Author's Note: Here we are at the second half of the story's start, which shows the Web Tech's new powers and his new costume.
So a little announcement to make. After this, I will be taking a three-week break from the Spider-Nick series to focus on another fanfic that really needs me to start it. Once that is done, I will return on the Spider-Nick series and start on my Legend of Korra fanfic. And once I do, be ready for... The Spider Spirit.
Enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.
"This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening." Tim muttered that quietly to himself as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He clearly remembered going to the tournament, but according to his aunt, he never went. He knows that his friend, Five, won the tournament, but K. Moon says that Mitch Williams won. And even though he swears a monster attacked the town from the screens, nobody seems to remember anything.
Simply put, it was as if the whole thing was a fabrication of his imagination that only he remembered.
Worrying for her nephew, Geri approached him gently. "Tim, is everything all right?"
Tim realized that he couldn't get any information out of Geri if he was direct, so he calmed down and answered with a forced smile. "Sorry, Aunt Geri. You're right. It must have been a crazy nightmare."
"Well, glad you're feeling better, I guess." Geri said finding his sudden change in behavior a little serious.
"Nothing to worry about." Tim said. "In fact, I think I should go catch up with my old friend, Five. I haven't seen him in a while, so I figured…"
"Oh. Well, if you're positive you're alright, then I guess it would be okay." Geri said with as smile of her own as Tim started to exit through the store. "Be sure to tell him and his grandparents 'hi' for me!"
"I will." Tim said smiling until he was out the door. He dropped his smile and walked away from the door trying to figure everything out.
"This doesn't make any sense. How can an entire town forget who really won the Hinobi Smash tournament? Does it have anything to do with what happened with the game? In any case, I should probably head to Five's family's food truck anyway. He should know something."
Tim took his bike and rode it all the way across town. He soon began to slow down once he saw the green food truck, Taco Dragon. Once he reached his destination, he propped his bike to the wall and started to approach.
"All right, Five. Time to see what…"
Tim suddenly stopped when he felt a sudden tingle shaking around in his brain. He gasped as he felt like something was warning him to move quickly. Acting out of instinct, Tim launched himself high up in the air and flipped to his left to avoid another bike which almost hit him. When he landed, he got a good look at the bike and the girl who rode it.
"Oh, man! I'm so sorry!" she gasped, removing her helmet and letting her long purple and pink hair flow out. "I've been riding around like crazy! And when I finally found that truck over there, I was so excited and didn't see you and—Well, you got good reflexes anyway. I…"
"Wait a minute." Tim said widening his eyes. "I know that voice. ME_K.O.?"
Miko gasped realizing who was in front of him. "W3B_Burns? Or Tim, I presume."
Tim's eyes widened. "Y-yeah, Tim Burns. How do you…?"
"Oh. Well, Five called it out after you were logged out. And while we're on the subject of real names, by the way, mine's Miko Kubota." She gave an enthusiastic smile and held out a hand. "Looks like we get to meet IRL after all, huh?"
Tim stared at her for a second before he smiled back and took the hand to shake. "Yeah, I guess we do."
"So what are you doing here?" Miko asked.
"What am I doing here?" Tim asked. "I'm here to check on my friend, Five. What are you doing here?"
"Same thing," Miko explained as she parked her bike alongside Tim's. "I found his family's food truck online using my sister's phone and headed out here." She then began pacing. "Something fishier than the final level of 'Namor's Revenge' is going on at Hinobi, and I figured we'd need all hands on deck!" She punched her palm for emphasis.
"So you know?" Tim asked. "You know about the monster that came out of the game?"
"Know it? That thing basically held me in my living room like I was a kiddie meal toy." Miko answered. "I tried to tell my parents, but they didn't believe me. They thought I was making it up to avoid punishment for skipping out on family day."
"Well, when I asked my aunt about what happened, she had no idea I was even at the tournament." Tim said. "Something messed with everyone's heads, except for us, it looks like."
"So, hold on. Time out," Miko said, making a "T". "If you and I remember, then shouldn't that mean that Five does too?"
"I don't see why not." Tim said. "Come on. Let's see how he's taking it."
Tim and Miko circled around the truck and stopped when they noticed someone stepping out the back with a large, black bag full of garbage.
"Five!" Miko gasped. "We found you! In an alley. No judgements."
"Good to see you okay, Five." Tim said.
Five dropped the garbage back into a dumpster before looking back at his visitors. Once he looked at Tim, he looked at him as though he hadn't seen him in forever.
"Tim? No way! Que pasa. I haven't seen you in ages." Five greeted happily. "So who's your friend?"
Both Tim and Miko looked at Five in confusion.
"Five? Don't you remember?" Tim asked.
"Yeah. Duh." Miko said. "It's ME_K.O."
"ME_K.O.?" Five asked before remembering all the times Miko defeated him during online games. He suddenly jumped back nervous. "Never heard of you."
"We just played in a tournament together." Miko said. "You, me, and Tim."
"Don't you remember the Smash tournament?" Tim asked. "The weird glitch? The statue that attacked us?"
"We were in a tournament?" Five asked heading back to the truck.
"How could you not remember?" Miko asked. "Me and Tim remember just fine, but not you, it seems."
"Well, I think I'd remember playing Nobi Smash with a statue monster." Five said.
"So you didn't get a wristband, and you didn't go to the Hinobi Store?" Miko asked.
"Look, the only place I've been for the last three days is this truck." Five said.
"Well, that's kinda true." Tim said. "That thing did drive you all the way to the Hinobi Store."
Five laughed loudly at that. "Okay. Now, I KNOW you're pulling my leg. Tim, you know as much as I do that this thing hasn't moved since before we were born. Look, if this is a joke, I don't really get it, but, you know, ha ha! You got me, guys."
"Five, this isn't a joke." Tim said as Five got back into the food truck. "You were just as involved in the tournament as me and Miko."
