She was looking around the area to find any sign of Hammerhead or Tombstone activity but nothing seemed wrong. She was hoping that Spider-man's intel was right but so far nothing seemed viable.

She heard her phone buzzing and saw it was Will so she answered. "Hey, I'm here."

"So am I." He told her, landing on the roof of the nearby apartment building. It was tall enough so he had the perfect view of the area. "Sorry, I'm a little late. There was a car accident on main street."

"It's fine. I've been here for about half an hour and I haven't seen anything that could point to a lab. Are you sure it's here?" Yuri wondered.

"Pretty positive. Based on all the information you and Lance could get, there's been an usually high uptick in energy usage the past month that fits nothing in this area. And it's just after we took down the Black Widow and I confronted Tombstone." He told her.

"Well, if there is a lab nearby then he sure did a good job at hiding it. It's in the Glades so no one says anything, much less to the police. And I can't seem to see anything out of the ordinary." Yuri stated.

He kept looking around when he noticed a bright reflection that caught his eye. It was coming from an old garage, LTL Body Shop, and the place itself wasn't in the best shape. It needed a serious power washing and the sign on the front said it was closed. At a second or even third glance you wouldn't notice anything wrong with the place at all but the only thing that didn't add up about the place was the security cameras. That was the glint that caught his eye and the security camera in question was a Braxton 2000 LED security camera. Motion and audio recording with a built-in failsafe battery, capable of recording up to 10,000 hours to a central server with clean and crisp footage. Easily cost $300 for a bare minimum model and they weren't really designed for home use, more for corporations and places of importance. He recognized it because they had one model at the university for Dr. Connors lab and the more advance and expensive version was used at Palmer Tech.

"Yuri, across the street from the laundromat. LTL Body shop. Do you see it?" He asked.

She saw the laundromat and then the garage he was talking about. It looked rundown and likely hadn't had a customer in a while. "Yeah, I see it. What do you see that I can't?"

He web-zipped to the interstate bridge over the body shop and lowered himself down to get a better look and saw three more cameras watching the shop and the area around it and what looked like tire tracks in the dirt by the garage door. "The place looks like it hasn't had a customer in a long time yet I'm seeing a $300 security camera that doesn't look as old. And that camera has three friends."

"Four high-tech security cameras and an old body shop don't exactly mix. Sounds like a good start but if they see me getting close then they might get scared and try to run." Yuri pointed out.

"I'll head in and see what I can find. Stay on the line." Spider-man looked around and pulled himself back up to wall crawl on the bridge. The cameras seemed to provide a near 360 degree view over the garage so sneaking in was going to be tricky. It was likely that the garage itself was just a camouflage for a secret entrance underneath. That was speculation but given his experience with bad guys and the movies he has watched, it seemed like the most likely scenario. So, seeing as how he couldn't sneak into the garage without being seen, it was time to try a different approach and that meant going underground.

He landed a block away near a manhole and looked at the sewer entrance in hesitation. "Oh, man. Sewers." Taking a deep breath, he jumped down and stuck to the ceiling to avoid stepping into sewer water and other undesirable contaminants. He kept moving in the general direction of the garage until it diverged to the south. Seeing nothing but cement walls, he wasn't sure what to do so he tried to find a weak spot or a false section but that's when he saw server box that looked brand new. "Gotcha."

He ripped the server cover off and plugged his phone in before connecting to Felicity. "Felicity, it's me. I think I found the lab at an old garage but it's got state of the art security cameras. I found the server box. Can you put them on a loop so I can get inside?"

"Sure thing. Make sure your phone stays connected. I'll take care of it." She replied. He left his phone there and went back up to the street, ignoring the probable smell that was stuck to his suit. "Ok, they've got some pretty sophisticated security but I managed to put their cameras on a loop and their security system down for the next fifteen minutes. That should give you plenty of time."

"Thanks, Felicity. You're the best." He tapped his earpiece to call Yuri. "Yuri, their security system is down for the next fifteen minutes including the cameras. Let's move in and see what we can find."

"Sounds good." She got out of her car and walked over to the garage while he web-zipped to the roof. Jumping down to meet her, he opened up the garage and Yuri pointed her gun forward but all they saw was an empty garage and some old equipment and tools.

"Huh…" He muttered as they walked in to take a look around. The place had everything you'd think would be in a car garage with repair tools and such but they were all covered in dust and likely hadn't been used in a while. Other then the tire marks on the floor, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Yuri checked the connecting office and storage room but it was the same deal with no sign of anyone being around for a long time. "There's nothing here. What are we missing?"

"I'm not sure. Check for a false wall or something." Yuri told him as she holstered her gun. He walked over to nearby wall and pushed around but it seemed solid. While he did that, she took out her flashlight to check for anything that could be a clue but nothing seemed to pop up. That's when she looked at the wall connecting the garage to the office and storage room and saw a safety switch box that wasn't as coated in dust as everything else. She walked over and was right that the switch box wasn't as dust covered as everything else, most likely being used lately. "Over here."

Spider-man walked over and saw the switch box she found. Yuri opened it pulled the lever. After a few seconds of nothing happening, they felt a rumble and the groaning of large gears and pulleys before the floor was revealed to be connected to an elevator system. It lowered down about two stories until they arrived at a secret sub-level. Yuri pulled out her gun and held it with her flashlight while Spider-man jumped up and stuck to the ceiling. He led the way while she took out her phone and called Lance.

"Captain, it's Watanabe. Spider-man and I are on 6th street in the Glades at the LTL Body shop. I think we found the lab and Octavius. We'll keep you updated." She told him.

"Duly noted. I'll have patrol units standing by when you need them. Be careful." Lance told her.

"Yuri…" Spider-man whispered and ushered her over to a door that looked more like the entrance to a bomb shelter. "I hear two voices inside."

Yuri stacked up against the wall for cover while he carefully and quietly opened the door. After peaking in to make sure there was no one around, he crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling while she followed in behind. She turned off her flashlight and took her phone out to record what she saw for evidence. They continued down the hallway and turned the corner where they saw light coming from an artificial source and voices. Yuri hugged the wall while Spider-man stuck to the ceiling and the two arrived in a small waiting area. There were some chairs and old discarded containers of Chinese takeout but what caught their attention was the large window that had the perfect view of some kind of laboratory and inside said lab was Dr. Octavius and Roderick Kingsley. Yuri took cover out of view as did Spider-man but she kept her phone in the corner to record what was going on. Spider-man did the same, unclipping the go pro on his belt and able to hear what they were talking about with his enhanced senses.

"I don't care what it takes, we need more super mercenaries. And something better then what you've produced so far, Otto. My life is on the line here. I've stuck wallowing in the muck, unable to go home, enjoy my life, or run my company because of Spider-man's interference with the Big Man's operation. He wants this situation handled and he doesn't take to failures as well as I have been so far." Kingsley warned Octavius. "Hammerhead is not one to be trifled with. Until Spider-man is taken out of the picture, our lives hang in the balance."

"I'm doing my best, Mr. Kingsley but I'm not sure what else to do. Spider-man has already battled against Sandman and the Rhino. He could trace them back to Dynamics labs, back to me!" Octavius was beyond worried as he strapped himself into his mechanical arm harness to work on more experiments. The harness secured itself around his stomach and waist, the spinal brace rested on his back and he inserted the control microchip in the slot at the base of his neck that activated the arms and let him control them via neural signals.

"Enough! If I wanted sniveling and whining, I'd be back at my company which I can't be because of Spider-man!" Kingsley told him off as he got in his face. "We can't have weak men working for us, Otto. Don't make me get rid of you."

Octavius seemed to stare into space for a moment and if Kingsley was able to read minds, then he would know that the doctor was having a little daydreaming moment about taking action and standing up for himself. His subconscious trying to exert dominance and authority that he has never been able to in real life. And that example was using one of his claws to slam Kingsley against wall and pin him there like an animal.

