"How could I be so-" a metal chair slams into the wall, shattering and stabbing remnants into the remaining working computers and chords, "-reckless!?"

Doctor Octavius curls inward, supporting himself by his four metal legs, and grabs his hair in fistfuls as if he wants to tear it out. The glowing points in his mechanical legs pulse red as his anger surges, breathing as if he is trying to growl like a wild animal. "Aqua Spider... I had her!" he says, tearing years worth of research with one swipe of his leg's claws. "If I just had a little more time with her I could have-"

The doctor cuts himself off, something on his mind not adding up with the way the Spiderlings usually behave. "There's something about that night two weeks ago," he starts, going over to a shelf in the corner of the room where he keeps his journal - a log of the Spiderlings' whereabouts. "They were all at the edge of Hell's Kitchen that night, something isn't right. And from what I saw, Olympic Spider took quite the beating. Hmmm..."

Clickity clap he types away at the last working computer, pulling up the video feed of the Spiderlings' fight with Tombstone. He scrolls back to the beginning of the conversation, seeing the Olympic Spider at the mercy of Lincoln, clearly in his clutches. "If that guy was able to capture Ollie, then perhaps I still have a chance. Yes, of course, that was my mistake," he says, pressing a button on his harness that makes the end of his legs turn into surgical tools. "I went after the wrong spider."

Theme Song!

Bounce, bounce, bounce! A slightly deflated basketball hits the pavement right next to some brand new, neon purple tennis shoes, quickly turning direction to go between them and then up in the air through the basketball hoop. It hits the rim a few times, but eventually goes into the basket. The kid who shot the ball, who can be seen as Andrew, pumps his fists in the air and skips backward saying, "Thought you could beat that, eh Miles? Should have joined my team!"

"In your dreams," the other boy says, grabbing the ball and holding it against his hip before dribbling it again. He's a bit shorter than Andrew, but slightly more muscular to make up for it. His short hair is curly which fits the shape of his face, and his dark skin contrasts with the red shirt and black basketball shorts he has on. He lifts up his free hand to his side and looks around sarcastically as he says, "And yet I don't see anyone else on your team."

"You know what I mean! Why won't you transfer to my school and play basketball with me?" Andrew asks, rushing forward to try and steal the ball. However, Miles steps to the side and easily dodges.

"You know why, brother. I want to finish off high school at Horizon High. How would it look if I went to Midtown, transferred, then transferred back for my last year? I'm not that indecisive," he says, laughing and relaxing his dribbles.

"You didn't have to leave in the first place," Andrew argues back, getting grouchy. "But, I'm not going to admit that I miss my lunch buddy."

A moment passes before Miles pushes forward with the ball and dashes past him, jumping and dunking the ball behind his head. "I miss you, too. Is Flash still giving you trouble?"

"Hah, nope. Not after I, uh, pushed him into his own locker and stole his lunch money," he lies, wishing he could do something like that for once.

"Sure, sure," his friend responds, not believing him for a second. "You couldn't hurt a fly, let alone someone bigger and stronger than yourself."

"Oh, really? You have no idea, bud," he responds, getting dangerously close to telling Miles about his life as Olympic Spider. Out of everyone I know, Miles has always been the closest friend to me. The amount of times I've almost told him my secret identity might as well be numberless.

"Maybe in your imagination! Ready up," Miles responds, chucking the ball at Andrew's chest. He quickly snags it with his hands and squeezes his fingers against the rubber.

"Well, are you at least joining the basketball team at Horizon? We will play against each other a few times; it'll be epic!" he pleads.

"I don't know, man. I got into that school for an opportunity in science tech. I have to focus on my studies or I'll never be able to work with..." he trails off, scratching the back of his neck when he sees Andrew's fake sobbing face. "I'll... think about it. But, only if you actually try out this year."

"YES!" he yells, shooting the ball at the hoop from the half court line. He makes it easily, showing off his accuracy in distance shots. "And don't worry about your science gizmos. Mr. Osborn will hire you straight from high school if you apply. No one can match your brain power. Plus, how long have you been friends with his son?"

"I know, you're right," Miles says, dribbling the ball while leaning on the fence. "It's just been my dream for years and I don't want to screw it up. What if Mr. Osborn hires another teen prodigy? Peter Parker, for example."

"Well, Peter Parker isn't going to Horizon High," Andrew says, exaggerating the name of the school with a pompous, British accent. "You'll be fine!"

"Yeah, yeah," he responds, abashed and blushing slightly. "So, uh, how is the Daily Bugle gig coming along? Did you get any good scoop on the Spiderlings?"

"I wasn't able to get good clicks on the recent Tombstone thing. All of that was found out by the police, and everyone missed the fight since it happened in a discreet location, as Jameson likes to call it," he explains. I was also kind of tied up and had a plethora of broken limbs. Photos weren't on my priority list that night, but staying alive sure was.

"But, those snaps you got of Kraven the Hunter were awesome! You were so close to the action, man, it was like I was seeing it from Ollie's point of view," Miles says, sticking his arms out and thwipping as if he is pretending to be Olympic Spider. "Shad and Em are still my favorites, though."

"Ollie is the easiest to get pictures of. Shadow always does his missions at night," he says, a tad miffed that he isn't his best friend's favorite spider. "And no one calls him 'Shad'! I'll never understand why you like Emerald Spider so much."

"Uh, hello!" Miles yells, pulling out his phone and pulling up some pictures. "Have you seen her? She's the love of my life!"

"Ugh, gross! You don't even know how old she is!" Andrew responds, turning pink.

"Sure, but I know she's shorter than me. Isn't that a plus?"

"Dude, that's nasty!"

"Come on, Andrew. I know you have a crush on her, too! Just admit it," Miles says, pushing the picture of Emmy Spider more into his friend's face. "Admit it! Admit it!"

"No! You can ever get me to talk!" he yells, doing everything he can to push the phone away. He laughs, knowing it's only a joke, but the thought that other people find his sister cute makes him shiver slightly. Something rings in his pocket which makes him dodge the next phone attack and stand up straight, and Miles falls forward onto the court from his friend not being there to prop him up. "My brother keeps texting me."

"Twin bro or chemist bro?" Miles asks, turning over unfazed by the fall.

