After landing on a rooftop, Spider-Man came to a stop, leaning against a roof entrance to catch his breath.
Well, things were sure turning out 'dandy' for me. Shot at by the police twice in as many days for something I didn't even do. Still, I did manage to get a lead… unintentionally. Seeing Detective Watanabe literally in two places at once seemed to clear things up. Somebody was trying to frame me. And was a whiz with disguises. I needed to get to the bottom of this and fast. Unfortunately, life had other plans. As usual.
Just as Spider-Man got back to his feet, he suddenly collided with an invisible barrier. He shook his head in pain before feeling around, seeing that the barrier was all encompassing.
"What the heck?" he let out.
"That would be me," a voice called out.
Spider-Man looked up to see Invisible Woman lowering herself on an invisible platform with the Thing as Human Torch flew down while Mr. Fantastic stretched down from the hovering Fantasti-Car. Spider-Man braced himself as the Fantastic Four touched down.
That was certainly daunting. This wasn't exactly how I imagined meeting New York's premiere superhero team. Well, at the time at least.
"That was almost too easy," Thing remarked.
"Stay sharp," Invisible Woman warned. "He may be more crafty than he looks."
"I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted by that," Spidey remarked.
"Just come with us peacefully," Mr. Fantastic insisted. "We don't want any trouble."
"Then you really shouldn't have messed with me."
Spider-Man then started punching against the forcefield as hard as he could. Each punch caused Invisible Woman to wince in pain, breaking her concentration. With one final punch, the forcefield shattered, causing Invisible Woman to fall back from the strain. Reed stretched out his arms to catch her as Spider-Man took off, shooting out a web and swinging away.
"Hey!" Johnny cried out, igniting into flames. "Nobody does that to my sister!"
He flew out after him, chucking several fireballs in the process. Spider-Man sensed this and quickly maneuvered his body to evade the blasts.
"Wow!" Spidey called out. "Talk about getting hot under the collar!"
Spider-Man quickly swung low, landing on a rooftop that had a water tower on it. Smirking under his mask, he turned back to Johnny and gave a come at me motion. Furious, Johnny threw a fireball at him, prompting Spidey to leap out of the way as it hit one of the supports.
"Nice aim!" Spidey called out. "Give it a few years, and you'll be able to hit the broadside of a barn!"
Enraged, Johnny threw another fireball, prompting Spider-Man to leap out of the way and shoot a webline to swing off. As the fireball hit the support, it caused the tower to top of Johnny, dowsing him as he tumbled to the ground.
"Talk about a wash out," Spidey remarked as he swung away.
Just then, an arm stretched out in front of him, knocking him off the webline and making him tumble through the air. He landed on the side of a wall, sticking there as he looked back and saw Mr. Fantastic standing on the roof across from him and stretching up to his level.
"Just come with us willingly," Mr Fantastic insisted. "You can't get away from us."
"Forgive me for trying," Spidey remarked, leaping towards him.
He quickly grabbed hold of Mr. Fantastic's shoulders, leapfrogging over him. Mr. Fantastic tried grabbing him, but Spider-Man just grabbed his hands and pulled them down with him. Once he touched down, he ran between his legs and webbed Mr. Fantastic's hands to the ground. He quickly did the same with his feet, leaving him in an awkward position.
"It's a good thing you're a limber guy," Spidey remarked.
Before he could take off though, something grabbed him by the back of the neck and lifted him into the air.
"What the-"
"Haven't you caused enough trouble for one day?" the Thing remarked.
"Trouble? Me? What would give you that idea?"
Spider-Man then webbed Thing right in the face, forcing the rocky hero to drop the webhead as he tried to pull off the adhesive substance.
"Ok, maybe a little trouble."
Spidey then leapt onto Thing and webbed his arm, pinning it to his chest before leaping off and webbing his legs. He then leapt back towards Thing and kicked him in the back, knocking him to the ground.
"Stick around for a while, Rocky."
Before Spidey could head off, an invisible force hit him in the face, knocking him back.
"I admire your tenacity," Invisible Woman commended, cloaked from Spider-Man's eyes. "But you can't beat all four of us."
