A lone spider dangled from the top of the open window. Along the wall were a couple of framed photos, and more taped on the wall. Beside the photos was a bookshelf filled with comics, a PS4, a dead plant, and a deactivated radio. A crossword puzzle laid in the seat of a desk chair with sheets draped over the back. Sketches of schematics for web shooters were spread out over the desk beside the two web shooters. An unfinished oyster pail of lo mein laid beside some circuitry.
A table held a magazine of Mayor Osborn along with empty jars labeled for various savings plans. More tech and tools lay beside Peter Parker's mask. Under a huge magnifying glass. A laptop with a broken screen was running an update in coding.
A corkboard was spread on the wall with various Daily Bugle headlines regarding New York's various villains.
"Electro Unplugged"
"Will Scorpion Sing or Sting?"
"Alice has Left the Rabbit Hole!"
"Fisk Crusader or Criminal?"
"Rhino's Rampage Roadblocked!"
"Vulture Squawks"
Over at a nightstand, Peter's phone went off in a rumble near a photo of Uncle Ben.
"All units, level four mobilization. Location- Fisk Tower."
"Fisk?" Peter instantly jumped out of bed.
Today was a special day for Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man. Today Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin himself was about to be arrested. The idea of assisting in any way he can was worth putting off his rent for today, just a little.
Peter Parker dived through his window and started swinging over to Hell's Kitchen as New York's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
"Captain Watanabe." The woman on the other side called herself.
"Did you take him down yet?" Spider-Man zipped behind a nearby police helicopter.
"No. We're at Fisk Tower, but still waiting on the warrant."
"Mind if I join in on the fun?" Spider-Man asked building speed.
"You know how his lawyers are, this one needs to go by the book." Yuri explained.
"C'mon Yuri, I've been waiting eight years for this," Spider-Man begged to jump in the air with a new web to swing.
"You wanna help? Head to Times Square, sounds like his guys are trying to keep my backup from reaching the scene." Yuri directed.
"You got it! Almost there!" Spider-Man made a sharp turn around the corner of the building to his right.
"Hello?" Peter greeted weakly.
"Parker? Where are you? We must go through the demonstration at least once before the grant committee arrives." Otto Octavius called out to Peter.
"Uhh yes. Sorry! Dealing with a… Personal issue. I'll be in soon. Promise." Peter covered himself.
"Eash… Better wrap this up, then get to my real job." Peter groaned. It wasn't easy balancing his work life as a hero and his other life as Peter Parker, but that's the price to pay to keep the city safe.
Fully cloaked, Arachnid sat on the roof across the block from Fisk Tower. The cops are going all in on arresting the big bad Kingpin and his men aren't letting up with them either.
Arachnid zoomed in through his HUD to spot Captain Yuri Watanabe. A good cop, one of the few but he could care less. Arachnid put many cops in body casts but the worst of them were put in body bags. Despite being a criminal Arachnid tried his best never to hurt cops or innocent people when it came to his work, but that doesn't mean he left them with a few bruises if they got in his way, or worst broken bones or in a worst and rare case death.
Risking a moment to open the mouth of his mask while cloaked he chugged down his coffee, "And I thought this day would never come."
Noah's phone started rumbling, it was Emma, "Oh shit." Realizing he's just outside of a war zone.
"Ugh, hey Emma!" Noah answered.
"What is going on out there?" Emma asked.
"The cops are going after Fisk, my shortcut to work caught me in the middle of it. I'm okay, we're evacuating the premises." Noah covered that up pretty smoothly.
"Okay, please stay safe. I haven't heard from the doctor yet. This is too much, I figured I could use a distraction from all of this so I decided to volunteer at FEAST today." Emma gave some rather good news and sounded a little more upbeat.
"Emma, that's great!" Noah was happy to hear that.
"Did you hear that Martin Li is putting together a little party for May Parker?" Emma asked.
"Oh that saint of a woman deserves all of it." Noah praised.
