The machine has Peter's blood and the drug take up two of the available slots, in the machine the two are combined. The machine makes a beeping noise, Norman walks over to the machine and inserts a third, empty, vial, and presses a button. Suddenly, the vial fills up with the solution of the drug and Peter's blood. Once the vial is completely full, Norman presses the button again and takes the vial out of the slot. Norman walks over to a counter that has many syringe devices on it. Norman picks up one of the devices and places the vial in the back of it. He walks towards Kearney.
"We were lucky enough that you and Spider-Man share the same blood type, which saved us a lot of time," Norman starts, "However, the drug was made the tiniest bit inferior to how it normally is as its effects were hindered by the presence of Spider-Man's blood." Kearney rolls one of his sleeves up, "The good news is that there will be zero need for any replenishing, meaning once I give you this, there will be no turning back."
"That's fine by me," Kearney responds, ready to have the power of Spider-Man at his fingertips. Norman inserts the syringe into Kearney's shoulder and injects it into his bloodstream. Kearney slightly squints his eye from the feeling. But once he rolls his sleeve back down, nothing happens. Kearney waits a minute for something to happen, but still nothing. He turns to Norman, "Where is it?" Kearney asks, with impatience and tensity in his voice.
"I don't know, just give it a bit of time." Norman responds with a stutter, "Let the serum reach your brain and see if that does anything."
"I don't have time for that, it's only a matter of time before the police find me here," Kearney responds, but suddenly Kearney's senses go into overdrive. The noises of the vents get louder than they were before. Kearney smiles, walks over to a pin on a counter, and tries to drop it, but it sticks to his hand. Norman's heart slightly drops, realizing what he's done and unleashed onto the world, he freezes in his place. Kearney turns around to face Norman. "Thanks for your help, doctor. This will be useful." Kearney walks out of the room, and Simon follows. Kearney stops before exiting the room completely, he turns back to Norman. "And also, if I catch you saying anything about this to anyone, I think you know what'll happen next." Kearney walks out.
Norman waits a minute, he peaks his head around the corner to see if Kearney and Simon are gone. He sees an empty hallway, heads back into the room, and presses a green button on the wall that causes the door to slide shut.
Meanwhile, a bruised Peter stands in his apartment, getting out of his Spider-Man suit. Suddenly, his spider-sense starts ringing throughout his brain out of nowhere. Peter puts his hands on his ears from the tingle inside his head. Peter narrows his eyes in confusion as he notices that his spider-sense is pointing him North. Peter grabs his Spider-Man suit and puts it on, despite his great pain. Spider-Man jumps out the window and starts swinging through the dark of night toward where his spider-sense is pointing toward. However, after just a little bit of soaring through the New York streets, the signal from the spider-sense just disappears out of nowhere.
At Oscorp, Norman calls Peter's phone number from his phone. After it rings for a while, he gets Peter's voicemail. It's the typical voicemail message you would expect. Norman starts his message after the beep.
"Peter," Norman starts, "I have something very important to tell you, come to Oscorp ASAP. I'll be here." Norman hangs up and selects Harry's phone number and the phone starts to ring. Harry answers the phone.
"What's up, Dad?" Harry answers, sounding irritated, "It's the middle of the night."
"I know, son, but you have to listen to me," Norman responds, in a hurry, "you have to get to Oscorp, now. I can't explain why right now, just do it."
"Okay, fine. See you soon." Harry hangs up the phone. Norman stumbles backward and falls into a rolling chair. He puts his hand on his forehead and sighs.
Simultaneously, Spider-Man continues his swing through New York City heading in the direction that his spider-sense was pointing him toward. Spider-Man passes by a building blocking his sight, and he sees the Oscorp building.
"That's weird," Spider-Man says to himself, "what could be going on there?" Spider-Man swings over to the building and lands in front of the building. Spider-Man walks up the stairs to the front doors as the security guards point their rifles at him. "That's not necessary, fellas," Spider-Man starts, slowly continuing to climb the stairs, "I'm here on superhero business." The guards continue to point their weapons.
"I'm sorry, Spider-Man," one of the guards starts, "but the building is under top security, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Spider-Man still climbs the stairs.
