The Spectacular Spider-man

by choejhulkp9

One happenstance trip to Central City in December changed the life of one individual in a way he never imagined. You wake up one day and all of a sudden, your body changed, you gain super powers and you find yourself wondering if it was an accident or maybe it was meant to happen. Who knows but all I know is with great responsibility comes...a lot of weird crap.

11. Spider-man & Flash Part 1

Here is Chapter 11 of the Spectacular Spider-man. Will is a hero in Star City and the people love him. He did what took Oliver and Team Arrow over two years to do and succeed. Things are looking good but he soon learns that even though he's done great work, his actions do have some consequences that effect some people. In trying to take down Hammerhead, he sees the consequences of his actions and realize that sometimes you make your own enemies. A lot to handle as Will goes back to school and runs into an old friend who transferred and quickly becomes part of his group of friends at school. That's always fun and there's more to be had as Will heads to Central City to hang out with Barry and Team Flash. What starts as a trip to hang out and see Emily win another swim meet turns into a prolonged stay. And in that prolonged stay, he meets the first of his rogue galleries metahumans. And this one is electrifying. Enjoy!

The Spectacular Spider-man: The Wise-cracking Web head and the Scarlet Speedster Part 1

January 2015-Star City

Star City, formerly known as Starling City, was making some headlines all over the country which actually wasn't unusual. Being home to some major companies like Queen Consolidated and Merlyn Global made it so it was often in news in the business sections but it wasn't always just the business sections. The boat accident that killed Robert Queen and left Oliver Queen stranded on an island, Oliver's subsequent rescue from said island, the first appearance of the Hood, Moira Queen's confession of the Undertaking to destroy the Glades, Malcolm Merlyn's death, Moira Queen's trial, the takeover and subsequent fall of Queen Consolidated, Deathstroke's siege of Starling and subsequent ending and now Spider-man. Suffice to say that his appearance, public display of a defeated Brick and message to the city was now well known through the country and it sparked a debate about the role of vigilantism in American Crime Fighting. And where was the hero? Sleeping off injuries in a well deserved rest.

Will slowly opened his eyes and felt tired as well as some pain through his body but mostly he felt the small puddle of drool on the left side of his face that stained the blanket he was sleeping on. "Great…asleep for who knows how long in my own drool."

He groaned in discomfort as he slowly pushed himself up out of his bed and heard some of his bones crack. He managed to get out of bed but was still hunched over in stiffness before he finally stood up straight. He leaned back to get the kinks out of his spine and it was accompanied by the sound of bone cracking before he stretched his arms, cracked his neck, and then did a few squats and leg stretches to get the blood pumping through his body as well as the feeling in his limbs. He cracked his neck once more and felt a lot better in general. All the pain, bruises, and aches from his battle against Brick and the New Enforcers was a lot for him to handle. Any normal human would have died but he lived through it and while he still felt some aches, it was a lot less then what it was before.

He still felt some pain but it was minor and healing up more and more every minute. He looked and saw he was still in his Spider-man suit but didn't have his mask on so he looked around when he saw it was on his desk with a note from Aria. It read, looked like you could use some rest and you earned it. Don't worry, we told everyone you were sick. Feel better, Hero.

"She's good." Will muttered as he picked up his mask and saw that it had some scuffs and marks along with a crack on the right eye lens. That made him look in a mirror so he could see the rest of his suit was kind of in the same condition. It was still together with no serious tears or rips and he even checked the back to make sure he didn't have a mark showing his boxers but it wasn't perfect. The battle with the New Enforcers put his suit through the ringer with cuts, scuff marks, and other signs of battle damage. If this was his old suit then he'd look a lot worse. He also pulled at the fabric and took a sniff before recoiling as it smelled. He did sweat and bleed in this and then fell asleep on his bed for who knows how long so now it stunk and he had a feeling that with all the tech in this suit that he couldn't just stick it in the washer in his dorm. He grabbed his phone to call Cisco at STAR labs when he saw the date. "I've been asleep for over a day?"

And he was. He got back to his dorm room at around midnight if he remembers right and it was now 9am…but a day later which meant he had been asleep for over 32 hours. He saw some texts from his mom asking if he was ok and to call him but then saying she got a call from Aria that he was still asleep so it was fine. He also saw some texts from Captain Lance, Yuri, Laurel, Felicity, and the others asking if he was ok. He texted them all back that he was fine and feeling better and that he would talk to them later. First things first, he needed a shower and then talk to Cisco about his suit. He pressed his spider emblem and his suit enlarged, allowing him to slip it off which also gave him a good look at the condition of his body.

All the large purple bruises he had sustained were gone and the serious cuts and scrapes had healed up so he healed remarkably well. There were a few faint scars but other then that, he was clean. Will looked at himself in the mirror and was glad that he had healed up nicely. He flexed a bit in the mirror and touched his skin as well as stretched and nothing felt broken or out of place. "Thank you spider healing."

He quickly put his suit in a gym bag and grabbed his towel and new clothes before going to take a shower. Luckily, everyone else had already gone to class or was hanging out on campus so he could take his time and enjoy his nice long shower. He might have enjoyed himself too much because he spent nearly an hour getting cleaned up. He walked back into his room wearing some clean underwear and jeans while drying his hair with a towel before grabbing a plain white t-shirt from his drawer and putting it on. He sent Aria a text to see where she was and grabbed his web shooters which he placed in his backpack. After fixing his hair, putting on a sweatshirt and winter jacket and spritzing some cologne, he grabbed his backpack and gym bag and walked out of his room.

He exited his dorm and dialed Cisco's number as he headed to the dining hall to get some much needed food. He walked in and scanned his student ID badge before walking over and finding a table where he could put his backpack and gym bag down. His phone kept ringing but he got no answer and just Cisco's answering machine. "Hey, Cisco, it's me Will. I'm just calling to get some information on my new suit. It's gotten some battle damage and is starting to smell. I know you put some tech in the suit but how exactly do I wash this thing without ruining it? Give me a call back when you get the chance."

He hung up and grabbed a plate to pile on the eggs, bacon, breakfast sausage, toast, pancakes, and then some fruit to top it off. Returning to his table with some orange juice and coffee, he enjoyed his large breakfast and the first meal he's had in over a day. The shower and then the food hit the right spot. He finished off his first plate of food in record time which was both fascinating yet odd and was going to get a second when Aria texted back that she and the others were heading to the dining hall. So, he texted back that he was there and to find him.

He got up and grabbed a second plate of food and some more juice when his phone rang so he quickly walked back to his table and put his plate down before answering. "Hello?"

"Hey, dude. I got your message. What did you do to your suit?" Cisco asked him.

"Oh, you know, fight against Shocker and two new battle suit villains and then saving some police from getting squished by a car only to be the middle of a sandwich between the side of a building and said car. Nothing crazy. What's up with you?" Will joked as he took a bite of bacon.

"Well, I'd say that's crazy but this is you Spider-man so we're not sure what to expect. Is the suit badly damaged? We made it pretty tough." Cisco pointed out.

"No, it's nothing too serious. Some scuffs and battle damage but it's still holding together. It smells though." Will pointed out.

"Right. Machine wash with cold water and then tumble dry. That'll wash the suit without ruining it." Cisco told him.

"Thanks. I'm back at school so I'm not sure when I'll have free time but I'll try and figure out a time I can come see you guys in Central City. Hopefully it'll go better than last time." He prayed.

"Sounds great. Dr. Wells and I got some awesome stuff set up for you. Let us know of the specifics. I can see it now. The Flash teaming up with the Spectacular Spider-man. It's gonna be awesome!" Cisco cheered and Will chuckled.

"I'll bet." He replied when he saw Aria and the girls walk over. "I'll talk to you later, Cisco. Tell Barry and Caitlin I said hi."

He hung up as Aria and Spencer walked over with Aria hugged him. "Oh, it's good to see you on your two feet again. How are you feeling?" She asked him.

"I'm good. A nearly two day sleep, one long shower and then some food and I'm back to a hundred percent. A scar or two but nothing serious." Will assured her before giving her a kiss on the head. "Thanks for covering for me."

"It's no problem. We told Dr. Connors that you got a stomach virus just so you know." Aria told him as she and Spencer sat down at the table where they noticed his empty plates of food.

"Which you are clearly recovered from." Spencer remarked. "So, how are you feeling, Spider-man?"

"Fine. Why?" he wondered and they chuckled.

"You don't know what's going on in the city?" Aria wondered and he looked at them.

"Why? Did Brick escape?" Will was concerned of a prison break after all the hard work he and the others put in.

"No, he's in jail. The city's going Spider-man crazy. You're a celebrity." Spencer took out her phone and showed him a headline of an article. It read, Star City's Newest Celebrity Phenomenon. It had a front page photo of Spider-man mid-swing.

"What do you mean, Spider-man crazy?" He asked.

"You're the city's biggest celebrity. After your takedown of Brick and speech to the city, everyone loves you. The Mayor even had a press conference where she thanked you for everything you've done and called you a hero. You're City Hall recognized." Spencer answered. "And Detective Watanabe got a promotion to Lieutenant."

"Oh. Good for Yuri." He said with a smile.

"The city is loving you. You're everywhere. Those Spider-man plushies are sold out, they have Spider-man T-shirts, Spider-man masks, Big Belly Burger even has the Spider-man burger which sounds disgusting but you're famous." Aria praised him.

"Oh good. That's better than infamous." He joked and they chuckled "You're serious?"

"We are. You're Star City's new golden boy." Aria promised. "How's it feel?"

"I'm…not sure. Guess I still need to process it." He admitted.

"We'll you'll have to process it another time because Emily and Maya are here." Spencer told him, seeing them walk over.

"Hey, look who's feeling better." Emily walked over and hugged him and he hugged back.

"Looks like your stomach virus is gone, Will. Glad you're feeling better." Maya said and he smiled, giving her a hug as well.

"Thanks, Maya. Sorry I couldn't see you when you showed up. The stomach virus…was quite painful." He fibbed.

"I can only imagine but glad you're doing better." Maya said as they got on line for breakfast.

Will just grabbed some cereal and milk along with more coffee to finish off his breakfast. "So, Maya how has your first few days at SCU been?" He asked Maya as she put some fruit in her bowl.

"It's been great. Met some of my professors already and Emily introduced me to Dr. Connors. He's amazing." She told him.

"He is, isn't he? If you've got a science class with him, even just to fulfill a requirement then you're in good hands." He promised as he put in some milk for his coffee and they walked back to the table. "What about everything else?"

"Fine. I met the coach for the track team and I impressed him with our first practice so that's good. But Emily warned me about this guy in the Sport medicine classes. Ian?" Maya guessed.

"Yeah, it's Spencer future brother-in-law. Besides the frosty relationship she and Spencer have, Ian's just a jerk and the students he hangs out with are the same. He even tried to get Emily in trouble when she defended herself against one of the meathead fraternity brothers on the football team." Will told her.

"Seriously?" Maya couldn't believe it.

"Yeah, but he learned his lesson. Emily threw the guy to the ground thanks to her boxing training and I managed to get Ian to back off." He promised.

"Now I get why Emily warned me about him. He actually tried to make a pass at me." Maya said.

"Who made a pass at who?" Aria asked as she, Spencer, and Emily returned to the table with their food.

"Will was telling me about Ian and what happened with Emily. That guy actually tried to make a pass at me the other day." Maya repeated.

"What?" Emily didn't know this.

"Don't worry. I walked away and he left me alone. But after hearing what he tried to do to you then I'm glad to know to stay away from him." Maya stated.

"Well, the more you know. We have to deal with him on campus but Spencer has him as her future family." Aria pointed out.

"Which is why I've spent all my time on campus instead of at my parent's penthouse with Ian and Melissa." Spencer stated when she noticed Will's gaze drawn somewhere. It was Alison DiLaurentis walking in with her friends and Flash Thompson like she owned the place which was normal for her but he wasn't expecting her to be here. "Will, you ok?"

"What's Ali still doing here?" He asked aloud.

"Alison?" Emily wondered as the girls looked over to see Ali being her usual rich bitch, confident evil self while hanging from Flash's arm. "She's pretty much the same as normal."

"Yeah, that I get but I didn't think she'd be back at school. I figured she would have been put on academic suspension after last semester but she looks as happy as can be." Will noticed.

"Maybe she pulled off a final miracle?" Maya suggested only for the table to chuckle. "Am I missing something?"

"Let's just say that Ali isn't exactly a smart Sorority member on Campus." Emily informed her.

"She was failing Chemistry last year and likely her other classes as well. The only way she would still be here is if she managed a miracle and literally Aced all her finals which given Ali's intelligence is debatable." Will figured.

"Maybe her parents paid the dean and admissions extra money to keep her here. That or she threatened to sue them if she couldn't keep coming." Aria joked.

"That sounds like Ali." Spencer stated. "Goes to show that if your rich and ruthless enough then you can do what you want and no one can stop you."

"That's the way the world goes round, unfortunate as it is." Maya added.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." Will muttered as they ate their breakfast. After that they parted ways and went to their classes or did what they had scheduled. Emily didn't have a class today so she went campus's pool to get some practice in for the big meet they had next week in Central City. Will sat in his introduction to business class, listened to the professor lecture, and took notes like the good student he was but a part of his mind was still thinking about how Ali managed to stay in school. He was sure she would be on academic suspension and a semester without Ali or her minions was kind of on his Christmas wish list. Maybe Ali did manage a miracle and pull out all A's on her final but given how she spent more time partying then that was unlikely. After his class, he went to the science building to see Dr. Connors in his office.

Dr. Connors was sitting at his desk and using his computer to refine the components for his regeneration formula based on his cross-species genetics lizard algorithm. Now that they were being funded by Palmer Tech, Dr. Connors had more resources at his disposal then just the university. It would definitely push his research further and make it work. Looking down at right arm and the lab coat sleeve that was rolled up reminding him of why he did this. He never left his amputation hold him back but it still felt like a piece of him was missing. And this work wasn't just about him but for the thousands if not millions of others who suffer even worse injuries. Science sometimes require some radical thinking.

[Knock-Knock]

Connors was brought out his mental soap opera when he heard a knock on his office door so he quickly saved his research. "Dr. Connors? You have a minute?"

"Of course. Come in, Will." Dr. Connors told him and Will opened the door and walked in. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Stomach Virus really knocked me on my ass." He replied, sitting down in the chair in front of Dr. Connor's desk.

"I can only imagine. I got a stomach virus once and ended up hunched over a toilet for a few days. I lost two pounds." Dr. Connors joked. "I'm glad you're feeling better and luckily it happened when the semester started so there's not much to catch up on."

"Yeah, I'm meeting with the professors I missed to go over everything. I just wanted to check in and see how things are."

"Things are good. The research at Palmer Tech is moving along and with the semester starting our hours there will be a bit all over the place. The board is understanding but they're gonna want a progress report by the end of the month to see if they can start Alpha-level trials." Dr. Connors informed him. "Anything else bothering you?"

"Sort of. Um, sorry if this sounds weird but did you hear anything about Alison DiLaurentis being on Academic suspension?" He wondered.

"Not to my knowledge although considering the miracle she pulled out at finals I'm guessing she's still here." Dr. Connors remarked.

"Miracle? What miracle?" Will questioned.

"She aced the final and it saved her. She didn't pull up her grades but it saved her by just enough to keep her from failing." Dr. Connors told him. "If she another friend of yours?

"Not exactly. Kind of the antithesis of what Emily, Spencer, and Aria are to me."

