I have an alt account now. Bluerainstorm95

There is a story on there called "Be Brave" and it's a short story telling a little about me. I guess I'm trying to put some things together before I completely forget about it all.

~~~

"The entire city is in shock upon hearing the news - Olympic Spider is undergoing intense surgery. No details about his condition are being reported, but one thing is clear: the air is filled with worry. The people of New York are in a state of pure shock. The other Spiderlings along with Captain Stacy of the NYPD have been waiting in the lobby of the hospital all night."

Almost everyone has the news broadcasting on their televisions or phones. Even the prisoners of the Raft are witnessing the intense news. Despite them being enemies of the Spiders, they are still in complete shock. The city gets quiet for a few moments as the information sinks in: they might lose one of the Spiderlings.

"Pardon me," a new doctor says, entering the room where Ollie is being worked on. He is garbed in a surgeon's outfit complete with gloves and a mask. His bright, blue eyes seem to shine like crystals in the blue light of the room. His long, black hair is in a cap so it doesn't contaminate anything. "I apologize for the delay, but I got here as fast as I could."

"Doctor, I didn't think you'd be here until tomorrow."

"Well, when a superhero is in need of a neurosurgeon, I can get here in the blink of an eye." The man hurries over to the desk and observes the files, glancing at the x-rays. "Bring me up to speed."

"We have been able to keep him stabilized, but there is a lot of fluid in his skull. We've been draining it-"

"No, no, no," the doctor says calmly. "His brain is swelling. We need to do a craniotomy."

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," the head anesthesiologist says with a bit of humor.

The head doctor smiles behind his mask and they get to work. Back in the waiting room, the Spiders try to stay calm. Stacy feels awful for them, seeing them so vulnerable. Nitro paces around while Aqua binges candy from the vending machine. Shadow tries to get comfortable in his chair, but keeps moving around. Emmy sits with her head in her hands and her leg jumping rapidly. They stay this way for hours, moving positions and taking a short walk around the room when necessary. The sky grows dark, and Stacy starts dozing off.

"I can't believe this," Aqua finally says, though she isn't speaking to anyone in particular.

"It's... awful. I just wish I knew what happened," Emmy says. "I want to know who did it."

Shadow stands up for the first time since he got here and walks over to the window. "Woah, where are you going?" Nitro asks.

"The police station. I'm going to help them in the investigation and learn what the hell is going on."

"That's a really, really bad idea," Emmy warns. "People are swarming the streets. You'll be bombarded with questions once you set foot on the ground."

"I can swing."

"Shad-"

"Emerald, I'm going. I can make my own decisions." Without giving her time to respond, Shadow jumps out of the window and swings away.

"J-" Emerald Spider has to keep herself from yelling John's name out of anger. Instead, she yells and flips over the small table in the center of the room.

Aqua flinches. "You can go with him if you want. Nitro and I can stay."

"No, I need to be here when Ollie wakes up."

Making sure to soften her voice, Aqua insists, "You clearly need some air. I'll call you the moment something changes. We've been here for seven hours already."

She wants to argue, but sighs when she realizes her sister is right. Still, she gives her a stern look. "You'll call me?"

"Of course."

"Alright. I'll be back," she says.

"And bring us some pillows," Nitro yells as she jumps out the window. "Huh, I'm surprised she started swinging from this high up."

"Eh, all of our brains are mush right now," Aqua says.

"Did you just try to make a pun on Ollie's condition?"

"I see my mistake, and I apologize. That was unintentional."

Andrew's head, thankfully, is not mush. It took a long time, but the doctors were able to get the swelling to de-escalate. It doesn't make the injury go away, but they keep it from getting worse. "Okay," the main doctor says, "let's patch him up."

Shadow Spider swings into the police department and is shocked to see everyone running around in a frenzy. He should have known the police would be going crazy, but it's still a strange sight. Detective Jean spots him and rushes to his side, grabbing his arm. "Follow me," she says urgently. "I was hoping we could get some help here, but I didn't want to pry you away from..."

"What do you need?" Shadow asks, noticing how frustrated she is.

Jean turns on a computer and scrolls the video to the beginning. "This is the security footage we pulled from the school."

Before the video plays, someone else comes into the room. "I was told I just missed ya," Emmy says. "Did I miss anything?"

"No, actually. We were about to watch the security footage," Shadow explains.

Jean takes a deep breath. "My entire team is having a hard time identifying the man who attacked your brother. He's like the ultimate John Doe. If you watch this, maybe you can help with telling us who he is?"

Shadow agrees without thinking, but Emmy knows this might be hard to watch. Somehow, she keeps her eyes on the screen along with her brother to try and see what happened. When they get to the part where "Mr. Dennis" takes off his mask, she has to cover her mouth. "What the...?" she says right as Ollie does in the video.

"Calls himself Chameleon, but that's all we have to go off of," Jean explains. She pauses the video there, sparing the spiders of the brutal fight that happens afterward. With all of the intense emotions hanging in the air, it's definitely not wise to show them.

Emmy taps her chin, trying to wrap her head around all of this. "He says he can change into anyone he wants, so I'm assuming he has different costumes and masks for these people."

"That's probably what he kept in his briefcase!" Shadow says, snapping his fingers. "And it's how he was able to avoid being seen while the school was being searched."

"Are you saying... he was pretending to be a cop?" Jean asks. "Why didn't I think of that?"

The three of them look over their shoulders slowly. The room is filled with people running from place to place. Any one of them could be Chameleon, and they would never know it. "This just got even scarier," Emmy says, voicing the trio's thoughts.

"It'll be okay. We just have to find him. He must slip up at some point-" Jean is cut off by someone running up to them, gasping for breath.

"The Raft..." he says. "There was a break-out!"

"What." Jean's question is presented way more as a statement. "How the f-"

"All I heard was that some guard let out a bunch of prisoners. He just walked right up to the doors, no one questioned a thing. And, then, he just used his facial recognition and badge to let them go!"

"Who got out, exactly?" Emmy asks. Her voice is void of humor, knowing this is no time at all for jokes. "I want to know the damage done."

