Midtown High's last bell rang, and droves of teens left either for home or for the hottest nightlife scenes. Two sisters, April and Annie, quickly march out of Midtown and divide duties. Annie quickly snatches the necessary items for their work before resting on top of the roof of a small business building. She pulls out her laptop, plugs in the drive with the encryption to bypass the strange droid's firewall, and essentially lets it do the work for her.
It would take a few minutes, so Annie was left waiting. "Late on everything," she mumbled, pacing back and forth, "she can outrun a freaking car, so what's taking her?"
The sound of a web splat draws Annie's attention, and April swings up to the roof with half of the assignment: fast food. Unsurprisingly, spending most of the lunch dealing with bullies took away time to eat, and they were starving, especially April.
"You ate my fries!" Annie gasped.
"Hey, you're the one who told me to get food. By now, you should know the risks of assigning me food pick-up," April said, already munching on one of her two burgers.
"You…are right," Annie sighs.
As they indulge in their late lunch, watching the sunset on that rooftop, Annie blurts out a seemingly random question. "How long do you see yourself doing this? The family business?"
April stops mid-bite of her burger, blinking in surprise at Annie's left-field question. "What is this? School counseling?"
"I'm serious."
"Uhhh…probably for a long while, especially with my whole half-shapeshifting alien thing."
"But not forever," Annie said, twirling her fingers and barely touching her second burger. "I asked this question to Mayday after we became superheroes. She told me that being a hero was one of her dreams and wanted to do this forever. After today, I believe she still wants that."
"But…? Where's this going, Annie?"
"Nowhere," she said and continued eating.
April shakes her head, "Nuh-uh, you ain't deflecting me. What's up? Thinking of throwing in the towel?"
"No!" Annie said so quickly she nearly choked on her food. She swallows and continues, "Nonono, I didn't mean—"
"If you want a talk about this, Annie—"
"I don't and don't EVER mention this to Mayday or Mom and Dad. They'd probably freak out or something. Besides, I would never ditch you two."
"Then why bring it up?"
With the palm of her hand covering her eyes, Annie sighs. "I don't know. I like having options for my future." She leans back, glancing away as if trying to avoid something.
"Hey, I'm no snitch," April reassured.
"I know," Annie smiles, "I guess, for as fun the past two years were, it did nothing to help my social life. Remember the school newspaper team from last year?"
"Yeah, they got popular. They even won an award for their local journalism work."
"I was supposed to be a part of that," Annie shares with remorse, "I tried to keep up with them, but every other week there was a vision of a murder, accident, or whatever. I couldn't ignore any of them, so I kept ditching. They kicked me out barely a month later."
"It comes with the job," April said bluntly. "But I get it."
"Maybe I should ask Mayday for advice. What doesn't she know, right?"
"More than you think," April said dismissively.
"Seriously? She got girls fawning over her while I'm stuck with fanboys."
"That doubly sucks with you being a lesbian and all."
"Exactly!" Annie said. She slumps her head and says, "Along the way, maybe she can teach me more pointers on how to be a better hero. Like, is saving people not enough for people in this city?"
"For some, apparently not," April sighs, eating the last of her food.
"Well…I want to help change that," Annie vowed as she took a big bite of her burger. Chomping down the last meal, she continued, "This recent case with these robots and a mysterious lady could be our chance to remind people that we're true heroes. Might even help re-balance my life, make it more efficient."
"We're already real heroes, Annie. No matter what jerks online or on the streets say," April said, standing up. "I find this peacetime boring at times. And yeah, not feeling appreciated sucks. However, I don't see myself changing my future yet, because this job gives me the one thing I want: freedom."
"Really? In what way?"
"Like, when I swing into action," April said, closing her eyes as she remembered her previous adventures, "the excitement building up in your stomach while charging in with all my strength and passion. That's an experience only the superhero life can give."
Annie ponders April's perspective while standing beside her sister. "When I spring into action, I feel my adrenaline rising and my heart pumping like crazy. My mind's suddenly in it, but any slight distraction and I feel like I can barely focus. So, I've been feeling more anxious than thrilled for a while. And my visions don't exactly help."
"Once upon a time, Mayday felt the same way."
"Seriously?"