"Oh, then how did you know she was in danger of academic suspension?" Dr. Connors wondered and Will started to sweat a bit.

"I might have taken a quick…glimpse at student list for your chemistry class and saw Alison's name on it along with the words in danger of failing in big red letters. Sorry, I couldn't help myself." Will apologized and Dr. Connors gave him a disapproving look. "It's just…that doesn't seem odd to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that she's not exactly the most academically inclined. You probably figured given her grades but she wasn't exactly spending her free time studying before finals. Just the non-stop parties at the Sorority House and tormenting the other students on campus so how could she pull off acing the final in your difficult Chemistry final exam along with the other classes she's probably failing." Will pondered and Dr. Connors was intrigued by his observation. "I know this sounds like me talking down another student but uh…you know what, it's nothing. Maybe it's just my scientific curiosity and own personal issues with her. Forget I said anything. I'll see you later, Dr. Connors. Sorry to bother you."

Will got up and excused himself and Dr. Connors bid him farewell. Its true that his inquiry could seem baseless and admitting his own personal feelings about Alison mattered but he did make some valid points. Valid enough that Dr. Connors started to dig into it further. Will headed to his dorm's laundry room to wash his suit, following Cisco's instructions exactly. He sat against the wall, listening to the steady thumping of the washing machine spin and since he was stuck babysitting his clothes he called his mother.

"Hey there, Hero. Feeling better?" May asked him.

"I am. Guess all I needed after some serious fighting and injuries was a nearly two day sleep and then a hot shower. Plus, I ate three complete plates of sausage, eggs, bacon, and toast so I'm feeling great." He joked and she chuckled. "But really mom I'm good. All my bruising is gone with only a small scar left behind and nothing is broken. Nothing like accelerated healing to make me nostalgic for the days that I was in a wheelchair after fracturing my left leg."

"You're a miracle of modern medicine, Will. I'm glad you're feeling better and I would have gone to your campus to take care of you but Aria and the girls looked after you and they said you were fine. Just asleep. You're a lucky guy to be surrounded by such good friends."

"That I am and it's not limited to school either. I heard Yuri got a promotion which is great. She risked a lot to work with me and she's getting the credit she deserves now. What about Captain Lance?" He asked her.

"He's fine. He said the Mayor sang the praises of the SCPD and Spider-man but he also mentioned that if something goes wrong then its his job."

"Ouch, that's harsh." Will pointed out.

"It's realistic from their point of view. Quentin and I know you're a good guy and most of the city knows that. They probably know it to but the Mayor risked a lot in her speech where she publicly thanked and praised Spider-man who is still a masked superhero." May elaborated and Will realized where she was going with this.

"Right. And if something goes wrong regarding me then the City loses face for putting their trust in said masked hero. Then I go to being Public Enemy #1 like Tombstone tried to do." Will figured. "Well, I'm not gonna let that happen."

"I know you won't and I hope that something like this never happens but I think its fair to say that we don't know what to expect when it comes to Spider-man. Just…be careful out there and don't get overconfident."

"I will, mom. The second my suit's clean I'm gonna head out into the city and check up on things. Maybe I'll also swing by and drop off some takeout for dinner at the hospital." He offered.

"Sounds good. Beijing Palace please and my usual order."

"Got it. I'll talk to you later." Will hung up and then dialed Captain Lance. He waited a second until the dial tone stopped. "Hey, Captain. How are you doing?"

"I should be the one asking you. May told me you were in pretty bad shape."

"Well, helps that what I can do also lets me heal faster than regular people. Just some sleep, a hot shower, and plenty of food and I'm back at a hundred percent. Granted it was nearly two days of sleep but still. How are things in the city?" He wondered.

"Quiet which is both good but also disconcerting. My guys are still rounding up some of Brick's stragglers. There's still a few out there but we're tracking them down. Watanabe's been leading them along with most of my high ranking detectives and the uniformed officers."

"Wow, with her in charge then my job should get easier." Will remarked.

"And instead of taking a break, she went full force into her new position and set up a Major Crimes taskforce. One of its objectives is looking into the person who supplied Brick with those thermite guns we found in the rubble of the warehouse."

"I might be able to help with that. When we took down Brick, I worked with someone who managed to get some information on those guns and where they came from." Will told him.

"Let me guess, from Felicity Smoak?" Lance asked and didn't get a response for Will. "Relax, kid. I know who she is and I know she worked for the Arrow."

"You know that?"

"We have something of an existing relationship. I was the one who told her to reach out to you and I'm glad I did. What did you find out?"

"The guns were Smythe Tech. Stolen before the company went bankrupt and shut down. Felicity managed to crack into what's left of their systems and get some information along with their creator, a Dr. Phineas Mason. He was their former head of Advance Weapons. You can call Felicity and she can get you the information. He's likely the one who sold them to Brick and since Brickhead was so focused on the Glades, he wouldn't have left for Central City to make an arms deal so Mason's somewhere in the city." Will suggested.

"All right, I'll call her and get Yuri the information." Lance said when he saw Yuri walk in so he signaled her over. She walked into his office and shut the door. "Speak of the devil, she's here now. You're on speaker."

"Hey, Will. How are you feeling?" Yuri asked him.

"Back to a hundred percent. Plan on heading into the city for a patrol after my suit's done in the wash. How are things out there?" He asked her.

"Quiet for now with everyone singing your praise. Guess your little speech had some effect on the city. Things have been quiet. Not so much as a purse snatching but it's probably just a lull."

"And here I was hoping that my speech really got to the hearts of the criminals of this city." He joked. "Yeah, I figured as much but I think we can learn from our mistakes. In taking down Tombstone we left open a void that Brick was able to take and we all know what almost happened. I'm not about to let someone else try their hands at taking over the city."

"Power leaves a vacuum. But good news for us on that end is that your speech did get people to come forward with some information that could prove useful. Especially since it'll get us someone we've been going after for a while. A new CI just gave me a lead on Hammerhead." Yuri told him.

"Which gives us a chance to take him down and the last of Tombstone's operation still in Star City. Sounds good to me. I'll let you know when I'm on my way."

"We'll be waiting. Talk to you later, kid." Yuri and Captain Lance hung up after that.

He heard the buzzer for the washer as it finished its cycle so he opened up the washer door and took out his wet and washed suit. That's when he heard some footsteps so he quickly tried to put it into a dryer which was kind of tricky as it was large and also wet so it stuck and was tangled up a bit. He quickly shoved it into the dryer as one of the sleeves hit him in the face and then he put in some dryer sheets and closed it shut just as some students walked in to do some laundry. He let out a sharp exhale of relief and turned on the dryer before sitting down and waiting for it to finish. One dryer cycle later and his suit was clean so he snuck it back into his gym bag and headed back to his room where he suited up and headed out to the city.

A mother of two was walking down the street with her two young kids and stopped to get her son and daughter some hotdogs from a street cart from Stan the hotdog vendor. She took out her purse when a guy grabbed it from her hand and ran away.

"HEY! STOP HIM!" The mother shouted as the thief ran down the sidewalk as fast as he could, knocking down pedestrians with the purse in hand when Spider-man suddenly dropped down in front of him with a web line in his hand.

"Hey, could you hold this?" Spider-man took the purse from his hand and replaced it with the web line. "Thanks."

The thief was then pulled up into the air by the web line and dangled in the air. "Help! Let me down!" The thief shouted as pedestrians took out their phones to take photos and record everything while two uniformed police officers walked over next to Spider-man.

"Seriously, dude? You rob a mother of two when she's getting hotdogs from Stan, arguably the best hotdog vendor in the city? Shame on you. But don't worry because these two lovely SCPD officers will be taking you to jail." Spider-man handed one of the officers the purse before he jumped up and grabbed the web line holding the thief and then lowered him to the ground. One of the officers handcuffed him as Spider-man flipped back to the ground. "Thanks for the assist officers. You got it from here?"

"We got it, Spider-man." The officer assured him.

"Good. Then let's hand over the purse to its owner." He suggested and they walked over to the mom and her kids.

"Oh, thank you so much, Spider-man." The mother said as the officer handed back her purse.

"Thank you, ma'am but it was a team effort." Spider-man said, ruffling the kids hair a bit as they had the biggest smiles on their faces. "Just be sure to keep an extra good grasp on your valuables from now on."

"I will, I promise." She assured him.

"Hey, Spider-man. Nice job taking down the thief." Stan the Hotdog vendor praised him.

"High praise from the best hotdog vendor in the city. Can I get one with everything on it and extra sauerkraut?" He asked.

"For Star City's superhero? Of course." Stan quickly made him a hot dog as nearby pedestrians were recording this like they would if they saw a celebrity in person. In a few seconds, Stan handed Spider-man one hotdog with everyone on it and extra sauerkraut. "On the house, Spider-man."

"Aw, come on, Stan. If I didn't pay you for this then it'd be robbery. Keep the change." Spider-man handed him five bucks for the hotdog. He jumped and landed on the side of a building where he raised his mask and took a bite. "Oh, that's a good hotdog. You guys can put it on the internet and Stan can make a sign himself, the best hotdogs in Star City! Take care everyone!"

Spider-man swung away with everyone cheered for him and people wanting to get a hotdog from the vendor that just served the arachnid themed hero. Suffice to say that Stan had a very good day of business. He finished his hotdogs in a few extra bites and during some very creative web swinging as he made his way to the SCPD. Newly promoted Police Lieutenant Yuri Watanabe was up on the roof of the SCPD building in her winter jacket. She rubbed her hands together and shivered as Will texted to meet up on the roof.

She heard the distinct sound of thwiping and turned to see Spider-man land on the roof in his suit. "How are you not freezing in that thing?" Yuri asked.

"Special material keeps the knees from knocking." He answered.

"Lucky you. I wish we had picked somewhere more warm to meet in private." Yuri remarked. "Let's get this over before I catch a cold."

"Sure thing. So, what did you find out about Hammerhead?"

"Turns out that Hammerhead isn't playing the loyal lieutenant to Tombstone now that he's gone from Star City. He's met up with a few old capos and higherups from his old Maggia days." Yuri took out a folder and handed it to him. He looked through it to see mugshots and bios on old Maggia members back when they controlled the city but that was over a decade ago.

"Guess the Maggia never died." He remarked.

"No, just went into semi-retirement. They're a fraction of what they used to be but according to the CI, Hammerhead's looking into some capital to build up his muscle and take over the power vacuum left behind by Brick. He's using his old Maggia contacts to recruit anyone willing to fight but I've got nothing definitive yet. Check back tomorrow and maybe I'll have one of his rackets nailed down." Yuri told him.

"Ok. In the meantime, the city's been without its hero for a while so it's time to do my Spider-man thing." Will bid her farewell and jumped off the roof of the SCPD before swinging away.

Deep in the Glades of Star City, the people there were still recovering from Brick's reign of terror and while the crime boss was in jail along with most of the people who helped him it wasn't perfect. The people there have had it rough for the past several years and despite the arrival of Spider-man, it didn't mean things were perfect. His actions had unforeseen consequences and one of them was that when he took down Tombstone, he also took down his entire network of both legal and illegal enterprises. Despite being the Big Man of Crime, Tombstone did a lot of good with the money he put into charities and the local communities especially in the Glades. When Tombstone was taken down, all of that money that helped a lot of people went away overnight and the City didn't do anything to help as they were more focused on covering their own assess. Local business that were built with Tombstone's legal money were hit hard and all his charities that helped a lot of people were shut down.

Hobbie Brown was one of those people. A young African-American teenager who was born and raised in the Glades and lived there with his mother. He was a bright and smart kid but had an anger problem. For most of his life it was just him and his mother after his dad died during a shootout between two gangs. His mother worked two jobs to keep them afloat and Hobie did what he could to help. He was smart and had a knack for building things that got him praise from his high school and he further developed those skills at the local community college which he got a partial scholarship to. Hobie was walking down the street in the Glades after picking up some food for his mom which he got from doing some part-time work at a tech store. His mom lost one of her jobs at the laundromat because it was a front for Tombstone and the police shut it down after his exposure. She was looking for another job to make up for it and Hobie was doing what he could to help.

He walked past a newspaper box to see the paper with picture of Spider-man on it and just scoffed. Sure, the web head kept people safe but what about the lives he also affected with his superhero work. Things were fine before he ever showed up and they wouldn't have had to dealt with Brick either if Tombstone was still around. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough.

Hobie ducked down an alley and cut through a side street as a shortcut to get home when he saw some vans pull up in the back alley of a building. Hobie hid behind a dumpster to see some men get out and judging by the clothes they were wearing they were Los Halcones. Another sign of things that changed. If Tombstone was around then the Los Halcones would have never ventured to the Glades. He saw the Los Halcones remove crates of high-tech equipment and weapons from the back of the vans.

"Hurry up. Let's get those inside quickly before anyone sees us."

"You sure it was a good idea to get this stuff. It cost us a lot of money."

"If we're gonna stand up against Spider-man then we need better weapons and the Tinkerer is the only one providing them."

Hobie listened intently as he saw two men carry a large crate to the building when they were snagged by webbing and yanked into the air. The crate they dropped broke open and its contents spilled out with a few items rolling close to Hobie. That's when they heard some thwiping and Spider-man swung down low and kicked two Los Halcones into a van.

"Sorry to interrupt this little get together but I think that you boys might have gotten your hands on things that don't belong to you." Spider-man said as he dodged some gunfire before taking out one of the Los Halcones with a web zip to the face. "Who's the Tinkerer?"

"Kill him!"

The Los Halcones opened fire but Spider-man was too fast and agile. He made them look like chumps like he always does as he dodged and took them out with kicks and punches. He uppercut one guy into the air and then web slammed him into the ground before using him as a springboard and jumping into a 720 spin kick that sent another Los Halcones flying into the side of a building.

Hobbie saw Spider-man dealing with the Los Halcones and decided to get out of there while he had the chance but noticed the tech that landed near him. He had no idea what it was but he saw a pair of high-tech gloves that sharp metal claw tips and a launcher on the back of the wrist. It had empty grooves for cartridges around the forearm and he saw some of them on the ground as well in a large belt that contained other items. There were also small round grenade like spheres and other useful items including a pair of high-tech boots and a helmet. He quickly grabbed all the items and put them in his backpack before running away just as Spider-man finished up with the last Los Halcones.

He ducked, dipped, and dodged the knife before kicking it out of his hand and webbing his face. He then web pulled him and hit him in the chest with a jumping back kick. The Los Halcones member held his chest in pain when Spider-man landed on his stomach. "Who's the Tinkerer?"

"Screw you."

"So unimaginative." Spider-man quickly webbed him up and strung them upside down while also webbing up all the crates of tech and weapons they had. "Last chance. Who's the Tinkerer and where did he get all this stuff?"

"You got your own problems coming, web-head. The Tinkerer's in town and he's open for business. You're gonna get what's coming to you—mfft!" The guy was cut off when Spider-man webbed his mouth shut.

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before." He muttered before grabbing the box that had dropped onto the ground and picking up the stuff that felt out, unaware that someone had taken some of the items inside. He called Yuri who sent some officers to pick up the Los Halcones and take the boxes into evidence.

Hobie returned to his house and dropped off the food in the kitchen before heading to his room. His mother was still at work so he had the house to himself which was good because he didn't know what he found. He locked his door and dumped the contents of his backpack onto his bed and began organizing what he took from the Los Halcones. It was all high-tech equipment and if this stuff was in one of the crates then the Los Halcones had more. It wasn't the usual drugs or guns they usually dealt with. He overheard the name Tinkerer but he had no idea who that was.