"Luckily, the guy wasn't able to get far before the responders took action. Most prisoners were detained, but Martin Li, Doctor Octavius, and Molten Man were able to escape."

"Molten Man of all people?" Shadow asks. "I don't get it. How was he able to get out? The Raft is surrounded by water."

"Whatever the reason may be, we can handle it. There's only three of them," Emmy responds. "Come on, Shadow, we gotta go."

"Yeesh, what a night!" Machine Head sighs as if he just got out of a relaxing shower. Well, he's wearing a fluffy pink robe, so that might be the case. He stretches while yawning and walks over to the kitchen counter. "Coffee, anyone?"

"MH, no offense, but you are way too chirpy for it being four in the fucking morning," Hammerhead groans. He throws a pillow over his face as he tries to fall back to sleep on the couch.

"Come on, Josephine! Where's the spirit? Olympic Spider is on his deathbed!"

"Don't call me Josephine."

"I find it all quite amusing." The two of them turn to Silvermane who is stirring his tea with a small spoon. "All of you tried so desperately to create monsters and kill those heroes, but one man who no one knows about was able to do it in the shadows. Quite poetic, if you ask me."

"How do we know this isn't one of Jackal's lackeys?" Tombstone points out.

"Because that's not how he works," Fisk says smugly. "Warren needs to create the most horrific, beastly designs known to humanity. The four elementals are a prime example."

"And, let's not forget about Negative Nancy," Machine Head reminds them. He leaps over the armrest and crosses his legs midair, landing on the couch. Hammerhead groans and sits up as his legs are crushed. Machine Head then offers him a mug, waving it in his line of sight. "Drink your coffee, grumpy head. I swear I didn't spike it."

"Tch." He waves it away and stands up to distance himself. Walking over to the giant window, he gazes upon the hospital that can be seen from miles away. "I wonder if he will pull through."

Mmm what'chya say? Mmm that you only meant well?

Well, of course you did-

Mmm what'chya say? Mmm that it's all for the best?

Oh, because it is.

Aqua listens to the Jason Derulo song through her headphones as a means of coping. Music has always been her escape, which is why she has a passion for DJ-ing. As the thought crosses her mind, she realizes that she can start going back to work next week. That's something to look forward to, at least.

Well, is it a strong enough thing to look forward to?

Cuz when the roof caved in and the truth came out,

I just didn't know what to do.

She scrolls through her phone and looks for a new song to blast through her ears. People talk about drowning out negative thoughts with loud music, but that's because it really does work. Albeit a temporary solution, and it has the possibility of tampering with one's hearing, but so worth it. Ah, here's the perfect song.

'Nother day, 'nother headache,

In this old rundown hotel.

Getting used to the rhythm,

Yeah I know my mind too well.

A smile creeps onto her lips as she starts humming along and massaging her eyes through the mask. All of the stress and a week of barely any sleep is completely normal for her at this point, but the environment is setting her over the edge. I hate hospitals. She has nightmares of being in hospitals sometimes. And, not like those empty hallway, jump-scare sort of nightmares. Hers are different. Mostly, they reflect her fear of losing autonomy. Being strapped down, unable to move, drugs being inserted into your body. Anyone could take advantage of that.

Thankfully, her fear is so great that she became obsessed once and found out the easiest ways to escape one. This particular building, for instance, has a fire escape at the end of the hallway on this floor. If she didn't possess spider powers, that would be her best bet.

Nitro has paced himself to sleep, literally. He has been walking around so much that he became exhausted and almost collapsed on the floor. Luckily, Stacy caught him and brought him over to a couch. The science-y spider doesn't have a problem with hospitals that much. In fact, it's in his major that he needs to be familiar and comfortable with them. Next semester, he is thinking about adding pharmacy to his chemistry. They work well together, but it'll add on a few years to his college career. It's not a problem for him, and Doctor Conners would be very happy to hear he is going into medicine.

Now, though, he is snoozing on the waiting room couch. The secretary wants to tell them to leave and go home to rest, but she's seen it time and time again. Sometimes, no amount of convincing can ease a family member enough to leave the hospital. Especially during a major surgery like this.

Captain Stacy is very close to sleeping, his hat tilted forward so that it's covering his face. Leaning back in a soft chair, he crosses his arms and lower legs to make himself comfortable. Then, a nurse walks into the room.

No one hears him, so the nurse identifies which of the three is awake. He quietly approaches the older of the two siblings and puts a hand on the back of hers. Aqua un-pinches the bridge of her nose and opens her eyes. "What's up, doc?" she says, taking her headphones off from around her mask.

He manages to chuckle. "I'm not the doctor, but he wanted me to let you know that Olympic Spider will be fine." She lets out a breath and he continues, "If appropriate, I can wake the others and I can explain his condition."

"Yeah, they'd want to hear it." She gets up and walks over to Nitro to shake him awake. At first, he is a little confused, but then suddenly remembers what happened when he wakes in the waiting room. The nurse makes himself known to Stacy who rubs his face as he sits up.

"Okay, now that all of you are up, I have some good news," he says. "Olympic Spider had a successful surgery, but we wish to keep him here for a few days in order to monitor his progress. Absolutely no crime fighting for him until he is fully healed."

Nitro nods. "You got it."

"Alright, so now I'm going to explain what we did for him in layman's terms."

Andrew's heartbeat gets a tad quicker once he opens his eyes. Everything hurts from his head to his stomach. He can't even feel his legs, so he tries to move them, but something is wrapped around his ankles.

At once, he is alert. There are thick straps keeping him tied down to the bed, around both his arms and legs. He opens his mouth to get more oxygen, but then realizes his lips don't brush against any fabric. His mask is off. Looking to his left and right, he can see tables of surgical tools. The monitor next to his starts going nuts as his heartbeat speeds up, and his blood pressure spikes. The only things going through his mind are: how did I get back into Doc Ock's lair, and how do I escape?

The door bursts open to reveal someone who isn't Doctor Octopus, but a regular person. Only one of his gloves is off, and his mask is hanging by one ear. This allows Andrew to see his entire face. It's very sturdy with a strong jaw and a long nose. His black hair is peeking from out of his medical cap, and his eyes seem to glow in the dark room. The man is probably as tall as Andrew.

