It's been two whole days since the Scorpion encounter, which means two straight days of no sleep for the Aqua Spider. She has barely taken off her suit, only really needing to lift up her mask to eat (though, she hasn't really eaten much either). Her arms are numb from swinging all over Manhattan, and even across the other boroughs of New York to find any clue as to where Scorpion came from. All she knows is his real name - MacDonald Gargan - from his old coworkers. Apparently, he's always had a screw loose, but he didn't always have that Scorpion suit.

"He doesn't hate us specifically, so why would he try to power himself up just to take down a sales corporation? There has to be someone else - maybe they manipulated him into the change. I'm missing something big here, aren't I?" Aqua asks herself, letting out a giant yawn afterward. "And that poor woman..."

She sighs in distraught when she thinks about that person she couldn't save two days ago. Aqua sticks to the side of a building, halting her swing, and pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingers. That one was my fault, too... She presses her back to the wall and wraps her arms around herself as her body shivers from lack of sleep. Eyes drooping, she stares across the street where an old theater stands, reminding her of another tragic event. The victims just keep adding up, don't they?

She almost starts to tear up, but something strange catches her attention and pulls her mind out of the depressed state. A man is staring right at her from the doorway, narrowing his eyes behind his glasses, his mouth pressed into a thin line. Now, normally she wouldn't think anything of it - lots of people look at the Spiderlings and take pictures as they swing past the buildings - but this guy is giving her a weird feeling, almost like her spider sense is going off. She shakes the feeling away... but then he disappears behind the glass.

"What the...? No, I'm being way over dramatic." Aqua mumbles, about to turn around, but then goes with her gut instinct and continues, "I guess one look won't hurt anyone."

The blue and grey spider jumps down and swings across the street, landing right in front of the automatic doors to the theater. She walks inside, immediately greeted by some confused and surprised looks from the people waiting to buy their tickets. Two little boys break away from their mother and run up to her saying, "It's Aqua Spider! Can you take us swinging around the city? Pwease?!"

"Of course, but I don't think your mom would like that very much," Aqua responds with a wink, crouching down to their height.

"Mama, can we please go swinging with her? We want to! Please, please, please!" the boys yell while jumping back over to their parent.

The mother looks from her kids to the spider, giving her a wary smile. "She looks really busy right now, probably chasing bad guys. I don't think she has time to take you boys."

"But she said-" "Yeah she said she can!" "And I want to beat up villains, too!" "Yeah, I want to face the Jackal!" "I want to beat up Kraven!"

"Thankfully, they're all taken care of. They are facing severe prison charges right now, and hopefully it stays that way," Aqua responds, walking up to the mother in reassurance. "Now, you better get to your movie before the previews end."

"Um, actually..." the mother says, lowering her voice. She gives the kids money to buy some treats and popcorn, but she stays behind. Aqua notices the genuine worry in her eyes as she continues, "My husband never came home from work two days ago... I can't help but feel there is a strong connection with him to the Scorpion somehow."

"He doesn't happen to work for International Sales and Law Reps. does he?" she asks nervously.

"No, he isn't a telemarketer, he's a scientist. For the past year he got a huge raise, but wouldn't tell me why. Ever since then, he stopped talking about work and what he was inventing. It all became normal to me, but it's not right. His disappearance... his secrets... I don't know what to think. You fought that Scorpion guy, and then I lost my husband for two days? Would you mind looking into it?" the woman asks.

She knows she doesn't have the time, but maybe this person has an idea of how Gargan got his powers. Could her husband have worked on the suit? Aqua nods and says, "Give me your contact information, and I will keep you updated. Is there anything at all you can remember where he might have vanished to?"

"He never told me anything except one time when he first got the raise. He said that he needed to find the subway stop that would take him to the Bugle," she says, entering her number into Aqua's phone.

"Okay, thanks. I'll text you right now so you know it's me, and I'll investigate the Bugle right after I'm done here," Aqua says reassuringly. She types a quick message and hears a ping go off in the woman's pocket. Peering over the woman's shoulder, she sees the eyes of the strange man from before staring back at her. "Like you said, I'm busy so I have to get going. Call me if you find any traces of him, and I'll check out the news station."

"Be careful, please. I know how Jameson is when it comes to you Spiderlings," the woman says.

"Of course, he couldn't do anything to me if he tried. What's your name, by the way?"

"I'm Danielle, but please call me Dani," the woman answers, throwing her long, brown hair over her shoulder. "Good luck, Aqua, and thank you!"

