In the midst of my current life changes, I was able to work on this highly anticipated chapter to my Spectacular Spiders saga. I have to say it turned out a lot longer than I anticipated, but I hope that it helps appeal to readers both new and old even more that way. My current episodes are as listed...

'Origin of Ghost Spider'

'Playing with Lasers'

'Rehabilitation'

'Extra-Territorial'

'Trepidation'

Also, I've made some edits to my previous stories prior to posting this one, go check them out! Anyway, on with the show!

Spectacular Spiders: Wet and Wild

All seemed clear as the garbage truck pulled off toward a Hudson Bay pier early in the morning. It had just finished collecting the refuse from its morning run, but unlike the others, it had not returned to the main base for a proper dump. The driver had turned the truck around to back it up near the waterside, before he and his partner dismounted.

"Alright, get the hatch open and let's dump it quickly," said the driver.

His partner said, "Fine, but just for the record I'm not happy about this."

"Hey, you said you needed the extra money right? Well the boss is paying us double for this to save up space at the base, and the paperwork," the driver retorted.

The co-pilot argued, "I'm just saying, the Hudson's dirty enough, we shouldn't be making it worse. I mean, my kid did a school project last week on pollution, and now I'm gonna dump a week's worth of refuse into a vital body of water? It ain't right."

"Hey, I didn't come all this way to have your conscience screw it up at the last minute," the driver pointed with frustration, "but if you won't do it, I'll do it myself."

He went to pull the hatch lever, except...THWIP!

"What?!" He exclaimed as his arm was webbed to the side of the truck, stunning the co-pilot too. A bodiless voice caught their attention while turning to its source.

"You know the reason it's called a conscience is because you're supposed to listen to it," said Spiderman, perched on an adjacent warehouse wall before he counted with his fingers, "keeps you from doing stupid things like driving and texting, binge eating, or committing hazardous acts that would make mother nature very very cranky."

"Oh man," the co-pilot ran, causing the driver to shout out. He didn't get far however, as he ended up webbed to the side of the garbage truck by the other Spider hero, who jumped down from the opposite side of her partner.

"Looks like we've got a pair of litterbugs here, of the worst kind," Ghost Spider put her hands to her hips before shaking her head and saying, "You know, littering might seem like a minor offense these days, but I can guarantee you that a dumping of this magnitude is considered a federal crime."

"Please don't! I have a family! I only agreed to this because I needed the money for them!" The co-pilot begged.

"Traitor!" They heard the driver yell who overheard.

Ghost Spider looked back in the man's eyes, and saw nothing but pain and shame, like he really didn't want to do this but felt he had no choice. She felt sympathy for him and said, "then for their sake, give the police a full honest statement when they arrive. Then when the time comes, the Captain will put a good word in for you, trust me."

A quick phone call later, and the police were on scene. The driver was arrested after they received his statement, which were only a few colorful words thrown at his cohort for being a 'rat.' In this case, the man was willing to live with that rather than be a dumper for the sake of his family.

Captain Stacy took his statement in full, making sure nothing was left out, including the corrupt waste facility manager who orchestrated this in the first place. He would be dealt with next, but first the police captain escorted the second man to his own vehicle so they could take him to the station for protection. Sergeant Carter drove the garbage truck away as the Spider Duo watched it all happen from a distant rooftop, before swinging away themselves.

'Spectacular Spiders Intro Song'

The Duo soon came to land on a rooftop near their favorite deli before unmasking. Peter had to say, "Well we've definitely done our good environmental deed for the day, and it's nice mixing it up once in a while."

"Right," Gwen asked, raising an eye, then shook her head before continuing, "although, powers or no powers, no one should overlook dumping a full garbage truck load into a vital water body."

"True," Peter nodded, "but either way it's a win. We've saved the EPA a hefty bill, as well as prevented an riot from environmental activists."

"I know, and I'm not arguing against that at all. I just think that this could have been done without us being superheroes, and just ordinary good Samaritans," Gwen finished with a slight frown.

Seeing the look on her face, Peter put two and two together, sensing the underlying issue, "I'm guessing your dad is still suggesting we take a break from the superheroics and try to be normal?"

Gwen nodded sadly, "sigh, yeah. Overprotectiveness aside, I don't get why he keeps pressing it? Maybe he thinks we'll lose ourselves to our alternate identities?"

Peter's eyes went wide which Gwen saw before she continued, "I know, ridiculous right? I mean, you've been at it longer Pete, and you certainly don't feel that way do you?"

Peter stuttered to answer, "actually Gwen, it happens more often than you think."

Gwen immediately turned surprised before asking, "really?"

"Yeah, and there's also been plenty of times when being Spiderman has felt to be way more trouble than it's worth," Peter dismally said while looking at the mask in his hand as he recalled old troubling memories, "I mean, after the Lizard incident, I actually considered taking Dr. Connors gene cleanser myself."

Gwen's shock expedited, never knowing of this before, "WHAT?!...but, why?"

"Well, think about it Gwen, I wasn't exactly looking like the most reliable guy then, remember?" Peter said.

Gwen did remember how upset she felt when she learned that Peter had taken a picture of himself as Spiderman fighting Dr. Connors as the Lizard. On the outside, it looked like her best friend and secret love was at the time, turning into an opportunist. Of course, all of those concerns disappeared when she learned the truth about him curing Dr. Conners.

"Yeah I remember," she finally answered and then took his hand smiling before continuing, "but that's because we didn't know the truth then. Now, we know what you really did, and we've all, including the Connors, apologized continuously for it."

Peter chuckled before saying, "yeah, and I've said the apology was accepted the first time." He turned serious again, "but still Gwen, at the time I felt torn, that I was only being Spiderman for the thrill of it, rather than saving lives, and thought maybe everyone would be better off without him."

Now Gwen's eyes turned serious before she put her finger to his chest, "you stow that talk immediately Spider boy, because we both know without a doubt, there are hundreds if not thousands of people in this city who would be dead without Spiderman. You know, before knowing the truth, every time I saw you swing by, I always saw a hero selflessly protecting the city, and saving life after life, one of them being my own."

That statement earned Peter's full attention, allowing Gwen to continue, "I mean gosh Pete, I would be dead already if you hadn't saved me from the Master Planner scheme. Without you, Doc Ock and his goons would have gotten away with blackmailing my dad, and then done away with me, along with everyone else in New York, and even the world."

Gwen's expression softened before finishing, "I know times have been tough for you, and you've had to deal with it alone. But you're not anymore, as I've already said, and I'm not going anywhere," she put her hands on her hips as she finished her speech, "Ghost Spider is now a part of me as much as Spiderman is part of you, and in this partnership, and relationship, we don't get one without the other."

She finished highly satisfied, and Peter relaxed before smiling at her, "wow…you know with speeches like that, you should consider running for valedictorian next year."

Gwen blushed and gleefully replied, "Hehe, thank you, I try, and I'll take that under advisement."

"Well, now that we've both given a speech, I'm gonna go get us some lunch, be right back," said Peter before he turned away to the roof edge to jump down to the deli. Gwen seductively smirked before shooting a web at his back, allowing her to pull him back into her arms and laying one on him passionately.

She pulled away before whispering, "Hurry back." Peter was speechless, yet he grinned like a goof before putting his mask back on and jumping down to swing to the deli. The echoes of his girlfriend/partner giggling behind him as he did.

With a red face she thought, 'I've been waiting to do that.'

Currently at Empire State University, the Connors were arranging everything for a brand new week. Now that the school year had ended, the doctor couple had a lot more free time to continue their main research. They still had a lot to catch up on after the scandal setback which sent them to Florida temporarily. At least the summer would allow them the time to do that, provided they followed through on the final obligations they promised the school board. Dr. Curt Connors was at his desk currently reading over a data outline when the phone rang.

RING…RING…Dr. Connors answered, "Hello?"

"Hello Dr. Connors, this is Tony Stark."

"Tony? What a surprise! What can I do for you?"

"I actually called to inform you that we are going through with Electro's treatment today, at my facility. I figured you and your family wanted to attend."

Dr. Connors was thrilled as he answered, "Oh! Of course, absolutely! When today?"

"This afternoon at 3, is that good?"

"Yes, we'll be there."

"Great! And hey, feel free to bring your interns too, I'm sure it would make their day."

"Of course, Peter and Gwen will be thrilled, we'll see you then, goodbye," Dr. Connors said calmly as the conversation ended.

"Later Doc," after Stark hung up, Dr. Connors walked out of his office to speak to his wife who was going through boxes of paperwork. Their son Billy was also there helping his mom with packing them. Martha heard the phone from his office, and upon seeing Curt exit and approach them, she asked, "who was on the phone dear?"

"Tony Stark called to give us some good news," he answered his wife.

"Woah!" Billy gasped, as every kid in school recognized the name, "Iron Man called you Dad?! Wicked!"

"Haha, yes he did sport," said Dr. Connors as he and Martha chuckled at Billy's enthusiasm. The doctor couple was highly grateful for Tony's contributions to their research, for without his funding, they wouldn't have been able to keep the lab going in the aftermath of Miles Warren's arrest. However, what Curt was about to say would only excite Billy even more, "and he would like us at his facility this afternoon, along with two others…"

Peter dove into his cold cut while Gwen enjoyed her tuna sandwich in bliss. They were still in costume, but kept their masks up above their noses while they ate, sitting on the rooftop edge. However, their meals were interrupted by the sound of Gwen's phone ringing, RING…RING…

Gwen put down her sandwich to answer while Peter listened in, "Hello?"

"Gwen, it's Martha."

"Dr. Connors hi! What an unexpected surprise, is there something we can do for you?" Peter and Gwen's ESU internship may have ended with the school year, but they still kept in touch with the Connors out of friendship, especially since the doctors were aware of their superhero identities.

"Actually yes, are you and Peter busy right now?"

"We're actually on lunch break in fact. Why? Is something wrong?" Gwen asked concerned.

"Just the opposite! We just received word that Electro's treatment is taking place at Stark Enterprises at 3pm today, and Tony has personally invited all of us to attend. Can you two make it?"

Her mood reversed as Gwen replied, "Of course! How and where can we meet you?"

"Just swing by ESU before 2, we'll take you from there, along with Billy."

"Understood, we'll be there, bye bye," Gwen hung up which prompted Peter to ask.

"Was that really Dr. Connors?"

"Yup, and do I have some news to share with you," Gwen told him with a grin.

Gwen relayed everything Martha said to Peter, who as Dr. Connors predicted, was thrilled. Not only was he being invited to the facility of his hero Tony Stark, but it was to attend the hopeful cure for Max Dillon, aka Electro. He was excited about those two facts for different reasons, but it prompted him to finish his cold cut as fast as he could, despite Gwen giving him the LOOK for chewing like a horse. Nonetheless, he forced himself to wait until Gwen finished her lunch, returned their masks, discarded their trash discreetly in a nearby bin, and then shot their respective webs to swing away toward ESU for the rendezvous.

Meanwhile at the newly reopened Oscorp, a fresh experiment was underway. Overseeing it was Wilson Fisk himself, aka the Kingpin. He and his present audience were inside the laboratory that once belonged to Dr. Otto Octavius before the accident that fused his mechanical arms to him and made him Dr. Octopus. It had now been renovated and redesigned according to the new tenants specifications, who were Fisk's top two scientists standing on opposite sides of him. In front of them was a screen that was showing a recording video feed of someone swimming out into a secure area of the Hudson river.

"Mr. Fisk," Dr. Farley Stillwell, his resident biotechnologist, began speaking as he read from his data tablet , "environmental analysis of the testing area is complete, no signs of anything outside the parameter window."

"Good," Fisk answered the scientist on his left before turning to the one on his right, "what of the device itself, Smythe?"

Professor Alister Smythe stood to his right, a tall slender man with brown hair that ran down his back almost like a mullet. The mechanical engineer from Chicago was currently reading on his own tablet, interpreting the data he was receiving from his machine's built in debugging system.

"Current scans show all systems are clear, another five minutes until the scan is done, and we'll know indefinitely," Smythe answered his boss.

"Very well, five minutes is enough time for our 'volunteer' to get into position," said Fisk.

Hammerhead, who stood left of Dr. Stillwell asked aloud, "how did you get this guy to agree to test this boss? Just curious."

"Simple Hammerhead, I reminded him that without me, he would be out of work, and him doing this little favor is his way of paying me back," Fisk coldly answered. "Besides, not just anyone, including yourself, could volunteer for this project. Fortunately, his background makes him a qualified candidate, now he'll have a real chance to put those qualifications to the test."

The swimmer dressed in a blue diver's suit was relaying all the video from the built-in camera on his scuba helmet as he swam out to the test site within the Hudson river. It was just ahead, inside a section of the Hudson that Fisk's staff had fenced off underwater from the main canal to prevent any interference. In the center, which was anchored to the river floor by three chains, was the prototype seismic generator designed by Smythe and paid for by the Kingpin. On paper, this generator could provide a continuous supply of underwater waves which could power aquatic coastal generators for a constant energy supply.

