New York — Manhattan — Evening
Spider-Man was moving at full speed between the buildings, swinging from web to web as his gaze swept over the streets of Manhattan in horror.
Everywhere he looked, the same scene repeated itself.
Criminals were running in every direction, attacking civilians in the middle of the street, forcing their way into apartments, or ransacking homes without fearing the slightest consequence.
Screams echoed between the buildings, mixing with the commotion that had taken over the different neighborhoods.
In the span of just a few moments, New York seemed to have truly descended into hell.
As he continued making his way across the city, Spider-Man suddenly spotted a woman in distress amid all the chaos.
She was desperately holding a baby against her while a criminal approached dangerously, clearly ready to attack her.
— “P-Please, leave us alone! I have… I have a baby!”
The criminal gave her a sickening smile.
— “I don’t give a damn about your baby! What I want… is you!”
Without the slightest hesitation, the criminal brutally ripped the baby from its mother’s arms and, in an act of absolute cruelty, threw it into the air.
The woman immediately let out a scream of terror, completely helpless as her child was thrown into the air.
But before the baby could fall back down, Spider-Man appeared at lightning speed.
He caught it in midair and, in the same movement, delivered a powerful kick to the attacker.
The impact violently sent the man flying several meters away, tearing a scream of pain from him as he crashed heavily to the ground.
Spider-Man immediately turned toward the mother, carefully holding the baby in his arms.
Despite all the tension around them, his voice deliberately softened to reassure her.
— “Are you alright, ma’am?” he asked in a reassuring voice.
“Here, take your baby. I think he wants to be back in his mother’s arms.”
He helped the woman back to her feet before gently returning her child to her.
As soon as she got him back, she immediately held him tightly against her, still shaken by what had just happened.
— “Get out of here. Find a group and get somewhere safe. Okay?”
The woman immediately nodded.
— “O-Okay! Thank you… thank you so much!”
She held her baby tightly against her before running away.
On the ground, the criminal spat out blood and then raised his head.
When he recognized Spider-Man, a twisted smile spread across his face.
— “No way… look who’s here: Spider-Man himself! I thought you were just a legend!”
He stood back up and shouted at the top of his lungs:
— “HEY! COME LOOK! SPIDER-MAN’S HERE!”
His shout echoed through the surrounding streets and quickly caught the attention of numerous criminals in the area.
Dozens of them began converging on Spider-Man’s position, some armed with metal bats, others with knives or even broken bottles.
A few had nothing but their fists to fight with, but they all shared the same rage in their eyes when they saw the one now standing before them.
But a few minutes earlier, Spider-Man had landed in front of the window of the Stacy apartment with Gwen in his arms.
Without wasting any time, he had quickly dropped her off inside her room, determined to leave again as soon as possible to return to the streets of Manhattan.
— “Peter, what are you doing?!”
— “Gwen, it’s really dangerous out there and your father told me to bring you home, so stay here, okay?”
— “No! I want to come! I want to help!”
— “Gwen, stop! This isn’t the time! There are people in danger and I refuse to let anything happen to you!”
The sudden firmness in his voice was enough to silence Gwen.
Peter realized almost immediately that he had spoken to her much more harshly than he had intended, and a feeling of guilt immediately ran through him.
But with the city descending into chaos and all the people outside who needed help, he unfortunately didn’t have the luxury of taking the time to apologize the way he would have wanted.
— “If there’s a problem, anything at all… call me. Okay?”
Gwen lowered her eyes before finally nodding.
— “Okay… be careful, Peter.”
— “I promise.”
After one last look in her direction, Peter leaped out the window again and fired a web toward one of the neighboring buildings, quickly disappearing between the buildings to return and face the chaos that had taken over New York.
And after those few minutes in between… this was the kind of situation the young hero now found himself in.
Spider-Man was now surrounded by several dozen criminals, some of whom seemed to recognize him perfectly well.