"John. He wants me to come home right away. It sounds like he invented something," he explains, reading his brother's frantic texts: Dude, where are you? Get over here. This is important, why are you ignoring me?? "I should go see what he wants."

"Can I come, too?" Miles asks excitedly, jumping right up. "If he made something then maybe we can compare notes! There's this project I've been working on, and I really want to show someone how I came up with the idea. Imagine, a world where-"

"Sorry, Miles, but John doesn't really... like it when other people look at his stuff before it's perfected. Maybe you can show your ideas to Harry and get some insight to OSCORP?" he suggests.

"Yeah," Miles responds, clearly bummed out. "That's a good idea. Maybe Harry will let me tinker around in his lab for a bit. It's just... I haven't seen him in forever and I don't know if he will like that I just popped over."

"It's a good chance to reconnect. Just because you go to different schools now doesn't mean you have to ghost him. You and me turned out pretty great!" Andrew says reassuringly, lifting his friend's spirits. And if John made something for the Spiderlings, then Miles sure can't come with me.

"You're right as always, Andrew. I'll give it a shot!" he says with a smile, grabbing his basketball and heading out of the court.

"Let me know how it goes!" Andrew says with a wave, giving his friend a few peace signs before checking his phone once again. He reads: Hurry up! from John and rolls his eyes, grabbing his backpack and sprinting home.

Emerald Spider sits in the subway train with her face propped up by one of her hands while the other holds a piece of paper taken from a folder. Expression drooping, she rereads over one of the cases she took from that weird doctor's lab. This one is a child subject who was trying to replicate the powers of Shadow Spider. The method was, obviously, a giant failure and the poor kid ended up suffocating from a cocoon of sound-proof bandages wrapped sound their entire body. When she looks again at the picture, she remembers what her sister told her: If we take this evidence to the police, there's no way the doctor will be able to do anything else like this ever again. We just have to stop him here and now!

She wishes Julia would have gone with her to the police station, but she had to catch up on schoolwork when she lied about an essay that she said wasn't due for a while. It's the beginning of the semester and she's already struggling, how is she going to make it through junior year? That's another thing she has to worry about, her sister's success. Well, one thing at a time.

The train stops at her destination, but she is too distracted to sign autographs or take pictures with anyone at the station. Instead, she folds the papers back into the folder and runs outside, leaving the people behind her confused and upset that Emmy wasn't talkative.

She swings low to the ground, her white webs taking her to the police station she knows Captain Stacy works at. Waiting for the automatic doors to open for her, she meekly walks inside the building and up to the front desk saying, "I would like to talk to Captain Stacy, please. This is very important."

"Sorry, ma'am, but he's not in right now," a familiar, friendly voice says. She tries to think of where she heard it before, but when she turns her gaze to the guy she knows exactly who it is.

"Hey, don't you work for the new ice cream shop?" she asks.

"Woah, you've gone to my shop? I never thought the Emerald Spider had the time to get my delicious ice cream!" the man at the desk says, swiping his orange hair to the side to try and look more impressive in front of his celebrity crush.

"Who hasn't gone there? It's to die for!" she says, remembering she has to dial it down a bit, She can't say that she also met him at the restaurant right before the Rhino fight or he might start to connect the dots. "Anyway, do you have any idea where the captain is? I really need to speak with him about something I found."

"He's out on recruitment, I think. The police are having a hard time lately because half of them hates you five swinging around. Luckily, I had some free time and offered to man the desk while they are short of staff," he explains. "Is there something I can leave behind for him?"

"It better not be about Mr. Lincoln," a new voice says, making both of them turn toward the front doors. Maria has never been more relieved to see Captain Stacy.

"No, I have other news. You still can't find him?" Emmy asks, her heart dropping.

"Unfortunately, we've scoured the entire west side of Manhattan and still no sign of your guy. Some of my officers are even starting to think it's a hoax," he explains, lowering his voice at the last part. "I know you guys would never pull something like that, and from the way you looked after the fight I know he's still out there somewhere."

Of course, after half a month Tombstone was able to grab his things and escape. I still have no idea how he fled so quickly - the police were at his doorstep the same night. This might have to be another job for us, and we can search for him incognito. Emmy sighs and places the files on the counter, opening them and peeling through the photographs to get to the experiment records as she says, "Aqua and I found this in an underground lab by the sewers in a theater. I think it was called Movies and Mysteries or something like that. Don't ask why we were in the sewers to begin with," she looks up right as Stacy was about to ask, "but there was this creepy lab filled with computers and surgical tools. We stole everything we could and found out he's trying to replicate our powers on regular people."

The captain takes a look at the papers with a disgusted yet confused look. He puts a hand on his chin and scrunches his eyebrows, not knowing what to make of this as he says, "You said he, so you know who's been doing it?"

"Yes, Aqua was attacked by him. Dr. Otto Octavius himself," she explains.

Stacy's eyes widen and he puts the papers back in the folder. "Something like this is very messy. Sadly, we can't just bust into his company and arrest him on the spot. We would need a warrant, and there is no evidence at all that it was him."

"But, Aqua-"

"Look, we need more solid evidence than a vigilante was attacked. Have you actually looked at these files? There is no proof that Octavius wrote these at all, his name isn't printed anywhere on here," he says.

Emmy looks back down at the paper and scans them over once again. She can't believe it, but the captain is right. There are no signs that this has anything to do with Dr. Octavius, it's almost as if he prepared to get robbed of his stuff and didn't put his name on anything on purpose. Emmy shakes her head and takes a few paces back, throwing her hands at her side in frustration. "This is a joke! He experimented on kids, and there's nothing you can do about it?"

"Maybe go back to the lab and try to get more solid proof?" Stacy suggests, trying to help her feel better. "There has to be something, recordings or DNA samples?"

"Ugh," she makes a short noise from her throat and pinches the bridge of her nose. I don't want to go back there... "Okay, okay, fine! I'll head back tonight, and hopefully he won't be there."

"You're going alone?"

"It'll be better than all of us going and getting caught. Don't worry, I can handle it," Emmy pushes, trying to sound like her normal, upbeat self. Without another word, she heads out of the police station, checking her watch and cursing. Damn, I have to go to work. Hopefully they'll let me leave early so I can snoop around Dr. Crazy's lab tonight.