However, unbeknownst to most, it could also be altered to create an underwater pulse so powerful, it could theoretically make its own tidal wave. The power of such a device held great satisfaction for Fisk, anyone from any military to the black market would certainly pay top dollar for such a deadly weapon at their disposal, after it was successfully tested. Also, this was only the first of many new weapons he had planned from the previous Hudson shipment, and the leftover equipment that survived the original Oscorp explosion. Now it was time for a demonstration, although the volunteer was less than thrilled about his involvement, and even less satisfied with his new boss.

"Bench, we will be ready in a minute on our end, so make sure you're ready by then."

"Yes sir, I'm almost in position," Morris Bench answered Fisk with a slight monotone. The demolitions expert was as uncertain about this device as much as he was about his new employer. While he was still grateful to have a job, he didn't care much for how Fisk was running the show with such cold indifference. At least Norman Osborn was more 'polite' to his employees, despite his utter insanity.

Morris swam to the top of the generator where the main controls were positioned, and read the layout, "I'm on location, and everything is online and ready."

"Excellent, now stay where you are until the test is complete. Once Smythe gives the final word, we will begin." Despite having enough air for a full hour, Bench was feeling quite nervous. He was never much of a seafaring man, and now he was underwater with a prototype device that could theoretically make its own tidal wave! Despite Smythe instructing him that sitting right above it was the safest place for him to be, Bench's nerves remained shaking, and not just due to the chill of the Hudson water. Nonetheless he anchored himself to the generator with a tether he brought and remained still as he waited for the final word.

2pm on the dot, and the Spider Duo landed together behind the Connors lab. After redressing themselves in their real clothes, they made their way around the building to enter and greet the scientific family inside. Afterwards, everyone piled into the Connors family car and drove toward Stark Enterprises. Sitting in between the young couple in the back seat, Billy talked with Peter about how awesome it was going to be to see Iron Man's facility in person, with Curt, Martha, and Gwen chuckling at their shared enthusiasm. They were also trying not to burst into laughter at the irony that Billy was unaware of currently sitting next to his own favorite hero, an amusement Peter secretly shared in.

After a 45 minute drive through New York traffic, the Connors finally arrived at the main gate of Stark Enterprises, and after being granted clearance from the watchman, they parked in a visitors spot before vacating the vehicle and heading inside the building. On the outside, Stark's facility was the same size as Oscorp, only the bricks were colored with a faint yellow tint instead of the dark brooding stone the Green Goblin's former facility emitted. Inside was also just as different, it was warm and inviting, yet innovative at the same time. In fact they had just walked into the front plaza before the ESU group were startled by an approaching robot on wheels with a screen that showed a smiley face.

It spoke in an autonomous warm female voice, "Greetings, welcome to Stark Enterprises, where the future is made. Please remain here for authorized personnel and we hope you enjoy your stay."

"Cool," said Billy as he watched the robot roll away.

"You said it Billy," Peter agreed.

"Just try not to have a fangasm while we're here, okay?" Gwen asked him with a raised eye.

Peter shot back with a dry look, "come on Gwen, you know I'm nothing if not professional, where it counts." Gwen just sighed to herself while the Connors chuckled at the young couple's banter. They were brought to attention by an approaching dark skinned man in a gray dress shirt and jeans.

"Dr. Connors?" the man asked aloud.

"That's me," Curt answered before introducing everyone, "this is my wife Martha and our son Billy, and next to me are Peter and Gwen, our star ESU interns for the year."

They all waved to him as he replied, "good to meet you, I'm James Rhodes, chief of security for this facility. But everyone calls me Rhodey."

The name sounded familiar to Peter, "hey, I know that name, your friends with Mr. Stark right?"

Rhodey sighed before addressing the teenage boy, "huff, yes I am, and aren't I so lucky to be well acquainted with such a knucklehead."

"Aw Rhodey I'm hurt," a familiar voice came from behind him, making Rhodey huff, the ESU group smile, and Billy gape in thrill.

"Here I thought you were thrilled to have the best job in the whole city," Tony Stark said, coming up to his friend's side and patting him on the shoulder.

Rhodey wryly responded, "right, cause watching your butt is considered a treat?"

"Can you think of something better?" Tony wryly shot back. Rhodey said nothing but gave the ESU group a deadpan look that clearly said, 'see what I have to deal with?'

The two couples just chuckled whereas Billy enthusiastically cried out, "WOW! It's really you! Your Iron Man!"

Tony just nodded, "yup that's me, but out of the suit, my friends call me Tony, just like you can. You must be Billy, aka the Dr. Connors in training?"

"Woah, you know my name?!" Billy cried out again.

"Of course, your mom and dad talk about you all the time, and why wouldn't they?" Tony said, making the Connors grin.

"Hey, I got something," Tony said before reaching behind his back and putting it on the child's head, "souvenir for ya."

Billy pulled off the plastic Iron Man helmet Tony had gifted to him to gape at it, "Wow! So cool! Thanks Tony sir!" He walked back up to his parents to show him his new helmet, whom along with Peter and Gwen grinned at his euphoric joy. At the same time, another body approached, her voice catching everyone's attention.

"I see you're making everyone's day as usual Tony," said a young woman with long red hair in a business suit. She was holding a clipboard as she walked up to stand next to the two men.

"Everyone, this is Pepper Potts, Stark Enterprises' Head Administrator and CFO," Tony introduced while in between his two colleagues.

"Hello," came from the whole group, which Pepper pleasantly greeted back.

"Welcome to Stark Enterprises, oh and before I forget, Rhodey, you're needed at the front gate, immediately."

Sensing the context, Rhodey got the message, "I'm on it." He left out the entrance whereas conversations continued with the rest of them.

Gwen asked Pepper, "So Ms. Potts, you're really the Chief Financial Officer, on top of being the Administrator?"

Pepper answered the teenager with a nod, "Indeed I am, Tony may be a wizard with technology, but when it comes to keeping the numbers, he badly falls short."

"Ah yes, despite my willingness to keep my dignity, I've had to put the matters of business into more capable hands, while I spend the day playing with toys," Tony quipped aloud, which made Pepper scoff and the ESU group laugh a little harder.

Tony then finally addressed the ESU interns, "Peter, Gwen, glad you two could make it, hope summer vacation hasn't kept you too busy?"

Knowing he was keeping discreet about knowing their superhero identities, Peter merely said, "not at all Mr. Stark, in fact it's given us some much needed time to relax."

"Good to hear, and hey, since I know you're a fan, if you stick around a little longer, I may have an Iron Man helmet with your name on it as well," Tony quipped to him, making Gwen sigh at the fanboy jab toward her boyfriend.

Fortunately Peter said, "haha, I appreciate the offer, but I'm a little old for souvenirs. Besides, it looks better on Billy." Gwen grinned at him for his mature response.

"You got that right, this is awesome!" Billy said, wearing the helmet again which drew grins again from his parents.

Pepper then crouched down low to say to him, "well if you think that's awesome, why don't I show you the playground here? it was designed for kids just like you."

"Really?! Can I mom?" Billy begged his mother.

Martha answered, "alright, but be on your best behavior, understood?"

Billy nodded back as Pepper took his hand, then she told Martha, "I'll watch over him."

"Thank you," Martha nodded back as the pair of them walked down the hall.

'Pepper, your impeccable timing never fails' Tony thought as he admirably stared at her until Dr. Connors got his attention.

"A playground? Really Tony?" he asked.

Tony recollected himself before answering, "Hey, we get a lot of field trips here, gotta keep all ages entertained don't we?

They paused in acknowledgment before his manner pulled a 180 from witty to business, in regards to the reason why Pepper sent Rhodey to the main gate, "besides, her timing couldn't be better, the patient has arrived."

The four of them went wide eyed, with Peter asking, "patient?...you mean…"

The sound of angry grunts and growls from outside the entrance caught their attention.

"You might want to stand back," said Tony, which made the ESU group walk over to the side before turning around to see an uncomfortable familiar face being escorted inside while strapped to some sort of high tech stretcher. Electro kept pulling at his specialized bonds despite their unwillingness to give as he was pushed inside the plaza by two Ravencroft guards, with Rhodey walking right behind them along with two S.E. guards.

Electro's eyes burned with electrical fury beneath his mask as he vented, "Ugh!...Argh!...Grrrgh!...you think you can keep me restrained?! Electro?! I'll break free, and when I do…"

"Max!" Dr. Connors said, getting his attention as he walked up next to him, "Max it's alright, I'm right here. there's no need for anymore violence."

"Dr. Connors?" Electro asked with underlying rage, "what are you doing here?"

"Fulfilling my promise Max," said Curt, "I said we would find a cure for you one day, and that's today. With Mr. Stark's help, you'll be back to a normal life again before day's end."

Peter, Gwen and Martha watched with apprehensive looks, and the young super couple were hoping there wouldn't be a scenario that would force them to suit up in front of Electro. Tony kept a focused watch, while pocketing his hands as he secretly kept a grip on a concealed remote.

The suited villain was silent for a moment before replying, "normal?...you really think I can be normal?"

"Of course I do Max, I…"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT! Max is gone! My names Electro, ELECTRO!" His eyes emitted discharge as his temper flared, forcing Curt to step back, along with his wife, Peter and Gwen. Seeing the situation escalate, Tony initiated his fail-safe by pressing the remotes' only button.

"Aaaahhh!...urgh…gah," Electro spazzed for a moment before falling back flat on the stretcher. He then fell into a sleep state as the shackles siphoned off his energy.

"It's a good thing I do my reading," said Tony, diverting everyone's attention to him as they relaxed, "from this guy's file I knew his psyche was more unstable then his condition, so I gave Ravencroft a little insurance when I lent my stretcher to them." He pulled out the remote to show the audience. Peter and the others relaxed at seeing Stark had covered all bases beforehand.

Dr. Connors however showed concern, "Ok, but is he?..."

"Just fine doc," Tony answered, "he'll just be sleeping like a baby until the treatment is done."

"Good," the familiar voice of Dr. Ashley Kafka turned them back to the entrance to see the therapist walk out from behind Rhodey, "then I'll be taking him back for his rehabilitation."

"Glad you could make it Ashley," said Martha before adding, "hopefully this will all turn out well just as it did with Colonel Jameson."

"Believe me Martha, that's the idea," Dr. Kafka warmly replied. She turned her attention back to Tony, "I suggest we not prolong this any longer Mr. Stark."

"Of course doctor," Tony nodded, "everyone follow me."

Tony led the whole group away down the hall he had entered from. The guards Rhodey brought in remained in the plaza as they walked down the hall. Behind Stark was Rhodey and Ashley, then the two Ravencroft guards who were carting Electro on the stretcher, followed by the ESU group bringing up the rear. They all soon came to a large double door at the end of the hall, locked with a security code. Stark naturally unlocked it and allowed his guest audience to enter. As everyone came inside and the door was shut and locked again, they saw they were in another lab with low light. There were tables and various scientific equipment on them along the walls, but it was the familiar sight of the laser energy siphoner at the end of the room that caught the ESU group's attention. Peter and Gwen watched along with everyone else as the guards positioned Electro's stretcher in front of the siphoner laser. They stepped back, allowing Tony to walk up to the siphoner control panel.

He began explaining as he worked the controls, "Ok, the parameters that were inputted before are still set, based on everything provided on Dillon's condition between Ravencroft and Dr. Connors research into the accident that originally turned him into Electro. Having said that, the siphoner has been adjusted to target Electro's specific energy signature and absorb it, while leaving the overall essence of Max Dillon untouched. Once all the energy has been absorbed, he'll be physically back to normal."

"What are the chances he won't survive this Mr. Stark?" Dr. Kafka asked with emphasized worry.

"Like I said doctor, the siphoner is only set to absorb the energy of Electro, not Max Dillon," Tony explained further, "everything I've read tells me that the bioelectricity he's generating came from an external source not his own. As human beings, we naturally give off an electrical field, but Electro's signature emits separately from Dillon's. His signature is more similar to those of the electrical eels that did this to him in the first place. So by targeting that specific pattern, we can, in theory say, literally suck Electro out of Dillon, leaving only him."

"In theory?" Dr. Kafka asked out of concern for her patient.

"Dr. Kafka," Dr. Connors cut in, "I was there when Tony was originally setting the siphoner, and everything was done in accordance with my research into Max's state. I can confirm his assurance in the matter that everything is properly set."

"Then allow me to speak from my state," Dr. Kafka said, "all of my previous sessions with Max have told me that he's been falling into a state of thinking that he and Electro are one in the same, yet you tell me they are two separate entities?"

"I'll admit myself to having an amoeba's level of knowledge about the human psyche…" Tony dryly quipped before turning serious again, "...but I'm just telling you what the data says Dr. Kafka, and it's telling me this has the highest probability of working, if not a hundred percent."

Martha attempted to soothe her friend and fellow doctor's nerves, "he's right Ashley, they both are. This is what we've been waiting for, especially Max even if he no longer acknowledges it, we just have to take a leap of faith now."

