"I want everyone to raise the roof!" a female voice shouts through a microphone, putting her hands in the air. The crowd in the club cheers as she revs the disk on the stereo, adding flare to the beginning of her song.

"If anyone is wondering," her voice resonates, but it doesn't seem to be coming from her mouth. Time starts to go in slow motion as her voice explains, "That's me, Julia Nikris. I'm the second oldest, and yet the best one out of the Nikris siblings. I hold a big secret, but I can't tell you because, you know, secrets. If you watched season one, then you probably know what I'm talking about. But, for those of you who came straight here instead, I'm just your friendly neighborhood DJ who is spending her Monday at 4am entertaining the drunks who want to party until the sun comes up. Over there," the camera points at a man with auburn hair, jumping so high that his drink is starting to splash all over the place, "is one of my best friends and nextdoor neighbor, Max Dillon. He has finally decided to come to one of my shows. Beside him is Gwen Stacy, another friend of mine. She was wary at first, but I'm glad she is starting to feel comfortable while dancing to my sick tunes. Anyway, back to the music!"

"Alright, I want to spice it up in here for all of you party animals," Julia says as time returns back to normal. Instead of using the normal DJ set, she turns to her launchpad and starts making her own music. At first, it starts slow, but then blows up after the introduction. At this point, everyone loses it. Julia knows she would have a headache right now if she wasn't hopped up on pain medicine. The song ends with a final chord and she turns on the automatic music for those people who want to stay longer. "Thanks, everyone! See you all again tomorrow night," she says, bows, and exits stage left.

The music sounds even more muffled now that she's in her break room getting freshened up. The mirror reflects the bags under her eyes, but she applies more makeup to her face then puts her hair up in a ponytail. There is a knock at her door, and she says, "Come on in!" thinking it's Max and Gwen. Surprisingly, it's the club's owner and her boss, Jeremy.

"That was quite a night," he says, shifting his weight between his feet. The body language he is giving off makes Julia on edge, but she is too tired to think of any rational reasons why.

"You bet! Those guys are all going to go home and force their friends to tag along. This place is going to be packed by the end of the week." She turns around and adds, "You're welcome."

"Yeah, that sounds really nice," he responds, but his tone is not appreciative.

"What's the matter?"

Jeremy sighs at her question, knowing he can't stall any longer. "I'm really worried about you, Julia. Every night you work here until the sun comes up. Granted, there are only a few nights that you missed work, but that's what I came here to talk to you about."

She remembers the night when she was fighting Tombstone with her family, and the other where she tackled Scorpion. "I'm really, really sorry about that! I won't miss another night, I promise."

"Don't worry, I'm not firing you." He pauses for a second. "I've hired someone else to take over half the week.You're going to be hosting from Tuesday to Fridays, and my new DJ is taking over Saturday to Monday."

"THE WEEKEND?! They're taking my weekends? Jeremy, that's bullcrap!"

"Hey, you have no say in this. I'm putting my foot down this time," he says strictly, which is completely out of character for him. It makes Julia flinch. "You lied to me."

"About what?! When have I ever lied to you?"

He pulls out a stack of papers and reads, "Julia Nichols is a Junior at Empire State University." Her heart drops as he continues, "She is currently undecided, barely passing classes, and forgets half of her assignments. As her professor, I am encouraging you to lessen her night shift hours so that she can catch up on her work during the day. Signed, Dr. Geiger."

"That little backstabbing son of a bitch!" she yells. "I'm going to talk to him in class tomorrow. Poetry professors have no business messing with my non-school life!"

"You will do no such thing, or you're out of here, Nikris!"

"What?!"

"You're fired if you take this back to your teacher. I'm adding your wages by time and a half, so you won't lose out on too much money. I want you to be getting rest and focusing on your life. Stop trying to throw it away working here." His voice gets softer as he speaks. "Take this week off and come back next Tuesday to gather your bearings. I need to train the new girl anyway, so this would be the perfect opportunity."

"Now it just feels like you're trying to replace me," she snaps, wiping her eyes. Before he can say anything back, she raises her voice once again, "Whatever, it's fine. I'll just go to another club for a week."

"Julia, I swear if you-" SLAM! The door shuts and Jeremy sighs, putting his face in his hands stressfully. "I knew that wasn't going to go well."

She walks out of the building with a backpack filled with her electronics. The sun is starting to come up, which makes her just a bit more awake. Gwen and Max are outside laughing and leaning on the wall. When she walks out, Gwen basically tackles her in a drunk hug. "That was amazing, girl! Oh my goooosh."

"You took forever to come outside," Max says, a bit more sober than Gwen.

"My boss talked to me and gave me the rest of the week off." She walks up to the street and hails a taxi easily. Gwen and Max slide inside the back seat, but Julia closes the door before she can get in and tells the driver, "Drop her off at Kennedy Hall where ESU students live. The guy goes to Queens, Junction Street."

She hands him some money that will cover both rides, but Max asks before she leaves, "You're not coming?"

"I'm going to walk back to my apartment so I can clear my head. I have to go to class soon, anyway."

The car takes off before he can protest some more, and Julia is left alone. I hope my siblings are having a better morning than I am, she thinks as she walks behind the building to change into her spider outfit.

Theme song!

Ethan sits at his work desk in his apartment, sitting in unease. Papers fill every inch of the desk, some have even fallen onto the floor, and each one reading a new headline along the lines of: Where is Tombstone? The War on Drugs at a Pause? Wilson Fisk Closes the Doors to His Tower.