"Hi," the man says, completely shocked. "I didn't expect you to wake for a few more days."

"I can heal fast." Andrew's voice is hoarse. It feels like someone with long claws reached down and scratched up his flesh on the inside.

The doctor rushes over to his side. "Don't try to talk," he says caringly. "Oh, I'm sorry. We had to restrain you just in case you thrashed around in your sleep." He goes to loosen the bonds keeping the spider to the bed.

Andrew inches away the best he can, still not trusting the man. "What happened?"

"I told you not to talk. You just underwent a very long, straining surgery. It's okay, though. I patched you up."

"You?"

"Yes, I was the head neurosurgeon operating on you. My name is Doctor Strange."

"Strange?"

"Yes, now no more questions. You really need to sleep and allow your body to heal."

Andrew shakes his head slowly, his eyes noticing something grey on the table by the window. "I heal fast," he insists, making a grab for the item.

Doctor Strange chuckles to lighten the mood, quickly pressing the boy's shoulder back into place. "I know you can heal fast, but we had to remove some of your skull to relieve pressure off your brain. We got the swelling down and patched up your head, but you need to let your body adjust now. Your stitches need to heal right here." He points to the top of his head gently.

"My mask..." Andrew says, starting to get emotional.

"Oh, don't worry. None of the doctors or nurses will remember a thing. I made sure to wipe their memories clean, as if it was a bad dream to them."

"How?"

"Magic," he says humorously. "Now, get some rest or I'm going to call the anesthesiologist back in here, and I don't think you want that."

With that, Doctor Strange closes the door and goes to wash his hands properly this time. Andrew doesn't listen to him at all. He can already feel his head starting to heal, which is a really good sign. It doesn't hurt as much as it did when he first woke up, but the pain is still killer. He moves his legs to the side and slides off the bed, making sure he doesn't lose his balance once his feet hit the cold floor. Luckily, he is still in his costume. The only things absent are his armor and mask, which he finds on the table next to the window. He doesn't even bother to try and attach the armor back on, but puts the pieces on the bed and ties the sheets together to make a small sack. Slinging one end over his shoulder, he decides this will be easy enough to carry as he swings home.

Andrew takes his mask and detached all of the needles from his body, creating a few blood spots on his suit over his arms. He saves the monitor for last, knowing once he breaks away from it then he will have to hurry. Noticing the monitor is on wheels, he brings it over to a mirror so he can make sure his mask is put on properly.

He has to lean over the sink as he stares at his reflection, not wanting to faint. There is a huge gash with stitches on the upper right side of his head, and it travels all the way to the back. His face looks sunken as if he hasn't eaten in days, and he looks like a ghost with all the blood rushing to his feet. His usually green eyes look cold and grey.

The thing that makes him the most shocked and upset is his head. Andrew's hair was his pride. He would style it every day, sometimes even try to curl it or at least make it wavy. That's something he was always jealous of Harry about. But, now, he would give anything to have even his old, straight, light brown hair on top of his head. Now, he's just like his dad. Bald.

How in the world am I going to explain this at school? What will Mom and Dad say? The anxiety of these questions becoming reality makes him start to panic. He realizes this once the monitor starts beeping faster, so there's no use dwelling on it now.

Andrew pulls on his mask, making sure to be careful around his stitches, and rips the pads off his chest. This makes every line on the monitor go flat, and a loud beeping noise fills the room. Quickly, he approaches the only window, webs his makeshift bag to his back, and swings away. Two doctors burst through the doors and become terrified when they see the bed is empty.

Right as the nurse finishes talking to Aqua and Nitro, every doctor who worked on Olympic Spider (minus Doctor Strange) runs in and starts rambling at them. No one can tell what they're trying to say, but Stacy has enough sense to order them to calm down, as he notices the Spiderlings are getting completely overwhelmed.

"Woah, woah, everyone stop. What's going on?"

"Olympic Spider is gone!" about three of them say at the same time.

"Excuse me?" Aqua asks, dumbfounded. "How is he gone?"

"We aren't sure, but the window was open-"

Nitro cuts her off. "I bet he woke up and saw where he was, panicked, and swung away."

"That idiot!" Aqua yells. "We have to go and find him before something bad happens."

"Shit," Stacy says, his jaw dropping once he sees the television. There is no sound, but the headline reads: Massive Raft Prison Break. The three of them look at each other, and without another word they sprint out of the building.

Nitro follows Aqua out a nearby window while Stacy jumps down cases of stairs at a time. He scrambles for his communication device and yells through it, "Care to tell me why no one informed me about this FUCKING SITUATION?!"

"S-s-sorry, sir! But, we thought we already told you everything. You were just here..."

"What?" he asks angrily. "I've been with the Spiderlings all night. Everyone knows that!" There is a moment of silence and then he understands. "Ugh, Chameleon."

The villains had a good enough head start to make it to Central Park, but Emerald and Shadow Spider are able to cut them off. "So, where do you think you're going?" Shadow asks strictly, jumping down from a tree. Emmy runs up next to him.

The guard was very wrong when he said only three people escaped prison. Doctor Octopus, Molten Man, and Mr. Negative are there, but so is Vulture. To make everything worse, Mysterio makes himself appear alongside Electro who hovers overhead.

"We were heading for the hospital, actually," Mr. Negative says smartly. "We heard you were all grouped inside, so we thought we'd share our condolences.

"The last thing we need is pity from the likes of you," he retorts.

Mr. Negative unsheathes a jian sword, tracing his fingers along the blade to endue it with his negative energy. Doctor Octopus stomps over him as Electro uses his powers to electrify his legs. Vulture drops Molten Man to the ground and zooms over the two Spiders with amazing speed. Finally, Mysterio unleashes a green mist to make the perimeter of Central Park completely vanish. As far as they know, it's just the spiders and the six of them now.