"I don't know, I'm three for three so far. I'm game to go for four."
Spider-Man just stood still, his eyes darting in every direction for where she might be. He was starting to feel impatient.
"Come on…" he whispered. "Where are-"
Just then, his spider sense went off, prompting him to leap up into the air. This allowed him to not only avoid an oncoming attack, but gave him a direction to fire his web at. It managed to snag Invisible Woman, causing her to go visible and fall backwards as Spider-Man landed on the edge.
"Well, hate to web and run, but I got a schedule to keep."
Spider-Man then leapt off the edge and began swinging off, hoping he finally put some distance between him and the Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, his spider sense told him differently, alerting him to an oncoming fireball, causing him to quickly dodge. He turned around and saw the Human Torch flying right at him.
"I'm not done with you yet, web freak!" he cried out, chucking more fireballs at him.
"Freak?" Spidey remarked, dodging the blasts. "You're the one that's a literal hothead, and I'm the freak?"
Johnny just yelled in frustration before chucking more fireballs at Spider-Man, prompting him to dodge rapidly.
Needless to say, hothead here was really giving me a hard time. Needed a way to put some distance between me and him, fast.
Spider-Man dropped from his webline, sailing towards the ground below with the Human Torch trailing close behind. As Spider-Man switched out web cartridges, he suddenly was sparked with an idea. He then shot another webline and swung on it so he took off upwards, allowing him to sail right into a nearby billboard.
"Hey torchy!" Spidey called out. "Feelin burnt out yet?
"How about I burn you out!" Torch called out, charging right at him.
"Oooh, good comeback," Spidey remarked, leaping over him.
As Torch turned around, Spider-Man threw a web cartridge at him. Torch didn't even notice it until it made contact with his flames. It then instantly exploded, unleashing a cluster of webbing that engulfed Johnny as it pinned him to the billboard.
"Sucker!" Spidey called out as he swung to the ground below.
Once Spider-Man made it to ground level, he leapt off his webline and rolled on the ground, startling some people before making a beeline for the nearest subway entrance. Johnny meanwhile was more than a little furious at the situation. Upping the level of flames, he managed to burn through the webbing before flying after Spider-Man. Made sure to stay high enough above the crowds as he followed him down into the subway, landing on the ground and flaming down as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He looked around, finally catching sight of Spider-Man as he leapt onto a departing train. Spider-Man looked up at him, giving him a mocking salute as the train carried him off. Johnny flamed up again, instantly flying off after him. Spider-Man saw this and instantly began climbing along the train before moving to its side, hoping to hide from Torch before he arrived. As Johnny arrived, he quickly flew from one side of the train to the other, searching for Spider-Man.
Unfortunately, a train approaching on the second track sailed right into him, causing him to tumble across the roof before finally dropping onto the tracks. He looked back up for any sign of the train Spider-Man was on, but it was already too far ahead for him to catch up with. He slammed his fists on the ground, yelling in frustration as some small flames shot out from his hands.
…
Back with the train, Spider-Man was laying down on the outside inbetween cars with his feet propped up.
"Well… I don't think I left the best first impression with those guys," he commented.
After a little while, the subway finally came out of a tunnel into the city. Spider-Man climbed up onto the train and fired a web, slinging away before landing on the side of a building. As he landed, he noticed a clock on a neighboring building, realizing how late it was.
"Oh no, I forgot about my session with Dr. Octavious!" he let out, facepalming. "He's gonna kill me… great. As if I didn't have enough to worry about."
With that, Spider-Man shot another web and swung off.
…
Later, Yuri finally managed to free herself and made her way downstairs to see the mess Spider-Man made in the lobby.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"He got away," one of the officers reported. "We had him, but he got away."
"Damn…" she let out. "I need to call this in."
"Uh, didn't you do that already?" a second officer inquired, causing Yuri to give him a puzzled look.
"What do you mean?"
"You said you were going to call Captain Stacy after Spider-Man escaped."
"I only just got down here…"
Yuri paused, mulling a few things over. Just then, a loud rumbling emanated from outside. Yuri instantly made her way outside to see the Fantasticar landing outside. Mr. Fantastic stretched out of his seat and set foot on the ground just as a man in a suit and tie walked up to him.