In the middle of the crowd, a man stepped slightly forward and stared at him with anger that was difficult to hide.
A man pointed an accusing finger in his direction.
— “Hey, Spider-Man! Remember me? You busted me for assault and I got years because of you, you bastard!”
Another criminal intervened almost immediately, pointing toward the men standing beside him.
— “Me and my buddies got two years! Remember?!”
He pointed to his two accomplices, who were also staring at Spider-Man with obvious hostility.
Faced with all these resentful faces, however, the hero didn’t seem particularly impressed.
He simply crossed his arms.
— “Sorry, guys, but I tend to forget the little pieces of shit I send to prison.”
The provocation immediately had the expected effect.
Around him, expressions tightened, several fists clenched, and some jaws tensed with anger.
Within seconds, the atmosphere became electric as Spider-Man remained at the center of the hostile crowd, surrounded on all sides.
Then someone shouted:
— “GET HIM! KILL HIM!”
As if that shout had given the signal they had all been waiting for, the entire horde rushed at Spider-Man.
The criminals charged at him from every direction, weapons in hand, determined to take advantage of the chaos reigning over New York to finally get rid of the one who had sent so many of them behind bars.
— “Here we go.”
The thought had barely crossed his mind when the first criminals reached him and the fight broke out.
Spider-Man immediately sprang into action, dodging the attacks with agility far superior to that of his opponents.
Whenever a man tried to take advantage of his distraction to attack him from behind, his spider-sense warned him of the danger early enough for him to react.
He ducked under a bat, pivoted to avoid the blade of a knife, then retaliated almost immediately with a punch or kick powerful enough to incapacitate his opponent.
Despite their numerical superiority, the criminals struggled to even touch him.
Spider-Man constantly moved from one to another, striking fast, hard, and precisely, while using his webs to immobilize those who tried to surround him.
Some weapons were ripped from their owners’ hands before they could even use them, while other men found themselves thrown into one another or webbed against a wall within seconds.
Yet despite the bodies beginning to pile up around them, some still refused to back down.
— “COME ON, MOVE YOUR ASSES! ARE WE GONNA GET HIM OR NOT, GODDAMMIT?!” one of them shouted.
He barely had time to finish his sentence before Spider-Man reached him.
The hero firmly grabbed him by the head and, with a brutal movement, slammed it against the ground.
The impact was violent enough to knock the man out instantly, his body collapsing without offering the slightest resistance.
This time, the effect on the others was immediate.
Several criminals who were still preparing to throw themselves at Spider-Man froze, while others instinctively began backing away.
The rage and confidence that had filled their eyes moments earlier gradually faded, giving way to fear that was much harder to hide.
Then, he calmly asked:
— “So…? Who’s next?”
Oscorp — Norman Osborn’s Office — Evening
From the heights of Oscorp Tower, Norman Osborn silently watched the chaos descending upon New York.
Behind the immense windows of his office, the city he knew so well seemed unrecognizable.
Fires lit up certain streets, sirens echoed across Manhattan and, even from this height, it was possible to perceive the scale of the disorder that had taken hold of the metropolis.
Yet, unlike many other residents, Norman did not seem particularly frightened by the sight.
His gaze remained cold, attentive, almost analytical.
— “Here we are, Tombstone. I imagine you must be enjoying the show from where you are. I’m sure that, nice and warm, you’re watching all this chaos unfold.”
Suddenly, the door to his office opened and one of his private security guards hurried inside.
His urgency contrasted sharply with Norman’s almost unsettling calm, as he did not even immediately look away from the city.
— “Sir! Several criminals are trying to get into the building. What do we do? If they get through the door—”
— “Kill those who try to get in. They’re criminals,” he continued.
“Many of them already have, I assume, quite extensive records. Killing a few pieces of trash won’t be a problem. You can always claim self-defense. So do what needs to be done.”
Norman did not even look away from the city.