"It doesn't make any sense," he says, turning to the half-asleep John who is lying on his bed. "After the Sinister Six were defeated, everything has been really quiet. It felt like every week there would be a new villain or something, but it's mid-December and nothing has come up."

"You're overthinking this," John says lazily.

"You think so?"

"Definitely. You should be grateful we get a break and can focus on the little robbers again. Fighting those super-powered freaks takes a toll on all of us," John points out. "We deserve to rest. Anyway, we probably won after we took down that entire team."

"Mob bosses don't just quit, though," he mutters, holding up a paper that reads: Is the Jackal in Hyding? "They're planning something, I can feel it."

"Spider sense tingling?"

"No, just... a gut feeling."

"I'm telling you, let it go. Don't worry about it. Another month will go by and nothing will happen." John's watch starts beeping and he groans. "I gotta go or I'll be late for school. Don't dwell on this too much, got it?"

Ethan smirks. "Fine, whatever you say... Shadow Spider." He turns around just as his brother pulls his mask down and jumps out the window, swinging into the morning sun. He has to admit, it's weird seeing Shadow in the city during the day.

Wilson Fisk stands in the meeting room on the top floor of his tower. He looks down, seeing so many small people gathering to knock on his door and ask where he's been. Luckily, they can't see this high up. He raises an eyebrow as Shadow Spider shoots webs at his window and swings by, paying him no mind. Hmm... looks like he's late for something.

"Jesus, Fisk, ya could-a made it easier for me to get in here without being seen," someone says behind him. He turns around to see Hammer Head letting out a breath of relief as he sits in a chair at the meeting table.

"I wanted it to be a fun challenge for you, Joseph. Well, now that we are all here, let's get down to business. We have much to discuss," he says, seeing all four chairs in the room are taken. He sits down at the head of the table, his back to the window.

"We all saw what happened at the beginning of November," Tombstone says, leaning forward. "How the Spiderlings handled the newly named Sinister Six."

"Are we seriously talking about this? It's been on the news for the past month now!" Machine Head complains. "I'm bored of this topic."

"Will you be bored when they come knocking at your door next?" Hammer Head snaps. "We need a plan of attack. The way I see it, they were almost killed."

"Here." Kingpin gestures to the television straight across from him and turns it on. He scrolls the recording forward until Kraven the Hunter wraps a string of knives around Olympic Spider, stabbing him in four areas. "This was the critical moment in their battle. The only problem is, they were allowed to escape and get help."

"Exactly. What we need are more warriors."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Tombstone asks sarcastically to the one who spoke last.

"Silvermane, your Tomby-ness. I handle transportation of all our... products," the man responds. He looks older with white hair and a wrinkled face. He seems to be the shortest out of the bunch, wearing a completely white suit and a silver tie. His pale eyes stare right back at Tombstone's pink ones.

"He preferred to stay in the shadows until now," Kingpin explains shortly.

"I'm no man of science, but I can provide strategy."

"Strategies that I don't agree with," Tombstone growls. "Making more of these powered allies will get too much to handle at some point. What are you going to do if they slip out of your fingers? Start thinking they're better than you?"

"Then you pull their plugs! Why are we even having this conversation?" Machine Head complains. "If Mr. Scorps tried to kill me, I'd off him first! It's simple math even you four can comprehend. All you have to do is direct their anger at the Spiderlings. Do that, and they can be controlled for as long as you need."

"Except that all of your experiments keep failing, Wilson," Hammer Head says.

"That's why Silver over here suggests we make more!" Machine Head retorts. "It's like you all were born yesterday or something."

"Insult me one more time," Hammer Head says, standing up and leaning forward on the table.

Machine Head pulls out a gun from his belt and points it right at his forehead. "I will blow that Adamantium head right off those fleshy shoulders unless you can come up with a better idea."

"Gentlemen, we aren't enemies," Kingpin says calmly.

"Uh, last I checked, we were!" Machine Head yells. "We just made history right here! Five competitors in the business are meeting up because we can't kill a few insects. If my reputation wasn't at stake, I'd off them myself! I'd at least do a better job than Zombie Man did over there." He gestures his gun to Tombstone after he says that.

"Five on one, Wires for Brains. I don't think I need to point out the math on that," Tombstone snaps back, crossing his arms.

"I'm just saying, think big! Make this city your bitch!" he says, standing on the table. "The only time the spider siblings actually struggled is when their strengths were tested. Rhino sent to kill Emmy? He got flipped over a building and we found out she has mega strength. Scorpion going on a rampage? Oh no, Aqua was there to knock him out, but wait!" He snags the remote and fast forwards the video. "When overwhelmed, she lost her guard and was stabbed! Kraven used Ollie's webs against him. Hydro-Man soaked Shadow and got between his armor to rip it off. Remember when Jackal grabbed one of Nitro's stingers and put him to sleep? Sand is no match for Emerald Spider's strength. Can't throw what you can't grab!"

"Fine, we get it! What's your point?" Hammer Head yells.

"These five heroes are humans, and humans have limits. This Doctor Octopus guy rushed things, but we should bide our time and test those limits of theirs. Once we find their breaking points, WHAM! Throw every nuke we got at them."

"So, experiment? See what we can come up with?" Silvermane asks.

"Get creative." Tombstone smirks. "I kind of like that."

"And you thought we wouldn't be able to control all these villains," Machine Head says. "I am the ultimate Dom! I control everything!"

"Psh." Hammer Head rolls his eyes. "Nice theatrics, but I would rather kill them than give them an exam."