Emerald Spider jumps over Mysterio, webbing his toes and flipping him over her head as she lands. She tries to ram him into the ground, but he, somehow, hovers midair. "Let's go for a ride, my gem!" he says. She looks up just in time to see Vulture caught him with his talons, and they zoom away. Emmy holds onto her end of the webbing, trying to drag them down. Her super strength definitely would have given her the advantage, but she doesn't get good footing and is yanked off the ground.

She starts screaming as the villains lift her higher into the air. Not daring to let go of the webs, she tries to look down and see how far from the ground they actually are. "Holy crap!" she yells. "Hey, Vulture, mind landing this plane?" she asks as calmly as she can.

"Sure, but we are expecting a lot of turbulence!" he responds, smiling menacingly. His wings spread out and he spins through the air. Both Emmy and Mysterio scream, but the latter seems to be having fun.

He starts dropping to the ground, his aim making it so Emmy will crash and hopefully break something. However, she spots a light post last minute and uses one hand to shoot webs at it. Vulture's eyes widen in worry when he suddenly stops flying, and the two villains look back to see her using all of her strength to pull them back. She yells in pain, her muscles straining, but manages to close the space between her hands and connects the two pieces of webbing. After they're secure, she lets go and drops to the floor. "Ha, phew! That was quite the workout."

Vulture is about to let go of Mysterio's shoulders, but she sees this and webs the two of them together. "Agh! This is not something I rehearsed for!" Mysterio yells. "Let go of me, you preying pigeon!"

"Rah! I'm no pigeon, you pathetic fishbowl!" Vulture flaps his wings once more, this time a lot harder and the light post gets ripped out of the ground. Emmy's spider sense goes off, but she turns around too late and the metal falls on her. All three of them become pinned under the post.

"Well, this is cozy," Mysterio says, looking at Emmy.

She is about to easily lift the object off her, but Doctor Octopus hurries over and pins her down. He snaps off the one side of the post to let his companions free, but then uses two legs to press the metal harder onto her stomach. After she screams in pain, he says, "This is the last time I will tolerate you alive, Emerald Spider! Tonight, all of you troublemaker siblings will fall to my claws! I can't wait to hunt down the others."

Emmy reaches above her head and webs a tree to try and yank herself free, but Ock uses another leg to crush her arm and it snaps just a bit. He still has some electricity in his robotic legs (courtesy of Electro), so he conducts them through the pole she is pinned down with. Her entire body shakes as the electricity pulses through her. She can feel it in her brain, and she can't think straight for a few moments. Doctor Octopus laughs upon seeing her dazed on the floor, a bit of smoke coming up from the post. Her green suit is charred where the metal made contact.

Shadow Spider swings on by and kicks Doctor Octopus in the head along the way. He growls in rage and tries to grab him with an arm, but Shadow lifts his legs just in time. "Woah, I require that every villain keeps at least a ten foot distance from my body. Thank you."

"Challenge accepted," a voice says. Shadow looks above him to see Electro charging his hand and shooting purple lightning at him. The Spider shoots webs in a different direction to try and dodge it, but the electricity is too fast. Not to mention, his armor conducts it into his body.

"AGH!" he yells in sheer pain and his fingers lock, not allowing him to grab onto his webs. He falls, and Mr. Negative "catches" him by swiping his sword. Luckily, he only hits his shoulder armor. A big clang sound erupts, hurting everyone's ears. The negative light energy makes the sword sound like nails on a chalkboard, and it also burns the grass around them.

Mr. Negative is blasted backward into a tree from his own powers. Molten Man and Electro meet up and smirk as they shoot their powers at the fallen Spider. Shadow groans as he looks up, and quickly takes something off his belt. It looks like a small, black box which he slams onto the ground in front of him. Instantly, a wall of ice spreads upward and blocks the two elementals' attacks.

"Heh, never in a million years would I think I'd need to use that gadget." He quickly rolls to the side and lands on his feet when Molten Man throws a huge ball of fire and metals the ice. "But," he says, "there's a first for everything."

"Exactly," Molten Man says. "Like how there's a first for you getting fried!"

"Oh, come now." Shadow Spider webs a tree branch and pulls himself up to avoid more fire. It hits the trunk of the tree instead, so he is forced to swing over Molten Man. As he does so, he takes more ice cubes out of his pouch and crushes them, dropping them on the villain. "You already know that your fire is no match for my cold heart."

Molten Man tries to scream as his entire body gets encased in ice. Shadow smirks under his mask, landing in front of him to make sure he is entirely immobile. He knocks on it with his knuckles. "Not bad," he says, complimenting himself.

His spider sense goes off and he turns to see a wave of electricity being shot at him. The blast not only electrifies him, but sends him flying into a bench that completely shatters. Electro grins mischievously and flies into view. "It's time to turn off the lights!" he yells, raising his hands. One by one, every working light post shatters and the park becomes dark. The only thing giving them light is the waxing moon, but it can't be seen that well under the clouds.

Shadow covers his face as glass falls on him, which gives Electro time to charge up another attack. He gets close this time, landing a punch over his shoulder and onto the Spider's upper back. The armor doesn't phase him at all, since his fist is entirely electrified. Mr. Negative jumps out of the shadows, his eyes glowing, and slashes at the Spider for some payback. Shadow is sent across the park and into a pond. Using his energy, Mr. Negative helps Molten Man out of the icey cage.

Guh... this is not going well... he thinks to himself.

Aqua and Nitro Spider swing as fast as they can through the city. The older one is on the phone, but then quickly hangs up. "Uh-huh. Thanks, Captain." She turns to Nitro. "He says there are six of them in Central Park. For some reason, the police force can't get inside.

"Are you serious? What do you mean can't?"

"No idea. He made it seem like there's a huge wall blocking the way or something."

"If there's six of them, we should help Emmy and Shadow. I bet they're already there."

"What about Ollie?" she asks, concerned. "After everything that's happened to him... the way he was talking to me earlier this week..."

"The way he was talking to you?"

"Ah, nothing much. Just a tad... depressive."

"Woah, woah," Nitro says. He stops on the side of a building and grabs his sister's arm to halt her swinging. "What are you talking about? Did he say anything, like, bad?"