"Octavius? Octavius…earth to the doctor." Kingsley managed to snap him out of his little daydream.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I'll do as I'm told." Octavius replied, slinking back into his usual demeanor.

"That's all I ask. Now run your experiments like a good Dr. Octopus." Kingsley joked.

"Mr. Kingsley, please, I've told you that name is so demeaning." Octavius reminded him.

Yuri and Spider-man exchanged looks and smiles. "We've got them. Call it in, Yuri."

She dialed Captain Lance when two guards turned down the hallway and saw them. "Hey, you!"

"Crap…" Yuri took cover behind a chair while Spider-man web zipped forward and flying kicked one of the guards into a wall.

"Spider-man!" The other guard pulled out his gun and fired two shots but missed. Dr. Octavius and Kingsley heard the shots coming from the doorway to the lab.

"What was that?" Octavius asked, worried about if they were found and someone found the lab.

"What are those idiots doing now." Kingsley muttered in agitation.

They got their answer when one of the guards was thrown through the safety glass window and crashed into the lab. When the guard hit the ground, the gun in his hand went off and hit the magnetic forcefield generators Octavius repurposed from Smythe's technologies and used to make the Sandman. The bullet caused the machine to turn on and malfunction if the rumbling and electrical surges it was giving off was any indicator.

Kingsley saw the danger and to save his own skin, ran with his tail between his legs. He exited the lab and shut the door just as the room's safety features activated. It magnetically locked the door shut and brought down the emergency plastic shielding over the broken window.

"No! Mr. Kingsley! Help!" Octavius pounded the door with his fists with his claws swinging around erratically to mirror his fear.

The second Kingsley escaped through the door, Yuri grabbed him and threw him over her shoulder to the ground and cuffed him. "Roderick Kingsley, you're under arrest for conspiracy, and aiding and abetting known criminals."

Spider-man backflip kicked a guard in the face and webbed him to the wall when he saw Kingsley on the ground being cuffed. "Hey there, Kingsley. You know, the guys in prison are gonna love the fact that you run a fashion empire. And a lot of them are your friends that I put away. You'll have a lot to catch up on."

That's when he and Yuri had to shield their eyes from the bright flash that came from the lab. The magnetic forcefield generators went off, creating a large magnetic and electrical field in the lab that fried the guard and hit Octavius. The same dark orange glow of dark matter imbedded in the machine's system that turned Flint Marko into Sandman turned one electrical bolt orange and it struck Octavius.

"AHHH!"

The bright flash seemed to produce an almost X-ray like affect, showing Octavius's skeleton and how the dark matter was affecting the harness attached to him. The magnetic and electrical fields fused the metal harness and brace to his spin along with the control ship. And the energy and magnetic field began to affect his brain chemistry as well. One more bright flash of light followed by a loud boom and the lab exploded.

Yuri pulled Kingsley off the ground as he struggled in his handcuffs. "Get me out of here and I want my lawyer!"

The response he got was webbing over his mouth. "How about you give your mouth a break for a moment." Spider-man told him as he began to force the door open to check on the lab while Yuri called in for backup. With one final kick, the door opened to the smoke filled remains of a laboratory. Rubble and broken pieces of machinery littered the ground but he did see Dr. Octavius. He rushed over to check on him and found a small pulse. "He's still alive."

"This is Detective Yuri Watanabe. I need immediate ESU and CSU teams at my location. 6th street in the Glades at the LTL body shop garage. I've got a civilian down." Yuri called it in.

"Roger that. ETA six minutes."

"How is he?" Yuri asked, grabbing Kingsley, and bringing him with her as she walked into the lab. She wasn't about to leave him on the ground for him to escape.

"He's alive and got a pulse. It's a faint one but it's there." That's when Spider-man looked at the mechanical claw harness the doctor was strapped to and it was fused to his back. "Whatever this thing he's strapped in to, it looks like the metal's been fused to his spine. Dr. Octavius…Dr. Octavius, are you ok?"

He gently tried to shake him awake as Octavius did manage to regain consciousness but all he could think about was Kingsley's last words to him, his last action, and anger.

'We can't have weak men working on our organization, Otto. Don't make me get rid of you.'

'I for one am willing to do whatever it takes to take Spider-man out no matter how many criminals or doctors we have to go through.'

'Can't have weak men. Weak men.'

Those words and seeing Kingsley leave him behind to die caused something snap in his mind and the old Dr. Octavius was gone.

"I…will not be weak."

Kingsley managed to move his arms in front of him and ripped the webbing from his mouth. "Otto, keep your mouth shut until you get a lawyer!"

That's when one of the claws grabbed Kingsley by the chest and pinned him to the wall. "Silence, you imperious moron!"

Before another claw could tear Kingsley's head off, his claw was webbed by Spider-man. "Whoa, whoa there slinky! Let's take it down a notch."

"YOU!" Octavius lashed out one of his claws and punched Spider-man in the face. He flipped back to his feet and jumped into the air only for another claw to grab him and pin him next to Kingsley. Yuri pulled out her gun only for Octavius to know her away with one of his tentacles. Octavius pinned Spider-man to the wall with one claw digging into his chest and another pinning his right arm.

"Just for the record, I was trying to save your life." Spider-man told him when Octavius's last claw pinned his left arm to the wall.

"Do not insult my intelligence, hero. You tracked me down and tried to destroy me, as I knew you would." Octavius stated, sounded angry, arrogant and a little psychotic.

"Destroy you? Pal, I don't know if you've been reading the newspapers but I'm one of the good guys." Spider-man tried to tell him but it didn't really matter.

"Oh, but I survived. And more to the point, I have improved. I am now one with my arms. Oh, you failed, Spider-man. And your failure has given me new life!" Octavius declared as he dropped Kingsley in front of him.

"Otto?"

"Not Otto. Otto Octavius was weak. Call me…DR. OCTOPUS!" He shouted in revelry as Spider-man tried to get free with Octavius's free claw snapping in front of his face.

"Look, Doc. Have you thought this through? The next Spider-man who finds you in a destroyed lab might view this as a cautionary tale." Spider-man quipped only for Dr. Octopus to slam him around the lab.

"Glib does not equate with clever, Spider-man!" Octavius stated, holding him up with one of his claws and enjoying having fun with his new victim.

"Yeah, well, the ratio of arms to sanity hasn't exactly been established either." Spider-man pointed out.

"Do you ever SHUT UP?!" Dr. Octopus threw him across the lab but he shot a web at the ceiling a swung around, kicking the mad doctor into a wall. He then fired several strands of webbing at his body and mechanical arms to keep them in place.

"Sorry, no. My fans expect a certain amount of quippage in every battle." He said only for Octavius to use his claws to rip free of his bindings and attack him. Yuri used this chance to grab Kingsley and leave while Spider-man kept Doctor Octopus busy. He back flipped and then rolled to the side to avoid Doc Ock's claws before one managed to hit him in the side. Another then knocked him into the ceiling before throwing him to the ground. He somersaulted to the side narrowly avoided being a shish kabob before sliding to his left. "Come on, Doc. You're a cephalopod. I'm an arthropod. Can't we just hug it out?"

Spider-man ran away with Doctor Octopus chasing after him, using his mechanical claws like extra limbs to keep up with the quick arachnid and attack him. Spider-man ran up the side of a wall and onto the ceiling but Doctor Octopus was able to keep up and was relentless.

"You're slowing down, arachnid." Octavius remarked as he tried to squish the bug but Spider-man leaped into the air over him and fired several web bullets. One of the mechanical arms shielded him with another punching him in the face. "But my arms never tire. And soon they'll crush—[Beep-beep]"

The large port in the front of the harness by Octavius's stomach was beeping. "Oh, an alarm clock too? Man, those arms come with all the perks." Spider-man quipped before quickly leaping from the wall he was on to avoid getting hit by Octavius's claw.