"He's right." Miko said. "You've got to believe that."
"Why?" Five asked. "What does it even matter?"
"Because you won." Miko answered, her response actually caught Five off-guard.
Tim shifted his eyes away from Five and noticed something. As soon as he saw it, he pulled Five out of the truck.
"Hey! Have you lost your mind? Estas loco?"
"If the truck hasn't moved in years, then how do you explain that?" Tim asked pointing at the ground.
Five followed where he was pointing and stared with a silent gasp at the black tracks leading from underneath the truck's tires to the road. Five couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"The… Wait." Five said before calling out. "Abuela, did you and Papi move this truck in the last few days?"
Five's grandmother laughed at that from inside the truck. "This old beast hasn't moved in the last few decades."
Five looked with widened eyes before leaving the alley with Tim and Miko. "Sorry, Abuela. I gotta go."
"So now, you believe us?" Miko asked.
"Honestly, I don't know what to believe." Five said. "But let's just say, for the sake of argument, that I did play in the tournament. You're saying I beat Mitch Williams?"
"Well, we helped a lot, but basically, yes." Tim answered.
"All right." Five said. "I don't know what's going on, but I wanna find out."
"All right." Miko said getting her bike while the boys got theirs. "Setting new quest waypoint for the Hinobi Store. By the way, Tim, nice flip."
"Flip?" Tim asked getting on his bike seat.
"Yeah. From when you dodged my bike," Miko said as they began pedaling. "And I gotta say, those were good instincts how you saw me coming. I don't even think I made much of a sound. It's like you had eyes in the back of your head."
"Tim? Flip?" Five asked. "Last I checked, he could barely to a cartwheel."
"A little harsh, but true. Was never too athletic. Must have been a crazy reaction or something," Tim said, though he semed unsure of that himself. "Look, let's just get to the Hinobi Store for now. We'll figure out the rest later."
Once the trio reached the parking lot of the Hinobi store, they hid themselves behind a yellow car to peek at its front door.
"Man, I love this store." Five said. "Tim, remember when my dad would bring us for all the latest game releases?"
Tim chuckled. "Yeah. And the camp outs too. Those were the days. And Aunt Geri always brought us snacks too."
"Oh, yeah."
"Wow. It's cool your families are so into gaming." Miko said before frowning. "Mine, not so much. Wait. There's that wrinkly little sandworm!"
Miko pointed past the door where Mitch was. He was having a conversation with his boss. It was impossible to hear what they were saying, but it was clear that Mitch didn't care what Phil was saying.
"There he is!" Five shrieked like a fanboy. "Oh, man, Mitch Williams! I mean, he's, like, a local legend! Tim, remember when we binged all his Let's Play videos and…"
"Five, if we had this conversation yesterday, I'd love to fanboy with you." Tim interrupted. "But since you have forgotten earlier today, you should know that Mitch is the sorest loser in the history of gaming. No doubt he wiped your memory to make you forget."
"Why didn't he do the same to you two then?" Five asked.
"Maybe he did, and it just didn't take." Miko said.
"Now that you mention it," Tim said, "He did shoot a beam of light at me before I blacked out. That must be what wipes memories. No doubt he used it on us and brought us back to where we were earlier thinking we'd be none the wiser."
"Mitch?" Five asked. "That's impossible. He's just one guy. How could he drag us all the way to our homes and drive my family's truck back to the alleyway all on his own?"
"Sounds like a major 'spiracy." Miko said. "Don't worry, my friends. We'll figure this out."
Just then, Mitch finally walked out the front door and headed into a blue van with the Hinobi logo on its side. The three of them watched as he drove out of the lot.
"New plan." Miko said. "We follow him, stealth-mode style, 'till he leads us to his den of lies."
"Not exactly a den of lies." Tim remarked as he, Miko, and Five rode their bikes to a fast food restaurant. They spied on him as he drove up to the window where the employee, Blake, worked.
"Welcome to Mama Miyamoto's Spaghetti in a Bucket, where we put spaghetti in a bucket." she greeted.
"Uh, yeah." Mitch said unimpressed. "I'll have a small pail with a side of… Mmm… No." He held up his hand that was equipped with his fancy gauntlet and flashed a bright light at Blake.
Seeing Blake stunned made Five drop his jaw and gasp silently. Miko and Tim however didn't look surprised. After recovering from the flash, Blake restarted her greeting like she was seeing Mitch for the first time.
"Welcome to Mama Miyamoto's Spaghetti in a Bucket, where we put spaghetti in a bucket."
"Give me two mega buckets and two apple pies." Mitch requested.
Blake went away for a second before returning with Mitch's orders stuffed in brown bags. "That'll be $9.75."
"Boosh!" Mitch called out as he flashed another light at Blake. While she was stunned, he took the bags and hid them beside his seat.
"Welcome to Mama Miyamoto's…"
"You know, I'm not really hungry." Mitch said before driving away leaving Blake confused.
"Holy smokes!" Five gasped. "That guy really can mess with minds!"
"And just made off with about ten pounds of free pasta." Miko said.
"The guy has the same powers as the Men in Black, and he's using it to scam free food?" Tim asked. "That's pure evil."
"New plan! Get him!" Five said as he rode on after Mitch's van.
"Good plan!" Miko exclaimed.
"Right behind you, buddy!" Tim said.
Mitch was enjoying his spaghetti in a bucket during his drive. He was in the middle of a big forkful before something stopped in the road in front of him. He hit his brakes suddenly making him spill his pasta all over the inside of his windshield and over his head. After he got rid of it all, he looked to see who was in his way.
"Ooh. Better take a shower after that spill, champ." Tim said in a smarmy tone. "I hear tomato sauce gets really messy in conditioned hair."
"What the…" Mitch gasped recognizing the three. "I remember you."
"And we remember you." Miko returned.
"Especially how we kicked your butt at Nobi Smash and wiped Five's memory so he wouldn't remember." Tim said.