"It's actually very important that I go in there and talk to Norman." Spider-Man retaliates, "If you want, you could escort me to him." The guards slightly lower their weapons, and one of them activates their walkie-talkie.
"Can someone go up to Norman and ask if Spider-Man can talk to him?" He requests over the walkie-talkie.
"Fine, I'll go up and ask." Someone on the other end of the walkie-talkie replies. The guard takes his hand off the walkie-talkie.
"Do I really have to wait? I'm kind of in a hurry." Spider-Man asks impatiently, pointing at an invisible watch. After a while of waiting, the walkie-talkie goes off again.
"Actually, Norman really wants to see Spider-Man. Send him in immediately." The guards step out of Spider-Man's way, the hero walks up the rest of the stairs, and through the front doors. Spider-Man makes his way toward Norman's office. He goes to the stairwell and shoots a web at the ceiling. The hero climbs up the web with ease.
Spider-Man arrives at the floor where Norman's office is. He gets off the web and makes it to Norman's office. Spider-Man opens the door to see Norman in his office chair with both his hands on his head.
"Close the door," Norman starts, Spider-Man closes the door and walks up to Norman's desk. "Did you get my message?" Norman asks.
"What message?" Spider-Man responds.
"I called you to warn you about Kearney."
"You have my phone number?" Spider-Man tilts his head slightly.
"Unfortunately, yes I do, Peter," Norman reveals that he knows who Spider-Man is.
"Oh," Spider-Man is speechless, "and so does Kearney?"
"I'm so sorry," Norman responds in shame, "but yes, and he has your powers."
"Oh no." Spider-Man steps back slightly, and his breathing increases. "What do we do?"
"I don't know," Norman answers, there's a knock on the door. Harry walks through.
"Hey Dad," Harry says, "you wanted to see me?"
"Yes I did," Norman responds.
"Yeah, but, why's Spider-Man here?" Harry asks.
"Because, I was just held captive by some criminals and you need to be here or else they will kill you," Norman answers.
"Oh man," Harry looks off into the distance in thought, "so that's why there's so much security?"
"Yes," Norman starts, "and I need you to walk down the stairs until you find a door, go through the door, it will lead you to a bomb shelter that I want you to hide out in."
"Alright, but that seems unnecessary, security here is pretty tight," Harry responds.
"Hasn't stopped Kearney before." Spider-Man comments. Norman walks up to Harry with a somber look on his face.
"Please, Son," He says, in a voice full of dread and fear, "it's the safest place in all of New York, just trust me this one time." Harry is speechless as he thinks his decision over.
"Fine, Dad, I'll go down there and stay safe," Harry replies, breaking the silence.
"Just until Kearney is dealt with, then things will go back to normal." Norman's voice sounds ever slightly more hopeful.
"I can escort him," Spider-Man offers, "make sure nothing happens to him." Norman turns around to face the hero.
"That would be wonderful." Norman thanks Spider-Man. Harry walks out of the office, Spider-Man starts to follow Harry but stops right next to Norman.
"Just to set the record straight," Spider-Man whispers into Norman's ear, "you cannot tell anyone who I am, okay?"
"Yes, of course," Norman whispers back, Spider-Man continues outside of the office and starts to escort Harry to the bomb shelter.
Spider-Man and Harry make it to the long stairwell that stretches throughout the entire height of the building. They eventually make it down the stairs a find a black door, contrasting the bright futuristic walls around the rest of Oscorp. The door has a sign that says 'bomb shelter' above it.
"I think that's the place." Harry comments, walking towards the door, Spider-Man follows. Harry jiggles the door handle to check if it's locked. Fortunately, the door opens right up.
"That doesn't seem very secure." Spider-Man jokes, He and Harry walk down a dimly lit flight of concrete stairs. The two of them eventually arrive at a big room reinforced with steel. There are many shelves with cans, water, and sleeping bags on them. As the two of them roam the bomb shelter, Spider-Man pauses. The hero looks at what appears to be testing tubes and other lab equipment. "Uh, Harry," Spider-Man starts, continuing to stare down the equipment "Is your dad sure this is a bomb shelter?"
"He must've had it repurposed, I guess," Harry answers, turning his head to look at the equipment that Spider-Man is looking at.
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Spider-Man finishes.