"Johnny, I'm hooooome!" Andrew sings as he bursts through the front door, making sure his Ollie Spider tank top is hidden in his bag, along with the yellow shoulder armor.

"If you ever call me that again I'm going to bust Kraven out of his cell and let him impale you," John's voice echoes from down the hall.

"Okay, Johnny," he responds, turning around to throw his backpack at the couch.

"I'm going to kill you," a calm voice says from right above where Andrew is standing. He scarily looks up, sees his brother, and screams as John unsticks from the ceiling to land right on top of him. "Stop calling me that name!"

"It's not fair at all! I didn't know you were up there, I heard you in our room!" Andrew yells, trying to roll over but John is pinning him down by sitting on his back.

"I'm the Shadow Spider, dude. No sounds," John reminds him, smiling as he holds his brother's shoulders to the floor. "So? Truce?"

"I'm going to beat you up!" Andrew yells, using all of his strength to throw his brother off balance. It only works slightly, but that's all he needs to gain access to his arms once again and thwip behind him, bending the webbing to wrap around John's torso and pull him off. Right as he flips over onto his back, he shoots more webs at him and ties him up, sticking him to the ceiling and shouting in victory, "I won! Hah!"

"You won because I let you," John argues with an eyeroll. He swings himself over to the wall to stick his feet down before ripping the webs off him. "Do you want to see what I made or not?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that," he says with a laugh, watching as John gathers the webs carefully so their parents won't see them later. He leads the way to their room once he sticks the landing, pooling the yellow webs together in a pile of sticky mesh.

Upon entering, John jumps onto his bed and holds up a small, black piece of plastic metal. You know, the kind of material where you can't tell if it's plastic or metal just by looking at it? Well, that's what Andrew calls it: plastic-metal. John tosses it to his brother and he gets a better look at the thing. It's shiny when he twirls it around in his hand, and a little silver piece sticks out of the end. He gives John a confused look so the latter explains, "It's a coding tracker! Look, all you have to do is-" John opens their closet and takes out Andrew's spare Olympic Spider mask, earning a yell of protest from him. "-hook this up to the eye lenses from the inside. Then, once it's done programming, we can see where everyone else is located."

John tosses the mask to him, and he slides it on to see his brother glowing blue. "Woah, that's freaky. What if you're super far away?"

"Watch," he instructs, jumping off his bed and running into the bathroom at the other end of the house. Andrew does what he says and sees there is still a blue dot following his brother's movements. When he comes back he says further, "You can turn it off and on by double tapping the corner of your right lens. I thought programming it into the suit would be better because I know how you always lose things. Unfortunately, the only way to track the other spider is if they have their mask on or in their pocket." He pulls his Shadow Spider mask out from behind him. "And, I'll have to tinker with everyone's mask to make them programmable."

"Can you do it to my original so I don't have to keep wearing the spare?" Andrew asks with a smile, getting a nod in response. "Really, though, this is super cool."

"I've been working on it ever since you were kidnapped," John explains as Andrew gets his pack from the living room. He opens it and gives his mask to him, which he turns inside out and gets to work. "Since all these powerful bad guys are showing up, I thought it would be best if we could keep tabs on anyone just in case we pick fights we can't win alone."

"It will be easy to find everyone that way," Andrew agrees. "And, hey, I wasn't the only one who was kidnapped that day!"

"Julia made it perfectly clear that she was lured, not captured," John teases.

"Picking huge fights, says the one who tried to defeat the Enforcers and the Wrecking Crew all at once."

"Tried? I won that fight, in case you forgot," he says, smiling through the petty argument. "I'm not the one who almost died to a hunting maniac."

"Whatever," Andrew groans, flopping back on his brother's bed. He pauses, wanting to change the subject, and says, "Why didn't you come with me to see Miles? We need to train for basketball tryouts."

"We are already going to make the team because of our advantage, and I know Miles is more your friend than he is mine," John says, waving off the question.

However, Andrew presses, "You're kidding, right? You are both science nerds, inventors, mechanical wizards. He almost came over here to see what you've been working on. He would so much rather hang out with you than me!"

"Wow, you really don't get it, do you?" John asks right as they hear the front door open. It must be their dad coming home from work. Despite that, he continues, "You don't have to be a great and powerful engineer to be friends with Miles. He likes to be with you because of your personality, dummy. You're fun to be around."

Food for thought, Andrew thinks to himself, pausing in a stumped manner. He doesn't - more like can't - comprehend the sentences that his brother put together for him, and he doesn't get long to think of it before their dad walks into the room, making John scramble to put their masks under his covers. He smiles and says, "I'm going out to lunch for a weekend treat. Want to tag along?"

"I don't know, Da," Andrew says with a shrug. "I kind of wanted to stay home for a bit and chill out."

"Well, then I guess I'm going to Maria's restaurant by myself," he informs, walking away.

Their dad doesn't even take two steps before the twins both yell, "Wait! We want to go!"

"Pile in the car and let's surprise your sister!" Mr. Nikris says, waving them to follow him. Even though they live in New York, their dad insists that he needs a car to get to work. Sure, they live in Queens and he works there as well, but the kids all think it's a waste of money. Even their mom doesn't like the fact that they own one, but to Mr. Nikris, his car is his favorite child.

It's a strange way to travel for the boys since they're so used to swinging around. Andrew almost forgets how to buckle a seatbelt, but with John's help he manages it. The ride is smooth and reminds the twins of how much their arms hurt from web slinging all the time. Kind of nice, John thinks to himself. If only we could drive into battle, then our arms wouldn't have already exasperated enough energy to fight better.

But, as much as they enjoy the ride, they have to admit that swinging is a lot faster. The traffic is nuts once they get into Manhattan, and they sure don't need to find a parking spot once they reach their destination after a night of patrol. They can rest whenever they desire, and sticking to the sides of buildings keeps them out of the way of pedestrians. The most annoying thing they have to deal with are pigeons. Oh, and bad guys shooting at them - that, too.

"We are here!" Mr. Nikris shouts, his blood pressure higher than it once since they left. Three middle fingers and two car horns later, they reach the gigantic parking lot of Maria's restaurant. Their dad, tucking in his shirt quickly, jumps out of the driver's seat and opens the door for John. "After you, my liege."