"How can you know about that?" Mitch asked stepping out of his van. "I reset you both myself. Everybody resets."
To emphasize his point, Mitch pointed his gauntlet at the trio ready to blast them again. Five panicked and shielded his eyes, but Tim and Miko didn't bother. They just jumped to shield Five and get the full blast themselves. But they neither fell over nor get stunned. They showed no sign of any reaction, which made Mitch feel uneasy.
"Is zapping people your solution to everything?" Miko asked. Mitch tapped on his gauntlet's screen a bit before getting ready to blast again. "That's pretty sad if you ask me. Especially since a tool like that could be used to help people instead of cheating."
FLASH!
Still nothing! Mitch began to panic. "Everybody resets!" He flashed them once more with an even brighter flash, but once again the 'Error' sign appeared above their heads as the two marched forward.
"My Aunt Geri said that my parents believed in having great power and using it responsibly." Tim said. "You have some pretty high-tech equipment here, and you use it to cheat at tournaments and steal fast food. Not exactly hero material if you ask me."
Mitch growled furiously as he turned his gauntlet up to its full settings and pointed it again. "I'LL WIPE YOU CLEAN!"
"And another thing…" Tim said as he dramatically pointed back at Mitch. He was cut short by something that shot out of his finger.
A green, web-like substance shot out of Tim's digit and made a long thread that shot through the air fast as a bullet. It landed right at Mitch's open hand and attached itself quickly.
Everyone froze for a moment to stare intently at the thread made from Tim's hand. They blinked twice before yelling out in surprise.
"What… What is this?!" Mitch asked loudly trying to shake his hand free. "What is this stuff?! How are you doing this?!"
"I don't know!" Tim shouted. "This is a first for me too!"
"Uh, Five," Miko said worried about what she was seeing, "Was your friend always able to shoot web out of his hand?"
"Uh, no." Five responded with the same tone.
"EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Mitch yelled grabbing the web and pulling it back forcing Tim to stumble closer towards him.
"Hey! Cut it out!" Tim shouted. "Let me try something!"
Once Tim was close enough, he grabbed onto Mitch's gauntlet and slipped it off of his hand. Sure enough, the web stayed attached to the gauntlet.
"Wait! Put that down!" Mitch yelled out as he grabbed the gauntlet. He pulled at it which tugged the web it was attached to. "Let go!"
"Why? So you can zap us into a coma?!" Tim yelled out pulling right back.
"You don't understand! This thing is dangerous in the wrong hands!"
"It can't be worse than YOUR hands!"
Five and Miko nodded to each other as they joined Tim in the tug-of-war, grabbing his hand with the web and pulling it back. It was difficult for Mitch to keep ahold of the gauntlet, but he kept pulling harder while accidently tapping on the gauntlet's screen.
Finally, the green thread disappeared and vanished into thin air bit by bit like pixels. At that moment, Mitch was pulling so hard that when he finally freed his gauntlet, it slipped out of his hands and fell onto the ground. And once it hit the ground, a green bolt of lightning escaped from it and flew hissing and screeching into the air.
"Uh, what the heck is that?" Tim asked.
"A problem." Mitch sneered watching the green light flicker towards the Joystick Jr. arcade. At that moment, he heard his boss' voice in his headgear.
"Mitch, we're showing a glitch release from your gauntlet."
"Got it under control. Don't send backup." Mitch said putting his gauntlet back on and keeping an eye on the green light.
"Just be careful." Phil advised. "If that thing goes viral, it could spread through the entire arcade."
It was too late. By the time Mitch found the light, it already slipped into the arcade.
"Oh, boosh!" Mitch shouted before pointing his gauntlet again at Five, Miko, and Tim. "I am done playing with you three whack-a-moles."
Mitch shot a beam of light that hit the ground beneath the three. A blue circle formed under their feet and they fell right through it. As soon as they landed, they found themselves inside of Mitch's van, which had computers alongside the walls.
Mitch opened the door to the van to scold the three. "This is a serious Mitchuation! I can't have you morons make it any worse!"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Miko said. "Seriously? A 'Mitchuation'?"
"Worst play on words ever." Tim said.
"Don't start with me, web boy!" Mitch hissed. "I don't know who or what you are, but this rubbish stops now!"
"I used to look up to you." Five said with a breaking voice. "And now, I don't even know who you are."
"I'll tell you who I am." Mitch said in a serious tone as cold as ice. "I'm the guy who's gonna send you back to the alley you crawled from. And this time, you're gonna stay there… where you belong." With that, he slammed the door shut with a voice calling out automatically.
"Security system activated."
"Yeesh. He must be fun at parties." Tim commented.
Miko headed to the door and tried to pry it open, but she was unsuccessful to. "Come on. Try everything."
"Are we just gonna ignore the crazy thing that just happened to me?" Tim asked staring at his hands. "How the heck did I do all that?"
"Heck if I know, dude." Miko said. "Right now, I just want to teach Mitch a lesson before he gets away with everything he's done. What do you think, Five?"
"This is out of control!" Five yelled out. "The kid has stuff that opens portals and erases memories! Who knows what else he made us forget? Family members? Pets? What if we already got out of here, but he made us forget we did, so now, we think we're still here? WHAT IF WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN IN HERE?! And Tim can suddenly shoot sticky stuff out of his hands! WHAT THE HECK'S GOING ON WITH THIS DAY?!"
"Five, calm down!" Tim grasped Five by his arms and held him tightly in place. He then took a deep breath "Now, look. Me and Miko apparently can't forget things, so we haven't gotten out of here yet. That also means that Mitch has one less advantage over us. So don't let Mitch get in your head."
"Listen to your friend, Five." Miko said. "And hey, he's got superpowers now. That's one more advantage we have over that dingleberry. In fact, I bet there isn't even a real security system in here."