"Anytime, Dani," she responds with a wave, turning back to where she saw the creepy guy. Even though he isn't there anymore, she can tell that he is trying to lead her somewhere. However, when she enters the room there's nothing but pipes and a huge sewer drop.

Of course, I have to go down into the sewers... The blue spider lifts the cover of the manhole up and braces herself before jumping inside, only to get stuck halfway down. "Gah, I really have to lay off the chips."

Sucking in her gut as much as she can (though, the sewer hole is extremely small and she can't make her ribs shrink, somehow she can still wiggle her way through), she falls down the rest of the way and into a river of green, stinky slime. Everything immediately becomes uncomfortable and she almost screams, "MY SWEATSHIRT!" but she restrains herself and stands up stiffly.

Theme song!

"If I had a nickel for every bad idea I went along with..." Aqua mutters to herself as she crawls on the stone wall, cringing at the feeling of her wet suit. Normally I don't get the feeling of being wet because I make sure to stand on the water rather than fall into it.

She continues to climb forward, but gets a sense that there isn't anything here and that she should just turn back before she gets lost. But, just when she turns around, she catches sight of something hanging on the ceiling. "Wait, why is there a camera underneath a theater sewer?"

Something about this whole thing is making her spider sense blaze to life, but she ignores it and decides to turn one more corner before calling it quits. She wishes she didn't, as she finds a scene that makes her feel like she's in the midst of a horror movie. The area is better lit than the rest, but there is only one lightbulb hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room, which produces an eerie glow. The walls are painted blue with clouds and seagulls surrounding the empty space, but it doesn't make it any less creepy. A circle of desks and drawers line the walls, filled with stacks of papers, chemistry bottles, strange liquid containers, broken glass tanks, and a few computers. The spider walks slowly up to one of the desks and sees a pile of used tools which look like they were used for some sort of surgery. Looking to the side, she notices one of the shelves above a computer has an array of images tapes to it, all with red X marks over the faces and a red markered word spelling out "DECEASED". She doesn't recognize any of the people shown in the pictures, but shakes when she notices some of them are children.

She is about to call Dani and ask what her husband's name was, but stops herself when she sees the dates of death on the pictures and confirms that none of these people can be her husband. The most recent one was about three months ago, and Dani said her husband was only missing for two days. Instead, she takes a picture of all the pictures to see if she can find a connection to any of them and figure out why they died in the first place.

"The Aqua Spider," a deep, creepy voice echoes from behind her making her spin around on her heels. "Welcome, I'm so honored you could make it."

"And I'm flattered my name was on the invite, but I don't remember receiving one," she retorts, keeping her cool despite how scared she is when she sees who it is. He's an interesting figure, climbing on the ceiling with four metal arms that are attached to a harness on his back. The spider recognizes him instantly as the weird scientist Ethan described, but she can't remember his name.

"Of course, who can really trust the post system these days?" he asks, lowering himself down so his face is inches from hers. She tries to back away, but runs into one of the desks with her palms pressing against the computer behind her.

The doctor takes a remote out of his lab coat and presses one of the buttons, making the floor in the middle of the room spread apart and a surgical bed rise up. It wouldn't spook her that much if there weren't already bloodstains on it. "Uhhh..." is all she can say before webbing the ceiling and swinging away from this maniac.

The doctor tries to grab her with one of his mechanical legs, but she kicks it away. "Fascinating, truly a work of art," he says, smile never faltering. "I can't wait to study you."

"You can study from afar because I like my organs where they are. Hey, that rhymed!" Aqua responds, jumping to the wall as two legs come shooting at her. They break into the stone ceiling instead. "In all seriousness, I don't like being lured into a sewer just to be studied, so I'm just going to see myself out. Toodles!"

The blue spider sprays her webs toward the exit and swings in that direction, but then feels like she is falling instead of flying back up to the ceiling. She shoots more webs, but a mechanical leg wraps around her ankle and pulls her back into the lab. "Wah!" she screams and feels her back being slammed against the surgical table. When she tries to get up, metal bars clamp around her waist, legs, biceps, and wrists. One even curls around her neck once it's in place.

"I've waited too long to let you go so easily," the doctor says, looming over her trapped form. He turns and walks over to those nasty tools she saw earlier. "Three years of watching you, never wasting a second, I planned everything perfectly from the strength of those restraints to whom I would dissect first. Sadly, I wished to bring the green one here, but you'll have to do."

"Sorry I disappointed you. How did you not get bored from watching us for three years?" Aqua asks, trying to stall while struggling against the metal bars. This guy really did manage to match her spider strength, and that is a cause for concern.