"Straight from the horse's mouth," April smiled, "eventually, she learned from Dad to quell her fear. After that, she was ready for anything."
"And…when do you think I'll be ready? Will it even change my mind about the future?"
April gives her typical answer and shrugs. A beep from Annie's laptop tells them they've bypassed the firewall. The sisters run over and search for any clues about this mysterious creator.
April asks, "See anything? I see a bunch of files."
"They're mainly combat parameters," Annie said. From the corner of her eye, she spots one peculiar file in the droid's surviving memory banks. She clicks on it and uncovers a grainy video feed. She spots a date at the corner of the recording, "this was recorded last night," she said.
The sisters squinted and saw the room in the video was dimly lit but soon saw a figure emerge out of the shadows.
"Test number zero-twenty-three," a young woman's voice spoke in the recording, "all systems are functioning. Though their lack of personalities is disappointing."
Annie and April look closer when the figure emerges from the shadows to inspect the recording droid. To their shock, they see a large glass dome that is all too familiar. "Mysterio!?" they both exclaim.
"I'm noticing an anomaly with my droids with your nanites, doctor," Mysterio continued, "you certain this test will have them fully compatible?"
The sisters are dead silent when two large metallic tendrils appear onscreen. The metal arms lower a figure wearing a crimson trench coat. The second the sisters heard this doctor speak, they immediately recognized this as the same young woman who hired Natalie to steal that Cell-Stimulator.
"Don't underestimate my tech," Carolyn spoke with a German accent, "these should be ready for tomorrow's event. If you encounter any problems, send a droid to drive the batch to my lair."
"My actors are always pristine," Mysterio growled, "but…I will consider your offer."
"I know you will," the doctor said before her metal arms carried her back to the shadows.
Before more can be learned, the video abruptly ends.
"That's all. The rest is corrupted data. What event could they—?"
Annie pauses upon hearing a familiar beeping noise. On her right wrist was a special watch given by their mother, one that blares a warning that a member of thier family was in danger.
"No," April said with a shudder. A yellow hologram hovers over their watches and points to where their parents are in danger, the Parker Foundations building on the far south side of Queens.
"Dad's work," Annie quivered.
"Mom's there too," April said. She often doesn't show fear, thinking it makes her weak, but April does not hide how terrified she is.
"Do you think they know Dad is—"
"No way," April whispered, "we all made sure the world only knew a lie, that Spider-Man vanished. No, they must be after the demonstration experiment."
"Notify the others for backup," Annie said, webbing her school supplies.
"Seriously?"
Annie dashes behind the cover to change into her suit. "This is our parents, April. Call uh M-miles!"
"He's supposed to be keeping Manhattan safe tonight."
"Aunt Jessica?"
"Still in Canada helping out the X-Men."
"Cindy?"
"On assignment with the Agents of Atlas."
"Anya?"
"In Puerto Rico helping relief efforts after that Tsunami."
"Crap," Annie hissed as she donned her red mask. "Oh! What about Uncle Ben?"
"He…might be available," April said. She quickly shapeshifts herself into her Wild-Spider attire and shoots a web to a nearby building. "Call him and follow me. We gotta bust our great leader out of detention first."
With little time to lose, Wild-Spider and Spiderling swung and leaped to Midtown High as fast as they could. By the time they reached the building Mayday was holed up in, they found the room she was supposed to be held in empty. Well, except for one furious Mrs. Perching pacing about.
"Up here," Mayday said, revealing herself in her suit and standing on the roof.
"Of course," April said, though less sarcastically than usual, "I thought she confiscated all your stuff in there."
"She did. Luckily my spider sense tingled in time to pinpoint our watches going off. I finished suiting up just as you two got here. What's the situ—"
"I got him!" Annie said, tossing the phone to Mayday.
"Hello? Girls, are you all there?" Ben Reilly said.
"We are, Uncle Ben," Mayday said, "we got an emergency over at Dad's work, likely a supervillain attack. We're about to intercept. Can you provide support?"
"Peter's work—? Oh no…"
"What?"
"I spoke with your father about a potential problem with his experiment. A problem which can become catastrophic if put in the wrong hands."
"Do I want to know how bad?"