"My apologies Spider-man but I have places to go and worlds to conquer. So, your obituary will have to be written another day." Octavius said as two of his claws began to rip apart the lab with a third one grabbed a circular disk from a nearby cabinet. He hurled pieces of the lab at Spider-man which he dodged when he was hit by a chunk of gravel. Spider-man hit the ground as Octavius used his claws to dig into the ceiling and rip it down on top of the hero while bashing through walls to make his escape. Doctor Octopus ripped through concrete and steel to make his way out of the secret sub-level and into an old subway tunnel where he planned his next move.

Yuri had made it topside just as her backup arrived, including the CSU team and paramedics. She handed Kingsley off to Donavan and McCarthy, two uniformed officers she trusted. "You two, make sure this guy gets back to the station for processing and tell Captain Lance. Don't let anything or anyone stop you." They nodded and put Kingsley in the back of their patrol car before leaving while Yuri commanded the officers who remained. "Adams, Stevens, call for backup and set up a perimeter. The rest of you, with me."

She led them back down to the sub-level and saw the carnage of Dr. Octopus's escape. She and the SCPD officers moved into the lab and followed the path of destruction until they arrived at what remained of the lab. The officers secured the area, moving in together and the paramedics checked on the guards. One was fine, just unconscious but the other was crushed underneath some rubble made during Octavius's escape. That's when they saw a large pile of rubble and destroyed equipment move before it was pushed aside and Spider-man managed to stand up.

"Damn, that hurt." He held his side as some officers helped steady him. "I'm all right. Where's Kingsley?"

"He's heading to the station to a holding cell. Where's Octavius?" Yuri asked.

"You mean, Dr. Octopus? He left. Not sure where but we've got to find him before he hurts anyone else." Spider-man stated.

"Right. Call it in. I want an APB out on Dr. Otto Octavius. He'll be easy to spot with the four mechanical claws coming out from his back. Alert Captain Lance and I want this placed lockdown. No one in or out without my authorization." Yuri ordered

"Yes, Ma'am." They all replied, securing the area, and following their orders.

"You're very bossy." Spider-man said, earning a look from her. "I've noticed that about you."

"Ma'am, you should see this." One of the CSU workers called her over to a piece of machine wreckage. It was what remained of the magnetic forcefield generator that caused the explosion and fused Dr. Octavius's harness to his spine. He called her over to show her something. He moved aside a destroyed panel to show the internal circuitry of the machine was glowing. Some kind of orange energy was pulsing through the machine like it was infected.

"What is that?" Yuri asked and the CSU officer shook his head.

"No idea, ma'am but whatever it is, it's making our scanners go crazy." He replied.

"Be careful how you handle that thing. If I had to guess, I think that's the answer for a lot of our weird questions. Keep it locked up and throw away the key." Spider-man suggested.

"You heard him. Get a Hazmat team if you have to but be careful." Yuri told him.

"Yes, ma'am."

Spider-man looked around the destroyed lab and saw the claw marks on the walls left by Dr. Octavius. "I better get going and try to track him down. Besides, it's probably better if I don't stick around here too much."

"Right. Be careful." Yuri told him.

"I will." He promised before leaving the lab.

On the other side of the city in a small apartment, Octavius used his claws to break into what was his living situation during his stay in the city. "I cannot believe I once lived in this anemic hovel. Well, no more!" He shouted in determination, his claws breaking some of the furniture in the apartment. "And no more, yes Mr. Kingsley. I'm sorry, Mr. Kingsley. Please, Mr. Kingsley. How I groveled before that man and that idiotic skull challenged Hammerhead. But soon, the whole world shall grovel before the genius that is Dr. Octopus. But first, I require a source of power that will not abandon me mid-battle."

He twisted the circular part of the harness over his stomach, causing it to open and ejected a small circular disk from the slot. It was like the one he took from the lab and was a battery that was used to power his harness and mechanical arms. He replaced his dying batter with a fresh one. His arms powered back up and raised him into the air. "Yes, this will do for the short term. Oh, but I need a more permanent solution to guarantee the Spider-man's destruction. Once he is out of the picture, then Kingsley, Hammerhead, and whoever he works for."

One of the arms picked up an old newspaper. The headline for the article was about some kind of new revolutionary small compact power source that Kord Industries just completed and was putting into production. "Perfect…"

Line Break xxxxx

Yuri was in command at the body shop, organizing and ordering all the officers and teams who were handling the crime scene. It was a mess and with all the science equipment there it was going to take some time to sort through everything. One thing was clear was that they found and had Roderick Kingsley in custody. Once he arrived, Lance had him put in his own cell in holding under guard by some officers he trusted. He touched basis with Lieutenant Pike to get some extra men to keep him secure and contacted Laurel to expedite the charges. Time was something they couldn't waste.

Lance let Kingsley sit in holding overnight and the next morning he was sitting in the interrogation room with his daughter there as assistant District Attorney. Kingsley was handcuffed to the table with three of his company's best lawyers there to represent him.

"You know, I got to say this is a real first for me. We've had run of the mill thieves, rapists, murderers, and gang members. Typical people who we handle on a daily basis but we haven't had the chance to really arrest one of the city's rich and powerful. Oliver Queen managed to get his charges dropped over the years but I have a feeling that the charges we'll have on you are going to stick." Lance said, feeling good with what they've managed to accomplish. "I'm thinking of celebrating tonight. So, being so rich, what do you think I should eat for dinner tonight? Steak or lobster? Well, why not both and treat myself tonight."

"That's enough, Captain Lance. We're moving to have our client released and the charges dropped. You have nothing on Mr. Kingsley and his arrest was nothing short of illegal." One of the lawyers stated.

"Sure thing. I'll let him go when pigs fly." Lance remarked as Laurel stepped.

"The charges facing your client are multiple conspiracy charges, fraud, and aiding and abetting multiple known criminals." Laurel told them.

"And you have no evidence. Mr. Kingsley is a respected member of the community and these accusations are nothing more than slander and we'll be pursuing legal action for his wrongful arrest on private property." The lawyer warned them.

"See, that's where you're wrong." Lance opened up one of the many files he and Laurel had for their case. "Detective Watanabe was pursuing a lead on public property. LTL body shop which has been in foreclosure by the bank is officially not owned by anyone. The lab in question that Detective Watanabe found Mr. Kingsley collaborating with a now fugitive Dr. Otto Octavius but also confirming his involvement and criminal activities with other known criminals."

"We have the video that Detective Watanabe submitted for evidence and involves your client speaking with a great deal of familiarity and involvement with one Alexander O'Hirn AKA Rhino, and Flint Marko AKA Sandman." Laurel showed the files on O'Hirn and Marko and playback a recording of his conversation with Octavius where he mentioned them both, Hammerhead as well and threatened Octavius. "And with your clients arrest, the DA's office is already digging into your clients financial records and our preliminary results already show several irregularities that the IRS and SEC are going to want to investigate. With all this information, you're looking at up to 10 years in jail since your actions resulted in damage to this city as a result of your creation of The Rhino and Sandman. But the DA's office is prepared to offer you a onetime plea bargain deal."

With everything the ADA and Captain Lance listed off, the lawyers were eager to hear the plea deal while Kingsley was more attentive and cautious. "What kind of deal?"

"Charges dropped to a year in a low-security prison out of state and protection depending on the information he provides." Laurel announced as Lance leaned forward.

"I don't care about your money or your company…I want who you're working for." Lance told him. "I want Hammerhead but most of all, I want Tombstone. You give me enough to take down their whole operation and you get the deal."

Kingsley didn't seem to react for a moment and Laurel was hopeful that he was going to take it. That's when Kingsley sat up and looked right back at Lance. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Mr. Kingsley, this is the best deal you can get. If you know anything, we're imploring you to cooperate." The lawyers begged him.