"You're all so unique, I learned something every day. Don't worry, you won't be the only one who gets to be my subject. Sooner or later, all of your spider friends will crawl their ways into this lab," he answers, finding a scalpel and a scoop-looking-thingy.

Aqua Spider starts to freak out, fear overtaking her neurons and clouding all of her thoughts. What's with all of these crazy people popping out of nowhere lately? First she has a run-in with a psychopathic arachnid killer and now this? Using all of her strength, so much that her muscles use more adrenaline that she could produce, she throws her body to the side. There is a creak then a loud, echoing snap, and the surgery bed falls to the side off its metal post. Aqua groans when her head hits the concrete, but quickly gets to her feet, her entire body still strapped down to the table.

"WHAT THE-" the doctor yells upon hearing the noise. He turns around, raising his goggles with one of his real hands, and stares in a moment of confusion as Aqua hops away. "You really think you can escape that easily?!"

"Yep! Sure can!" she shouts, not daring to look behind her as she hears the clanking of the metal limbs climbing on the stone. The doctor starts throwing stuff at her, but she can't see it so she can only hope that the surgical bed will continue to block anything sharp he chooses to pelt her with. Finally, after jumping across the walls and using up all the energy in her burning legs, Aqua finds an uncovered manhole and jumps straight up, breaking the sides of the concrete because the bed is too wide. She falls on her back, attempting to scoot away from the hole just in case the crazy man decides to follow her to the surface. Strangely, there is no movement.

"Hey, it's the Aqua Spider!" "What the heck is she doing on the road strapped down to a table like that?" "That's actually kind of turning me-"

"Okay - hgn - does anyone know how to get to ESU from here?" Aqua asks, cutting off some of the people making comments. "Agh, never mind. I can find my way. Stay safe, everyone!"

And so, the blue female spider hops with her toes the rest of the way home, Emerald Spider only finding her once she gets close enough to their apartment.

"I don't even want to know what happened," Maria says, making sure no one is watching from the alleyway before ripping off Julia's restraints with her extra strength.

"You probably don't," her younger sister confirms, but sighs knowing she has to tell her anyway. "I found the lab of this creepy doctor guy. He had four mechanical arms and was going to dissect me, but I managed to rip the table off the floor."

"And he compensated for your spider strength?" Maria asks.

"Thankfully not for yours. I shouldn't have fallen for his trap," Aqua groans. "It was the same guy Ethan told us about the night he fought Jackal.

"Wait, Doctor Octavius?"

"That's it! I couldn't remember his name!"

"Sounds like he is too invested in us for some reason. Did you find anything unusual in his lab?" Maria asks, hoping to hear there was nothing too out of place.

"There were random files and pictures of people all crossed off. I didn't manage to snag copies, which means we have to go back there if we want the full scoop. Sadly, I didn't recognize any of the people in the photos," Julia explains, recalling her failure to find the scientists.

The older sister's expression falls, knowing that Julia's recent obsession with the missing scientists has been on her mind ever since she fought that green arachnid. She puts a hand on her shoulder and says, "Don't worry, I'll come with you this time. That doctor doesn't stand a chance against two of us, and we already proved that he can't contain me."

"Really?! Ah, thank you!" Aqua smiles and jumps, wrapping her arms around Maria's neck to give her a huge hug.

"Yeah, yeah, just let me get my costume on," she whispers, and the siblings quietly sneak into their apartment to get ready for another break-in.

Meanwhile in Tombstone's office...

The Enforcers love their jobs, but they also love their freedom from prison a lot more. They have been arguing with Tombstone for about an hour now because he wants them to go on a potential suicide mission that will undoubtedly put them back behind bars.

"This is the best way to deal with those pests before the inevitable mob war. Wouldn't you rather have them on our side?" Tombstone asks, his voice unwavering.

"Recruitin' them spiders is the craziest idea you've ever come up with," Montana says angrily. "Ain't no way they'll accept."

"I've got to agree with the outdated trio on this one, Lincoln. Why would five costumed freaks who call themselves heroes join forces with a crime lord like you?" A deep, New York accent asks from across the meeting table. As his face comes into view, you can see his shiny, black hair and scarred forehead. Although he's smaller than Kingpin, this guy has clearly seen his fill of fights - and undoubtedly won most of them. "I want insurance."

"That's precisely why this needs to work, Hammerhead," Tombstone says.

"Don't call me that, Lincoln. You're testing murky waters there," the mystery man, who is apparently named Hammerhead, says threateningly.