"You're so impatient," he coos. "Trust me, darling, numbers don't lie. You'll get to see these spiders crushed soon. For now, let's enjoy the show and take notes."

Shadow Spider lands on the roof of Midtown High and quickly takes off his armor. He slides some normal clothes over his spandex, knowing he can fully change in the bathroom during lunch. Making sure to be careful, he jumps off the building and lands gracefully on his feet, slinging his backpack around his shoulder. He enters through the front doors right as the warning bell rings. Dang it. I'll have to skip my locker and go straight to History. Hopefully I won't need my book.

He's glad he decided on that because the final bell rings right when he sits at his desk. They normally don't sit together, but the only open seat was right next to Andrew. "What a turn of events. You're the one who was almost late this time," the older twin mocks.

"Yeah, yeah. I was talking with our brother about some stuff. Had to swing here to make it on time."

"What were you talking about?" Andrew asks, feeling a bit hurt that he wasn't invited.

"Just Ethan overreacting about the mob bosses being quiet. Stupid stuff like that."

"Yeah... sounds very stupid..." he sighs, but stops thinking about it when he feels something sticky hit the back of his head. He turns around to see Flash and his best friend, Kong, chuckling quietly and chewing spitballs.

"Good morning class." A man who no one recognizes walks inside the room and puts his giant briefcase down on the teacher's desk. "My name is Mr. Dennis, and I will be your substitute teacher until Mrs. Kasper comes back."

Peter Parker raises his hand and asks, "What happened to her? She was here on Friday."

"Oh, she was in an unfortunate accident. She's in the hospital, and I'm hoping for her full recovery," the substitute says. The way he speaks makes Andrew's skin crawl, but he doesn't know why. "Now, I'll take attendance."

It's the longest thirty minutes of his life. John's head keeps ringing whenever he looks up from his paper, and it makes a migraine form. He knows this feeling all too well, his spider sense, but no matter what he does, he can't make any sense of it. Why would his spider sense be ringing constantly throughout the lesson? He keeps peeking at Andrew to see if he's having the same issue, but he looks as if he's tuning out the world entirely. John's gaze turns to the clock above the chalkboard. I can't take this for another fifteen minutes. "Excuse me, Mr. Dennis," he groans, raising his hand.

"Yes, Mr. um..."

"John Nikris."

"Right. Do you have a question?"

"Yeah, um, I left my book in my locker. Can I snag it real quick?"

He expects the teacher to say 'no' without hesitation, but to his surprise Mr. Dennis responds, "Of course, just be sure to bring it to class next time."

Without saying anything else, he exits the classroom and heads straight for... the bathroom. The ringing in his head doesn't stop until he is safe in a stall, sticking to the wall above the toilet. "Ugh, I might actually get sick," he mutters, thinking the water from the toilet looks more inviting than usual. This is crazy, though. My spider sense has never acted up like that before. Maybe I just slept weirdly last night? Something about that teacher... no, it's probably nothing.

The next fifteen minutes go by and the bell rings, meaning it's safe to leave the bathroom. He quickly goes to his locker to get his second period materials, trying to peek over the crowd so he can find his brother. Where are you, Andrew?

"Are you seriously going to tryouts tomorrow, Nikris? That's a laugh!"

"Shut up, Flash! You're just mad I have the capability to beat you."

"Yeah, you wish!"

Welp, that wasn't hard. John squeezes his way through the crowd, ignores Flash's insults, grabs Andrew's wrist, and pulls him away from the scene. The bully yells one more thing before he turns the corner, "Saved by the twin! You're lucky your younger brother was around An-dick!"

"I could have handled that on my own," Andrew says smugly.

"Yeah, I don't care. I had to ask you something," John says, waving it off.

"Wait, you didn't come back to class after you left. That's not like you at all. Are you spending too much time with me or something?"

"I had to get out of there. My head was about to explode. Wasn't yours?"

"What are you talking about?"

"My spider sense was going through the roof for thirty minutes straight!" John whisper-yells, pulling Andrew to a secluded corner of the school.

"You sure you didn't just take an extra allergy pill on accident?"

"This is serious! Did your spider sense go off at all while you were in there?"

"Pfft, no. Then again, I didn't even pay attention in class," he says, putting a thoughtful finger on his chin. "Was it going off because Kong kept shooting spitballs at you?"

"No, that's never happened before. It kept going off when I would look up from my desk. Like... I'm scared of the teacher or something."

"The substitute? I honestly didn't hear a word he said."

"He told the class that Mrs. Kasper was in an accident, and he was going to be our teacher until she got out of the hospital." The more he talks about it, the more scared he gets. He's starting to get paranoid and not think straight.

"So, what are you thinking?" Andrew asks. "Enforcers? Wrecking Crew? Someone from Superior Foes of the Spiderlings?"

"Even if it was one of them, I think I would have recognized them."

"I don't know, bro. Overdrive had a helmet that covered his entire face."

"Yeah, but I know what he looks like. Haven't you studied everyone's mugshots after they're arrested?" John asks.

"I'm not obsessed like you or Julia."

"Whatever! My point is, something's not right about that guy."

"You think he's scoping out the school because he knows who we are?" Andrew asks nervously.

"I highly doubt it. He may just have a hunch that the Spiderlings spend their time around the school. Just keep an eye out, okay?"

"Sure thing," he responds, turning around to go to his locker. Before he can take a step forward however, he runs straight into the new substitute. He's a few inches taller than him, which is saying a lot since Andrew is exactly six foot. He creates some distance between them and says, "Woah, sorry Mr..."

