Issue #8: Back to Basics

New York City

A rift appeared on a rooftop, stepping out of it were the four heroes, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Spider-Man. The wallcrawler inhaled sharply and then exhaled, "Ah, how I missed the urban smell of New York… okay not really, but you get what I mean."

"So this is your world, huh? This city kinda looks like the ones on Mobius, minus the loops and constant threat of death via pit." Sonic quipped.

"Say what now?" Peter muttered, unable to process what the hedgehog just said.

Knuckles grunted, "Enough joking. Let's just kick bad guy butt and get this over with. Tails, any idea where the Chaos Emeralds are at?"

Tails scowled at his Miles Electric, lightly hitting the side of the device and adjusting it, "Hm… doesn't look like I can. I'm gonna have to make some adjustments since we're in a new world now."

Spider-Man glanced at the device and said, "Well I think I know a guy who can help. Maybe two depending on if he's even in this dimension. We should head to Avengers Tower and explain what's going on."

"Okay… and where is Avengers Tower exactly?" Knuckles asked. Peter pointed to the giant tower with the glowing 'A' on top. "...Oh." the echidna said blankly.

Sonic whistled, "Wow, so that's what it looks like in real life. Not bad. I take it that's where all you superhero guys hang out?"

Spider-Man shrugged, "You could say that. The Avengers live there, but others like myself live on their own."

"That's cool! I wish we could live there!" Tails exclaimed.

Sonic shrugged, "Eh, I'm not one to stay in one place."

Spider-Man shot a web-line to the building across from them, "Okay guys, we're back in my territory, so try to keep up."

The blue hedgehog ran in place, his feet moving in a circular blur, "You don't gotta tell me twice! We'll be right behind ya!" he said, looking over to Tails already spinning his namesakes, and Knuckles ready to glide across the city with them.

"If you say so!" Peter replied, jumping and finally swinging, something he hadn't done in days, "WHOOO!" he cheered, missing how exciting it was while he was on Mobius, "As fun as it was staying grounded, nothing beats a good old New York swing!"

Sonic was seen running and jumping off the sides of the buildings, "I gotta admit, this is more fun than usual. Makes me wish I ran through Empire City more often!"

"It's not everyday I'm in a city like this. There's a lot of space here." Knuckles admitted.

Tails laughed, "Makes me wonder what the rest of the planet is like!"

Spider-Man chuckled, "There's nothing as crazy as your world, but I should get you guys into Wakanda at some point!" he noticed the three Mobians keeping up, "Wow, you guys are fast. Maybe I should work on my swinging! At this rate, we'll be at Avengers Tower in no time!" he declared, glad that they could speed this along.

Then the side of an empty building nearby burst open, revealing a man clad in red and gold wearing bulky gauntlets. He carried a bag in his hands. Everyone nearby all panicked, prompting Team Sonic to get them to safety immediately, leaving Spidey to confront him. Peter sighed, recognizing the man immediately, "Oh brother…" he swung down and kicked the man back, "If it isn't my favorite low-time crook, Shocker. What's up, Schultz?"

Shocker groaned, standing up, "Spider-Man?! Oh crap, We thought you vanished for good! And you're in armor too? Crap…" he moved his arms in front of him and shot a shockwave that sent Peter back slightly, "This was supposed to be an uninterrupted heist!"

Spider-Man slid on the ground and replied, "Please. As if we'd let that happen."

Suddenly, a blue blur smacked Shocker. He tried to attack the source, but couldn't react in time. "Well well, I'm guessing you're one of Spidey's villains? After meeting Gobby, I expected someone cooler looking."

The criminal blinked, "...Is that a talking porcupine?"

With Shocker confused, Spidey webbed up his gauntlets while Sonic corrected him, "Um, I'm a hedgehog. And look pal, you picked a bad day to rob a bank." he said this while Tails and Knuckles landed, "Cause Spidey has a team with him this time." Shocker then blasted the webbing off of him and slammed the ground, making it tremble, "Well I guess we'll have to do this the hard way then!"

Before Sonic could attack, Peter felt his Spider-Sense heighten, which warned him that all wasn't as it seemed. Another blur passed back and shoved Sonic, catching him off guard. Peter cringed at that, realizing who the culprit was after a second. "What the heck was that?" the hedgehog asked in disbelief, not expecting another speedster. He saw a man in a blue and red costume with lightning bolts, goggles over his eyes.

Tails looked around, readying his Energy Ball Blaster. He looked up and saw a flying man clad in purple and green armor. He shot at him, but the fox jumped back, countering with an energy ball, which missed. He felt something hit him in the back of his head, looking away for a second, he saw someone wearing blue spandex and a boomerang mark on his head.

Shocker grinned, "Meet the Frightening Five. We got tired of you getting in our way so we thought we'd band together to do it should you return."

Tails swiped his tails onto the boomerang throwing crook, "But we're fighting cartoon animals too? This isn't what I had in mind."

"Who are these guys, Spidey?" Knuckles asked, trying to land a hit on the speedster, who punched him.