"Thanks, Dad," he says with an eye roll, getting slightly embarrassed that his father is pretending to be this really fancy guy.

Andrew shakes his head, going along with it, and tucks in his purple tank top into his khakis. What? I have some standards, unlike my younger brother. Of course I brought a pair of khakis to change into while in the car!

"Table for three," their dad says once they get inside, John sighing and trying to make himself look smaller. Andrew couldn't care less, gawking at the interior of the building. It always seems to take his breath away with the golden dome ceiling, high enough to make his own Spiderling swinging playground, the off-white walls covered in intricate painted roses (all of which are colored blue, pink, red, or yellow with green stems), the red and gold patterned carpet which has remained fluffy throughout the years, the beautiful wooden chairs with the same patterned tables underneath the pure white tablecloth, shiny silver spoons, forks, and knives the middle of which is wrapped in a napkin, and crystal sets of wine and water glasses at the head of each golden plate.

He doesn't catch the rest of the conversation, something about requesting a table near the center set of booths, and follows his family to their seats. Andrew isn't able to read halfway through the menu when Maria comes stomping out of the kitchen, her white apron and black uniform ruffling with each step and she says, "Hey, fam, what can I get you guys?"

"You seem in the bright and happy mood," John points out, not caring if she wanted it spoken or not. "A water and your finest Mountain Dew, please."

"We don't have that. I'm giving you a Sprite," Maria informs.

"Fiiiine!"

"Hmm," Maria hums in a fake happy tone. She is still quite upset from what happened this morning, but she turns to Andrew and her dad while saying, "And for you?"

"Shirley temple! Shirley temple! Shirley templeee!" Andrew almost shouts, earning a glare from Mr. Nikris. He shrinks in his seat but has to keep himself from laughing. Luckily, a kick to the shins from his brother is enough to shut him up.

"A Diet, please," their dad answers, which gets everyone confused.

"Nothing from the bar for you?" Maria asks.

He shakes his head and smiles, "Nah, I'm saving my stomach for the evening out with your mother. Don't want to drink too much just yet."

"What is this traitorous nonsense? I can't believe we weren't invited!" Everyone turns their heads to see who spoke, and it's none other than Ethan with Julia tagging along right beside him.

"I just didn't want to pay for you meals," their dad answers, earning a chuckle from the youngest siblings.

"Well, there better be room for us anyway," Ethan says, pulling up a few chairs and sliding over their fancy plates to make room, which irritates Maria just slightly. "I'll get a good ol' regular Coca Cola."

"We only have Pepsi products, dude. Same as always," Maria corrects.

"You know what I mean," Ethan groans in reply.

"Water and lemon for me. I'll also take a glass of your special gin you have from behind the bar. On the rocks," Julia whispers that last part to her sister.

"You want a whole highball glass of gin?" Maria asks, making sure she got it right. "Don't you, like, want to be able to stand up later?"

"Why stand up when I can, y'know," she makes a few thwip gestures under the table, but Maria can't see because of the tablecloth. She has a pretty good idea of what she means, however, and decides to give her a glass of "gin" by putting in a drop and filling the rest with water. She leaves to do just that as the rest of the family talks about their mornings. Mostly it's Ethan and Mr. Nikris who converse while John explains the trackers to Julia quietly on the other side of the table.

"I can download it into your mask right now if you have it on you," John says, taking the plastic device out of his pocket.

"Julia, it's really cool. Like, extremely cool," Andrew reassures her.

"Well, actually, I have Nitro's mask with me," she says, embarrassed as she pulls out Ethan's mask from her bag. She holds it under the tablecloth to make sure no one but her brothers can see it.

"Do I want to know what happened?" John asks.

"Um..." she starts, her mind cutting to when she was back at her apartment and she wanted to go patrolling, but pulled out one of Nitro's spare masks from her bag instead. "There must have been a mix up while packing for school a while back."

"And you're just figuring this out now?" Andrew asks. "What happened to your other masks?"

"Yeah, about that..." Cut to another scene of Aqua wearing her regular suit with her brother's mask on instead of her own while the three spares are in the laundry. "I really need to organize my clothes."

"No kidding," John says sarcastically. "We could put that together from you having his mask in the first place. Just give it to me."

He's going to have to program all of their spare masks anyway, so might as well start here. Hopefully he will remember which ones he's upgraded so he doesn't miss one, but of course his siblings can't keep track of anything. Those are the Nikris kids for ya, they'd lose their own heads if they weren't attached to their shoulders.

As the lenses are downloading the tracker under the table, their dad turns back to the twins and says, "Like these guys."

Since they weren't paying attention, Andrew and John have no idea what he's talking about and give him confused glances. The former of which asks, "What did we do this time?"

"Finally trying out for a sport this year. I always said you have the athletic ability, and you really need to show it off to the world! You boys love playing b-ball out on the court with your friends, but for some reason you've never tried out!" he explains.

Yeah, because our older siblings said it would be cheating with our powers, Andrew thinks to himself, positive that his brother has the same argument on his mind. Their father goes back to talking with Ethan, so John is able to quietly say to his brother, "I'm going to take these out for a test run tonight. I'll let you know how it goes."

"Are you serious? Come on, man, let me go with you! Then we can have a more accurate test," Andrew presses, angry that his brother is going on another adventure without him.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you're not quiet or stealthy at all?" John asks, almost raising his voice too loudly but catching himself before their dad can notice.

"You just... you never want to spend time with me! You're always playing Minecraft or out with your friends. You didn't even come to play basketball with me and Miles. It makes me think that all the stuff you say about me being fun to hang around is just nonsense..." he admits.

"Look, I didn't mean..." John trails off, feeling defeated when Andrew won't make eye contact. He sighs, and right after Nitro's mask is done downloading the data he says, "Fine, you can come with me. Just try and be competent. And... maybe wear darker colors to blend in this time."

It feels like only seconds pass until the sun sets and the stars come out, but that's just because Andrew was so excited to finally go on a mission with his brother. Yet, the agreement to wear something darker is vastly annoying him.