"No, not at all. He just... reminds me of myself. And after everything he's gone through these past few days. I don't know, you know?" She sighs and rests her back on the wall while her feet are perched, legs slightly bent. "I'm just scared about what that person did to him. Andrew would never get beat up that badly."

"I hear you. It's almost like he submitted to the fight."

"Not really submitted, but more so he froze. And nothing makes him freeze."

"Except for that one person."

"Yeah..." Aqua shakes her head to get back to the matter at hand. "We can deal with that after the new Sinister Six, though."

"I thought you wanted to search for Ollie."

"As long as he is away from the fight, he'll be fine," she concludes. They start swinging to Central Park. "At least, he better be."

New York is the city that never sleeps, and because of this, there are people still flooding the streets even in the dead of night. It's a little less crowded than usual, for sure, but there are still people around. For the night owls, it comes as a complete, baffling shock that the Spider who was just seen on the news is landing on the sidewalk in front of a salon.

Olympic Spider stumbles as his feet touch the ground. One arm stabilizes himself against a wall while the other wraps around his chest. He can feel himself trembling, but tries to keep his posture upright. About three people around him gasp, and one man stands ready to catch him if he falls.

"Yo, Spidey. What'd you think you're doin' here?" the man asks, eyes wide. "I's thought you were in the hospital."

"I don't need a hospital," the Spider says weakly. He takes a step for the door and almost loses his footing, but the man actually catches him this time.

"Come on, man. There is no point in dodgin' the fact dat you need help."

"Urrrg... no," he insists. Ollie takes a breath and walks through the doors. The salon is empty, which doesn't make sense to him until he realizes it's nighttime. "Has it been dark out this whole time? I can't remember."

"Who in the blazes is in my shop?!" someone angrily asks. The person stomps down the stairs and holds a bat in his hand.

Ollie instantly puts his hands up. "I-I just needed some help."

"I ain't helping the likes of you, or any of your siblings. You're running our city to the ground with those superpowered villains popping up everywhere. I had to rebuild my shop once already, and I'm not gonna do it a second time! GET OUT!"

"Hey, man. Why not chill for a bit?" The nice man who caught Ollie before runs inside and stands between the two. "Don't-chya know what happened to this guy?"

"Whatever it was, I'm sure he deserved it!"

Olympic Spider's legs are so unstable at this point that he actually falls to his knees. He is never one to cry. Both him and John are the two who control their emotions to the point of becoming neutral, or wave off their negativity with positive emotions. But, finally, he breaks down right in front of two complete strangers.

The salon owner is taken aback at the sight of such vulnerability. As far as he knew, the Spiderlings were egotistical, narcissistic, abominations. He didn't figure they were humans. The other man squats down and rubs his back, not really sure how to help without hurting him more.

"I just need a wig... that's all. I just n-need a wig," Ollie says, begging at this point.

The owner sighs, rolling his eyes and letting go of his anger for just a moment. Perhaps, if he saw this person as just another human and not Olympic Spider, he could set aside their differences. "Come here," he says quietly, yet harshly. He grabs the Spider's wrist and drags him to a spot in the room where there aren't any windows. All the while, the other man pleads for him to be gentle and is overly cautious of the Spider's wellbeing.

Once they stop and are safe from the outside view, the owner says, "I have to see if you want the right wig."

Ollie sighs in defeat, and carefully removes his mask with both hands. His bloodshot eyes would be enough to make the owner feel terrible, but the sight of his head makes genuine pity form inside of him. "Ya got dinged up pretty badly there," he says, more calmly now.

"I take it you was sleepin' through the news," the other man points out. "He was just in the hospital."

"But, I ran away after my surgery because I can't... I don't want my parents to find out it was me," he explains. "If I'm not home in the morning, then they'll worry."

The owner crosses his arms. "You live with your parents? How old are ya?"

He sighs again. "I just turned eighteen, so I'm not a kid anymore. Senior in highschool."

"I remember when my kids were your age. They're in college now." At this point, he turns and starts looking through his wig display. "Can't believe you're so young. Here I thought some twenty er thirty year-olds were playing dress-up and messing up our beloved city."

"We really didn't mean to cause any of this. It started off harmless. All we try to do is help people, but then all of these people got powers to counter ours, and well, you can see the result." He gestures to his head and chuckles to ease the tension.

The salon owner manages a smile at the corner of his mouth, and then turns to the Spider with a wig. "How is this one? Want me to style it for ya?"

Andrew smiles genuinely and nods, taking the wig. "It looks perfect. Now I don't have to worry about going to school or back home! I don't have time tonight, but can I come back and have you style it?"

"Course. Just don't go asking for new products. This stuff ain't cheap for me."

"O-oh, right. Well, here." He takes off his makeshift bag and hands it to the owner. "Use this as collateral. It's my armor," he gestures to his bare shoulders. "I'll come back to pick it up when I stop back home and get enough money to pay for it."

"Ah, kid, you really don't-"

"I told you, I'm not a kid anymore," the Spider says, putting on his mask once again. The other man gives him a small bag to put the wig in, and then he runs out of the salon, swinging away.

"Wow, I didn't expect him to look like that. So young, I mean," the stranger says.

The shop owner nods, finally letting go of the last bit of anger he had toward the Spiderlings. "They're all just trying their best not to get killed, I suppose."

Emerald Spider is launched backward, but grabs a tree branch with her hands and spins around like a gymnast. She lands on top of it, perching like a spider. "Woah," she says, a little off balance. "You guys got my head spinning."

Her eyes widen as her spider sense rings, and she drops from the tree just before Vulture flies at her and swings his wing. Electro throws some shots at her, but she does a variety of jumps and flips to keep her distance. The ground that gets hit instead starts smoldering.

"Hey, Em!" Shadow Spider yells. She uses a tree to swing upward then looks behind her to see her brother throwing something. The object is a tad longer than she anticipated it to be, so she catches it with both hands midair. Before she lands, she realizes it can fit around her arm like a gauntlet of some sort. She puts it on and thwips at Electro. A bunch of black goo sprays at him, covering his hands in the substance.

"What the?!" he says angrily.