Just as he said that, Noah saw Spider-Man arrive in the direction of Times Square, "Hey sweetheart I need to get going, I'll meet you at FEAST after work is done, okay?"
"Okay, love you Noah." Emma said.
"Love you too, Emma." Noah replied then pressed hang up on the phone.
Watching Spider-Man closely he was closing in on Captain Watanabe.
"Get more backup! And lockdown the airspace." Yuri Watanabe said through to her radio.
From behind, New York's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man zipped to the swat truck behind Yuri.
"Yuri, you okay?" Spider-Man asked.
"If he makes it out of that building were gonna lose him." Yuri tells to the Webslinger.
"I'm gonna go…" Spider-Man pointed over to the Fisk Tower.
"Do your thing." Yuri scowled at the idea but she needed this.
"Yes!" Spider-Man cheered.
"What a child! Then again, that's part of both of our charms." Arachnid shrugged off after eavesdropping on all of that. Watching Spider-Man break his way into Fisk Tower, Arachnid had to admit, this will be interesting.
While Noah handled his job at the Fisk Tower Emma started brewing coffee. Her hair wrapped in a ponytail gave her an elegant style. Wearing one of her big sized shirts and shorts, she went into the kitchen.
The idea of waiting for any form of update on Josh and Anna is crawling bad feelings in her mind. The tension was seen in her stiff hands. If she could, she'd punch a hole in a wall. Instead, she just breathed in good energy and exhaled the bad. The timer dinged on the pot and she poured her coffee into her favorite mug.
Taking a seat on the couch, she switched on the TV. The news is live with the arrest warrant of Wilson Fisk, "We've just been informed that Spider-Man has entered the building and fighting his way to the top."
"God's speed, Spider-Man." Emma repeated to herself.
"We'll keep you all updated as the arrest warrant proceeds, back to you all in the studio." The reporter was cut to the main newsroom, "Thanks for that, and on to other news, speaking of our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: It's been a while since we had a report on New York's Unfriendly Neighborhood Arachnid." The main anchor explained. Passing the report to the co-anchor, "Right back at ya, the Arachnid, one of New York's most notorious criminal mercenaries. Unlike the Shocker, Scorpion, Vulture, and even Rhino we have no proof of identity on the Arachnid. Like the Spider-Man, the Arachnid's identity remains a mystery."
The name of the Arachnid gave Emma a deep seed of fear, and dread. She knows the stories, whenever Arachnid goes into action, destruction and misery follow him. Not even Spider-Man can bring him in, "I hope that Asshole is brought to Justice soon." Emma glared.
Going through the news over the next hour, Emma was able to unwind in the warmth of her coffee. Beside her on the arm of the couch her cell phone was ringing, caller I.D. showed "Mom".
"Hello mom, what do you need?" Emma greeted rather rudely.
"Emma, sweetie, are you okay? We heard about the twins." Ashley sounded concerned. Or tried to, Emma could never tell.
"Wha… How did you know about that?" Emma questioned.
"Noah told us, he begged us to cover the payments to keep the twins healthy." Ashley said as her high societal self.
Emma was surprised by the news, "Seriously, Noah went to you guys?"
"You'd be surprised what great lengths parents will do to save their kids." Ashley spoke the truth.
"How did father react to Noah?" Emma asked.
"I'd say it was a combination of pride and respect." Ashley admitted.
"Wow…never thought Noah would ever go begging to you or dear old Dad." Emma couldn't tell what is more surprising anymore.
"Like I said, parents will do whatever it takes to protect their children." Ashley repeated, "I'm sorry for your kids, sweetheart, and I'm sorry we couldn't save you sooner from all of this."
"What… What are you talking about?" Emma asked with a slight hint of fear.
"You really don't see? We told you Noah was going to be trouble, those friends he was with were nothing but trouble for you. We insisted that you stay away from them but you didn't listen, and now you gave up on us, your family and our name. We did everything we could to keep you from this." Ashley's emotions evolved from sorrow to distraught like her own daughter was a speck beneath their power.