"Dr. Richards," the man greeted, holding out his hand. "I'm special agent Wendell Vaugn with S.H.I.E.L.D.. Thank you for coming."
"Of course," Mr. Fantastic replied, shaking his hand. "We actually encountered Spider-Man on our way here. Unfortunately, he managed to escape."
"That is unfortunate to hear."
"Do we know what Spider-Man stole from the systems?"
"We're still looking into everything so we can get a fix. In the meantime, I was hoping I could get the assistance of you and your team on something tomorrow?"
"What is it?"
"We're conducting a weapons test of a new joint operations missile defense system tomorrow, and we were hoping you and your team could provide some additional security just in case you know who shows up."
Reed turned back to his team, who all seemed to be on board with the idea. Except for Johnny, who was still fuming after his fight with Spider-Man.
"I…don't see why not," Reed relented.
"Excellent. My office will reach out to you with the details. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to inform my superiors."
With that, Agent Vaugn walked off, prompting Reed to turn back to the Fantasticar. He was just about to climb in when Yuri came walking up.
"Excuse me, Dr. Richards," she called out, getting his attention.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Detective Yuri Watanabe, NYPD. I heard you had a run in with Spider-Man earlier."
"That's one way of putting it," Sue commented.
"Did anything seem… off about him?"
"Off?" Johnny commented. "He's nothing but off!"
"Johnny, please," Reed insisted.
"Looks like he took you for a ride," Yuri replied, seeing the Thing trying to pull the webbing off of himself. She then reached into her jacket and pulled out the bag with the other Spider-Man's webbing. "I wouldn't peel all that off."
"Why is that?" Thing asked.
"Because this stuff was left by the Spider-Man that tried breaking in last night. And I have a hunch that he and the webhead that kicked you around are not the same guy."
…
After getting inside his car, Agent Vaugn drove off, pulling off the mask that served as his face, revealing himself to be the Chameleon. Once he tossed the mask aside, he pulled out a phone and dialed his client.
"It worked," he informed. "The Fantastic Four will be there."
"Excellent. I will be in the city by tomorrow evening. I trust everything will be in place by then."
"But of course."
…
Meanwhile at Oscorp, Harry casually walked inside, hoping no one would stop him as he walked towards the elevator.
"Hold it, young man," a security guard called out, causing Harry to freeze up.
Harry slowly turned around as the guard approached.
"What do you think you're- oh, Harry Osborn. Sorry, I didn't know it was you."
"Hey," Harry replied nervously. "I was just stopping in to see my dad. Hope that's not a problem."
"Not at all. You want me to tell him you're here?"
"No, I kinda wanna surprise him."
"Alright. Go ahead then."
Harry nodded before heading towards the elevator. Once he got inside, he pressed a button for one of the lower levels. He let out a nervous breath, hoping he wouldn't have any more trouble while trying to complete his mission.
…
Up in his lab, Otto was going over the inner circuitry of the arms, ensuring they ran smoothly for their next trial run. As he continued to work, Rosie walked over to him, placing a cup of coffee on his table.
"You looked like you could use a pickmeup," she noted.
Otto smiled as he took the cup.
"Thank you," he replied before taking a sip.
"I couldn't help but notice you're a little understaffed. Where's Peter?"
"I don't know. I just assumed he was running late as usual, but now…" his face lowered a bit. "I hope I didn't scare him off."
This caught Rosie by surprise. "Why would you do that?"
Otto turned away, as if he were ashamed of what he had done.
"He asked about my previous work here and I… didn't respond well."
Seeing his dour expression, Rosie placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at her.
"I know your time here isn't something you're proud of," she spoke. "But you shouldn't let it affect your relationship with Peter."
"It's just… being back here, it… brings up some unpleasant memories."
"Then… consider this a chance to forge new ones. You can't let your resentment towards Norman dictate how you feel."
Taking all this in, Otto looked back up at Rosie, a smile slowly coming across his face.
"Sometimes, I wonder what I would do without you," he commented.