"Probably not. Janine and I are still in upstate New York. It'll take two hours before I even hit the Bronx. Mayday…it's up to you and your sisters," Ben said, a serious concern in his tone but also an aura of confidence. "We'll notify the authorities of the situation, but the rest will be in your hands."
"O-okay," Mayday said, hiding her anxious tone from her sisters.
"Mayday, this is what you all trained for, now be the leader they need."
Mayday nods and ends the call. "We're moving out," she said. Walking past her sisters, Annie grabs her wrist. "What did he say?" Annie asks.
Knowing they were on a time limit, Mayday gives it to her straight. "We're going in alone."
"I knew it," April mumbled.
Annie's expression turns to shock. Then it quickly turns to fear. Her hand quivered when she let go of Mayday. She's grabbed by the shoulders, Mayday telling her, "Annie, I know you never fought a battle like this before, but you must stay focused. Whoever these people are, they will kill you if given the chance. Stay close to us, and act. Don't think."
Annie nods, but her body still felt frozen in place.
"Hey," April said, holding Annie's hand, "you ready for this?"
Annie takes a steady breath, feeling her heart simmer down and retaining her nerves. "Yeah…for Mom and Dad."
Mayday pats Annie on the shoulder and dashes off. "Let's go!" She swings across the air, her sisters right behind her. The sisters booked it as fast as they could toward Parker Foundations. Though Mayday retains a stoic front, her spider senses were screaming at her of great danger in that building. But her resolve didn't waver for the sake of her sisters and the mission.
"What's the situation?"
"Red Coat woman is some new Doc Ock. Has the tentacles and everything," April said, "a lady Mysterio is her partner. They've been planning this attack for days if not weeks."
"We couldn't contact Mom or Dad," Annie said, "this group likely took over the whole building—" Spiderling suddenly stops. A familiar sharp pain strikes her head, indicating another Spider-Vision is hitting her. "Gah!" she screams, receiving the vision mid-swing. The headache was so great that she couldn't focus on web-swinging, and she began to fall at a twenty-story height.
"Spiderling!" April shouts. Both she and Spider-Girl were quick to dive after her. Luckily, they snatch her before she collides with the traffic below and carry her to a nearby rooftop.
"Annie, talk to me," Spider-Girl whispered, hugging her sister until the Vision eventually subsided.
"I…saw a terrible explosion," Spiderling pants, almost overwhelmed at what she saw. "It vaporized everything. Dad…Mom…Miles…everything in within a three-mile radius."
"Thousands of people dead…" Spider-Girl said.
"Tens of thousands," Spiderling said, "and we're the only ones who make it on time. We're the three figures in my first vision."
"And what happens to us?" Wild-Spider asks.
With some trepidation, Spiderling answers with a shake of her head.
A silence falls over the three heroes upon realizing the true magnitude of this mission and the human cost if they fail tonight. The sisters all sensed it. The immense weight has now fallen on them—the fate of the Parker Family, other heroes, and thousands of civilians rests in their hands.
Spider-Girl stands up, her composure calm and determined. "Well? What are we waiting for?" she told her sisters, "The day isn't going to save itself, and I refuse to let a single person die tonight." She fires her web and swings off into the night, straight to the fire of Doc Ock's diabolical scheme.
Wild-Spider nods, "not the first time we've swung straight into death," she said. Firing a web off the top of her hand, she swings after Spider-Girl, telling herself, "And I rather bite the bullet than let Mom die."
Spiderling takes a breath, the horrible imagery of their potential deaths still seared into her mind. It scared her…but it also motivated the hell out of her. "I can do anything…we can do anything," she whispers, pushing herself to move. Spiderling stands up, and she aims her web-shooter, "You're a Spider-Girl too, Annie. Act like it!" She fires and soars across the New York skyline, soon swinging beside her sisters. With their extraordinary powers, the Spider-Girls race against time. All their hearts were fueled with a fiery determination as they charged into their greatest battle yet.
Issue #5: The Marvelous Spider-Girls vs The Sinister Syndicate! Part I
[Meanwhile…]
Peter has been in many tough spots throughout his life. This predicament was up there.
His first concern is his wife and Miles. Taking a moment, he glances at them and sees it isn't good. Mary Jane was barely conscious after inhaling the fear gas, her fingers occasionally twitching as she underwent a nightmare like he did.