"In case you forgot I was nothing but a spoiled self-entitled bitch before I met them. I didn't want to be the person who turns the other way when people were suffering. You and dad have been the absolute worst when I was growing up, and now you have the balls to tell me that my husband, my friends, and your own grandkids are not worth our time. You listen here; you and dad stay away from me, stay away from Noah, and STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM OUR KIDS! AND IF YOU SO MUCH AS THINK ABOUT GOING NEAR ANY OF US, I AM GOING TO MARCH RIGHT UP TO YOUR OFFICE AND I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!" Emma threw out more than her pain, distress and her developing maternal instincts out on her own mother. That was eight years of suppressed rage unleashed from Emma Monroe.
Steam still releasing from her mind, Ashley fell silent for a minute.
"Emma… That's not like you." Ashley was rather stunned by the sudden outburst.
"I WILL NEVER BE WHAT YOU WANTED YOU FUCKING WHORE!" Emma finally turned off the phone and threw it on the couch.
After a minute from that phone call, Emma felt something. A feeling she never felt not since she first met Noah.
"I feel free." Emma breathed in the good air, relaxing her shoulders. She sighed out all the bad energy. She could actually feel the tension leave her muscles.
"This just in, we're now receiving news that Fisk has been apprehended, Fisk is now being taken to the swat truck."
…
From afar Arachnid watched as the Kingpin was being escorted out of the building in cuffs. The sight was so satisfying to see he wish he brought some popcorn.
"Finally off to Ryker's huh? You know I think you've got more enemies in there than I do." Spider-Man landed on the armored truck.
"If you think this will be a minor inconvenience…" Wilson Fisk growled.
"Whoop- gotta go. Hey! Good luck Willie. I have a feeling you're gonna need it." Spider-Man left the scene.
"Idiot! I'm the one who kept order in this city! One month! In one month you'll wish you had me back." Fisk promised to Spider-Man as he was being pushed into the truck.
Over at the roof tops, Arachnid enjoyed the show, but it's time to go. "He's not wrong though. Still these next few months ought to be interesting." Arachnid uncloaked, and stopped for a moment to get another look at Fisk, he could tell big Willie spotted him. Looking over at Fisk he gave him a wave goodbye and jumped over the building.
"You know what, I should pop over at Otto's I think the grant review is today, I should at least check." Arachnid zipped over to Otto's lab.
This is the moment Spider-Man has waited eight years for, Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of New York City has finally been put away. Years of hard work has finally paid off.
"The Kingpin is heading to prison. End of an era. Feel like I should celebrate. Maybe take a vacation." Spider-Man thought to himself. Unfortunately, Peter Parker has a job to do.
"Parker, where are you? The committee will be here soon! We need to run an equipment check!" Otto asked.
"I'm almost there! Blocks away!" Peter assured
"Ugh. Guess I'll do it myself-" Otto was cut in the moment when the door opened, "Noah?"
"The Grant reviews today thought I'd spare a moment to help." Noah said as Peter overheard on the phone.
"Noah? Otto is that Noah?" Peter sounded shocked to the surprise.
"Lemme do a pre-check on the specs and we'll get started." Noah rushed over to the tablet near their prosthetic.
"Excellent, I'll be there before you know it guys, promise." Peter said as be hung up, "Noah you are a lifesaver! I owe you a pizza!"
Peter hasn't heard from Noah in a while, after everything that's been happening to him, the only thing he can do is worry about himself, and his family. Knowing that his best friend was able to spare some time to help with their review is a miracle.
Keeping his hair kempt suave, and rushing to put his lab coat over his shoulders.
"I'm sorry I'm late-" Peter burst through the door to find Otto and Noah preparing to control the prosthetic.
Strapped to four heavy wires on his back, Otto was able to move the prosthetic slowly. Noah was monitoring Otto's vitals and the power consumption.
"You started without me!" Peter added.
"The Grant committee's director will be here soon." Otto reminded Peter.
"I ran a precheck. We should be okay." Noah added.
"It's fine, Parker. I invented this equipment. I think I can handle it."