Shadow kicks Mr. Negative off of him and jumps next to Emmy right when she lands. "It's an insulating agent. A little bit of melted rubber to keep you grounded."

"Grounded, eh?!" he responds with a smirk. Electro flies into the air and his powers pulse around him, despite his hands being out of commission.

"Ohhhh perfect," Emmy mutters sarcastically. Both Spiders' sixth senses go off and they look over their shoulders. Mr. Negative throws his sword up in the air and Doc Ock catches it with a metal arm. He is just about to bring it down on the Spiders, but Emmy pushes Shadow out of the way and jumps to the other side.

Mysterio appears next to her as she jumps and catches her. "I think it's about time you take your final bow, Emerald Spider!"

"Oh, please. No need to give me a standing ovation," she retorts. Since both her hands are free, she raises them up and webs two trees. She pulls herself straight up and out of Mysterio's grip. In midair, she flips back and uses her new momentum to swing at Mysterio and kick him in the stomach.

Right as she lands and goes to take a breath, her spider sense goes off. Quickly, she dodges another sword strike from Doctor Octopus. "Stay still you little PEST!"

"Y'know, I don't think Mr. Negative appreciates you handling his weapon like that." She grabs the "wrist" part of his leg that has the sword to push it away. Ock uses another metal limb to grab the sword and tries to stab her side. Somehow, she jumps far enough to the other side and brings his own metal arm in front of her to shield herself. Ock maneuvers around it, using a third arm to bind her legs together. To make matters worse, Vulture comes back down from the sky and lands on her shoulders, cutting through her suit. He lowers a sharp wing up to her neck, keeping her trapped.

Shadow Spider sees that his big sister is in trouble and starts swinging to get closer to her, but Molten Man melts his webbing with some fire. "Leave me alone," he says, rapidly shooting some webs at him. "I don't have time for this."

When Molten Man is distracted enough, he turns to run once more. However, Mysterio blocks his path. "Time is but an illusion, dear Spider."

"God, you always this dramatic?" he asks, flipping away from a few punches. His spider sense tells him that Molten Man is throwing more fireballs, so he pulls himself out of the way with his webs. Mysterio's eyes widen from under his helmet, and he quickly blocks the attack with his cape.

"Nooo! You burnt holes in my perfect costume, Fire Boy!"

"It's not my fault you were in the way," Molten Man says angrily.

Electro flies down to separate the two. "Stop, you two. Stay on task."

They both take a deep breath, and Molten Man uses his powers to melt the rubber off his friend's hands.

Although he is missing his sword, that doesn't mean Mr. Negative is absent of his own powers. He throws punches at Shadow Spider. With each swing, dark energy flows out of his fists. If it wasn't for his armor, Shadow would definitely be singed by it. He tries to keep his distance, knowing what the stuff can do to his head. And he does not want to go through that again. The other three join in the fight, ganging up on him.

Overwhelmed, Shadow pulls himself upward and swings to the top of a very tall tree. However, Mysterio starts walking on air and reaches his height. He snaps his fingers, making a giant hammer appear from nowhere. A triumphant laugh oozes from his mouth as he swings it, making Shadow jump. While he is midair, Electro zaps him. All of his muscles seize, his only hope is that he lands back on the tree to stabilize himself. Yet, Molten Man was thinking ahead and burns the trunk, making it fall over. Mr. Negative smirks and readies a blast of energy. He is about to unleash it when the Spider gets close enough, but someone grabs him just in time and swings away.

They land right next to a pond of water, and Aqua Spider gently places her brother on the ground. She steps in front of him, shielding him from the villains, and plops her headphones over her ears. "Alright, so who wants to tell me why I wasn't invited to this shindig?" Scrolling through her phone, she finds the perfect playlist and shoots up the volume.

Something pulls Vulture off Emmy's shoulders, which makes Doc Ock pause for a moment. Nitro Spider slowly lowers himself from the tree branch upside down and webs his sister's back. "Gotchya!" he says, freeing her from the doctor's grasp.

They land a good distance away and Emmy lets out a sigh of relief. "Nitro! Oh my- what are you doing here?"

"Uh, helping."

"Well, I mean, what about Ollie?" she asks urgently.

"Oh, right. He's fine!" Nitro says simply, then swings away. "I'll explain later, but just know he's alright now."

"Alright, wait up!" she yells, but then loses her breath. "Or, maybe I'll just take a minute. Yeah... it's break time."

"Woah-ho-ho, Electro! What are you doing here?" Aqua asks while swinging in a circle. The man in question zooms around trying to keep up with her. "I assumed you were in hiding. Y'know, trying to keep a low profile."

"My only shot of getting my life back is bringing in you Spiders to Jackal. Besides, I owe it to Molten Man." He turns his head to see his friend trying to catch up from the ground. "And, I think I'm starting to master these powers of mine. It's quite freeing to fly!"

"Psh, tell me about it!" She chuckles, lifting her legs to her face to dodge some fireballs.

Electro sees an opening and shoots lightning at her, making her let go of the webs. She screams as she falls into the shrubbery, and groans while climbing out of the thorns. "Hey, thanks for charging my phone!" she says, lighting her arm out of the bush with a thumbs-up.

"No prob- wait, did that actually work?" he asks, amused.

"Haha, yeah!" She turns up the volume even more after she frees herself from the bush. Avril Lavine's "Sk8ter Boi" pulses through her, giving her heart the extra support it needs to keep beating.

"Hah, how about that?" he says, this time with more menace. "Let's see what happens when it gets overcharged!"

Aqua does a few flips and then swings away. "Sorry, I'm too much of a coward to fight you." This makes him and Molten Man enraged, and they chase her.

Nitro Spider tries to find Doctor Octopus, but gets attacked by Vulture instead. "Oh my days! Look who it is!" the Spiderling says. "It's Mr. Pigeon!"

"I AM NOT A PIGEON!" Vulture yells. He makes a sharp turn and cuts the red webbing, making him fall.

Thinking fast, Nitro shoots his webs upward and catches Vulture's face. He screeches as if he was a bird and starts whipping his head around to shake him off. Using his other hand, Nitro webs his wing. "Take it easy, birdie! You're the one who cut my webs. I had to improvise!"

