Act 1 Issue 1: Dark Troubles

New Vale City, Manhattan

BGM-Spider-Man 3 (Game) OST-Black Suit Theme #3

Just another ordinary night at the City That Never Sleeps. People hanging out at Time Square. Police on hot pursuit of criminals in their cars. And an elderly Norwegian man running for his life through Central Park away from a dark stalker. He pants exhaustedly as he glances back to catch a glimpse of his mysterious stalker leaping from shadow to shadow, playing with their prey as they steadily close the gap between them.

Blinded by terror, the elderly man runs out of Central Park and towards a dark alleyway in hopes of losing him there somehow. But it was all a trick by the stalker, having him run into a dead end with the only hope of escaping would be the same way he entered. Taking a quick breather, the man turns around to escape this trap, just to be kicked in the face and knocked onto the wall, where his limbs are pinned by awfully strong and familiar webbing.

The elderly man grunts, more terrified than ever as he desperately tries to free himself from the webbing. But as he tries, his stalker lands in front of him while blending in with the shadows to conceal his true identity. It wasn't enough as the man can vaguely make out their silhouette, which strikingly resembles Spider-Man dressed in a Black Suit but with the eyes and the patches on the back of his hands mysteriously colored greenish-white.

"Spider-Man!? What's gotten into you?! Why are you after me like this?! Is there something you need from me!?" The terrified man asked the unusually dark, and ominously silent webslinger, "W-W-Wait! It's about the Project, right?! You recently fought the Flames of Disaster back to its Vessel! You want to know more of its secrets, and its other half!"

"No." The Dark Spider-Man said emotionlessly, and speaking in an unfamiliar voice that doesn't sound like Spider-Man at all. "I know everything that transpired 20 years ago. Since the very beginning of the Project. I was used for its experiments, day and night, until you came along and split me in two." He says darkly, slowly approaching the increasingly-horrified man.

"No…It can't be…It just can't…" said the horrified man as he just figured out the true identity of this mysterious webslinger.

BGM End

Before the man utter out his true name, the Dark Spidey morphs his right hand into claws and coldly says, "Goodbye, doctor." The sound of impalement was heard throughout the alleyway, along with the man's cry of pain until it slowly fades into the darkness.

The Next Morning…At Peter Parker's Apartment

The real Spider-Man is in his pajamas, rinsing his mouth with mouthwash before spitting the stuff out to his bathroom's sink. Lately, things have been relatively peaceful for Peter, allowing him to brush his teeth without interruption of crime alerts from his cellphone. Instead, he was confused to hear his cellphone ringing and promptly heads out the bathroom to find it.

"Come on, come on! Where is it?!" Peter ask himself, hurrying to find his cellphone that he left somewhere in his bedroom. He scurries his hand atop of his drawers, then under his bed, until he found it lying around atop his bed right as he misses the call. Surprisingly, the call came from Captain America, who was kind enough to leave a voicemail that his messy friend answers.

'Peter, I want to talk to you. Call me back as soon as you can. It's important.' Steve said as the voicemail ends.

"Wonder what Steve wants to talk about? It can't be to rejoin the Avengers. He was perfectly fine with me quitting 'cause I wasn't the biggest fan of the government now controlling the team. I'll call him back after breakfast." Peter comments, recalling the recent ratification of the Superhuman Registration Act that regulate the actions of all superheroes and place the Avengers under government control.

With that, Peter put on his civilian clothes and walk down the stairs to the kitchen to meet with the breakfast cooked by his lovely wife, Yang Xiao Long. "Mornin', my lovely Dragon Queen." He happily greets her. However, Yang didn't respond. She was too focused on the morning's news report being broadcasted from TV. And judging from her stunned, horrified face, it is reporting nothing good. "What's the matter?" Peter asks, now sounding more concerned.

"Um, Pete. You're feeling okay, right? Had enough sleep and not allowing an alien symbiote use your body to go on a midnight swing?" Yang concernedly asks her husband.

"What? No! What would give you that idea?" Peter asked, approaching her with a comforting hug that she accepts without hesitation.

"I just saw it on the news. Apparently Spider-Man, or someone dressed as Spider-Man, murdered an innocent man named Dr. Erik Selvig last night." said Yang, showing him the news report of the ambulance taking in the webbed dead body of Selvig, which horrifies Peter.