"And I ran through the specs it should be-" Noah's comment was halted when the computers and processors caught fire.
"Power dampener." Peter realized as he was ripping out the power chords. The power was still going haywire, unfortunately, "Aw man!"
Noah left the monitor to try and disconnect the cables on Otto, but they were proving difficult.
"Uh… Maybe we should abort?!" Peter frantically suggested.
"Not yet." Otto demanded as tried to unlatch himself.
The sudden outburst of power triggered a spark of fire next to Peter. The amount of power surged sent another spark near Noah that sent him flying to the wall. Octavius is going through a surge of power straight to his brain.
"Hold on!" Peter reached for the emergency failsafe button that shut off all the power. Noticing Noah on the floor he hauled him up to his feet.
"Dr. Octavius! Are you okay?" Peter asked.
All the power went into instant shut down, Noah gathered his surroundings, he was okay.
"Another setback. But were close." Octavius assured Peter.
"I'm so sorry doctor, I thought it was gonna be fine, I ran through it twice-"
The grant committee arrived at the scene, and they were less than impressed.
"Is anyone hurt?" The director of the grant committee asked.
"No, we're all fine," Noah explained.
"I'm sorry, it was my-" Peter was stopped by Otto.
"The energy levels exceeded our expectations. From a certain viewpoint, that's a very positive development."
"It doesn't smell very positive." The director gleamed.
"Like he said a certain view point." Noah commented.
Peter tapped his friends arm for that outburst, "Sorry, I got kids in the hospital."
"I assure you in the next phase-" Otto was interrupted by the director.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." the director coughed up some of the smoke in her lungs, waving off the smoke, "Is there somewhere else we can discuss this?"
"Maybe you and Noah should take the rest of the day off." Otto suggested.
"But-" Peter tried to argue.
"We'll talk later." Otto insisted.
Otto and the grant committee left the room to talk in Otto's office. Noah patted Peter's shoulder in defeat, "Whelp, that was a disaster." Noah said.
"Yeah it was. I know Doc said to take the day off, I need to figure out what happened." Peter couldn't let Otto down.
"I'll back you up," Noah went over to the table.
"How many lab fires have we seen, Otto? Three? Four?" the two of them can hear the Director over in their office.
"That's how you know we're progressing! Out of the ashes of failure great science is born!"
"Don't think Otto's enthusiasm has ever been shook." Peter said over to Noah.
"You wanna make a fortune, catch that man's optimism, replicate it in a bottle and sell it. Instant mass production, guaranteed in a matter of days." Noah commented.
"How'd you know I was thinking that?" Peter looked over at Noah with a sly smirk.
"I know you, Pete." Noah returned the smile.
"You know just yesterday, we saw an extraordinary reaction cascade in the limbic bridge-" Otto was interrupted.
"We're looking for results, not cascades, Doctor." The director stood, business needs results and they don't have time to wait. Noah and Peter can hear every word.
"That reaction cascade was pretty awesome." Peter added.
"Of course it was, I help build this thing, i'm just sorry I wasn't there to see it." Noah finalized the new specs from his side.
"It's okay Noah, I understand you're going through a lot with your children's illnesses. How's Emma doing?" Peter asked.
"She's doing better, she's volunteering at FEAST today." Noah explained.
"Noah that's great!" Peter cheered.
"Were your research assistants late today? What sort of staff are you employing with our money, doctor?" Peter and Noah felt a hint of fear in the director's words.
"I'll ask you to leave Peter and Noah out of this, please. They're young, still learning, but they're both indispensable, they're geniuses in the making."
"Wow, thanks Doctor Octavius." Peter praised as he finished his part of the prosthetic.
"That felt good to hear actually. Needed that." Noah took the controller and began his test.
The prosthetic moved a lot smoother.
"Alright we did it!" Noah cheered.
"Doc said to go over his work if we had time," Peter suggested.
"Actually I gotta look at something, can you handle it?" Noah said.
"Sure, Noah." Peter called.