"Hmph," Tombstone huffs, rolling his eyes. "Insurance, Joseph. If the Spiderlings are convinced to our side, we will have the utmost insurance against the Kingpin and his growing army of villains."

"Wait, so you're saying-" Fancy Dan is cut off by Tombstone.

"If the Spiderlings want a chance to beat the Kingpin and keep him from making more superpowered beings like the Rhino or Scorpion, then it's in their best interest to join us. We can offer them solace that no matter how many nutjobs Kingpin whips up, we will have their backs."

The Enforcers and Hammerhead pause, thinking about what he just said. When he puts it that way, it does seem like the Spiderlings are still Manhattan's heroes. And, if word ever got out, it would paint Tombstone to be this golden image of an innocent being who ordered the Spiderlings to take out bad guys. The only person they would ever have to worry about is Jameson yapping away that it's a whole conspiracy, but one wrong word can silence that guy for good. Hammerhead thinks hard about it, Tombstone pulling the Spiderlings' strings. Now that is something that could help us out in the long run. "Alright," he finally says, "but, this better be discreet. One peep and Kingpin will know what we're up to, and that mob war you're expecting will come tomorrow instead of a couple years from now."

"That's the Joseph I know, always thinking of the best possible benefit for our cause," Tombstone says with a smile, showing off his pointed teeth. "And you?" he asks Montana.

"I reckon it would be nice to fight alongside 'em instead of fightin' them. What do ya want us to tell 'em?" he asks.

"Lure them to me, I want to talk with them face to face."

Back in Midtown, an athletic spider is having the time of his life...

"WEEEEEEE!" Olympic Spider free-falls, gaining speed as he lets gravity pull him to the pavement. At the last moment, he sprays yellow webs on the glass window of a skyscraper and feels his toes scrape the ground as he is pulled back into the air. The spider lets go of the webbing as he is flung into the sky, waving his arms and legs around as if he was trying to run across the wind, but, of course, he begins falling once again.

Man, I love doing this after school, even though I should be completing my homework. Eh, whatever, this is the life! he thinks to himself, never once wishing he could go back and stop himself from being bitten by a spider.

Olympic Spider weaves himself past buildings, occasionally doing flips over them and leaping like a ballerina as he searches for a bank robbery or something of the sort. To his dismay, the city seems strangely quiet and content, not in need of his spider-y influence. I just want things to stay like this forever and ever and ev-

His thoughts are cut short when he once again runs his toes across the road of an alleyway, but this time his ankle seems to get caught in something, stopping his ascent back into the sky completely. The force from his speedy swinging combined with the sudden stop very, very narrowly pulls his knee out of place. Ollie falls face first into the cement and barely breathes out, "O-o-o-o-ow...w... What the h-heck..."

He manages to lift his head and peer over his shoulder, seeing that something is still tied around his ankle. Before he can turn his head back, something lands on his outstretched wrists and he feels his bones crack along with his web shooters, yellow goop rushing out of them. "OWWW! Okay, that was unnecessar-"

The high schooler cuts himself off when he sees it's a guy, tall and built like a rock, but he recognizes the description from when his twin brother told them all about the Enforcers. "Y-you're..."

"We're here to talk. You can either comply, or we can take you in by force," the guy with the cowboy hat says, stepping out of the shadows. He pulls on his end of the lasso, making Ollie's foot bend in the wrong direction.

"STOP, FOR THE LOVE! Gosh, didn't even give me time to answer you," Olympic Spider says.

"Well, what's it gonna be?" Montana asks, crouching down to peer closer at his face.

"Of course I'll comply, I'm not an idiot," Ollie says, making the two in front of him smile. Right as Montana stands back up, Ollie pushes himself up with his elbows and lands on his good leg, shaking the rope off from around his right ankle. He painfully gives Montana and Ox the middle finger with both hands while turning and attempting to run up the side of the building, but before he can get very far the third member of the group leaps (seemingly out of nowhere) and kicks him hard in the side, unsticking his leg from the wall and sending him hurling toward the ground once again.

"He isn't as much of a pain as the Shadow Spider. We got lucky with this one, boys," Fancy Dan says with a grin, bringing his foot back and kicking Ollie as hard as he can in the head.

The last thing Olympic Spider manages to say is, "W...ait..." before his eyesight fuzzes out and he feels his body go limp.

The Emerald and Aqua Spiders have suited up to find the lab...

"It was this way, kind of toward The Village," Aqua directs, swinging close to the ground so she can still talk with her sister.

"The Village? You mean Greenwich?" Emmy asks, chuckling at her attempt to sound like a Manhattan-er. The spiders always use places' real names to not get confused or throw someone off.