"Selvig? And he was…murdered by a Spider-Man look-a-like?" Peter reacts with a horrified look on his face, as he recalls Selvig being the lead SHIELD scientist of Project Pegasus. The very same project that accidently split Solaris in two, and was the project that his parents, Richard and Mary Parker, worked on before their deaths.

Wakanda Island, Shrine Isle

BGM-Sonic Mania Plus OST-Angel Island Zone

Wakanda Island. Home to the Wakandans and Knuckles the Echidna, it is the most technologically advanced kingdom on the planet thanks to its endless supply of Vibranium and the eternal energies of the Master Emerald. Except, the Emerald that empowers the island to float has mysteriously vanished, leaving the island to sit in the middle of the ocean while all eyes are trying to find out where the Master Emerald vanished to, starting with stares at its gullible guardian.

"One job." says a certain Blue Hedgehog, putting up his finger towards the red echidna as he continues with the berating, "You have ONE job, Knuckles. Ugh, how'd you lose it this time?" asked Sonic the Hedgehog, shrugging with annoyance at his rival friend for allowing the Master Emerald to be stolen again.

With the butting rivals is King T'Challa and his royal family, Queen Ororo and Princess Shuri, all three of them standing aside with blinking deadpan faces as they just listen to Knuckles retorting, "I CAN EXPLAIN, ALRIGHT? I was standing atop the Master Emerald when I saw these birds fly down and make a nest on a pillar. They looked suspicious so I kept an eye on them. Next thing I knew the Master Emerald popped out of existence and I fell-!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! You were BIRDWATCHING while the Master Emerald went poof?!" Sonic yells at his face.

"We really need to invest in anti-gravity drives." Black Panther quips, pinching his nose in annoyance as he's getting tired of his island always plummeting to the ocean whenever the Master Emerald disappears.

While Red and Blue were arguing, which is normal for those two, Shuri makes it her mission to find out what happened to the Master Emerald. The young scientist walks to the center of the shrine where the Master Emerald once sat on and uses a highly advanced scanner to detect any remnants of its energies that can be used to track down its location.

"Oh this is interesting." Shuri quipped. "Knuckles wasn't lying about the Master Emerald going 'poof' under his feet. I'm detecting a temporal anomaly that caused the Emerald to vanish from the timestream." She informs her friends and family.

"It disappeared from reality? How can that be, unless it was stolen from the past." Storm wondered.

"Or stolen from the future." Knuckles remarks, slowly figuring out exactly what happened to his Emerald.

"But that doesn't make sense. What happens in the future doesn't affect the past. It's usually the other way around." Storm argued.

Knuckles crosses his arms, "Not when it involves the Master Emerald. Now I know how it disappeared. Just like before, when Eggman Nega stole it."

"Explain, Knuckles." Black Panther request an explanation on what he is talking about.

Knuckles calmly explains to his friends, "A few years ago, I found out from that guy that the Master Emerald is more unique than I thought. That it can exist in all timelines simultaneously. So when he transformed the Emerald into a card in the future, it disappeared from all timelines, including this one. Man it was so annoying getting it back that I had to explore the future Angel Island when he transported to the present."

"I see. So the Master Emerald is like a crystalized form of the Nexus of All Realities, a cross-dimensional gateway that provides a path to all possible dimensions." Panther ponders, stroking his muzzle.

"Sure. I guess that's one way to put it." quips Knuckles as he doesn't know anything about this Nexus of All Realities.

"Since Nega has been hanging out with the Syndicate in this timeline, it would make sense pointing fingers at them for stealing the Master Emerald. No doubt it'll help them complete the Solaris Project." Sonic remarked.

But unaware to everyone in this timeline, the Master Emerald was indeed stolen, but by a mad mutant clone known as Stryfe. He stole the Emerald from the Knuckles of an alternate past, leading it to disappear throughout all realities at the same time and causing chaos throughout the timestream.

"They're still working in trying to revive a Time God? Surprise they haven't been stopped already." Shuri quipped.

Sonic shrugs, "They would've been stopped sooner if the government didn't think it was a good idea placing all superheroes under their control. Everyone's either more focused on resistance movements to get the SRA repealed, or being arrested by Rusk and his G.U.N. squad simply 'cause the dude hates freedom."

"Hence why you left the Freedom Fighters." Knuckles comments, recalling the hedgehog leaving the team right after the SRA was enacted.