Noah pulled out his laptop that he keeps in their lab, inserting his drive into it he pulled out his files on the Arachnid venom.
"So buddy what're you working on?" Peter asked sticking out from Otto's research.
"Just reviewing some notes on an old project." Noah said, focusing on the files.
Peter looked closer on the monitor and saw a familiar substance compound. "Hey, aren't these some of the notes of the serum your parents were working on when you were kid?"
"Yeah… it is. Can you keep a secret, man?" Noah can't tell him the truth, but not all of it.
"Always man."
"Whatever illness my kids have I saw the same results in my parents' research notes. I was hoping they could help find a cure but no such luck." Noah was about to drop in defeat.
"Hey man, you're gonna save your kids, I know it, and I promise I'll do my part." Peter said with a smile.
"Thanks Pete." Noah felt a little more up in his stance from hearing that.
"Can't we try to make the serum?" Peter suggested.
Noah shook his head. "No, in order to make it we need certain things that aren't easy to come by. Besides, it also requires a specific ingredient that is no longer possible to find anywhere.".
"That can't be true. What is it?" Peter denied.
"The venom of a now extinct Spider."
"A Spider?" Peter asked.
"Yeah…" Noah sighed.
That wasn't true, Noah had the venom inside him, it's the very thing he uses against his enemies. He didn't want Peter to be involved in this, "I think I need to get some air, I'll see you later at the FEAST shelter." Noah said as he stood from his seat grabbing the drive from his laptop.
Noah then departed from the lab and went to work on something a little easier. With the Kingpin finally locked away it was time for the real work to begin. With Fisk locked in the Raft, the race to the top has hit open season, which means opportunity, and loot, but the real prize is saving his kids.
"A phone call?" Arachnid noticed his phone calling through his suit, "It's blocked."
"Hey there my big bad Spider!" A devilishly suave woman's voice was on the line.
"Oh fuck." Arachnid knew who this was.
"I noticed you haven't been around for a while, but when I saw you surveying Fisk Tower I knew this would be what brought you out. I figured you could use a new look, I stowed it in your hiding place in Central Park, you need to update your security." The call went off and Arachnid dashed back to Central Park.
"Goddammit Felicia, I'll have your head if you looted my stash!" Arachnid yelled.
Making his way back to base, Noah checked his corners and his security status.
"Code still works at least." Noah was relieved.
Checking his amount of cash, nothing looks taken. Running a system diagnosis On his computer for any viruses, Clean. The only thing off in his hideout is something sitting on one of his tables.
Walking near it, Arachnid could sense someone was near. Obviously it had to be her, "Not like you to stick around Black Cat."
Black Cat dropped from the roof landing right behind the Arachnid. Unfortunately, she is not in her usual attire, "You're gear still in lockup?"
"Obviously." Felicia walks up in skin-tight jeans, a leather jacket with a hoodie, and a black scarf to cover her face.
"What the hell do you want? Trying to seduce me again?" Arachnid asked. "I told you I'm not interested."
"Oh c'mon, Arachnid I just need a favor. Is that too much to ask a girl." Felicia was about to walk closer but Arachnid popped out his Spider legs.
"You got one chance, don't sugar coat it just get to the point." Arachnid warned, pointing the tips of his claws directly at her eyes.
"What a brooding spider." Black Cat scoffed, "I just need you to help me get these cats over to a few locations."
"Wow, back into crime like me. Figures the simple life never works for… well… people like you." Arachnid commented.
"I think you mean people like us." Black Cat corrected.
"Whatever reason you have to get back in this life, it's nothing compared to mine." Arachnid mentioned.
"Don't be so sure. We aren't so different you and I. Even our old friend Alice can see it, and I heard she's been seen back in the rabbit hole."
"Don't mention that bitch!" Arachnid grew more stern in her voice, "I buried that part of my past, I don't need you to remind me." Arachnid scoffed. "Alright, we both know bad boys aren't your type. You don't date killers. Just tell me why you're here before I throw you out." Arachnid asked.