The guard remained frozen for a moment at the coldness with which his superior had just given him that order, but he did not try to argue.
— “Yes, sir.”
Before he could leave, Norman finally turned his attention away from the window and continued:
— “One thing: Harry is in his room, right?”
— “Yes, sir. Two men are stationed at his door and he won’t be leaving. But if he needs anything, all he has to do is ask.”
— “Good. You may go.”
The guard slightly bowed his head before leaving the office and closing the door behind him, leaving Norman alone once again.
He slowly straightened up and turned his attention back toward New York.
His piercing gaze swept over the lights, smoke, and fires disfiguring the city, but his thoughts now seemed to linger on one very specific element amid all this chaos.
— “Spider-Man… at first, I didn’t know what to make of him. But seeing all of this, I’m starting to wonder. My goal was to create an army of super-mercenaries for my private purposes, but if someone can defeat my creations… then maybe I chose the wrong test subjects?”
He paused briefly, lost in thought.
— “If I launched this plan, it wasn’t without reason. Creating an army only makes sense if it can surpass an opponent. So let’s consider all of this a decisive test: if you come out victorious in this battle, you might just become my next… and greatest test subject.” This chapter was copied from novelping . com without permission.
Meanwhile, far from the unsettling calm that reigned in his father’s office, Harry Osborn was lying on his bed in his secured room.
Looking gloomy, he stared at the television screen in front of him, still unable to believe the scale of what was happening only a few dozen floors beneath his feet.
The evening news had just begun, but it no longer resembled an ordinary news broadcast in the slightest.
— “Good evening, New York. We’re flying over the city and here’s what’s happened over the past few hours: the prisoners of Ryker escaped by means that are still unknown and have poured into the city. New York is in chaos: assaults, looting, fires…”
The images being broadcast were difficult to watch.
From the air in a helicopter, the camera revealed the extent of the chaos that had spread across the city, giving everyone still locked inside their homes a terrifying glimpse of what was happening outside.
And Harry was far from the only one watching the report.
In her room, Gwen was also following the news with concern.
Flash, Liz, and Sally were watching the same images, as were the Connors from their laboratory.
All across New York, the residents who had remained sheltered found themselves in front of their screens, stunned by how quickly their city seemed to be collapsing before their eyes.
— “A message to everyone: stay home. And if that’s not possible, seek shelter in a hospital, a police station… anywhere, but get somewhere safe—”
The transmission abruptly cut out in the middle of her sentence.
The image distorted with a violent burst of static before the screen went completely black.
The helicopter from which the reporter had been covering the events had just been attacked.
Harry remained frozen in front of the television for a few seconds, his face suddenly much paler.
Until now, he had been watching the chaos through a screen, almost as if there were still some distance between him and reality.
But this sudden interruption had just made the situation much more real.
— “This is… this is really fucked up!”
Shaken by what he had just seen, Harry immediately grabbed his phone and dialed Peter’s number.
At the same moment, Peter had already resumed making his way across the city and was swinging at full speed between the buildings of Manhattan.
Feeling his phone vibrate against him, he answered almost immediately while continuing to move.
— “Peter?! Dude, have you seen what’s happening?!”
— “Hey, Harry. And yeah… I’ve seen it.”
— “Dude, it’s total chaos! And where are you?”
— “I’m at home. What about you, are you okay?”
— “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m locked in my room and my dad refuses to let me out.”
— “And that’s a very good thing. Given the situation…”
While continuing to make his way through Manhattan, Peter tried to keep his voice as natural as possible so he would not arouse his friend’s suspicions.
But before the conversation could go any further, a second call appeared on his phone.
This time, the name displayed on the screen was enough to immediately capture all his attention: Aunt May.
He grimaced.
— “Uh, sorry Harry, I have to go. We’ll talk later. And most importantly, don’t go outside!”
— “I couldn’t even if I wanted to. And you be careful too!”