He picked up a vest that looked like Kevlar but it was lighter so must be new stuff before putting it down and picked up one of the gauntlets. He was unfamiliar with the tech but it seemed to be made of some kind of special alloy and it was sharp as he pricked his finger on one of the claws. He decided to slip it on and the gauntlet self-adjusted to fit his hand and forearm. He moved his hand around and the gauntlet had some weight to it but nothing to serious. He flexed the claws and moved his hand down, accidently carving out a huge slice into his desk chair.

"Jesus…" Hobie muttered as he quickly removed the glove and looked at the rest of the stuff he took. He picked up the helmet and noticed its creepy eyes before getting an idea to use this stuff. When life gives you lemons you make lemonade…so maybe it's time things for him start getting better.

Line Break xxxxx

A week later…

Spider-man was perched up on the roof of his skyscraper crouching next to Bob the Gargoyle. It was early in the morning and a day he didn't have class so he would head out on patrol, then head to Palmer Tech to continue working on the Recombinator project and then head out on patrol again but first Laurel said she needed to see him. That's when his HUD picked up a police emergency so he ran forward and jumped, nosediving straight to the ground as the wind rushed past his suit. Anyone else in his position would be crapping their pants but to Will this was just as exhilarating as the first time. He fired a web and swung high up into the air with the speed from his freefall shooting him further into the sky. "WOOOO!"

He did a few backflips in the air before firing another web and swinging himself up into the air. He web zipped himself further into the air and then fired a web to bank him over the building and continued his nosedive. "Yee-hoo!"

He fired a web and turned a corner before swinging low to pick up speed and shoot himself into the air again. "What do you got for me today, Star City?!" The HUD in his mask alerted him of an incoming call from Felicity. "Morning, Felicity. What do you got for me today?"

Felicity was at her desk in her office checking the police feed and a recent incident came up. "A Kord Industries armored truck was hijacked. It's carrying experimental power cells and from what I've been able to dig into Kord's Servers, those things are highly combustible with a potential explosive yield that could blow up a few city blocks. It's currently leading a high speed police chase."

"Ok, let's get to work!" Spider-man swung around a building and followed the sound of police sirens.

A tow truck was speeding through the city with the Kord Industries armored truck hooked onto the back of it. Driving said truck was Bratva member Aleksei Sytsevich who was crashing through cars without a care so long as he and his two accomplices got what they wanted. His two compatriots had climbed on top of the armored truck and were currently strapping thermite charges to melt a hole through the roof. Two police squad cars got in front to block the truck but Aleksei just drove through them.

Spider-man web pulled himself around a corner and swung high in the air doing a 360 spin before diving straight to the ground and swinging low. "Spider-man!" The people on the street cheered.

"Hello, Pedestrians!" Spider-man greeted them as he followed the parade of squad cars down the street.

The two robbers managed to make a hole large enough for them to get into the truck where the experimental fuel source rods were kept secured in a special container. Spider-man dropped down and landed on the tow-truck before heading to the driver's door and knocked on the window. "Knock-knock. Mr. Criminal." Spider-man motioned him to lower the window so Aleksei did. "Hey, you can call me Spider-man. You can call me web-head. You can call me Spectacular, just don't call me late for dinner, you get it?"

Aleksei swiped at him so he Spider-man ducked away. His feet then dropped down in view of the window and he peaked his head down after. "Not a shaker. Are you a hugger?"

"I'm a killer!" Aleksei took his AK-47 and fired a burst, making Spider-man duck away.

"Whoa, ok!" Aleksei's gun jammed and tried to fix it so Spider-man ducked in and grabbed the steering wheel to keep the truck going straight. "You having problems with your gun? Need some help with that? Whoa, coming through!"

He turned the street but saw they were heading to a busy intersection. "Uh, this is bad. I'm gonna be right back!"

Spider-man swung away as Aleksei drove through the intersection and barreled through a taxi and the other cars on the road. One of the taxi's flew through the air and would have hit a father and his daughter but Spider-man got to them and pulled them to the ground so the taxi flew over their heads. He quickly fired some webbing so the taxi landed in a web net and didn't crash to the ground. "Whew, that was close."

He helped the dad and daughter to their feet and then web pulled the little girl's balloon back to the ground so she didn't lose it. "Here you go, you don't want to lose that."

"You're Spider-man…" The dad was still in shock as Spider-man fixed his jacket and shirt.

"Costume kind of gives it away, huh." Spider-man quipped, web pulling the dad's briefcase and handed it to him. "This is probably important. Stay safe and remember to look both ways and up in the air before crossing the street. Take care."

He pat the girl on the head before helping the taxi driver out of his taxi who thanked Spider-man for saving him as he then swung after the truck. "GO, SPIDER-MAN!" The little girl shouted followed by everyone else on the street.

Aleksei's men carefully began putting the fuel rods into a container but Aleksei saw that the cops were still after him so he slammed on the brake. This caused the shelf holding the fuel rods in the armored truck to come loose and made the cop cars crash into one another as they stopped. The two thieves opened up the truck's doors and began shooting at the police who ducked or fired back when their guns were yanked out of their hands by webbing. They were then pulled out of the trucks and hung upside down in the middle of the police pile up.

"Hands up!" An officer shouted so the thieves did as they were told. Seeing the police were busy, Aleksei sped the truck away as Spider-man swung into the back of the armored truck to grab the fuel rods.

"Oh, got you. Got you. No, got you too!" The acceleration and sudden jerking caused the fuel rods to spill out and bounce around so he used one of his feet to stick to the roof of the truck while using his hands and his other foot to grab the fuel rods before they broke. "Get back here. You're not going anywhere! Come here! Come to daddy!"

Aleksei turned a corner just as Spider-man caught the last vial that slipped out. "Ok, stop it. Phew…" He breathed a sigh of relief when the last fuel rod still in its slot on the shelf slipped out and bounced out of the truck. "Aw, come on!"

He jumped out of the truck and webbed the fuel rods to a light post before chasing after the fuel rod which bounced against a squad car. "Hey, come back here! Heel!" He jumped off the squad car and swung ono the street and grabbed the fuel rod. "Got you."

He landed on the street when he turned and saw a Police van driving straight at him. "AH—[Thunk]"

Spider-man was now a hood ornament and riding on the front of the police van but he had the fuel rod and it wasn't cracked. He looked to his right and some police officers look at him funny as he just waved at them when Laurel called so he pressed his earpiece. "Hey, Laurel, what's up?"

"What's up is I thought you were on your way here to talk about the rash of burglaries going on in the city?" Laurel pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I got stuck in some traffic." He answered, still on the front of the police van.

"Where are you?"

"First and Adams, Second and Adams, Third and Adams. Um, give me five minutes. Ten tops." He said when she heard the noise in the background.

"Are those sirens?" She asked him and there was a bit of an awkward pause.

"Yeah. I'll be there in a bit." He hung up and swung forward, landing on the front of the tow-truck. "Hey, I told you! I am running a bit late!"

Aleksei just activated the windshield cleaner and sprayed him. "Ha, it's over Spider!"

"Really?!" Spider-man ripped the windshield wipers off and punched the front windshield when his spider-sense went off again and he saw the tow-truck heading to a bus. He backflipped into the air just as the truck crashed into the bus and webbed the fuel rod to a light post. He then landed on the other side of the bus and forced it to a stop with his feet digging into the street but it worked and he stopped the bus before it hit a grandfather and granddaughter on a walk. "Is everyone ok?!"

The occupants of the bus cheered and waved at him while Aleksei got out of the truck and took the fuel rod hanging from the light post and ran. Spider-man chased after him so he fired all the bullets from his AK-47 only for Spider-man to spin through the air and dodge them all. He landed in front of Aleksei and took his gun and the fuel rod before throwing it up into the air. "I'll take that. That's not yours."

He then trapped his arms with some webbing, tossed the gun into the air and webbed his pants down before catching the fuel rod with his foot, all the time whistling his Spider-man theme song he made up. He then gave Aleksei and mock salute before walking away. "This is not over, Spider!" Aleksei shouted as he struggled to get free only for his gun that Spider-man threw into the air land on his head and knock him out. (1)

Spider-man dropped off the fuel rod to the police and double checked to make sure all the civilians on the bus were ok. The police would take it over so he made his way to go meet Laurel at the DA's office. While Laurel was waiting for Will to arrive, she turned on the radio and listened to the news.

"Good morning, Star City. Looking at another beautiful day here in the city if not a little cold but that's winter. First big topic of the day is the sighting of Spider-man all around. Now, it's been a few days since his big reveal and speech to the people after his takedown of Brick. And I for one was not expecting the Mayor's speech after it all happened. Star City has a savior and it isn't a bow and arrow guy but a web swinging one so we want to know your opinion callers. You're on the air."

"How about that Spider-man? He saved over a dozen lives during that car collision on the highway a month ago."

"I think without Spider-man, there'd be no hope for this city."

"Who do you think pays the bills for all the damage he causes. It's you and me! Tax payers!"

"I don't feel like my kids are safe with him out there. Get out of the way and let the police do their job."

"If we let the police do their job then we'd still be under the rule of Brick and his cronies! I say go Spider-man for taking him down!"

"Some people are thinking that there is even more than one Spider-man. What do you think? One guy or many?"

"I'd love to know who's behind that mask."

"We have a caller on the line named Richard. Go ahead caller."

"I think that the people who don't like or agree about Spider-man don't understand him. He's a good person. He's protecting us. He saved my life when I was trapped under rubble from a building explosion and if it wasn't for him then I wouldn't still be alive for my wife and son. He's a good man."

"This Spider-man guy. He's not the police. He's not a fireman. What gives him the right to get involved in other people's business?"

"Ok, well let's see how you feel about that when you are being robbed or need rescuing but Spider-man doesn't come to help you. Let's see how you feel after that."

"Ouch, that had to hurt a bit." Laurel heard and saw Will walk in wearing some winter clothes and had his backpack on. "He knows I would come for everyone."

"Guess some people aren't big fans of people in masks." Laurel figured and got a shrug in response.

"To be fair, if I saw a guy in mask swing down at me a few years ago I would be both excited and terrified." He pointed out. "So, what's this rash of burglaries you want me to look into?"

Laurel handed him a folder of a robbery. It wasn't an ordinary smash and grabs at jewelry stores or banks but rather high-end robberies in the more expensive parts of the city. "It started a few days ago. Someone broke into the private penthouse of Alexander Graham and stole roughly a million dollars in jewels and cash."

"Alexander Graham as in the Star City's biggest power broker and political aid?" Will asked her. "The same one that's been charged with multiple counts of fraud and corruption?"

"The very same and unfortunately he knows the right people and puts money in the right hands to avoid jail. None of the charges have ever stuck but he's just as bad as the people he's helped put in power in the past. Officially, he's retired." Laurel informed him.

"You'd think that a guy like Graham would have a fancy mansion in the Palisades." Will pointed out.

"He does where he lives with his wife and son. The private penthouse is for his mistress." Laurel told him and he chuckled.

"Ooh…Mrs. Graham must not have been happy to hear about that." He joked.

"No, she wasn't. Some officers had to step in when she started throwing things. Anyway, he wasn't there and neither was his mistress but still someone managed to break into a highly secured building without being caught on camera and then break into highly secured penthouse where the security and motion sensor system was disabled and managed to make off with all the jewels and money." Laurel then handed him another folder. "Then a day later, SCPD responded to a theft at the house of local businessman Mark Abelman where several hundred thousand dollars' worth of property was stolen but again, no evidence left behind and no one was injured."

"Mark Abelman. Anything special about this guy?" Will wondered.

"Well, organized crime has long believed Abelman to be a money man for some criminals in the city but they've never been able to push things further then the street because rumor has it he keeps himself separated from the action. And he's connected to some people in City Hall." Laurel explained and then handed him a third folder. "Which brings us to our third robbery at the office of Marcus Specter, defense lawyer extraordinaire to the city's rich and powerful. His practice does well enough that he has a vacation house in Hawaii, a Ferrari, and a private yacht."

"Let me guess. His clients aren't exactly moral pillars of the community." He remarked and she nodded.

"The FBI have been trying to go after him because they suspect he represents a laundry list of criminals and bad people. And our thief stole well over a hundred thousand dollars' worth of things Mr. Specter had in his office along with some files." Laurel recounted.

"I think the most expensive thing I own is my camera." Will remarked as he looked over the three files and the connection clicked in his head. "Our theft is going after criminals. Or criminals that police or DA's office haven't been able to touch yet. Sort of like the whole Robin Hood thing Oliver did when he first started."

"Exactly. But that's also a long list and so far none of our resources and tips into fences have gotten us anything. Robbery and theft is looking into this but so far the thief hasn't left any evidence or sign of who he is so maybe you'll have better luck." Laurel told him.

"I'll start looking into it and let you know what I find." Will promised, walking out of the DA's office, and heading to Palmer Tech.

Over in the Glades, a black Sedan pulled up into an abandoned warehouse and it occupants were some men in black suits with suspicious bulges in their jackets. One of the guards opened up the passenger door and out walked a man wearing glasses and a three-piece business suit with two briefcases he gave to the guard to carry. Based on appearance alone it looked like he didn't belong there but there was something in his eyes and face that beguiled his physical appearance and deep down was the mind of someone far more dangerous. The man and his entourage walked into the warehouse where they would meet the associates they would be dealing with. It was a group of five people dressed in suits as well but less business attire and more evening out at a fancy club. They all had guns on them as well and the leader of the group exuded charm and confidence, wearing a nice three-piece suit. This was Cornell Stokes otherwise known as Cottonmouth and he led the Stokes Crime Family. They were a small-time family in the Glades and dealt with small-time arms sales, prostitution, and stolen goods. For years, they were low-level and mainly stuck to the Glades and served under Tombstone but now that he and Brick were gone they were starting to branch out. (2)

"Mr. Wesley, welcome. Is it just you?" Cottonmouth asked.

"My employer sends his regrets that he couldn't make it in person but you understand that given everything that has happened to Mr. Lincoln and then Mr. Brickwell…he wants to keep a much lower profile. For our mutual benefit." Wesley put one of the briefcases on a small table and opened it to reveal a folder of financial information and some money, roughly 100,000 dollars in cash. "The payment for Mr. Abelman. You'll find everything in the file. All the money has been deposited into the account of your choosing minus our 15% commission and the 100,000 dollars in clean and unmarked bills."

Cottonmouth took the file and looked through it but everything was in order. He took it and then handed the cash to one of his men who then walked over with a small bag that had expensive goods but the thing that Mr. Wesley was more interested in were the files. "As requested. Files from the law office of Marcus Specter along with some other things to make it look like a regular burglary."

"Excellent." Mr. Wesley had one of his men take the bag and then brought over the next briefcase which had another file of financial transactions and another 100,000 dollars in cash. "Forgive me but we weren't aware that the Stokes Family had such a capable thief under their employ."

"Our new associate is something more of a freelancer. A new player who has appeared in the Glades…one with some unique skills and tech." Cottonmouth answered. "Someone who is willing to put his services in the right hand for some money."

"But you don't know this individual." Mr. Wesley pointed out. "Entering an alliance with an ally you don't know carries with it a risk."

"The same as trying to take over the city and dealing with the Spider-man, especially after his latest speech." Cottonmouth remarked.