"Because if I remember you owe me a favor. Now, why don't you be a good spider and stow the cats so we can talk."
Seeing as how Arachnid is a man of his word he reluctantly complied, stowing his spider legs, then leaned on the table. "Alright, you want my help… You got one chance, make it good."
"As you know these cats I have collect data, but when you have a group of them close together-" Black Cat was interrupted by Arachnid.
"They sync up and emit an emp."
"You're gonna place these cats at the locations I've been robbing for the past few weeks, and once I lure our favorite Spider-Man to these cats, he'll be sending them all to evidence lock-up. Where my gear is." Black Cat explained.
"Oh that's pretty clever." Arachnid had to be honest here, "Wait you didn't use any of these in here did you?"
"No, besides stealing from you's no fun. All you have is cash, sidearms and trophies. You don't put any spice into what you steal." Black Cat groaned.
"Well excuse me if I have no interest in art, wine, or any other of that useless junk you steal. As much as I would've loved to have a few bottles of that aged whiskey at the brewery that one time."
"Yeah but unfortunately we had no time because of Spider-Man." Black Cat remembered.
"Maybe I'll make a return trip later this week." Arachnid admitted, "So what's with the suit on the table?" Arachnid asked.
"Well you saved my life three years ago, consider the suit your reward." Felicia offered.
Arachnid walked over to the table, unwrapping the cloth to see a new suit. Upon close inspection, he had to admit it looked far more intimidating than his current design but the red wouldn't work for him. "Okay… Not bad, but I definitely need to make a few tweaks. Does it have a facial monitor?"
"Yeah don't worry." Black Cat assured, "Let me know when those cats are taken care of."
"Fine, I'll-" Arachnid stopped when he noticed Black Cat vanished. "It's only cool when I do that."
Stepping out of his base in Central Park, all decked out in his new advanced dark suit, and a bag wrapped around his back, Arachnid zipped up to the nearest lamp post. Making his way to Midtown he ran up the rooftops and zipped even higher. The dark red color pieces was replaced with a brighter shade of green. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to work on adding his other stuff to the new suit, except his cloaking tech.
"I'm definitely working on this suit later, I feel underequipped without my spider arms, poison cartridges, and other tech. But I do feel a lot lighter without all that stuff." Arachnid had to admit the new suit is definitely a keeper.
Passing through the underside of a water tower, Arachnid ran up the wall of the Rand Corporation building; he jumped high in the air and dove straight down past the Rockefeller Center.
"I'm back, New York!" Arachnid yelled as he made another swing in the air, "New suit, same old me."
Zipping his way down south, he had a phone call from Emma, "Hey Emma."
"I'm heading to the FEAST shelter now, are you gonna be there?"
"You mean for the party? Of course, I just need to take care of a few things first, but I promise I'll be there before the party starts."
"Okay, love you." Emma called.
"Love you too." Noah closed the phone.
"Son of a bitch, I almost forgot. I could probably get this done quickly if I hurry." Noah picked up the pace.
Wasting no time Arachnid swung as fast as he could to the locations Felicia gave him. The locations weren't difficult to place but the challenge was getting them all done at a breakneck pace. Though difficult, the job has been done exceptionally.
Another phone call but this time it was Peter, "Hey Noah, I'm heading to FEAST. Martin Li has the cake ready."
"That's good news, bro. Emma should be there too now. I'll meet you all at the shelter." Noah told Peter while in the air.
Before Arachnid could head for FEAST, he spotted one of the surveillance towers provided by Oscorp for the NYPD. Looks like the signals in a jam. Maybe he can sync up with them, and piggyback the signal. Then again, the Police could trace the signal to him, but he noticed someone else is piggybacking the signal.