Peter quickly hung up and immediately answered the new call.
At the same time, he stopped swinging and landed on the roof of a building so he could talk more easily.
— “Hello, Aunt May?”
— “Peter! Peter, where are you?! Stay home, okay? It’s chaos outside!”
— “I’m not at home, Aunt May, but I—”
— “WHAT?! WHERE ARE YOU?!”
Peter immediately pulled the phone away from his ear, grimacing at the force of her shout.
— “My ears…”
— “Calm down! I’m at Harry’s!”
— “Harry? Harry Osborn?”
— “Yes!”
— “Okay, that’s a relief. Stay there!”
The relief audible in May’s voice did not last long in Peter’s mind, however.
Now that he knew his aunt was worried about him, a much more important question had just crossed his mind.
— “And where are you? You’re not home yet?”
— “No… I was about to leave work when everyone started running. My coworkers told me to go home. As soon as I found out what was happening, I called you right away!”
Peter’s expression immediately darkened.
He would have much preferred knowing May was locked safely at home rather than stuck at her workplace in the middle of a city overrun by criminals.
— “Damn… I would’ve preferred knowing she was at home…”
— “And are you safe over there?”
— “Yes, we’re safe…”
She had barely finished her sentence when a violent tremor suddenly shook the building she was in.
The walls trembled, several objects wobbled, and cries of surprise erupted among the employees.
Through his phone, Peter immediately heard the sudden commotion that had replaced the relative calm from only a few seconds earlier.
— “Hello?! Aunt May?! What are those noises?! Why is everyone screaming?!”
Like several of her coworkers, May hurried toward the windows to understand what was causing such violent tremors.
When she looked down below, her face fell.
Rhino was at the foot of the building and was directly attacking its foundations, smashing through them with terrifying violence.
— “Oh my God… he… he’s trying to…”
— “What?! Who’s doing what?! What’s going on?!”
— “He… He’s trying to bring our building down!”
May’s words froze Peter in place.
On the other end of the phone, the screams were becoming more numerous and louder as the building continued to shake under Rhino’s attacks.
Peter tightened his grip on his phone, desperately trying to understand what was happening through the chaotic noises reaching him.
Then, without the slightest warning, everything stopped.
May’s voice disappeared along with the screams and the call was abruptly cut off.
— “Aunt May?! AUNT MAY?! Shit!”
Peter stared at his phone for a fraction of a second, anxiety suddenly twisting his stomach.
He had no idea why the call had just been cut off and had no way of knowing what had happened to May since the last tremors.
But one thing was certain: he couldn’t stay there for another second.
— “If I go now, I’ll be there in a few minutes!”
He immediately put his phone away and leaped off the rooftop without wasting any more time.
A web shot from his web-shooter and attached itself to a neighboring building, then another a few seconds later.
Peter crossed Manhattan at full speed, chaining his swings together as quickly as possible between the buildings.
All his attention was now focused on a single objective: reaching Aunt May before it was too late.
New York — Thompson Apartment — Evening
In the living room of the Thompson apartment, Flash was sitting with his father, mother, and little sister, all gathered in front of the television.
For several minutes, no one seemed truly capable of looking away from the screen, as the images being broadcast showed the full extent of the chaos that had taken over New York.
The news channels kept showing footage of devastated streets, confrontations, and police interventions, notably showing officers doing their best to contain armed and particularly dangerous criminals.
Harrison, Flash’s father, was carefully watching the police officers on the screen when he suddenly turned his gaze toward his son.
— “You see that, Flash? You see what the cops are doing to protect the city? When you turn 18, you’re going into the army, to become a man, a real one! You shouldn’t even be here, you should be outside making yourself useful, to your city… and to me, your father!”
Faced with the harshness of his father’s words, Flash immediately lowered his head.
All the confidence he could usually display outside seemed to disappear whenever he found himself facing Harrison.
— “I know, Dad… sorry.”