"Dennis. And you are Andrew Nikris, am I correct?"

"Yeah, and this is my brother, John." The younger twin slaps his forehead at the introduction, wishing he didn't say his name. His head starts stinging once again, so he stays quiet.

"I heard you are trying out for basketball tomorrow?" Mr. Dennis asks.

At this, Andrew perks up. "Yes! I am so excited!"

"Me, too. I am a huge fan of the sport. I'll be looking forward to seeing you on the court, Nikris."

With that, he walks away leaving Andrew in a state of awe. Is he really going to watch the games?! Heck yeah!

John takes a deep breath to settle his head. This all just seems too crazy to handle right now. His best bet is most likely to stay as far away from Mr. Dennis as possible.

Gwen was dropped off a while ago and they haven't even reached the bridge to get to Queens yet. Max's head hurts like heck, and he knows it's from all of the vodka he drank last night... and this morning. But now, all of that is starting to wear off. As the dehydration sets in, his head feels like it's splitting open. He almost asked the taxi driver if he had any water, but every time he opens his mouth he gets nauseous. It doesn't help that this guy is swerving around the roads like crazy. Maybe it's just him being sensitive to the turns. Gosh, I can't wait to get home.

"We're here," the driver says, parking the car.

Max manages to look out the window, squinting from the morning sun but not recognizing where he is. "Um, this isn't where you were supposed to take me."

"I'm pretty sure it is," he says in a more sinister tone. Before he can ask anything else, the door he is leaning on opens making him stumble to the side. He tries to sit back up, but a sack is pulled over his head and he feels arms being wrapped around his body, dragging him out of the car. He yells and thrashes around, but the pain in his head is too much and he finds himself blacking out from all the chaos.

At first, he thinks he is in a hospital when he opens his eyes. The blinding, fluorescent lights buzz above his head. Everything is white from the ceiling to the floor, well, all except for his clothes. He is wearing green, something really tight yet stretchy. His feet are bare, however, and so are his hands. Max stands up and walks forward, but bonks his head against a glass door.

He's in a cell.

"What the..." his voice trails off as he puts a hand on the glass. The buzzing of the lights is starting to get to his head, which makes him think there is a light on the inside of his prison cell. Looking straight up, he screams as he sees a tank of eels swimming above him. The sound is coming from their tails, as they are electrified. There have to be at least twenty of them, the only thing separating them from him seems to be a thick sheet of glass.

"Hey, man, you're finally awake," someone says next to him. Max peers over to his right and sees a guy sitting against a wall of glass in the cell next to him. "You've only been out for an hour after he brought you in here, but I was getting worried."

"W-where are we?" he stutters.

"I'm not exactly sure where, but I know we are in New York. I'm pretty sure it's a laboratory of sorts," the guy explains. Now that he gets a better look at his surroundings, he's right. There are machines scattered around that look hand-made, and there is a lab coat hanging on the wall by a door. The guy speaks up again, "What's your name?"

"Oh, um, I'm Max. Who are you?"

"My name's Mark. I've been here for a long time..." He looks away, pausing. "There have been quite a few people the Jackal kidnapped and ran experiments on."

"Wait, you mean the Jackal? The same guy who turned himself into a green monster and created human experiments?"

"Yeah, uh, he's been really crazy lately," Mark says quieter than before. "I think he's been sacked, so he had to make this secret lair where he kidnaps people and makes more powerful villains. I've just overheard him muttering about how he will get his revenge on Kingpin or whatever."

"Are you serious? Has he done anything to you?" he asks.

"No, thank God. I think he's saving me for something, and the test is extremely deadly so he wants to get it right so it won't... kill me."

Max starts pacing around, trying to ignore the eels above his head. "Have you ever tried to escape? You've been here for a few weeks, right?"

"I had a plan. I was kidnapped with a friend of mine, but before we could do anything," he chokes up, "he got... Jackal electrocuted him to death. After that, I kind of gave up on trying to get out of here. I've seen quite a few people die from this project he's trying to complete."

"Project?"

"All I know is that it has something to do with electricity," Mark explains.

He starts to get nervous and can't help but look above him. Max suddenly starts to panic, so he wrings his hands together and tries to control his breathing. He wishes he was at home, safe on his new mattress, the only thing bothering him being his hangover. "I should have stayed at the club," he mutters. "I'm going to die here."

"Hey, man, don't worry. I shouldn't have spooked you," Mark says worriedly. "You'll be okay, ya hear me? We will both get through this... somehow."

The door opens, and the Jackal walks inside. He grabs his lab coat and goggles immediately, going over to a huge computer in the center of the room. He types a few things, takes a syringe, and fills it up with some orange liquid. "Today's a big day for you, Mark," he says, tapping the needle to get the air bubbles out.

Max looks at his new friend and sees him turn pale. Jackal takes a remote and aims it at Mark's cell, making a window through the glass after he presses a button. "Come here, now," he orders, but the man presses his back against the opposite wall. "Don't make me go in there, Mark. You have seen how strong I am."

Max can't tell what's going on inside his head, but the way his eyes widen gives him the sense that Mark is having a flashback. He shakes his head and says sternly, "I'm not going anywhere near you!"

"Ugh, fine," the scientist says, pressing another button on the remote. This time, the entire glass wall goes down and he steps into the cell.