Miko jumped to the front seat of the van and pressed a few buttons on the console. Suddenly, a red beam of light appeared bouncing around the back and nearly hitting the boys. Tim jumped out of the way while Five fell into a seated position while the laser blasted the middle part of his hair causing it to fall to its sides.
"Well, now, we know." Miko said before gasping over at Tim's direction. "Holy fly on the wall, Batman!"
"What?" Tim asked before realizing where he was. He was halfway up the wall with his fingertips and his feet attached to it. They weren't latched onto anything nor supported by any means. They were just sticking on them. "Okay. This is getting weird."
"Wow!" Miko with dazzling eyes. "Web-shooting. Sticky hands. And I bet that flip you did was all part of it too! You just get cooler by the minute! What else can I find to reveal new powers?" She turned off the lasers and looked around the van.
"No!" Five yelled out. "Don't do anything that will nearly kill us again!"
Miko didn't listen. She looked around the van until she opened up a compartment in the wall. That's when she found a metal, dome-like device with a screen and a red button.
"Whoa. Check it out, guys. A red button. The mother of all buttons." Miko said picking the device up.
"Will you stop messing around?" Five asked in a huff. "From the moment you arrived, nothing made sense anymore! Mitch turns out to be a bully with mind erasing technology! My friend, Five, has freaky powers! And now, you want to push even more buttons?"
Tim looked at Five and returned to the ground. "Five, all these problems have nothing to do with us seeing you. Mitch was always a bully with too much power than he can handle, and I'm pretty sure I already had these powers before I came to your truck. The reason I came to get you was because you're my best friend, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. That's also why I want Mitch to pay for what he's done. You deserve the win today, not him."
"He's right, Five." Miko said noticing something on the ground. She bent down to pick it up showing it to be a certain wristband with the words "HI-5" on it. "You know what your problem is? You think too much."
After she slapped it on his wrist, Five looked at the wristband in amazement. "Where did you…"
"He must have tossed it in here." Miko said.
Five looked back at the wristband and stared at it. And then suddenly, his entire morning returned to him. He remembered back to when Mitch blasted him and swiped his band off his wrist. Everything before that returned as well, such as the drive with the food truck, seeing Tim again, playing the tournament, and—most importantly—winning it.
"I DID beat Mitch Williams." Five realized.
"Told ya, man." Tim said. "Now, let's get this party started!"
Tim slammed his hand on the red button that Miko admired and stepped back when it disappeared. Just then, the screen started counting down from 7 while it hovered in the air by little rockets.
"Please, don't blow up. Please, don't blow up. Please, don't blow up." Five pleaded quietly.
When the countdown ended, a happy face appeared on the screen smiling at the three.
"Welcome, cadets. I am BITT, a Binary Intelligence Tech Trainer. Searching for updates… None found."
"So… Hinobi's got a little robot buddy." Tim commented. "That's…"
"Alert! Alert!" BITT shouted. "My scans show a Glitch signature approximately two feet in front of me! Handling it now!" Suddenly, his screen fired a blast that hit Tim in the chest. He stumbled back holding onto his stomach.
"Watch where you're aiming that, tin can!" Tim shouted.
BITT looked in confusion at Tim. "Hmm. Strange. You appear to be human, but there are trace amounts of Glitch energy coming from your body. I will send a notice to the local Glitch Tech manager now. Notice sent."
"Well, that was weird." Miko said.
"But maybe he can help us get out of this van." Five said.
"I am sorry," BITT said, "But my services are for the exclusive use of Glitch Tech recruits. I also dispense food and beverages. Fresh baked muffin?" He slid out a tray from his body and showed a muffin from it.
Miko gasped with pure delight and hugged BITT. "I want one for Christmas!"
"What's a Glitch Tech?" Five asked.
"Citizens employed by Hinobi for the purpose of detecting and capturing glitch entities." BITT explained. "Complete with gear designed and supplied by our proud sponsor, Oscorp."
"And Mitch Williams is a Glitch Tech?" Tim asked. "That's how he has all this sci-fi stuff?"
"Indeed. Glitch Tech Mitch Williams is the highest ranked Glitch Tech in the Bailey branch."
"Well, what a coincidence. We're Glitch Techs too." Miko lied before grabbing some headsets from the shelves and tossing two pairs to Five and Tim. "New trainees reporting for duty. Right, boys?"
Tim and Five looked at each other and shrugged. "Uh, yeah." Five agreed. "The three of us are trainees employed by Hinobi for the purposes of whatever the purpose is you just said."
"Hmm. How curious." BITT said looking over at Tim. "It's not often we get a trainee who is somehow mistaken for a Glitch, but very well." He floated to other shelves and grabbed three gauntlets for the three of them. "Simply connect these Glitch gauntlets and choose 'start' to begin."
Five, Miko, and Tim put their gauntlets on and pressed the button that read "start". They then lit up brightly and bright lights appeared around them. They hit the three until they all looked different. Each of them wore black chestplates with the Hinobi Logo on them, white suits, black sleeves and knee padding, and clear visors hanging before their eyes.
"Whoa!" Tim exclaimed looking at his new uniform. "Talk about an upgrade!"
"It's got some kind of UI!" Five exclaimed. "Like a radar, minimap, and… a targeting crosshair?"
"Move your wrists up, down, and side to side." BITT instructed with the kids doing so. "This is known as your targeting area."
"Ooh. Like a first person shooter game." Tim said.
"I am loving where this is going." Miko said.
Suddenly, BITT's expression changed as he beeped. "Glitch signature acquired."
"You better not be targeting me again." Tim said.
"Not you, trainee." BITT said. "Now calculating the shortest route."
"Uh, shortest route to what?" Five asked.
BITT hovered a gigantic device similar to how he looked. Just then, it shot out arms and legs allowing him to stand. He then picked the three up in his giant arms.
"The shortest route to intercept the Glitch!" BITT said before busting out of the van.