"Count yourself lucky you'll never have to find out," she replied, giving him a kiss.
…
Finally, the elevator opened up, allowing Harry to step out into the lab. Not missing a beat, he made his way out, searching for a very specific item in the room. As he did so, he keeled over in pain, shaking a bit in the process.
"No… come on…" he whispered to himself.
Looking up, he spotted a particular container sitting on a shelf. Smiling, he slowly made his way over to it, carefully opening it up to reveal several vials of green liquid similar to the one he had taken earlier today. He couldn't help but smile at the prospect.
…
Down in his lab, Professor Stillwell was going over the Globulin Green formula again, trying to figure out how to stabilize the serum for Norman Osborn. He pinched his eyes, feeling more than a little tired after being at it for so long.
"We're not getting anywhere…" he lamented.
As he continued working, he was unaware of the shadowy figure slowly approaching him from behind. Slowly, the figure reached his hand out, finally placing it on Stillwell's shoulder. This spooked the scientist as he turned around in shock.
…
The next day, Peter was out for a walk in town, trying to wrap his mind around his current situation.
Ok, let's review the facts. Someone had been stealing encrypted files from Homeland Security, everyone believed I was the one responsible, and it had gotten to the point that even the Fantastic Four is on my tail. I couldn't even put on my costume without somebody wanting a piece of me. If I was going to clear my friendly neighborhood name, I needed to figure out this imposter's game. Problem was, I wasn't sure where to look. It didn't help that I was more than a little on edge about everything. Sure, they were looking for Spider-Man, not Peter Parker, but I still felt pretty uneasy. Like someone was going to spring out from behind and grab me.
"Hey, Pete," a voice greeted as a hand touched his shoulder.
Peter let out a yelp of surprise as he turned around and saw Gwen standing behind him.
"Oh… Gwen," he responded. "Hey."
"Hey. sorry, didn't mean to spook you."
"Nah, you're good," Peter reassured. "I guess this whole Spider-Man thing has just got me on edge."
"Why? It's not like the police are after you."
"Heh, true," Peter replied nervously as the two walked off together. "It's just since I take Spidey's pictures for the Bugle, they might think I know something."
"Like what? How to frame his mugshots?"
That elicited a laugh between the two of them.
"Don't worry," Gwen reassured. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. My dad said that the investigation is going in a different direction."
This caught Peter off guard.
"What do you mean?" he inquired.
"Well, he said that with the government getting so involved, the police are taking a step back in the investigation. Guess this is becoming a national security issue."
"You think they're branding Spider-Man a terrorist or something?"
"I hope not, but with S.H.I.E.L.D. getting involved-"
"Wait, S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Yeah, it's an anti-terrorism organization that's helping Homeland Security. Whatever that Spider-Man imposter stole from their systems, it's got them pretty spooked."
I had barely heard of S.H.I.E.L.D. before, but this seemed like the big break in the case I was looking for. I had to look into it.
"Uh, Gwen, I just remembered. I promised Aunt May I'd stop by Delmar's on my way home. She wants some of their sandwiches for lunch."
"Ok," Gwen relented as Peter went off. "See you tonight, then!"
"See ya!"
…
The halls of Midtown High were pretty quiet on a Saturday afternoon. Without any students, the only noise that could possibly be heard was the sound of Peter crawling through the vents.
Most kids would probably want to break out of school, so leave it to me to be the odd one and work to break in. The school's computer system is much more advanced than my own home computer, so I needed access so I could look into this S.H.I.E.L.D. angle and hopefully get some answers into who's trying to set me up.
As he continued to crawl through the vents, he could hear the janitor sweeping up debris in the halls while singing to himself.
"March along, march along, march along, march along to the merry marvel marching society," the Janitor sang as Peter continued on.
…
A few minutes later, Peter arrived at the computer lab. He quietly pried the vent open before leaping down to the ground and seating himself at one of the computers. He was quick to boot it up and login, quickly beginning his search.
"Alright, S.H.I.E.L.D.," he muttered to himself as he typed into the search bar, finding a public website on the organization in question. "Here we are. The Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistic Division, a counter terrorism organization that operates under the United Nations in the wake of World War II in order to safeguard the world from… this isn't helping. I need more."
