Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse

A Tangled Web we Weave

Eight

"Hey," Miles waved hello as they met at a locally owned coffee shop that was not too far from Horizon Academy.

"Miles," May Parker smiled back, the older woman sitting at a table.

"Is everything okay? You were kind of quiet yesterday," Miles noted as he sat down across from her after ordering and picking up a drink.

They tended to meet up away from May's home, for various reasons. Fisk knew Spider-man had been based there, and would wonder about why Miles was visiting. Plus he knew Liv Octavius was visiting, and didn't want to risk running into her.

"Ah," May looked sheepish, "I had a date."

"Oh!" Miles smiled, "Congrats."

May still looked sheepish as she said, "Uhm, it was..."

"Liv," Miles nodded.

May looked a bit surprised that he was taking the news so calmly. "And you're okay with that?" she asked, remembering that Dr Octopus had tried to kill him.

"I don't bear a grudge," Miles reassured her.

May puffed out a breath, "Good. I was nervous."

Miles was amused at the role reversal, considering he was the kid and she was the adult. "I don't need details, though," Miles added.

May chuckled, "And you're not getting them."

Miles took the web cartriges and put them away, "Thanks."

May nodded. "Are you having classes with Liv?" she asked, looking amused.

"Uh, yeah." Miles blinked as he realized, "She noticed me?"

May smirked, "Apparently you're very skitish."

Miles shook his head, "Can you blame me? Still, I'll try to dial it back..."

"At least she also thinks you're very bright," May complimented him.

"Thanks?" Miles sighed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ned Leeds smiled at Miles, "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah?" Miles asked his roommate at Horizon Academy warily. He had just gotten back from meeting May...

"Can you introduce me to Cindy Moon?" Ned asked.

"Huh?" Miles blinked.

"We don't really know each other, but I think she's cute...," Ned admitted, looking a little embarassed.

"Well, she's agreed to help with the lab project," Miles said, "that'll give you a chance to talk to her a bit."

"But she's all business in class!" Ned whined.

"That's not my responsibility," Miles said. He paused as he added, "Besides, you might be barking up the wrong tree."

"Huh?" Ned asked.

"I'm not saying anything for sure, but you notice how she fangirls over Ms Octavius?" Miles noted. "And Prof Laskov too."

"Oh." Ned paused, "Oh!"

"Not that there's anything wrong with that," Miles added.

"Damn," Ned shook his head.

Of course, both boys were unaware that Cindy actually liked Miles, and was just one of Liv's fans. However, time would tell if anything did come of it.

Looking at the time Miles noted, "We should get going... we were supposed to meet Cindy later."

"Right," Ned agreed as they both headed out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Gwen Stacy frowned as she reviewed the inside report on Fisk's activities. He was recruiting superhuman agents, and had rebuilt his agent, Scorpion. The only plus, from her perspective, was that Dr Octopus appeared to have quit.

Gwen reviewed files for active SHIELD agents in New York. Sadly no one was actually superhuman, other than her. A bit.

(A long time ago she had been combined with the Carnage symbiote. She had been seperated out from it, and at the time no side effects were found. Some time later, Gwen did notice she was stronger than normal for her height and weight... but not by much.)

Nor did Gwen have the option of calling in the Ultimates. They had priority missions, and going after Fisk's goon squad was not a priority. Plus there were domestic pressures about deploying the team in the United States.

Carol Danvers, her boss, had also not been helpful.

"There are New York based superheroes," Carol had said, "use them."

Oh, yeah. Fantastic Four were almost always busy with their own stuff. Dr Strange was a quack. Daredevil was a vigilante who nearly beat people to death. Big selection of help... and speaking of very dubious 'help.'

Gwen called the medical wing, "Dr Kafka? How's our Moon Knight?"

Dr Ashley Kafka was a psychiatrist working with SHIELD, somewhat reluctantly. "I\d rather we call him by his name," Ashley said stiffly.

"Which name?" Gwen asked, "Spector, Grant, Moon Knight, Ronin or the little girl?" she asked her wryly.

"Point taken," Ashley conceded.

"How stable is he? Or they?" Gwen asked. "We might need to look into deploying them."

"The Moon Knight persona is dominant, and the killer Ronin is no longer active," Ashley said cautiously. "He's also recovered from Kingpin's attempt to murder him."

"But?" Gwen prompted her.

"I can't promise they'll stay on target," Ashley admitted, "the girl manifests randomly, as does the mercenary Paladin."

"Hmm, understood." Gwen paused as she added, "Keep up the good work."

Gwen sighed. She'd need to send him out with a minder... maybe Daredevil, if she could figure out some leverage on him.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"All right," Rhona Burchill said cheerfully as she worked, "this will hurt."

Scorpion cried out as Rhona adjusted connections between his improved cybernetic rig and his spinal chord.

"What the hell, woman?" Scorpion yelped.

"Now, now, don't be a baby," Rhona chided. "They brought me in to upgrade your interface. I can't do it painlessly."

"Yeah, yeah," Scorpion sighed.

"We've upgraded your scorpion-tank, AND a new set of human legs, if you need to be covert," Rhona noted. "Plus boosted all the onboard weapons."

Rhona finished up the connections and stepped back. "Can you feel the tank unit?" she asked.

"Huh. Yeah," Scorpion began to skitter around the engineering bay, "it actually feels like part of my body."

"Good! We should go to the firing range, you can test the tail and the new modular armor," Rhona added cheerfully.

"Fuck yeah! Can't wait to kill that damned Spider-man," Scorpion agreed cheerfully.

Later, Rhona reported in to Caterina, who was their connection to Mr Fisk. "Scorpion is back in full operation," Rhona told her.

"Good. Is the kill-switch installed?" Caterina asked.

Quite cheerfully Rhona told her, "Yes ma'am. As you requested, it has a disable function, that will shut down his cybernetics and leave him helpless. If you feel the need to sanction him, the kill-switch can just fry his brain."

Caterina nodded, "Very good."

"Pardon my asking," Rhona added, "but why a non-lethal option?"

"Because he might screw up and need to be stopped, but left alive. Plus, frying him wastes all our efforts," Caterina noted.

"Hmm. Point," Rhona conceded. "What next, boss?" she asked.

"You mentioned that you might want to become a new Dr Octopus?" Caterina asked, studying her thoughtfully.

"Oh, yes," Rhona grinned. "Let me at the tech..."

"Well, Alchemax owns the patent for the arm rig," Caterina shrugged, "have at it."

To be continued...

Notes: I am, of course, ignoring Ultimatum (The crisis crossover that kinda wrecked the Ultimate Universe) and most of the Ultimate heroes. One wonders why Ultimate Fantastic Four, who are also New York based, never come to Spidey's aide?