Mark panics, his eyes fixating on Jackal's. When he raises the syringe, however, he manages to pry his eyes away from him and stare at the door that leads outside. He pushes himself off the wall and dives under Jackal's free arm, heading straight for the exit. Max watches in utter bewilderment as he grabs the desk and uses all of his strength to flip it over on Jackal. The computer and tons of papers crash onto the floor, stopping the villain in his tracks for a moment. Mark grabs onto the door handle and is about to leave, but then turns and sees Max. Taking a deep breath, he runs across the lab once again and snags the remote that Jackal dropped. He grabs a stapler that fell on the floor and chucks it at Jackal's head. "That was for my boyfriend!" he yells, slamming into the green creature to make him lose his balance.

He aims the remote at his friend's cell. His thumb hovers over the red button, but he feels a stabbing pain in his back before he can press it.

Mark falls forward, the remote falling out of his hands, and he shakes violently. He starts sweating and coughing up something orange and red. Max holds his hands over his mouth and kneels down on the floor, eyes wide. "You shouldn't have tried to save me, you idiot..." he says, hoping that he can hear him.

"Well, that was exciting, stretching the old muscles and all," Jackal says, taking his remote back. "I would have been gentle, Mark, but you had to make things difficult as always." He kicks him to the side and looks up at Max. "Now, you. Maxwell Dillon, orphan, tsk tsk tsk pity, just your average city dweller." He doesn't dare look up at the monster, knowing he would show fear. Jackal continues, "This is a special day for you as well."

He presses a button on his remote and Max can hear the glass sliding away from the top of his cell. He looks up one more time and holds his breath.

"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!" he screams underwater, letting out all the air he prepared for himself. He can feel his body seizing rapidly as the electricity conducts through him. After what feels like eons, he forces himself to reach up and kick to the top to get some more air. Right after he takes a big gulp of oxygen, he sinks back to the floor and tries not to scream this time.

It proves to be difficult, and he almost passes out a few times, but the door to his cell opens and all the water spills out. The eels flop around a bit before Jackal stomps on them, cutting them in half with the strength of his feet. He bends down and picks up Max by his chin, his auburn hair falling in clumps to the floor. He isn't interested in that, however, but the tiny veins in his eyes firing with indigo colored electricity.

"I can't believe I finally did it! Hahahaha!" Jackal says, dropping the man back to the floor. He looks at Mark's fully evolved body, now glowing orange and dripping with liquid fire. Almost like plasma. "I have a job for you two," he says, grabbing the collars of their outfits and dragging them across the floor. "I need you to kill this spider and bring his stingers back to me. They hold a certain... elemental component that can return you to normal. Kill Nitro Spider for me, and I'll make this all seem like a bad dream."

Mark and Max look at each other, not knowing how to get out of this. They both want the pain to stop, and the only thing on their minds at the moment is how to accomplish that goal. All they have to do is kill one spider.

Ethan is in the middle of Microbiology when he gets a call from his brother. He ignores it. Doesn't he know they all have school today? What is he doing calling him in the middle of class, anyway? It rings again, and he cancels the call. But then it rings once more.

"This better be an emergency," he mutters and exits the lecture hall. He walks into a different, less crowded hallway where he answers the phone and says strictly, "What do you want?"

"John is sick. He threw up at lunch just now and it's really bad..." Andrew's voice trails off.

"Can't he, y'know..." Ethan pauses for a minute, letting a girl walk past him before he continues, "Swing home?"

"He's way too weak for that. He can barely hear me when I talk to him. He said it was his spider sense. Do you think it's malfunctioning?"

"I don't know if it can malfunction. Yours isn't going off?"

"No, and it's making me worried. ESU is close to Midtown High, and Muma and Da aren't answering their phones. Can you pick him up?"

"I'm in the middle of class right now. Have you tried calling Maria?"

"Not yet. He's running a really high fever, too. I thought he could use a doctor," Andrew says nervously. "I don't want to take him to the nurse because I'd have to explain the spider sense."

"Maybe he's just sick and that's why his spider sense is going off. Hang on, I'm coming," Ethan says, hanging up the phone. He sighs, a little bit of fear in the pit of his stomach, and heads toward the dining hall.

Looking at the clock on the wall, he knows Julia and Maria are probably having lunch somewhere. He texts the older of the two just to be safe, and she responds with: At Subway. He runs as fast as he can and gets there in no time.

"Hey, dude, I thought you had Microbio," Julia says, happy to see him.

"I did, but Andrew called me. John is apparently really sick."

Maria immediately becomes concerned. "Are you serious? What happened?"

The girls stand up and follow Ethan out of the building. While they walk, he explains everything Andrew told him over the phone. Maria lowers her voice and says, "We don't all need to go. I can skip my afternoon class and pick up John to take him home."

"If Andrew says it's a spider sense thing, then I want to go, too. I want to see if anything happens with mine, and make sure the school isn't in danger," Ethan presses.

"Let's hurry, then. I don't want our brothers to be in that school longer than necessary," Julia says confidently.

Without arguing about it more, Maria nods and the three hurry off to Midtown High. They know the fastest way, since they all graduated from there and experimented with different paths to get home. There are only a few walls they need to use their powers and climb, but they make sure no one is paying attention when they do so. Jogging onto the school's front lawn, the three siblings make it to the swinging glass doors.

Everything seems so much smaller now that they've graduated from here, despite the girls not having grown much since they left. Ethan, on the other hand, has to duck past a few doorways so he doesn't hit his head. The main office is in the same spot as they remember, and Maria is the first to enter. She tells the secretary, "Hello! We got a call from our brother and we were told to pick up John Nikris. He's our youngest sibling."