John lands on the side of a building, freeing one hand to take a device out of his pocket and make sure the readings are accurate. Right when Andrew lands beside him, he has to fix the hood of his way-too-big black cloak they "borrowed" from their mother's old Halloween outfits, and let's just say she accidentally got it three sizes too big. It goes down to his ankles, covering the colorful armor and costume that he loves so much, only allowing room for his calves to move around under the cape while his hands have to constantly reach for the opening in the front. "What's the plan?" he asks. Despite the comfort level of his uniform tonight, his mood hasn't changed a bit.

"I'm going to head to the south, and you need to head all the way up to Harlem. I want to see the range on this thing and make sure nothing obstructs the view. If I did everything correctly, we will be able to see each other even when we are across Manhattan," he explains, holding up the device and turning the knob slightly.

"Okay. I'm ready! How are we going to communicate?" Andrew asks, not knowing where to go after Harlem.

"Take this," John says, handing him a screen-like device similar to his. "Tap this button to turn on your microphone. Whatever you do, try not to break it or we won't be able to talk."

"Got it, captain! This thing is definitely going to work because you're the one who made it!" Olympic Spider yells, swinging off in the direction he was ordered.

Shadow Spider slaps his forehead before pinching the bridge of his nose. That boy can't be silent for two seconds I swear. He sprays webbing behind him and takes off in the other direction, swinging over a particular theater, which happens to be strangely closed for the time of night, where a creepy mechanical leg is sticking out of the door.

As he swings, Ollie brings his legs up and around his head to do multiple flips before he gets back into the rhythm. He can't help but let out a few "Wah-hoo's!" as he narrowly dodges the top of a building or a billboard sign. After a while of swinging through the night, breathing in that cool air, he lands on top of a water tower in Harlem, gazing out at the water obscured by bridges.

"I could do this all night," he whispers, sighing in content as he closes his eyes to relax. The cloak folds around his entire body, only leaving room for his face and feet to be free. The material hugs his torso to the point where he feels like it's almost suffocating him. Why is it so tight? Wait...

Shooting his eyes open, Ollie sees that some metal cord thing is wrapping around him, pinning his arms to his sides and crushing his lungs. He gasps for air, but before he can say anything he is ripped off the water tower and pulled over to face a very weird looking man. The guy adjusts his dark glasses with one of his fletch hands before putting them both behind his back and saying, "I thought you had a - uh - sixth sense sort of thing. No matter, it makes everything easier for me. What I'm most irritated about is getting back to my lab from here."

"Ack..." Ollie coughs, unable to make a full sentence because of lack of oxygen. "Who...?"

"I'm Doctor Otto Octavius, Mr. Olympic Spider," the doctor introduces, raising himself up on his other three metal legs, showing them off.

"Doc...tor... Oct...pus?" he stutters, not hearing the name correctly.

"No, not an octopus. Octavius," he corrects, putting one of his real hands under the spider's chin and lifting it for each syllable of his name. "But, that's a wild observation you have there. Count me mildly impressed."

"Hnn," he grunts, doing everything he can to thwip his webs. They spray the inside of his cloak, but when he tries again he is able to concentrate and bend them down, this time taking the doctor by surprise, and ties his metal legs together.

Octavius yells angrily and drops him, trying to reach behind him so he can untangle himself. Meanwhile, Andrew falls eight stories to the ground and lands on his side, rolling onto his stomach so he can try to stand up. His vision is blurred, but he can still process the device that John gave him and presses the microphone button. "Shadow... h-help, I'm... attacked-" he takes a huge gulp of air to try and speak better, "-p-please. Bro, I... AGH!"

Something grabs his foot and drags him backward, making him slam his head on the concrete. Using what consciousness he has left, he turns around and thwips, but this time the doctor expects it and is able to dodge. He slams a metal leg onto the spider's neck, lifting him up just a tad before ramming him back into the ground, repeating the process until he is surely knocked out with a little bit of blood trickling from his head. The screen Ollie was using to communicate with lies cracked on the ground, John's voice yelling faintly, "Ollie? Ollie? OLYMPIC SPIDER!" But, the doctor crushes it under his foot as he walks away with him over his shoulder.

"Guys, everyone, come in!" John yells using his new tracking system. He doesn't know why no one is responding to his distress call, but then remembers, Right... I was only able to program Nitro's spare mask. I doubt he will be able to hear me-

"What's the matter?" Ethan's voice resonates over his ears, making his heart leap. "The lenses of my mask were glowing and I had no idea why. What did you do to my costume?"

"I'll explain later, but long story short - I installed a tracking system into it. Ollie has been taken and I have his location, but he's so far away that I know I can't make it on time," John explains.

"You let him go alone? That was mistake number one," Ethan teases. He hears some crashing in the background which probably means he's struggling to get his suit on. "Who do you think took him? The Enforcers again?"

"I can't tell, but they're moving very fast. I doubt it's the Enforcers or Tombstone," he reasons. "Double tap your eye lens in the upper right corner. Follow the purple marker - that's Ollie, and I'll meet up with you to help you find him."

"Got it. I'm on my way!" Nitro says. John thinks he must have just jumped out of a window because he can see a red dot in the distance, indicating he is now in his costume and on the field. He focuses on that marker, thinking it's best to meet up with Ethan before he can help Andrew on his own, and pulls himself over buildings as fast as he can.

You know that feeling you get when your muscles are so stiff that you want to move them, but somehow can't? Yeah, that's me right now, Ollie thinks to himself as he slowly opens his eyes, wondering why in the world he can't stretch his arms. Ugh... my head. The pounding in the back of his skull actually seems to make a noise when he tries to lift it up. For some reason, there is a thick restraint over his neck that is keeping his head in place, and he finds out it's the same thing for his wrists, arms, ankles, and legs. There is even one around his hips, which is the most uncomfortable since it is rubbing up against his bone.

The next full thought that enters his head is, Thank goodness the cloak is gone, and he is able to see it resting on a chair right beside his head. His heart drops, however, when he sees his web shooters and metal attachments of his costume also lying there. "What the he-"

"Hello, Olympic Spider. I'm very glad you were able to wake up in time. You never fail to amaze me," the familiar voice of the doctor says as he steps out of the shadows. Andrew sees that it's just him without the black harness covering his body, but he doesn't know which is scarier. "You're probably wondering why I brought you here."