"I'd listen to them if I were you. The DA's office can protect you." Laurel promised.

"I know you know who Tombstone really is. Give me something to take him down." Lance told him but got nothing.

"I'm not stupid and I know what to do. I'm not saying a thing but this won't last long. You two have gotten the attention of some very powerful people." Kingsley warned them. Lance just gave him one last apathetic look before he got up and opened the door to the interrogation room and signaled two officers.

"Take him back to his cell." Lance ordered and they did, making sure he was handcuffed and patting him down before escorting him away. Laurel gathered her stuff up while Kingsley's lawyers just got up and left. "Damn. We were this close."

"Kingsley must be really afraid of Tombstone if he doesn't want to take a plea bargain. I'll go to my boss and try and get a different deal to better entice him." Laurel suggested.

"Do your best, Laurel and let me know of anything special you find in Kingsley's finances and be careful." He told her.

"You, too." Laurel grabbed her bag and headed back to the District Attorney's office. Lance began making sure the entire precinct was prepared, alerted his men, and was going to make sure that Kingsley stayed safe.

One of Kingsley's lawyers walked out of the precinct and down the street to a very fancy and old Rolls Royce that was parked there waiting for him. The driver opened the passenger door for him and he took a seat in the car across from Hammerhead. "Kingsley won't talk. He likes breathing too much. My guess is that he's thinking you're gonna have him sprung from jail."

"At least Kingsley's got some brains to him." Hammerhead commented.

"There's another thing. Captain Lance referenced you by name along with someone named Tombstone." The lawyer said, earning Hammerhead's attention. "He said that he wanted Kingsley to testify for a better deal. Shall I begin arrangements?"

"No. That'll be all for now." Hammerhead told him and the lawyer nodded before getting out of the car. The driver then drove away with Hammerhead using the car's phone to call his boss. "Hey, boss. Kingsley's locked up but he's not talking."

"If Kingsley is one thing, it's smart. Have one of your men keep an eye on him incase he changes his mind." Tombstone ordered.

"You don't want him taken out?" Hammerhead was a little confused at the decision.

"Kingsley may still have his uses. Monitor him."

"All right. But there's another thing. The cops were looking into Kingsley to try and get information on me and Tombstone. There must be a leak somewhere." Hammerhead warned him.

"More like an annoying arachnid went to the police. He is becoming more of a nuisance every day." Tombstone stated.

"You want me to get a couple of the boys to take out the Captain and his daughter?" Hammerhead asked.

"Taking out the Police Captain and the Assistant District Attorney would only cause chaos and chaos isn't profitable. Close ranks on everything and make sure we're secure. Kingsley's knowledge is limited and if he should ever give them anything, we'll have already adjusted. Spider-man is a nuisance so perhaps its time we go to the police. Get our lawyers working on some interesting photos and witness statements." Tombstone suggested causing Hammerhead to smile.

"Got it, boss. The bug's not gonna be able to do much with the police after him." Hammerhead commented. "Oh, and one more thing. Ever since Brick's been set free, he's been making waves."

"Brick is nothing more than muscle. He'll know his place or he'll fold." Tombstone told him before hanging up.

Captain Lance was in his office, going through all the paperwork and logistical stuff that was required with arresting Roderick Kingsley and already it was making waves. The Mayor and DA were quick to yell at him and ask what was going on but when the evidence piled up and him being a conspirator with Hammerhead and helping create the Rhino and Sandman, they were quick to get on board. The DA was already doing press conferences and Kingsley's company was in freefall. I'm sure many people were concerned with what was going on. And considering that Kingsley was last seen with Doctor Octopus who was still at large, Lance was told to work fast.

Doctor Octopus…that one threw Lance for a loop. He had officially seen everything. He finished up some paperwork and gave it to a clerk to file and the second he was alone in his office he pulled out his cellphone and called Will.

"Hey, Captain Lance."

"Hey, Will. We've got Kingsley in holding and Laurel's is pursuing enough charges to put Kingsley in jail." Lance told him.

"Why do I feel a but coming?" Will wondered.

"But Kingsley's not talking. He's either afraid of what Tombstone and Hammerhead will do to him or he's loyal. Either way, I'm keeping him here for now. It's safer here then at Iron Heights but Laurel's working on the paperwork to move him to the special wing and out of Gen Pop. He'll be with the other criminals you've taken down and he'll be safe from anyone looking to keep him quiet." Lance informed him.

"Damn. I was hoping that Kingsley was a weasel and would have sold out Tombstone the second he was caught. Guess I underestimated him." Will muttered. "You know, this is starting to become a pattern. The second we feel we're close to something to bring down Hammerhead and Tombstone only to end up back where we started. We're starting to run out of options."

"I know, I know." Lance breathed a sigh of frustration. Will was right that they weren't able to progress much in taking down Tombstone. "Laurel and I will keep doing what we can and I've stretch out my reach to a few friends on the force I trust. Pike and his men are starting to look into Hammerhead at the downtown office. While they don't know a Tombstone, Hammerhead's someone we can focus on. He's Lincoln's muscle. We take him then we're a step closer."

"Hopefully, this is a move that actually helps us move forward because I've got enough problems to deal with. Mainly a crazed scientist turned into an eight-limb psychopath." Will commented.

"Yeah, it took me a moment to recover after hearing Yuri tell me what happened. You think that Octavius will be able to give us anything on Tombstone?" Lance wondered.

"I'd like to say yes but my guts tells me no. If anything, he could make sure Kingsley doesn't get out of jail but I've got to find him. You know, it's odd how a guy with giant metal tentacles coming from his back can suddenly vanish in a city like this. But you should warn you men to stay clear. Octavius is…unhinged and he could really hurt them." Will warned him. "Give me a heads up if anything unusual comes up in the city. Most likely, it'll be him."

"Got it. Stay safe." Lance told him before hanging up.

Will was at his dorm room on campus, diligently wrapping the Christmas gifts he got for everyone. Aria, Emily, Spencer, his mother, and he had some gifts for Dr. Connors, Captain Lance, Yuri, and some others. It was the season for giving. Besides the gift wrapping, he was also tidying up his room a bit since it was almost the end of the semester. While he was going to remain in the same room when the next semester started after new year's, he had to pack up all his Spider-man gear and take it back home. The odds of someone heading into his room during break was low but he didn't want to take the risk.

After he was done, he grabbed his backpack and walked to the library. With the weather turning cold, most people were staying inside in their dorms or heading to the library or huddle rooms to study for their finals. He walked past the campus's Starbucks and noticed a lot of the athletes were lounging around without a care in the world. Given they had finals and that most of them were as dumb as rocks, you'd think they'd be more worried. The extra weird part was Ian hanging around with them. Seriously, couldn't he find friends his own age?

He walked into the library and put his stuff down at a table before heading to a bookshelf to grab some stuff. He pulled a book from a shelf and saw an eye standing on the other side and staring right at him, causing him to jump back in fright.

"Jeez!" He nearly hit the bookshelf by accident as the person the eye belonged to came around. It was Mr. Fitz, the junior professor working for the English department.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Fitz said to him.

"It's all right, Mr. Fitz. That woke me up though." He joked, picking up some of the books he dropped. "So, your first semester being here is almost done. How do you feel?"

"Surprised it's over so fast but it's been enjoyable." Fitz replied. "And yourself?"

"Busy as well. Working for Dr. Connors has picked up so I've been extra busy but I'm enjoying it." Will told him, finding another book he needed.

"Yes, Dr. Connors and you are working at Palmer Tech on your research. Very impressive. It must take up a lot of time on your hand." Fitz commented. When Will had his back to him to look through the shelf of books, Fitz seem to observe him in an almost analytical type faction like a scientist observing an experiment or a hunter watching its target. "That's a lot of responsibility to put on a student. I hope your academics aren't suffering as a result."