He lets go of the first string and then soars upward, landing on Vulture's back. The man uses his bare hands to rip the sticky webs off his face. "Get off me, you annoying vermin!"

"Ey, spiders ain't vermin!" He stands up straight as Vulture spins, flying upside down. "We aren't insects or bugs, either. We are arachnids."

Nitro webs his wings and pulls, making Vulture soar upward. "NO!" he yells, seeing that they're aiming for a statue. Unfortunately, he crashes right into it after Nitro swings away.

Sadly, Mysterio is now on his trail. "Ugh, great. The Broadway guy is following me."

"I prefer the term: Broadway Superstar!"

Nitro spots his sister swinging in his direction, and he gets an idea. "Well, looks like your acting career is about to flop!"

As if they have the same idea, the two Spiders smirk under their masks. Aqua yells, "I'm up for the ol' switch-a-roo!" They both shoot webs at each other, and then use it to pull themselves forward. Aqua grabs the red webbing and gains speed to kick Mysterio in the "face." Nitro does the same with Aqua's webs, not giving Electro enough time to react.

"WOO-HOO!" Aqua yells, seemingly having a good time. Her spider sense rings, but she doesn't pay attention to it. A slash of dark energy cuts her webs and she falls onto the pond. Luckily, she strained her feet as she noticed she was above water. "Hah! Try and get me over here, Mr. Negative."

"Shouldn't be that hard," he says confidently. At some point, he must have gotten his sword back because he uses it to stab the floor. A huge burst of energy scatters around him, breaking the floor and spraying water in her face.

It takes her a moment before she realizes that she isn't standing on water anymore. "Uh-oh," she mutters, and turns around. All of the water comes rushing back, and she can only put her hands up in defense as it washes her away.

The pond settles back into place, and Mr. Negative peers into it for any sign of the Spider. Molten Man hurries to his side and gets an idea. "Watch this," he says, hovering his hands just above the water. After a few seconds, it glows and starts bubbling.

"Golly geez!" Aqua Spider yells once her head breaks the surface. She scrambles to the top and hoists herself up to stand on the water once again. She jumps and swings, landing on the safe ground. "You trying to boil me alive or something? Been there, done that," she says breathlessly.

"Hey, it was working. You gotta give me credit for that!" Molten Man says triumphantly. He ignites his hands and throws some fire at her, but she quickly yelps and jumps away.

"Don't worry. I managed to bring back a souvenir!" she says, taking a handful of water out from behind her back. As she flips one more time, she throws it right at Molten Man's chest.

"URG!" he grunts and wheezes, collapsing.

She lands next to him. "Sorry, dude. But, turning into a spicy spider is not the way I wanna go out."

Her spider sense goes off and this time, she actually looks behind her to see who is attacking her now. Mr. Negative swings his sword with both hands, despite it being more of a one handed weapon. Aqua gasps and pulls herself upward with her webs, starting to geek out. "Woah, is that a jian blade?! That is so cool! Where did you get it, if I may ask?"

"AHHHH!" he yells, swinging the sword at her every time she gets a little too low to the ground.

"Alright, fine, I'll come by and ask you again once you're behind bars."

Aqua is so focused on dodging his energy attacks that she stops looking in front of her. Electro pops out of nowhere and uses both hands to charge all of his electricity. She swings right into it, the lightning pulsing from around both of them. Gravity takes effect, and she starts falling with her eyes blurry. As she goes down, she makes another weak attempt to shoot webs upward. Electro simply stays there in the air, catching the end of her webs effortlessly.

He pulls her up so he can get a good look at her. She stays limp, barely conscious. With his free hand, he grabs her around the neck, making sure to press his fingers inward so his powers have the deepest effect.

"W-wait, Max," she says quietly, but he can hear her. He takes her orange headphones off and lets them drop. Trying to ignore the gesture, she struggles to fold her thumb under the bottom of her mask. She starts tugging it upward, but he grabs her wrist to stop her.

"I don't care who you are," he says coldly.

She gasps as she is electrocuted again. He brings her up over his shoulder, and then down as if he was throwing a baseball. Aqua lands on the ground, making a small crater, electricity spikes still zapping around her.

"AQUA!" Nitro yells. He starts running, trying to get to her, but Vulture comes from above and blocks his path. "Get out of my way," he growls.

"Come now, Nitro Spider," a voice says from behind him. He knows who it is, and he turns to see Doctor Octopus. "Let her rest. It's time to settle this." On his other sides, Mysterio appears and Mr. Negative bares his sword. Electro helps Molten Man stand up, and they also face the lone Spider.

Nitro takes a deep breath, shifting between his feet. He pretends he is getting ready for a basketball game or something less violent than what he faces now. "Alright," he says. "Come at me."

Doctor Octopus makes the first move, so he jumps straight in the air and sprays webs into his eyes. Mr. Negative kicks his legs before he lands, making Nitro fall onto his back. Quickly, he performs a kip-up and ducks to dodge Electro's attack. It hits the doctor instead, adding to his morale. Vulture swoops down and tries to slice him with his wing, but Nitro leans backward enough and shoots a web at his talon. Before he can realize what's going on, Nitro attaches the other end of the web to a tree trunk. Molten Man jumps up and aims a punch at his face, but his spider sense goes off and he moves out of the way. Nitro spins, takes out a stinger, and stabs Molten Man's shoulder as he stumbles from missing the punch. Thankfully, the man collapses. Mysterio appears behind him and summons chains, wrapping them around the Spider. Somehow, he swiftly locks the chains and holds up the key before it vanishes in a puff of green smoke. Nitro uses his super strength to break free just in time for Mr. Negative to swing his sword. This time, Nitro doesn't hold back on a punch to the face, secretly letting out his lingering anger on what this man did to his brothers. Mr. Negative stumbles back, and the Spider jumps out of the way before he can get electrocuted. However, he jumps right into one of Doc Ock's claws.

The doctor grabs the back of his neck, hovering him above the ground. He slowly turns him so that he can look at his face. "This time, you don't have a team. No plan-" he tightens his grip around the spider's throat, making him scream in pain, "-no outsiders, NO SPECIAL GADGETS!"

