A figure speeds through the afternoon skies of the city. Using a rope that looks like a spiderweb to swing through New York. The figure wears a red suit that is covered in a web pattern. Also on the suit are segments of blue that lack the web pattern. On the chest and back of the figure is a spider logo, the one on the chest is angular and sharp, and the one on the back has more of more circular and less complex looking. The figure's eyes are angled ovals that come to a point at the back of the eyes. The figure is New York's protector and hero, Spider-Man.
Spider-Man swings through New York City's streets, he feels alive as he flies through the city. Spider-Man feels the wind blow past him as he wanders the city. While he is swinging, a pain starts going off in the back of his head that's alerting him of his surroundings, or what Spider-Man calls spider-sense. The spider-sense tells Spider-Man that a crime is happening nearby.
Spider-Man turns his attention to finding where the crime is happening. Spider-Man looks down into an alley and sees a group of men wearing yellow. Spider-Man slows down and lets himself fall onto a rooftop next to the alleyway. The hero lands on the rooftop and surveys the alley.
Spider-Man counts about seven thugs, he assumes that they're all armed, and he sees that one has a crowbar. The thug with the crowbar is using it to try to break into the door that's on the side of the building.
"So, this a building from those creeps in the Lotus gang?" One of the members asks.
"You didn't know? Turns out, the Lotus gang has been talking some smack about us. Also, one of them got into a fight with one of our guys," Another member answers. Meanwhile, Spider-Man continues to look over the brawl he must go through.
"This is going to be easy," Spider-Man states to himself, in a cocky voice. "Hey, guys!" Spider-Man calls at the group of criminals. The thugs turn around to face Spider-Man. "Don't you know that's an emergency exit? Why don't you try using the front door next time?" Spider-Man leaps down into the alleyway.
The thugs draw their guns at Spider-Man, who is still descending. Spider-Man lands in the center of the group of thugs. Spider-Man's spider-sense goes off again right before a criminal fires their gun at Spider-Man. Spider-Man ducks under the bullet, turns around to another thug holding Spider-Man at gunpoint, and grabs his gun. Spider-Man moves the gun to the side and punches the thug in the face, sending him to the ground.
Spider-Man's spider-sense tingles with intensity. The six other criminals fire their guns at Spider-Man. Spider-Man leaps onto the wall of a building. The hero jumps from wall to wall as the thugs fire at Spider-Man. Spider-Man's frantic movements cause the group of criminals to continue missing.
Eventually, the grunts run out of ammo. Seeing that the criminals are vulnerable, Spider-Man falls back down. Spider-Man lands in front of a criminal, who throws a punch at Spider-Man. Spider-Man dodges and punches the criminal in the stomach and hits his face with his knee.
The thug with the crowbar charges at Spider-Man. The criminal swings the crowbar at Spider-Man. The hero grabs the crowbar midswing. Spider-Man pulls the crowbar out of the criminal's hands and throws it away. Feeling desperate, the criminal throws a punch at Spider-Man. Spider-Man grabs the criminal's arm and twists it. The criminal screams from the pain and falls to the ground.
Spider-Man sees that the four remaining grunts have reloaded their weapons. Spider-Man shoots four webs at the pistols. Before the criminals can react, Spider-Man pulls on the webs, causing the pistols to fly out of the thugs' hands. The criminals now know that they cannot win.
Spider-Man shoots a web at a criminal's feet and pulls on it. The criminal falls to the ground, and Spider-Man leaps toward the group of criminals. Spider-Man uppercuts one of the criminals. Spider-Man Roundhouse kicks another criminal. The third thug throws a punch at Spider-Man. Spider-Man starts to dodge the criminal's punch. However, he had a better plan, the criminal pulls his fist back and uses his other arm to punch Spider-Man. The punch successfully lands, hitting Spider-Man in the face.
Spider-Man quickly recovers and kicks the thug in the knee. Meanwhile, the fourth criminal, on the ground, draws a knife he had hidden away. Spider-Man punches the third criminal in the face, the criminal holds his face from the pain and falls to the floor. Spider-Man's spider-sense starts tingling again, Spider-Man is confused about why the spider-sense would go off. Suddenly, the fourth criminal swings the knife at Spider-Man. The knife faintly slashes Spider-Man's side. Spider-Man grunts from the knife cutting him. Spider-Man grabs the fourth thug's forearm. Spider-Man kicks the fourth criminal in the face, knocking him out.