Later, Simon arrives at the Brooklyn Bridge. He sees a van parked on the side of the road. Simon looks through the window of the driver's seat as he approaches the van, he can't see anyone in the driver's seat. Simon walks up to the back of the van and knocks on the back doors. Someone opens the door, it's Kearney.
"So," Simon asks, "what's the plan?"
"You drive," Kearney starts, "we're going to New Jersey, there's a warehouse out there that I'm going to use to prepare myself to take out Spider-Man for good."
"Oh, alright." Simon walks away from the back of the van and toward the front door. He opens the front door and gets in the driver's seat. Simon turns toward Kearney, "Do you have the keys?"
"Yeah, I do," Kearney answers, handing Simon the key. Simon turns the key in the ignition and the van roars to life. Simon puts the van in drive and presses down on the gas.
Spider-Man swings through the streets of New York City, the wind zooming past the hero as he makes his way toward his apartment. He goes through the open window of his apartment, grabs some clothes, and puts them on over his suit. The hero jumps out of the window and continues his swing. Spider-Man speeds through the city, he arrives at Mary Jane's apartment building. As the hero falls toward the ground, he takes off his mask and gloves and puts them in his pockets. Peter shoots a web to slow down before landing on the ground.
Peter enters the apartment building. He walks over to a hallway filled with rooms and an elevator. Peter presses the 'up' button on the elevator. After waiting a while, the elevator beeps, and the doors open up. Peter gets in the elevator and presses the button for floor four. The elevator starts to move up. Once the elevator arrives at floor four, Peter gets out of the elevator and walks down a hallway with rooms like the other one.
Peter arrives at MJ's apartment door and knocks on it. Peter waits for a while before MJ opens the door.
"What do you want Peter? It's the middle of the night." MJ asks, rubbing her eyes.
"Yeah, I know it's late," Peter responds, "but there's something very important I need to tell you."
"Okay, what is it?" MJ asks, her curiosity piqued.
"Do you mind if we talk about it inside?" Peter looks around to make sure there's no one in the hallway.
"Sure, come in." MJ starts to walk down into her living room, turning on a lamp. Peter follows MJ into the living room, closing the door behind him.
"So, you might wanna go to a hotel for a few days." Peter starts, going to sit on MJ's couch.
"I'm sorry, what?" MJ asks, confused at Peter's sudden request.
"Let me back up," Peter starts over, "Kearney has found out who I am." MJ's eyes go wide open in shock. "It also happens that he has my powers, and he may try to come over those close to me."
"Oh my god, what are you gonna do?" MJ holds her hand up to her mouth.
"I don't know, I'm gonna tell the captain of the NYPD tomorrow." Peter plans, "But anyways, I'm telling you this so that you can go to Oscorp until I deal with Kearney."
"What, why would I want to go there?" MJ sounds confused.
"Harry's hiding out there, apparently Norman has some bomb shelter there." Peter responds, "Just, please, go over there. Call Harry to tell Norman that you're on the way."
"Sure, I guess I can do that." MJ finishes getting off the couch. Peter follows MJ off the couch. They both head for the front door. Peter reaches the front door first. He opens it and leaves it open for MJ. "Good luck finding him," MJ tells Peter before he heads to the roof to change into Spider-Man once more.
"Thanks, MJ," Peter responds, he walks off toward the stairwell of the building. Once Peter makes it to the roof, he takes his casual clothes, revealing the Spider-Man suit underneath. Spider-Man dashes toward the end of the roof, jumps off, and starts to fall toward the New York streets. The hero shoots a web at a nearby building. Spider-Man starts to swing through New York City with much intensity, looking around for any hints of Kearney's presence.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Simon drives Kearney around in the van.
"So, where exactly am I taking you?" Simon asks, keeping his eyes on the dark roads only illuminated by the van's headlights and other nearby lights.
"The Master Planner said he has one on Seaview Drive," Kearney responds.
"Oh man, I think I just passed Seaview Drive, actually," Simon mumbles to himself.
"Just make a u-ee, there's no one around," Kearney instructs.
"That makes sense." Simon tells Kearney, "Wait, how'd you hear me?" There's a pause in the van, Kearney just looks at Simon from the back of the van, "Oh wait, you have super hearing, duh." Simon performs a rough U-turn in the empty road, and Kearney's head starts to get some sort of ringing. As if he's not even in control, his body catches itself from falling over.