"Whatever, I got called out the other day..." Aqua groans, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. "Anyway, there is a small theater nearby. I don't remember what it's called, but the sign was glowing gold and red-"

"Was it Magic, Mystery, and Movies?" Emmy speaks up, pointing to a building that matches her sister's description.

"Yeah, there it is! The Illusionist's Playground," she reads the words under the theater's sign and lands right next to Emmy, opening the door to walk in the same entrance she had earlier.

Something is off, but Aqua can't tell what it is. Luckily, Emmy's spider sense rings and she walks closer to her younger sister to get some comfort. The theater is completely empty, the exact opposite of the atmosphere from when she came here before. She remembers the place being slightly packed with people, nausea circling around as the doors could only block half the sound from all the movies playing at the same time. There isn't even someone at the ticket booth, nor at the concessions. "I don't like this," Aqua comments.

"My spider sense is going off the charts, but there doesn't seem to be any sign of a fight or struggle. The place is just empty," Emmy responds, jumping on the concessions table to peer behind the counter. Just as she suspected, there is no one hiding behind it. "Where did you say the lab was?"

"I went through the sewers over this way. Follow me," she says, waving her hand to signal the green spider. Emmy slides off the table and reluctantly follows her sister into a closet. There is a hole in the ground, which means no one noticed that Aqua removed the manhole from earlier, so the two jump right on in while making sure to stick to the walls so they don't land in sewage water.

"It's surprisingly less creepy down here. At least the tunnels are supposed to look like this," Emmy says, confirming just what Aqua was thinking herself.

They crawl along the damp stone, their noses becoming numb to the stench after a while when finally they come to an opening. It's just how she left it, and she can see the aftermath of her fight with the doctor. There are ripped papers all along the floor, the table leg popping out of the center yet still snapped in half, the surgery tools the doctor was going to use on her are impaled in the walls and computer screens, but the cabinets and the photographs of the random people are left mostly untouched. That's the first thing Aqua and Emmy run over to look at, the latter taking out her phone and snapping pictures of all the people who are crossed out. Aqua takes out the files, finally looking them over since she didn't get the chance to last time. Looking over her shoulder, she reads the first paper... then drops everything on the floor.

"Oh my God, oh my..." the blue spider says, backing away with her hands over her mouth.

"What is it?" Emmy asks, putting her phone away and reaching for the folder. Before Aqua can stop her, the older sibling pulls out the first piece of paper and reads:

Test Subject 1 - Kathy Michaels

Replication - Emerald Spider

Status - Deceased

The subject only survived for 4 minutes and 39.8 seconds before it became too much. The heart had a distinct distaste of the injection, but this was only the first step.

The chart underneath the notes shows all the points of the body where Octavius must have injected this woman with some sort of medicine or serum he whipped up. Below that is a real photo of her seemingly through a few stages of what happened right before the injection, right after it, and during the experiment.

Emmy can't bring herself to say anything, but shoots her head up and looks at the line of people she took pictures of, all with their faces crossed off. Sure enough, Kathy is the first one in the list. She flips the page, seeing a disturbing picture of bloody feet with incision marks across the ankles. All she needs to do is read: Replication - Aqua Spider to understand.

"He's trying to... duplicate us. To - to find out why we are like this. He's experimenting on normal people!" Emmy says, her hands starting to shake slightly. Aqua runs up to her as she continues, "Look, these innocent people, he killed them all. These poor - oh my God, kids too?!"

"It's okay. Come on, we need to get this evidence out of here before he comes back. Once the police see this, there's no way Octavius will be able to continue experimenting on anyone else. And, it just so happens, we know a direct tie to the captain of the NYPD," Aqua reasons, giving her a comforting hug. "Grab everything and let's bounce."

"Yeah... yeah, okay," Emmy says with a nod, pushing everything to the back of her mind for now. I can freak out about this later, but for now, Aqua is right.

It's late in the afternoon by the time the two surface again, right between the stages of noon and evening, which makes them wonder how long they were down there trying to gather all of the evidence they could find. Aqua huffs, trying to pull herself together for the sake of her sister, and says brightly, "Gwen should be at her apartment. I'll give her a call and ask if we can come over."

"Or, maybe we should find her dad so we don't have to change out of costume. Plus, then we wouldn't need to explain how two normal college students came across all of this stuff," Emmy suggests, calming down from her initial shock.