"I didn't leave. I'm just working as an independent operative." The grinning Sonic quipped, which simply got an unconvinced scoff from the echidna.

"Nonetheless, the Master Emerald's disappearance is a grave crisis. If it was truly stolen by the Syndicate, we must take action and retrieve it before its energies could be used to resurrect Solaris. Though one half of the God is still secured in a top-secret Avengers facility, I get the bad feeling it'll be discovered soon." Black Panther proclaimed.

"I'll start tracing the source of the temporal anomaly immediately. It should lead us to wherever the Master Emerald is." said Shuri, running towards her lab in the Golden City.

"I'll contact the X-Men for info on any Syndicate base." Storm said to her husband.

"And I'll meet with the Ultimates if they found an answer to the Solaris problem before his revival could become reality." Panther replied.

"You lovebirds do that. I'll be taking a jog through Mushroom Hill in the meantime. Knux, stay here and make sure no one steals the shrine next." quips Sonic, leaving his rival growling with fury as he speeds off to run through the forest hill abundant with giant mushrooms.

BGM End

But there is more to his run than meets the eye. Once he makes sure no one is spying on him, Sonic activates his wrist communicator to project a mini-hologram of Hawkeye standing atop of it. "Yo, Hawk. I can safely confirm that Knuckles is an idiot." The Hedgehog jokingly informs the archer, implying that he was sent to Wakanda Island as part of an investigation mission.

"He has one job and he lets a temporal anomaly steal the Master Emerald. His luck is worse than Spidey's." Hawkeye quipped.

The Lighthouse (Secret Avengers Space Base)

BGM-Mega Man Zero OST-The Ruins of Lab (Remastered)

The actual Hawkeye is standing inside the meeting room of a miniaturized space station, the base of the secret team that he leads called the Secret Avengers. Alongside the archer in the meeting room are other members of the team such as: Former SHIELD Agent, Sharon Carter. Mutant scientist, Beast. Huntress bandit, Raven Branwen. Asgardian warrior, Valkyrie. War hero, Flash Thompson, also known as Agent Venom when he's wearing the symbiote. And the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog. Everyone except Hawkeye standing around the roundtable while staring at Sonic, their newest Secret Avenger, on a holographic screen.

"Good job confirming why Wakanda Island suddenly fell to the ocean, Sonic." Hawkeye compliments him.

'Didn't need to visit to confirm that it was 'cause the Master Emerald was stolen again.' Sonic quips through the holo-screen.

"The disappearance of a nexus item such as the Master Emerald from time and space is surely causing disasters in all the realities that require its power." Beast claimed.

"Then we should be glad Cia formed her Chrono Avengers to handle those for us. By the way, anyone heard from Silver or Cable lately? Last I remember, Cia needed them for something." Hawkeye asks for the whereabouts of their time-traveling Secret Avengers.

"No. We recently lost contact with them." Carter answered.

"That's not foreboding. Was hoping they'd have a clue on where can we find the Master Emerald since this is a time-thing we're dealing with, and those two are the time experts." Hawkeye quipped, unaware that those two are encountering a little problem that are preventing them from entering the timeline.

"I'm positive they're alright. And it's safe to assume the Master Emerald is still in this world. Eggman Nega must've transformed it into a card again. If we can find him, we'll find the Emerald. But the Master Emerald isn't the ONLY Emerald we should be worried about." Shadow replied stoically.

Hawkeye nods to him, "Right." He has another holo-screen projected to display the Master Emerald and the seven Chaos Emeralds, "According to you, Solaris needed all seven Chaos Emeralds to reform in the previous timeline, in addition to its two halves: Mephiles and Iblis." The screen switches to a display of Mephiles and Iblis, "We still have Iblis secured, but we haven't found any Chaos Emeralds lately while Mephiles is in league with the Syndicate, and who knows how many Emeralds they might've collected. Half of their team are behind bars after our recent time hunt, meaning they're desperate for any means to complete the Solaris Project."

"So if they can't find the Chaos Emeralds, they might just use the Master Emerald to complete Solaris." Flash summarized.

"They still need Iblis if he wishes to be whole." Valkyrie reminds him.

Then, the holo-screen shows an image of Dell Rusk, the ruthless senator of the World Security Council that proposed the SRA in the first place. "Secondly, Sharon, Raven. You two were in charge tracking Rusk's history. What have you discovered?" Hawkeye asks his spies.