Miles wasn't doing any better with most of his body enveloped by that liquid metal from the new Doc Ock. She detached the portion holding Miles to the floor, regrowing the metallic limb while the split portion kept Miles trapped like a spider in a fly trap.
As for himself, a collection of legacy villains of some of his oldest foes had him by the neck and seemed to know something about his identity.
"Your silence is futile, Dr. Parker," Doc Ock said, "we already know your old secret."
Peter grits his teeth, cautiously asking, "What old secret? I have more than you expect."
"Stop stalling!" Doc Ock shouts, slamming Peter against the wooden stage.
'Ben's right, stress jokes will be the death of me,' Peter thought, retaining his deviant composure even after he was sure that attack cracked one of his lower ribs.
"You think time will hide your secret? We know it, Doctor Parker. We know you are Spider-Man—"
'No!' Peter thought.
"Oldest ally," Lady Beetle said, interrupting Doc Ock.
"Ah! Don't ruin this for me, Beetle!" Doc Ock whined. "We agreed I would interrogate him."
"Then interrogate a little faster, for crying out loud," Electro groaned, "I'm falling asleep here."
In their brief bickering, Peter would feel relieved if his loved ones weren't still in a life-or-death situation.
"But you heard her," Doc Ock continued, "What do you know about Spider-Man?!"
"You…" Peter struggled to say, "You'll have to be a bit more specific. Do you mean that Spider-Man? The other Spider-Man or—"
"The original, you old fool!" Doc Ock shouted, "The one that's red, white, and blue. The one that defeated my predecessor. The one who disappeared off the face of the earth!"
"And what makes you think I know anything about him?"
"Not only were you the first to document his existence, but you also helped several wall crawlers throughout your career, and a reliable source said that you were with him the night he vanished."
"I think your source is a little dubious, Doc. I don't know more than you do,"
Doc Ock begins to vibrate with frustration. Still, her voice seemingly retains composure, and she pulls away, "Is that so…?" One of her arms suddenly shoots out, shattering the tall window to its left. She hoists Mary Jane up in the air but her ankle and holds her out the window.
"No!" Peter shouts in a panic. trying to use all his strength to break out of Doc Ock's grip, but to no avail.
"DO YOU REMEMBER NOW, PETER?!" Doc Ock roared, catching even some of her teammates off guard. "IS IT ALL COMING BACK TO YOU NOW?! IT BETTER, FOR YOUR WIFE'S SAKE!"
"Leave her out of this!" Peter said defiantly, his face simmering angrily, "If you do anything to my MJ; you get nothing from me. Nothing!"
Beetle grabs Doc Ock's shoulder, whispering to her, "Ease it down. Don't ruin your catch by rushing things. There's still part two of the plan, remember?"
Doc Ock huffs in annoyance and drops Mary Jane beside Miles.
Miles shakes his head, his vision clearing up when he sees his two friends in the grasp of these supervillains. His eyes widen when Mary Jane groggily opens her eyes. Then she makes a sharp gasp after fully waking up from her nightmare. She flinches from the sight of the Syndicate but quickly remains still, her long red hair covering her eyes.
"Shhh," Miles said as quietly as possible, seeing their attention was still square on Peter.
Mary Jane nods slightly and lets Miles focus on generating electricity across his body. With everything but his hands, head, and feet covered in this thick, heavy metal goo, Miles reasoned that electricity generated by his core body might be enough to short-circuit and explode the metal off him. He knows it's a slower process, likely requiring three minutes, but he had no other options. As for how he'll deal with the five superpowered villains once he's freed, he was still working on that.
'Keep them talking, Tiger,' Mary Jane thought, 'help is on the way.'
Doc Ock brushes her hair as she tries to cool off. "Mysterio, bring it up," she ordered.
Peter sees Mysterio press a button on her right gauntlet and speak a command into it. In a few moments, the floor on the far back side of the stage slides open and unveils the fusion reactor. Beside it was an unconscious Curt Conners, struck by a tranquilizer dart by one of his assistants.
"Dr. Semper works for you?" Peter questioned.
"Bah! Her acting would be nothing compared to my actors," Mysterio boasts as the robot-copycat eyes glow blue.