Spider-Man puts his arm on the knife wound and puts pressure on it. Spider-Man groans from the sharp pain. One of the criminals stands back up, without Spider-Man noticing. The thug picks the crowbar up from the floor. The thug approaches Spider-Man, who has his back turned. The grunt gets ready to swing the crowbar at Spider-Man. However, Spider-Man's spider-sense suddenly tingles again. The hero turns around as the thug is midswing. Spider-Man grabs the crowbar from midair. The criminal struggles, trying to free the crowbar from Spider-Man's grasp. Spider-Man pushes the crowbar into the thug's head, knocking him out.
Spider-Man looks at the arm he used to cover up the knife slash and sighs at the sight of it. "Great," he complains, "now I've gotta stitch this thing and dry clean it," Spider-Man speaks like this is a regular thing that happens to him. Spider-Man takes time to group the knocked-out gang members along the wall of a building. Spider-Man webs them all to the wall. Spider-Man looks at their yellow jackets.
"The Phoenix Gang, huh?" Spider-Man states to himself, "I gotta tell the captain about this," Spider-Man jumps onto the wall and leaps off of it to get some momentum. Spider-Man starts another swing through New York City. Spider-Man covers his wound with his arm so that he doesn't get a drop of blood on anyone while he swings.
Later, at the NYPD Police Department, a man sits in his office wearing a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The man has a folder in his hands. The man looks through the folder, it has information on the Phoenix and Lotus gangs and how they seem to interact with each other.
The office has a bookshelf in the far corner and a wooden door in the opposite corner. The desk is close to the back wall, the man sits in a chair behind the desk. Next to the desk is a coat hanger with a trench coat on it. The man gets startled when he hears a knock at his door.
"Come in!" He calls out, a police officer opens the door, the man recognizes the man, "Oh, Officer Marston, how are you?"
"I'm alright," Officer Marston answers, "what about you?"
"I'll be better once we figure out who the leaders of these gangs are," The man answers.
"That's fair," Marston responds, "speaking of, any luck on finding the leaders?"
"Nope," The man closes the folder and stands up with the folder in his hand, "I'm going to go get fresh air, see if that helps, do you want to join me?" The man grabs the trench coat off of the coat hanger and puts it on.
"Sure," Officer Marston agrees. Suddenly, someone starts talking through Officer Marston's walkie-talkie.
"Someone's robbed a bakery and we need an officer to check it out," They state through the walkie-talkie.
"Well, no rest for the wicked," Marston jokes, shrugging, "I'll see you later, Captain," Marston walks away, leaving the door open. The captain walks toward the doorway. He walks out of his office and shuts the door behind him. Outside of the office is a sleek hallway with a blue stripe along the walls. The captain walks down the hallway.
He eventually arrives at a door. The captain opens the door, revealing a stairwell. He walks through the doorway and enters the stairwell. The captain walks up the stairs until he arrives at the roof. The captain opens the door that leads through the roof, walks through the doorway, and onto the roof. The sun beats down on the police station's roof. The captain puts his arm over his eyes to block out the sun while his eyes adjust. He walks over to the railing at the end of the roof and leans on it.
"Fall couldn't come soon enough," The captain mumbles to himself. He looks off at New York's skyline and sighs from the stress of the gang war that he has to deal with, "same with my retirement,"
Meanwhile, Spider-Man swings toward the police station. He sees someone looking off into the distance. Spider-Man lands behind the person, he slides on the roof for a moment as he slows down. "Y'know, I shouldn't be seen with you," The captain states, knowing Spider-Man is behind him. He turns around to face Spider-Man.
"Sorry," Spider-Man responds, "but does a duo get more dynamic than Spider-Man and Captain Stacy?"
"I know you know we aren't a duo," Captain Stacy refuses to play along.
"Alright, if you want to be like that," Spider-Man raises his palms, "I'll just get to the point,"
"Thank you," Captain Stacy sounds relieved, "no offense, but I don't really feel like talking to you, right now,"
"Okay," Spider-Man sounds slightly offended, "anyways, I found members of the Phoenix gang trying to break into some building," Captain Stacy nods along, "and before I fought them I heard one of them talking about the building belonging to the Lotus gang,"
"So, this gang war I'm uncovering might not be that fictional, after all," Captain Stacy states.
"Alright," Spider-Man responds, "so, what's our next move?"
