"All hail Dr. Octavius! All hail Dr. Octavius! All hail Dr. Octavius!"
Those words kept repeating from the mouths of every brainwashed teenager who wore a Lexcorp VR set. The Super Hero Girls stared in horror at what they were witnessing. Lex Luthor approached his scientist who towered above him with his mechanical tentacle arms.
"Otto, what are you doing?" Lex asked. "What is the meaning of this?"
"It's called a hostile takeover." Dr. Octavius said. "You're a businessman. I'm sure you know what that means."
"So you manipulated Lena?" Spider-Woman asked. "How?"
"Easy. The girl is very impressionable. All I had to do was assure her that her children utopia would be a success and she'd be putty in my hands."
"Yeah. All six of them." Supergirl said.
"But why?" Lex asked the mad scientist. "I've given you ample funding, freedom to do your experiments, a great health plan. Why would you turn your back on me, Dr. Octavius?"
"Oh, so it's Dr. Octavius now? You don't wish to refer to me as a cephalopod like you did at my unveiling?"
"You mean the Dr. Octopus comment?" Lex asked. "Otto, that was just a joke."
"I have been working on these arms for four years, spent many sleepless nights trying to get them right. It was meant to be the future of science! When it was done, I expected to be praised and honored for making these arms, but ever since you called me Dr. Octopus, I've been nothing but a joke around the entire office! Every day, as I passed by my idiotic coworkers, they poked fun at me going 'Hey, Dr. Octopus. Don't you need two more arms to be called an octopus? Show us some ink, Doc Ock.' Do you have any idea how humiliating it was?"
"Okay, look," Lex said, "I can see how you might take it the wrong way…"
Dr. Octopus shut him up by crashing one of his tentacles through the pier's floorboards. "My chances for respect were ruined, so I decided to take it. When I learned how much your own sister abhors you, it was easy for me to get her to turn on you. I needed her log-in credentials to unleash the demo-bots and demolish all the teen hang-outs in Metropolis. I may not have agreed with her end goal, but that's not what I wanted. I needed her to give the teenagers an excuse to put on the Lexcorp VR goggles, where I installed my own program to make them more… suggestible."
Dr. Octopus snapped his fingers, and all the teenagers behind him immediately said, "All hail Dr. Octavius."
"Wow. That's quite an excessive plan." Batgirl said.
"And now, for the coup de gras." Dr. Octopus said. "Citizens, to city hall!" Suddenly, all the teenagers began marching in one directions.
"City hall?" Bumblebee asked.
"That's right." Dr. Octopus said. "By now, the teens of Metropolis have already installed more headsets on the other citizens of Metropolis. Now, once all my brainwashed minions get to city hall, they'll put another mind-control VR set on the mayor, who will surrender this city to me. In just a few short hours, Metropolis will become my own personal laboratory!" He laughed to finish his statement.
"Not if we just pry those goggles off of them." Supergirl said.
"Nuh, uh, uh." Dr. Octopus said. "I installed another program into the goggles. If they're forced off, an electrical charge will fry the citizen's brains."
"Then we'll make you release them!" Wonder Woman said.
Dr. Octopus chuckled with confidence. "You're welcome to try."
"Thanks for the invite, sucker!" Supergirl yelled before charging forward. She managed to tackle Dr. Octopus keeping ahold of his jacket while flying forward. "This is too easy!"
"You know what, Kryptonian? Is actually is." Dr. Octopus reached into his jacket and pulled
something out before putting it on Supergirl's head. The alien girl gasped when the VR helmet was snapped on her and instantly turned on. She tried to remove it, but she wasn't quick enough to instantly turn into a zombie.
"All hail Dr. Octavius."
"Oh, we're dead!" Batgirl exclaimed.
"Wait! Magic!" Lex Luthor called out to the girls. "Kryptonians are vulnerable to magic!"
"How do you know that?" Spider-Woman asked.
"Well, I've been studying Kryptonians too…" Lex stopped himself. "It doesn't matter! You've got a magic girl with you, don't you?"
"Right!" Zatanna said as she floated up to confront the brainwashed Supergirl. She reached out her purple hands and enchanted, "Ezylarap!" Suddenly, a large, purple sheet popped out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Supergirl. It tightened around her body and she struggled to escape to no avail. "There. That'll take care of her."