"Which is why my employer is making sure that all elements of our organization remain as quiet and under the radar as possible." Wesley assured him.

"I'm sure Tombstone felt the same and we all know how that turned out. In this growing city of masks, sometimes you need a mask of your own to handle the things you can't which is exactly what the Prowler is for." Cottonmouth told him.

"The Prowler?" Wesley was confused.

"He goes in quietly and gets out the same. No one knows he was there and no evidence is left behind. He's just a man from the Glades putting his skills to work for money to get by. And given that Hammerhead is trying to gather more muscle than it's only fair we have our own costumed guy working for us. He's done good work for us so far." Cottonmouth said and Wesley had to admit that so he decided to give him another job.

"Very well. If this Prowler is as good as you say he is then perhaps one more job and I'll approach my employer about bringing him in full time." He had one of his men hand him a file and gave it to Cottonmouth. "Hammerhead is still an issue and my employer cannot move forward with our plans so long as he remains. He clings to the Maggia to get his power and our resources tell us that they are moving a substantial amount of money and goods from his location at 9pm tomorrow. The money is not the target but a certain piece of art. A lost painting known as the Maria and my employer wants it. If the Prowler can get it…then he can consider himself protected in our organization."

"I'll see that he gets the message." Cottonmouth replied and Wesley nodded.

"But let the Prowler know that this…audition is all in. Should he fail then we will no longer be doing business." Wesley told him before he and his men left. They got back into their car and drove away. Wesley took out his phone and called his employer. "It's done. Cottonmouth has been paid and his new associate will be informed of the task. He calls himself the Prowler."

"It's time to see if this Prowler can be of use to us. If he can acquire the painting then we have another ally to add to our organization. If not, then Hammerhead and the Maggia will take care of him and we'll have to handle it ourselves as originally planned. Is he a possible leak?"

"I doubt it. The Prowler seems to be a freelancer. Services to the highest bidder but from the way Mr. Stokes spoke of him, he's most likely a local to the Glades. He doesn't appear to be a member of the organization so he doesn't know much and Mr. Stokes wants to keep it that way. So long as he gets paid then things are good." Wesley answered.

"The Glades breeds criminals and thieves but this one has proven to be impressive. Confirm as much as you can and make sure that Cottonmouth doesn't get any ideas."

"Of course, sir." Wesley hung up after that.

Cottonmouth and his men returned to the Glades and stopped at the club that he owned as a front. He gave one of his men the file and briefcase of money before he walked down three blocks to an dead end ally where a large X was carved into side of a building. He placed the briefcase in an old cardboard box underneath the X along with the file before leaving. A few minutes later, a figure dropped down into the alley from the roof.

It was the Prowler. He was wearing a helmet spray-painted purple with black accents over the eyes but the eyes themselves were glowing green. On his wrists were a pair of high-tech gauntlets with sharp claws and he had a pair of high-tech boots and a belt containing pouches of equipment but the rest of his suit wasn't as high-tech. He had on a purple sweatshirt that had some kind of Kevlar vest stitched on and wearing a pair of black cargo pants. (3)

The Prowler took the briefcase out of the cardboard box and opened it to see the stack of hundreds inside but also saw the file and a note. A new job offer and if he pulled it off then he'd get more money and protection against anyone who would try to mess with him. Prowler put the file in the briefcase and the lights on his boots glowed green before he jumped up twenty feet and used his claws to dig into the wall and climbed up to the roof. The Prowler proceeded to run and jump from rooftop to rooftop with his boots providing him increased speed and agility to do what he was doing. He jumped from a building and over a street before landing on another rooftop and then fired a cable from his gauntlet up at the bell tower of a nearby church and it pulled him up.

Once he was in the bell tower, Prowler proceeded to remove his gear and then his helmet to reveal it was Hobie Brown. He had gotten the hang of the tech he had stolen and used it to help himself and the Glades. Stealing from Alexander Graham got him some cash but he needed someone to fence the diamonds so he made an introduction to the Stokes and gave them the name of Prowler. He gave them the diamonds to fence and set up the meeting point at the alleyway with the X he carved in it. Sort of a way to remain anonymous. After he got word back on the gems, they offered him jobs in stealing from other rich one percenters in the city. Some businessman and now he was paid for the Lawyer.

All the money he got let him do some good with it. He helped pay for some repairs to his and his mom's apartment, took care of some expenses and then gave some to the shelter, food banks, and other people who needed it. He just told his mom that he got a new job and it paid better and it helped to lighten the load. Now, he had a new job and it was just to steal a painting called the Maria. Apparently, some rare and long lost painting that was going to be transported from a warehouse tomorrow night. If he got it then he got some more money and protection if he ran into problems and that kind of gave him pause. Was this going too far? How deep down the rabbit hole would the Prowler go?

Line Break xxxxx

Palmer Tech Building

Will was sitting the lab at Palmer Tech, wearing his own personalized lab coat. He used the Palmer Tech computer to run another series of tests on their last Recombinator data while prepping the next batch of RNA fluid with the adjustments that Dr. Connors sent him to make. Dr. Connors was on campus all day so he left Will in charge of making the alterations. Nothing too extreme and just required some formula adjusting along with introducing some new chemical agents. He had finished making the alterations to a single vial of the fluid and placed the liquid into a double-layer glass chemical reaction vessel and put it under a low flame to bring the chemicals together.

He watched the low flame slowly heat up the chemicals in the vial while he ran some more calculations on the computer and readied the rest of the equipment he'd need. After it reached the desired temperature and all ingredients were mixed, he'd cool it down and then put two electrodes in to stimulate bio-chemical reactions but that still for a while. While he waited for the chemicals to reach the right temperature, he went over the data on the high-profile robberies that Laurel wanted him to look into. He wasn't exactly a trained police detective but he had read his fair share of Sherlock Holmes novels growing up. Still, he had Laurel send copy of the files to Felicity to see what she could dig up.

He sat at his desk and looked over the pictures from the crime scene. Whoever this thief was cut a hole through window to get into the penthouse of the first target. Said window was made of reinforced bulletproof glass. That alone was impressive as a regular glass cutter wouldn't cut it but given said window was also on the top floor of a building without nearby access from the roof meant that this thief was skilled and had serious tools of the trade. Either that or he was gutsy.

He heard a knock on the door to the lab and in walked Felicity. "Hey, what brings you down here?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing. Technically you and your professor do work for me so this actually means I can be here and no one would think twice." Felicity told him. "Kind of poetic that I worked as the assistant for one hero and now another one works for me."

"Cute. Very cute." He joked. "How are you doing?"

"I'm all right and you're sweet for asking. Your girlfriend is really lucky." Felicity smiled.

"I'm the one who's lucky. She and the others looked out for me while I was knocked out asleep on my bed." He pointed out.

"That must have been some sleep but glad you're feeling better and getting back out there. Which brings us to part of the reason I came down to see you. I looked over all the evidence on those robberies you had Laurel send me and did some electronic digging to see if there was anything I could find." Felicity told him.

"And?"

"And the tech this thief is using is state-of-the-art. All of the building and penthouse's security systems were put on a loop by a frequency key-encryption device." She said but only saw a confused look on Will.

"I know I'm smart and I'll admit to being computer savvy but not like you. What's a frequency key-encryption?" He asked.

"Basically, the thief has a device that lets him override the frequencies used by certain security devices and programs so that he can appear like he was never there or shut them down temporarily. Cameras, motion sensors, thermal scans, everything. It's the same kind of stuff that militaries and government agencies claim they don't have but definitely use." Felicity explained.

"Military tech. Might also explain how the thief was able to cut through reinforced bulletproof glass in a penthouse and was able to get up to the roof. What about the other two places?" He questioned.

"Same deal. Same encryption device broke through the same security systems for the businessman and lawyer who both had pretty impressive security systems." Felicity answered.

"And there wasn't a single piece of physical evidence left behind which leaves us with nothing." Will slumped into his chair.

"I wouldn't say that. True, everything at the places where he robbed gave us nothing so I looked into places nearby. Managed to get this from a security camera at a house in the neighborhood of the second robbery." Felicity showed him a snapshot on her phone and it was of the thief running from the house. The snapshot didn't give them a picture of the thief's face since it was covered but it did give them a solid look at who was responsible. He had a helmet on his head and it had glowing green eyes. They didn't recognize the figure but whoever it was had clawed gauntlets on his hands and high-tech boots on his feet. "I don't suppose you've seen him before, have you?"

"No. Whoever this is…they're new." Will stated. "Trouble is trying to find him now. His targets aren't exactly upstanding moral citizens and Laurel hasn't gotten any word on the stuff he's stolen."

"I'll talk to Roy and see if his street contacts know anything." Felicity suggested.

"Thanks, Felicity." He replied and she left soon after to get back to work. He did as well and finished the work done on the Recombinator vial so he could focus on the robberies and this mysterious thief.

He was reading over another page of information on Mark Abelman that the DA's office had which included a laundry list of suspected acquaintances who were all bad but a few names stood out. Mario Alberto Karnelli, Luigi Fernando Costa, Alexander Libris, and Sableona Sable Manfredi. "The Maggia…" he muttered, remember seeing those names in the file Yuri had on Hammerhead. They were the children of the previous Maggia families whose parents were sent to jail years ago when the FBI took them down. Mark Abelman was a businessman and Laurel said that the DA's office suspected he was the money man for criminals but could never make anything stick before he retired. With those names of known associates, it was clear that Abelman was a Maggia member and if not someone who worked for the organization. He checked the other two robbery victims and while Graham was just a scumbag power broker, he didn't have any ties to the Maggia but the third victim Marcus Specter did. He represented a lot of the Maggia members that managed to avoid prison sentences.

He took out his phone and called Yuri. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, Yuri. I think I got something you're gonna want to see." He told her.

A few hours later…

Will was sitting in the Arrow bunker at a work bench and using their equipment to fix some of the damage done to his suit. He suit was on the mannequin Oliver set up for him and he had managed to stich up some of the cuts on the side so now he was working on fixing the lens in his mask that had cracked. He connected it to his laptop to make sure the software in his mask was operating as it should before removing the lens and fixing up the crack as best he could with what he had which mainly involved some solvent. He heard the doors to the bunker open and in walked Diggle and Roy.

"Hey. Glad you're feeling better." Diggle told him.

"Yeah. Just need some rest. Thanks for keeping things up while I was out." Will replied. "Roy, did you manage to get anything regarding the high-end robberies Felicity told you about?"

"Nothing exact but I reached out to a few of my old street contacts. I should hear back from them in a few hours." Roy answered.

"Thanks."

"So, what's this robbery case Laurel has that's got you worked up?" Diggle wondered.

"I'll explain once Felicity and Laurel are here. I'd rather not have to explain all of this twice." Will pointed out and they nodded. "You mind handing me that screwdriver on the table?"

Dig handed him the screwdriver and he and Roy watched as Will carefully took the lens from the holder it was fastened to and then screwed it back onto his mask. "What are you doing?" Roy wondered.

"My suit took a little bit of damage during the whole Enforcers fight. Some scuffs and a crack in the lens so I needed to fix them. Sorry for using your stuff but Dr. Connors is using the lab at school and I can't exactly bring my Spider-man suit into Palmer Tech and risk someone walking into the lab." Will told them and they understood that. "The most I've had to deal with before was just stitching up any cuts."

"Looks like you're getting the hang of it though." Dig remarked as they watched him work to see Will in his element.

"Science and tech always came naturally to me. When I was 12, I repaired my parents DVD player after I accidently broke it." He recalled and they chuckled. "After that, we've never had to paid for repairs like that again. Granted, my smart brain, skill with electronics, and smart brain earned me derision and wedgies by the bullies at my schools. Not fun times."

"Bad news for them." They heard as Laurel and Felicity walked in from the alleyway entrance. "Sorry we're late. Things at the DA's office were busy."

"So, what's this that you found out?" Felicity asked.

"Something that could make all of this make sense. So, our mystery thief that's involved in the robberies Laurel is looking into has hit three places so far. Each one of these places had high-end security with a total haul at each place more than a typical smash and grabber would get. Felicity helped to clear this up and whoever the thief is has access to some pretty advance tech. Military kind and they're new." Will walked over to a monitor and brought up the still that Felicity got on their mystery thief.

"Who is he?" Diggle asked.

"No idea. I've never seen or heard of this thief before today which means he's someone we've never dealt with. I even called Yuri and Captain Lance and they've never seen him." Will explained.

"I'll have Lyla see what she can find. Maybe this guy's on ARGUS's radar." Diggle suggested.

"So, other then the money or whatever was stolen, what else?" Roy wondered.

"Not much. No evidence was left behind and no statements or calling cards so whoever is doing this wanted to get in and out with what they were looking for. At first, the only thing connecting the three victims of the robberies were that they're all kind of horrible people that escaped justice and I thought we were dealing with a sort of Robin Hood guy like Oliver when he first started. But I think they might have an ulterior motive." Will said to the group.

"What do you mean?" Laurel questioned.

"I checked the records of two of the robbery victims, Mark Abelman and Marcus Specter and found a factor that connected the two of them. Mark Abelman is a suspected money man for a lot of criminals in the city both present and past. Among his list of known associates are five of the capos that head what remain of the Maggia families in the city." Will answered.

"I thought the Maggia went out with the city years ago. Your dad and the FBI took them down." Felicity pointed out.

"Which only further irks me but I've learned the criminals can be smart and when you lock up one, another's there to take its place. It also helps that they had the benefit of legal counsel from none other then Marcus Specter, the lawyer who was robbed. He's wealthy because he represents some of this city's criminals and has gotten them off or cleared them of charges, among them are the same five capos of the Maggia families." Will added. "Taken from Marcus's office wasn't just valuables but also files on some of his clients and when I looked over the evidence, the files on them were missing."

"So, the Maggia are involved." Diggle said and Will nodded.

"Involved in this somehow. With Brick in jail and Tombstone still on the run, Yuri wants to be proactive and prevent a new power from taking over where they left off. Hammerhead is still out there and he's hasn't been sitting on his ass and waiting for Tombstone to return. A CI told her that Hammerhead is trying to build up capital and muscle to mount a Maggia resurgence."

"And then these robberies happen involving two people who are close associates with the Maggia members left in the city." Roy connected the pieces of Will's story.

"I don't think those robberies are a coincidence just when Yuri and I have a plan to go against Hammerhead." Will stated.

"So, you think Hammerhead hired this new thief to dig up dirt and information on the Maggia heads left in the city in order to make a power play?" Diggle suggested.

"Maybe? It's not like he or Tombstone were against the idea of hiring people for help but I'm not sure. And neither is Yuri because there's still one thing that's not fitting." Will asserted and Laurel realized what that was.

"The first robbery victim, Alexander Graham. He's not connected to the Maggia." Laurel told them.

"He isn't. I checked the file and I even had Yuri do a background check into him. No connection to the Maggia or a close associate or anything. He's the one piece that doesn't fit." Will divulged to the group.

"Maybe it's a different thief?" Roy suggested.

"No, it's the same one. Same kind of encryption device got through his security as the others. It's the same person." Felicity corrected.

"Or just access to the same tech. A few days ago, I stopped some Los Halcones before they could unload new weapons they got from someone called the Tinkerer." Will informed them.

"The Tinkerer?" Laurel questioned.

"I think it's Dr. Mason going under a codename. The tech in one of the crates I saw was pretty advanced and could be what allowed our thief to break into those places." He responded.