"Nice driving," Kearney comments.
"Sorry Kearney, you alright?" Simon asks, continuing to drive.
"Yeah, I'm fine, more than fine, actually," Kearney responds, ending the conversation. After the rest of a quiet car ride, they both arrive at the warehouse. Both Kearney and Simon start to walk up to the entrance.
"So, this must be the place?" Simon asks, turning his head toward Kearney as they walk.
"It is." Kearney answers, "When I enter this warehouse, I don't stand a chance. But when I leave, I will have him crawling and begging for mercy." Kearney and Simon approach the front doors of the warehouse, Kearney opens the doors, and the two walk inside. The interior of the warehouse is dark and neither Kearney nor Simon can see.
"About time." A mysterious voice calls out through the darkness.
"Who are you!?" Kearney calls out to the mysterious voice.
"Relax, Kearney," the voice responds, "I'm just the man who instructed you here to begin with." Everyone goes quiet for a moment, "Now, let's get you started, Kearney;" The Master Planner continues, "There are mannequins around the warehouse as well as some tapes of Spider-Man in action that you should take a look at to understand how he fights. There are web shooters around the warehouse that you can use, as well."
Kearney and Simon can hear the footsteps of The Master Planner walking off. On his way out, he turns on the lights of the warehouse. The light is harsh on Kearney and Simon's eyes. They both close their eyes and look down for a while before letting their eyes adjust. Once their eyes have adjusted to the light, Kearney slips his jacket off.
"Well, let's get started," Kearney says with confidence.
The sun starts to rise over New York City. Peter lies asleep in his bed, exhausted from the night he just went through. Peter rolls over to face his window. The harsh light from the sun is enough to wake Peter up. He sits up, the static electricity from his pillow makes some of his hair stick up, and rubs his eyes. Peter moves his blanket off of his body, stands up, and starts some morning stretches. Once he finishes his stretches, he grabs his phone and dials Norman's phone number.
"Hello?" Norman answers almost immediately, "Have you caught him yet?"
"No, sadly. How is Harry?" Peter asks.
"He's fine, and before you ask, Mary Jane Watson did make it over here last night," Norman answers.
"Good. One more thing, did you get any sleep last night?" Peter checks on Norman as well.
"My health is not the most important thing right now." Norman dodges the question.
"Alright, just make sure to take care of yourself during this. Harry's going to be fine." Peter hangs up the phone and walks over to a cabinet. He grabs a box of cereal and pours himself a bowl with some cold milk. Once he finishes the cereal, he puts the bowl in the sink and grabs the red and purple Spider-Man suit. He puts it on and starts to swing through New York City once more. He makes his way toward the NYPD station to find Captain Stacy.
Spider-Man arrives at the police station and sees Captain Stacy get out of his car, and walk toward the front entrance. Spider-Man smoothly lands in front of Stacy, the captain is caught off guard and steps back slightly.
"What are you doing, Spider-Man!?" Captain Stacy sounds annoyed by Spider-Man's sudden appearance.
"Sorry, sorry." Spider-Man apologizes, "I just have some news for you."
"Okay, fine, is it that you know where Kearney is?" Captain Stacy assumes.
"No, unfortunately, it's actually bad news," Spider-Man tells the captain.
"Okay, what is it?" Stacy asks.
"Alright," Spider-Man starts, "so, one, Kearney knows my secret identity, two, Kearney has acquired the same powers as me, and three, the Osborn family is in extreme danger from Kearney."
"Oh." Captain Stacy is shocked by the information, "Alright, I can increase the search rate and try to lock down his location. Though, I fear he's likely outside of my jurisdiction. I'll try contacting the neighboring police stations."
"Yeah. Good thing I don't have any jurisdiction." Spider-Man comments with restored confidence.
"I'm not sure if that's the best idea, Spider-Man," Captain Stacy, "aside from this station, you're not really on the police's friends list."
"I guess you're right," Spider-Man puts his hand on his chin, "we'll have to meet up later, I gotta go." Spider-Man runs back toward where he came from, jumps, and starts to swing again.
Sam waits prone on the rooftop of a building by The Daily Bugle building with a camera in his hands. Nearby, Spider-Man lands in an alleyway with some casual clothes in his hand. He swiftly puts them on to hide the Spider-Man suit, takes off his mask and gloves, and puts them in his back pocket.