Dr. Kafka sighed to herself before giving a slight nod, "very well then, let's proceed." 'and pray this works.'

Her unsettlement wasn't just a result of concern for her patient. Unbeknownst to the rest of them, Ashley was presently dealing with an aching heart. The rose and note Eddie had left her ate away at her subconsciously, even after she wept the whole morning after finding it at her bedside. However, she knew she couldn't let her personal feelings cloud her professional judgment, after all, this was about her patient, not her. She would later seek out counsel for herself, once Max was cured.

Tony pressed a button on the control panel to begin a 10 second countdown, "everyone off to the sides, it will start in a few seconds."

Rhodey, Dr. Kafka and the two Ravencroft guards were up against one wall on Electro's left, while Tony joined both Dr. Connors, Peter and Gwen on his right. The siphoner began to hum before the laser node pointed at Electro began to glow a light blue as it charged. The countdown hit zero, and a blue beam was then fired at the supervillain's body with a ZAP!...

At Oscorp, Professor Smythe read from the completed scan on his tablet, "all systems are clear Mr. Fisk, we are ready to begin."

"Good," Fisk replied before calling out to his diver through the console, "Bench, we are ready to begin the beta test."

"Alright, and Smythe says I'm safest sitting right here on it, correct?"

"Yes Mr. Bench," Smythe answered for him, "the pulses are emitted in a unilateral direction from the front, you won't be affected from sitting above it."

Out in the bay, Bench had seated himself atop the generator as instructed. The control console built into the generator was still showing everything green. Deciding he couldn't be guaranteed any more safety in the circumstances, he said to Smythe, "alright Professor, I'm ready when you are."

"Commencing beta test," was Smythe's reply, seconds before he felt a vibration from the generator on which he sat. It slowly built up, almost like a massage chair, followed by a hum which grew louder and louder. Morris was growing concerned that it would grow enough to damage his ears. It was then that the generator started emitting pulses from its front feature shaped like a subwoofer.

The pulses were directed toward some sensors that had been set up near the waterfront side of Oscorp. As soon as they hit, the data started coming in, which Stillwell read and interpreted to Fisk, "so far so good, pulses are constantly increasing and staying within parameters."

"Excellent," Fisk said with a sinister grin that his plans were slowly coming to fruition.

However…they were about to take an unexpected turn. As the pulses continued from the generator directed to the shore, the sea floor ahead of it was weakening from the underwater shockwaves. Stillwell's earlier analysis ensured there was nothing biological that could affect the generator during the test, but it did nothing in ensuring the stability of the seafloor the generator was anchored to. A crack started forming, and began creeping its way toward the two front chains out of the three that kept the generator in place. Bench was still seated atop the generator as the test continued, until he looked down to see the crack only inches from the first chain!

He shouted into his comms, "Alert! Alert! Abort! Abort! There's a crack about to break the chain loose! Abort the test! repeat, ABORT…"

…he unfortunately didn't finish as the crack reached the first anchor, freeing the chain, and in process, the generator.

"Aaahhh!" Bench screamed as he desperately hung onto the free spinning generator that was still pulsing. Fortunately, Bench's warning was heard by the ground crew as the generator broke loose. Unfortunately, while being thrown around by the generator, Bench's air tank ended up slamming into the console, breaking both of them.

Inside the Oscorp laboratory, Fisk shouted to his lead engineer, "Shut it down Smythe! NOW!"

Smythe pressed on his tablet a few times before saying, "I can't! The connection is lost, the console must have been damaged when it broke loose!"

Smythe immediately ran to the console and spoke into its microphone with Fisk, Stillwell and Hammerhead watching in suspense, "Bench listen to me! You have to hit the red Manual Override button to the console's right! It's the only way to stop it!"

Bench heard Smythe through the comm despite his disorientation from being flung around by the free-shaking seismic generator. His anchor still kept him attached to the generator, unfortunately he was losing air fast due to his damaged tank. He grasped his tether to pull onto the generator again as it continued shaking. He pulled closer to the console using his tether as an anchor. He saw the Manual Override button and was about to hit it until water started leaking into his helmet, cutting off what air he had left.

"Gasp! No! NO!...gurgle…gurgle" he released his tether as he flailed out his arms in panic. At the same time, the generator reached an instability, caused by the increasing pulses and a ruptured internal system due to the breakoff. The last thing Bench saw was the generator emitting a faint glow before detonating.

BOOOMMM!...A column of water erupted out of the bay where the generator once was, then silence was heard as the splash ceased…

…Inside the Oscorp laboratory, the console was displaying 'Connection Lost' as well as on their tablets. Although their displays weren't necessary to know what happened given that the explosion was heard even in the lab.

Smythe called back into the comm, "Bench? Bench! Are you there?! Bench if you are there, please come in?!"

He felt the Kingpin's hand on his shoulder, "enough Smythe. The reason for his silence is clear. Morris Bench is gone."

There was some degree of sympathy among the group for their lost colleague, felt by all except the Kingpin. Though what worried them more was how were they going to cover it up, a matter Dr. Stillwell started by asking, "what do we do now?"

Fisk coldly answered in a way fitting Norman Osborn, "we pick up the pieces, we learn, and we try again."

After experiencing a case of deja vu, Hammerhead then asked, "Boss, there's no doubt that a lot of the city heard that blast, what are we gonna say when they start asking questions?"

Fisk walked up to his right-hand and crouched down to look Hammerhead in the eye in a way that made him sweat, "I'll deal with it when it comes. As for you Hammerhead, you didn't see anything, am…I…clear?"

Hammerhead replied with a sense of meekness, "crystal."

Fisk then ordered him, "get on the phone, and get me Donald Menkin."

Meanwhile, as the four of them began Oscorp's next cover-up, they were unaware that at the detonation site, something unusual was occurring. What looked like a collection of bubbles was gathering around the site of the destroyed generator. They changed shape as they gathered together in some form of underwater abstract silhouette. The figure then propelled itself away from the site through the holes in the fence, like an underwater current…except, this one wasn't natural, nor was it without sentience.

The sustaining blue energy beam was making Electro's body twitch as the siphoner maintained the stream. The whole audience kept their distance as it kept firing, except for Stark who stood near the console to monitor the procedure, and intervene if need be. So far, what he was seeing looked good, and just hoped it would stay that way.

The energy stream had been on for a good seven minutes until something started happening to Electro. The twitching seemed to be subsiding and the yellow glow from the energy coils present on his wrists and chest faded away. Even the glow from his eyes disappeared behind his mask as the last of the bioelectricity was sucked away. An alert sounded from the console, prompting Tony to act and Peter to shout, "What is that?!"

"Cutoff limit has been reached!" Tony yelled back as he manned the console, "just need to adjust for these last few seconds…annnd…done!"

Pressing one last button, the siphoner shut off, ending the light beam and sending an eerie calm through the room. Dr. Kafka however, immediately went to her patient's side.

"Max?" He was unresponsive, prompting her to reach up to pull off his mask, despite a warning from Dr. Connors. With the mask's removal, she and everyone were shocked at what they saw.

Max Dillon's human face was visible again, in the literal flesh! All of his hair had been burned away, but his face looked exactly like it did before the accident. Everyone walked up beside him in attempt to wake him.

"Max, it's me, Curt Connors," Dr. Connors said with a gentle shake on his arm, "can you hear me?"

Slowly but surely, Max reopened his eyes, and saw everyone around him, he groaned before talking once again, "ugghh…what happened?"

Dr. Kafka smiled before she went to unlock Max's left binding, much to the concern of Rhodey and the guards. She waved them off and released his hand, much to his own shock. She put a small hand mirror in his hand and told him, "see for yourself."

Max pulled it up to look at his reflection, and was in complete shock to see his real face once again, for the first time in nearly a year, though it seemed longer than that.

"Its…I'm…I'm really…" he gasped.

"Yes Max, your back," Dr. Kafka consoled him.

Peter and Gwen remained cautious, in case there was any part of Electro that still remained and would be outraged from having his power taken away. Those fears however were quelled at the sight of tears coming down Max's face with a sad smile.

"sniff…Thank you…thank you…" he sobbed. Relief passed over the group, with everyone giving warm grins for different reasons. Rhodey and the guards were glad the danger had passed. Tony was both happy and proud that his treatment worked as expected. Ashley was more than pleased to see Max's humanity return to him after seeing his face again. Curt and Martha Connors were relieved and happy that another person of their untreated mistakes was now healed. That left Peter and Gwen, the latter happy for seeing a former supervillain now on the path to redemption, and the former glad that another of his old adversaries was now cured of his affliction.

In the aftermath of the Electro's successful treatment, Dr. Kafka had her obligation fulfilled as Max had his suit replaced with a hospital gown and was returned to the Ravencroft van via wheelchair to finish his rehabilitation at the center. Prior to her leave, Ashley thanked both the Connors and Tony Stark for everything they had done, and even Peter and Gwen for their contributions. As the Ravencroft group left, Pepper returned Billy to his parents who had the time of his life in the facility playground. But now it was time to go, and after a final farewell from Tony and his staff, The ESU group left in the Connors vehicle.

Returning to the university, Peter and Gwen vacated the vehicle before the Connors waved them goodbye and made their own leave, driving off for home. As soon as the Connors family vehicle disappeared from sight, the super couple snuck into a vacant alley and changed into their spider costumes and swung into the city for a combined patrol and celebration all in one. Given the day's events, Spiderman and Ghost Spider couldn't help but whoop…

"YEEEHAAA!" hollered Spidey.

"WAAHOOO!" cheered Ghosty.

The Spider Duo swung between the city skyscrapers with utmost joy, ecstatic that another supervillain had been permanently dealt with, but this time, the right way. They soon swung their way to a building adjacent to the Hudson river, and landed atop it in a spider stance. Spiderman then surprised his partner as he grabbed her by the waist and spun her around, the masked lovers laughing to each other as he set her down again.

Ghost Spider said first, "hehehe, well someone is certainly happy."

"Can you blame me?" Spiderman joyfully retorted, "another villain cured means one less worry for us and New York, and this time, no one died. All in all, this day has been great from start to finish, and it's not even over yet." He finished looking out into the evening sun.

"Well, here's hoping it stays that way until curfew," Ghost Spider said, before her tone turned sultry, "and then we can have a romantic moment all to ourselves."

She leaned forward to him, making Spidey go weak in the knees. He regathered himself to say in a suave manner, "a moment I look forward to every day with you, my lovely lady-spider."

Ghosty giggled as she commented, "lady-spider?"

"Hey, you call me spider-boy, and coming from you that's a term of endearment," Spiderman replied cheerfully.

Grinning under her mask, Ghosty noticed another extrusion on the roof, and grasped her masked boyfriend's arms and pulled him over, "then why wait, when we can have it right now?"

Her seductive tone did him in as he let her guide them, and once they were behind the extrusion away from prying eyes, they removed their masks to gaze at each other once again.

After a few seconds of staring, Peter finally said, "you know, I never get tired of these…"

"...shut up and kiss me," Gwen cut him off by pressing her lips to his, and wrapped her arms around his neck as he put his around her waist. They held each other close as they relished in each other's company. They moaned through the kiss as the young lovers thought to each other…

'I so wanna marry this woman one day.'

'I am so gonna marry this man one day.'

They finished the kiss as they pressed their foreheads together, giving each other a loving smile as the passionate moment ended.

"Gets better every time," Peter said suavely.

Gwen giggled saying, "definitely." Though she wore a concerned look as Peter's face turned sad and asked him, "What?"

"Sigh, it's just, months ago, I almost let moments like this permanently slip away," Peter regretfully said, regarding his failed relationship with Liz Allen.

"Hey, I share some of the blame myself," Gwen said to console, regarding her disaster with Harry, "but things happen for a reason, and are not always in our control. What matters is holding on until we reach a better place. We can't change what's happened, but we're here now, together…and I daresay things couldn't be better." She finished saying with starry eyes.

Peter smiled back and said, "I agree, I love you Gwen."

"I love you back Peter."

They kissed softly one last time before they sat on the rooftop edge to overlook the Hudson before engaging in conversation. Gwen had leaned into Peter before saying, "You know, maybe we should take a cue from my dad after all, have the rest of the day off for ourselves just to be normal. I mean, a former supervillain has been cured today, who could ask for anything more than that in our positions?"

Peter replied, "you know, you're right, and given what we accomplished this morning, we've earned a couple hours to…wait what's that?"

Gwen picked up on his change in tone and followed his sight to see a spectacle going on below them. They could see in the middle of the Hudson river, a swirling current below the surface. It cast a shadow like a school of fish, only it wasn't acting as such. A few bubbles broke the surface from where it was stationed, and then, the unexpected happened.

SPLASH!...Peter and Gwen went wide eyed at the sight of a swirling water spout erupting from the river. Such a thing was not unheard of, but never in the Hudson river as far as they knew!

Peter thought, 'ok, didn't see that coming.'