"I'm all right on that end, Mr. Fitz, at least for science. For my other subjects, well that's why I'm here today for a study session." He replied.

"Yes. I helped grade some papers and I couldn't help but noticed that yours were…a little lacking in substance." Fitz told him. If Will wasn't certain, it almost sounded condescending but Fitz managed to hide it in an almost concerned manner as well that it flew over his head. "Some help with your final paper might be a good idea."

"Well, lucky for me I happen to know two girls who are better in that area than I am. Spencer and Aria." Will replied, taking his books over to his table.

"Aria Montgomery is an exceptional student. She has a great grasp of the subject and creative heart for this. She could be a great writer." Fitz stated, with great admiration for her.

"Or a fashion designer. Lucky for her, she's double majoring in both." Will joked, sitting down at the table. He opened up some books and took out something from his bag when he noticed Mr. Fitz was still there. "is there something I can help you with?"

"No. I have work to get done for the end of the semester. Good luck, Will." Fitz said as he walked away. Will watched him turn the corner and head to wherever he was going.

"Weird…" He muttered before focusing his attention on study, unaware that Fitz was still spying on him. Whatever was going on with Fitz, it involved Will and his relationship with Aria.

Emily, Aria, and Spencer arrived soon after and they got to their study session. Emily and Aria studied up and were confident for their finals and with some extra tutoring from Spencer and Aria, Will was good enough to make sure he didn't get anything lower than a B for his Western Literature final. That's when his phone buzzed and he got a police alert that he had to deal with and it involved his new friend Doc Ock.

Kord Industries was one of the country's greatest suppliers of weapons and military grade technology. Back when Queen Consolidated was running, the two were fierce competitors but after Palmer Technologies was formed a new rivalry was born. Kord developed cutting edge weapons and technology for militaries and the civilian sector. It was one of the most secured buildings in the city but that was about to change. Dr. Octavius arrived in front of the Kord Industries building and facility dressed in new boots and wearing green and brown pants and jacket as a sort of homage to his old wear before his transformation. But to finish his new look, he was wearing a long brown overcoat and a modified pear of blue and green safety glasses to make him look menacing which they did. His mechanical claws extended out and lifted him into the air before he charged to the building.

"Stop! This is private—"

The guard was cut off when one of the mechanical claws grabbed and threw him to the side. The three other guards by the main door pulled out their guns only to get disarmed and knocked back by the mechanical arms. Doctor Octavius then broke through the main door and his claws took care of any of his opposition. The alarms sounded and many armed guards rushed in with assault rifles or shotguns and fired but Octavius was protected by two of his mechanical arms that wrapped around him like a shield. The other two claws went on the attack and were merciless. They slammed guards into walls, threw men into the ceiling and one even grabbed a guard by head and snapped his neck. It was rather brutal for anyone who was witness to it.

A researcher who was leaving the building to go get dinner was hiding behind the main desk in the lobby after some crazy guy in a trench coat broke in and began attacking everyone. He was praying to god that the man didn't see him when a mechanical claw grabbed him by the foot and dragged him into the air so he was face to face with the crazy man.

"I am looking for something your company designed." Octavius held up the newspaper to show the headline about the small compact power source Kord Industries put into production. One of the claws got close to the man's face and snapped shut to terrify him.

"The Megalo-pack. R&D vault 8!"

"My lucky number. Thank you." Octavius dropped the man and continued into the facility with his mechanical arms acting like legs. They ripped open the heavy-duty steel vault door of the Kord Industries R&D area and he saw cutting edge technology all around him but none of it interesting him. That is until he saw a small square device about the size of a smart phone. "There you are."

The claws broke open the container and lowered him to the ground where he took out the old circular battery disk and removed the old pack before installing the new one in its place. It was quick but effective and now Kord Industries new power source was installed in a new battery for Octavius to use.

"Gangway! Coming through!" Spider-man flipped over Octavius's arms and grabbed the newly modified battery from his hand before kicking him in the face. He backflipped from the kick and landed in a crouch.

"Spider-man!" Octavius cursed.

"Hey, Doc. Love the new look. Very menacing yet quite stylish. You know, a lot of people can't pull off green and brown but I think you are one of the lucky ones." Spider-man quipped.

"Hand over the device." Octavius demanded with one of his claws snapping forward in a menacing manner.

Spider-man put his hand to his chin to think about it. "I'm thinking…no."

"Then you invite your doom. You're in an enclosed space, web-slinger." Octavius lowered himself to his ground and all of his claws began to spin like buzzsaws. "Where can you hide?"

They launched at him but Spider-man spun through a gap and webbed Octavius in the face, obscuring his vision. That gave him the chance to flip over him and run away. "You will suffer for this indignity, Spider-man!"

Spider-man arrived in the lobby and jumped down next to the researcher by the main desk. "Hi. In kind of a hurry. Being chased by a multi-armed guy. Wants this? What is it?" Spider-man held up the circular battery. At the first the receptionist wasn't sure what it was but saw the square box put inside.

"It's the Megalo-pack. It's a compact power source that holds a sizable charge for years at a time. It looks like he put it into that battery." The researcher told him.

"Oh, dud. Thanks. You should run now." Spider-man told him when they heard loud thuds getting closer.

"SPIDER-MAN!"

Spider-man web zipped out of the Kord Industries building and web swung away with Dr. Octopus right on his tail. 'So, Dr. Cephalopod needs power which explains his alarm clock back at the lab and why he took off so fast. So, all I have to do is play keep away until his tank's on empty. No sweat.' Will thought as swung around a building with the battery in hand. Dr. Octopus was keeping up with him, his four mechanical arms making him faster than a usual suspect who would try to chase him.

Spider-man turned onto main street and flipped off a traffic light that Octavius smashed to pieces in anger. The mechanical limb doctor then grabbed a sewer manhole and threw it at the arachnid like a discus. Spider-man spider-sense gave him a warning and he spun through the air to avoid it which left him vulnerable to a claw swipe that knocked him down. He bounced off a car, against a tree and then onto the sidewalk near the city's main square and shopping district. It was almost dark out so there were still families out and about and people doing shopping who were witness to Spider-man landing in the square.

"Ok, maybe a little sweat." Spider-man flipped back to his feet and quickly web-zipped to the side of a building as Dr. Octopus arrived causing everyone run in fear. "And now back to our regularly scheduled chaos."

He webbed the battery and created a sort of strap that he put around his shoulder before web swinging away. Dr. Octopus was moving through the square and shopping center without a care of who got in the way. A mother and daughter ran with the crowd when the daughter dropped her bear and the mother tripped. Octavius was set to crush them when Spider-man swung by and grabbed them both, carrying them as he swung through the air.

"Hang on." He landed on the ground and put them next to some civilians and a police officer. "Stay here and stay safe. I've got a Doctor's appointment. Officer, keep them back."

Spider-man jumped into the air after Octavius. "Get him, Spider-man!" The officer shouted and the civilians began cheering his name.

He flipped through the air and landed on the side of a building only to jump out of the way when Octavius tried to crush him. "You know, Doc, your bedside manner stinks." Spider-man landed on the ground and backflipped to avoid being grabbed. He slid to the left, bob and weaved his head to avoid getting hit and then backflipped high into the air and fired a barrage of web bullets. He landed near a festive Christmas tree and tried to fire some impact webbing when he heard a click. A claw came at his head so he quickly ducked and then flipped to the side before throwing down two web grenades. He backflipped away and landed near a coffee stand where he quickly reloaded his web shooters. That's when he noticed the scared barista and some customers along with a rack of nice, warm pastries. "Can I get 12 donuts to go?"

Octavius ripped and cut himself free of the webbing and stomped around in anger. "Hand over that device, you pathetic four-limbed excuse for a spider!"