Peter walks out of the alleyway and heads toward The Daily Bugle with a folder in his hand. Peter almost reaches the front door of the building, but suddenly, his Spider-Sense starts to go off. Peter drops the folder and a fresh batch of Spider-Man pictures breaks loose. He looks around frantically and spots Sam watching him from the distance.
Peter walks over to the street, walks onto it, and jogs through the street while making sure that he doesn't get run over. Peter makes it to the other side of the street and gets on the sidewalk. He walks into a nearby alleyway and, once out of the view of the public, starts to climb up a wall of the building that Sam is on. Peter's heart is racing with how much is at risk. While slowly continuing to climb, Peter takes off his casual clothes, making the Spider-Man suit visible. Peter grabs the gloves and mask from his pants pocket and slowly puts them on one at a time.
Spider-Man almost reaches the top of the building when Sam peeks his head over the edge to where Spider-Man is climbing. Spider-Man leaps up the rest of the wall and lands on the rooftop behind Sam. Sam swiftly turns around and throws a flash grenade at Spider-Man. The hero shoots a web at the flash grenade before it hits him. Spider-Man parries the flash grenade back in Sam's direction. It blows up right in front of Sam.
Sam charges at Spider-Man, not even dazed by the flash grenade. Spider-Man runs toward Sam. Just before the two collide, Spider-Man flips over Sam and shoots a web on Sam's head. The hero lands on the rooftop and pulls on the web, Sam tumbles to the floor. Spider-Man dashes towards Sam as he gets back on his feet. Once he's close enough to Sam, Spider-Man throws a punch at Sam's face. The punch lands and Sam's head recoils in the direction of the punch. Sam grabs a combat knife from his belt and swings at Spider-Man. The hero dodges the swings, grabs Sam's arm, and pushes Sam to the edge of the roof.
Spider-Man grabs Sam by the shoulders to pin him down.
"Where is Kearney?" Spider-Man interrogates Sam aggressively, but Sam gives no response.
"Where is he!?" Spider-Man raises his voice, but Sam continues to stay mute. Spider-Man's spider-sense starts ringing, Sam holds his hand up to reveal another flash grenade. The hero gasps and the grenade goes off. Spider-Man's senses start going haywire, he lets go of Sam. Sam rolls backward off of the building, landing on his feet. Sam makes his escape.
Once Spider-Man's senses start to calm back down, he sees that Sam escaped. The hero climbs to the edge of the building and looks off to see if he can see Sam, but he's already long gone. Spider-Man goes back to where his clothes are and slips them back on. Spider-Man takes his mask and gloves off and puts them back in his back pocket.
Peter walks back to the front doors of The Daily Bugle building. He looks at the ground to see if the folder he dropped is still there. Fortunately, the folder is still on the ground. Unfortunately, the pictures have all been blown away in the wind. Peter bends over and grabs the folder from the sidewalk, and walks away from The Daily Bugle.
Later, Spider-Man swings through the city, looking for Sam and or Kearney. Spider-Man swings toward Long Beach not far from New York City. Spider-Man searches around Long Beach. The hero stops some crimes while he searches.
After an afternoon of searching, Spider-Man swings toward the NYPD police station to talk to Captain George Stacy. Spider-Man lands on the roof behind the captain, who's looking over the city by the guard rails.
"You think you can scare me the same way twice in one day?" Captain Stacy jokes without even turning toward Spider-Man.
"Aw, man," Spider-Man responds, playing along with the captain. Stacy turns toward Spider-Man, starting to lean on the guard rail.
"So, any leads on Kearney?" Captain Stacy asks, his arms crossed.
"No, but I was stalked by an accomplice of his," Spider-Man responds.
"Well that doesn't sound good," The captain points out, "well, I've made some calls to the police department in Newark and Trenton just to make sure."
"Have you heard anything back from any of them?" Spider-Man asks.
"No, not yet," Stacy answers, with hope in his voice.
"Well, I'm sure they'll find him eventually," Spider-Man joins in on the hope.
"Yeah," Captain Stacy finishes, "I should get going, my wife hates it when I work late," he starts to walk toward a door that leads back into the police station.