"Oh my gosh, Maria! I haven't seen you in forever!" the secretary says. "You may not recognize me, but I used to be the janitor here."

"Wow! What an amazing promotion!" Maria compliments.

"Thank you! It's about time, am I right?"

"Oh, totally."

"Anyway, I'm sorry to hear about your brother! I'll call him down and let him know you're here," she says, grabbing the telephone. "He should be in fifth period."

"Guys!" Andrew's voice is heard behind them and they all turn to see him supporting John on his shoulder. Maria hurries over and feels his forehead, gasping and pulling her hand away immediately when she feels how hot it is. She lifts him up with an arm under his legs and the other supporting his back. She also has to pretend to struggle, since it shouldn't be easy picking up a person who is five inches taller than you. When they leave the office, Andrew continues, "It's only gotten worse. He'll be okay, right?"

"Don't worry, he might even start to feel better after we get him out of here," Ethan says reassuringly.

Julia notices how nervous her younger brother is and reaches her hand out, clasping his. "Thanks for calling us. You're really brave for that."

"Really?" Andrew blushes. "I was just panicking..."

"And you were taking care of your brother. You've done well, dude," Maria says.

He feels all warm inside, but it immediately goes away when Flash rounds the corner and says, "Oh my gosh, seriously? You need your entire family to defend you, An-dick?"

"Ay! Dung for brains, shut up! We aren't in the mood to hear it right now!" Ethan snaps, pointing a finger onto the bully's chest.

It's as if he is hit with a giant ball of realization. Flash observes his surroundings for once and notices John half passed out in his sister's arms. "Jeez, was the cafeteria food that bad?"

Biting his tongue just a bit, Andrew walks up to him and mumbles lowly, "Hey, make sure nothing strange is going on here, okay? Something's not right here, I just don't know what. Can you promise to keep a look out?"

"Pfft, you're talking to your school's quarterback. Of course I can take care of this school."

"Good, because believe it or not..." Andrew takes a deep breath and says, "You're one of the only people I trust in this place."

The five siblings walk away, leaving Flash in a state of complete confusion.

Once they get outside, John groans. "Wait until we get you home, bro," Maria says softly. "Did anyone else's spider sense go off?"

"I had a bad feeling, but it wasn't spider-sense-y. More like..." Ethan trails off and Maria finishes.

"Paranoia."

"I didn't feel anything," Julia says.

Suddenly, Maria's and Ethan's spider sense rings and they look back at the school out of instinct. However, it came from right in front of them. The corner of a tall building explodes, completely destroying a satellite dish.

"NITRO SPIDER!" someone yells from the sky. The five look up (John, rather weakly) and see a man flying, deep bluish-purple electricity surrounding him. The sky turns dark as if it's about to storm. "Meet us in battle unless you want to see all of Midtown suffer!"

"What did you do this time?" Julia whispers jokingly to her brother.

"Nothing! I don't know who that guy is!" he says defensively.

"You guys go! I'll take care of John," Maria instructs, dodging some of the rubble that lands nearby.

"Alright. BRB!" Andrew says and runs with the other two behind Midtown High. Julia, Ethan, and Andrew quickly change into their spider outfits.

"Nitro Spider, you have thirty minutes to get here or I'll-" Nitro swings up to Max, kicking him in the face and cutting off his sentence. "Hey!"

"Jeez, dude, chill out. Do I know you?" the spider asks, landing on the damaged roof.

"Jackal sent us. He ordered us to turn in your head!" he shouts, shooting a huge blast of electricity out of his hands.

Nitro's eyes widen and he rolls to the side to avoid the attack. "Us?"

His spider sense goes off, but he doesn't turn around in time. A blast knocks him to the ground, and his back becomes blistered with burns. Nitro's backpack for his stingers conducts the heat and becomes super hot, making him quickly shake it off and kick it away from him. He turns around and sees a man glowing orange, placing a hand on his chest as if the attack hurt him. He says, "You're outnumbered. I'd just give up if I were you!"

"Am I?" he asks confidently. Just then, Olympic Spider and Aqua Spider run up the side of the building, jump, and land next to him.

"This was just supposed to be between us and Nitro!" Max yells, shooting blasts at Ollie.

He jumps and swings toward him, saying, "The Spiderlings come in a package deal, Mr. Outlet."

"Woah, Ollie, easy on the name calling!" Aqua says with a chuckle. She flips to the side just as the second guy shoots melted fire at her. She tries to tie him up in webs, but they catch fire right as they make contact. The fire spreads up the webs to her wrists and she has to disconnect them before Aqua Spider becomes Spider Blaze. "Jackal really hates you, Nitro," she points out.

"Tell me about it. I haven't seen him since he went underground in hiding. Never responds to my texts, never answers my calls, it's like he wants to kill me or something," he says jokingly, swinging around an antenna to avoid the electricity.

"Can you just stand still, PLEASE?!" Max asks, getting annoyed. He turns around, getting an idea and electrocuting the antenna.

Nitro seizes up and lets go of his webs as he feels his body going crazy from the shock. He lands on the ground, making a hole in the road, and everyone around him screams. Max is about to follow him and finish the job, but leans back in the air when a teal stinger attached to grey webs flings right past his face, barely missing him. He looks back to the roof and sees Aqua jump toward him, spinning, and shooting the stinger back at him while yelling, "Stay away from my brother, Electro!"