"Aqua told me... about you," he says, feigning his confidence and trying to get his voice back. "You're the one who... lured her in here. The theater-"

"Don't remind me of my past failures!" he shouts, not afraid to be loud since they are safe in his lab. "I am not so easily stirred, but don't test me."

"Fine, I'll quiz you instead," Ollie retorts, instantly regretting it when he gets a whack to the side of his face. "O-oww."

"I have upgraded my equipment since my encounter with her, so you won't be able to steal another table from me," he explains, gesturing to the reinforced pole that connects the surgical table to the cement. He walks over to a hangar that is holding his harness and metal arms, turning around and fastening them to his back. He uses them to walk over and loom over Ollie while continuing, "I shall waste no time now that I have you here. These procedures won't hurt... me, but try not to squirm or it will make things more difficult."

"P-procedures?" Andrew asks, actually starting to get scared for a second. "W-what for?"

The doctor turns around with a curved tip pair of scissors, a hemostatic forcep, and a surgery knife, the latter of which is the only one in his flesh hand. "Why, to see what makes you so special of course."

"Damn, the signal scrambled. Andrew's marker is off the radar for some reason," Ethan says, landing on a window and double tapping his eye lens again to try and get it back online.

"It's not the tracker. He must have gone in water or underground, that's the only thing I can think of," John explains, looking at where his brother was last seen on the device, which appears to be a random theater in The Village. "Hey, isn't this where Aqua said she was taken?"

"Lured," Ethan corrects, looking at the screen over his brother's shoulder. "Yeah, I remember her telling me about it in great detail. She's never been so salty - guess it was because of how she had to hop back home attached to a table."

"I think I know who took our brother, but we have to be careful. If he was able to capture two of us then there's no telling what he can do," Shadow says nervously. He lets out a breath, and voices his thoughts, "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have let him tag along in the first place."

"Ollie would have gone even if you said no, it's just in his nature to break the rules. Don't put this all on yourself, Shadow, I was just messing with you earlier," Nitro says to try and make him feel better. He presses his back against the wall and puts a hand on his shoulder. "You know, trying to lighten the mood. I've been hanging around Jules too much."

"You really have," he responds with a laugh, feeling more confident than before. "Okay, let's go investigate the sewers."

"To the theater, then?" the older spider asks.

"No," John stops him, holding up his map. "I think a different way in will give us the element of surprise, my specialty."

Emerald Spider hides behind a building, trying not to be spotted or draw attention to herself as she runs across the street and comes to the theater she wishes she could forget. Her eyes widen when she sees she's not alone. "What are you doing here, Captain Stacy?!"

Leaning on the window and crossing his arms over his chest, the head of the NYPD gives her a stern look while saying, "I'm not sitting this one out. You five risk your lives and I'm going to help you get that information to stop this maniac. If he's anything like those files said, he needs to be stopped quickly."

"But, isn't that illegal for you?" Emmy asks.

"Do you see me wearing the uniform? I'm going as a simple man who has a hunch," Stacy responds, entering the theater through the automatic doors. "Let's not waste any time. Where's the entrance to this lab?"

"In this closet over here. I'm pretty sure this room was reserved for a main ventilation area," she explains, heading right toward the room with the manhole covering.

"What... hmm," the captain says under his breath.

"What is it?"

"That door for the closet. I didn't see it until you opened it, like it wasn't real at all," he says, shaking his head in confusion.

"Like some sort of cloaking mechanism to hide the entrance?" Emmy asks, feeling the area spooking her even more now. "I wonder why I was able to see it, then."

"A question for later, but for now we should keep going," Stacy says, making a mental note to search the theater on his own time. Emmy lifts up the metal plate and the two hop down inside the sewer, Stacy holding up his flashlight and the eldest Spiderling sticking to the wall upon entry.

"I remember going this way," she explains, pointing to the back of the tunnel ahead of them. "Do you want me to carry you because of the..."

"No, thanks. I came prepared," Stacy responds, lifting one of his feet and showing her the heavy rain boots covered in a plastic wrap.

It feels like they walk for hours, and Emmy will admit that she is starting to feel a little lost. Last time it was Julia leading her through the tunnels, and she wasn't really paying that much attention to where they were going. On top of that, all of the paths look the same. The only indicator that she knows of is the very faint sound of a rushing waterfall, which tells her that she's going the wrong way. One thing's for sure: at this rate, they will make it to the lab by morning and by then the doctor might already be back there.

She is about to tell the captain that she thinks they're lost when Ethan's voice echoes through the tunnel, "If we went left last time, don't you think it would be a good idea to head right?"

"Nitro?" Emmy asks herself, Stacy and her giving each other a confused look before staring suspiciously ahead of them. The captain raises a gun and Emmy gets ready for a fight, but they're both relieved when they see Nitro and Shadow turn the corner.

"No, there was a different path we didn't take last time, remember?" Shadow asks his brother, eyes widening when he spots the green spider. "Em, is that you?"

"Yeah, what are you guys going down here? And why do you sound all worried?" she asks, walking up to them along with the captain.

"Ollie's been kidnapped and his tracker ended here. We think that doctor took him," Nitro explains quickly, starting to get nervous himself. "We've been down here for a long time trying to find his lab, but without the tracking beacon on Ollie, we can't get a good fix on where to go."

"I don't think we have to worry about that any longer," Stacy says, pointing his flashlight at the stone wall. The three spiders turn their heads and see scratch marks running along the side, almost as if something metallic and sharp was scraping against it.

"Smart observation, Captain," Nitro compliments, putting his hand on the wall. His gaze follows the markings down the tunnel and he leads the way with Stacy keeping the light on the stone.

After a few more minutes of walking, Stacy decides to break the silence by asking, "How did Olympic Spider get captured again? Is he prone to this sort of thing?"

"He's reckless and takes punches he knows he can't handle," Shadow responds with a snap to his tone. "I told him not to come with me to test out the new trackers tonight, but he just had to."

"We already talked about this," Nitro groans.

"Trust me, I'm more angry than upset right now," he retorts, making Stacy wish he hadn't said anything to begin with. And here I thought they always got along, never fought amongst themselves, and always had a plan. I guess they are more human than spider, but no one seems to understand that since they wear masks.