That's when he got a donut to the head. "[Chuckling] Oh, you sweet talker, you." Spider-man set up a web slingshot and launched a tray of a dozen donuts that all hit Octavius in the face.

That made the good doctor angry and he lashed out his claws, trying to skewer the arachnid only to miss. Spider-man flipped through the air and web zipped forward, hitting Octavius with a flying kick to the chest that sent him crashing to the ground but not out the picture. The second he landed, Octavius grabbed Spider-man and threw him into toy store while he grabbed two civilians from the crowd. A woman dressed as an elf for the Santa picture booth nearby and a man in a business suit, likely heading back home after work.

Spider-man climbed out of the storefront and saw Octavius holding two hostages. "I should've seen it sooner, Spider-man. You're weak. You can't bear to see anyone hurt."

"I could learn to make an exception." Spider-man warned him only for Octavius to jump back and keep his distance.

"And your meager thought process is so transparent. Stall until his power runs out. But this pack has another hour of juice at least. And think of all the damage I can do in one hour, starting with these two." Octavius began climbing up the side of a building with Spider-man following him until they were a good 80ft off the ground. "Choose! The device or the people?!"

Spider-man unslung the batter around his shoulder and spun it around. "You want it?! Then fetch?!" He threw it down to the ground back to the square so Octavius immediately let the hostages go and chased after it. Spider-man backflipped off the wall and fell to the ground along with the two hostages before firing some webbing at both of them and pulling them to him. "Hold on!"

The two held on tight as he fired two web lines at the side of a building a swung down the ground where they were safe. The man and woman hugged him in joy and the nearby crowd cheered. Dr. Octopus managed to grab the battery before it was destroyed. He lowered himself to the ground and opened up the slot on the front to replace it. He removed his old battery and with it gone, his arms powered down. "Finally, it's mine!" He said in glee when he felt something on the back. Octavius turned it around to see some kind of triangular device stuck to the back which blinked red before it shot a line of webbing in his face. "GAH! What is this?!"

"My gift to you! Merry Christmas, Doc!" Spider-man swung down and kicked Octavius in the gut which sent him crashing into a wall. But he wasn't done as he web pulled Octavius back to him and hit him in the face with a backflip kick and then followed that up with a 540 spinning hook kick that knocked out a tooth and ended the fight. "And a Happy New Year."

Spider-man saw the two batteries on the ground so he crushed the old one and secured the new one, making sure that Octavius couldn't power his legs. The nearby cops rushed over and handcuffed Octavius while the civilians applauded and cheered on Spider-man. He noticed the little girl he saved before walk over and to see her toy bear was destroyed so he web pulled one of the large bears from the toy store he was thrown through and walked over.

"Hey there. I'm sorry about your bear." Spider-man knelt down and held out the very large one he borrowed from the store. "But I think he'd want you to meet his friend."

The girl got the biggest smile on her face as she hugged the bear with everything she had. It was a touching scene that made many people in the crowd aww as the girl then hugged him. "Thank you, Mr. Spider-man."

"Yes, thank you Spider-man." The mother said to him.

"Just doing my job." Spider-man pat the girl on the head and saw some more police arrive. Octavius was unconscious and secured but they were just confused as to what to do with the arms. That's when the barista from the coffee stand walked over and handed him a receipt. "What's this?"

"The receipt for the donuts you used." She told him and saw it was going to cost him about 13 bucks.

"Oh, right." He rubbed the back of his head before paying her and giving her a nice tip. Then he quickly left before one of the store owners tried to get him to pay to fix their stores. He was Spider-man, not million-dollar lawsuit man. But it was a nice way to end a day. Stopped a bad guy, rescued some people, and helped a little girl get a new bear.

The little things mattered.

Line Break xxxxx

Christmas was coming soon in Starling and the festive energy could be felt everywhere. Schools were almost on break but for Will and his friends it was over. They completed their semester and were heading home. Will met up with Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Thea at Thea's loft before Aria and Emily left for home. Emily helped Thea decorate and the place looked great with a huge tree in the middle of the large apartment and plenty of lights and tinsel all over. They were enjoying some takeout and exchanging gifts.

With Thea being a new friend, the girls got her loft warming gifts to help make it homier which she found helpful. Will gave her his gift which she opened to reveal and small picture frame of the five of them at his house in the middle of Christmas decorating. "Oh, this is great." Thea said.

"I'm glad you like it. The girls and I have a sort of tradition. Every year we've taken a photo at the large mural/water fountain on campus. It's sort of a tradition of ours. Aria got me a picture frame of them for my birthday. I know it's not the beginning of a school year but it was still a nice photo." Will said.

"This is great. Thanks. And thanks again guys for coming over. Especially you, Emily. This place looks amazing." Thea told her.

"I'm happy to help. Getting another chance to decorate? I wouldn't miss it." Emily assured her.

"Decorating this place makes it feel like home." Thea said, remembering her mother and father and how much her life had change. She quickly refocused on the gift giving. Clothes, books, and fun gifts were exchanged. Emily, Thea, and Spencer went to the kitchen to get some drinks but to also give Will a moment to gift Aria his gift. She opened the small box and inside was a silver locket necklace with a spider on it. The spider itself wasn't menacing or creepy but rather cute.

"Oh, this is beautiful." Aria looked it over as she held up her hair and he put it around her neck. "Of course, it was a spider. To remember you fondly while I'm away?"

"That and something else. Open it." He told her. She did and inside the locket was a small picture of her and Will looking all cute together. "Now, if you get lonely, you'll know I'm right there."

"You are just too precious." She told him.

"I try." He smirked as the two kissed. It was rather sweet and touching even for Emily, Spencer, and Thea who were in the kitchen watching. That is until their kissing session got a little heated.

"Whoa, you two. Pump the brakes. We're not here to watch you two get down and dirty." Spencer told them and they separated.

"Sorry, Spence." They replied.

"That's all right." Spencer handed them both glasses of wine. "Now drink."

"And let's have fun since we won't be seeing each other for a while." Emily added.

"Sounds good to me." Thea stated as they hung out in the loft. Unaware to them, Thea's real father Malcolm Merlyn was watching them. It was more to make sure Thea was ok and while he had spent months in her training to turn her into a proud warrior capable of defending herself, she was enjoying spending time with people her own age. Making friends with some kids from Starling University seemed counterproductive but at the moment it wasn't affecting her training so he'd let her have this for now. If only Malcolm knew he was currently watching Spider-man as well. Maybe he'd feel different.

Later that night, after the party at Thea's was over and gifts were exchanged, the girls went to Spencer's place to stay the night before their flights tomorrow. Will went home to drop his gifts off in his room before heading out into the city to do a patrol. He ended up running into Oliver and the two worked together to take down a drug den. At the Starling City police station, Captain Lance and a lot of the officers and employees were having their holiday party. He swallowed one of his pills for his heart before walking out the side door to the alley next to the parking garage and saw several men on the ground waiting for him. Their hands were tied and mouths were covered in webbing.

Lance chuckled as he walked over when Spider-man lowered himself down into view. "Merry Christmas, Captain Lance."

"Well, I feel bad. I didn't get you anything." Lance joked.

"You keep the city safe." Spider-man told him.

"So, do you." Lance said as he grabbed one of the criminals and lifted him up. "You know, these days, you're the closest thing to a partner I got. Laurel and I will take a few days off to go see her mother. Keep the city safe while I'm gone."

"Will do, Captain Lance. Happy Holidays." Spider-man web swung away while Lance and the police handled their new arrivals.

Oliver was across the city, having taken down some robbers and was walking back to his bike when he stopped for a moment. He heard the sling of a bow string and quickly moved his head to the side to avoid an arrow. He turned and fired an arrow at his attacker who deflected it. Said attacker was wearing the black armored garb of the Dark Archer. "Merlyn."