"So, either we're dealing with two different thieves with access to the same tech or one thief whose motives aren't exactly clear to us." Diggle laid out to the group.

"If this thief is new…I'm thinking that the first job was a sort of trial run. New and experimental tech so he'd want to make sure he knew how to use it and that it worked." Will suggested and they started to see where his thinking was going. "So, he picks a target with an advanced security system and factors that he'll likely face and steals what he can to make it worth his while. Money and jewels. And it works. The SCPD don't have anything and there's no evidence of him there so he then puts his services for hire to someone."

"That someone being Hammerhead." Diggle finished his idea layout.

"That's one possibility but Yuri, being the realist…had another." Will sighed.

"What's that?" Roy wondered.

"That maybe the Prowler…maybe he's working for someone new. Someone trying to make a power move in the city." He told them and they were a little worried. The last thing they needed was another Tombstone or god forbid another Brick.

"Then its up to us to find this guy and get some answers before that happens." Felicity said and they all nodded. "If it's Prowler versus Spider-man then I'm putting my money on Spider-man."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Felicity. Let's just hope that whoever this Prowler is, he's just a thief who's in over his head." Will said, not knowing how complicated things would get.

Line Break xxxxx

Will walked out of his afternoon class the next day and headed over to get a cup of coffee on the campus's coffee shop. He got a text during the walk and it was from Cisco confirming his visit to Central City that weekend. Emily had her big meet in Central City with SCU against Hudson University. The entire swim team was heading there so Will and the girls would go for moral support. And this gave him a chance to drop by STAR labs while he was there.

He got his coffee and sat down at a table, looking at the texts and files Laurel and Yuri sent him. Still nothing on the mystery thief but Roy's contacts did manage to pick up something on the streets. Apparently, a small-time player in the Glades known as Cottonmouth who heads the Stokes Crime Family has leveled up a bit from his usual array of criminal activities. Will knew the Stokes Crime Family a bit as he had arrested a few of its members making an small-time arms sale in the Glades but according to Roy they had branched out into some more high end things lately. That was possible because rumors had spread about a new guy working in the city. Some high end thief working as a freelancer but was using the Stokes as middlemen for his scores. It wasn't a lot but it was something.

He saw Ian walk into the coffee shop with a bunch of the university's fraternity brothers so he just went back to his coffee and his phone when he heard footsteps get closer. Flash had walked over to antagonize him. "Detmer. All by yourself today? What's the matter? Your girlfriend dump you. About time if you ask me." Flash mocked.

"Seriously, Flash. Don't you have anything better to do with your time like say failing your classes or getting dragged around campus by Alison on a leash. I'm working." Will said, keeping his gaze on his phone so Flash just knocked it out of his hand and onto the ground.

"Whoops." Flash joked.

"Very mature. I really hope you remember this moment with fondness Flash when your football career inevitably ends after Senior Year and you're not good enough to make it to the pros because come on, you're not. And given your grades, you won't get a decent job because you spent more time partying and less time actually trying to use your brain." Will told him off and the other students in the coffee shop watched with some recording on their phones. "Meanwhile, I'm actually succeeding in life. I'm doing great in school and my work in science got my professor and I funding from an actual billion-dollar tech company which you and your idiot horde will be barely smart enough to get janitor jobs at. Or you could do like Ian and try to relive your glory days at a high school or college to try and feel relevant while being creepy and hitting on girls too young for you."

The other students in the coffee shop laughed and smiled in delight as Flash grabbed Will by the jacket in anger and pulled him close. "How about I show you just how wrong you are and smash your head into the table?" Flash glared at him.

"Sure, go ahead and prove how much of an idiot neanderthal you really are. Always solving things with violence because you know I'm right and the only way you feel better is to make others feel worse. Typical outlook and personality of a bully." Will added when a professor walked in and saw what was happening.

"Hey, break it up!" He shouted and Flash let Will go.

"This isn't over, Detmer. You're gonna pay for this." Flash warned him.

"Do whatever you want, Flash but it doesn't make anything I just said less true. And anything you do to me just proves me right." Will remarked before getting his stuff and leaving.

He felt kind of good after his verbal putdown of Flash. It was a long time coming and he was kind of a hair trigger away from just punching him in the face. But luckily he had more restraint than that. He went to his next class and played his part as the student before heading to the dining room to get an early dinner with the girls before heading out into the city for patrol and to see if he could find the Prowler. Will got on line with Emily at the pasta station while Aria went to get soup and a salad, Maya went to get some ramen and Spencer was seeing what they had at the hot food station.

"So, apparently got into a little verbal argument with Flash and kind of told him off in front of everyone in the coffee shop. Even brought up Ian in it." Emily said to him.

"Well, Flash was getting on my nerves so I decided to meet his bite with my bark. How'd you know about that?" He asked.

"The students in the coffee shop filmed it. It's probably made its way all around campus by now." Emily replied with a smile. "Congrats. Guess it's not just Spider-man who's going to be famous."

"Cute." He remarked. "That's the last thing I need to worry about."

"Still going on with this whole robbery case thing?" Emily wondered and he nodded.

"I can't explain why but I got a bad feeling about all this." He told her as they grabbed their food and went back to their table. He managed to have a moment of peace with his regular life and enjoy dinner. Afterward, he and Aria hung up in his dorm room for a bit and got some quiet time together before he changed and headed out into the city. Based on the intel Roy got and the possibility that the Stokes's latest surge was due to the Prowler, he focused his attention on the Glades to see if he could find the Prowler.

Didn't find the Prowler but found some bad guys who needed a butt kicking.

He swung down into a parking lot and interrupted a drug deal with his usual Spidery flair. Most of the people involved in the deal were webbed up save for the last guy who was swinging a crowbar at Will. He ducked, dipped, and dodged his swings before webbing him in the face and pulling him forward into a jumping spin kick that knocked him out. "You know, if you didn't deal in drugs then this wouldn't have hurt so much." He quipped before webbing up the guy with the others and zipping up to a light post to call Yuri. "Hey, Yuri. I got a busted drug deal in the parking lot near Adam's square. Send some officers as soon as you can."

"Got it. I still haven't been able to find anything yet regarding the Prowler or a possible target. How about you?"

"Nothing so far. Things have been kind of quiet…" He trailed off because he saw something in the distance at a church. A figure jumped from the bell tower a church and seemed to swing through the air like he did. Now, either he had a clone or it was the Prowler.

"Will?"

"I'll call you back in a second." He hung up and called Felicity who was at the bunker. "Felicity are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Did you find the Prowler?"

"I think I did. Stay connected to my HUD. Time to find out who this guy is and who he's working for." He then web zipped away in the general direction of the figure.

The Prowler jumped through the air and landed on the roof of a building to take a breather. He had a job tonight and if it went well then he had some more money and protection. A part of him was still unsure if he should go through this but there was no harm is seeing how things planned out. He ran across the rooftop and jumped to another rooftop but when he landed, something snagged his right boot. He looked down to see webbing and then saw Spider-man swing down and drop onto the roof.

Spider-man landed in a crouch and got a look at the Prowler with his own eyes and his HUD scanning him. Part of his suit was high tech like the helmet, gauntlets, and boots but everything else seemed ordinary with the sweatshirt and cargo pants. "Nice outfit. Not sure on the purple though but not that much different from my first suit." He pointed out. "So, if my spider instincts are right, I believe you go by the name of Prowler."

"And you're Spider-man. There. Introductions are over." Prowler said with his helmet disguising his voice. He used his claws and cut the webbing keeping his boot stuck to the ground so he could move.

"Relax there, Prowly. There's no reason to fight just yet. I wouldn't mind talking first." Spider-man put his hands out and slowly walked forward to show he meant no harm. "I also here you've been a busy thief. Now, you'll hear no argument from me about giving those guys what they deserve but it's two of your victims that have me concerned. I don't know whoever is paying you to do this but messing with the Maggia isn't a good idea."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The Prowler told him. Based on his body language, Spider-man could guess he was telling the truth.

"The last two guys you robbed work for the Maggia. Whatever reason you're doing this, getting into bed with Hammerhead is a bad idea. Trying to work against him is even worse. I haven't exactly fought the guy but you don't get to be Tombstone's number 2 for being nice." Spider-man pointed out.

"So, what if I am? What's it to you? Maybe you should just mind your own business and stay out of others." Prowler told him as they circled around one another. "You know, this city would be a lot better off if you hadn't messed with Tombstone in the first place."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about what your little war against him did to the Glades. If you really were a hero then you'd have just left us and Tombstone alone." Prowler declared.

"Tombstone was a crime lord who controlled all the criminal activity in the city and hurt who knows how many people, ruined so many lives, and killed who knows how many. He needed to be stopped." Spider-man told him.

"And what we have now is better? Brick would never have attempted a power move if you didn't strike against Tombstone. And when you took him down you didn't care about the consequences and how the rest of us got screwed." Prowler said in anger. "He may have been a bad guy but he was a bad guy we could live with. He kept the gangs in control and did a lot of good but now…everything he gave money to in the Glades is on its last leg because some guy in mask decided to play hero."

"So, what does that make you?" Spider-man asked and the Prowler tightened his fists.

"Someone trying to make the best of what life throws at him. And willing to do things in order to do so." Prowler stated. "Stay out of this, Spider-man."

"I'm sorry, Prowler. I truly am if that's how you feel but I can't let you do this. Messing with the Maggia and Hammerhead could start a war and I can't let that happen." He fired two globs of impact webbing and tied up Prowler. "I promise I can help you."

"I don't need your help!" Prowler cut himself free with the claws on his gauntlet before firing steel darts from his wrists. Spider-man ducked and jumped to the side before shooting a web in Prowler's face to disorient him. That allowed him to web zip forward and kick him in the chest. Prowler rolled on the ground but got to his feet and tossed down a small grenade which exploded in a thick cloud of smoke, thicker than any kind of smoke bomb he had encountered before. Will switched his HUD to infrared and saw the Prowler running away, jumping to another building so he chased after him.

Prowler landed on the roof of a building before jumping to another one when Spider-man web zipped forward and tackled him mid-air. The two tumbled on the roof of a building before Prowler threw another grenade at him which exploded in a burst of blue electricity and hit his suit. The HUD in his mask started to short circuit but he was still able to see and saw the Prowler jump off the building to the street below. He jumped after him and fired some webbing only to hear a click. "NO!" He tried using his other web shooter but got the same clink. "He shorted out my web shooters with an EMP grenade?"

"Will! Will, can you hear me?" Felicity radioed in on his HUD but like it, her voice and connection was scrambled. "Will, what's going on?"

"Felicity, my suit's shorted out including my web shooters. I'm chasing after Prowler on foot!" He told her and began ran after him as he ran into a construction yard. Prowler's boots made him move faster but Spider-man wasn't Spider-man just for his webbing and his super powers let him move faster. He flipped over a barricade and vaulted up over some construction equipment before flipping forward. "Prowler, stop! Let me help you!"'

"You want to help then back off!" Prowler shouted, clearing a busy street with one jump.

Spider-man followed and jumped over some passing cars before he kept running. Prowler jumped forward again and cleared some pedestrians on the street so he jumped onto a fence which let him jump onto a light post, swing forward on a traffic light, and then vault off a passing truck to keep up with him. "You're going up against the Maggia and Hammerhead! What if you make things worse?!"

"Shut up!" Prowler jumped forward into an alley so Spider-man jumped over a group of pedestrians when his HUD stopped fritzing and he saw the gauges for his web shooters appear. He fired a web and web zipped to Prowler who caught his arm and threw him into a dumpster. "Go away, hero!"

Prowler kept running, pushing past some pedestrians when he saw a train leaving its stop so he fired a cable from his gauntlet and climbed on top. Spider-man saw him leaving so he web zipped into the air and began swinging after the training. "Stay away!" Prowler threw some grenades from his belt at Spider-man which exploded. He zipped to the side to avoid one explosion before web zipping forward and point launching into the air. Prowler fired some more darts from his gauntlet but Spider-man web zipped to the side to avoid getting hit. He web zipped forward and point launched off the ground close enough to fire some webbing at the train so he was pulled along with it. He slowly pulled himself up the webbing but Prowler saw him and walked over, slicing the webbing with his claws.

Spider-man lost his webbing foothold but saw a train coming down on the adjacent track from the opposite direction so he web zipped to the ground and point launched into the air. He cleared the incoming train and landed on its roof where he proceeded to run as fast as he could, closing some distance to Prowler's train. Prowler saw him still following so he fired a cable and swung away with Spider-man following him. They had entered a part of the city where the buildings were further from each other which meant that Prowler needed to use his grapple cable more. Unfortunately for him, it slowed him down whereas Spider-man was the swinging champ of the city.

He swung forward and saw Prowler run across a rooftop before jumping to the ground where he ran a bit and then jumped up into the air and fired a cable at a tall building to climb. Spider-man web zipped to the building and fired a web bomb from his web shooters, hitting Prowler in the back. It exploded and temporarily stopped him which allowed Spider-man to web zip and tackled him to the ground. He raised his hand to hit Prowler with a venom punch and stun him but Prowler cut a hand free and threw something in his face which exploded in a blinding flash of light and smoke.

"GAH!" He had to shield his eyes from the bright flash of light and his HUD made it worse. He stumbled around a bit, trying to find his balance before his vision slowly returned and cleared up. That's where he saw a bright burning flare on the rooftop, still burning next to the cut up webbing of his web bomb but no Prowler. He looked around and his HUD tried to track down a visual but there was nothing.

"Will? Will, are you ok?" Felicity radioed in.

"Yeah but I'm still kind of seeing spots though." He replied.

"He hit you with a Magnesium flare. You're lucky you're not blind. He also shorted out your suit and web shooters with an EMP. Just who is this guy?" Felicity asked him.

"Someone pretty good with solid tech and a grudge against me." He answered.

"What do you mean grudge?"

"I'll explain later. I've got to track him down and stop him." He said, his HUD bringing up a tracking dot on a map that was moving. "Felicity, monitor the spider tracer I put on him. Once he stops then we know where he's hitting next."

"Roger that. He's heading west towards the old Industrial area."

"On it." He fired a web and swung away.

Residing in the old Industrial area was a functioning distribution warehouse where trucks stocked up on supplies to transport through the city and to other states as well. While it was a fully functioning warehouse and completely legal on paper, it was also a front for the Maggia. During the night shift is when most of the Maggia members arrived and acted as employees. They were the ones who handed the special shipments that contained drugs, guns, or goods that they would then sell for money. They also handled the shipments of money. In a warehouse of about 150 employees, more than half were actually Maggia.

The Prowler entered the warehouse through a window near the roof and slowly moved along the ceiling. The eyes on his mask glowed and it allowed him to see through the building like X-ray vision. He scoured the warehouse and saw regular crates and boxes filled with items ranging from clothing and electrical equipment to money and guns. This place wasn't just a regular warehouse because he didn't think regular warehouse employees carried pistols in their belts. Still, they didn't know he was here so he just had to get the painting and then get out.

He used his claws to dig into the ceiling before placing his boots up and they magnetized there as well. He slowly crawled along the ceiling to get a better view and layout of the place as he didn't the painting until he saw a guy pushing a cart that was holding a large box. Said box was filled with straw and packing peanuts which were safely keeping the painting still. He wasn't sure why this painting was so important but his helmet allowed him to see that inside the painting frame was a small thumb drive. And it wasn't like it was hanging on or accidently left in, it was purposely put in the middle of the frame like someone hid it there. That must have been the real target. A part of him was curious but he didn't ask any questions or hesitate in his last jobs and he shouldn't now.