Doc Ock approaches the machine and can't help but be impressed by its design. It can indeed be a significant step forward for free, clean energy. A grin grows across her face while four of her six arms attach to crucial components of the machine. She injects nanobots into the machine, millions of cells sized bots working together to reprogram and restructure parts of the reactor systems. "With just a little tinkering, I will transform this machine into the source of your downfall, Dr. Parker."
Seeing several of the reactor's safety mechanisms be disabled, Peter is baffled by the madness before him. "You're insane," he said, "you keep meddling with it, and you could destroy all of Queens!"
"Us, insane? Give us a little credit, Parker," Electro said.
"Indeed," Mysterio said, "what's the point of a performance if our audience is dead?"
"Exactly. All we're going to do is have it destroy everyone and everything you love," Hallows' Eve said with a vicious grin.
"Correct," Doc Ock said proudly, "I'll destabilize the fusion core at its minimal levels. Reducing the blast radius to a measly three miles. We need only a swatter to kill the insolent fly you are, Parker, not a hammer."
"Besides, we can't build a new criminal empire out of sand," Beetle said.
"Oh sure, you all sound like such saints," Peter said sarcastically, "killing a few thousand people isn't a hammer to you? I'll rephrase my earlier comment. You are all completely insane!"
"Call us whatever you want," Mysterio said, "all that matters is that the destruction of your legacy will show all the heroes in New York that their time will soon be over!"
"We're tired of being bullied by those holier-than-thou idiots," Electro growled, "they're not as tough as they think they are, and tonight is proof of that!"
"And there is nothing these heroes can do to stop what's coming," Hallows' Eve said ominously.
Peter is suddenly lifted into the air by Doc Ock's tentacles. The young villain glared at him with contempt. "Above all else," she said, "this glorious blast will ruin your family's reputation. Sure, we'll pull the trigger, but who made the gun in the first place? People will never forgive you, Parker, and I can't wait to see your Spider-friends suffer from this."
From what Peter can tell from Doc Ock's progress, she'll convert the reactor into a bomb within minutes. Time was running out, and Peter struggled to find a solution to this dire predicament. What happened next instilled great pride and anxiety in Peter. A great tingling tickled the back of his head, and he knew Miles felt it too. However, this wasn't a signal of danger. Quite the opposite, this signal was that help was on the way.
'Heh, that's our girls,' Peter thought. He glances at his wife, smirking upon seeing she's awake and smiling with him. He sees the family emergency watch still flashing on her wrist. 'God, I love her!'
Mysterio is the first of the syndicate to be alerted with her dome helmet blinking red. "What is this?"
"What is what?" Electro asked.
"The building's security cameras are picking up three signatures approaching quickly," Mysterio said, her dome helmet now glowing blue when she sent out a few drones.
The Beetle asks, "Is it police choppers?"
"Can't be. We made sure they're none the wiser," Eve said.
Mysterio sharply gasps, "My…my drones. They were wiped out so fast! I only caught sight of three blurs!"
Doc Ock sneered and raised her arms in a battle stance. "They're here."
A spectacular explosion of glass erupts from the whole left side of the room, causing the syndicate members to dash to the opposing side of the venue. Amidst the broken glass debris, three shadowy figures leap across the air, landing in fighting positions. The dust clears, and the Syndicate gasps in shock upon seeing that the Spider-Girls have arrived. They can see in the Spider-Girl's eyes that their actions struck a nerve. The superhero trio glared at them in such a way that if looks could kill, then they all be evaporated.
The trio quickly spots their parents in these villains' clutches, thankful they're alive. Spider-Girl catches sight of Miles. He looks back and gives the 'ready' signal.
"Ain't this a surprise!" Wild-Spider smirked, "It seems the legion of losers has returned."
"Grrr!" Mysterio growled, "The Spider-Girls are here already?!"
"We like to be fashionably early, fishbowl," Spider-Girl quipped.
"This wasn't part of the plan," Electro hissed to Lady Beetle.
"Sorry, battery head," Spiderling said, "but your audience ain't look like they were having fun."
Doc Ock's tentacles step forward. She fixes a particular glare at Spider-Girl, her fist shaking with utter hate. "Excellent," she said with a devious smirk, "the deaths of four web-heads will make us into legends!"