The shock continued for them as the spout defied the natural laws by bending over and setting its other end on the Hudson dock, soaking it and everything near it as it retracted its other end. Soon all that was left was a swirling column of water sitting in the dock, while unnaturally keeping itself sustained as the super couple observed with narrow eyes. Gwen turned to face Peter as they nodded to each other before returning their masks and jumped down to assess the scene.

The column slowly faded away as the Spider Duo landed on a crate adjacent to the shore where the dock was anchored to. As the column evaporated, they were in further shock to see a man left in its place, he was tall, muscular and had short blond hair. He wore what appeared to be a blue divers suit with dark blue accents at the chest, arms and boots. A silver belt was strapped around his waist as well as a silver circular chest piece, and his head was the only thing uncovered.

The man collapsed to his knees as he gripped his head with a disoriented groan, causing the spider duo to raise a masked eye. Both thought the same thing, 'who is this guy?'

"Ugh…what happened?" The blue suited man groaned as massaged his forehead.

"Ahoy there!" His attention was diverted to a waving Spiderman perched on the land crate in front of him. "That's quite the entrance you made! Where are you from? Atlantis or something?"

His quip earned him an elbow from his partner next to him who said, "show some sympathy Spidey, he's obviously been through something severe."

"Sorry," Spidey rubbed his head. Meanwhile, the water man recognized him.

"Spiderman?...what are you doing here?" He said slowly standing on his feet.

"Oh just more of the usual," Spiderman answered, "but, uh, water…guy, who are you? I don't recall my partner or I ever meeting someone with your abilities before." Ghosty waved in response.

"Partner?...you didn't have a partner before?" The man asked still in a daze, his memory slowly returning.

"Clearly you haven't kept up with the news sir," Ghost Spider spoke to him for the first time, "I've been around for a few months now, since Spidey and I beat that Scorpion creep together."

"Also, what do you mean before?" Spiderman asked him, "as far as I know, we've never me…" he paused for a moment before he finally got a good look at his face, realizing that he did know this man after all!

"Wait…I do know you! You used to work for Mr. Osborn, at the demolition site!" Spiderman said in realization, which also stunned his partner.

"Demolition?...Osborn?!" Ghost Spider questioned.

"Yeah, he was setting some remote charges on a demolished building when they malfunctioned and nearly collapsed on everyone, before I webbed them all to safety," Spiderman explained before turning back to the man in question, "I didn't know you were still in town…what's your name again?...it uh, slipped me?"

"Uh…Bench, Morris Bench," Bench said as his memory started to clear up.

Spiderman then said, "Well Mr. Bench, I certainly don't recall you having that little water trick the last time I saw you. What happened?"

They awaited his answer, as Bench seemed like he was struggling to recall, "I…I can't remember…it's so foggy, all I remember was being underwater, and a…gasp!"

In a momentary flashback, Morris remembered the words of the one who sent him into the bay…"Bench, we will be ready in a minute on our end, so make sure you're ready by then."...The cold indifferent voice of Wilson Fisk suddenly made his memory jog.

He remembered how Fisk cornered him into assisting in the experiment in order to repay him for keeping him on staff. He remembered how the seafloor cracked and gave way, upsetting the generator and making it explode, and he was caught in the blast…after that…he was left for dead! Fisk had set him up like bait on a fish hook and left him for dead! Except, he had survived, and was now reborn!

"Fisk…FISK," Bench growled as his face contorted into an angry scowl, and was heard by the Spiders.

"Fisk? As in Wilson Fisk?! He did this to you?!" Spiderman exclaimed.

Ghost Spider seethed, shaking her head, "I knew that overgrown whale was no good, especially after he bought Oscorp."

"Looks like we're gonna have to pay Mr. Moby Dick In A Suit a little visit," Spiderman said before turning back to Morris, "don't worry Mr. Bench, he'll get…uh?"

He didn't finish as he saw Bench tightening his fists, his whole body tensing up. Spidey and Ghosty together couldn't ignore the bad vibes they were feeling, and nervously asked, "umm…Mr. Bench? Are you alright?"

His face shot up with a look of pure rage as he yelled out loud, "FISSSSSK!" SPLASSSH!

The river water behind him erupted into three geysers stronger than the previous water spout, shocking both spiders out of their wits with Spidey exclaiming, "Woah!"

"Uh-oh," Ghosty muttered.

The geysers threw out a series of short waves in every direction along the Hudson, before their tops angled themselves down and came crashing down on Bench engulfing him again, and collapsing the wooden dock. The Spider Duo watched in utter shock as the water bodies mixed together into a giant water cyclone! Out of the top of it emerged Bench, his top half being human whereas the rest of it was part of the water!

"FISSK!...You'll pay for this! You hear me?! YOU'LL PAY!"

"Woah! Hold on!" Spiderman recaptured his attention as he swung onto a nearby lamppost that was closer to Bench, "look water man, I get your upset and you want Fisk to pay, and I promise you he will. But you can't lose your cool like this, trust me, it will only make the situation worse."

"Worse?...WORSE?! Look at me! I'm nothing but water! HOW CAN THIS GET ANY WORSE?!" Bench yelled as he and his water cyclone grew in height from the nearby source, dwarfing the entire coastline and the two Spiders perched along it. In addition, the spectacle had grabbed the attention of nearby city patrons, who started running for their lives in terror at the sight of the rising tower of water.

The sight of the cyclone growing as tall as a skyscraper made Ghost Spider sweat drop as she answered Bench in a mutter, "That's…actually a pretty good question."

"I'll find Fisk myself, and when I do…HE'LL PAAYY!" Bench roared as he used his new water powers to propel him into the air as a spinning cyclone of water droplets. Spiderman watched as the cyclone stretched over the building behind him before calling out to his partner, "Ghosty come on!"

He shot a web to swing after the enraged water entity, with Ghost Spider following his lead.

Over the cityscape, people were horrified to see the cyclone of water literally flying above their heads. Following close behind was the spider duo as they thought of a way to halt it. They had just barely swung themselves past its front as they continued swinging along the coastal buildings.

"Ghosty! Try a web grenade! See if it can slow him down!" Spidey yelled out to her.

"Got it!" She nodded before reaching for a grenade pack on her hidden belt Peter had made for her. She swung further ahead with the device in hand trying to get ahead of the water entity. One last swing finally put her in front, and she turned around and threw the grenade in front of it after pressing the button. Upon making contact, the device exploded covering the front of the water entity with a mat of soaked webs. It caused it to fall to the ground below, hitting the street with a SPLASH! Everyone near it was soaked, but fortunately no one was injured.

The spiders swung down and landed on the wet street, though Ghost Spider had her concerns, "okay, that seemed a little too easy."

Upon finishing her sentence, the spiders felt all the water recede from their feet and come together in the center of the street, before forming upwards again. Spiderman dryly said, "you called it."

The water reformed into Bench, who was now scowling at the spiders, "you…you shouldn't have done that."

'Talk about Deja vu,' Spidey thought after hearing the familiar words from Electro.

"I don't even want you two, I want Fisk…and him alone," Bench growled.

"Yeah we got that," Spiderman answered, "but going on a berserk warpath through New York isn't going to help your case. So calm down or you're going to end up hurting innocent people on top of Fisk."

"Innocent?...INNOCENT?!" Bench shouted with a deranged look which frightened the spiders, "I was innocent, I was a hard worker, an honest man…and what did I get for it?! THIS!" he raised his arms, making the four nearby fire hydrants burst their top shooting out geysers. They willingly bent themselves to Bench's command, and started swirling around him before forming into another water cyclone on dry land. The spider duo and nearby New York patrons watched in horror. Bench's upper body sprouted out of the top of the cyclone with a deranged look of fury.

Ghost Spider tried consoling now, "Mr. Morris you need to calm down! I realize how awful this must be for you, but taking it out on others isn't the answer, I promise you Wilson Fisk will answer f…"

"FISK!" Bench cut her off as he yelled at the top of his lungs before propelling his cyclone forward, prompting the spiders to jump to opposite sides to avoid it. Seeing him literally spin down the street, Spidey said to his partner, "perhaps we should stop saying the name."

Bench continued his surge down the street making the people on the sidewalks flee in terror. Vehicles ended up slamming their brakes to avoid getting caught in it. Those unfortunate enough to have been hit were slammed with several tons of force making them spin around and crash into the adjacent buildings. The spider duo kept swinging to catch up until they had him surrounded on both sides. Clearly whatever happened to Bench had set him off the deep end, pun intended, and if they didn't stop him before he got to Fisk, someone would definitely get hurt, or drowned along the way!

"Hey Hydro nut!" Spiderman called out getting his attention as he continued to web swing, "how about you cease with the waterworks or we might be forced to call in the Navy?"

"Stay…out…of…my…WAY!" he yelled as he turned his left arm into water and extended it toward Spiderman like a tentacle. Spidey spun out of the way to avoid it, as well as a second attempt to hit him with his right water tentacle. Ghost Spider then intervened by swinging ahead of the surging water entity and then propelled herself back toward Bench feet first. She hit him dead on with a SPLASH as he splattered everywhere…but not for long as he quickly reformed himself. He turned around and angrily threw out another water tentacle toward Ghosty who dodged it as well. Up ahead, her partner swung ahead and spun a web net in between the two buildings to intercept.

Bench hit the net, and ended up splashing right through it, ending up as a large puddle on the street below. The spider duo regrouped ahead of him just as Bench reformed once again.

"Did you really think a net would stop him?" Ghosty dryly asked.

Spidey merely replied, "No, just slow him down, but I guess even that was asking for too much."

"You shouldn't have gotten in my way," Bench snarled as he stomped toward them. Refusing to back down, Spiderman threw back…

"Look water man, you have to…"

"SHUT UP!" Bench yelled, cutting off Spidey, "stop calling me names! Not water man, not hydro nut! I'm not even Morris Bench anymore!...I'm…" he kept his eyes down for a few seconds keeping them in suspense, which ended quickly as he shouted…

"I'm…HYDRO MAN!"...all the surrounding water from before gathered into him as he rose up again in another water cyclone, with his water arms extended to the skies.

"Huh, catchy," Spiderman nervously commented.

"It fits," Ghost Spider reluctantly agreed.

Their nervousness turned to horror as the water entity collapsed down on them in the form of a wave, knocking them off their feet before they had a chance to jump or swing away. Spidey and Ghosty ended up tumbling over and over as they were caught in a rip current several times more powerful than any found on a beach. The wave ended up crashing into a big rig that was crossing the next intersection, making it stop and topple on its side, with the spider heroes on top of it trying to catch their breath. The spilled water that was Hydro Man gathered together on the street, before running off into a nearby gutter to escape. He was gone as the spider duo got to their knees coughed the water out of their lungs.

"Cough..cough…ugh, well that was refreshing," Ghosty said with laced sarcasm.

"Oohh," Spidey groaned as he shook the water out of his ears, though his next quip gave no comment, "Ghost, I can't believe I'm saying this…but I miss Electro."

Hydro Man's first appearance had set Manhattan into an uproar. The citizens who witnessed his initial attack had already spread the digital word throughout the internet. The Spider Duo helped the drivers who were hit by the cyclone get out of their cars. Fortunately no one had sustained any serious injuries. After that, they reluctantly split up, with Spiderman headed for the Daily Bugle while Ghost Spider headed for home to speak to her father. They would have called ahead, had their cellphones not been waterlogged from their tumble inside Hydro Man's wave.

Arriving at her house, Ghost Spider discreetly made her way in through her bedroom window and gave the full details to her dad. As he left to make a call, Gwen removed her soaked costume and left it to dry over the shower before drying herself off and changing into the spare costume she had kept below her bed. Now, she was presently waiting with her mask off sticking to the living room wall by her feet while George was on the phone.

"That's affirmative, keep an eye out for any unusual disturbances around water, and keep any civilians away from all areas that exhibit it, I'll be in soon," Captain Stacy said before ending the call.

"So they're up to speed?" Gwen asked from her wall perch.

George replied, "everything that's relevant for them. As far as how I found out about it, I just said you and Peter saw it while you were out on one of his photo runs."

"Thanks dad, and that's not a total lie, since before we became partners, that's usually how Peter got caught up in the action, almost," said Gwen shrugging.

"Well speaking of cover-ups, we need to talk to the one responsible for this new super-being right now," said George sternly.

Gwen knew who George was referring to, having told him everything Bench had said earlier, and with a serious look she declared, "believe me dad, Peter and I intend to…"

Currently at the Bugle…

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE PHOTOS?! For crying out loud Parker, WHAT DO I PAY YOU FOR?!" J. Jonah Jameson threw his arms out while shouting in bewilderment to his youngest photographer who stood in front of him dripping wet, and was less than thrilled from the present double discomfort.

"I tried to as I always do Mr. Jameson, unfortunately, I didn't account for a rogue wave from the sky soaking everything I had on me," Peter explained, pulling out his ruined camera in his left hand and ruined cellphone in the other, both dripping wet for everyone to see. His tone was understandably dismal, "One second I had a great shot, and the next thing I knew, everything was waterlogged, including my phone."