"Our?" Captain Stacy asks, "We aren't a team Spider-Man, I don't care what you do. As for me, I need to get more information about who the leaders of these gangs could be before innocents get hurt because of whatever their petty argument is," Captain Stacy pauses, and walks back toward the door, "and I can't do that when I'm out here, talking to you. So, if you excuse me, please leave so that I can think,"
"Okay, I'll see you later, I guess," Spider-Man says, Captain Stacy enters the police station and closes the door behind him. Spider-Man stands on the rooftop, thinking about what he should do. The hero feels like he's forgetting something, but he doesn't quite know that. Suddenly, he remembers what he has to do, as it hits him like a truck.
"Oh shoot," He calls out to himself, "May's birthday!" Spider-Man sprints toward the end of the roof and leaps off of it. Spider-Man starts to swing through New York, stopping crimes along the way.
Later, Spider-Man swings toward an apartment complex. Spider-Man lands on the wall and sticks to it, like a spider. Spider-Man sees an open window and goes through it. Spider-Man enters an apartment. On the same wall as the window are shelves with a multitude of nooks and crannies on them. On the corner opposite the window is a desk that curves around the corner. Spider-Man frantically searches for clothes to put on.
"Come on," Spider-Man frustratingly mumbles to himself, he finally finds some clothes, "finally," Spider-Man slips on the clothes without taking off the suit. Spider-Man turns around toward the window. Spider-Man runs toward the window and dives out of it. He begins to swing through the city again.
Spider-Man swings around to a neighborhood in Queens and lands outside a nice, suburban house with a garden. He looks around before removing his mask, revealing Peter Parker's face. He hides the mask in his pocket before walking up the stairs to the house. He raises his hand in a fist, preparing to knock on the door, when he sees that he's still wearing the gloves. Peter swiftly rips the gloves off and stuffs them in his pocket with his mask. He knocks on the door twice before backing up a little.
“Coming!” The voice of an elderly woman calls out, Peter waits with a smile on his face. Soon, the door opens. “Peter!” The woman calls out in excitement and goes in for a hug.
“Happy birthday, Aunt May,” Peter hugs Aunt May, “Sorry I’m late,”
“Oh pish-posh, Peter, you haven’t been on time for anything in years,” Aunt May and Peter chuckle, “Well come inside!” Aunt May gestures to Peter inside the house. The two of them walk into the house. Inside the house, Peter sees three people standing around. One of them is a young man with his hands inside of his jean pockets, the second is a young woman with red hair talking to the third person, another elderly woman who wears clothing ripped right out of an early 1900s movie. Peter recognizes the people as Harry Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, and Anna Watson, respectively. The atmosphere of the house is very homey, the walls are painted with roses that all have prominent thorns.
“Peter Parker, the world record holder for most fashionably late appearances,” Harry jokes, not being serious at all, “how’ve you been?” Harry sounds a lot more genuine.
“Same old, same old,” Peter responds, shrugging.
“Y’know, I’m sure my old man would be glad to offer up a position to you,” Harry offers.
“You know I'd love that, but it’s just not the right time, I should probably at least have a college degree beforehand. How’ve you been?” Peter changes the subject.
“It’s going good, I’m in charge of all non-weaponry projects at Oscorp so that’s cool. Anyways, I thought you were going to Empire State University, what happened to that?” Harry asks, sounding concerned.
"Oh, I had to drop out," Peter answers "I just got buried in so much stuff, something had to go," Harry sighs.
"And your future was the thing that had to go?" Harry sounds stern, "That just doesn't make any sense," Aunt May walks in between the two.
"Now, now Harry," Aunt May starts, "Peter can make the choices that he wants to, and it's not your job to get mad over it,"
"Fine, fine," Harry backs off, he walks over to the couch, and sits down. Peter walks past Aunt May and toward Mary Jane.
"Thanks, Aunt May," Peter thanks, arriving by MJ.
“Hey, Pete, what's been going on between you and Harry?” Mary Jane asks.
“I'm not sure, he's just worried about me. How've you been?” Peter responds, with a slight wave.
“Pretty good, I’m working as a waitress at a diner by the big bank. I still get a few photoshoots here and there, but y'know,” MJ explains.
“That’s not too bad,” Peter’s spider-sense starts to go off, very faintly, and Peter looks around. Peter balls up his hand into a fist, but soon enough a kitchen timer rings.
“Oh, that must be the cake!” Anna speed walks over to the oven. Peter shakes his head slightly.
"Well, good to know it's going good," Peter states and walks over to the comfortable couch, he takes a seat on the couch.
“You okay, bud? Was it what I said?” Harry sits down next to Peter tensely.