His attacker charged and Oliver fought back, parrying his attacks before kicking out his leg and then punching him across the face when cloth ropes came down from the side of a building and more black garbed men arrived. Oliver fought as hard as he could and managed to take down several of them before four of them fired wire arrows at his limbs so he couldn't move. That's when an assassin wearing an orange face mask walked up and knocked out Oliver with punch to the face.

He was taken to someplace outside the city, most likely a warehouse but it had fire pits and torches to give it a certain ambiance. Oliver regained consciousness to see the building he was in and felt that he was being dragged across the floor before being placed in front of Nyssa Al Ghul.

"Nyssa. What is this?" Oliver groaned in discomfort as he got back to his feet. "We agreed!"

"To nothing. My father merely decided to give you the time to bring Sara's killer to justice, and you have failed." She told him.

"We are doing everything that we can!"

"You've been distracted protecting the city. And you've exhausted my father's patience. In civilizations past, when someone in the village was murdered, the league would come and kill 50 people a day until the true criminal was rooted out. Find and deliver the one who killed Ta-er Al-Sahfer. You have 48 hours, or the citizens of Starling will see what the League of Assassins is capable of." Nyssa warned him.

"You're going to slaughter innocent people." Oliver said in disgust.

"The cleansing of Starling city will fall to Sarab." Nyssa said and the man standing next to her removed his hood and mask to reveal himself to be Maseo Yamashiro, someone Oliver knew fives years ago in Hong Kong.

"Maseo?"

"Maseo is no longer. As she said…I am Sarab." He replied.

"Deliver Sara's killer or blood will flow in your streets." Nyssa warned him as she and her men walked away.

"Th—This isn't what Sara would want!" Oliver told her.

"Sara is dead. It's time you remember that." Nyssa said before they left. Oliver was now faced with a serious conundrum and wasn't sure what to do. He just hoped that they could find Sara's killer before Nyssa made good on her threat. Only problem he had two days.

The second he returned to the bunker, he called Felicity to meet him, Dig, and Roy where he told them about Nyssa and her threat against the city. She walked down the stairs into the bunker and saw Oliver wasn't particularly happy. "What happened?"

"Nyssa paid me a visit." Oliver told her. "The League wants Sara's killer handed over in the next 48 hours."

"Why do I sense there's or else at the end of that sentence." Felicity muttered.

"Or else they'll start killing innocent civilians." Dig answered.

"Oh my god, two days? Caitlin has the DNA that we pulled off the arrows that killed Sara, but the STR markers are degraded, so it's taking a little bit longer." Felicity explained.

"Felicity…it can't take any longer." Oliver told her. She nodded and got to work.

"If we can't find Sara's killer in time, we're gonna need a contingency plan." Dig said.

"I know. I don't have one." Oliver admitted.

The next morning, Will saw Aria and Emily off to their flights back home for break. They'd see each other again in a month but per usual there were hugs and kisses goodbye with one spicy kiss goodbye for Aria and Will. He hung out with Spencer for a bit before both of them went to their jobs. She went to the DA's office while he went to Palmer Tech to do some work. Now that school was out, he and Dr. Connors would have more free time to work. And rather than just hang around at home doing nothing, he wanted to keep busy so he was going to work for a bit before heading out for a patrol.

With Team Arrow, they managed to get lucky and get the trace DNA off the arrow that killed Sara but when they ran it through their database 12 of the 13 STR markers were a match for Oliver. It would seem to implicate that Oliver was the one who killed her which wasn't possible.

"This must be a mistake." Dig said.

"I took perspiration off the arrows that killed Sara. Two years ago, when the police arrest Oliver because they thought, accurately, that he was the Vigilante, they took a DNA sample. That sample is a match for 12 out of the 13 STRs. The odds of that…they're impossible." Felicity stated.

"Ok, so somehow my DNA is on the arrows." Oliver said, trying to figure this out and Dig realized why.

"Someone's setting you up, Oliver."

"Well, somebody with a vested interest in pitting me against the League of Assassins. It's Malcolm Merlyn." Oliver came to the only conclusion that made sense.

"Merlyn was in Corto Maltese with Thea when this was going down." Dig reminded him.

"Unless he wasn't. I mean, Merlyn hid successfully for two years from the police and the League. He's good at covering his tracks." Oliver pointed out.

"So, we uncover them but it might take some time." Felicity told him.

"In less than 48 hours, the League is going to murder 50 people. We don't have time." Oliver said. With nothing much to do, he trained while Felicity worked on finding some answers and she eventually did.

"I found something. ARGUS monitors air traffic in and out of countries of interest." Felicity said, bringing up the information she needed.

"Corto Maltese is on that list." Dig stated.

"This is a list of every commercial airliner, private jet, sea plane, and I'm not kidding, hot air balloon that took off from Corto Maltese this past year. Look at this flight path. Private charter from Corto Maltese to Caracas, then to Cartagena, only to fly back to Caracas, and then to Tijuana." Felicity showed them.

"Whoever was on that plane was working pretty hard to hide where it was going." Dig said.

"The route ends at a private landing strip just outside Starling City. When did it land?" Oliver asked.

"The night before Sara was murdered." Felicity answered and that gave him his next target.

He and Arsenal went to the private airline office and interrogated the pilot and by interrogate, Oliver threw him through the front window. "Please! All I do is fly the plane!"

"Quiet! The man in this photo—" He held up the photo of Merlyn. "Did you fly him from Corto Maltese to Starling City?"

"No." The pilot replied so Oliver handed Roy the photo and dragged the pilot onto his feet.

"This time, look at the photo!"

"He'll kill me." The man begged.

"He's not here. We are." Oliver warned him.

"All right, ok, yes, I flew him here. I've got security footage, you want to see?" the pilot asked as they dragged him inside. They returned to the bunker with the footage and it proved that Merlyn did arrive in Starling the day before Sara was killed but also that Thea was with him. That added to their problems.

Will was handling his own problems in trying to find Hammerhead and put the squeeze on Tombstone. He was literally stopping every single crime he came across and seeing if any of them knew anything. While common purse snatchers or car thieves likely didn't know anything, he literally stopped them all and took them down hard. At the moment, he was at the docks where some men were unloading a shipment of drugs only for Spider-man to arrive. He took all their guns and were giving them a beatdown to remember.

He webbed a guy in the face and then web zipped forward to take him out with a flying kick to the stomach. He slid underneath a guy's legs and drop kicked him in the back, sending him flying into his friend before he backflipped into the air and web zipped to the ground where he dropkicked another guy in the face and then jumped off him like he would a platform. Several goons shot at him with their pistols only for Spider-man to flip around to avoid behind hit. A trash can was thrown at them, knocking down several of them except one. Said guard aimed his gun only for a web line to yank it out of his hand and Spider-man to kick the gun like a soccer ball and hit the man in the face. That allowed Spider-man to slide forward and hurl the man into the air with his shoulder before he was webbed and thrown to the ground.

One goon grabbed a chain and tried to whip Spider-man only to miss. Spider-man flipped forward to avoid the chain, webbed the man in the face and pulled him to set him up for a spinning hook kick to the face and then spin jumped into the air to knock him back with a tornado push kick. Another guard came at him with a crowbar only for Spider-man to dodge and hit him with a hook kick, a roundhouse kick and then a backflip kick that knocked him out. The last guy standing ran away as fast as he could only for Spider-man to take him out with a hurricanrana. He kicked the man into the air and fired a web so he was dangling upside down.

"Take it easy, man!" the man begged as Spider-man spun him around so he got dizzy. "What do you want?"

"I want Hammerhead. Tell me where he is or how to contact him and I'll let you go." Spider-man told him.

"Forget it, man. No one's stupid enough to rat on Hammerhead." The man replied.

"What about Tombstone?" He asked only for the man to fervently shake his head.