Mitch stalked around the dim arcade with his gauntlet ready. He kept his eyes peeled around every corner and in every space between arcade machines while the kids he passed glued their eyes on the games they were playing. He thought he found the Glitch's location when he heard a girl scream, but when he turned, he was disappointed when he realized it was just a happy girl who got a high score.
Suddenly, he got a beeping sound from his headset which he answered. "What?"
"Mitch, is there something you're not telling me?" Phil asked in a suspicious tone.
"I'm in pursuit of the Glitch, Phil." Mitch said sounding annoyed. "Nothing else matters."
"Really?" Phil asked. "Then explain why I got a report from BITT explaining a human kid emitting a Glitch-like signature."
"I don't know. Maybe he's faulty," Mitch said. "He's spazzed out how many times now? Look, I'm in the middle of a delicate operation, Phil, and I don't have time to wonder about any strange kids who…" He stopped when he suddenly remembered Tim. "That griefer…"
"What was that?" Phil asked.
"N-Nothing, Phil. Gotta go." Mitch said in a hurry to hang up and continue searching faster than before.
All of a sudden, the green flicker zapped over Mitch's shoulder causing him to scream in surprise. He aimed his gauntlet and fired purple blasts at it, but he kept missing. He kept shooting, but he couldn't stop it.
The light crawled its way into a green arcade machine with a monstrous lizard on the screen. The title read, "Where Crawls Dr. Lizardo". The screen flickered and glowed green until a much bigger, brighter blast shot out and took form. It morphed until it took the shape of a giant man-lizard with blood-red eyes, slobbering fangs, and wearing a set of torn clothes and a white lab coat.
All the kids watched in horror as the lizard monster from the game appeared in front of them and growled at Mitch, who was only a third the same size as it. Mitch looked the monster in the face and pointed his gauntlet at it.
"I hate retro-titles." he said before firing a purple blast which shot off half of the lizard's tail. Unfortunately for him, it quickly grew back, and he was angrier than ever.
The kids screamed and rushed past Mitch, who blasted them with memory-wiping blasts as they passed by and fell unconscious in the next room.
"Glitch Techs detected." said the automated voice in Mitch's head.
"I said no backup!" Mitch growled.
All of a sudden, BITT burst through the wall of the arcade carrying Five, Miko, and Tim in his robotic hands. They landed on the ground right before Mitch and the lizard monster.
"You have reached your destination." BITT said.
"I've had it with you griefers!" Mitch groaned. "I'm trying to clean the mess you made, and you keep making it worse!"
All of a sudden, the lizard monster surprised Mitch from behind by chopping down on his body and swallowing him whole.
"Is that Dr. Lizardo?" Five asked in surprise.
"It ain't Barney, that's for sure!" Tim said worriedly.
Suddenly, the monster tossed a screaming Mitch into the air and swallowed him whole! Dr. Lizardo looked at the others (who had looks of horror and shock on their faces) and roared, blowing their hair back.
"Strategic update: run away!" BITT advised.
Dr. Lizardo roared and pounced on them. Five, Miko, and Tim ran in one direction while BITT ran in another. Dr. Lizardo chose to chase after the humans.
"And to think, we loved playing this game!" Tim yelled running as fast as he could.
The three of them stopped and rolled behind a few arcade games escaping Dr. Lizardo's sight. They peeked out to see him waving his drooling tongue around and keeping his eyes peeled for them.
"Our butts are toast, right?" Miko asked.
"Maybe not." Five said going through his gauntlet. "Is there an instruction manual?"
Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard coming from Tim's gauntlet. He answered it revealing Mitch on the screen.
"Mitch?" Tim asked. "You're okay?"
"I am struck in the belly of a malevolent digital construct! So NO! I'm not okay!" Mitch snapped.
"Hey, I feel worse for Dr. Lizardo." Tim said to Five and Miko. "He's probably got indigestion."
"I HEARD THAT!" Mitch yelled. "HELP ME, YOU MORONS!"
"You want OUR help?" Five asked.
"You certainly need to learn better asking skills." Tim stated.
"You're gonna admit what you've done and help us put things right again." Miko demanded.
Mitch rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just get me out of here! The static discharge is frizzing my hair!"
Miko looked in her gauntlet and found a screen labeled "Items". "Ooh! Maybe these'll help. Let's see… Sparkly gem thingies, feathers, mushrooms… Ooh, pizza!" She then rolled out and pointed her gauntlet at Dr. Lizardo. "Hey, future handbag, ya hungry?"
Dr. Lizardo responded with a roar. Miko took her chance and fired a pizza-shaped projectile at Dr. Lizardo, who just gobbled it up. Suddenly, he grew bigger and more vicious looking.
"You fed it a power-up?!" Five shouted.
Dr. Lizardo roared into the air again letting a green static escape from his body and affect the arcade games around it. That's when more monsters appeared from the screens, including monstrous plants, aliens, robots, and much more.
"I think we should have stayed in the van," Five squeaked.
"Target Glitch has gone viral!" BITT exclaimed.
"How is that possible?" Tim asked. "I thought glitches were just bugs that ruin your gameplay experience!"
"In some cases, yes." BITT said. "But the Glitches that Glitch Techs face are terms for artificially intelligent plixel construct!"
"So basically, they're video game monsters!" Miko surmised.
Dr. Lizardo ran past the other Glitches and jumped right at them.
"LOOK OUT!" Tim shouted pulling his friends away and throws himself in front of them. He closed his eyes ready to face the monster's fangs.
Tim waited, and waited, but all he could feel was Dr. Lizardo's hot breath. He peeked his eyes open and gasped when he finally noticed something stopping Dr. Lizardo from biting down on him completely.
Tim looked at his back and noticed four green, gigantic spider legs sticking out of his back, and they were shoved into Dr. Lizardo's mouth preventing him from chomping down. Tim stared in amazement the same as Five and Miko.