Raven answers, "I've been following Rusk and those he's been working with for days. Watching him as a bird while Carter got pass his security system and gathered a dossier of his secrets. The computer is combing through it now."

"It wasn't not much. Yesterday he was scrambling. Trying to shred documents. Destroy computers containing his secrets. But I got to a few of them. And I got some information." Carter added.

"He's connected to the Syndicate, isn't he?" Hawkeye guessed calmly.

"Deeply." Carter responded with a serious tone. "Soon as we turn this information over to the President, they'll take care of Rusk and hopefully get the SRA repealed immediately. But something still bothers me. His background…The paper trail is legit, but I couldn't find a single person that actually KNEW him. I'm getting close though."

"A good segue to talk about this mystery bug." quips Barton, as the holo-screen switches to silhouette images of the new mysterious Black Spider-Man and all the victims that he has killed in brutal fashion, "Last night, this Spidey has been on a rampage in New Vale. Targeting people that are commonly related to Project Pegasus and killing them. Why? We're not sure yet."

"You don't really think that's Spidey?" Flash questioned, refusing to believe that imposter is his idol.

"Spider-Man is annoying, but he's no murderer." Hawkeye replied, believing that the imposter is an imposter and not the real Spider-Man.

"That could be you in the Black Suit. Anything you want to tell us, Thompson?" Raven smirks, joking that he might be the evil imposter.

"That your jokes are worse than Spidey's." An unamused Flash quips to her. "You guys have been keeping track of my usage of the symbiote. You know it's not me."

"Then Thompson, I'm assigning you to track down this imposter. Find out who they are and their agenda before bringing them in." Hawkeye orders the soldier.

"Expect GUN to interfere. They've recently set up a task force to patrol the city and catch Spider-Man by the direct order of Rusk. Be careful." Shadow warns his teammate.

Hawkeye turns to the holo-screen displaying Sonic, "Sonic, I want you around the city as support to watch GUN, and Thompson if he loses control of the symbiote."

'Got it, Hawk!' Sonic grinningly accepts his order.

"When will I gain your full trust that I have it under control?" An annoyed Thompson asks, getting tired of not being trusted by his leader.

Hawkeye quips, "I'm just being cautious. Between Rusk trying to control all superheroes and the Syndicate trying to control time, the LAST thing I want to deal with it is a rampaging symbiote with guns."

BGM End

Space

BGM-DC Universe Online OST-World Selection

The Imposter Spider-Man. The Master Emerald's disappearance. Dell Rusk. The Syndicate. It's true that these four are great threats to the entire world, but absolutely nothing compares to the threat that is entering this timespace. A massive, sword-shaped ship suddenly warps near the Earth's moon, hiding from the primitives that live on the blue planet.

"Temporal transition is complete. Navigation probes and weapons are being calibrated. Cloaks are online. We are undetectable to current technology." said a purple-dressed minion inside the warship, standing among other purple-themed soldiers that are working their own stations in the command deck.

"What is the time?" Their Boss ask him from his golden hoverchair.

"Star charts are processing…The chrono-date is 0028241.423. Very early 21st Century." The Minion answered.

"Good." The Boss said with a devious smile.

That Boss happens to be Kang the Conqueror, the ruthless dictator of the 41st Century and arch-nemesis to the Avengers. By his side are his lovely bride, Princess Ravonna Renslayer, and the mutant-bringer of chaos, Stryfe. They have arrived in their Damocles ship, after successfully conquering the 22nd Century despite the valiant efforts of that timeline's heroes. Kang has been the mastermind of the Solaris Project and the true leader of the Syndicate, as they are simply a sub-team of a much larger group called…the Chronos Corps.

Pressing a button on his hoverchair, Kang projects holograms of several members of his Chronos Corps. Some of them clearly appear as Mephiles, Red Skull, and Eggman Nega, but the others are partially shrouded in darkness to hide their true identities for a reason Kang could care less about: One of the silhouettes appear to be holding a Kree weapon resembling that of a hammer. One is hulking green figure wearing Iron Man-like armor with a beard. One resembling a Black Knight wielding a demonic sword. Another resembling a red Echidna dressed in black and gold armor. Another hologram resembling a Snake with metallic chest armor. Another appearing to be a pink Djinn. Another silhouette looking like a beautiful young Maiden with an eyepatch. And lastly, a dark hologram of an armored Doctor from 2099. Each of them have been summoned to Kang's ship for a meeting of their own before the execution of their grand scheme.