"ZATANNA, LOOK OUT!" the girls all cried out, but it was too late.
A mechanical tentacle quickly wrapped itself around the distracted Zatanna. She tried to cast a spell to escape, but Octopus' tentacle covered her mouth too. With an evil smile, he placed another VR set on Zatanna's head turning her into a zombie as well. He released her just as her goggle lenses turned red.
"All hail Dr. Octavius."
"Okay. NOW, we're dead!" Batgirl said.
"All right, you two." Dr. Octopus said to his new slaves. "Either assimilate your friends or annihilate them. I don't care which."
Supergirl and Zatanna immediately obeyed and flew their fastest toward the other girls. Thankfully, Green Lantern shot herself to the front and projected a brick wall out of her ring. Supergirl punched at it and Zatanna fired magic blasts at it making Green Lantern grunt at each impact.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold them back!"
"We need to get them out of it!" Spider-Woman said.
"But how?" Bumblebee asked. "We can't force the headsets off! And we can't get near Octopus with our friends in the way!"
"Wait! I got it!" Lex Luthor cried out.
"This isn't going to blow up in our faces again, is it?" Spider-Woman asked.
"Not this time! I swear!" Lex said. "Look, the entire VR network is connected by a server antenna at the top of Lexcorp tower! Take it out and the all the helmets will shut down!"
"Then we have our destination!" Wonder Woman said. "To Lexcorp!"
"You girls go!" Green Lantern said still struggling to maintain her hold against Octopus, Supergirl, and Zatanna. "I'll keep them busy!"
"Lantern…" Batgirl said.
"Just go!" Green Lantern demanded as her wall began to crack.
"We've got no time to lose!" Spider-Woman said as she began to swing out of the pier. Batgirl, Bumblebee, and Wonder Woman followed her.
As soon as they disappeared, Green Lantern's wall finally collapsed and she fell over feeling exhausted. She was exposed enough for Supergirl to fly at her and wrap her arms around her whole body. With Green Lantern trapped, Zatanna approached her with another VR helmet.
Dr. Octopus looked around, and his eyes caught onto Lex Luthor who was attempting to sneak out. He shot out his tentacle and wrapped it around Luthor's waist raising him up to him face to face.
"Trying to sneak away, Lex?" Dr. Octopus asked. "I knew you were a cruel businessman and a bad boss, but I never pegged you for a coward. Now, where did the rest of the heroes go?"
"I'll never talk!" Lex said sternly.
"Oh," Dr. Octopus held up another VR helmet, "I have a feeling you will."
Lexcorp tower is one of the tallest skyscrapers in Metropolis. Even at the heroes' speed, it took them a few minutes to reach the top. Eventually though, the last four heroes made it to the top where a radio tower was erect with a blinking red light on top.
"Here we are!" Wonder Woman said. "What now?"
"I guess all we have to do is bust it down." Spider-Woman said.
Batgirl laughed. "Wow. It's too bad Supergirl's missing out on that. Right, Bumblebee?" There was no answer. "Bumblebee?"
ZAP!
"AAH!" Batgirl yelled out as she got blasted down by a yellow burst of light. Bumblebee approached from behind with her lasers out and a VR set on. Green Lantern hovered behind her with her own helmet. Bumblebee then put another VR helmet on Batgirl before anyone could react. Batgirl stood back up brainwashed as well joining her brainwashed friends' chanting.
"All hail Dr. Octavius."
"No!" Spider-Woman exclaimed.
"It's down to us, Spider-Woman." Wonder Woman said. "You keep them at bay while I destroy the beacon."
Spider-Woman nodded and turned to her brainwashed friends while Wonder Woman ran toward the antenna. While the amazon began to wrap it with her golden lasso, Spider-Woman ran toward her friends.
Bumblebee shrank and buzzed around Spider-Woman's head while Batgirl threw three batterangs. Spider-Woman dodged them, but after the third one, Bumblebee sent a stinging shock at her that knocked her off balance. Green Lantern projected a giant boot over Spider-Woman, but she dodged before it could be stomped on her. Spider-Woman rolled over to her stomach before shooting a spot of web at Green Lantern's face making the boot disappear.