"Shocker, Speed Demon, Beetle, and Boomerang. Looks like my favorite C-List rogues banded together. Sonic, take care of Speed Demon first! We'll handle the others!"

Sonic saluted, "Got it!" he ran, prompting Speed Demon to go after him. "Come on dude, you know I'm just gonna make you look bad!" he teased.

Speed Demon smirked, "As if I'm gonna get showed up by a cartoon rodent!"

"Look pal," Sonic started to say, kicking Speed Demon before running up a wall, "I'm the fastest thing alive, and have fought robots, demons and other speedsters tougher than you!" he tried to leap off and kick Speed Demon, but the villain reacted fast enough to grab his foot and spin him around, throwing him and breaking a wall.

Speed Demon folded his arms, "You gotta do better than that."

Sonic used a Homing Attack to strike Speed Demon, the speeding criminal getting knocked back slightly. "Whoa, you can recover fast too huh? This might actually be a good fight."

"We'll see if you can last." Speed Demon said before elbowing Sonic, knocking the wind out of him. The hedgehog held his chest for a moment, catching his breath. "Tired already? But I'm just getting started."

Sonic choked out, "...Didn't count…" he cleared his throat and breathing became normal again. He zoomed forward and rolled, hitting Speed Demon with a rolling attack. The villain grunted in pain as Sonic's sharp spines hit his entire body. "Now that's much more fair."

Speed Demon grunted, "You got lucky!" he ran, forcing Sonic to go after him now, "You can't hit what you can't catch, rodent!"

"Aw, you think I can't catch you! That's adorable!" Sonic laughed, moving his feet so fast that they moved in a figure eight motion, running at Speed Demon's side now, "You were saying?"

"WHAT? HOW?!" Speed Demon yelled in shock, unprepared for Sonic to stop him with a Spin-Dash. Sonic added onto that with a kick, then punched Speed Demon, keeping him dizzy long enough to charge a Light-Speed Attack, hitting the speedster villain multiple times before his enhanced reaction speed could catch up.

With one last punch, Sonic knocked Speed Demon out cold. Dusting off his hands, the hedgehog said, "Of all the fast wannabes I fought, you're probably the lamest of the bunch."

Meanwhile Tails, Knuckles and Peter dealt with the remaining villains. "Come on, Spider-Man. Stay down! We just want our paycheck!" Boomerang growled, throwing a boomerang at Peter. The webslinger webbed it up and threw it at Shocker's right gauntlet, jamming it.

Knuckles punched Boomerang, causing him to stagger back, "So you were hired to go after Spider-Man? But you just said you weren't prepared for him!"

"We thought that our employer didn't know and it was an easy payment." Beetle admitted, blasting Tails. The fox groaned in pain, holding the sore spot on his face.

Spider-Man webbed up Beetle's wings, causing him to descend and land on his stomach. He tried shooting a laser at Spider-Man, who narrowly missed it. Tails slammed his namesakes down on her back to keep her down, using his cannon to destroy the material that made up his wings. He grunted in pain before Spidey webbed up her mouth.

Knuckles was still dealing with Boomerang and Shocker, the latter making a getaway thanks to his gauntlets. "I'll get him, you two deal with Boomerang!" the echidna insisted, running after Herman. He leaped in time with Shocker, using his knuckles to climb up a wall faster than Shocker expected. "What's your game here?" Knuckles asked.

"None of your business, furball!" Shocker yelled, stopping for a moment to blast Knuckles, who rolled underneath the shockwave blast. "What the hell?!" he blurted out in disbelief over what the echidna did.

Still in his ball form, Knuckles struck Shocker, then punched his gauntlets while he was down. "That should keep you still." he declared, holding Herman up by his costume. "Now tell me who hired you! Before you see firsthand just how strong these are!" he demanded, rearing his fist back.

"As if I'm scared of some red cartoon character!" Shocker mocked. In response to the taunt, Knuckles punched the ground, creating a hole large enough to see the inside of the building. Shocker gulped, realizing that he underestimated the echidna.

Back with Spider-Man, he webbed up Boomerang's boomerang and threw it back at him, smacking him in the face. "You always were a chump, Fred." Peter quipped.

"Damn it…" Boomerang muttered, realizing that Spider-Man had already webbed him up. "And here I thought we were finally away from you and how annoying you were... at least Daredevil just silently beats me up…"

Tails knelt down, "You said someone hired you to take down Spider-Man, but he was missing. How could they have known he'd be back so soon?"

Boomerang said, "Hell if I know kid, I'm just doing what I'm paid to do. I was told to lure him out, and here he is."

Folding his arms, Spider-Man said, "Yeah good job. That'll land you back in prison where you belong. Now tell me, who hired you?"

"I don't have a name. He just calls himself, The King." Boomerang revealed.

Tails repeated, "The King?"

"...Osborn." Spider-Man realized, recalling what Green Goblin called himself once he transformed.

Boomerang's eyes widened under his mask, "Wait, Osborn? As in Norman Osborn? If I knew he was involved, I wouldn't have taken this! That guy's too crazy for what I do!"

Peter sighed, "Oh so you do have standards. That's… something I guess. Yeah, Osborn's got something planned and I guess he's looking for lackeys now."