"Spider-Man." Arachnid sneered. He knew exactly what to do. Instead of hacking directly, Arachnid hacked into Spider-Man's piggyback. Whatever Spider-Man sees, Arachnid will see as well and he won't even tell. Tailing the Spider right under his nose, beautiful. Hell he even found his contact info. Fortunately all that he could scrounge was the ten encrypted digits to call him. Any other info is triple encrypted, but he can still reach the Spider if he wanted to. It'd be too much of a hassle to decrypt all of it, and find all the Spider's dirty little secrets so he decided against it. Besides, Arachnid prefers to leave his spider-bestie's identity a mystery. Just keeps their time together more fun.
"Thank you Spider-Man." Arachnid praised as he finalized the piggyback on Spider-Man.
Arriving at the FEAST Shelter dressed in his casual clothing, Noah found Peter at the front entrance, "Noah there you are, I was worried you weren't gonna show up,"
"Am I late?" Noah asked.
"No, you made it just in time." Peter patted. "Come on let's go see if Mr. Li needs any help."
"Is Emma here yet?" Noah asked.
"Yeah, she's been here helping prepare." Peter explained.
"Where is she?" Noah asked.
"Probably in the cafeteria serving food," Peter explained as they entered the shelter.
Noah and Peter found Emma in the main room taking care of a few kids, "Emma!" Noah ran over to her.
"Noah there you are I was afraid you were gonna be late." Emma went over to hug her man.
"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world." Noah praised.
"Good to see you Emma here, let's go see Martin." Peter suggested.
"Yeah, he's in the kitchen." Emma directed.
"Let's go." Noah called.
The three of them went over to the kitchen where they found Martin looking over some boxes.
"Hey, Martin, sorry we're late." Peter apologized.
"You guys are right on time." Martin assured them.
Looking over the cafeteria they see May logging a few boxes of supplies on her clipboard.
"Just keep her distracted while we get everything ready." Martin instructed the three of them.
"We got it." Peter smiled.
Peter, Noah and Emma walked over to the cafeteria, "Hey there's our favorite aunt." Peter called to May.
"Peter, Noah, Emma! What a nice surprise" May was touched, "Wait, you both shouldn't be here you have kids in the hospital!"
"We know, and we should be there, but it's just…" Emma noticed Martin is bringing the big sign to hang.
"Ugh hey wait…" Peter stopped May from turning over to see the sign, "We just wanted to talk. Noah and Emma's kids are under constant care, don't worry."
"We just need to come here, and.." Noah paused looking at the balloons they're bringing.
"With our kids under care and no updates so far, we just need to come to a place to feel like what we do matters." Emma took Noah's words from his mouth to keep May from looking at them.
"Okay." May brought them over to the table, "Okay." She had the three of them take a seat.
"Peter. Are you guys in trouble?" May asked them
"Ugh no no no." All three of them said mixed up.
"Do you need money?" May asked.
"What no no. We're good." Emma assured.
"Absolutely good." Noah added.
"No! No. I mean, I'm a little behind on my rent, but… No! No, no… I'm fine."
"Wait you're still behind on your rent?" Noah asked.
"No no I'm handling it guys." Peter changed his direction to Noah and Emma.
"Girl problems again?" May asked with a smile as she was about to turn around.
"What? No that's crazy-" Peter snatched her arm so she wouldn't turn around.
"I still wish you and MJ could work things out. She's a great girl." May was telling the truth.
"She really is, Pete, you need to call her." Emma added.
"She is, but-"
"Seriously, bro, what's stopping you?" Noah added.
"The two of you would make some beautiful babies-" May said as she was about to turn around again.
"WOW!" Peter, Emma and Noah all cheered at the same time. Stopping May in her tracks.
"Peter, Noah, Emma, what is it? Come on. You can tell me." May offered them a seat.
"Well… it's just that these past few years… you've really helped us. You've been a God-send for all of us." Noah admitted.
Emma nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I used to be a selfish brat but you helped me become the woman I am now, and I wouldn't have my husband here if not for you. If not for you I would probably be a mess in this hard time with our kids." Emma took Noah's hand.
"You helping us through college and working here… Sacrificing so much and asking for nothing. We just wish there were more people like you in the world." Peter finalized the three of their confessions as Martin brought in the cake.