"It's okay, guys. Once we find him, maybe we can take down this doctor guy for good-" Emmy cuts herself off when she feels her foot press down a stone on the ceiling. Her spider sense goes off along with Ethan's, and their heads perk up. Right as a gun lowers from the ceiling and fires, Emerald Spider pushes Stacy out of the way while Nitro pulls Shadow to safety.

There is a loud banging sound then everyone stays still as the gun raises itself back up into the ceiling. Nitro lifts his head and helps Shadow stand up as he asks, "Are you two okay?"

"Nnn...nggg..." Stacy turns Emmy over onto her back and props her up so she doesn't fall into the water. Her gloves become stained with red as she covers the bullet wound in her side.

"Em!" Shadow yells, carefully lifting his sister up. "He must have upped on security. We need to get her out of here!"

"N-no... keep going. We need to... get Ollie!" she pleads, curling up in pain. "I'll be fine!"

"That's nonsense! Why don't one of you take her above ground while the other spider and I find the lab?" Stacy asks urgently.

"AHHHH!" Olympic Spider's scream rushes through the tunnel, piercing through everyone's ears. Without another word, they all run toward the noise, Shadow carrying Emmy the best he can in his arms.

They find it easily this time with Nitro and Stacy leading the way. Right when they get to a huge opening, they have to hold back their gasps when they see Aqua was telling the truth. Ethan recognizes him from the day he was chasing the Jackal, and Maria remembers a man she saved from a falling billboard during her fight with the Rhino as the same guy. It's Otto Octavius for sure, writing notes. Two of his mechanical arms lift his feet off the ground while the other two are doing something to Andrew. He only lifts his head when Ollie lets out a squeak. "I really did pick up the drama queen of the group," he says, finally noticing the intruders. "I wasn't expecting company until after he became a corpse."

"Get away from him!" Shadow demands, shaking. He would leap over the table and strangle him right now if he wasn't carrying his sister.

"Ah, I see you brought me another test subject," he responds, lowering his gaze to a hurt Emerald Spider.

"Shad, throw me," she whispers in the quietest voice she can muster.

"Are you crazy?" he mutters back.

"Throw. Me."

Biting his lip at the crazy idea, Shadow Spider hooks his fingers tighter around his sister, pulls her back toward him ever so slightly, and chucks her up into the air. Letting go of her wound, Emmy sprays webs mid-air and snags the dissection tools from the doctor's claws, landing and swinging them at his face. The doctor manages to raise his two legs in an X-formation, blocking the scissors and forceps, and lunges at her.

Nitro jumps to the other side of the table and webs the doctor's grounded mechanical legs to the floor, pulling him back while Shadow runs on the ceiling, able to sneak up on him, and drops, punching him across the face as he does so. Octavius regains his composure and lands on his real feet, allowing him to pull his mechanical legs free and knock Nitro off balance. Meanchile, he snags the back of Shadow's hood with another arm to keep him from running away and throws him onto Emmy, hurting her even more.

Shadow webs the ceiling and swings low to the ground, kicking Octavius in the knees and making him yell, "You know, I was being gentle with him before. There was no reason to panic!"

"If I was concerned for Ollie's health, I would have taken him to see a real doctor!" Shadow retorts, trying to web him to the ceiling. None of his attempts are working because his mechanical legs keep swiping them away.

"I am a doctor!" he growls.

Emmy manages to sneak up behind him and grabs the claws of two of his legs, turning and pulling them over her shoulder. She tosses Octavius over her head and slams him into a wooden desk while saying, "Yeah, a crazy one!"

"Gee, what a great comeback," Nitro says sarcastically, hanging from the ceiling upside down.

"What? I'm losing a lot of blood and I'm feeling a little whoosie," she says in her defense.

"Heads up!" Shadow yells, webbing one of the computers and throwing it at the doctor. Even though he manages to lift his legs to shield himself, the device still shatters around him and knocks him back.

"I'm done with meddlers always getting in my way of research..." he grumbles, wrapping his hands around some giant chunks of broken glass. "I don't care if you're all dead anymore! I can dissect your un-pounding heart!"

He throws the glass shards at them, all three spiders dodging in a different direction and Stacy falling to the ground with his hands covering his head. The glass breaks into even smaller pieces once it hits against the wall, and the captain gets his gun ready now that he's been attacked. He crouches behind a desk and peeks over it, raising his gun by his face and pointing it at the doctor. However, everyone is frozen when they see Octavius holding a knife underneath Ollie's chin.

"You really don't seem to think things through," Otto says, a smile forming for the first time on his weasley face.

"Neither do you!" Shadow retorts, shooting black webs at the knife and pulling it away from his brother. While he is distracted, Nitro swings from the ceiling and swoops down, kneeing the doctor in the chest and sending him flying backward. The back of his harness smashes through the glass of a glowing, white tube and his screams fill the room along with the sounds of electricity. All of the light bulbs blow, Shadow shielding Ollie from the falling glass while Stacy covers Emmy, Nitro getting blasted back by the sudden force of the explosion.

It takes a few moments for the smoke to clear, but once it does the room is dark and the only source of noise are Nitro's coughs. "I, ugh, guess that was a generator for this whole lab," he reasons.

"Is he still there? We can bring him in for questioning," Stacy asks.

"I can't te-" Nitro starts, stopping himself once the top of the generator bursts aflame.

Emmy coughs as she rips the restraints off Andrew, allowing John to pick him up, and Stacy drapes one of her arms around his shoulder. Ethan tries desperately to spot Octavius through the dark mess, but the captain grabs his wrist and says, "Come on, there's no way we will be able to help down here!"

"I need to find him! I can't just-"

"He's not there," Stacy says sternly, pointing his flashlight at where the doctor was. "It's a trap for you. Let's get out of here!"

Heart splitting in two different directions, Nitro reluctantly nods and rushes out of the room, lifting his sister to relieve Stacy and to help him run faster. They run through the tunnels, going back the way they came with the help of Stacy's flashlight and the path of scrapped walls. There is one point where the trail ends, but they see the light of the uncovered manhole and run straight through, Nitro putting Emmy down so he can help the captain out of the sewers. Once Shadow and Ollie are through, he pushes the metal plate over the hole to separate them more from the scary lab.

"I'll call the ambulance," Stacy says, out of breath. He reaches for his phone but Nitro stops him.