"That's a better idea. We should also split up the evidence and take two paths to the police department just in case Crazy Doctor 8-Arms catches us running off with his stuff," the younger sister says, earning a nod from Emmy. Just as they are about to take off, Aqua's phone rings loudly, surprising them both. They stare at each other for a second before she answers, "Hello?"

"Finally, someone from our gosh darn family answers their freaking phone. I've been tied up here ALL DAY!" Andrew's voice yells from the other side.

"Ollie? You're tied up?" Emmy asks, overhearing the conversation and snags the phone. "What happened?"

"Great, Em, you're there, too! I was minding my own business just swinging around Midtown when these three jerks beat the snot out of me and kidnapped me! Granted, I gave them a pretty good fight before they were able to catch me," Ollie responds, sounding very coy at the end.

"No you didn't!" someone in the background yells.

"Shut up, Kicks! I was at a disadvantage from the start. Anyway, these guys want all of you, like, all of the spiders, to meet up for some reason. Oof!" It sounds like someone couldn't take Ollie's nonsense anymore and punched him right in the stomach.

"Give them the message, right now!" a deep voice says.

"O-okay... So, Em, Aqua, this specific guy keeps saying to meet him at blah blah blaaaah. Blah blah. Bla- OW!"

"Give me this thing. Hello, girls," the deep voice they heard earlier takes over the phone. "Meet me and Olympic Spider in the west of Hell's Kitchen. Near the water, straight across from Fisk Industries. Come alone, all four of you, if you ever want to see this one alive again."

"AND TELL SHADOW TO ANSWER HIS PHONE NEXT TIME, GEEZ - OWWW!" Ollie yells, apparently getting punched again while a Southern accented voice says, "If you talk one more time I'm gonna-" then the phone call ends.

"This day just keeps getting better and better," Emmy sighs, looking at the handful of files and wondering what the heck they are going to do with them.

"You can say that again. Let's drop these off at Nitro's place, and we can tell him about Ollie. You try to get a hold of Shadow along the way," Aqua says.

"Good plan," Emmy agrees, taking out her phone. "Wow, Ollie tried to call me eight times. I guess the signal was bad down in the sewers."

"Yeah, I'm getting all of these notifications, too. Of course he is the one who got kidnapped," Aqua says with a chuckle.

"What do you mean? So did you!"

"Nuh-uh! I was lured! And-Ollie was straight up taken!" Aqua has to correct herself before she shouts Andrew's name to the empty halls of the theater.

Thankfully, the Enforcers stopped beating the shit out of Andrew once the phone call ended, but he noticed it was just because this Tombstone guy was giving them an angered look. Does he not want them to beat him up?

"You know you'll be outnumbered, right? Five against four, I almost feel bad for you," the spider says optimistically.

"We were able to take you down with no effort at all," Fancy Dan points out.

"Three against one," Ollie mutters.

"And we turned out fine," he finishes.

"Pfft," Ollie thinks up a comeback that will really get on their nerves. "That's not what I heard when Shadow Spider told me about the night he met you guys."

Montana turns toward him, lasso clutched in his hands, and he swings it at the spider's face as if it was a whip, ripping the side of his mask slightly and drawing some blood. "Now you listen here, boy," Montana's voice is low and scary as he puts a hand on the back of Ollie's chair, leaning it back, "I don't care if Tombstone wants you alive. Yer not goin' to say another word or I'm gonna sew your mouth shut, got it?"

Olympic Spider outwardly shivers, never being threatened with something like that before. He can barely swallow as he starts to feel nauseous, but the problem about Ollie is that he needs to talk when he's scared. He manages to say without stuttering, "Yeh got it, partner."

"What did I just say?" he yells, wrapping his fingers around the trapped spider's throat. Before he can do anything, Tombstone hurries over and shoves the leader of the Enforcers away, keeping him from hurting Ollie any more.

"Don't mind him, Olympic Spider. Montana can be a bit thick headed sometimes," he says, tracing his fingertips under Ollie's chin as he walks past him. "I knew you would never listen to me if I called you, so I had them bring you here to talk. I hope you don't see me as an adversary."

"Kind of hard to look past all the bruises and broken bones," Ollie responds with distaste, looking to his side as the Frankenstein guy circles back around him.

"Oh, I'm sure, but it will heal in time, won't it?" he asks, pulling up a chair and sitting right in front of the spider. "I mean, you heal instantly, don't you?"

"You're hilarious," he responds sarcastically. "Wait, you really think that?" Ollie pauses to look at the Enforcers' confused faces. "Wow, that really is funny. I'll be hurting for a week or so, to answer your question honestly."