While Spider-Woman was facing her friends, Wonder Woman used so much of her own strength to bring the antenna down using her lasso as leverage. She pulled with all her might managing to make it tilt. However, her efforts were cut short by one of Dr. Octopus' tentacles. Thankfully, Wonder Woman saw it coming and dodge out of the way letting go of the lasso. She pulled out her sword and shield ready to use it at the mad doctor in front of her.
"Stay away from the antenna." Dr. Octopus threatened.
"I do not take orders from villains." Wonder Woman said.
"You will soon." Dr. Octopus said before shooting one of his tentacles toward her.
Wonder Woman sidestepped before swinging her sword down on the tentacle. Much to her surprise, her attack didn't leave much of a scratch on it. Dr. Octopus swung his tentacle to hit her, but she hung on tight at it. She planted her feet on the ground and planned to reverse the throw. Unfortunately, Dr. Octopus launched another tentacle that pushed her off the first one. Wonder Woman swung her sword again, and like before, it didn't damage the tentacle much.
"I admit, your mechanical appendages are strong." Wonder Woman said.
"Luthor spared no expense in letting me use the strongest of materials to build these arms." Dr. Octopus said before wrapping his tentacle around Wonder Woman's waist.
Wonder Woman struggled slowly prying the metal arm off. Dr. Octopus approached her with a VR set in another metal claw of his, but she grabbed it trying to push it away. She did fine at first, but her efforts became more difficult when Octopus added his other two arms to add in the pressure.
Spider-Woman backflipped away from her brainwashed friends before turning around. Her eyes were then locked on Wonder Woman who was losing her grip.
"Wonder Woman! No!"
"It's all up to you now, Spider-Woman!" Wonder Woman strained as the helmet got closer to her head.
"I can't!" Spider-Woman shouted. "Just hold on and I'll…" She was interrupted by the other brainwashed hero girls who ran in front of her.
"It's okay!" Wonder Woman assured.
"But…"
"Spider-Woman!" Wonder Woman smiled at her friend right when the helmet touched her head. "I believe in you." That's when the helmet was placed on her head and turned on. She yelled before losing herself. "All hail Dr. Octavius."
Dr. Octopus laughed as he released Wonder Woman who then joined beside Spider-Woman's other friends facing against her. The web-slinger herself was petrified and afraid while they prepared for a fight.
"Did you honestly believe that seven children had a chance against me?" Dr. Octopus asked holding up one last VR helmet. "If you want to be with your friends again, I suggest you join us. So what will it be, girl? Assimilation or annihilation?"
Seeing the situation she was in right now, Spider-Woman suddenly got flashbacks of something surprisingly similar. In her eyes, she saw her best friend in his lizard form right where the super hero girls were. Underneath her mask, Gwen Stacy became heavily afraid reliving the same traumatic experience she went through before. Her own friends, people she cared about, doing horrible things without any self-control and she was forced to fight them.
Gwen was just about ready to give up, but then, new memories entered her mind. She remembered the fun times she had with her friends. The carnival. Sweet Justice. The amazon ship. The pier. Finally, she had one last memory of Peter Parker before becoming the lizard. In her mind, he was proud of her and called her special.
That helped make her decision. Spider-Woman shot a webline at Dr. Octopus' final VR helmet and yanked it out of his hand. She swung it around before smashing it on the roof's edge.
"NO! I may have lost one friend, but I will not lose six others! This city is counting on me! My friends are counting on me! And I will do everything in my power to save them! BET ON THAT, DR. OCTOPUS!"
The evil scientist gritted her teeth. "So be it. Ladies, get rid of her."
The brainwashed girls suddenly charged at Spider-Woman and she did the same toward them.
"All right. Let's do a headcount." Spider-Woman said to herself as she very quickly swung around and faced against each respective friend as she names them. "First, there's this girl who's willing to jump into fire despite her fears. Then, there's this other girl who's love for others is as great as her love for the forest. This strong girl with the heart of a lion. A proud girl who studies hard to be that magical. This amazing amazon who is basically perfect. And most of all, a smart, excited girl who was the first to believe in me when I didn't believe in myself. These are my friends, and I do this for them!"
Spider-Woman managed to slip past her friends and encountered Dr. Octopus. He attempted to strike at her with his tentacles, but she dodged out of the way. She threw herself over them and kicked at Dr. Octopus in the face. Once she went around him, she swung her way to the inside of the radio antenna.