"Better make that zero, Doc," Spider-Girl said. She gestures with her hand, and Miles discharges a surge of bioelectricity from his body. Metal goo splatters across the room, catching the Syndicate off guard as the four heroes sprang to the attack.
Miles fires two webs, snagging onto Electro's and Mysterio's backs, and flings them through the windows behind him with his spider strength. "I got them!" he told the Spider-Girls before swinging out the window to keep the two villains busy.
Doc Ock is briefly distracted by sudden Miles's attack, leaving an opening for Spider-Girl to leap forward and grabs her dad to free him. Before Ock can retaliate, she's tackled by Wild-Spider. The two tumbled across the stage, the sudden struggle allowing Spider-Girl to yank her dad from Ock's grasp.
"Clever trick!" Hallows' Eve taunted. With a snap of her fingers, a magic broom poofs into existence. She hopped on and flew up with incredible speed. With a wicked smile, she pulls out a smooth red metallic bomb. "Here's your treat!" she crackles, throwing it to the space between her dad and the knocked-out crowd of people.
However, a web snatched it mid-air and flung it out of the room, where it exploded safely outside. Eve, briefly surprised, reacts too late as Spiderling leaps from behind and grabs Eve in an arm lock. "Mind if we take this outside?" Spiderling said, forcefully steering the broom to fly them outside the room.
Spider-Girl shifts her focus to the last member but finds no sign of Lady Beetle. She sees her mother getting up before spotting Doc Ock toss Wild-Spider off her. She quickly asks her father, "You hurt?"
"My back's pretty slashed up," Peter groaned.
"Go to your wife and stay back," she said, dashing up to the stage to help Wild-Spider.
"Spider-Girl! Beetle shrunk down!" MJ warned her daughter.
Spider-Girl's spider senses tingled, she even knew exactly where the threat was coming from, but she didn't exact it to be an invisible punch. She can notice Beetle flying around her, but just as quickly, she's kicked in the gut, throwing her down to the bleachers. Beetle reverts to standard size and fires her repulsor blasters, but Spider-Girl quickly backflips and fires her webs. She nearly catches Beetle, but the villain shrinks down, avoiding the webs entirely. 'Follow your advice, girl,' she tells herself, leaping up to the stage, expecting Beetle to keep her from aiding her sister.
Before she lands, Spider-Girl's senses go off. In this split moment, she allows her instincts to defend herself. Her natural reflexes pinpointed the attack from behind, and she swats away the Beetle with the back of her hand. 'There!' Spider-Girl thought, but her actions happened faster than she thought. She sees the Beetle revert to normal and crash out the window, narrowly grabbing the edge.
"GAAH!" Wild-Spider screamed as she was snatched by Doc Ock and thrown across the room.
"Freak of nature," Ock mumbled.
Furious at the remark, Spider-Girl screams, "HEY!" and shoots two webs to rip out four chairs and fling them at Doc Ock. The six-armed menace could deflect them with her mechanical limbs, but this left her wide open for Spider-Girl to lung after her, landing a hard right punch. Surprisingly, this superpowered punch barely fazed the teenage octopus. She smirked at Spider-Girl before grabbing her neck.
"Wha—?!" Spider-Girl gasped, struggling to breathe from Ock's intense, superhuman grip. A strength that was equal to Spider-Girl's!
"My predecessor was truly amazing," Doc Ock proclaimed, "but I am SUPERIOR! Both in mind and body!"
Spider-Girl feels her windpipe about to snap until she thrusts both her legs at Ock's abdomen, kicking herself off the Doc's death grip. While Spider-Girl gasps for air, Doc Ock orders the copycat droid to activate a dome shield around the fusion reactor. The android tosses the portal shield before Spider-Girl's web snags and pulls the droid towards her, destroying the copycat with one swift punch.
"You're too laaaate," Doc Ock mocked, the shield generator activating and enveloping the whole reactor in a blue energy dome. "In fifteen minutes, Spider-Girl, my nanobots will turn this reactor into a terrifying bomb, and your insolent team will be vaporized into nothing!"
"Fifteen minutes, eh? Guess we'll have to kick your ass in ten then!"