He paused for a minute, before coming up with an idea.
"If S.H.I.E.L.D. themselves made this sight, it might contain some link back to the main database. Just need a way to access it…"
Peter paused for a moment, before trying a few tricks on the keyboard. With one final keystroke, the screen suddenly began to glitch before suddenly going black.
"Uh oh…"
Before Peter could do anything else, the screen tinted blue, and a logo resembling an eagle in a circle with stripes coming on either side of it appeared on the screen. Peter smiled, recognizing it as the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo.
"Yes."
…
Meanwhile, at a top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. installation, a young woman with short brown hair was sitting at her work station when an alert suddenly appeared on her screen.
"What on…"
The woman investigated the alert, her eyes going wide as a result.
"Director Fury!"
…
"Alright, let's see whatcha got," Peter declared, beginning to dive into the file names in the database. "The Big House… developmental plans for Project Insight…hey, Project Rebirth? Something to do with Captain America?" Peter shook his head to get back on track. "No, no, stay focused, Parker. Put a pin in that for later," he continued to scroll. "Ah, here we are. 'High Energy Laser Guided Missile Defense system'. An experimental missile defense system that uses a high power laser system to take out long range missiles. A joint operation with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Homeland Security based on technology originally developed by… wow, those guys? I thought they went out of business years ago. Either way, this has to be what the fake Spider-Man is after. Now, to figure out who's behind the mask, and why he wanted to steal this."
…
Back at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, a bald African American man in a black trenchcoat with a goatee and an eyepatch over his left eye entered the room, walking up to the woman at the computer.
"Talk to me, Agent Johnson," the man instructed.
"We've been hacked, Director," the woman replied, typing away at the keyboard. "Someone's gained access to our database and is looking through our files."
"Shut him down. Then find out who the hell this upstart is."
"On it, sir," the woman replied, pressing a few keys on his computer.
…
"Let's see if this thing has a most wanted list," Peter mused, scouring through the network.
He finally tracked down what he was looking for, sifting through various names that seemed to belong to some notorious people.
"Batroc… Gray Gargoyle… Grim Reaper… Chameleon?" Peter clicked on the last entry. "International spy and saboteur for hire. Real name unknown. Reported master of disguise? I think I just found my imposter. Let's see if anyone here is looking to hire-"
Before Peter could access anything else, his computer started sparking, forcing him to backflip out of the way before the computer completely shorted out.
"Guess my computer time has expired."
…
"The hacker's been expunged from the system," the woman reported. "We traced the signal back to a school computer in Midtown, Manhattan."
"Are you telling me that our top of the line computer system was breached by some punk kid on a school laptop?"
"Login ID was registered to a… Peter Parker."
"Parker?" Fury repeated while raising an eyebrow. "Well, damn…"
"How do you want us to proceed sir?"
Fury paused for a moment, mulling over his options in the matter.
…
At the Baxter Building, Mr. Fantastic was comparing the data he collected between the two strands of webbing. As his eyes darted between the two strands, he noticed some glaring differences in their chemical makeup.
"Intriguing…" he noted. "The original strand contains numerous bio-organic compounds while the strand Detective Watanabe gave me contains synthetic compounds meant to resemble the original."
"So we 'are' dealing with a copycat?" Sue deduced.
"It would appear so. It just leaves the question of who our fake Spider-Man could be."
"Who cares?!" Jonny remarked while his feet were kicked up onto one of the computer terminals. "I say we find Spider-Man and bring him in, imposter or not."
"What's the matter?" Thing remarked. "Still sore he kicked your ash earlier?"
"He got lucky!" Johnny insisted, standing up.
"Take it easy, Johnny," Sue insisted. "He caught us all off guard."
"Yeah, but you're not the one he took on a joyride through the subways and smothered him with that web gunk," he slammed his fist into his hand, causing a spark of flame. "If I ever get my hands on him…"
"Simmer down there, match stick," Thing remarked. "You'll burn yourself out at this rate."
Finally having enough, Johnny instantly burst into flames.