He watched the men move the painting to a truck so he carefully dropped to the ground in the freight area to hide under the truck and then grab it when it was driving. Unfortunately, that wouldn't work so well.

[Gun-click]

Prowler froze as he felt something touch the back of his helmet. "Try anything and you'll get a bullet through that helmet of yours. Hands up slowly."

Prowler did as he was told, slightly scared but his helmet was supposedly bulletproof so he wasn't that worried. He raised his arms into the air but then squeezed his right hand. A green gas dispersed from his wrist and hit the guard in the face, obscuring his vision and forcing him to cover his face. He coughed up a bit before passing out and hitting the floor with a thud. That and the sound of his gun hitting the floor attracted people to the sound and soon he was discovered. "Hey, who the hell are you?!"

Prowler looked around and saw the Maggia coming at him so he jumped up onto the truck and ran away. The Maggia employees opened fire with their guns forcing the workers who were innocent to run away to the exits in fear. Prowler ran on top of the truck before jumping away and landing near the storage area lines with shelves and rows of cargo boxes and crates. He climbed up some crates before jumping up and landing on a giant shelf and firing some gas pellets from his gauntlet. They hit some of the Maggia in the face and knocked them out but more were still coming so he jumped to another shelf and fired some steel darts from his other gauntlet and knocked some of their guns out of their hands.

One of the Maggia got into a cargo loader and drove straight at the storage shelves, crashing into one and sending it tumbling onto another which then made it fall like dominos. Prowler's shelf was knocked over and he fell onto a crate hard. "Damn…" He groaned in pain before rolling over and falling onto the ground.

He looked up and saw a Maggia guy walk over with a shotgun and pumped out the empty shell before raising the barrel right at him. That's when a web pulled it to the side and forced the shot to the side before the gun was ripped from his hand and thrown to the ground. Spider-man swung down from the ceiling and kicked the guy in the chest, sending him flying across the room and crashing into a garbage can. He used splitter web to hit two guys in the face and pulled them to him before dropping kicking both and sending them into their friends.

"Still don't think you could use my help?" Spider-man held his hand out and Prowler reluctantly took it to get back to his feet. That's when he saw more Maggia guys rush in from the rest of the warehouse with one guy holding a rocket launcher and aimed at them. Spider-man quickly fired some webbing at his face, forcing the guy to miss as the rocket flew to the side and blew open one of the closed freight doors and part of a truck.

"They have rocket launchers?" Prowler asked.

"Welcome to my world." Spider-man remarked as the rest of the Maggia opened fire at them. They ducked behind cover and the Prowler threw out a smoke grenade that obscured their vision. The part of the warehouse they were cornered in was a dead end and the only way out was through the small army of Maggia goons on the other side shooting at them. "Whatever you were planning to steal from here isn't gonna happen. So don't get any ideas."

"Are you seriously bringing that up now while they're shooting us?" Prowler asked.

"I'm a superhero. It's my code. But if we make it through this, I can help you avoid situations like this again and you can walk away without going to jail." Spider-man told him and that earned Prowler's interest. "That's only if we can talk after. Now, stay here behind cover. I'll keep their attention focused on me."

Spider-man web zipped up and crawled on the ceiling. The Maggia goons were too busy shooting through the smoke at Prowler who kept his head down. Some of the Maggia goons reloaded their guns when a web grenade landed on the ground and exploded, trapping four guys. Two of the Maggia were webbed by their shoulder and hoisted up to the ceiling where they were knocked out and hung upside. Some of the guys on the ground turned their attention to the ceiling and shot their guns with Spider-man swinging down and jumped onto a guy. He hooks his legs on his shoulder and threw him into a wall with a hurricanrana takedown. Spider-man slid on the ground and web pulled a guy forward before taking him out with a flying knee to the face but then webbed his body and threw him into another guy. He flipped to the side to avoid gunfire and webbed the shooters in the face before web zipping to one guy and knocked him out with a flying kick.

His body hit the ground next to Prowler who watched Spider-man fight the Maggia goons. He backflip kicked guy in the face and then web slammed him to the ground before web throwing a fire extinguisher at some guys which exploded. He zipped forward and took them out quickly, punching up guy into the air before web zipping to him and kicking him in the chest and flipping forward. He webbed the guy he just kicked and used the moment from his flip to slam him back to the ground. Prowler saw that Spider-man had their attention to stayed low and snuck around to the side but some more Maggia reinforcements arrived.

"Kill Spider-man and that other guy in the mask!" One of them shouted as some ran over to fight Spider-man while the others went after Prowler. Prowler jumped forward with his boots increasing his speed and uppercut one Maggia guy back before using his claws to slice their pistols in half. He kicked one guy in the chest and his boot gave the kick the extra force that it sent him further away than normal. He used his gauntlet to block a crowbar before punching the guy in the face and kicking him away, accidently kicking him into the crate that held the painting. The crate was knocked over and since the guy was kicked into it, it was partially open but the painting itself was fine. Seeing his target gave him a momentary pause which a Maggia guy used to try and stab him with a knife only for him to get an arrow in the knee. Prowler turned and punched the guy in the face which is when he saw the Arrow standing up in the ceiling rafters.

"Shit, it's the Arrow!" One of the guys shouted as Spider-man punched him in the face. He turned and punched him again before landing a jumping roundhouse kick that knocked him out. Spider-man ducked so two arrows flew over his head and hit two of the Maggia goons in the chest. Spider-man then kicked them back before web throwing a box at one guy and hitting him in the chest. Prowler slashed a guy in the arm and then punched him in the face before shooting some more knockout gas pellets and taking out some more Maggia goons. One of the Maggia goons saw the painting so he rushed over to grab the crate when Spider-man jumped over and web his hands. He tied them over one another and then gave a harsh pull, forcing the guy to knock himself out. That gave Spider-man a good look at the painting the Maggia guy was going to get when his spider-sense went off. He backflipped into the air to jump over the rocket that sailed underneath him before firing a web at it. Once he landed on the ground, he hurled it around and at a truck at the far side of the warehouse, blowing it up instead.

He saw the guy quickly reload the rocket launcher and fired only for Prowler to jump to Spider-man's side and fire a steel dart from his gauntlet, hitting him in the side. Unfortunately, the guy pressed the trigger just as he fell so the rocket was fired at the ceiling. Spider-man saw the Arrow fire a grapple cable and zip the ground to avoid getting hit but the impact of the rocket made his cable come loose and he fell to the ground. Seeing how slow and groggy Oliver was, Will figured he wasn't a hundred percent which is a bad thing as some Maggia goons were rushing at him with crowbars, bats, and knives. He zipped over and kicked one of the Maggia guys in the face, saving Oliver from getting hit from behind before he fired a web trip mine at one guy and hit him in the chest. The mine went off and snagged another guy, pulling the two into each other and trapping them in webbing. He dodged a crowbar swing from another goon and web pulled him by the face before taking him out with a bicycle kick to the back of the head.

The last standing guy was huge and large. Easily over 6ft and had to weight at least 250lbs. "You're dead, Spider-man!" He shouted in anger before charging only to get hit in the leg by an arrow which staggered him. Will just web pulled him forward and landed a spinning hook kick to the face before charging up his venom strike and landing a venom uppercut punch that knocked him on his back.

"Yeah, I don't think so." He quipped as he saw Oliver standing there. "Thanks for the assist."

"Don't mention it." Oliver replied, his voice a little labored that it wasn't that noticeable but Will did.

"The others were told you were dead. What happened?" He asked him.

"Long story. Who's the guy in the helmet?" Oliver asked him and Will went wide-eyed.

"The painting!" He rushed over to the crate only to see the top was sliced off and the painting itself was gone. "Dammit, it's gone. It's what he was after."

"Who?" Oliver asked.

"I'm still working on that." Will used his HUD to call Yuri. "Yuri. I'm at the Unlimited Service warehouse and distribution center. It's a Maggia front and Prowler's target."

"We already got calls about shots fired and uniformed officers are on their way. Did you get him?"

"No, he escaped while I was fighting the Maggia along with a painting. When the SCPD start looking this place over, try to find anything you can about that painting. Finding out what it is might give us more insight on Prowler and who he's working for." He told her.

"Roger that. I'm heading there now. Don't kick yourself, Will. We'll get him."

Will hung up after that and proceeded to tie up the Maggia goons for the police. Oliver left soon after to check on Thea but he said he'd be at the bunker soon. Will head there when he was done just as the police arrived and headed to the bunker. He walked in through the side alley entrance and pulled off his mask to see Felicity, Diggle, and Roy at the computers. "Where's Oliver?" Diggle asked.

"He went to go check on Thea. Said he'd be here after." He told them.

"How is he? Did he say what happened?" Felicity asked and got a head shake in response.

"Oliver's not exactly a conversationalist. Glad to see that didn't change when he came back from the dead." Will remarked. "But he arrived to help me. Unfortunately, Prowler got away while I was busy."

"I tried tracking the tracer you put on him but the signal's gone. He must have found and destroyed it." Felicity informed him.

"Don't blame yourself, Will. You had a warehouse of Maggia enforcers to deal with." Roy pointed out.

"He's right. You did everything you could. Prowler just saw an opportunity and took it before leaving. We'll get this guy." Diggle assured him. "Do you know what he was after?"

"A painting. An old oil painting. Maybe a few hundred years old. I got a pretty good look at it." Will said so Felicity brought up the footage from his HUD and rewound it until it stopped on the painting in the crate. "I don't suppose anyone is familiar with old art?"

"It's the Maria. A long lost painting of Michelangelo made during the Renaissance." Felicity told them, bringing up some data on it. "I remember reading about it once in college. Apparently, it changed hands several times during the centuries before being plundered by the Nazis during World War 2 and lost to history like a lot of things they stole."

"Why would the Prowler steal a painting?" Roy wondered.

"Not him, but whoever he's working for. We were right. Prowler's just a thief for hire. He confirmed it when he spoke. He just said he's just someone trying to make the best of what life throws at him." Will recounted, remembering the rest of their conversation. "And he's from the Glades."

"Why do you say that?" Diggle asked.

"The way he spoke to me…" He stopped himself and just thought about some things.

"Will, you ok?" Felicity wondered.

"It's just…something that Prowler said when I talked to him. He said that I made things worse for the city." He answered.

"You didn't, Will. You help people like Oliver does." Roy reminded him.

"Prowler pointed out that things in the city were fine before I showed up. Not good but fine. He also said that Brick wouldn't have done what he did if I didn't go messing with Tombstone." Will told them.

"Tombstone was a crime lord who hurt and killed probably hundreds of people and prayed off thousands. The city is better off without him." Felicity assured him.

"I know but Prowler said that Tombstone kept things in control. And sure, he was bad guy and a crime lord but he also was a huge philanthropist and all that money he gave was the livelihood for a lot of people. I just…" Will sighed and rubbed the back of his head before taking a seat. "I inadvertently created the Prowler. You should have heard him when he talked to me. It was just anger and frustration. Clearly his life was changed because of what I did with Tombstone. In exposing him, I cut off a lot of aid to the Glades and the people there. Sure, I stop criminals and keep them off the streets but what about the people who lost their jobs or funding because I stood up to the Big Man. Hard to savor the victory when I also ruined some lives."

The others could tell this was getting to Will so Diggle walked over and sat down next to him. "Will…this isn't your fault. Felicity is right. He was a bad guy and he needed to be stopped. The only reason he helped those people was to protect himself and his interests. Al Capone practically owned an entire city but he was still taken down and I'm sure Eliot Ness and I'm sure the others faced similar issues when it was over. And you didn't force the Prowler to use those weapons to steal. This isn't your fault."

"Dig's right. You've done a lot of good for everyone in the city. There may be people like the Prowler who would feel better if you stayed out of things but there are more who are happy you're around. They feel safer." Roy added as Felicity walked over.

"You are a hero, Will. You've inspired this city and even us. We didn't know about the Big Man before you arrived. And despite how nasty Oliver was to you when you first met, you cracked through that tough exterior he has. So much so that he left the city in your hands when he left." She sat down next to him and took his hands. "I know from experience how difficult this life can be when you've had such a normal one. More so than Diggle or Roy. I struggled with it when I first joined Oliver. The guilt and lingering thoughts of the bad things that happen inadvertently. But the good you do far outweighs the bad. And for Spider-man…you have definitely have more good on your side then bad."

Will smiled as their words did a lot to ease him. He was going to stop Prowler but he was also going to help him as best he could. He was pulled out of his thoughts when they heard the door open and in walked Oliver. "Sorry that I didn't come by sooner. I just wanted to check in on Thea." Oliver told them as Felicity got up and hugged him. He hugged back and grit his teeth a bit from his wound but toughed through it. "It's ok. I'm ok."

"Merlyn told us you were killed." Dig told him.

"I was close. I'm sorry that I didn't reach out sooner. I wasn't exactly in a…cell service area." Oliver answered, walking over, and shaking Diggle's hand, then Roy's and then Will's. "You kept the city safe."

"I said I would. Helps that I had a good team to work with." Will looked over at Diggle, Felicity, and Roy and they nodded.

Oliver walked over to the table and saw the bloody sword Ra's used to kill him. "It's a gift from Malcolm Merlyn. He went looking for you."

"It's Ra's Al Ghul's, right?" Roy asked.

"Yup."

"So, what are we gonna do about him? If Ra's finds out…"

"Merlyn and I are working on that." Oliver answered.

"Sorry? For a second there, it sounded like you said, Merlyn." Felicity said to him.

"I need to know how to defeat Ra's. Merlyn has that knowledge." Oliver told her.

"Merlyn is a monster. You're in this situation, Thea is in this situation because of him." Felicity reminded him.

"Felicity…"

"No. Just a week ago, we stood in this room and were torn apart because you were gone. It was Will who brought up together by reminding of why we're doing this, why we're trying to protect this city. We were doing it because it was the right thing to do and to help this city for the people who called it home. Doing what you wanted to do and I know that you would never ever work with a man like Malcolm Merlyn in years!" Felicity told him, tears welling up in her eyes. "I guess I was wrong about you. I need some air. I'm glad you're not dead."

Felicity walked out of the bunker and Oliver followed her, leaving just Diggle, Roy, and Will. "Awkward…" he muttered. "I know there's probably a lot I'm missing here regarding what's going on…but I'm ok not knowing."

"Probably a smart idea." Diggle assured him and Roy nodded.

"I'm…I'm gonna go out for a patrol." Will grabbed his mask and left. Oliver was back but just because he was didn't mean things would go back to normal.

On the other side of the city, Prowler met up with Cottonmouth and told him he had the painting so he arranged a meeting at the warehouse. They waited there for a bit until a black sedan arrived and Wesley walked out. That gave him a good look at the Prowler and it also gave the Prowler a good look at Wesley. "Mr. Prowler. It's a pleasure to meet you. After your recent success, my employer would like to think you for the good work you have done for us." Wesley smiled and bowed his head in thanks.

"This is what you were looking for." Prowler held up the painting and handed it over to one of Wesley's guards who took it back to the sedan. Wesley then handed both Cottonmouth and Prowler a briefcase of money.

"There is a bonus in there for a job well done. It was difficult and I'll be frank that my employer didn't think it would be possible." Wesley admitted.

"Had some trouble but nothing too serious. Spider-man tried to stop me but I got the painting while he dealt with the Maggia. And I destroyed the tracer he put on me." Prowler told him.