"Aw don't sweat it kid, it happens to the best of us," Foswell consoled, "of course, usually when something gets water ruined, it's due to an accidental dip in a pool or a fountain, not some super powered maniac who can turn into liquid."

Peter merely nodded while Jameson continued his tirade, "I don't care if it was flying pigs with fire hoses! I want a shot of this Hydro Man, and that menaced Spider Duo together by our next headline, or you can take your contract elsewhere Parker!"

"But Mr. Jameson, that's not fair!" Peter complained.

"Fair? This is a newspaper, not the playground! Besides you know the deal, no photos, no gig!" Jameson yelled back.

"And how am I supposed to get photos now? My camera is ruined!" Peter reminded strongly.

Before Jonah could retort, Robbie stepped in, "you can always go back to your old model until you can afford a new one, you kept it right?"

"Of course," Peter said with a nod, knowing he held onto it for sentimental reasons.

"Then do it!" Jonah yelled, "and make sure the photos are here by morning, or your job will be washed up too!" He stormed back into his office, but didn't shut the door before shouting, "And dry yourself off!"

As he slammed the door, a dripping Peter left in a dismal mood down the elevator with his ruined phone and camera stored away in his soaked backpack. Other than the ruined electronics, Peter's mood was dampened more by the fact that another supervillain had appeared immediately after another had been cured. Fortunately, like before he knew who had created this one, and scowled as he thought to himself, 'I'll get my old camera when I get home, and change into my dry spare costume. But not before Gwen and I pay a visit to a certain overgrown whale, as she called him.'

The Spider Duo reunited at the rooftop across from their favorite deli as they agreed earlier, since they could no longer keep in touch via cellphone. Spidey was forced to keep his wet costume on until he got home while Ghosty had on her dry spare. However he dealt with it as they swung to Oscorp together, and then made the slingshot jump together that landed them just above the corporate office window.

Wilson Fisk stood in his office looking out into the bay with calculating eyes as he processed the notifications he had just received about this new enhanced being called Hydro Man. The fact that Bench was alive was surprising enough, but it immediately turned to dread learning the accident had turned him into a new super entity. It wasn't the first one he had created, but it was the first one he had made unintentionally, and had publicly outed him, ruining his cover-up plans. Not only that, but Bench was now dead set on getting to him, forcing him to max out his security force. However, they didn't account for two others…

The sound of an opening window on his left made him turn, and Fisk sneered at the costumed duo who helped themselves in and jumped over to the wall across.

Spiderman and Ghost Spider clung side by side to the wall opposite from the ceiling window they had entered from before he spoke, "Wilson Fisk I presume?"

Fisk was far from intimidated, "Hmph…the famous Spiderman, and you're equally famous partner, Ghost Spider, or do you prefer Ghosty?"

"It's Ghost Spider to you Moby Dick, or should I just call you an overgrown whale?" Ghost Spider threw back.

"That's Mr. Fisk to you missy, or should I give you children a lesson about respecting your elders?" growled Fisk.

"Go ahead, others like you have tried, and we'll tell you the same thing as we've told them…we don't live by your demented version of 'respect,' Spidey sternly declared.

Fisk spoke while looking up at them with narrowed eyes, "Men in my position are quite rare in fact Spiderman, not that I expect someone with your narrow mind to understand."

"That so? Well here's what I do understand…an innocent man who was one of your employees, is now a water manipulating supermaniac out to get you. Now correct me if I'm wrong, which I doubt, but guys like that don't go off the chain just targeting someone… unless, that targeted someone did something to him that was very, very wrong…" said Spiderman with a glare.

Ghosty concluded with a raised mask eye, "...in this case, I'm sure wrong means turning him into a water manipulating supermaniac against his will. So, care to enlighten on that?"

"You finish each other's sentences, how cute. I would almost think you're more than partners behind those masks," the Spiders just kept glaring at him, not giving an inch. Noting their silence, Fisk continued, "as for your statement, I can assure you that unlike this company's previous owner, I'm not in the market to manufacture supervillains. Mr. Bench is only the victim of an unfortunate accident that occurred during the testing of an experimental generator."

He pulled out a remote and pointed it to the screen which descended from above his desk to show the Spiders. He pressed a button to show the video of the explosion in the Hudson Bay Oscorp test site before continuing, "Safeguards were in place, but they failed, and Bench was presumed dead. That is, until now, and now a thorough investigation is underway to determine the full cause and prevent it from recurring."

Spidey didn't believe a word of it, "You show a clip of an explosion in the Hudson just outside your facility, and you expect us to take you at your word?"

"I'm showing you both the evidence and the truth, whether you believe them or not is your problem," said Fisk.

"That's a problem we can live with," replied Ghosty, "your problems on the other hand far outweigh ours, especially once Hydro Man makes his way back here."

Fisk narrowed his eyes at her, "I can also assure you that I require no protection, especially from the likes of you two."

"Hmph, like we'd ever give it, there's far more important lives out there that are worth ten of yours. Specifically, everyone outside this office." Ghost Spider jumped from the wall and shot a web to the ceiling, and hung upside down to get in his face, "and while we will do everything in our power to ensure no one gets hurt from Bench's warpath to get to you, you will still be held responsible for endangering their lives regardless, including Bench's."

Fisk and Ghosty traded glares for a few seconds before the sound of police sirens outside the complex caught everyone's attention. Her partner said, "come on Ghost, we need to go. Let's leave Mr. Fisk to his appointment with New York's finest."

"Have fun with the cops, good night Mr. Fisk," Ghost Spider mocked before jumping up to follow her partner out the window.

As they left, the Kingpin merely said, "So lovely to make your acquaintance…Ghosty."

He pulled out his phone and called a number connecting to another one of Norman Osborn's former employees, RING…"Menkin, I need you and Hammerhead in the conference room first thing in the morning. We have a waterfront coming…"

The next morning came despite the pending danger, yet Hydro Man still had not emerged after his first fight with the spider duo. Waking up before his aunt, Peter first called Gwen with the house phone to let her know where to meet him later. He then dressed in his dry spare costume while he let his wet one dry in the attic and put his regular clothes on over it. Afterwards he enjoyed breakfast with Aunt May before waving her goodbye and heading out the door. Repeating old habits, he rode the bus to its first stop and exited to the nearest vacant alley to change into Spiderman and swing away.

Gwen enjoyed breakfast with her father before donning her own costume in her room and swinging away from her backyard. Beforehand, George had told her that Fisk had shown the same video evidence that she and Peter saw, though it was clear he had more to hide. Fortunately the court order the captain presented to Fisk yesterday allowed him to do a full purge and investigation of Fisk's files. Knowing her father had the detective work covered, Gwen knew her and Peter's top priority was now tracking down Hydro Man before he rampaged again.

The Spider heroes swung from opposite ends of the city toward their rendezvous point to speak to an expert for help, which they agreed they needed given how ineffective their usual tools were against this new foe.

Currently at Empire State University, Dr. Connors was alone in his lab as he analyzed something under a microscope. He had heard about Hydro Man yesterday like everyone else in Manhattan, and was glad his wife was currently watching their son at a park outside the city. However, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the skylight opening, looking up in surprise at who it was.

"Dr. Connors! It's us," Spiderman waved down before he and Ghost Spider jumped down and stuck to the adjacent wall.

"Peter? Gwen? What are you doing here? I thought you'd both be out looking for that Hydro entity?" Dr. Connors asked them.

"That's why we're here, we were hoping you could help us find him," Spiderman explained before pulling out a vial filled with water from his belt. "I squeezed this out of my costume last night after he soaked us. I also remembered your work earlier in the year on genetic tracking. We were hoping you could identify his signature from this and work out some way to track him."

"Otherwise, we'll be forced to check every water body around New York the old fashioned way, and even the two of us could never cover all that area so fast," Ghost Spider finished.

Dr. Connors listened and acknowledged their reasoning, and took the vial from them and said, "I'll see what I can do."

Five minutes later, and he was analyzing a single water drop from the vial under the microscope, and couldn't believe what he was already seeing, "amazing, it's as if these cells are saturated to the point of metamorphosis!"

"Metamorphosis?" Spidey asked, "I assume that we're talking about something other than a butterfly?"

"Of course, it's as if Bench's cells are malleable to a degree where they could become something else completely, yet still hold themselves together."

"Are we talking shapeshifting?" Ghost Spider asked.

"It's a theory, but I need more time to figure it out, as well as devise a way to track him," Dr. Connors finished.

"Maybe I can help with that," the familiar voice caught their attention, and they turned to the entrance to see Tony Stark walk in the front doors up to them!

"Mr. Stark?!" Spiderman gasped with a stunned Ghost Spider next to him.

"Tony? What are you doing here?" Dr. Connors asked also surprised.

"Figured my services could aid again in this regard," Tony said, before pulling something out from behind his back. It was a small handheld device shaped like a labeler, although its purpose was different.

"It's a genetic encoding tracker, or GET for short…" Tony explained.

Ghosty raised an eye at the ridiculous anagram, "Really?"

"Yeah I know…gotta work on the name," Tony wryly said before turning serious again, "this little gizmo can read any sample of matter and break it down into all of its components, then reconfigured to track any similar signature within a 30 mile radius. All it needs is a predetermined sequence to enable the tracker, which I figured you could help with."

"My notes should have all the necessary data to work with," Dr. Connors said with a nod, and took the device from Tony to get started. The Spider Duo watched the two geniuses at work as they used another drop from the vial to calibrate the tracker to search for Hydro Man's signature. Once it was set, Tony held the GET in his hand as he turned it on.

"Alright, I'll just set this into my suit and JARVIS should be able to detect him anywhere in this city within proximity."

"There's a good chance he'll end up rampaging again if he does show up," Spiderman warned, "given how mentally unstable he was yesterday."

"Don't worry, we'll handle him like we did Electro, then you two can get back to enjoying your summer, ok?" Tony wrly asked which the Spiders merely nodded to.

It didn't take a genius to read the context of Stark's comment, and Dr. Connors turned to him in surprise asking, "you know?…about them?"

"Yeah, and like you doc I'm no fool, I know the importance of keeping a secret identity," Tony assured.

"Despite yours no longer existing?" Curt asked with a raised eye.

Tony shrugged, "Hey I made the choice, it's up to them when they decide to do the same, if they wish to."

"Yeah, for now though, we prefer to keep it behind the fence," Ghost Spider replied.

"Although you should know, Colonel Fury and Agent Hill of SHIELD can be added to the list of people who know our identities too," Spiderman added.

"Fury?..." Tony exhaustingly said, "sigh, figured he would go after you two, just didn't think it would be this soon. Too bad I wasn't there, I could have backed you up."

"We handled him well enough on our own Mr. Stark, but the concern is appreciated," said Ghosty.

"I'm guessing you're acquainted with him?" Dr. Connors asked Tony.

"That's putting it generously, but never mind him now, right now we need to focus on finding Hydro Man," Tony said before turning to the Spiders, "you two up for another team up?"

Presently at Oscorp, security had been maxed out under Fisk's order. Understandable considering this new enhanced being was out for the Kingpin's blood. However, something less thick but still powerful erupted from the nearby fire hydrant with a BOOM!

The guards ay the front entrance stepped back in recoil from the force of the propelled water, but slowly turned to terror as the hydrant water started to twist on itself looking like a hydro tornado. The entity kept growing and growing until it eclipsed the Oscorp building. Only then, did the human body of Hydro Man reveal itself from the top of the wave from the waist up.

"FISK! I know you're in there! Come out and face me now!" he declared.

Inside, Fisk was currently in the conference room with both Menkin and Hammerhead. They had concluded their earlier discussion prior to feeling the force of the erupting hydrants that led to Hydro Man's demand. Having heard it through the walls, Hammerhead asked first,

"What's the play boss?"

Fisk was silent as he heard the water entity again, "FISK! IF YOU'RE NOT OUT HERE IN THE NEXT TWO MINUTES I'LL DROWN THIS PLACE! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

The threat being given, Menkin then said, "Sir, given my own experience with super powered beings, it's best to cater to their wishes first before attempting anything else."

Fisk remained silent for a moment before responding, "very well, let's humor Mr. Bench for the moment." The Kingpin led the way for the three of them out of the room.

The two minutes was nearing its end as Hydro Man kept his cyclone above where it originated from. The terrified guards below kept their guns aimed, even though their firearms were useless against him. Fisk showing himself was their only chance out of this.

Hydro Man's patience ended as he growled, "alright, if that's it, then the Hudson will be this building's new home!"

"MR. BENCH!" Fisk shouted as he came out the front door alone and walked ahead of the guards to look his former employee in the eye above him. "Cease with this nonsense immediately! I will not have this company be destroyed so soon after reopening it!"

Hydro Man lowered his arms as his scowl darkened at the sight of his former boss below him, "So, it finally comes to light huh? As I expected, you've proven what you truly care about, not people or their safety! Just business and money…well congratulations, your obsession with both of those things have now put you here, at my mercy."