Kang smiles at his subordinates, greeting them with, "Greetings, chosen members of the Chronos Corps. Don't you want to fulfill your dreams in the new era I'll forge?"

"Do you have to ask? It's the only reason why any of us bothered to accept your offer." The rude Snake retorted.

"Some of you accepted from the promise of ultimate power. Everyone else accepted out of gratitude for me intervening with history and saving you before you were beaten by heroes like the Avengers and Sonic the Hedgehog. For them, this is their chance to start over again." Kang claims, still smiling.

The Black Knight scoffs, "I suppose you have my thanks for saving me from such a humiliating defeat, but it doesn't mean I'm your lackey! Me, a king, defeated by a knave of a rodent."

"Sounds like we both have a rat problem. I won't lose to him again." The Djinn snarled.

"Beaten by a rat? If you want to escape embarrassment, you two should've stayed dead." The Maiden mocks them.

"Watch your tone, girl, before I change it by force!" The annoyed Djinn retorted.

"You three should get along. We all share the same goal of resurrecting Solaris and rewriting the future. And in order to accomplish that task, we require the remaining Chaos Emeralds and the Time Factor, among other things." Kang said, breaking up the infighting between his three subordinates. The Conqueror turns his face to Nega, "Dr. Nega, how many Chaos Emeralds does your group have?"

"Still three unfortunately. We're still shorthanded after the hunt for the Forever Crystal, and Hawkeye's Avengers continue to interfere with our operations. But once the invasion begins, we'll have resources dedicated searching for them with little interference." Nega answered.

Kang frowns in disappointment at the Syndicate's progress before asking, "You better hope so. And Skull." He turns to the nazi, "What is the status of the Time Factor? Who still hasn't had theirs extracted?"

"The Hedgehogs, Sonic and Shadow, and Doctors Eggman and Octopus. As well as Spider-Man, Knuckles the Echidna and, surprisingly, Princess Elise. She's been too busy for any of my plans to get ahold of her. But I do have a plan on standby that'll catch the heroes by surprise before you invade." said Red Skull, calmly answering to his supreme boss.

"On my command." Kang orders, receiving an accepting nod from the holographic nazi.

"What is this 'Time Factor' you speak of?" Mephiles ask the conqueror, having been purposely thrown out of the loop by Kang himself.

"It's your lifeforce. Your collected DNA from when you were Solaris and the Time Eater. It'll help in your resurrection, to avoid any critical errors." Kang claims to the dark spirit.

"How thoughtful of you." Mephiles replied stoically.

Kang turns to one of his minions behind a computer and orders him to, "Begin channeling the Master Emerald through the S.M.S. and have it target the timelines of my choosing! The invasion will commence in 5 hours!"

"At once, Lord Kang!" The Minion complied.

Kang turns back to his team to rally them with a speech, "That'll give each of you enough time to rally your forces. Mobiant Earth is the center of the multiverse, therefore must be conquered with our full strength. The plan is simple: Catch the planet off-guard and cause total mayhem for its inhabitants while I identify key junctions in Earth's vast nexus of knowledge. They will be primary targets for conquest that'll further complete the Project. Be wary of Earth's resistance, but do not completely overestimate them. There is no intellect strong enough or power brutal enough to resist us. We are the Chronos Corps! Solaris's power will be ours, and soon, all of Earth will be as well!" The Conqueror stands before his teammates, each one grinning in anticipation of the chaos that they will soon unleash onto the unsuspecting Mobiant Earth.

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BGM-Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) OST-Extras

KFX Here: The first chapter in this mini Code Red Arc that'll have the heroes warmed-up before the main event. Should be fun. Hopefully it won't take me forever to finish the arc. We'll see what fate has in store soon.

Braewriter of Rewriting: Mephisto being in the series doesn't automatically mean I'll do a One More Day adaptation. That's just stupid.

Note: Check out MetalJrock's Super United Champions: The Secret War, as well as his Web of Chaos: Deadly Adventures. They're good stuff so far, so please check them out.

Remember: I have a forum page! Link can be found on my homepage or search for the "United Heroes Series" forums!

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