"Forget it. I like living." The man said. "You may scare us but they scare us more."

Spider-man knocked him out with a right cross, letting the man dangle upside down in the air. "Dammit." He tied them up and destroyed the drugs before leaving. He might not have gotten anything on Hammerhead or Tombstone but he was going to make sure they knew he was going after them.

The next morning, Will went to work at Palmer Tech but before he walked into the building, he saw Oliver standing on the sidewalk. And judging by how he caught his glance and motioned him over, Oliver was there for him. The two walked to a nearby alley where Oliver parked his bike.

"What do you need, Oliver?" He asked.

"I'm leaving the city for a few days so I wanted to give you a heads up. Look out for the city and the others for me while I'm gone." Oliver told him.

"Sure thing. I don't plan on leaving Starling anytime soon. Everything all right?" Will wondered. He could tell something was weighing on Oliver's mind.

"Just look out for the city and the others while I'm gone." Oliver put his helmet on and left on his bike.

"Still as friendly as a cactus." Will muttered before heading back to Palmer Tech to work.

True to his word, he looked after the city like he normally would. Along with working at Palmer Tech he patrolled the city and busted any and all criminal activities he came across. He made sure Tombstone could feel the hurt. Besides that, he spent time with his mom, Spencer, and Thea. On Christmas Eve, he and his mom were at home eating dinner and enjoying some nice quiet time. Spencer wanted to join but her parents kind of cancelled that idea. Skipping Thanksgiving was one thing but skipping Christmas was something they couldn't really get past. All through their dinner Spencer kept sending group texts for someone to rescue her, put her out of her misery, or have Will jump through the window as Spider-man and web up Melissa. A part of him was tempted at the last part but his mother shot him down.

Anyway, after dinner Will relaxed with his mom in the living room that was turned into a veritable winter wonderland because of Hurricane Emily. He sipped some coffee and relished in the warmth of his sweats and full belly from dinner when his phone buzzed with a call from Yuri.

"Happy Holidays, Yuri. Something wrong?" He wondered.

"A lot is wrong, Will. Turn on the TV now to the news." She told him.

"Mom, can you turn on the news?" Will asked. She grabbed the remote turned the Tv on to the news where there was a press conference being held by the Mayor, Police Commissioner, and the District Attorney.

"Good afternoon, everyone and Happy Holidays. There are many of you wondering why I called this press conference so suddenly but considering what has transpired, I felt that some urgency was necessary. For the past several months, our city has been home to a new vigilante who has taken it upon himself to take the law into his own hands. The people of this city know him as the Spider-man. Many people in this city, including law enforcement have turned a blind eye to his actions because he has protected this city and its citizens." The Mayor said before taking a deep breath. "But now the tides have turned and Spider-man is no longer the savior and protector we've been led to believe."

"Excuse me?" Will asked out loud as the Mayor stepped down so someone else could take the podium and he couldn't believe who it was.

Taking his spot at the podium was the tall, Albino skinned L. Thompson Lincoln AKA Tombstone AKA the Big Man of crime. "Greetings everyone and Happy Holidays. For those who do not know who I am allow me to introduce myself. I am L. Thompson Lincoln, businessman and philanthropist. I am but a humble servant of our beloved city and like many of you, I believed that Spider-man was on the side of good. He has saved countless people and kept many from harm. But I am here on Christmas Eve to inform you that Spider-man is not who he claims to be. Recently, Spider-man broke into my office, assaulted my employees, and threatened my life if I didn't give him my fortune. I was lucky that the police arrived but I fear that Spider-man's power and innate sense of superiority has corrupted him."

Security camera footage was played and it showed Spider-man breaking into Tombstone's office and attacking his guards. From how it happened, it was most likely a recording of when he confronted Tombstone after the Black Widow destruction but rather then the truth which was him confronting the crime lord and getting knocked around it showed something different. It showed Spider-man grabbing Tombstone, throwing him through his desk and threatening him before leaving when the police showed up. Clearly the footage had been manipulated but no one other than himself, Captain Lance, Yuri, and Team Arrow knew how it really went down. CCTV footage began to play of Spider-man attacking criminals but taking them down rather viciously. He broke bones, used knives to stab criminals and snapped their necks before hurling them into walls or throwing them off rooftops. There was even footage of him attacking a police officer. It was shown to be Spider-man but it must have been an imposter complete with their own webbing and all.

Lincoln then stepped down and the Police Commissioner took his place. "Aside from his assault on Mr. Lincoln, SCPD reports several attacks by the Spider-man resulting in his attack on a Starling City Police officer and nearly all of his latest victims killed. Due to the growing danger, I have met with the District Attorney and we have issued an arrest warrant for the Spider-man. We are urging the citizens of Starling City to avoid all contact with Spider-man until he is apprehended."

"And to help protect this city I love I will be donating resources to help assist in the capture of Spider-man." Lincoln said, looking into the camera and hoping that Spider-man was watching this. "Spider-man will not elude justice."

May turned the TV off and looked at Will who was frozen in shock. "Will?"

"Son of a bitch!" He shouted.

"Yeah, that's how I felt. He got ahead of us." Yuri told him.

Merry Christmas indeed, Spider-man. Things just got a lot more complicated.

End of Chapter 7

That's the end of Chapter 7. Hope you guys liked it. Dr. Octopus is born and Kingsley is in jail but things have gotten a little complicated and now he's wanted by the police and half the city. Who is that imposter and can he recover?

Next chapter, Will works overtime to figure out how Tombstone framed him and has to work to undo it. Not to mention, find the imposter Spider-man to clear his name or else every single cop in the city is gonna be after him. And if that wasn't enough, he gets stuck with some idiot named Brick trying to make a power move in the city. Something Tombstone isn't happy about and it might make the two enemies temporary allies. And Oliver's disappearance leaves Will to pick up the pieces of his team and show them why they protect the city.

The first half of season 3 is done and we can move forward. For those wondering why Will wasn't informed of what was going on with Sara's death and the whole Thea revelation, while he's friends with them and on good terms with Oliver, it doesn't mean he gets involved in their planning meetings. Sort of like with Laurel, he's not really in the forefront of their minds when they discuss stuff like this and Oliver would have wanted to keep it close to the chest. Going forward, that's gonna change. Who could be that imposter Spider-man? We'll find out. Until next time! Everyone stay safe.

Don't worry everyone, The Mandalorian Maverick will be updated but I plan to upload it on May the 4th for Star Wars day so you guys can read it along with the first episode of Star Wars: the Bad Batch. It lets me make sure it's longer and more intense. Stay tuned.

William Alexander Detmer-Age 20/Sophomore at SCU: Birthday, October 8th, 1994

Moniker: The Spectacular Spider-man

Appearance: Tyler Posey

Uniform: Ben Reilly's dark blue and red spider-man suit with the black spider logo and web pattern. Mask with chrome lenses and built-in Bluetooth earpiece.

Casual outfit: sneakers, blue jeans, black or red t-shirt with blue button-up or sweatshirt.

Weapons: Mark 1 Web Shooters, Web Grenades/Bombs, Web Trip Mines, Spider tracers, acid embrittlement bombs, mini-camera/recording device, spider-thumb drives,

Skills: Genius intellect with 250 IQ, Superhuman strength, Superhuman speed, Superhuman reflexes, Superhuman agility and balance, Super senses, accelerated healing factor, wall-crawling/adhesive stick, Spider-Sense, Night Vision, and telescopic vision, Bio-Electrokinesis/Venom strike-blast

May Detmer: Marisa Tomei

Aria Montgomery: Lucy Hale

Emily Fields: Shay Mitchell

Spencer Hastings: Troian Bellisario

Dr. Curt Connors: Dylan Baker

Yuri Watanabe: Kelly Hu

Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-man, Arrow, or any above-mentioned products. All rights belong to their respective owners, I'm just a big fan.