"That damn green psycho…" Boomerang muttered. Beetle nodded with webbing still on his mask, agreeing that whatever Osborn had planned, they wanted no part of.

A few seconds later Sonic and Knuckles returned with Speed Demon and Shocker carried over their shoulders. Knuckles said, "So I asked a few questions, turns out the person who hired these fools was-"

"Norman." Peter finished for him, well aware of what happened.

Sonic stretched his legs and said, "So we've only been back for five minutes and the nutjobs are already goin' after us. This might be more fun than I thought!"

"Fun? Only you…" Knuckles muttered.

Tails spoke, "So what do we do about these guys?"

Under his mask, Peter grinned, "My usual thing. All I need is paper and a pen."

Hanging on a light pole were the four villains, tied together with Spider-Man's webbing. The four of them were clearly embarrassed over another defeat by him, and now the aid of Team Sonic, who they were unaware of. Two cop cars pulled to the scene of the crime and stepping out was Captain Yuri Watanabe, looking at the supervillains and finding a lone piece of paper attached to the webbing.

She read the message, "Courtesy of your Friendly-Neighborhood Spider-Man…" it read, however on the bottom was another part of the message, "...& Friends" she smiled, glad that her friend was alright and back to doing what he did best.

The heroes sat on a roof, close to Times Square, seeing the police drive away with the villains arrested. "One day back and I'm already kicking bad guy butt. Just another day for me." Peter said, noticing the setting sun in the distance from where they were at. "Man… I can't wait to get home once we explain everything. I'm sure MJ and Aunt May are worried sick about me vanishing like that. But at the same time, something might happen cause of Osborn while I'm gone…"

"Oh yeah. Your family. I wish we can let you go do that, but I imagine we're not welcome at Avengers Tower yet." Sonic replied, "This shouldn't take too long luckily, and once we're done, I think Tails, Knux and I can watch over the city while you do that."

Tails nodded, "Yeah, don't worry Peter. If anything happens we can take care of it."

Knuckles gave a thumbs up, "I got nothing else to do here, so why not?"

Peter smiled, "Heh, thanks guys. It's… nice to know you have my back. It's not everyday I can trust someone else with stuff like this…"

"You're on Team Sonic, Pete. We're all about trust here." Sonic proudly said to his superhero friend, "Us awesome heroes gotta stick together after all, pun slightly intended."

Spider-Man gave a thumbs up, genuinely grateful for the Mobians' help. He looked around the now peaceful city, ready to get to Avengers Tower at last after all that. However, the screens around Times Square went dark, briefly freaking out the people below. "What the hell?" Spidey muttered under his breath, wondering what was happening.

"I don't think that's normal…" Tails said.

Peter's lenses narrowed, "No it isn't…"

The screens changed to static, a quiet jingle familiar to the Mobians playing on them. And then they were fixed, revealing the image of a round man wearing a red lab coat, his bushy mustache being his most distinct feature. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles gritted their teeth at the sight of him as he shouted out, "I have come to make an announcement!"

"Eggman?!" Sonic shouted in surprise.

"That's Eggman?!" Peter replied.

"You may not know me, but I am Dr. Eggman, the greatest scientific mind of another world! It has come to our attention that Spider-Man has returned, and has brought along a slew of friends with him!" Eggman yelled, "I know you four can hear me, so listen up! This world is running on borrowed time before our Goblin Empire takes over! And just to show we mean business here is a quick warm up..."

A small group of Egg Pawns warped onto the streets, prompting the heroes to jump and stop them. Sonic used a Homing Attack on one of the bots, destroying it. Spider-Man webbed one up before it could blast someone, the hero gesturing for the person to leave. Knuckles saw one toss a parked car at him, forcing him to punch through it, giving Tails a moment to strike it while it was distracted.

"Don't get too cocky, heroes. Soon, our forces shall be numerous and more powerful than anyone could imagine! And none of you can stop us before it happens! Ohohohoho!" he laughed before signing off, the screens going back to normal.

Spider-Man paused, "...What was that?"

"Just our old pal putting the spotlight on himself like always." Sonic revealed to the web-slinger, "Egghead always does this."

"I forgot how much I hated him…" Knuckles grunted.

Tails said, "So this means Eggman and Goblin have been working together this whole time. But how is Eggman back? Didn't you and the other Sonic strand him in that weird limbo?" Sonic nodded at that, "This just raises more questions."

"If this Eggman guy is working with Osborn, that would explain how he got Metal Sonic and the Chaos Emerald and knew of Mobius." Spider-Man realized, "This is bigger than I thought… and just when I thought I could escape the grand-scale superhero stuff…"

Sonic responded, "You got us this time, Spidey. And luckily, scrambling Eggman's plans is what we do best."

"I'm aware of that, but still, this is big, even for Goblin's standards. Now I'm more than glad I can call the Avengers up for this, they need to get involved with this." Spider-Man admitted, "Let's get to Avengers Tower ASAP before those two hatch another distraction."

"Got it!" Sonic, Tails and Knuckles said, following Peter to their destination.