He dodges the stinger and grabs her webs, pulling her toward him. She quickly extends her legs and kicks him in the chest, backflipping and sticking to the side of another building. The newly dubbed Electro glares at her, irritated that she joined the fight at all. He raises his hands up to the sky, channeling his energy, and aims everything he has at her. Aqua's eyes widen and she lets go of the wall, allowing her to fall and dodge the attack.

Olympic Spider keeps his distance with the fire guy, knowing that it might not be wise to touch him. His webs aren't of any use, either. How is he supposed to hit something he can't punch? Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Nitro's stinger case still has the other weapon inside. Maybe he can use that to his advantage.

He rolls over to it and snags the dark blue handle, holding it like a sword. "This isn't about you, Olympic Spider," the fire guy says.

"Says the guy who's melting! You know you're melting, right?" he mocks.

"YES, I KNOW I'M MELTING!" Mark has had enough and lunges at the spider. He tries to grab him, but Ollie flips over him completely and lands behind him, stepping in some still hot rocks.

"Ouch, ouch!" Ollie gasps and leaps onto safe ground. "Molten Man, you need to cool down!"

"And you need to shut up!" Molten Man fires a wave of lava at the spider from both directions, making him trapped for a second. Ollie jumps up, but then has nowhere to land and crosses his arms, preparing for the burning sensations when he falls on the hot rock.

Instead of feeling pain, someone swings by and catches him. He looks up and sees Nitro holding him under one arm as he gets him away from the roof. They both land on the ground safely, but Nitro gasps in pain and holds his lungs when he drops him. Ollie looks at him worriedly and says, "You need to go, man. They're both after you. Aqua and I can handle them."

"No, I have an idea, I just need your help," he says, looking back at Midtown High. There are many students in the front lawn, taking pictures of them and watching the fight. Of course, Flash is in front of the group, cheering the Spiderlings on.

"What's the plan?" Ollie asks.

"Ask Flash to get together huge jugs of water. He should know where they keep the gallon-drinkers because he uses them for football."

"How do you know he's on the football team?"

"He said he's your quarterback."

"Oh, yeah."

"Just tell him to gather them and bring them out here! I need to help Aqua before she gets overwhelmed by those two," Nitro says.

"Ugh, fiiiine!" Ollie nods and the two split up.

She soon realized that both of her brothers were either taken out, or they ditched her because Aqua now stands on the scalding roof by herself. She holds her arm, gasping for air. Both Electro and Molten Man land on opposite sides, staring her down. Want me to make the first move? Fine, then, she thinks, and charges at them. She yells a war cry and raises Nitro's stinger in her left hand, swinging it at Electro. He rolls and uses his powers to speed away, and it looks like he teleports. "Woah, that's not fair!" Aqua yells, but then focuses her attacks on Molten Man instead.

He blasts liquid fire at her, but she blocks it with the stinger. A bit of it drips on her shoulders, but she shakes it off and continues to run at him, blocking and dodging attacks along the way. She jumps to dodge the final attack and raises the stinger, about to stab him in the chest and put him to sleep. But, she doesn't land.

A static field stops her in her movements and raises her into the air. Electro teleports in front of her and grasps her wrists as she tries to stab the stinger into his shoulder. "This could have been avoided," he says angrily. Aqua is about to raise her knee and kick him in the abdomen, but she recognizes the voice. Max?

Electro shoots electricity out from around his entire body, making the spider scream in pain. She drops the stinger, her nervous system frantically pulsing at the amount of energy being forced through her. When it stops, her consciousness begins to shut down, and Electro drops her. Aqua falls limp, and she can't find the strength to web the side of a building to soften her fall. Molten Man readies an attack and shoots fire at her back as she passes him, and he yells triumphantly, "Fried Spider!"

She lands on her stomach with blisters on her back and her body starts twitching. "Aqua, no, no, no! I was just about to come help you!" Nitro says, flipping her over. He quickly takes off her sweatshirt and wipes off the remaining fire stains with it.

She coughs weakly and whispers, "Please... run..." before she passes out.

"Aqua!" Nitro yells, but then says quietly, "Julia, wake up..."

She's out cold, but he makes sure she still has a pulse. Electro and Molten Man land on the other side of the road, and Nitro glares at them as he gently places his sister on the ground and steps over her body. This just got personal.

"I CAN NOT BELIEVE I'M TALKING TO THE OLYMPIC SPIDER!" Flash yells excitedly.

"Neither can I..." Ollie responds, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"So, what do you need, partner?"

"We aren't partners, but I do need your help. Your school has portable drinking fountains you use for sports, right?" Ollie continues when he gets an enthusiastic nod. "Great, so I need to fill a few of those up with water and dump them on that fire guy."

"That sounds so epic, and I am honored to be a part of this mission," Flash says with a bow. "You're my favorite Spiderling, by the way!"

"Wow, that makes me feel all giddy inside," he says sarcastically, but Flash can't see him rolling his eyes behind his mask. "Let's just hurry, okay?"

"Right! Come on, team. Let's help him out!" The entire Midtown High football team shouts excitedly, and they all run into the school to get what they need.

Nitro Spider rushes at the villains, jumping on the side of a building at the last minute to avoid Electro. He leaps off the wall and punches Molten Man right across the face, ignoring the burning in his knuckles. His spider sense goes off, so he backflips to avoid an electricity blast and it hits the fire guy instead. He looks over his shoulder and shoots webs at Electro, sticking his foot to the wall. That'll keep him in place for a bit. He looks over his shoulder as Molten Man huffs, standing back up, and he ducks when fire is shot at his head.