Doc Ock springs two tentacles at Spider-Girl, but they're both stopped when two thick organic appendages stretch out and grab them. Ock sees these were Wild-Spider's arms, expanded thanks to her symbiote powers. "Let go!" Ock protested, trying to yank back her tentacles.
Spider-Girl leaps back, standing beside her sister, and fires webbing at Doc Ock's two other arms. With their combined strengths, the sisters could overpower Ock's strength, throwing her outside in a tremendous crash.
Using her six tentacles to latch onto the side of the building, Ock growled, "Insects! Let's see how tough you are while I have Parker's throat in my grasp!"
"Oy, Doctor Calamari!" Spiderling shouts. She was swinging down towards the surprised Ock, using her strength and momentum to land a kick to Ock's head. Doc Ock falls several stories before catching herself with her tentacles.
"Grrr! Calamari's squid, you fool!" Doc Ock shouts, chasing after Spiderling, who regroups upward with Miles.
Meanwhile, the two sisters catch their breaths, Spider-Girl saying, "Phew, since when did this become a defenestration party?"
Usually, Wild-Spider would mock her sister for the bad joke, but she was too busy running to her mom and hugging her. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"We're fine, thanks to all of you," Mary Jane said proudly.
"We need to evacuate everybody," Peter groaned. MJ helped him stand up.
"That's going to be tricky, Tiger. Mysterio took control of the building's security systems, and people outside don't know what's happening."
"Uncle Ben notified emergency services. They'll be here shortly," Mayday informed them.
MJ asks, "And what about the drones still swarming about?"
Mayday ponders that dilemma. She considers their capabilities against this Syndicate and compares it to their speed and agility in dismantling the building's security systems. After a moment, she answers, "Miles will disable Mysterio's control while you lead the evacuation efforts."
"And we'll handle these super-jerks," April said, anxious to continue the fight.
"We still have the bomb to worry about," Peter said. He points to a reactor encased in a sphere of red energy generated by a hexagonal device lying on the fusion reactor's platform. "That's an ion shield; the only way to deactivate it is by destroying that generator."
"Or an EMP blast," Mayday murmured, pondering the chance of that working. She turns to her parents, "We'll think of something. Get Curt and everybody else out of this room. Meet up with Miles two floors down. He'll guard your escape to the streets."
"I'm not leaving this building until everyone is out," Peter said. Immediately he stumbles from the pain of his wounds.
"Dad, a-are you okay? Has your healing not kicked in yet?"
"Uhh, n-no, no, it did, sweetie," Peter reassured, hiding the pain rippling across his lower back. "I-I'm okay, just haven't been this hurt in a while."
"Your father will be fine," MJ said. April noticed her mother's response was quick and in a tone like she was trying to change the subject away from Peter's powers. MJ turns to her husband, saying, "We'll save everyone, Petey, and I'll be there with you the whole way. But the second this pain becomes too much for you, I'm carrying you out of here myself. Got it?"
The family noticed a flash of light above, quickly followed by a loud boom. "We're moving out," Spider-Girl tells her sister.
"Wait," Mary Jane said, her and Peter grabbing them by their shoulders. "Go get'em, Hotshots," Peter and MJ said proudly.
The words of encouragement invigorate the sisters, who swing into action, wall-crawling several floors and leaping up to find Ultimate Spider-Man and Spiderling amidst an intense battle against the Syndicate.
Spiderling's agility and speed help her avoid several strikes from Doc Ock and Hallow's Eve. Meanwhile, Spider-Man sees through Mysterio's illusion of a dragon and fires an impact web at one of her gauntlets, controlling her illusions. Electro and Beetle attempt to blast him from a distance, but Spider-Man seemingly disappears.
"Where'd he go?!" Electro shouts, unaware that he's sneakily using his camouflage ability.
Beetle flies around to find him but is suddenly grabbed by a web and flung towards Electro, hitting her and knocking the two down to the floor.
"Spider-Man! Behind you!" Spider-Girl warns, jumping into action to help him while Wild-Spider aids Spiderling. She spotted Mysterio hovering in the air, attempting to flank Spider-Man the second he reappeared. Spider-Girl quickly tackles Mysterio from behind, but the illusionist soon vanishes in a cloud of green smoke.
She lands beside Spider-Man, who says, "Everyone downstairs good?"