"How in the world…"
"Don't just stand there, Tim!" Miko yelled out. "Do something!"
"Uh, right!" Tim didn't know what to do, so he acted on instinct. With a mighty roar, he shot his spider-legs forward and pushed Dr. Lizardo across the floor causing him to crash into a few Glitches and making them disappear. As soon as he was done, his spider legs disappeared.
"WHOA!" Five gasped in amazement. "That was so aweso—AAH! LOOK OUT!"
Five noticed a dinosaur Glitch that was about to attack Tim from behind. He fired his gauntlet at it and watched it disappear.
"Yeah! Didn't like that, did ya?" Five taunted, only for them to roar at him, bursting Five's confidence. "They didn't like it!"
A few more Glitches rushed forward after the three, but they were stopped when Tim reached his free hand out at them and fired his green web at them stopping them in their tracks. With them tied up, Tim shot a blast at them with his gauntlet and caused them all to disappear along with the web.
Tim took a second to look at the hand he fired his green web from. "Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of this now."
"Then this is perfect!" Miko shouted. "With your webs, wall-crawling, and spider legs that shoot out of your back, you can be like a SUPER Glitch Tech! Like a… a…"
"A… Web Tech?" Five suggested.
Miko gasped in utter delight. "That's perfect! Tim Burns, the Web Tech!"
"It is catchy." Tim commented before noticing the other Glitches starting to group up around them. "Well, let's take these new gadgets and powers for a spin!"
As they ran around the arcade, they fought off every Glitch they can find. Five used his gauntlet to summon a giant sledgehammer which he used to smash his enemies. Miko weakened her Glitches by punching them like a boxer.
Tim, meanwhile, took full advantage of his strange new powers and followed his instincts when using them. He took big leaps and stuck himself on walls before shooting his web at Glitches and throwing them to the wall sticking them to it before blasting them. He then found himself surrounded by four Glitches at once, but he formed his spider legs and knocked each of them back with them.
One after another, all the Glitches were destroyed until one remained: Dr. Lizardo.
Miko and Five fired their blasts taking bits off of Dr. Lizardo, but the limbs he lost regrew. He returned with a mighty roar that launched them back. Tim fired a web at the ceiling and used it to swing across the arcade until he landed a kick at Dr. Lizardo with both of his feet. All that did however was anger Dr. Lizardo while Tim landed back with his friends.
"Get him!" Five yelled as he and his friends chased Dr. Lizardo across the arcade.
The monster stopped running when it saw a large poster of a city. It stared at it before raising its fists and throwing them down. The poster and the wall it hung on was being demolished.
"Uh, why is he taking his anger out on the poster?" Five asked.
"Maybe he went there for a vacation and had a lousy time?" Miko shrugged.
"Glitch intelligence is limited to base programming." BITT explained.
"I see." Tim realized. "He thinks he's destroying a city."
"Then we can stop him." Five said. "If we can stop him the way he can normally be stopped in the game, then maybe we can defeat it the same way he can be defeated in his game."
"Let's think for a moment." Tim said. "Where Crawls Dr. Lizardo is about a scientist who turns into a lizard monster and goes on a rampage around a city. Whenever he takes damage from single shot attacks, he can regenerate his body and health bar, so multiple rapid-fire attacks are the best way to bring his health down to zero, which once it gets there, stays that way for about 20 seconds or so and leaves him vulnerable to big attacks."
"And in the game, his biggest weakness is a bomb you throw in his mouth!" Miko added in. "That's how you win!"
"That gives me a plan." Five said looking in his gauntlet.
"He loves plans." Miko told BITT.
"Tim, Miko, can you distract Dr. Lizardo for a minute?" Five asked.
"Need you ask?" Tim asked before leaping forward.
Tim landed on Dr. Lizardo's back and shot a green web that wrapped itself around the inside of his mouth. It circled back to him and he yanked it like pulling the reins on a wild horse. Dr. Lizardo screeched feeling his face get tugged while trying to fight him off. He ran around the room with Tim riding on him. While he did that, Tim formed his spider legs to keep his ground.
"THIS IS OFFICIALLY THE STRANGEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE!" Tim yelled out.
"OH, I HAVE A FEELING YOU'LL HAVE SOME MORE!" Miko replied before rapidly jumping around and blasting at Dr. Lizardo's sides in rapid-fire.
Dr. Lizardo regenerated his blasted parts and shook even harder, but Tim held on as tight as he could. As Miko continued to blast, the parts regenerated slower until finally, as she blasted him one more time, he let out a roar of pain and suddenly turned red instead of green. Checking the health bar for Lizardo, she saw it was at zero.
"Hype hype!" Miko cheered.
Unfortunately, at that moment, Tim began to lose his breath and his legs disappeared. Dr. Lizardo shook around until Tim was launched off of his back and thrown right at Miko, making them crash to the wall and Miko's gauntlet broke.
Miko groaned with Tim on her lap. She then looked up and gasped as the still-red Dr. Lizardo moved in with a hungry growl.
"Tim, you gotta get up!" Miko shouted.
"I… I can't." Tim replied weakly.
"WHAT?!"
"I can't help it. I think it's the spider legs. I think they drain my energy or something."
"Oh, nerds." Miko said fearfully as Dr. Lizardo moved in. "Looks like game over. Delete my browser history!"
"Alert, two Techs need support." BITT said running to the rescue. "Now providing backup assistance!" He jumped to Dr. Lizardo, but the monster saw him coming and swished his tail to knock him away. BITT's arms and legs disappeared as soon as he hit the wall.
Thankfully, Five found what he was looking for in the nick of time. "Hey, leatherhead! I got a treat for you!"
Dr. Lizardo turned to Five and gave a roar back at him. This time, Five didn't flinch. Instead, he aimed his gauntlet and formed a bomb which he then fired right into Dr. Lizardo's mouth. The monster then started to flinch and twitch while Miko grabbed Tim's feet and dragged him away. They managed to get away just in time before Dr. Lizardo blew up into pieces.