"You're starting to make the Human Torch jealous. Can you fly, too? Or is that only reserved for people with electric powers?" he mocks, shooting webs at him.

Out of instinct, Mark ducks to avoid the webs, but Nitro smirks when he hits his real target. He turns around and pulls on his webs with all his strength to make the light post fall, landing on Molten Man. Right when he gets a second to catch his breath, Electro breaks free and flies right at him, tackling him to the ground. They both tumble across the road, Nitro crashing into the side of a building. He groans in pain and looks to the side, something shining in the corner of his eye. Oh, thank goodness. Something that can help me. He shoots webs at the handle of his stinger and pulls it over into his hand.

Molten Man breaks through the light post and yells in rage, shooting fire out in many directions. Nitro blocks it with his stinger and stands up, but is almost knocked back down when he is electrocuted from the side. Don't drop the stinger, he pleads with himself.

He is surrounded, once again, by the two elementals. Nitro takes a deep breath and says, "You two are really persistent, aren't you?"

Electro tries to shock him with a more powerful attack this time, but he blocks it with his stinger. At the same time, he is hit in the arm with fire. It burns, but he stays on his feet. Don't drop the stinger. He swings his weapon at Electro, but he teleports out of his sight and kicks him in the back while in the air. Nitro falls on one knee, but quickly gets back up and blocks another electricity wave. Don't drop the stinger. Molten Man shoots fire at his leg and punches him in the side, pushing him through the wall of the building. The spider quickly stands up, grunting through the pain, and backs against the wall. Don't drop the stinger. He holds his weapon in front of him defensively, feeling completely exposed since he only has this to protect him. He refuses to drop it, since it is the only thing that can give him a chance against these two. As Molten Man and Electro light up their hands, Nitro grits his teeth and gets ready to block one of their attacks.

Molten Man yells in pain, making the two momentarily confused. Nitro hears Flash's voice yell, "Take that, you lava monster! Woooo!" Steam fills the room from Molten Man being doused with water.

Electro gets out of his shock and is about to attack Nitro, but his expression turns to panic and he looks behind him. Olympic Spider pulls out the stinger from his back, and he feels his eyes go heavy. Electro falls on his knees, but uses the remaining strength he has to fly quickly out of the building, breaking a window in the process.

Nitro quickly lunges and slices Molten Man's shoulder with his stinger, making him collapse. He turns and is about to pursue the villain who got away, but Ollie puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head. "He can't have gone far. Let the police handle him."

"You're right. We need to get Aqua," he agrees with a pain-filled voice. He tilts his head to look over his brother's shoulder and squints at what he sees. Flash and his entire football team are pumping their fists in the air and giving each other chest bumps.

"Woah, it's Nitro Spider!" Flash says, running up to him. "Hey, can you sign my sketchbook?! I draw you guys all the time during school." He flips through the pages that showcase (surprisingly decent) drawings of all the spiders. Some of them have all of them in it, but most are individual sketches of each sibling. "I even made myself my own costume! I call it Venom Spider! I could join your team and help take out bad guys by spraying out venom from my mouth! Pssh Pssh!"

"I'll, uh, sign it another time. Can you make sure this guy stays put for the police?" Nitro asks, gesturing to Molten Man.

"Yes SIR!" he says with a salute.

"Thank you. Come on, Ollie, let's go."

The two spiders quickly go over to where Aqua still lies, and Ollie picks her up. Nitro stops to grab his burnt backpack and they quickly stop at their sisters' apartment, which is thankfully very close by. They take Aqua's mask off to give her some air and place her on her bed.

"You think she'll be okay?" Andrew asks.

"Yeah, it was just a lot for her body to handle. She had a really hard fall," Ethan explains. "We should catch up with Maria and John to make sure they get home safely."

"Right." The two put their masks back on and jump out the apartment window, keeping it open to let the air in.

Julia wakes up later that evening and goes to immediately shower and see how bad her wounds are. Her breath hitches when she sees her entire back is red and shriveled. Hopefully a cold shower will help.

She calls Maria after she freshens up and puts some comfortable clothes on. "Hey, it's getting late. Are you coming back?"

"I spent the day making sure the school was safe and helped clean the rubble. John is still sick, but way better than this morning," she says reassuringly. "Andrew is taking care of him now. I still have to go to work and explain why I wasn't there. I'm going to crash at Liz's tonight since it's closer to work. Are you going to be okay by yourself? How are you feeling?"

"Don't worry about me. The super healing is setting in," she says quickly, knowing it's going to take a week at best for her to recover. She doesn't want her sister to worry. "I'll be fine. Don't force yourself to come here when you're super tired. See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, I'll see ya! Make sure you have a good dinner!"

They both hang up and Julia lets out a painful breath. You know it's bad when it hurts to breathe. She pulls a pillow over and goes to lie on the couch when there is a knock coming from the wall. Startled, she looks up and sees a silhouette crouching by her window.

"Hello?" she asks nervously, picking up the pillow as a shield. She stands up and walks to the window, but then freezes when she sees who it is. "Max?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know who else to go to," he says, stepping inside. She backs away instantly, remembering how he attacked her. He notices this and says, "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise! You're the only person I can trust... All that stuff you might have seen on the news, I can explain." She doesn't move. "Please, listen." He takes a few steps forward and wraps his arms around her, placing his chin on her shoulder. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

Julia hugs the pillow tightly around her chest, trying not to scream as he captures her in an embrace.