"You really met Spider-Man? That's awesome!" In his hotel room, Bruce Wayne is slipping back into the expensive business suit he knew that the public would expect him to wear. He was never comfortable wearing monkey suits. It's a very different suit that he felt comfortable wearing. "He's as reckless as I thought, Barbara." Bruce replies. Sitting on the desk in his hotel room is a small computer screen, broadcasting straight to the subterranean catacombs beneath his home. Sitting in a wheelchair is a young woman with red hair and a big smile. She is Barbara Gordon, code-name Oracle. "Come on, Spider-Man can't be that bad. A lot of people consider him a hero." "Not everyone." Bruce replies as he briefly looks over to the television on the opposite wall. It's muted at the moment but shows a news channel where an extremely angry man with a mustache named J. Jonah Jameson is ranting about the incident in Brooklyn. Barbara laughs, shaking her head. "Oh please… And I suppose everything that Jack Ryder reports about Batman is the truth? Like the story that he wrote about you being a vampire. Or that time he was convinced that you and the Joker were actually the same person." "It doesn't matter how much is true or not. Spider-Man is not the priority but finding out why Black Mask came to New York is." Bruce replies. He slips his jacket on over his shirt and then turns back to the computer screen. "Find anything yet?" "Of course I did." Barbara replies. "I was able to hack Sionis's computer. Looks like he's been trading emails with someone named Wilson Fisk." Bruce's eyes widen. "I've heard of Fisk. He's one of the biggest crime bosses in New York. Goes by the name Kingpin. I heard rumors that he and Sionis had worked together before, but Fisk has kept clear of Gotham so I never went after him." "Guess that's about to change." Barbara says. Then the smirk on her face vanishes and her tone grows slightly more serious. "Be careful, Bruce. You're on your own this time. Dick and Tim are too busy protecting Gotham in your absence." "I can handle it." There's an unshakable confidence in his voice. "I know you can." Barbara smiles. "… But if you do need help, Spider-Man would be perfect. You can never have too many friends." Bruce just raises an eyebrow at Barbara before turning off the computer screen and slipping it back into his belt.
At a small café on the bustling isle of Manhattan, Peter Parker takes a seat sheepishly across from his girlfriend. The beautiful redhead just sighs, smiling slightly as she shakes her head at Peter. "You know, Tiger, if you ever need to make a big romantic gesture like in the movies, you should try showing up on time for a date." Mary Jane Watson rolls her eyes as she twirls a strand of her long, wavy red hair around her finger. Peter rubs the back of his neck. As much as he loves being Spider-Man, it does have some drawbacks. Especially when it came to his girlfriend. He loves spending time with Mary Jane, but he knows that with great power comes great responsibility. "I'm really sorry MJ." Peter replies, shaking his head. "I was taking photos at the airport and there was some big superhero thing going down. Jameson always pays double for stuff like that, so now I can take you someplace really fancy to make up for it." "Assuming you show up for that date." Mary Jane teases. Peter sighs, leaning forward while running his hands through his brown hair. "I know. I know. I'm sorry, MJ. I really am. I…" "It's fine." Mary Jane cuts him off. She smiles at Peter while chuckling slightly. "I'm just messing with you. Just try to show up next time, okay?" "MJ, there's nothing that can interrupt next time. I promise." Peter smiles. Mary Jane leans across the table and takes Peter's hand, interacting her fingers with his. She pulls his hand up to her lips and kisses it softly before looking over at him and smiles warmly. "I'm going to hold you to that. I love you, Peter." "I love you too, MJ." Peter replies.