Fisk rebuffed his threat, "Mercy? you expect me to believe your earlier threats were genuine? Please, we may not have known each other very long, but I've long deduced that you're no killer Morris. But if you surrender yourself peacefully, we can work out a cure for this…condition. It's what you truly want isn't it?"

Hydro Man's scowl deepened upon hearing that Fisk wasn't taking him seriously, well, he would fix that! "You think I can trust a word that comes out of your mouth after what you've done to me? You're an even bigger fool than the shoes you fill in that case. But you're right about one thing, Morris Bench wasn't a killer, but now…HE'S GONE!...Now, there is only HYDRO MAN!"

Hydro Man allowed his wave to envelop him as it collapsed on itself toward Fisk and the Oscorp front entrance. The Kingpin had swiftly pulled something out of his pocket and brought it to his face as soon as the water hit...

The Spider duo swung between the skyscrapers as they searched for the elusive Hydro Man. Above them, Iron Man flew at a slightly faster pace just ahead to allow them to keep up. Once they found Bench, they knew their best chance of beating him was together. Hopefully, the tracker Tony had setup would find him before he emerged to rampage again.

However, it was ill fated, as JARVIS picked something up through the Internet, *Sir, I've just picked up a report about a series of ruptured water lines, near Oscorp.*

Tony deduced, "Bench."

*Yes sir, and he's presently attacking it.*

Iron Man turned to the Spider duo, "guys, we got a lead, JARVIS just received word about Hydro Man attacking Oscorp right now."

"Then let's change course!" Spidey said before swinging off to the left to head down a connecting street that he knew would lead to Oscorp.

Ghosty followed him in suit along with Iron Man above them, before she vented, "Guess this means setting the tracker was a waste of time."

"Well you live and learn," Iron Man replied which Ghosty gave no comment to, and the super trio kept their move toward Oscorp.

Almost five minutes later, they had reached the adjacent building just outside the Oscorp complex. The Spider Duo swung themselves to the roof to observe, only to be horrified at what they saw. The entire Oscorp complex was half swamped in water, only the top floors were unaffected, and the bottom was hidden under Hudson liquid.

Iron Man landed next to them and said, "well that's a mess. JARVIS, scan the whole facility for any life signs."

*Scanning now…(1 minute later)...fortunately scans have detected no fatalities, however all resident life signatures are currently trapped in two main locations on the higher levels.*

"Then our first priority is getting them out," said Iron Man.

"We can take care of that," Spiderman commented, with Ghost Spider nodding right next to him.

"Ok, that just leaves Hydro Man, so I'll…"

JARVIS interrupted him, *sir! I've just detected a new signal, incoming from several miles out…it's the Helicarrier.*

"SHIELD, great," Tony muttered. He turned back to the Spider Duo, "change of plans, SHIELD's inbound and on their way."

"SHIELD? Huff, I suppose it would be too much to hope they are here to help us other heroes with the rescue?" Spidey asked dryly.

"More like keep us from doing what's supposed to be their job, like they even do it anyway," Iron Man replied.

Ghosty then interjected, "we don't have time to deal with political red tape, there are innocent people trapped in there who need our help now!" She said while pointing at the drowned facility.

"Agreed, you two stick with your plan of getting everyone out of there, I'll deal with SHIELD before we move onto Hydro Man," said Iron Man.

"You'll be alright then?" Spidey asked.

"I'll be fine, I've been down this road long before you two came along," Iron Man's took to the air and hovered, "but just in case you need aid, JARVIS, connect them with the Mites."

*Initiated sir…* Two mites just like the ones from before were expelled from beneath his helmet and attached themselves to the back of the Spider's necks.

*Spiderman and Ghost Spider, you are now connected to Iron Man's comm-link*

"Alright, we're set," said Spiderman.

"Good luck you two," Iron Man said before taking off.

Ghost Spider then said to their temporary AI assistant, "JARVIS, can you tell us where the closest group is located?"

*The first are trapped in the second floor in the facility's third wing.*

"Alright let's go, good to be working with you again JARVIS," said Ghost Spider before she and her partner shot a web to swing toward the upper levels of Oscorp.

Iron Man meanwhile was flying higher above the city to intercept where JARVIS had detected the Helicarrier. The massive airborne carrier ship that was SHIELD HQ finally decloaked itself as he drew near. Both flying entities halted in the air within close proximity.

Aboard the main bridge of the Helicarrier, Colonel Fury and Agent Hill stared intently at the armored Avenger as they contemplated their next move. Two other agents from his special ops team walked up behind him, and the two ex-supervillains were surprised to see who was on screen.

"Woah, is that…Iron Man?" Mark Allen asked in astonishment.

"You know any other guys with a flying red and yellow suit of armor?" Sandman asked him from his right. They were interrupted as Iron Man spoke through the comms…

*Fury, I know you're in there, so if you've come to help us dissolve the situation, please feel free to do so. But if you're gonna play your usual power play then you can…"

"Save it Stark," Fury retorted, cutting him off, "I'm here to contain the situation and nothing else, but if you insist on interfering in SHIELD matters, well, you know the score."

Both Mark and Sandman shared an incredulous look before Iron Man continued, "the score? I know it by heart Nick, and I honestly couldn't care less about it. Because right now, innocent people are trapped in that building by a mad driven superhuman who can drown all of New York in a heartbeat. So I'm not going anywhere until the job is done, comprende?"

Fury and Hill scowled at Iron Man's retort, whereas behind them, Mark could only whisper to Sandman, "man, and I thought Rhino and Electro were bad."

"Tell me about it," said Sandman, though the sound of a clearing throat and glare from Agent Hill silenced them.

*Now I can argue with you all day on jurisdiction and all that usual garbage, or we can work together and make sure the fatality count today stays at zero, otherwise any and all casualties will be on both our hands, so what's it going to be?"

Colonel Fury only kept silent as he continued glaring at Iron Man on screen as he contemplated his suggestion.

Currently at Oscorp…

The Spider duo had made their way through an upper window and crawled along the facility walls following JARVIS's directions. Eventually they came to the first group that was trapped in the conference room, among them was Donald Menkin. Menkin was highly displeased that Fisk had sent Hammerhead away prior to Hydro Man's attack, just for him to save face that Fisk was commingling with wanted criminals. Now he was trapped in a flooded complex with no apparent escape, that is until one lady cried out pointing, "Look! The spider duo!"

"Just hang on everyone, we're getting you out of here," said Spiderman.

"Not everyone is here though, we were split up when the water flooded in," Menkin said, stepping up to make himself known.

Upon recognizing him, Spiderman then said in response, "that's why I brought my partner." He turned to her and said, "I got this group Ghosty, go find the other one."

"I'm on it," she nodded quickly before crawling away along the walls, leaving the first group to Spiderman.

"How do we get out of here? The exit is blocked by the flood!" Another man asked.

Spiderman noticed the large window at the back of the room behind the crowd, "Simple, we'll make another one."

Ghosty continued crawling along the walls to the floor above until JARVIS said, *The last group of civilians are trapped just 30 yards ahead, inside the eatery.*

Ghosty raised an eye, "you mean the cafeteria?"

*Yes, I believe that's what you call it* she refrained from rolling her eyes as she approached the blocked doors. Inside, a large number of staff, both office and scientists were gathered atop the tables having sealed off the majority of the water. Smythe and Stillwell were among them. Suddenly the doors started to groan as they were opening, making them panic, but it turned to surprise as they saw who it was.

"Ghost Spider!" said a majority of the crowd.

"Hang on everyone, I'm getting you out!" she pulled the door a little further open, causing water to further leak in.

Dr. Stillwell halted her, "Stop! You'll only flood the whole room if you keep opening it!"

Ghosty stopped realizing he was right, though the water was already flooding in through the opening she had made. The staff stood further up on the cafeteria tables as the level slowly rose. Ghost Spider pondered to herself how she could get everyone out, 'come on…think! sigh…If only there was a way to drain…'

She then looked up to see a window just off to her right, and instantly got an idea. Grinning beneath her mask, she jumped over to stick to the window and pulled back a fist while thinking, 'Hope this glass isn't too high grade.'

SMASH!...The window broke open from her punch, allowing her to crawl out and repeat the process on a section of glass just below the hole. With another SMASHing punch, the hole was widened and the water started to drain out. Ghosty jumped back inside to finish what she started as the upper level's flood rescinded.

Meanwhile, as the Oscorp employees were being rescued by the Spider Duo, there was one who was not among them. Mainly because he was now the helpless captive, for inside his own laboratory which was now flooded in about 7 feet of water, Fisk hopelessly floated in an encased water bubble that was suspended just above the lab pool by Hydro Man himself. Bench only continued scowling at him with crossed arms as his lower torso remained connected to the pool by a water column, as he waited for Fisk's air supply to run out.

The portable air mask the Kingpin had pulled out of his pocket and attached to his face before being hit by the wave only gave him an extra 30 minutes of air. Usually, he would have a way out of this by now, but Hydro Man's prison rendered him both immobile and mute, taking away his greatest weapons. Fisk helplessly flailed inside the bubble like a fish in a bowl.

"Hmph, go ahead and waste your time trying to get out, all your doing is burning up your oxygen faster," Bench mocked him, "look at you, all your money and all your power, and your still gonna be all washed up in the end…how does it feel lardo? Being the helpless one for a change, huh? I'll bet…it really…HURTS."

All the Kingpin could do was glare.

Spiderman's rescue was almost finished as the last few people in the conference room slid down the makeshift web slide he had created from the broken window all the way to dry ground outside Oscorp. He just finished helping a lady secretary down, leaving only Menkin, to whom he said, "I hope this makes up for the time I accused you of being the Goblin?"

Menkin told Spiderman in his usual tone, "I may be known for questionable traits and colleagues, but I've never been the type of man to hold a grudge, it's bad for business." With that, he slid down leaving Spidey to shrug. Now with his group evacuated and safe, he jumped back the way he came in to go help his partner with hers, before moving on to the real problem…

Fortunately, Ghosty was ahead of him having made her own web slide from her own broken window as the vacated people slid down it one at a time to a spot outside the facility border and the flood.

"That's it everyone, one at a time. Once you reach the bottom, head for the safest high ground away from here," Ghosty instructed. The two scientists were last, but Stillwell held back to speak to the spider heroine while Smythe went ahead of him.

"Is that everyone?" Ghost Spider asked.

"Only Mr. Fisk is left, Bench took him as soon as he attacked," Stillwell told her.

"Any idea where?" Ghosty asked.

"Before the whole building was swamped, I saw him being propelled in the direction of the lab, that's all I know I'm afraid," Stillwell finished before sliding down to join the others.

Ghosty contemplated his words for a moment until her partner jumped next to her, getting her attention.

"Ghost, is everyone out?"

"Yeah, all but Fisk, who was apparently taken hostage. Though I have a lead to where…"

Fisk was down to his last two minutes and he could feel it as struggled to keep his mask on as he coughed out his last breaths, which pleased Hydro Man, "it won't be long now. Soon you won't be able to ruin anyone else, and then, I'll just disappear like a raindrop on the ground."

"Very poetic," Spiderman quipped, getting the villain's attention as he and Ghost Spider swung into the drenched lab sticking to the wall across from him. "However, we can't let either of those things happen, it's bad for the superhero image."

"You two again?!" Hydro man shouted, before pointing to Fisk without losing eye contact with the duo, "why do you even care about this piece of garbage?!"

Spiderman counted down with his fingers as he said, "One, we don't really, because guys like him make our skin crawl. Two, because garbage like Fisk belongs behind bars, not drowned underwater. Finally three, bad guy or otherwise, I will not have another death on my conscience…period."

"Trust us Mr. Bench, you don't want to know what that feels like," Ghost Spider interjected, "fortunately, it's still not too late to avoid it. Police are already working the case against him, in your favor. So just surrender Fisk to them, and come quietly, and this will all be sorted out in time."

"Time?...TIME?!" his tone frightened them as madness took over once again, "look at me, I'm just liquid, a formless freak of nature! DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE TIME?!" The water present in the lab churned and shook at his angry outburst forcing the Spiders to keep themselves balanced on the wall as Fisk rolled over and over in his water prison.

'Man…why are lab accident born supervillains always the ones that end up mad?' Spidey dismally thought to himself.

Hydro Man continued his rant toward Ghost Spider, "...and stop talking to me like I'm even still human spider-girl! Cause in case you're blind, I'm not now! And it's all his fault!" he finished pointing to Fisk who looked like he was breathing his last few seconds of oxygen. "You think I care if I have to answer for his pathetic life? I DON'T! So I'm going to tell you both only one more time, Go Away."

The spiders shared a look with each other, knowing they now had no other choice, as Bench had apparently made his. Turning back to him with a serious look and tone, Ghost Spider replied, "I'm sorry, but we can't do that."

Hydro Man growled before turning his arms into water, "so be it…" he lunged one toward the duo, making them jump away in opposite directions. The spider duo swung along the lab ceiling as they circled the water based villain, ready to begin Round 2.