The brainwashed girls went after Spider-Woman going all out with their attacks. Supergirl gave her strongest Kryptonian punches. Wonder Woman did the same with her amazon strength. Bumblebee buzzed around zapping. Green Lantern attacked with a giant, green battering ram. Zatanna shot magical blasts. And Batgirl threw all sorts of explosives. Spider-Woman did her best to dodge all of these attacks because each unrelenting attack continued to damage the antenna.
Dr. Octopus looked and realized that the beacon was getting more and more uprooted from the rooftop. "STOP! STOP ATTACKING!"
Obediently, the brainwashed heroes stopped attacking, which gave Spider-Woman her chance to slip out of the antenna and attack Dr. Octopus. She kicked him, but he quickly caught her with one of his
mechanical arms. She was getting squeezed hard.
"Your vain efforts were clever, but futile." Dr. Octopus said.
"We'll see about that!" Spider-Woman cried out as she shot both her web-shooters right at Ock's face. She pulled his head toward her where she hit him with a headbutt.
Upon impact, Dr. Octopus released the hero who then kicked him forward. She then shot two weblines that snatched onto his body.
"Hey, Dr. Octopus, take care of that beacon for me!" Spider-Woman yelled out as she gave a hard swing. Dr. Octopus couldn't stop her from making him fly off the ground. She released her web and the mad doctor was thrown directly at the antenna with great force. It was strong enough to completely remove the antenna right off and they both fell off the roof's edge.
"NO! CURSEEEEEEES!" Dr. Octopus yelled as he fell off the roof.
Without the antenna, all the VR helmets worn completely lost their power and Spider-Woman's friends were restored. They removed their helmets and realized what they had done. They then turned to the exhausted Spider-Woman and ran to her with cheers.
"YOU DID IT!" Batgirl screamed out.
"Nicely done!" Zatanna said.
"You were amazing!" Bumblebee praised.
"Good work, kid." Supergirl said.
"Thanks you, Spider-Woman." Green Lantern said.
"I always believed in you." Wonder Woman said.
"Thanks. Although, I could use a rest." Spider-Woman breathed out. "Wait, where's Dr. Octopus?"
The girls turned and looked over the rooftop edge where the villain fell from. However, he wasn't anywhere to be found, not even on the ground. They realized that he must have gotten away. On a brighter note, they looked around and saw that every citizen of Metropolis had lost power in their VR goggles and removed them right before the mayor was about to sign away the city.
After seeing how the city was saved, the seven heroes returned to ground level where they were surrounded by a crowd of grateful civilians.
"Brand new superhero team right here in Metropolis!"
"And they're girls!"
"Wait! Isn't that Spider-Woman? Isn't she a criminal?"
"Who cares? The Super Hero Girls saved our city!"
The newly named team of heroes found themselves given praises and cheers to their name. And they couldn't be any happier.
There was one unhappy soul in the crowd that day. Lex Luthor just removed his helmet right before he saw the Super Hero Girls being praised. At first, he was satisfied that his company was saved. However, he then gave a hateful glare at the Super Hero Girls.
Just far away from the adoring crowd, Dr. Octopus slinked his way into the alleyways of Metropolis. He hid himself making sure no one could find him and he had to keep himself mobile. Still, he couldn't help but think about his defeat.
"This requires a new plan. The only problem is, I got seven heroes that stand in my way. So if I'm going to take over this city, I'll have to find a way to even the odds."
Three months have passed since the defeat of Dr. Octopus, and Sweet Justice had just been finished being repaired. At it's grand reopening night, the Super Hero Girls met up at their usual booth in their civilian clothes.
"Ah, this is the life. Good friends and good chocolate." Zee said taking a bite of her sweets.
"It's nice to have everything back to normal." Jessica said.
"Blah. Normal's overrated." Babs said. "Still, it is great to be back here. Also, thanks Gwen, for making your position on the team more permanent."
"I'm the one who should be thanking you girls." Gwen said. "You all listened to me and still accepted me even though I told you the truth."
"Hey. What happened at New York was an accident." Jessica said. "Accidents are easily forgiven."
"Look, Gwen, I know what it's like to be publicly hated for something bad." Kara said. "Just kno that I'll always have your back."
"And mine as well." Diana said.