His father’s gaze hardened even more.
— “Make yourself useful and bring me a beer.”
Flash didn’t protest.
He simply got up from the couch and headed toward the kitchen to get a beer from the refrigerator.
From her seat, Jesse, his little sister, silently watched her older brother, visibly saddened by the way their father had once again spoken to him.
— “Flash…”
A few moments later, Flash returned to the living room and handed the beer to Harrison, who snatched it from his hands without even bothering to thank him.
Flash remained briefly still in front of him, then preferred to leave the room without saying another word.
He went to his bedroom, closed the door behind him, and lay down on his bed, happy to finally be able to isolate himself.
He then took out his phone and opened the group chat he shared with Liz and Sally.
— “Are you girls there?”
The reply came almost immediately.
— “Oh, Flash! Hey!” Liz wrote.
— “Yeah, we’re here. Where would you want us to be? Outside, maybe?” Sally replied.
— “Sally, don’t start…”
Flash rolled his eyes.
— “Always as cheerful as ever, I see.”
— “Shut up…”
Despite the situation outside, their exchanges still had something familiar about them, and that made Flash smile.
— “Anyway… what do your parents think about all of this? Because mine are completely freaking out. They’re even talking about leaving the city!”
— “What? Seriously?! They’re overreacting…”
Liz remained stunned by his response for a moment.
— “You think they’re ‘overreacting’…? You’re talking like all of this is nothing…!”
— “Well, it’s New York, right? Crazy stuff always happens here. My parents are freaking out a little, which is normal, but it’s fine. And besides, there’s the police, and the army will step in if necessary.”
Flash remained silent for a few seconds before writing in turn.
— “Anyway… there’s no need to worry.”
That statement immediately caught Liz’s attention.
— “Why do you say that, Flash?”
— “Because he’s here.”
— “Huh?” Sally said, perplexed.
— “‘He’s here’? Who are you talking about?” Liz asked.
However, it only took Sally a few seconds to understand who Flash was talking about.
Her expression immediately twisted with annoyance, as if she had already heard this speech far too many times.
— “Pff… forget it, Liz. He’s talking about Spider-Man again. Flash, you really need to stop with him.”
But unlike Sally, Flash wasn’t joking at all.
Despite everything he had been seeing since the beginning of the evening and the scale of the chaos constantly being shown on television, a genuine glimmer of hope remained in his eyes.
— “I know you think I’m crazy, but I swear… I can feel it. Thanks to him, everything’s going to be okay!”
— “Yeah, sure…”
— “We’ll… we’ll see. I guess…?”
Flash didn’t try to convince them any further.
He turned off his phone, placed it on his bedside table, then lay comfortably on his bed, his eyes turned toward the ceiling.
Unlike Liz and Sally, he didn’t need to wait to know what he thought.
For him, no matter how catastrophic the situation might seem, Spider-Man’s presence in the streets was still enough to give him hope that New York would eventually return to normal.
A slight smile appeared on his face, while his fingers tightened slightly around his blanket.
— “I know he’ll stop all these criminals and the city will go back to normal. He’s a hero. My hero! And one day… I’ll be like you too, Spider-Man!”
A few minutes later, Spider-Man arrived at full speed at the place where his aunt worked.
The surrounding area was already filled with a crowd of panicked civilians and several police units, all mobilized around the building.
When he looked up, Peter immediately felt his concern intensify: the building Aunt May was inside was leaning dangerously to the side, its structure weakened to the point that it could collapse at any moment.
He didn’t have a second to lose.
Spider-Man leaped into the air, reached one of the floors, and smashed through a window to enter directly inside.
He was immediately greeted by a true scene of panic.
Men and women were desperately looking for a way out of the building while the tremors and its tilt only increased their terror.
— “S-Spider-Man?!”
At his appearance, several employees froze momentarily, stunned to see the hero appear in the middle of the chaos.
As if his arrival had suddenly brought hope back.