As Dr. Lizardo was destroyed, Mitch Williams fell to the floor finally free from his stomach. When he recovered, he found himself right within point-blank range of Five's gauntlet pointed at his face. Miko and BITT stood behind him along with Tim, who was able to stand back up.
"Hey, pro, how'd you like your memory reset?" Five asked coldly.
"Caution," BITT warned, "A Tech gauntlet is not to be used aggressively. It is a tool to protect innocents, never to harm."
"Yeah?" Miko asked. "Well, your MVP here really needs to read the dang manual."
"She's got that right." Tim said. "Just an hour ago, champ here tried to wipe our minds clean with his. Seriously, dude. What the heck?"
"You gotta believe me! I wasn't really gonna do it!" Mitch pleaded. "I was freaked you wouldn't reset! Everybody resets!"
"Well, nobody can shoot webs out of their hands, stick to walls, or produce extra limbs either, but here I am." Tim said. "Things change, but it looks like you can't handle change. Is that why you fixed it so that Five couldn't remember winning the tournament earlier?"
"No. It's… more complicated than that." Mitch said in a softer voice. "I'm Mitch Williams. I am the number one gamer in the city, the same as the Big Man, Norman Osborn, back in his day. I aim to be just like him, so yeah, I'm taking everything I just to remain number one. But you take that title away from me, you may as well take everything. Besides, that win was bugged. Five wasn't even the real winner." He pointed at Miko. "She was."
"What?" Miko asked genuinely surprised. "But Five made the winning shot."
"Yeah, with your ball, remember?" Mitch asked.
"So… I guess, you won." Five told Miko.
"Well, I couldn't have done it without Tim." Miko said throwing an arm around his shoulders. "I mean, he was the one who gave me the idea while he was distracting Mitch with his 'goluklike' trick."
"It seems that it's a victory all three of us can share." Tim said. "Well, no matter which of us won, fancy hair still loses."
"You know what. You're right." Five said reassuring his aim on Mitch, who freaked out after hearing the gauntlet warm up.
"Please, don't!"
"If we wipe your precious gaming career, you've got nothing left to protect." Five said.
"I know I went too far, but do not take this from me." Mitch said sounding vulnerable. "It's what I love. It's who… I am."
Miko's face dropped feeling some sympathy for him despite all he's done. "Me too."
Five sighed dropping his gauntlet. "Me too."
"I guess… it would be pretty cruel of us to deny a guy his entire life." Tim said. "But don't forget, you gotta set the record straight about Five's win. You promised."
Mitch sighed. "All right. But you know, I have to tell Phil about your freak powers, and I will have no idea how to explain it."
"We'll figure something out." Five said. "After all, we're a team."
That night, Phil and Mitch took the three back to their homes to set the record straight and tell their respective guardians about their new jobs working at the Hinobi Store. Geri's house was the last on the list, but Five told them he would stay at his family's truck when they left to go there. Needless to say, all the grown-ups were proud of their children getting new jobs in a field they loved. Though the group DID have to reset their memories so that they would remember only certain details, like Miko not being in trouble anymore.
And to top it all off, Miko managed to introduce Tim to her parents. Hugh and Mayumi were quite surprised to find that their daughter had been right that her gaming friend was truly a pleasant young man, but were pleased to meet him and glad that Miko had such a nice friend that shared her interests. That was definitely one of the memories they let them keep.
The following day, Five, Miko, and Tim met up with Phil at the Hinobi Store. He gave them all blue shirts with Hinobi logos to wear as uniforms before showing them around the store.
"So this will be your day-to-day. Cash register's here, price gun's here, pooper's in the back, and… Oh, yeah. The place next door sells old donuts at half off."
"That's all?" Miko asked.
"What's better than half-off donuts?" Phil asked.
"I bet you're their favorite customer then." Tim said with a smile.
"Haha. I sign your paychecks, so you better watch what you say." Phil warned.
"So do we get exclusive swag, early release games, and access to live events?" Five asked.
"Yeah, if you earn points, you get the perks." Phil said leading the trio to the side of the room. "Oh, and there are your lockers."
The three excitedly looked in their locker room only to find a bunch of generic lockers with their names labeled on them with loose tape.
"Uh… awesome." Five said awkwardly.
"I got your awesome right here." Phil said holding up a game controller. After pressing a combination on it, that's when the lockers showed their real secret.
The lockers slid away revealing a blue vortex hidden behind them. Phil was the first to get in after leaping into the portal. The kids smiled with the upmost excitement as they followed him in.
The three of them found themselves in a bright, high-tech area with computer screens and fellow Glitch Techs everywhere.
"Kids, welcome to Glitch Techs." Phil presented.
"AWESOME!" Miko yelled out.
"Where do we start?" Tim asked.
"Uh, later." Phil said. "First things first, there's a certain elephant in the room we must address. More specifically, the strange occurrence among you kids."
"Us?" Tim asked.
"Yeah. You and Miko seem to have abilities that we couldn't account for, you more than her. We have no idea what to make of it. So we had a specialist investigate, and he said he should be ready."
Phil led the three across the room and stopped at a door where Mitch was waiting impatiently. He glared at the three with a menacing look in his eyes.
"What's he doing here?" Tim asked.
"Since he was the one who reported the anomalies, I figured he'd be best to help look into it," Phil explained. "Don't worry. After finding out what he did, he's on probation and cleanup duty for the next week."
Mitch sighed agitatedly. "Let's just get it over with. The less time I have with him, the better."
"Who's him?" Five asked.
Mitch didn't answer. He just opened the door and entered a lab full of half-finished equipment. The others followed him in. They walked across the lab and headed to a computer at the end where a single teenager waited for them.
It was a short, pudgy teen with thin brown hair in a bowl cut, a pair of square glasses, and a lab coat which he wore over a dark-green T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He looked at everyone with an unfriendly look on his face.