Suddenly, Peter's spider sense goes off and he dives across the table, wrapping his arms around Mary Jane as he pulls her to the ground and the two of them roll several feet from the window. Just as he does, there is this massive explosion from across the street as a car rips apart and becomes engulfed in flames. The shock wave shatters the window, showering the restaurant with glass shards. "Mary Jane, stay low and get as far back as you can!" Peter warns as he jumps up and runs towards the bathroom. Mary Jane wanted to call out, but she knows from prior experience that the best thing she could do was to stay safe so Peter wouldn't have to worry about her. She turns and runs for the back of the restaurant, rushing into the kitchen even as most of the patrons run towards the shattered window. Peter goes into the bathroom, which is empty. He jumps into one of the stalls and locks the door, quickly changes into Spider-Man and jumps up onto the ceiling, sticking to it. He crawls around the ceiling until he reaches the window on the wall and goes through it, crawling his way further up to the café's roof. Spider-Man runs forward to the edge of the roof, where he sees the cause of the explosion.
Flying around in the middle of the street is a man dressed in an orange hood and cape, standing on a gray curved glider that soared through the air. "Run! Run all of you! I want to see you burn while I wait for Spider-Man!" Hobgoblin cackles from behind his hideous yellow mask. He reaches into the gray satchel at his side. He pulls out a small pumpkin-shaped disc and hurls it down at the street, towards a group of people! A thick strand of webbing shoots at and wraps around the pumpkin as Spider-Man pulls it away from the crowd up into his own hand. "Aren't you a little too old to dress up in a Halloween costume?" He calls out toward Hobgoblin as he drops the pumpkin off the side of the roof, which then explodes. "Ah, Spider-Man! Excellent!" Hobgoblin calls out. "Today is the last day of your life, my wall-crawling friend, and I'm going to enjoy watching you die!" "Well, we'll see about that." Spider-Man calls out, but suddenly he feels his spider sense go off and he turns around just in time. A huge spark of electricity comes flying through the air straight at him. Spider-Man jumps back and barely dodges it. When he saw where it came from, his eyes behind his mask widened a bit. There's a man in a green suit with yellow boots and gloves with an electrical design down the front. He's wearing a large mask that is shaped like a lightning bolt. Electricity crackles in his hands as he steps forward and grins.
"Electro!" Spider-Man gasps. "Oh no… Don't tell me…" Spider-Man jumps away from the roof, swinging on his webs as he hurries down the street, his mind racing at the possibilities. Electro and Hobgoblin?! Hopefully this is just a very bad coincidence, but the last time I saw more than one of my enemies at once was… Spider-Man flashes back to his first encounter with the Sinister Six. Six of his greatest enemies that had allied themselves to try to destroy him, and they had come awfully close to actually doing so. All Spider-Man cares about right now is getting clear of these two. If his worst fears are true and there are more of his enemies lurking nearby, he wanted to get away from the public. Hobgoblin quickly goes after him, but Electro hangs back. He reaches his hand up to the right side of his head and presses down on an earpiece. "It's working. Spider-Man showed up and just like you predicted, he's heading toward Central Park." "Of course. These hero types all think the same way; they want to minimize civilian casualties." A deep voice with a heavy Spanish accent comes over the call. "Spider-Man will come… And then we will break him."
"Bruce, we have a big problem." Batman is in the living room of a small apartment. An unconscious man is lying across the table in the middle of the room, while two others are leaning against each other in the corridor with obvious injuries. A fourth man is struggling for breath as he squirms against the iron-like grip of Batman's glove, which is currently wrapped around his throat. "What is it, Oracle?" Batman asks, pressing his free hand down on one of the "ears" of his cowl. "I was able to decrypt the rest of Black Mask's emails. Apparently, he didn't come to New York alone. These emails mention that he's bringing some 'heavy hitters' from Gotham with him. It doesn't mention anyone specifically but apparently, he's after Spider-Man." Batman's eyes widen behind his cowl. He slams his fist down on the criminal's head, rendering him unconscious and tosses him to the floor. "Barbara, patch me into the NYPD dispatch radio." With a sharp crackle, Batman could now hear everything the NYPD dispatcher is saying and as luck would have it, there is an all-points bulletin going out. "All units, all units, Spider-Man spotted heading towards Central Park. He is being pursued by Hobgoblin. There are reports of explosions and property damage in the area. All units, respond." Batman quickly cuts off the message and heads towards the door, knowing that he has to get to Central Park.