By some miracle, Aqua Spider is still breathing. She opens her eyes, finally getting rid of those black splotches. The electricity around her dissipates, and she gathers her courage enough to sit up. Her breath hitches like it doesn't want to leave. If it does, she might not have the strength to fill her lungs again. After a few moments, she settles down. She doesn't feel that much pain, which might be a bad thing, but she doesn't care. Her entire back feels numb, along with the back of her head. The right sleeve of her hoodie is torn at the shoulder, making the arm droop off, hanging by meer threads. Her suit is dirty, ripped, and her right eye lens is shattered. Only humming in pain when she moves her sides. At least she still has a sense of touch.

A faint sound comes from beside her, so she looks over to see her headphones. She puts them on, the song getting louder as they circle around her ears.

This isn't about Max being Electro anymore. He's made his decision, and she can clearly see that. There is no point in waiting for him to change, in fixing him. All that she feels is determination that she will not let any of her siblings die by these people's hands. Turn up the volume.

Mr. Negative raises his sword and goes to bring it down on Nitro's heart, but grey webs loop around the blade. He looks over, confused, and the weapon gets yanked out of his hands. Aqua expertly swings it around in her left one, pointing it at the villains with the blade still charged. With her free hand, she raises a finger and gestures: come and get me.

Electro flies over everyone angrily and shoots electricity at her. She jumps straight over it and uses one hand to shoot webs at his chest. She zips over to him and lands a punch across his face. Her feet land on his shoulders, and she jumps off only to land a kick on Mysterio's side. He summons two swords and swings them at her, but he is nowhere near as experienced as she is.

"What the... I've practiced with these props for years!" Mysterio says as she disarms him.

"Should have told your friend not to pick a jian," she says confidently, webbing his hands to the ground.

Vulture flies down and tries to attack her, but she blocks his talons with the blade. She decides to use the energy on him, since she can't outmatch his speed. The negative energy shoots out of the sword and across his chest, making him winded.

Doctor Octopus makes her spider sense go off, but she turns around too late. He coils an arm around her and snatches the sword with another one. "Interesting," he says. He lifts the blade and hovers the tip above her exposed eye. "Who are you under there?"

"HI-YAH!" someone yells from above them. Emmy swings into the fray and kicks Ock in the face with both her feet. As he goes flying, Aqua drops to the ground. "Oh my goodness, are you okay?!"

"Oh, I'm fine," she says nonchalantly. "I don't really feel anything. Is Shadow okay?"

"Thanks for asking about my well-being, sis," Shadow says, landing on a tree branch. "I knew you cared."

He uses his new gauntlets to cover Electro in rubber, making him yell in rage. He falls next to Molten Man, leaving only Mr. Negative and Ock. Emmy kicks the legs out from under the former and Shadow keeps him down with his webs. Doctor Octopus starts yelling at everyone, saying this can not be how it ends. "I had you all at my mercy! I HAD YOU!"

"Yeah, well, you let us go," Emmy retorts. She rapidly fires her webbing at Doc's legs as he charges at her, leaving him a mess of spider webs and limbs.

Mysterio sighs and says, "Well, this was fun, but I should be going." Before anyone can do anything, he vanishes. The hazy wall surrounding the park fades away, and the police start arriving.

Aqua helps Nitro stand up and the four spiders swing away before they can be run over by the police. Captain Stacy arrives first to see four trapped or unconscious villains. Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Mr. Negative, and Molten Man. There is a pool of rubber by Molten Man, but the person who was trapped inside is now gone. In which direction he went, no one knows.

The Spiderlings all make it back to their respective homes. John takes off his mask and does his best to change into something else before crashing on his bed. He doesn't care that Andrew is also here, he will question him in the morning about his shenanigans with the hospital. Ethan is in the same mindset, but has the freedom of not needing to change out of his spider outfit. Instead, he makes sure his door is locked and blinds are shut before crashing on his bed. Right when his eyes close, they don't open out of sheer exhaustion. "I hate it when they team up," he mutters before going to sleep.

Julia opens their window and limply falls inside the apartment. Maria climbs in behind her, quickly putting a robe on over her suit. "Hang on, I'm getting you some ice and meds."

"I'm fine," her sister says weakly. "I just need sleep."

She knows there is no arguing with her. "First of all, you're not fine, but okay. Let me help you to your room."

"I'm totally fine. I can heal fast, y'know."

"Sure, sure," she says, waving off the conversation. Maria helps her stand up and climb the stairs. She closes the door once she knows she is safe in her room. Letting out a big yawn, she heads to her own room and goes to sleep.

Julia changes into some pajamas after taking a shower. She makes sure to wear long sleeves to hide her injuries. She gets a little nervous as a black eye forms, not to mention she couldn't feel the water hitting her back in the shower. She might be hurt a lot more than the thought. Still, she isn't going to cry about it. She stumbles over to her bed, but then hears a noise at her bedroom window. Confused, she parts the curtains.

Julia covers her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. Electro is right there, knocking on the glass to be let in. After getting over her shock, she opens the window.

"Thank you, Julia," he says breathlessly. Right when his feet hit the floor, he hugs her. "I really needed to see a familiar face right now."

"M-M-Max, wha-"

He cuts her off. "Don't be scared. Are you scared of me?" The question makes him sound hurt.

She ignores it. "Wh-what happened?"

"I heard the Spiderlings were at the hospital, so I teamed up with a few guys to take them down. If I can bring one to Jackal, I'll finally be normal again. A-and, then I can get out of hiding. I can start a life, like how I've been telling you." Her expression doesn't change as he talks, and he notices something is wrong. "Hey, what happened to your eye?"

"O-oh... Tanner, he, uh-"

"I'm sorry, I forget you have your own demons to fight sometimes. Do you want to talk about it?"

She shakes her head, muttering, "No..."

"Okay, I'll respect that. Don't worry," he says, hugging her again. "I won't hurt you. We just need to stay strong until I am back to normal. I'll keep you safe, okay?"

Her eyes stay wide open the entire night as Electro's arms are wrapped around her.