— 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 —

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AS CAPTAIN GEORGE STACY BENT DOWN AND PICKED UP THE REMNANTS OF WEBBING, HE IMMEDIATELY CLENCHED HIS FIST AND CRUSHED THE SUBSTANCE. He'd been so close, yet at every turn Spider-man was one step ahead. It was only once he saw the claw marks that marred the seating that chills crawled up his neck. Deja vu rippled everywhere he looked. It only took another second for wisps of blonde hair to play through his memory.

He closed his eyes, breathing through his nose as his fists quaked. It had been six years since his daughter fell from the Oscorp tower. Six years since Spider-man failed to catch her after first putting her in danger. He didn't agree with the bugle on many things, but this he did: Spider-man was a menace.

"Captain!" his title was called.

"What have you got, MacQuaid?" Captain Stacy asked, straightening as his head detective approached.

"Paramedics rushed off one identified Benjamin Parker Jr.," Detective Lachlan MacQuaid explained. "Now, the team has interviewed most of the staff, actors, and audience. Minor injuries mostly."

"Everyone accounted for?" Captain Stacy asked.

MacQuaid slowly shook his head. "Some reporters caught wind of Harry Osborn attending tonight's performance. They have photographic proof that the Oscorp heir was here. We have yet to find him... there's something else."

Captain Stacy's brow lifted and his lips twisted with chagrin. "Spit it out, MacQuaid."

"The lead actress of tonight's performance, Maxine Jacobs, she's also missing," MacQuaid said. He paused as if hesitating to share his next piece of information. "We have a witness who last saw her in the possession of Spider-man."

Captain Stacy could feel his temperature rising. He could hear that his breathing was heavier. He knew he was failing to keep his composure. And frankly, he didn't care anymore. He'd lost his little girl. He wasn't about to let another family suffer like his own. "This case has moved to our number one priority. I don't care how it's done, but I want this vigilante unmasked and behind bars."

MacQuaid didn't reply. The only sign that he understood his instructions was a subtle head nod before the detective rushed away. From the way he gathered the surrounding officers, Captain Stacy knew the detective was relaying orders. Slowly, he turned his back to his men and closed his eyes, trying with all of his willpower to forget that dark night but still remember the reason he continued to serve.

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THE DARKNESS WAS INVITING TO THE HUNTER. Most feared the dark, he embraced it. It called to him in a savage allure that he deemed comfort. Which is why his posture did not falter with false confidence as he descended into the depths of the catacombs. A branch of old tunnels that had originally been a vault for the dead, now containing secrets that the elders kept hidden from the world.

"Would you call that assignment a success, Kravinoff?" a voice hissed somewhere deeper in the darkness.

"You have Osborn," Kraven replied coldly. "What you do with the beasts once I hand them over is none of my concern. Unless you do not receive them, it is not in your power to question my methods."

The overhead lights flickered on, revealing the shadow he'd been speaking to as a woman. Her blonde hair was slicked back into a low ponytail while the lab coat that covered her black uniform remained pristine despite the filth around them.

The room could quickly be recognized as a laboratory from the enlarged beakers and computer systems whirring in the background. The row of cages that lined the wall almost served as a display case—or it did in his opinion considering those cages held some of his greatest hunts.

Dr. Rajit Ratha, the man who earned himself the nickname: The Lizard, a man who'd been particularly useful over the last few hours, given only enough serum to convert him into his monstrous form temporarily. Said serum had already worn off, leaving the man more confused than anything since their devised serum brought out the beast in mankind, repressing the parts that would still deem him human. He'd been caught two years ago, broken out of prison.

Eddie Brock, the man claiming to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He'd muttered some excuse about leaving San Francisco to find the Spider, but the hunter had ignored most of it. He didn't care about the history, he cared about the results... and the thrill of the danger. Although the man himself wasn't much of a threat, the alien symbiote inhabiting the human packed much more of a punch. Considering it had referred to itself as Venom on multiple occasions, a fitting name, that is what it was called. He'd been caught at the beginning of the week, the second he stepped foot in New York.

Max Dillon. This catch he didn't understand. The man was a successful scientist, sure, but he hardly fit the monster stereotype that the organization usually hired him to hunt. The organization had claimed that the man's internal electric patterns were off, but the science jargon had always escaped him. The man did know his way around electricity, the scar he'd acquired when Dillon had tried to fight back was a hard reminder to forget. He'd been caught last night, taken from his lab without a trace of his presence.

Harry Osborn, the man suffering from the Goblin's disease. The hunter didn't know much about the illness, but he did understand it was hereditary and would ultimately destroy the Oscorp heir just as it had his father. True, the disease had been suspended, but it would eventually overpower the medication, proving itself the superior species in the law of survival of the fittest. He'd been caught within the last few hours, kidnapped from the theater in a moment where his bodyguards were mistakenly absent.

Finally, Dr. Curt Connors, the man responsible for creating the Lizard serum in the first place. Six years ago the organization detected an anomaly. It took six years to track the anomaly back to the doctor. Although the hunter knew little about the organization's need to control such anomalies, he didn't question the hand which hired him. Personally, the hunter couldn't claim this one. It was Bram van Heusen that had caught the doctor, they'd split: one taking the Goblin, one taking the scientist. He'd wisely chosen the better hunt, leaving Van Heusen with the scraps.

Said man currently stood behind the woman, rigid as if waiting for a command to be released. The woman's lip twitched. "It became my right to question when you failed to uphold your orders. No witnesses, Kravinoff. It's never been an issue before now."

"The information that your organization briefed me on was wrong," Kraven replied, eyes narrowing at her accusation. "There were two, Crane."

Dr. Ila Crane, as he identified her, took a step back to process the information. Of course, she already knew this, it was just suspicions being confirmed really. She retreated back across the room, pulling up the reports she'd printed off earlier. She lifted a hand, waving it to dismiss the hunter with a signal that encouraged Van Heusen to pay him.

"Your services are no longer needed at this time," Crane said. "You will be contacted when there is another hunt."

"What about the Spider?" Kraven asked. "I track him, I find the girl."

"Or..." another voice joined the conversation as another scientist entered the room. "You track the anomaly pattern, you find both mythos subjects."

"Has something changed, Octavius?" Crane asked, turning to address the source of her question.

Dr. Otto Octavius nodded his head, motioning for the others to follow as he brought up the data onto the surrounding computer screens. "I've been closely monitoring the energy spikes associated with these anomalies and they're all showing similar diverges of relative space-time."

"English," Van Heusen requested.

"Another pair of anomalies were detected this morning," Octavius explained. "And one last night. Three new energy signatures in addition to Mr. Dillon and Dr. Connors. By tracking the signatures of these anomalies, I've been able to watch as they separated and met with other signatures. The theater was a hot spot. Considering the girl got away with Spider-man..."

"That makes him a target," Crane finished the thought. Slowly, she nodded her head. "Have you made any preparations to see this plan of yours through?"

Octavius nodded his head. "Six. To be precise."

"Then the hunt is on." The corners of Crane's lips twisted into a sinister grin. "How positively GRIMM."

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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬| It's a bit of a shorter, filler chapter, but still important in establishing how things have changed since those that traveled across the multiverse returned. Honestly, the timeline is so much fun to mess with and it's bound to create some great chaos later down the line. Hopefully everything has been making sense so far, if not, more explanation will come in later chapters. What did you think? Any theories? As always, don't forget to vote and leave a comment. Thanks for reading!