"They're fine. I need you to go and help them evacuate by destroying Mysterio's control over the building."
Spider-Man is briefly hesitant, knowing how quickly the Syndicate can take down even a seasoned hero like himself. However, even though the Spider-Girls weren't veteran heroes like him, their teamwork and coordination were unmatched. It might just be the factor that could beat the Syndicate. He nods and pats Spider-Girl, "Leave it to me. Any idea's on the bomb."
"Still figuring that out."
"Yeah, me too. Good luck," Spider-Man shouts, leaping down to Peter and MJ's location.
Electro and Beetle fly up into the air, firing at Spider-Girl. She retreats and regroups with her sisters. The sinister syndicate soon surrounds the Spider-Girls. The sisters huddle together as tension hangs over who will throw the first punch, them or the syndicate.
Spider-Girl whispers, "How are you doing Spiderling?"
"I'm on an adrenaline high and not dead yet. So, I think I'm good. Wild-Spider, how about you?"
"Oh, the usual," she chuckles, forming her limbs into blades, "I'm ready to crack some skulls."
"Usually, I wouldn't approve of that statement, but right now seems appropriate," Spider-Girl said, entering a fighting stance as she glared at the syndicate. "We got a time limit of fourteen minutes, girls. Spiderling, your tech can match Mysterio's but don't fall for her tricks. Wild-Spider, you can overpower Electro and Beetle, but watch out for anything. I got Ock and Eve. Got it?"
"Got it!" Spiderling and Wild-Spider answered.
"Spider-Girls, attack!"
Electro attempts to fire a blast at Spider-Girl but is stopped when Wild-Spider uses her strength to lunge a steep panel at her, hitting her abdomen. Wild-Spider dashes to the falling Electro until the Beetle punches her in miniaturized form. Wild-Spider quickly recovers, swinging her blades at Beetle, who switches sizes quickly while firing repulsor blasts. Wild's spider-sense quickly deduces Beetle's next attack. She forms her right arm into a sledgehammer and knocks the Beetle off her just in time to dodge another of Electro's blasts.
Mysterio summons forth a swarm of drones, using her illusion magic to double their numbers. However, spider-bots cling onto some and neutralize them with their high-voltage tasers. Spiderling enters by firing web-stingers that shred parts of Mysterio's suit and pierce her shoulder. The illusionist is unfazed and flies off, but Spiderling switches to her wingsuit form and chases after her.
Spider-Girl dodges one of Doc Ock's arms and springs into action by webbing two of Ock's tentacles. She avoids a bomb from Hallows' Eve before kicking Ock's head, stammering her across the roof. Spider-Girl uses her fast reflexes to fire a web and snag Eve off her flying broom. She slams her to the ground and fires webs quickly to entrap her. Her Spider-senses tingled, and Spider-Girl somersaulted away from two of Ock's tentacles. However, instead of usual claws, Spider-Girl saw the nanobots had morphed the ends of those tentacles into axe-like weapons.
"Your efforts are vain, Spider-Girl! Tonight shall be the end of ALL my enemies!" Doc Ock declares. She was lunging attack after attack at her nemesis.
Spider-Girl swiftly dodges the barrage, firing a web to snag a metal crate and lunging it at her attacker. The object smashes into Ock, shattering it to pieces, and Spider-Girl fires an impact web to retrain Ock's physical arms.
Spider-Girl defies Ock's words, saying, "Never! Because so long as we're together, us Spider-Girls are unbeatable!" She charges forward, holding nothing but as she lunges up and uppercuts Doc Ock. "Face it, Ock! You've just met your match!"
A/N: Sorry for the longer-than-average wait. I went on a much-needed family trip and had a very great time. I have also been re-writing large dialogue chunks and adding some other additions. I hope you like the shoutouts to other wall-crawling heroes. Also, yes, Hallows' Eve is NOT Janine Godbe. I'm playing around with Eve's powers and identity while keeping an air of mystery about her. Also, I hope you liked the action flow. Wanted everyone to be playing a part in this climatic moment.
With all that said...can the Spider-Girls stand against the Sinister Syndicate?! Can they do so in time to prevent a greater catastrophe?! Find out in the next issue of THE MARVELOUS SPIDER-GIRLS!