"No, they'll be alright."

"Those wounds are certain to get infected. They need professional medical help or they might..." he says nervously, looking at the state of the two hurt spiders. In all honesty, Emmy has survived a gunshot wound before, but there is a giant gash in Ollie's side trailing all the way to his belly button that he might not make it through the night.

"Shadow, Captain, there has to be some first aid here. Somewhere, maybe a bathroom or... I don't know," he says, starting to internally hyperventilate. He didn't realize how bad Ollie's condition was until now.

"I'm calling for help," Stacy says while Shadow gets up to look for the medical kit.

"Please, don't," Nitro pleads, grabbing his wrist.

"You're going to have to trust me this one time," the captain responds, clearly set on getting the spiders the help they need tonight.

After a moment to think about it, he nods and takes his hand back, focusing on his siblings instead. "It's going to be alright," he says to Andrew, who he can tell is starting to drift off by the way his head keeps bobbing to the side.

"I found one, but what are you going to do with band-aids?" Shadow asks, swinging back with a teal first-aid box.

Ethan rips off the cover and instantly finds the gauze along with some disinfecting ointment, which he gives to John saying, "Put this on Emmy's and try to wrap it up the best you can."

"I'm not the medic here, you are," John admits, but does what he says anyway.

Nitro overhears Stacy on the phone saying, "Three blocks away, bring what you can. Honey, I... no, I'm not the one who's injured. You'll see when you get here. Okay, be careful."

"I never knew your wife was a doctor," Nitro says, taking out all the gauze and pressing it against Andrew's stomach.

"She isn't," he responds, slightly smiling.

The spider remains confused until the front doors open, revealing one of Maria and Julia's best friends. Stacy waves her over and says, "Over here, Gwen."

"Oh my God!" she breathes, seeing the four spiders all gathered together. Gwen puts her bag down and kneels down next to Nitro, taking over and peeling the gauze away from Olympic Spider's side. "How long has he been like this?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe a little over an hour?" he guesses.

"He's running a fever," Gwen informs, putting a hand on his forehead. "I need a bag of ice and a working outlet!"

She hands a plug to Shadow who hurries to find the outlet while Nitro jumps over the concessions counter to look for ice. Gwen connects all her tubes and plastic bags together, screwing the last one into the back of a needle. "Light, please, Dad," she says and he brings his flighlight over. She takes off one of Ollie's yellow gloves then the grey one to reveal his normal arm. Quickly finding a vein, she pokes the needle into his wrist and fills the bag up with medicine. "I'm giving him tylenol for the fever and antibiotics for the infection."

She hops to the other side, readying his other arm with a strap and a clamp over his index finger. "This will check his pulse and blood pressure to make sure his heart is okay."

"I know what those things mean," Nitro retorts, coming back with a bag of ice and gently holding it over his brother's head. He realized he snapped and quickly responds with, "Sorry, thanks for your help."

"Of course," she says, glad that he apologized. She looks at her monitor and nods, "Just what I thought. He's spiking because of the fever, but the medicine will do its job. Mind helping me while I stitch him up?"

Er, sure," Ethan says, mentally preparing himself for what she needs.

Gwen puts her hair up and pulls some gloves on. She has Ethan put a mask over her mouth to keep her hands from becoming unsterile, and she gets to work. It doesn't take as long as Nitro thought it would. All she has to do is clean the area, make sure her tools are clean, stitch everything back together (which takes two different rows of nineteen stitches each), and finalize it with some gauze and medical tape to keep it in place. By the end of the procedure, Andrew's fever has gone down and he seems more awake than before. He squeezes one of Ethan's hands the entire time since they have no anesthetics to help with the pain.

Emmy is not so calm, but she does let Gwen eventually take the bullet out with a lot of convincing from Shadow. Gwen orders Nitro to keep talking with Ollie so he doesn't go to sleep, so he pats his brother's shoulder with his free hand and does what she says. "Can you see?"

"Yeah," Ollie responds, trying to nod but his head is so stiff from being in that restraint for so long. "You guys... took your time gettin' there."

"Well, we aren't the Great and Powerful Olympic Spider, so of course we got lost in the tunnels," Ethan says, starting to choke up a bit. Stacy turns toward them, listening to their conversation.

"Sorry, I... keep getting in... trouble," he apologizes.

"Either that, or trouble keeps finding you," Ethan teases. "Just think, earlier today we were having lunch together. What did you do that made Octavius so mad at you?"

"I existed," he says with a laugh, immediately regretting it. "Can... I sleep over?"

"Uh," Nitro stutters, glancing at Stacy. "You haven't asked that since we were little. We both have school tomorrow, silly."

Yeah, way more human than I ever could have imagined, Stacy thinks to himself. He turns to Gwen and Emmy who are wrapping up things, the latter of whom is able to sit up with minimal pain now that her spider powers are starting to take over. The green spider looks at him in defeat and says, "We didn't even get any proof. After all of that."

"I think we will be fine. I managed to snag a few recordings from the cameras while you were fighting Octavius in the first few minutes," he explains. "There will be a warrant out for his arrest by morning."

"That's amazing, exactly the news we need right now," Shadow says, helping his sister stand up.

Emmy holds out her hands to Gwen and says, "Thank you, Miss..."

"Gwen. Just call me Gwen, and I'm glad I could help!" she responds with a smile, accepting her handshake.

"What will you do now?" Stacy asks, holding his daughter's bag while she packs everything up.

"Sleep," Nitro says honestly. He carries Ollie in his arms, securing the bag of ice on his forehead, and taking a bottle of antibiotics from Gwen just in case the infection flares up again.

"Everyone to my place, we have a couch for Nitro and Shadow, and I'm sure Aqua won't mind it if Ollie steals her bed for the night," Emmy says, the boys too tired to argue.

"Spider sleepover it is," Shadow says with a nod, the four of them swinging away in the direction of her apartment.

Captain Stacy and Gwen watch as they take to the sky, the latter voicing what's going through both of their minds, "This city needs them, doesn't it? With all these maniacs running around, and a doctor kidnapping people like that. From what you've told me, we are lucky to have them."

"That we are, Gwen," he responds, wrapping a loving arm around her shoulder. "That we are."