A water blast from the entity forced Ghosty to jump to the opposite end of the lab. Spidey pulled a web grenade from his belt midswing and threw it after igniting it. Hydro Man pulled up a tentacle to intercept it, causing it to explode. The mesh of webs covering his arm made him release the water from the limb allowing it to fall, and then regenerated to fire another water blast at the webhead.

Ghost Spider swung from behind to aid her partner by hitting Hydro Man in the head again and splashing everywhere. Upon regenerating, Hydro Man turned back to her reaching with a water tentacle which she acrobatically avoided.

Spiderman regained his attention with some web ball shots causing the villain to throw a tentacle his way, and at the same time JARVIS spoke to him,

*Spiderman, you have a message from Mr. Stark, he's outside your present location, through the wall.*

Spiderman replied, "about time, patch him through…Iron Man its Spiderman do you read?"

"Loud and clear Spidey, what's your situation?"

"In simple terms, wet," Spiderman wryly said as he dodged another water tentacle before continuing, "Bench has Fisk trapped in a water bubble in the lab. We're trying to get him out, but we literally have our hands full, and Fisk's unresponsive state tells me he's out of air."

"I have an idea, just keep focused on Bench and try to hold still for at least 10 seconds, I'll tell you when to move."

"Ok, though easier said than done," Spiderman said, dodging another water tentacle and sticking to the lab wall above the screen console.

Seeing Hydro Man surge toward him, Spidey thought, "I gotta get him talking again, for at least 10 seconds."

"Come on Hydro Man! You can't be serious about this!" he yelled out incredulously.

His tone momentarily stunned Hydro Man, and even Ghost Spider, before the villain replied, "of course I am! When have I yet to show that I'm not?! You won't get out of my way, so I'll make you!" he pulled his water tentacle back…

"Not that! I mean this whole supervillain ensemble of yours!" Spiderman exclaimed, which halted the villain's attack as he went wide-eyed at the mention of the word 'supervillain'.

Ghost Spider realized that Spidey was stalling for time by continuing to reason with him. She kept silent as she watched from her wall perch on the opposite end while keeping an eye on Fisk while preparing to make her move.

Hydro Man lowered his arm, as what Spidey said finally seemed to strike a chord within him as he gasped, "villain?...I'm not a villain! I…I don't want to hurt people!"

"Really? Could have fooled me, cause all your actions to get this point have proven otherwise, despite clearly having a better option," Spiderman continued, seeing that it was working.

"I only wanted to get to Fisk! To make him pay for what he did to me, and to make sure he can't do it to anyone else!" Bench argued.

"At what cost?! By becoming like him?! Ruthless and cold?!...Look, your need for vengeance is understandable and natural, I've been there believe me," Spiderman finished with a serious tone as he reflected to himself, "but trust me when I say, when you allow the need for revenge to consume you, you become something far worse than what you hate the most. Then you're left asking yourself, was it really worth destroying yourself?"

Bench's face finally started calming as he was now coming to his senses. Spiderman was relaxing as well, seeing that he had finally calmed down, but quickly tensed up when he heard Iron Man say, "Move now!"

A terrified Spidey yelled out, "NO WAIT!"

Too late, as the Unibeam was heard from behind, prompting Spiderman to jump away as the high powered energy beam blasted through the wall toward Hydro Man who saw it too late as it blasted through him first, and then Fisk's prison bubble freeing him, splashing water everywhere…

'Oh man, talk about bad timing,' Spidey thought dismally as he watched while perched near the hole. The water slowly reformed itself into the human form of Hydro Man, now glaring at Spiderman with contempt.

"You…slimy…LYING SPIDER!" Hydro Man threw himself at Spiderman who jumped through the hole in the wall. Hydro Man's water jet splashed against his last position before collecting itself and flowing out of the hole to pursue the webhead.

Seeing her partner lure the water entity out, Ghost Spider jumped down into the lab pool to swim down to Fisk, who was sinking unresponsively. She grabbed him by the hand, and with all of her spider strength, pulled him up as she swam to the surface. Taking a gulp of air before pulling Fisk's head above water, she shot a web toward a nearby ledge to pull them both out onto an open ledge. Remembering her high school First Aid classes, Ghosty immediately started doing chest compressions.

While trying to revive him, she couldn't help but think, 'of everyone in New York, the first one I use these techniques on is this guy, oh the irony.'

After a 3rd attempt, Fisk roughly coughed, and gagged out all the remaining water in his lungs. He continued coughing as he struggled to regain his breath, "cough!...cough!...uggghhh"

Ghosty couldn't resist a quip, "Refreshing isn't it? Consider this the luckiest day of your life."

The disguised Kingpin only shot a glare at the disguised police captain's daughter, who gladly shot back with a Spider-LOOK.

The fight between Spiderman and Hydro Man continued outside, and with his anger greater than ever, the water entity now sought to drown Spiderman as he supposedly did Fisk.

Spidey swung along the building walls while dodging another tentacle and said, "Guess an apology for the surprise blast through the wall wouldn't help, right?"

"What do you think?! INSECT!" Hydro Man yelled in fury before firing a double pronged water blast at the webhead who swung out of the way just in time.

"Yeah that's what I thought, and FYI, it's arachnid not insect! WOAH!" Spidey quickly dodged another tentacle as he swung along the border of the Oscorp building on the Hudson's outer rim. Hydro Man kept after him as continued the chase from atop his water cyclone, until he was halted by a repulsor blast through the shoulder.

"Over here waterworks!" He looked up in fury to see Iron Man hovering right above to his right with his other gauntlet at the ready.

"You! You shot at me!" He shouted in realization before firing a water blast which encased the armored hero momentarily before he jetted out.

"Yeah I did, and I'm now regretting it," Iron Man dryly replied.

Hydro Man prepared to unleash another water tentacle until he felt something hit his shoulder, and detonated…

POW! was heard as the web grenade detonated, encasing half of his upper body in webs. Spidey looked over to see his partner jump out of the blast hole and web swung around to the other side of the water entity and threw her final web grenade at his other shoulder, detonating at impact.

POW! was repeated as Ghost Spider spun and landed next to her partner on the perimeter wall.

"Way to slow him down Ghosty, nice shots" said Spiderman.

She nodded and said, "thanks, unfortunately those were the only two I had on me."

The water of Hydro Man that was encased in the webs leaked out of them, making them collapse to the ground while all three of them watched. Suddenly, the water regathered and jetted over them in an Arch formation, landing into the Hudson!

Soon enough, the water of the bay began churning around the impact location, and then erupted with a BOOM! A water column larger than any of the others before extended above them, and out of the top formed the blue transparent upper body and face of Hydro Man.

"ok…now we're in trouble," Spidey moaned.

"big time," Ghosty followed with the same tone.

The water entity ROARED, raising his arms as his size grew to immense proportions, eclipsing not only the heroes, but the entire Oscorp building, and was still growing! All the three of them could do was watch in terror as Hydro Man, fueled by the Hudson, continued growing like a behemoth.

"I know I'm gonna regret asking this, but JARVIS, can you tell me if his growth has a limit?" Tony asked apprehensively.

*I dread to tell you this sir, but seeing how Hydro Man's form is complete H2O, I hypothesize he can grow as much as the volume of water in the Hudson Bay."

That meant only one thing to Tony, that Hydro Man's growth limit was equal to the amount of water on the planet! They had to stop this mad villain now before he escaped into the ocean, otherwise nothing would be able to stop him! "We need to end this now, please tell me our ringer is in place?"

His response was interrupted by the water giant's yell to all of Manhattan, "YOU'VE PUSHED ME TO THE EDGE FOR THE LAST TIME!...NOW, YOU'LL ALLL PAAAYYY!"

Spiderman made one last attempt, "Please Morris stop this! You don't have to do this! You don't even really want to, I know, because I saw and heard you before everything hit the fan! There is still time to stop and do the right thing! Accident or not I know you're a good man, we all do! So I ask, please be unlike the others before you, don't be a monster."

Hydro Man paused for a moment before growling again, "A GOOD MAN?...I WAS…ONCE. NOW…I AM WHAT THE CORRUPTED SLIME OF THIS CITY FORCED TO BECOME!...AND OTHERS BEFORE!...NOW, LOOKING FROM HERE, I SEE THIS CITY FOR THE CESSPOOL IT TRULY IS…DISGUSTING …AND THE ONLY ELEMENT THAT CAN TRULY CLEANSE IT FOR GOOD…IS WATER, AND…I…AM…WATER!" He grew even more as he prepared for his most destructive wave yet, one powerful enough to sweep away all of Manhattan. But outsized or not, Spiderman stood his ground, spreading out his arms in defiance to the madman.

"If you want to flood all of New York, you're gonna have to go through me."

Ghost Spider stood next to him, matching his stance while taking his hand with her own, saying, "that goes for me too."

Iron Man watched them, admiring their bravery, and hoping that it wouldn't be for nought…and it wasn't.

"Actually that won't be necessary webheads."

A bodiless yet familiar voice echoed through the air, surprising the spider duo, and even Hydro Man, who paused looking around for the source. The spiders knew who it was regardless if they couldn't see him, as Spidey asked his partner, "hey, was that?..."

Before he could finish, Hydro Man felt himself shaking as everyone looked down to see the ringer Iron Man had earlier mentioned. Sand was engulfing the water entity from below as the earth substrate that made up the Hudson bed was enveloping its liquid solution. Hydro Man was frozen with fear as the enveloping sand continued to crawl up the cyclone, until it extended out like a limb at his current height, forming the familiar sand colored face of Flint Marko.

The Sandman smirked at his water counterpart's stunned expression before saying, "Hey there…Hydro Man right? Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Sandman," he formed a giant sand fist out of his right hand before stating, "AGENT OF SHIELD!"

He punched his water counterpart in the head causing water to splash everywhere along the Oscorp coastline, including the spider heroes who were drenched once again. Hydro Man quickly regenerated and threw a rebound punch at Sandman's head which went through him blowing sand in the opposite direction into the Hudson. However, he didn't let that slow him down, as the sand titan proceeded to swallow up the water behemoth in a wave of his own.

The wave turned into a sand sphere up top and the water column base on the bottom, before the water finally dropped back into the Hudson, causing Sandman to lose his captive as he unraveled. His water opponent quickly reformed his upper torso and arms and Sandman did the same to match before both attacked with elongated limbs. The 3 normal sized heroes watched in silence as the pseudo monster-size themed battle between the elemental behemoths ensued.

Spiderman whispered to Ghost Spider, "No offense to old Japanese movies, but Godzilla has nothing on this."

Ghost Spider was too stunned by the elemental brawl to respond, especially when Sandman ended up being pushed back by a water blast from Hydro Man. He continued firing his unlimited ammunition while mocking his elemental predecessor…

"NOT VERY SMART, ARE YOU SANDY?"

Sandman groaned as he held the water at bay with both mega sized arms, "Aaggh! I'll admit I'm not an egghead like most people I know, but I know this much…sand is earth, and Earth ABSORBS WATER!"

He fired back with an extension shot of his own, pushing his sand arms against the water blasts with enough force to drive it back. Drawing from the Hudson bed, he fed even more sand into his attack, forcing Hydro Man to watch in horror as his water blasts were consumed by the sand. Upon reaching him, Sandman lunged and body slammed against Hydro Man, fusing together.

The Spider Duo and Iron Man watched in astonishment as the melded bodies of both elemental behemoths slowly reformed itself into some giant, mud-thing. Arms formed, as well as legs which stood in the Hudson water. Atop what was supposedly its torso, was a disfigured head with two faces! Marko on the right and Bench on the left, both clearly in agony as they simultaneously screamed in their fused state.

As if the heroes weren't astonished enough, the giant mud body started walking to the shore, slowly but surely, it put one foot on dry land, and Bench's voice screamed, "WhAt ArE yOu DoInG?!"

Marko set both feet on dry land before yelling out, "NOOWW!"

Iron Man took his cue, pointing up and aiming his right arm gauntlet, and opening a compartment to reveal a discharge weapon shaped like a prod. The spiders watched him charge it up for five seconds before shooting at the mud giant.

"RAAARRRGGGHHH!" The giant's disfigured voice echoed throughout New York as the electrical discharge shocked the soaked elemental fusion in his place. After 30 seconds, the mud-thing collapsed to his knees, and Iron Man ceased firing. The remains of the giant finally collapsed to the ground, splattering mud all over the far side of Oscorp's security wall and some neighboring buildings.

An eerie calm befell the scene as the Spider Duo and Armored Avenger made they way over to assess the aftermath. Spiderman internally hoped neither had perished, especially Sandman after everything he had done to redeem himself, including today. His hopes were met as the nearby mud slowly gathered itself off to their sides. It reformed into the shape of a man standing on his legs, the man known only as Sandman!

His immediate disorientation made him fall to his knees, "Ugh…oooo…owwww…gasp!"

"Marko, you okay?" Spidey asked, walking to his side.

"Okay as I can be, agh, remind me to never do that again, agh," Sandman groaned on his knees.