"Spider-man has been a thorn in the side of our business but you've proven to outsmart him. Well done. As I told Mr. Stokes, upon successful completion of the job came with it monetary reward as well as others. You can consider yourself under our protection. Should you need anything…" Wesley took out a phone and handed it to him. "It's encrypted and only works for one number so you don't have to worry. My employer thanks you for your job well done and assures you that more lucrative jobs are in your future."

Prowler looked down at the phone with mild hesitation before putting it in his pocket. "Sounds good to me."

Line Break xxxxx

Central City

It was the weekend which meant Will and the girls were on the train with the SCU swim team for their big swim meet. Their swim meet was tomorrow so the SCU swim team got the early train to Central City and would be staying at a local hotel. Will, Spencer, Aria, and Maya tagged along for moral support and for a weekend away in Central City. They would be staying at the same hotel in Central City in one room after putting their money together. Luckily, Will's new job with Palmer Tech paid better so he could afford to cover a little extra. He was currently fast asleep with his head against the window and Aria leaning her head on his shoulder, fast asleep as well. It was still a few hours to Central City and they did have to wake up early to catch the train. And after the awkward situation of Oliver's return and no other lead on Prowler or who he was working for…he was kind of glad to get out of the city for a bit. Plus, he was going to visit Barry and the others at STAR labs.

Speaking of which, Barry was at STAR labs after returning from Iron Heights Prison with Detective Joe West after an inmate escaped custody. They were there because they found something odd that needed to be scanned. It was some kind or organic particulate that was in a few places in the prison including the cell of the escaped inmate, Clay Parker.

They watched the monitors and saw the cells of the particulate moving around incredibly fast. "Not even Barry's cells move this fast. I've never seen anything like it." Dr. Caitlin Snow said in amazement.

"So, Clay Parker is a meta-human?" Joe asked.

"Not so fast. The particulate residue Barry gathered at Iron Heights does contain Clay Parker's DNA, but also DNA of a woman." Dr. Wells informed them.

"Run her DNA against the CCPD criminal database. See if you get a match." Barry told Cisco who ran a quick search and did indeed find a match.

"Yahtzee. Her name's Shawna Baez. Mostly petty crimes, and this girl likes to party, apparently. Long list of disorderly conducts at local bars." Cisco told them.

"So, I'm guessing we find her, we find Clay Parker." Joe suggested as he turned when he accidently walked into someone.

"Oh, sorry." Joe didn't recognize who he walked into the other did and it was Will. "Sorry about that."

Will dusted Joe's suit jacket only to get odd looks from him. "Who are you?"

"Uh, am I in the right place? I'm looking for Dr. Harrison Wells. He is here, right? Or a Cisco Ramon?" Will asked him.

"Dude, you're here!" Cisco shouted as he got up and walked over to Will, clapping his hand and pulling him into a hug. "Glad you made it."

"Glad to be here. Thanks for the invite." He replied as Caitlin walked over. "Hey, Caitlin."

"Hey. Glad your feeling better." She gave him a small hug as Barry walked over and hugged him too.

"Good to see you, Will." Barry told him.

"You, too. Sorry if I'm interrupting something. I took a cab here and Cisco texted me that when I arrived I head over. I didn't know I was interrupting something." Will remarked as he and Joe looked at one another.

"Who's this?" They asked at the same time.

"Sorry, Joe this is Will Detmer. We met him in Star City. Will, this is Detective Joe West of the Central City Police Department." Barry introduced them.

"Nice to meet you, Detective." Will shook his hand.

"You, too. How did you get in here?" Joe wondered.

"I just walked in. Like I literally just walked in. You guys might want to double-check your security because anyone could just walk into this place." He pointed out and Cisco nodded, jotting that down on a notepad.

"Ok, but what are you doing here?" Joe asked him.

"He here because Spider-man is going to take a tour of STAR labs." Cisco proudly stated, putting his arm around Will.

"Dude!" Will removed his arm and Cisco realized he just messed up.

"Spider-man?" Joe looked at Will in disbelief.

"Cisco." Caitlin shook her head in disappointment.

"Seriously, dude? This one is on you." Barry told him.

"I'm so sorry, Will. I was exited for you coming here and it just came out." Cisco said to him.

"I'm literally here ten seconds and you expose my secret identity to a cop." Will shook his head in disbelief. "I was able to keep it secret for months before telling someone. Thanks."

"So, you're actually Spider-man?" Joe asked in disbelief.

"He is, Detective West." Dr. Wells said as he came over. "Mr. Detmer, pleasure to meet you. Sorry for the less than ideal introduction."

"Dr. Wells, it's an honor to meet you." Will walked over and shook his hand. "I've read all your papers and your book. I never thought that I'd get to meet you in person again. The first time kind of had an unforeseen but pleasant outcome."

"The honor is mine. Believe it or not I did see you in the crowd of people that night outside of STAR labs. I often tend to gravitate towards people of a similar ocular impairment." Dr. Wells fixed his glasses a bit. "But judging by your lack of them and by how Spider-man has been protecting STAR City, you have a good grasp of your abilities."

"Trial and error. Helps that my scientific thinking took over so I knew what I was doing." He answered and Dr. Wells nodded.

"He's Spider-man? Really?" Joe was still asking the question in disbelief that this kid was actually Spider-man.

"Yes, Joe. He is." Barry assured him.

"Perhaps a demonstration?" Dr. Wells suggested and Will shrugged. He slipped his backpack off and crouched before doing a 360 spin twist jump up and landed on the ceiling.

"Hi there." Will smiled and waved at them while Joe waved back with a look of shock and awe.

"You know, you guys have a really clean ceiling." Will crawl on the ceiling for a bit before letting go and doing another spin and landing in his signature spider crouch.

"So cool!" Cisco exclaimed.

"Ok, he's Spider-man." Joe finally admitted. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Well, one of my best friends has a swim meet at Hudson University so my friends and I decided to come along and cheer her on. And since I was gonna be in the city, Cisco and the others suggested I stopped by. Give them a chance to get a better understanding of my powers and fully repair my suit." Will opened his backpack and pulled out his suit.

"We're happy to help. Dr. Snow if you wouldn't mind doing some preliminary tests on the particulates to see what else you can find out. Cisco, let us show Mr. Detmer to the lab." Dr. Wells led them away and Cisco pat Will on the shoulder as they walked into a nearby testing room. Joe and Barry left to continue the case and get information on their escaped convict.

Cisco took the suit to his lab to fix it up while Dr. Wells and Will went into a testing room with a treadmill. Dr. Wells placed some sensor nodes on Will's body which connected to the STAR labs computers. Will placed a sensor node on his arm when he saw Cisco walk in with a tablet. "Your suit's damage isn't that bad. We made her pretty tough. Only serious thing is the knife wound but I can fix that in an hour."

"You wanted to watch this, didn't you?" Will asked, pretty much knowing the answer.

"He did. When you first started appearing in Star City, suffice to say that Cisco's scientific curiosity about your powers went into obsessive fan territory." Dr. Wells added.

"Oh…ok." Will muttered.

"Not obsessed like stalker type. More like curious type." Cisco assured him.

"Right…"

"So, what exactly happened the night you got your abilities?" Dr. Wells asked him, looking at the bio-feedback data they got from the sensors.

"Well, I was in Central City because my Advance Physics class came to see the Particle Accelerator turn on. You gave your speech when someone stole a woman's bag and I was knocked over and broke my glasses. It started to rain and thunder when there was this weird sound and the rain seemed to float in the air." Will recounted.

"That's when the Particle Accelerator started to malfunction." Cisco said and Dr. Wells nodded.

"Right. Then an explosion happened, I was knocked to the ground again, and I think I saw a guy put on a weird hat on his head. I rushed over to try and help which is when some kind of orange energy exploded outward from STAR labs and passed through me. That's when a felt a sharp pain on my and saw the spider that bit me." Will finished.

"So, you were actually bitten by a spider?" Cisco asked in amazement so Will held up his hand and the small scar on it from the bite. "Where's the spider now?"

"Dead. I killed it after it bit me." Will answered and Cisco sighed. A part of him would have liked to study it.

"So, the dark matter from the particle accelerator must have mutated the venom in the spider's bite and when you were bitten, it induced a cellular change in your body." Dr. Wells theorized. "When did you first notice the change?"

"After the explosion, we were forced to stay in Central City for a bit as FEMA did everything and we were all checked out. Then we went back to Star City and I began to feel funny. Like kind of sick and I passed out the second I hit my bed. When I woke up, I was changed. I didn't need my glasses, I got taller and got muscles." He answered.

"I'm surprised you didn't mutate into a giant man-spider thing. Oh, that could have been another name for you. Man-Spider." Cisco suggested but the looks from Dr. Wells and Will told him that the name was getting a no. "So…you just woke up different and got your powers?"

"Pretty much. I wasn't sure at the beginning about what happened but when I went to get coffee, I was almost hit by a trolley which is when my spider-sense worked for the first time." He told them.

"Spider-sense?" Dr. Wells asked.

"It's a sort of…tingling in the back of my head. Like…somethings wrong. Time sort of slows down for me and I can perceive my environment in ways that I couldn't before."

"So, your psychic too?" Cisco wondered.

"No, I don't think so. It's sort of…like an early warning system. It lets me know if I'm in danger or if something bad is about to happen and I need to get out of the way or do something. I read that the hairs that cover a spider allow them to perceive and analyze their environment in ways that normal humans can't." Will added as Dr. Well gave it some thought while Cisco slowly walked around. When he was right behind Will he threw the tablet at the back of his head. Will just caught it with his hand from behind his back without even looking. "I dodge bullets on a daily basis, dude."

"Sorry."

"I tested it out along with the rest of my powers. Even with my eyes closed, I could detect something coming my way." Will told him.

"Spider's do have incredible sensory systems that normal humans don't. Their tactile hairs alone are super sensitive but their Trichobothria are so sensitive that they can pick up the wing flaps of a fly from a few body paces away. It's one of the most finely tuned biological sensors in all of nature. But the Slit Sensilla are even more delicate. So much so that nothing humanely possible can replicate it." Dr. Wells explained.

"Exactly how sensitive, Dr. Wells?" Will wondered.

"Even if the smallest vibration or air movement cause the muscles in its legs to deform even the slightest bit then it can sense what is there. What it lacks is the musculature and brain chemistry to process of all that information rapidly like a human can." Dr. Wells explained. "When the spider bit you, it must have infused some of the sensitivity of the arachnids sensory body parts to you without, as Cisco put it, mutating you into a giant spider."

"So, like mutating Will's body to the point where it could pick up certain disturbances in the air. Like the vibrations of the charging Rhino, the smallest vibrations in the air from a bullet, or even from the pressure from the light of a laser sight." Cisco stated. "That is so sick."

"So, all of that information is then processed through my brain. So subtle vibrations like me walking down the street or a taxi passing by don't raise alarm because I can see it but getting shot at from behind or sensing the vibrations of something coming at me that I can't see set it off. And my brain processes it as a tingling in the back of my head." Will put it all together.

"Scaled up to a human, Spiders would be extremely dangerous creatures. Your body changed into peak superhuman condition with comparable strength, speed, and agility. A well rounded list of powers, Mr. Detmer." Dr. Wells informed him.

"Ok, but what about my Venom shock?" He asked him.

"Venom shock?" Cisco asked so Will walked over to the treadmill and channeled his venom shock to his hand. It began to spark with orange electricity and when he touched the treadmill, the electricity shorted it out and fried the system.

"Sorry."

"I would be upset but that was so cool." Cisco walked over to see the damage close up. "Actual electricity?"

"I think it's actually bio-electricity. I seem to be able to generate and can use it to shock things. Handy against bad guys but I did ruin a far amount of stuff before I got this down as well." Will pointed out.

"Another mystery for us to solve then." Dr. Wells said as they continued the testing.

A few hours later, they had taken a break from the testing. STAR labs got a lot of useful information and Cisco managed to fully repair Will's suit so it was like nothing happened before. He also made some modifications to the HUD and web shooters and was currently in the workshop lab with Will to show him what else they had made for Spider-man. It must have been a workshop dedicated to all things Spider-man because Cisco had a whole bunch of schematics and ideas laid out all over the place. A lot of them were the designs and schematics that he sent them. Will's sort of limited resources when he first started were a thing of the past now and STAR labs was able to make things that he didn't think was possible. Case in point, the first thing Cisco showed him was something he always wanted. It was a small eight-legged blue and red drone with four glowing blue eyes that fit in the palm of his hand.

"Please tell me that's what I think it is." Will hoped.

"It is. Let me introduce you to the first ever Spider-Bot." Cisco handed it to him. "Eight articulated legs with magnetic suspension, miniaturized motors, 180 degree field of vision with visual and audio recording technology and capable of interfacing with security systems so you have the perfect scouting party right here."

"Power source?" Will wondered, looking at the drone in his hand.

"Lithium ion battery giving it 36 hours of activity before it needs to be recharged." Cisco held up a charging cable. "And we set it up so you can control it from the HUD in your mask. Watch."

Cisco took a tablet and activated the control over the drone before making it crawl up Will's arm and then onto his head before jumping off and landing on a nearby table where it proceeded to walk and then went underneath the table where it stuck there. "Ok, that is sick."

"After I saw how your bio-electric powers worked, I'm already designing a newer model that has its own electrical sting to knock out bad guys but this one is good now." Cisco told him, moving the spider-bot back onto the table and powered down. "We've got some more web fluid made for you along with your other web gadgets. Enough to keep you stocked up for a while. But the thing I want to show you the most is some new suits we were working on for you."

Cisco walked over to some mannequins that had some Spider-man suits that were works in progress. None of them were a hundred percent finished but were completed enough so that he could see what they looked like. The first suit was a play on the suit he was wearing now but the red was more pronounced, the blue was a lighter color and the spider symbol on the chest and back were more subtle. (4)

"Interesting change on my current suit." Will commented.

"Yeah. Caitin suggested that some red would look better and I'm inclined to agree." Cisco pointed out.

"I still feel that way. I think this suit had some certain charm to it." Caitlin added and Will had to agree it looked good.

"Next up we're working on a stealth suit. Now, I know you're pretty stealthy on your own but this one will take it to the next level." Cisco assured him as Will looked at the suit to see it was pretty much all black except for the lenses in the mask and the symbol which weren't lit but seemed to indicate they would glow. "Dr. Wells is working on a omni-harmonic mesh for the suit and the non-lit parts of the suit would be able to warp light and sound around the meta-material. Still working on it but it's gonna be sick." (5)

"And the last one?" Will pointed to the all-black suit with the yellow symbol and seemed to be made of some kind of metal. (6)

"That is what I'm calling, the Spider-Armor. Not finished yet but once it is, this thing will be a tank. Your regular suit has a Kevlar carbon fiber weaved throughout so its bulletproof to a point but this one has a special metal covering making it a hundred percent bulletproof without increasing your weight by a substantial amount. We're working on a metal material that can take a hit from a grenade launcher. With this, I bet even going up against the Rhino would be easy." Cisco proudly declared.

"Sounds awesome." Will remarked as he and Cisco were having their little nerd moment.

Barry walked into STAR labs and saw Caitlin at the computers while Cisco and Will were in the lab. "Hey. I got something. I was analyzing the particulates that Clay Parker and Shawna Baez left behind, and I found something very interesting. When Clay's cells come into contact with Shawna's, they adopt her properties."