"Took you long enough." the kid said before exchanging a bitter nod with Mitch. "Williams."
"Otto." Mitch returned in the same way.
"Otto Octavius here is our best analyst and engineer." Phil said. "So Otto, were you able to find out more about the data we sent ya?"
"No. I just spent the whole night playing Ziggurat Sprint on my phone." Otto replied holding up his phone to emphasize his sarcastic remark.
Tim looked at Otto and Phil switching views back to back. "You guys wouldn't happen to be related, would you?"
"No. Thank goodness." Phil said rolling his eyes.
"Just show us what you got on them, Otto." Mitch said annoyed.
Otto glared at Mitch before muttering quietly to himself. He turned to the computer screen and showed an image on it that looked like Tim.
"Here, we have the basic energy signature on Burns." Otto explained.
"That doesn't look bad." Five said.
"That's because this was taken during the Smash tournament," Otto said. "We archive physiological data on all potential Glitch Techs. We were about to discard these until Mitch reported about you. Now, this is Burns' NEW energy signature, scanned by BITT."
Another image appeared on the screen. This time, it had a faint, green glow around the entire body.
"Whoa." Tim gaped. "Is that me now?"
"From what I can tell, there are trace amounts of Glitch energy flowing through your nervous system and your brain." Otto explained. "That explains your newfound abilities and why the reset ray has no effect on you. The Glitch energy is creating some kind of block."
"Hold up." Phil said. "Are you saying that BITT was right and Tim here is like… part Glitch or something."
"Something, all right." Otto said. "My guess is that Burns was infected by something that was radiated with Glitch energy." He turned to Tim. "Tell me, did you feel anything during or after the tournament which would create some sort of infection."
"Nothing comes to mind," Tim said thinking hard, "Unless…" He gasped upon reflection. "The spider!"
"Spider?" Miko asked.
"Spider? What spider?" Mitch asked.
"I remember." Tim said. "Something bit my hand while the game was glitching. When I returned to the real world, I saw a glowing spot on my hand and a spider next to it before it crawled away."
"Ooh. A Glitch-radiated spider." Miko said in amazement.
"Guess it explains why you could do anything a spider can." Five said.
Mitch groaned. "Great. Just what we need, more spiders."
"Well, Tim," Phil said, "With those powers of yours, you could be an invaluable asset to the team. Just as long as it doesn't go out of control."
"Oh, I won't let it." Tim said.
"Wait. What about Miko?" Five asked. "She wasn't bitten by the spider. She wasn't even in the store when she played in the tournament. How come she can't be reset?"
Otto stayed silent unable to provide an answer. Mitch noticed this and laughed.
"Hahaha! Really? The brilliant Otto Octavius can't figure it out?"
"Don't you have a floor to sweep or something? After all, you're on probation for misuse of Tech equipment. Equipment I help keep up to date, mind you. Be lucky I don't mod your gauntlet to shoot flowers instead of blasts," Otto sneered as Mitch's face twisted into an angry scowl. "Anyway, as far as Kubota goes, I'm afraid I don't know why she can't be reset. Unlike Burns, her energy signature is normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. At least, so far. I may need time to look into this."
"Well, until then, the three of you are welcome as Glitch Techs." Phil said to the three.
"Awesome!" Five stated proudly.
"And Mr. Burns," Phil said, "Because of your unique abilities, I had Otto craft you something."
"Sure. Because I do everything else." Otto muttered annoyed. He held up a remote and pointed it at the wall. With a press of a button, a mannequin was revealed stunning Tim in awe.
Before him displayed a black-and-white armor unique with a red chestplate with the Hinobi logo on it and a glowing-green crisscross pattern on it, which is the same design as its sleeves.
"It's… It's amazing." Tim said in amazement.
"It's beautiful." Miko whispered in revelence. "I especially like the spider web pattern you used on it."
"Spider web?" Otto asked. "No. That's supposed to be a grid pattern. You know, like for data and stuff."
"Eh… Seems more like a spider web to me," Miko said before looking at it closely and gasping excitedly. "It just needs one last thing." Miko grabbed a nearby marker and wrote on the chestplate.
"Hey! You can't just…" Otto protested.
"And… presto!" Miko said. When she stepped away, she revealed what she was working on: a set of eight spider legs coming out of the Hinobi logo.
"Nice touch." Tim commented. "It looks pretty sharp."
"Aww. Thanks." Miko said with a smile.
Otto groaned. "I swear, I get no respect."
"Well, if that's it," Phil said, "I'll see you all tomorrow so we can get you started on being official Glitch Techs. And as for you, Mitch…" He tossed a broom to Mitch.
"Don't forget to check the corners, champ." Tim snickered.
"Oh, shut up." Mitch said as he left the lab with the other kids leaving Phil and Otto alone.
"So… Phil," Otto said, "You gonna tell them about the hacker problem? You know, the one that happened during the tournament the other day?"
"Not yet." Phil said. "I'll let them know once they become official Glitch Techs. I don't want to mess with their heads for now. But rest assured, whoever hacked us, we'll find them."
Within her dark room, Felicia paced around scratching her chin. She stopped only to pull out her phone and look within. She stared at a notification she found on her phone when she woke up.
"Upload complete!"
"This is strange." Felicia said aloud. "This says I uploaded my virus, and yet, I don't remember even going into the Hinobi store. That's the only place where I can do it without getting caught, so I must have succeeded. So why don't I remember completing my hack?"
She put her phone back to her pocket and walked over to the window that was right beside her. She looked out at the city of Bailey, glaring suspiciously at everything.
"Esto lo asegura. This clinches it. Something very strange is happening at Hinobi, maybe even Oscorp. Guess I was right about that after all." They then flashed her cat-like smirk as her green eyes flash determinedly. "Well, whatever's going on, you better believe the Black Cat is going to blow the lid right off of it."