The heroes smirked as the webhead helped his new ally to his feet. Both Ghost Spider and Iron Man gave a nod at the new hero's display of bravery. Meanwhile, water was now leaking out of the mud remains of the giant, before reforming into a body right in front of them, the human body of Hydro Man laying on his side.

The heroes were all shocked at his sudden reappearance, especially when he opened his eyes! "Ooooohhhhh…" only for them to fall back as he groaned and collapsed into a coma.

The four of them took a breath, and a moment of pity for the former Morris Bench. Nonetheless, Hydro Man was defeated.

SHIELD agents swarmed all over Oscorp in the aftermath of the battle. The first thing they did was seal away the unconscious Hydro Man was in a special capsule before being flown away in a Quinjet. Iron Man and the Spider Duo oversaw everything from the sidelines. JARVIS'S Mites had returned from the spiders to their host as the agents did their work.

All rescued employees were questioned on what they witnessed from the beginning of Hydro Man's attack to the end. Each of them gave their own perspective stories, although Smythe, Stillwell, and Menkin merely said, 'no comment.' Of course, they were getting off easy, unlike their boss.

Inside his office that was spared of the flood due to high ground, Fisk had been pulled aside by Colonel Fury himself, with his agents Maria Hill and Flint Marko, somewhat recovered from the fight. Needless to say, Fisk was less than willing to cooperate with them as Fury asked…

"In regards to what has occurred today because of you, do you have anything to say for yourself, Mr. Fisk?" Fury questioned.

Fisk replied, "nothing to you, Colonel, I've never supported SHIELD and its shady tactics before, and I still don't."

"Don't play innocent," Fury addressed the disguised Kingpin of crime, "believe me Fisk, we know more about you and your 'activities' then we let on, A LOT more."

"If that were the case, I would already be under arrest," Fisk threw back, arrogantly confident that his discreteness was more than capable of giving them and the NYPD no evidence to use against him. He turned his back to them to stare out the window before continuing, "seeing as how you've now detained the assailant and asked your questions, you have no more business being here. So I request that you leave immediately, I have a company to repair…again."

Fury shot a glare, as did Hill, before they all turned around to leave. Fury halted as he took the first step to tell Fisk, "careful cleaning your house Wilson, because we'll be watching." With that, he and his two agents made their leave as Fisk silently kept a hard gaze out the window, planning his next move.

All the water had been drained out of the building, more or less. Some puddles still remained in areas like the lab that would take time to restore. Seeing as how SHIELD had all bases covered, and figured that Fisk had received enough of a comeuppance for now, the Spider Duo decided to take their leave, almost…

"What do you say we get outta here partner?" Spidey asked Ghosty.

She replied, "Sounds good to me, the less time around here the better, besides we need to dry off, again."

Spiderman nodded in agreement before turning to his armored hero, "thanks to you as well Iron Man. We wouldn't have won today if it wasn't for you and Sandman."

"Anytime you two," Iron Man replied, "and sorry about that shot earlier, I didn't know you were on the verge of talking him down. If I had held up, you could have gotten through to him, and this could have been avoided." he finished gesturing to the mud mess and property damage from the giant's collapse.

"Sigh, well at least all of New York is still above water," Spiderman commented before asking, "what's gonna happen to Bench now?"

"I'll see what I can do, maybe I can make my cure tally two for two," Iron Man quipped, which the Spiders lightly grinned at under their masks.

"I suppose it would be too much to expect someone like Wilson Fisk to correct his own mistakes?" Ghost Spider asked.

"Yup, unfortunately not everyone has a conscience like the Connors, or you guys," said Iron Man.

"Or you," Spiderman told him, receiving a nod. The webhead had something else to say, "this isn't over with them, is it?"

"By them, do you mean Fisk and Oscorp, or Fury and SHIELD?" Iron Man asked.

"Both," Spidey said upon seeing the three interrogators approach them as they exited the building. The meeting of threes from different viewpoints on serving and protecting now stood facing each other.

"I presume you'll be covering your cost of the damages here Stark?" Fury asked the Armored Avenger.

Tony flipped up his visor to face the SHIELD Director in the flesh, "Naturally, though may I also presume you'll get right to work on a cure for Bench?"

"We've already purged Fisk's files on the device that caused the accident from the beginning, so we'll see what we can do," Fury answered.

"I might be able to help with that, so if you need technical assistance, well, you know how to reach me," said Stark.

"Naturally," Fury then turned his attention to the Spider Duo standing next to him, "I recall during our first meeting how we offered to help you two be better prepared to handle threats like this, so tell me, what's your opinion now?"

The Spiders narrowed their eyes at the Director at yet another attempt to sway them, and the webhead merely replied, "unchanged."

Both Nick Fury and Maria Hill were none too pleased to hear that they hadn't wisened up since the Carnage incident, at least according to them. Didn't these two realize they could serve their city in greater capacity and be more valuable as SHIELD agents then as costumed vigilantes? The risk of exposure for them was too great, especially since one was the Police Captain's daughter!

Tony Stark interjected knowing SHIELD'S true motives, "come on Nick, just cause they're kids doesn't mean they're stupid."

Tony was all too familiar with Fury's tactics and methods for swaying enhanced individuals into SHIELD'S Collective, having been through it himself. He admitted there were merits for those like Sandman, whose recruitment was also a form of redemption for the ex-supervillain, but one size didn't fit all. After all, if co-leading a team of super powered heroes with Captain America had taught him anything, it's that any group run by committee always had an agenda.

Rather than continue an inevitable argument, Fury decided enough was enough, for now, "don't slip up, otherwise you'll find yourself looking from the other side, where people like Fisk are."

Fury left with Hill and Sandman, the latter merely shrugging to the webheads at his confusion to what he had just witnessed from the Director. Spidey and Ghosty were less than enthused…

"Sheesh, that guy can be a real jerk when he wants to," Ghosty commented.

"Tell me about it," Iron Man agreed.

Spidey said in agreement, "Yeah, it's like dealing with a calmer, colder version of Jameson…" he suddenly remembered, "Jameson…OH NO! The photos!" he facepalmed realizing that in the midst of the crisis, he never set his backup camera to take any shots!

"You weren't able to get any pictures?" Ghost Spider asked with concern.

"No, the hostages in the flooded building seemed more important at the time, not like that is gonna make a difference to picklepuss. Oohh, there goes my job, and my only means of helping Aunt May," he said dismally with his partner trying to console him with a shoulder pat.

"Here, take this," the spiders looked up to see Iron Man handing them a data chip.

"What's this?" Spiderman asked.

"Consider it a gift, and from the courage you showed today, you both more than earned it," the billionaire answered before setting it into the teen's hand. He then closed his visor down before making his leave.

"See you two later, until next time," Iron Man jetted into the sky leaving the baffled spider duo behind, as they looked at the datachip with both confusion, and curiosity.

Later at Parker House…

As soon as they got to his room, Peter inserted the data chip into his computer with Gwen looking over his shoulder, determined to find out what was on it. As the folder opened up, they couldn't believe their eyes, at least a dozen shots of the recent Oscorp battle, from Iron Man's viewpoint!

"No way!" Gwen gasped.

"I don't believe it, hah! Out of everything his suit can do, it can take its own photos?! This is awesome!" Peter exclaimed as he eagerly looked at every one, from when Hydro Man broke out of the building, from when he fought him as Spiderman, to Ghost Spider's web grenade shots, and even Hydro Man vs Sandman!

While excited, Peter was also curious, "But why? Why would he just give me this?"

Gwen smiled as she told him, "like he said silly, you earned it. Pete, you're always the one who puts his life on the line to help others because its what's right, not for the rewards or headlines. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't accept one when they do come around."

Peter listened to her every word and nodded back in agreement, besides if he didn't, Jonah would tear his contract up before morning, and he needed this job, "ok then, but just this once. I do have a rep to keep as a photographer with my own skills after all."

"Hehe, true," Gwen giggled as she stared at him in loving admiration for his integrity, and decided to reward it in her own way. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she snuggled her head next to his, something Peter was really enjoying from his goofy lovesick grin.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Gwen whispered.

"...and you're spectacular, you know that?" Peter said in the same tone as the young couple gave a soft kiss to each other. The teen superhero filtered through the photos afterwards to send the best ones to the Daily Bugle, and then took his teen spider heroine girlfriend by the hand leading her downstairs.

Night fell as the construction crews left on the first night of Oscorp's repairs, leaving only two individuals in the building, specifically Oscorp's CEO office where the Kingpin was having a secret meeting with his lead engineer. Smythe had brought out his tablet to show the footage he had gathered during Hydro Man's attack. It had been all gathered and compiled together from surveillance equipment that was still functioning.

"Is this all you were able to acquire?" Fisk asked Smythe looking at the screen.

"It's all that could be acquired, everything else was lost during the attack," Smythe answered.

Fisk pondered for a moment before coming to a decision, "well then, this should be feasible enough for you to get started, wouldn't you agree?"

"My professional opinion, it's more than enough, all of these recorded moves compiled together should provide all the data I need to create any necessary countermeasures," Smythe replied as he looked at the screen playing recordings of Spiderman and Ghost Spider during their actions within Oscorp of rescuing the employees to fighting Hydro Man in the lab. He pressed another soft key which changed the screen to show rough schematics of a new invention, their next in line from the Hudson shipment.

The approaching storm finally hit shore, as Fisk grinned sinisterly before saying, "once repairs are complete, we'll be free to commence Project 'Slayer'."

Currently at the Parker House…

The young couple laid down together on the living room couch as they finished talking with Aunt May. After Peter sent the photos to the Bugle, his aunt offered Gwen to stay for the night, which she accepted, for she knew Peter's aunt would never take no for an answer when offering hospitality, plus it beat web slinging out in the rain, and she had gotten wet enough these past two days. Upon finishing dinner, the three of them vacated to the living room, where the secret superheroes gave an edited version of the day's events from their perspective.

Of course even the edited version was more than enough to shock Aunt May, fortunately not too severely, "my goodness! No wonder you both came home soaking wet!"

"Yeah, it wasn't the first time it rained hard enough to take a bath in, just the first to come from a superhuman," Peter said.

Gwen poked him in the ribs saying with a tease, "that's what happens when you get too close, as I've warned you."

"Well then, I guess it was fortunate I made that helping of hot soup to go with the chicken cordon bleu tonight?" Aunt May asked.

"Yup! You are a miracle worker Aunt May, nobody but the good Lord himself can do it better," Peter commented which Gwen giggled at. Aunt May lightly laughed at her nephew's teasing demeanor, "oh Peter you teaser…sigh, Ben was just the same, it's no wonder where you got it from."

"Heehee, I've noticed it all too often, must be a Parker trait," Gwen said in a loving tone while giving her boyfriend a loving stare making him go red.

Aunt May smiled in agreement to Gwen's statement, "indeed it is." She then stood up from her chair, "well it's getting late, we best be getting to bed now ok?"

"We were actually gonna stay up a little later before hitting the sack," Peter told her, "but no more than an hour, I promise!"

Aunt May thought for a moment before agreeing, "very well, I trust you remember the sleeping arrangements?" she asked with a raised eye.

Peter nodded while Gwen blushed, "Gwen has my bed and I have the couch, we got it."

Aunt May gave a final nod before heading upstairs as Peter and Gwen both told her good night. At the sound of her bedroom door closing, Peter took the remote to change to the news channel. The sight of Jolly Jonah spoke for itself.

"In yet another display of no good vigilantism, these webbed menaces have turned yet another city patron into another freak like them! This one was the worst yet, given his threats to drown us 60 feet under! That mad water titan maybe dealt with, but how will be ready the next time one of these freaks shows up? We won't be safe, not until Spiderman and Ghost Spider are locked up like all..."

Peter muted the television.

"Ugh, picklepuss's slandering never fails to help put me to sleep," Peter droned.

"Hmph…" Gwen grumped toward Jonah's lying broadcast, "It's never bothered you? Like at all?"

"It probably would, if his accusations weren't so outrageously wrong," Peter reasoned, "and I keep telling myself it will be worth it one day to see the look on his face when all of his reported tales finally backfire on him."

Gwen smirked before saying, "true…though he's actually right about one thing, as it reminded me of something Colonel Fury told us…will we really be ready the next time this happens? Can we always count on being fortunate enough to win the fight without heavy cost?"

Peter pondered her words for a moment, before looking outside at the pelting storm with a serious expression, "I don't know Gwen…I just don't know."

The only response he received was her snuggling up closer to him for comfort and warmth, he hugged her close as the only sounds that could be heard was the pelting rain on the windows. They knew this storm would soon pass through, and could take this time to relax, but the real question was, for how long?

THE END

I have officially brought in all the anticipated Spiderman villains for Season 3, who knows where I will go from here, and when. I did throw in an idea at the ending, but I won't go further then that right now. My life right now is still real busy and uncertain, so I don't know when I will continue. Nonetheless, I am glad I was finally able to post this at the end of Autism Awareness Month, and hopefully I have at least given a good start to what I hope people will say is an enjoyable saga. Please feel free to leave reviews, and even go back over the previous stories and review them if you haven't, until next time!