Peter, however, didn’t give them time to remain frozen any longer.
— “Quick! This way! I’m going to get you out!”
The civilians immediately rushed toward him.
Spider-Man reached the window he had just broken and quickly fired a thick web toward a stable wall located lower down.
In a few movements, he reinforced the whole thing enough to create a sort of makeshift zip line, allowing the employees to leave the building without having to use the evacuation routes that had become too dangerous.
But while he organized their escape, only one person truly occupied his thoughts.
— “Where are you, Aunt May…?”
He had to keep going up.
Before heading toward the upper floors, Peter quickly called out to one of the employees passing near him.
— “Excuse me! Are there still people left in the building?”
— “On the fifth floor, I think! Otherwise… I think that’s everyone!”
— “Alright, thank you! Hurry and get down!”
Without waiting any longer, Spider-Man rushed toward the fifth floor.
When he finally reached it, he found a small group of civilians still trapped inside.
His gaze quickly moved over the different faces until he recognized the one he had been looking for since his arrival.
Aunt May was there.
— “Thank God! There she is!”
— “Look! It’s Spider-Man!”
— “You came to save us?!”
— “Yes! I’m going to get you out of here!”
Peter didn’t waste any more time.
He broke another window and quickly set up a second zip line, strong enough to allow the group to evacuate the building.
The civilians then began going down one by one while Spider-Man made sure each of them could reach the outside safely.
The last person still there was Aunt May.
— “Are you going to be okay, ma’am?”
May raised an eyebrow.
— “Ma’am? I’m not that old, you know?”
— “Oh, uh… sorry!”
Despite the urgency of the situation, the remark made Peter smile inwardly.
Even trapped inside a building on the verge of collapsing, May still found a way to joke.
— “Even now, she keeps her sense of humor. She’s definitely a Parker.”
Aunt May finally took the zip line and reached the ground safely.
But Peter’s relief was very short-lived.
Barely had she touched the ground when an ominous rumble shook the entire structure.
The building began to lean even further, now threatening to collapse completely.
The police officers immediately understood the danger.
— “WATCH OUT! THE BUILDING IS GOING TO COLLAPSE! EVERYONE GET BACK!”
Screams rang out from all directions as the civilians moved away as quickly as possible.
Within seconds, panic spread throughout the entire street.
Spider-Man, meanwhile, looked up at the immense building dangerously tipping over and understood that he only had a few seconds left to prevent the disaster.
He immediately sprang into action.
At full speed, Spider-Man fired around ten webs onto the structure and began running along the walls, circling the building in order to gradually surround it with a true spiral of webbing.
He fired shot after shot without slowing down, reinforcing each anchor point before finally connecting the entire structure to another, stronger building located just behind it.
Now, all he could do was hope that his webs could support such a massive weight.
— “Come on… COME ON!”
The building continued to lean for a few endless seconds.
The webs tightened under its weight, enduring enormous pressure while the structure still threatened to tip over.
Then, gradually, its movement slowed…
until it came to a complete stop.
Peter immediately felt an immense wave of relief wash over him.
He had done it.
But that victory lasted only a few seconds.
New screams suddenly rang out below and immediately caught his attention.
Spider-Man looked down toward the street…
and his relief vanished instantly.
Standing in the middle of the commotion was Dr.
Octopus.
One of his mechanical arms had just captured Aunt May.
— “Hey! Who are you?! Let go of me!” May shouted.
At the same time, the six-armed man observed the damage around him.
Then he gave a slight smile.
— “Looks like Rhino did some serious damage here.”
For a moment, Peter remained frozen at the sight.
Out of all the people in that street, out of all the civilians Octopus could have grabbed, it had to be her.
— “No…! Aunt May!”
TO BE CONTINUED.
We’re finally entering the part of the story where things start getting really crazy, so I hope you’re ready.
The upcoming episodes are going to be absolutely insane!
— YL