"That's it! I'm finding Spider-Man! Now!" Johnny instantly flew off.
"Johnny!" Sue called out.
"Yeesh," Thing remarked. "Think we overdid it?"
"No, I don't think it was us," Reed replied. "Johnny's just taking this Spider-Man ordeal a little too personally."
"He's been taking a lot of stuff personally lately," Sue noted. "I just hope he'll be able to work past it before it gets him into trouble."
…
At Oscorp, Peter slowly approached Dr. Octavious' lab, a bit nervous to talk to him about his absence yesterday. As he opened the door, he saw Otto working at a lab table on one of his mechanical arms. Clearly his throat, he slowly approached.
"Uh, Dr. Octavious?" Peter spoke, getting the Doctor's attention.
"Ah, Parker."
"Uh, listen. I wanted to apologize for not showing up yesterday. There was a… disturbance, and-"
"It's alright," Otto cut off. "Honestly, I was just worried it was because of our previous discussion. I was afraid I had scared you off."
"I didn't mean any disrespect. I was just curious. I've read a lot about your work and never knew that you worked for Mr. Osborn."
"I never worked for him…" Otto paused for a moment. "We were partners. He was up and coming in the business world, and he heard about my expertise in robotics. He came to me wanting my help in starting a business. Using the cutting edge in science and technology to change the world."
Peter suddenly was hit with realization.
"Wait, you helped found Oscorp?"
"I'm part of the reason it's called Oscorp," Otto remarked, leaning back in his chair, reminiscing. "When we were starting out, our colleagues used to call us the O's. Add corp to that and… well, it is catchy."
"Cool. But… why'd you leave?"
Otto suddenly leaned forward, his face dropping a bit.
"Norman and I… always had our differences. We both believed in changing the world, just in different ways. I was content with our work in robotics while Norman leaned hard into his genetic research. Eventually starting on work for a personal project I considered unethical. Then there was this…"
Peter then held his hand up.
"You… you don't have to share if you don't want to."
Otto just let out a sigh.
"Long story short, lawyers got involved and I chose to leave in exchange for a settlement. That money helped me and Rosie start our work together, and the rest is history."
"Wow… must have to swallow a lot of pride to come back here after all that."
"Quite a bit, yes," Otto confirmed, looking over and seeing Rosie coordinating with some workers on the reactor. "But seeing Rosie's dream come to life… some things in life are worth far more than personal pride."
Peter looked over at Rosie, smiling in response. Suddenly, an idea came to mind.
"Uh, hey. Since I'm here, why don't I help out for a bit. You know, makeup for missing out yesterday?"
Otto smiled in response.
"I'd welcome the company."
…
Out in the city, the Human Torch streaked across the skies, trying to find Spider-Man. As he continued looking, he became more and more infuriated.
"Come on, where are you? Nobody makes a fool out of me and gets away with it."
He suddenly came to a stop, looking around at the city. Suddenly, a thought came to mind.
"If I can't find the spider… then I'll make the spider come to me."
He then started flying through the air around a central location, forming the flaming symbol of a spider.
…
Back at Oscorp, Peter and Otto had just finished their work on the arms. Once they were done, Peter closed up the panel on the controller and handed it to Otto.
"Care to do the honors?"
"By all means," Otto insisted. "Redirecting the energy outputs through positive and negative breakers was your idea. You should have the honor."
Genuinely surprised, Peter gripped the controller and began manipulating the arms. One of the arms moved upwards before stretching out and grabbing a checkers piece on a nearby board. It moved the piece across the board so it would jump two other pieces of the opposing color.
"King me," Peter remarked.
"The movements were as smooth as any limb," Otto noted. "Well done Parker. All that's left is the neural interface."
Peter smiled at the prospect, before looking out a nearby window and seeing the flaming spider signal in the sky.
It's times like these where I wish I had a special hotline for people to reach me at so they wouldn't go to these extremes.
"Uh, Doc, I just remembered," Peter spoke up. "I have a thing tonight and I need to get ready."
"It's alright," Otto allowed. "I'll see what I can get done on my own."
With that, Peter went off, ready to deal with whatever was to come next.