"I guess I should get going, too," Spider-Man leaps off the rooftop and starts to swing away from the police station. Captain Stacy opens the door but pauses to watch Spider-Man swing away.
"Godspeed, Spider-Man," The captain mumbles to himself, he walks through the doorway and closes the door behind him. Spider-Man arrives at Peter's apartment, he enters through the window. Spider-Man takes off his suit and puts on some casual clothes. Peter turns on his TV, the news is on.
"Witnesses have reported sightings of Spider-Man at Long Beach, New York. While that doesn't sound bad those same witnesses have reported that the vigilante was searching for something." The reporter announces, "This has us here, at Channel 8, worried that there is something going awry that the police are not telling us. This is supported even more by some shady figures spotted around the Oscorp Industry headquarters in New York City around only a day after Kearney Jones escaped from the R.A.F.T." Peter turns off the TV and holds his head in his hands.
Meanwhile, Kearney is practicing his fighting skills on a group of mannequins while Simon sits in a lawn chair and reads a magazine. Kearney is trying to integrate his new powers into his fighting style. He uses the walls and web shooters that he now has. Kearney grabs one of the mannequins and throws it at a wall with so much force that it destroys the mannequin. Simon stands up from the lawn chair.
"What'd you do that for!?" Simon asks, walking toward the mannequin, "We don't have an infinite amount of these."
"Well, you really want to go easy on Spider-Man?" Kearney retaliates.
"Of course not, but you won't be able to kill him if you have nothing to train with," Simon answers.
"Even if I destroy all of the mannequins," Kearney gestures to the rest of the mannequins, "you're standing right there." Simon starts to feel uncomfortable, his expression becomes one of disgust and fright. He walks back over to the lawn chair, sits back down, and continues to read the magazine. Kearney walks away from the mannequins and toward an old TV with a box of tapes beside it.
Kearney takes out one of the tapes and puts it in the VCR on the top of the TV. The tape shows Spider-Man stopping a bank robbery. Kearney cycles through all of the tapes, analyzing Spider-Man's fighting style.
The next day, Captain Stacy bursts into the police station. He stomps over to the police operators.
"Send a message to Spider-Man telling him to meet on the roof," The captain demands, in an angry voice.
"Yes, Captain," one of the operators responds." After waiting on the roof for a while, Captain Stacy sees Spider-Man swinging toward the police station. Spider-Man lands on the roof.
"You wanted to see me?" Spider-Man asks.
"What were you thinking!?" Captain Stacy starts, ignoring Spider-Man's question entirely, "I told you not to leave the city and you went away!? Now I have to calm the public down before they figure out what's going on because if they do then there's going to be disarray which is the last thing we need right now."
"Listen, I'm sorry for betraying you. But, Kearney is out there and I would say that catching Kearney is more important than keeping the public out of the know." Spider-Man apologizes but brings up his own point.
"I wish that's how it works," Captain Stacy debates, "as defenders of the public, we have to find a balance between stopping the crime and being discreet. That's just the duality of it, Spider-Man." Spider-Man starts to think about what the captain said, he relates it to himself and how the mask has taken up the majority of his life.
"I guess you're right, I'll be more careful." Spider-Man finishes, "So, what's the next move?"
"I suppose I keep calling around surrounding stations. I can tell them to look out for warehouses, seems like a common theme for Kearney." The captain answers.
"So, what can I do in the meantime?" Spider-Man wants to get in on the action.
"Nothing, really. Just keep stopping some petty crimes and keep an eye out. I can't send you out of the city until I know where Kearney is." Spider-Man is slightly unsatisfied with the answer and nods his head anyway.
"Okay, I'll see you later, then." Spider-Man gets on the handrails on the roof and falls off of the handrails, starting to plummet to the ground. The hero starts to swing before hitting the ground, and the people around the station watch as Spider-Man swings away.
Captain Stacy walks into the station, his cell phone starts going off. The captain answers it.
"Hello?" He asks.
"Hey," Lieutenant Wantabe answers, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm on my way to your office,"
"Thanks for telling me. What's it for?" Stacy agrees.
"I actually think I have a lead on Kearney, so I'll meet you at your office." Yuri finishes.
"Okay, see you soon, then," Captain Stacy hangs up the phone.