"They're right." Martin said, as May turned around to see all the people gathered behind him. "Five years ago, you walked in here and told me you were inspired by my mission to help others. Now it's you who inspires me. Thank you May for everything. Here's to many more years of service." Everyone cheered and clapped for May.
Enjoying a few slices of cake, Emma and Noah were at the table enjoying the background chatting, "So, my mom called today."
"And what she say?" Noah asked.
"She told me you begged them to help with saving Josh and Anna." Emma said.
Noah groaned on that. "Ugh don't remind me. That was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do."
"Harder than going to your parents?" Emma asked.
"If I had to make a choice, I'll take my parents over yours." Noah said honestly.
"Well I'd probably choose them with you." Emma answered.
"God I love you." Noah gave Emma a quick peck on the cheek.
Noah went over to Peter and Martin looking at some of his photos, "Thanks again for setting this all up." Peter told Martin.
"Oh, I just wish I could do more." Martin said.
"Well May always told us 'If you help someone-'"
"You help everyone." Martin finished, "Ah maybe we should send May to City Hall to have a word with the mayor. Also speaking of helping, Noah I've heard about your kids, alot of us here are deeply sorry this has happened. So I took the liberty of donating some money to help pay for your kids treatments."
"Oh Martin, I owe you for this. Thank you!" Noah took Martin's hand.
"You've done a lot of good for the people here Noah, this is the least I can do for you." Martin said.
Noah's phone rumbled showing the ID 'Ghost', "Oh ugh hey I need to take this, take care, Martin, and thanks again for helping us." Noah rushed over to Emma to give her a hug goodbye.
Noah was about to leave the shelter but then he bumped into Angie again, she was standing beside a new person he didn't recognize. "Angie, hey, how've you been doing?" Noah called.
"Noah, buddy." Angie hugged him, "I've been doing great, been acing my classes at Brooklyn Visions, you see my art projects, yet?"
"If by projects you mean the Arachnid symbols I've seen all over town. I noticed one over in Midtown when we saw Spider-Man."
"That's the one! I just hope Arachnid sees them someday."
"Oh, I think he will." speaking of which, that gave Noah an idea later tonight.
"Hey!" Peter caught the two, "Oh and you are?"
"Hey I'm Gloria, you must be Peter, and you're Noah, right? Your aunt has been showing off baby pictures. I'm new here. Spider-Man turned me on to the place." Gloria introduced herself.
"Oh right- I mean great." Peter corrected himself.
"Spider-Man brought you here? That's so cool, I remember the Arachnid brought me here." Angie mentioned.
"Angie, Is that true?" Peter had no idea.
"Yeah… I'm sorry, I know he does a lot of bad things, but… I know he's a good person under that mask. After all he did give me a couple hundred dollars and showed me this place."
"Seriously? Why couldn't Spider-Man give me cash?" Gloria sounded hurt.
Peter felt a bit insulted.
Noah felt warm.
"Angie, you shouldn't take money from criminals." Peter added.
"Hey that money helped me." Angie argued.
"Ugh, Peter were you going somewhere?" Noah tried to change the subject.
"Yeah but I have a few more things to handle here before heading out." Peter answered.
"Alright, well I got something to do right now, keep an eye on Emma for me while you're still here." Noah asked.
"Yeah sure." Peter assured.
Back in his suit, Noah webbed straight for the nearest rooftop away from FEAST.
"What's going on?" Arachnid called back the contact.
"Our boss has found the file, we're moving in on the Fisk Estate, he needs you to supervise the team and secure the file." A Demon thug said.
"Fine. I'm heading there now." Arachnid zipped his way to the address.
"No doubt Spider-Man will be there. Let's not disappoint." Arachnid smiled at the idea of seeing his old spider-friend again.
Before he took off, he noticed another green graffiti Spider on the wall.
"Angie." Arachnid nodded.
I hope every one of you enjoyed chapter 6 of The Arachnid please leave a review and tell me what you think.
Also, I'd love to give a shoutout to Dr. Archangel for helping me with this chapter.