"Plus, you know, if it weren't for you, we'd all be turned into zombies." Karen said.
"Now, let's work on your change." Zee said.
Gwen arched her eyebrow. "My change?"
"On your hero appearance. Look, I know that on Lex Luthor's recommendation, the mayor pardoned you as long as you remain in Metropolis, but there's still public opinion you have to worry about. Given time, they'll see you as a hero again. But for now, let's start with making a change for you. After all, if someone looks up 'Spider-Woman' online, they'll find the Daily Bugle article that ruined you. So perhaps a new name is in order."
Gwen thought for a moment and rubbed her chin. "Well, I have been thinking of something. See, Spider-Woman, the one that everyone thinks is a murderer, is dead and this new persona will carry out her heroism in spirit. So I was thinking I could go by… Ghost-Spider."
"Hmm. That's not bad." Zee said.
"Very well." Diana said. "Then on my honor, your new hero name shall be Ghost-Spider."
Gwen chuckled. "Thanks. Glad we could all be here."
"And it's about to get even better." Babs said. "Remember when we first came here, and Diana said she wanted to be at this place all the time?"
"Yeah." Kara replied.
Babs looked around to make sure no one was looking. Then, once she was certain, she twisted the straw dispensing bottle and activated a switch that made the entire table disappear and replaced by another.
When the girls recovered from their fall, they found that they had landed on a mattress. Batgirl proudly expressed her arm all around this new room showing something special for everyone. An environmental green area for Jessica. A pink, magic-themed corner for Zee. A bat-computer desk for Babs herself. A section with amazon equipment for Diana. A science lab for Karen. A workout station for Kara. And lastly, a spider-themed station for Gwen that came with its own drumset. And at the very center of it all were a few couches, a TV set, and a refrigerator. Everyone was pretty impressed at what they were seeing.
"Ta-da! It's out own home base!" Babs said. "I took a few late night trips to the construction site while they were rebuilding."
"Truly, this is a place of wonder." Diana said.
"Not bad, Babs. Nice job." Kara said.
"We can protect the whole city from here." Jessica said. "No bad guy stands a chance."
"Not with the Super Hero Girls on the case!" Babs said. "Super awesome superheroness, here we come!"
Gwen smiled before taking one last glance at her station. There was a desk there, and she gasped silently when she noticed a photo resting there. She stepped forward to see the picture of Peter Parker there.
"You don't mind, do you?" Babs asked. "I kinda took a swing and…"
Gwen let a tear drop from her eye. "Babs, it's perfect." She also saw a disk case on the same
desk. Inside was a CD that was written with the words "Born Ready".
Gwen took her disk to the nearest player and inserted it in. The music began playing and the girls felt the rhythm of it. As the music continued to play, the girls put on their costumes and prepared to continue defending the city from whatever villain they may encounter.
"Ready. Set. Time to be a fighter
Don't look down. Keep on climbing higher
Be yourself 'cause heroes shine in different ways
And when your voice can't make a sound
Just know we hear you all around
Don't need to fit into the crowd
To be a force of nature
'Cause we're gonna be
We're gonna be
We're gonna be the best
They're gonna see
They're gonna see
That we were born for this
So if it takes forever
We'll save the world together
We were born ready
We were born ready
Yeah, yeah, yeah
And if your heart surrenders
We'll hold it out together
We were born ready
We were born ready
Don't care if the world ain't ready for me
So if it takes forever
We'll save the world together
We were born ready
We were born ready
Yeah, yeah, yeah
And if your heart surrenders
We'll hold it out together
We were born ready
We were born ready
Don't care if the world ain't ready for me
Don't care if the world ain't ready
Don't care if the world ain't ready for me
We were born ready
We were born ready
Don't care if the world ain't ready for me
Don't care if the world ain't ready for me"
Author's Note: And that's the end of the Sweet Justice arc. Be on the lookout for future adventures of Ghost-Spider and the Super Hero Girls. Some will be variations of the canon episodes while others will be originals that I thought of myself.
The song featured here is Born Ready, which is sung by Dove Cameron, the voice of Spider-Gwen from the Marvel Rising series. It was recommended to me by a guest and I thought it'd be a cool way to wrap up the Sweet Justice arc. Now, the song doesn't belong to me. It belongs to its real owner.
Thank you for reading. Any and all comments are welcome.