"Hmm, not as formidable as I first thought," Tombstone says with a hum, scratching his chin. "Yet, you have all proven yourselves from the Jackal to the Scorpion. My offer will still stand."

"Wait, what offer?" Ollie asks, genuinely confused.

Instead of getting an answer, Tombstone says to his captors, "Time to head out and meet the others. Stay here with Hammerhead in case they get any funny ideas about poking around my office."

"You're going on your own? Are you sure about that, Lincoln?" Ox asks, surprised that Tombstone is even thinking about facing all of the Spiderlings by himself.

With an insane, shark-like grin, Tombstone turns his head over his shoulder and responds, "They haven't seen real power just yet."

With that said, he grabs the back of Olympic Spider's tanktop and lifts him to his feet, completely forgetting about the spider's broken right ankle and the fact that he can barely walk. He limps toward the elevator, tripping and falling over once he gets inside. Right when the doors close, Lincoln kneels down and sighs saying, "Those three are so dimwitted, I apologize." He takes a hold of Ollie's broken ankle and firmly twists it back in place, the hero letting out a scream of pain in response.

"Th-they could have just asked nicely..." he says, obvious pain filling his lungs with every breath.

The elevator dings and Tombstone scoops up the spider in his arms, making sure to be extra careful as he is still tied up. Ollie is extremely confused at the guy's change of attitude. Was he just being mean around the Enforcers for some reason, or is he faking the niceness? Something isn't right here, but Ollie is too tired to guess which side of him is real. His eyes are getting heavy, everything he went through today weighing down on him like an anchor. He can feel all of the spots where the Enforcers kicked and hit him before Tombstone entered his office. Why was John able to fight those guys and the Wrecking Crew, but he was taken down before he even got one punch in? He is about to close his eyes, the sound of the nearby water swaying him to sleep, but his older brother's voice snaps him out of it, "You better let him go, or else!"

"Great opening line, Nitro," Aqua says, rolling her eyes behind her mask. She directs her attention to the guy holding Andrew and asks, "So, who are you again? This day has been so crazy that I completely forgot."

"No worries, girly. The name's Lincoln, but you can call me Tombstone," the guy answers.

"Which is what you're going to need if you don't let him go!" Nitro retorts, trying to be clever for once.

"Bro, just stop. You're hurting my pride in puns," Aqua mutters.

"Honestly, I don't know how you were able to stand him for that long. I would have thrown myself off a bridge after being stuck guarding him all day," Shadow pipes in, only being slightly sarcastic.

"It was a challenge, but nonetheless, he was an easy target. The best way to get your attention," Lincoln answers.

"And why would you need that, sir?" Aqua asks, getting a tad bored and annoyed that he isn't getting to the point.

"I have a proposition for you, all five of you," he says, pausing to peak their interest. "Work for me."

That catches them off guard completely, and the only one to respond is Aqua with a chest full of loud laughter. She falls to the ground dramatically, clutching her stomach with one hand and pounding the pavement with the other as she kicks her legs like a cartoon character. "Ahaha! That is the funniest thing I've ever heard. You really can't be serious!"

As she shakily stands back up, still chuckling, Tombstone pulls back Olympic Spider and chucks him at her, making her fall once again. Emmy quickly crouches down and pulls the very thick rope in half, all thanks to her added strength. She goes to say something to the guy for the first time but Nitro speaks up first, "Given that you aren't joking around, what makes you think we would even consider that option?"

"The Kingpin is creating villains to match the likes of you. Soon, he will find the one that all of you combined will never be able to outmatch. Either that, or he will have created so many that you don't stand a chance. If you join me, we can take him down together and stop him from creating more superpowered beings," he explains. "All I ask is for your loyalty to me, and the willingness to use your abilities for my... benefit."

"So, you want us to be your bodyguards against the Kingpin?" Aqua asks to clarify. "Whoever he is."

"That would be a real gem on your reputation, wouldn't it?" Shadow asks, knowing there has to be something more to this. I've heard of the Kingpin before, I know I have. Going to have to do some digging on that later.

"G-guys... the Enforcers work for him, don't forget. He's not a joke," Ollie says with worry, finally able to regain enough energy to stand up.

One more look at the young spider is enough to set the rest of them back on edge. Emmy cracks her knuckles and runs at Tombstone, her right arm pulled back for a punch as she yells, "You think we will join you after you hurt Olympic Spider? You're crazy!"

She jumps, throwing her fist at his face, but he easily sidesteps, looks her in the eyes of her mask, and grabs her wrist, tossing her over his shoulder and slamming her into the ground. He lifts one of his feet and tries to stomp her face, but she catches the foot with both her hands, keeping it from crushing her. While he's distracted, the other spiders take action.