Barry looked at the screen with intrigue when he noticed Cailtin seemed a bit off. "Something bothering you?" He wondered.

"Why would you ask?"

"You're doing that biting-your-lower-lip thing that you do when something's bothering you." Barry pointed out.

"I'm fine." Caitlin assured him and he nodded. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "Cisco says I don't have a life."

"You don't, do you?" Barry wondered.

"I do! I cook and I eat and I read and I help you." Caitlin listed off.

"So, what you're saying is, you do everything that has nothing to do with having a life." Barry corrected.

"You don't have to be rude about it." Caitlin told him.

"Hey, I'm not doing any better than you. My social life consists of running at superhuman speed and Netflix." Barry admitted.

"We are quite the pair, Mr. Allen." Caitlin stated.

"Yes, we are, Dr. Snow." He replied.

"You two kind of make me sad." They heard a voice say and looked down to see a spider-bot on the desk and the voice was coming from its speaker. "I'm in college and struggle school, a job, and being a hero yet I have more of a social life then you two combined."

They looked over and saw Will with his Spider-man mask on, waving at them and Cisco laughing. Will controlled the spider-bot and used it to spy on them. "Very funny." Caitlin scoffed.

"We know." Cisco replied, fist bumping Will when the computer chimed.

"There's an armed robbery in progress. Two suspects, male and female in their 20s. Sounds like our metahuman Bonnie and Clyde are at it again." Caitlin informed them.

"What do you say, Flash? You up for a team up?" Will asked and he nodded.

"Time to ruin their social life." Barry remarked as he and Will suited up.

"Uh huh. Bad ass!" Cisco stated, seeing Will slip on his suit and then running out of STAR labs where he began swinging through the city.

He swung down low and saw Barry running below him before he kicked up his speed and left him behind. "Not all of us have super speed!" He swung after him and the pedestrians in Central City could have sworn that they saw Spider-man swing by.

It took a while but Spider-man eventually arrived at an old electrical substation where a Black Hawk armored car was stopped and being robbed by Shawna Baez and her boyfriend, Clay Parker. Clay had the two guards at gunpoint while Shawna teleported the bags of cash to her car which is when the Flash appeared and the two got into a fight. Clay saw what was going on so he rushed over to help when his gun was pulled out of his hand. He looked to see what did it and saw it was stuck to the armored car by webbing.

"Incoming!" Spider-man swung down and kicked Clay Parker in the chest. He was sent flying through the air when Spider-man web pulled him back and slammed him into the side of the armored car before webbing him there. "You two ok?"

The guards nodded and looked at Spider-man in awe. "You're Spider-man!"

"That's the name. Says so on my birth certificate." He quipped.

"What are you doing in Central City?" A guard asked.

"Hanging out with the Flash. We have a superhero group chat. Now, you should call the police and have them pick up this guy." He pointed to Clay and they nodded.

"Wait, there's someone else. A woman and she…vanished." The guard told him.

"All right. I'll find her." Spider-man web zipped away and began swinging through the substation to see if he could find Shawna. That's where her saw the Flash trying stop a woman who was able to vanish and reappear in a different spot. "She's a teleporter."

He landed on a railing and saw Shawna teleport the Flash up to a stairwell which he was now hanging from before teleporting to her car and grabbing two bags of cash. Flash raced down in front of her when the bags of money were pulled out of her hands by webbing. They looked up to see Spider-man crouched up on a railing.

"Sorry miss but those don't belong to you. If you need to make a withdrawal, I suggest you see a bank teller or an ATM." He quipped.

"Spider-man?" Shawna was not expecting to see him there so she teleported away.

Flash and Spider-man looked around to see where she would reappear when Will's Spider-sense went off and he flipped forward into the air just as Shawna appeared on the walkway next to him. She missed and then disappeared again, this time grabbing the bags of money he was holding in mid-air. Only trouble was that she was now in the air. "Probably not a smart idea." He pointed out before kicking her to the ground.

Flash rushed forward and shoulder tackled her, sending her tumbling to the ground. She groaned in pain when she was hit in the face with webbing, obscuring her vision and then two globs of impacting webbing trapped her to the ground. Spider-man landed on the ground and tossed the bags of cash to the side before webbing them there and readied his web shooters at Shawna. Flash was ready as well to see if she teleported away but she didn't. She struggled to get free but she didn't teleport away.

"Huh, guess that's over." Spider-man remarked.

"Yeah, nice work." Flash told him.

"Back at you." Spider-man replied when he heard some footsteps behind him and saw some guy with a hat, brown leather jacket, a yellow shirt, boots, and pants taking the two bags of cash and running away. "I don't think so."

He webbed the guy from behind and pulled him into the air before shooting some more webbing and trapped him in a large web. Spider-man then landed on a railing next to him. "Did you really think that was a smart idea? Stealing cash when two Superheroes were right here? Not the smartest idea you could have had Mr. Thief."

"Oh, I ain't just a regular thief! RAH!" His body released a huge torrent of electricity that tore through the webbing.

"Whoa!" Spider-man jumped into the air to avoid getting shocked but a bolt of electricity hit him in the chest and knocked him into a pipe. The Flash super sped away to avoid getting hit by electricity as the guy landed on the ground. His hat had blown off revealing a bald head a distinct star-patterned burn scar on his face. (7)

His body seemed to produce the electricity and it sparked all around him. One bolt hit Shawna's car and fried it while others skimmed around the pipes and railings of the substation and essentially turned it into a giant electrical field with this guy at its center. Flash zipped around to avoid getting hit and then raced at the guy only to run into an electricity shield which zapped him back.

"Not so tough now, Flash! You ain't the only one with powers!" The guy fired a bolt of electricity at him but Spider-man swung by and pulled him out of the way. He landed on the ground and fired some web bullets which the guy fired with a bolt of electricity before firing another. Spider-man jumped into the air to avoid getting hit but then another bolt him in the chest and send him into Shawna's car. "You should have stayed in STAR city, Spider-man!"

"And miss the wonders of this fine city?" He webbed the trunk of Shawna's car and yanked it before hurling it at the guy which was deflected by his electricity shield. Seeing that, he webbed the doors and panels of the car, ripped them off and hurled them at the guy. "All right, Electro! Time to unplug!"

He just blasted them away and then tried to hit Spider-man who kept jumping and dodging. Flash got up and dodged a bolt of electricity when he saw a bolt heading for Shawna so he quickly grabbed her and moved her out of the way. "Get her to safety! I'll hold him off!" Spider-man told him.

Flash nodded and ran away as Spider-man flipped forward, firing some web grenades. They exploded and covered the guy in webbing which he quickly vaporized but it gave Spider-man the time to close the distance and land on top of him. He punched him in the face before the guy zapped him off and sent him crashing into a wall. He fired another blast of electricity which Spider-man backflipped away and he kept jumping around the building to avoid getting hit. That's when he saw a police cruiser arrive and the guy immediately fired a bolt of electricity at their car, keeping them pinned inside.

"No!" He shot a web at his arm and pulled him back, stopping his zapping of the police but the guy just grabbed the webbing and sent a bolt of electricity down it. It sent a shock through his system and sent him flying back where he crashed through some pipes. He got up but grabbed his left wrist in pain and saw that the guy's blasts had completely fried his web shooter. That's when the guy used his electricity to pick up the cop car and hold it up in the air.

"Hey, hero! Catch!" The guy through the car to the side near some gas tanks so Spider-man web zipped forward into the path of the car. He activated his splitter web and fired several web lines which connected to the ground and sides of the building. The webbing caught the car before it crashed into the gas tanks.

"Are you guys ok?" He asked them and the officers inside gave him a thumbs up. He pushed the car back onto it wheels and helped them out before jumping onto a railing and saw the guy was gone along with the money. He web zipped up to the top of the building to see if he could find the guy but nothing. "Worst…trip…ever…"

STAR Labs

Will returned to STAR labs where Caitlin tended to his injuries. A few minor electrical burns but he'd be fine with some time to heal. He sat in a chair and winced in pain as she dabbed some ointment on the burns he had on his wrist. "How are you feeling?" She asked in concern.

"I'm fine. I've been through worse. Ow…" He groaned as she dabbed at the burn.

"You're lucky a burn is all you got." Cisco held up his destroyed web shooter. "The electricity hit with these overloaded the battery. I checked your suits data and it was hit with about 20,000 volts of electricity. That would have been more than enough to kill you."

"Glad I'm not dead." Will muttered when he saw Barry walk in. "Where's Shawna?"

"Safe in the pipeline. Still tied up and she hasn't teleported away." Barry answered.

"We'll keep her like that until we figure out more about her powers and can configure a cell for her." Dr. Wells added. "Ms. Baez would have been our main concern but this new metahuman takes precedent."

Caitin wrapped Will's burn with a bandage and covered it. "You should be good now but make sure this stays clean."

He nodded and rolled his sleeve down before opening his mouth and moving his tongue around. "I taste copper, is that normal?"

"You were fighting the living lightning, dude. Nothing is normal." Cisco pointed out.

"Living Lightning?" Will was confused.

"That's not your best." Barry told Cisco.

"I believe Mr. Detmer has already named our new metahuman. Electro." Dr. Wells stated.

"Ok, that's better." Cisco admitted. "So, who is Electro?"

"I have managed to find out who he is." Dr. Wells moved over to the computers with the others following him. "I managed to get a still image from Mr. Detmer's mask and found a match. Maxwell Dillon. Former lineman and electrician for Dikto energy consulting until he was doing maintenance on some power lines the night of the Particle Accelerator."

"He must have gotten electrocuted that night. Its probably how he can control electricity." Will theorized.

"And I looked into the CCPD database and there have been several robberies the past several months where the security systems were shut down due to sudden electrical interference." Dr. Wells added.

"Ok, so Electro's a thief. But did he just stumbled on the armored car and decided to rob it?" Caitlin asked the group.

"I can't say for certain but one thing for certain is that we need to capture Mr. Dillon before he hurts anyone else." Dr Wells told them and they agreed. "One advantage is that we know what his abilities are so now we can devise a way to capture him and his associates."

"Associates?" Will was confused.

"The CCPD noted that at the robberies where electrical interference shorted out the security systems, there were other irregularities. Such as a giant hole carved into the side of bank. Only it wasn't carved or cut but melted. And several witnesses swear that before one robbery, a sudden tidal flood of water appeared from the sprinklers and knocked them all out of the bank." Dr. Wells listed off.

"Melted and water? So, what…two other metahumans with Electro?" Will asked and Dr. Wells nodded. "Great, just great. A wish for a simple trip turns into a three on two fight. Guess I'm sticking around Central City for a little longer."

On the other side of the city, Electro returned to the warehouse where he and his crew resided. He walked in with the two bags of cash and put them on the table. "How'd it go?"

"Well, turns out STAR city's new poster boy decided to switch cities. He's here with the Flash." Electro said as his two partners stepped into view. One was wearing a red t-shirt under a jacket, jeans, and some boots while the other had on a blue shirt, jeans, and boots.

Mark Raxton was a former high school drop out after he played lead guitar for his band which inevitably broke apart when everyone else got regular jobs, leaving him alone. He got a job at the defunct Smythe Technologies company cleaning after hours when the Particle Accelerator went off and he was knocked into chemicals used to treat an experimental metal alloy they were working on. Now, his skin was able to turn into this kind of metal-like material that glowed red and created intense heat. He soon met up with Electro and the other of their trio, Morrie. (8)

Morris Morrie Bench was a dockhand in Central City near the bay when the Particle Accelerator went off and he was knocked into the water. Once he emerged, he could transform into water itself and control. After deciding he had enough of working 15 hour days for others, he began using his powers to earn some actual money. (9)

Mark's hand glowed red and he created a ball of fire. "He wasn't able to take you down so he can't take the three of us. Even with the Flash."

"He's right. It's three against one and Snart's in jail." Morrie turned his hand into a water hammer. "We've been under the radar for long enough. With our powers, we could rule this city so I say enough hiding."

Dillon kind of liked that idea and electricity started to course through his body. "Sounds like a plan."

End of chapter 11 TO BE CONTINUED…

1). The sequences is taken from the Amazing Spider-man 2. But Aleksei doesn't become the Rhino since we already have one. It was just a fun sequence from the movie.

2). The man in the suit and glasses is James Wesley and the other guy is Cottonmouth from Netflix's Luke Cage.

3). This of this Prowler as a mix mash of various suits. His helmet, gloves, and boots are the same as the Prowler from the Spider-man Miles Morales Videogame but is wearing a sweater and pants like the Prowler from Spider-man Into the Spider-verse but with no cape.

4). This is Spider-man's classic suit with a lighter blue and more red in the suit. Also, the smaller spider logo on the chest.

5). The Spider-man Stealth Suit.

6). Spider-Armor Mark 2.

7). Electro from Spider-man PS4. Played by Josh Keaton who voiced the character in the game.

8). Mark Rakton AKA Molten Man as played by Timothy Granaderos.

9). Morris Bench AKA Hydro-Man as played by Chris Carmack.

I hoped you guys liked the chapter. A lot happened here with stuff set up for future stories. We've got Hobie Brown as the Prowler and he'll be sticking around. I definitely didn't want a simple end to the villain conflict this chapter and make more recurring antagonists while also setting up future villains as well. It also shows that sometimes the hero inadvertently creates his own villains. Plus, Will headed to Central City for only part 1 of their adventure. He has met Electro but soon will meet two other metahumans who will become part of his rogue's gallery. Molten Man and Hydro-man, sort of lower tier villains in regards to Spider-man's rogues but are powerful.

The Cisco thing with Pied Piper didn't happen this chapter since Will arrived but is just delayed. It happens after Will leaves and heads back to Central City just so you guys know but he's sticking around a bit.

Next chapter, Will's journey in Central City continues as he works with STAR labs and the Flash to fight against Electro and two new metahumans. Let the greatest team up in history continue! Until next time.

Updates for February: Mandalorian Maverick on February 28th.

William Alexander Detmer-Age 20/Sophomore at SCU: Birthday, October 8th, 1994

Moniker: The Spectacular Spider-man

Appearance: Tyler Posey

Uniform: Ben Reilly's dark blue and red spider-man suit with the black spider logo and web pattern. Now STAR labs upgraded with new durable fabric, built-in HUD and communications systems with various modes of vision. Built-in parachute and web wings and new utility belt.

Casual outfit: sneakers, blue jeans, black or red t-shirt with blue button-up or sweatshirt.

Weapons:

STAR labs upgraded Web Shooters capable of configuring to over 200 different web-shooter combinations and connected to HUD for easy configuration and control.

STAR Labs modified Web Grenades/Bombs, Web Trip Mines, and acid embrittlement bombs

New Spider tracers, mini-camera/recording device, spider-thumb drive.

New Spider-Bot: Recon drone capable of surveillance and infiltration. Controlled by his HUD.

Skills: Genius intellect with 250 IQ, Superhuman strength, Superhuman speed, Superhuman reflexes, Superhuman agility and balance, Super senses, accelerated healing factor, wall-crawling/adhesive stick, Spider-Sense, Night Vision, and telescopic vision, Bio-Electrokinesis/Venom strike

May Detmer: Marisa Tomei

Aria Montgomery: Lucy Hale

Emily Fields: Shay Mitchell

Spencer Hastings: Troian Bellisario

Dr. Curt Connors: Dylan Baker

Yuri Watanabe: Kelly Hu

Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-man, Arrow or any above-mentioned products. All rights belong to their respective owners, I'm just a big fan.