Nitro pulls his stingers out from his pack and leaps at him, but Tombstone swings his arm at him and back-hands the spider hard across the face. This sends him flying into the water nearby, which catches Aqua's attention. She screams, "Nitro!" and sprints onto the water, landing on it before he could fall in, and catches him. They both web a nearby lightpost to get back into the fight.

Shadow manages to sneak away while Tombstone is distracted and hides in a dark area behind a building. He sprays webs in his palm, forming it into a ball before running out of his hiding spot and throwing it at Lincoln's eyes. Surprisingly, the webbing spreads over him enough to temporarily blind him, which gives Emmy enough time to chuck his leg upward and throw him off balance. She gets her distance before he yells in rage and crushes the ground where she used to be with his fists. "You brats are making a big mistake, making an enemy out of me!"

"We make enemies out of a lot of people. You're not a special case, Tomby," Aqua says, swinging right above him and kicking him in the back of the head. Nitro is about to do the same thing, but his ankle gets snagged and Lincoln pulls him close, ripping the black webbing off his eyes with his free hand and dropping the spider to the ground. He wraps his hands around his neck and squeezes as hard as he can, but is forced to let go when Olympic Spider rushes and slams right into him with his shoulder.

"You," he growls, grabbing Ollie's shoulders (which are thankfully covered in armor)and pushes him against a wall. Ollie tries to push back, but when that doesn't work he attempts to kick. Tombstone grabs his hurt ankle and twists it once again, but this time it wasn't to help him feel better. "Don't you know when to sit out of a fight?"

Andrew punches him straight across the face in response, but he forgot about his broken wrists so it hurts him a lot more than it did Lincoln. Luckily, it still staggers him enough for Emmy to jump on the wall behind them. She leaps off, hands landing on Tombstone's shoulders, and she flips him over her head, onto the ground. Shadow swings in, wrapping his feet together and pulling the other end of the webs so Tombstone is hanging upside down on a lightpost.

Aqua helps Nitro to his feet, hanging one of his arms around her shoulders so she can easily prop him up. He tries to catch his breath as he says, "That guy has one hell of a grip."

"I'm calling the police," Shadow says, jumping down and landing next to Emmy who is carrying Ollie. "We should stay here and explain what happened, this guy is way too dangerous to leave alone."

"About that..." Nitro says, pointing to the spot where Tombstone used to be tied up. All that's left are a few strands of black webbing blowing in the night wind.

"You're kidding," Shadow groans, rubbing his forehead. "The police are already on their way. What are we going to say when they get here?"

"The truth. We have the aftermath of a fight scene and Ollie is..." Emmy trails off, hugging the poor boy closer to her.

"What are you talking about? I feel completely normal," Ollie says with a chuckle, earning at least a smile from everyone else. "Besides, I know where his headquarters is located. It's where they held me."

"I can't believe he wanted us to join him after what he did to Ollie," Nitro says with anger laced in his words. "What an idiot."

"What he said was so confusing. Who is the Kingpin, and what business does this Tombstone guy even have?" Aqua asks, hoping she isn't the only one who was trying to connect the dots throughout the entire conversation.

"Maybe they know more," Emmy says, nodding her head to the police cars pulling up, sirens and lights blazing.

Captain Stacy swings open his car door before it stops moving and runs up to the Spiderlings. "What happened? Is he okay?" he asks, noticing Olympic Spider in Emmy's arms.

"It's quite the story," Aqua starts, taking a breath to remember how it started with her and Emmy getting a phone call from Ollie. With the help of the other spiders they tell him exactly what happened, especially Olympic explaining how he was kidnapped and taken to a penthouse in Midtown, giving them directions on how to get there. The captain takes notes along with some of the other detectives, looking concerned for the brightly colored spider as he finishes his part of it and falls asleep.

"We will check it out tonight, hopefully before the bastard skips town. I'll call a medic and-" Nitro cuts off the captain.

"He'll be fine, don't worry. We know what we're doing."

Captain Stacy looks like he wants to argue further, but sighs and signals to his officers while saying, "Let's move out! You heard the address, let's catch this guy for disturbing the peace!"

Everyone nods and gets into their respective cars, following Stacy as he leads them away. The four conscious spiders breathe a sigh of relief, knowing the police can handle it from here, and they collapse on the floor from such a tough fight. They will head home after they recover for a bit, but for now they are choosing to grasp the moment of silence and rest together.