“No, we're good. I’m fine, just feel bad for being late to everything,” Peter responds, looking at Aunt May in the distance.
“Well, I understand that. The way I see it, you have the power to make choices of where you want to be, nothing else does, but I can't make you agree to that,” Harry pats Peter on the shoulder and gets up.
"Sometimes I wish it was that way," Peter whispers to himself, he looks down at at his feet for a moment.
“Peter, can you help with the cake?” Anna asks from the kitchen.
“Sure, Ms. Watson,” Peter gets off the couch and heads to the kitchen.
Later, Peter and Anna head out of the kitchen with a cake in Peter's hands. Peter, Harry, MJ, and Anna all sing Happy Birthday to Aunt May. Peter sets the cake on the coffee table.
“Go ahead, Aunt May, make a wish,” Peter gestures to the cake.
“Thank you all, and not just for this, but for everything that you've done for me, despite how difficult the last few years were,” Aunt May blows out the candles. All of them sit around the table and MJ starts to cut the cake. Suddenly, Peter’s phone starts vibrating.
“Uh, I gotta go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back,” Peter gets up off the couch and starts walking down the hall. He reaches the bathroom and turns the sink on. He reaches into his pocket and grabs his phone. He unlocks it and opens his police scanner app. “Adrian Tooms escaping the R.A.F.T.” Peter whispers to himself. He turns the sink off and goes back to the living room. “I hate to do this, but I have to go. I’m so sorry everyone,” Peter says as he walks to the front door and opens it, “Enjoy the cake!” Peter closes the door and immediately looks around the area. He sees that, still, no one is around, so he yanks his Spider-Man mask and gloves out of his pocket and puts them on. He takes his clothes off, revealing the rest of the costume, and tucks his clothes behind one of the bushes.
Spider-Man speeds through the bridge and to the city. He hears police sirens ringing around him. Spider-Man reaches the R.A.F.T. and sees a guard on the ground. Spider-Man lands on the ground and walks toward the guard.
“Please don’t be dead,” The hero sees that the guard is still breathing and sighs with relief, “Oh thank God,” Spider-Man starts to walk away but hears static from the guard's walkie-talkie.
“Suspect at Empire State,” someone says through the walkie-talkie in a tense voice, “I repeat, Tooms at the Empire State Building,”
“Empire State, huh? Peace of cake,” Spider-Man says. He gets into position and shoots two webs at some street lights, pulling back on them. Eventually, he lets go and flies above the river and back to the city. He swiftly swings through to the other side of the city, the wind rushing by the masked hero as he hurries to save the day. The lights of the buildings become blurred with the speed.
At the Empire State Building, a police helicopter hovers by the building. The helicopter shines its light on Adrian Tooms, also known as The Vulture, as he flies around the building. The Vulture flies toward the helicopter.
“Evasive maneuvers!” The helicopter pilot calls out and starts to move sporadically enough for The Vulture to miss.
“I bet you won’t see this coming,” The Vulture whispers as he grabs something on his side. He throws a grappling hook-like object at the helicopter's engine. It deeply stabs into the engine and disables the helicopter. It starts to fall.
“We’re going down!” The helicopter pilot yells as the helicopter spins out of control. In the nick of time, Spider-Man swings onto the scene. The hero lands on the falling helicopter. He opens one of the helicopter’s doors and grabs the copilot easily. Spider-Man holds the copilot as he reaches for the pilot, who is frantically trying to get his seatbelt off. The pilot eventually unhooks his seatbelt, falls out of the seat, and lands on the door to the helicopter that's on its side, swirling in the sky.
Spider-Man shoots a web at the pilot and yanks the pilot toward him. Spider-Man throws the pilot over his shoulder and jumps off of the helicopter. Spider-Man uses his free arm to shoot a web at a building that's right next to a much smaller building. Spider-Man swings toward the smaller building, landing on the rooftop. The helicopter crashes on the ground. The hero sets the copilot and pilot on the ground and looks to see if the helicopter put anyone in danger. Fortunately, no one got crushed by the helicopter. Spider-Man turns his attention to The Vulture.
“Hey, Adrian,” Spider-Man starts in a light-hearted voice, “how’s three meals a day working out for you?” Vulture charges toward Spider-Man. The hero jumps in the air and starts to swing around the Empire State Building, The Vulture follows Spider-Man.
“I’m much happier now that I’m out here,” Vulture responds as he speeds up and tackles Spider-Man out of the air. Spider-Man struggles to get out of the villain's grasp, Vulture speeds toward the top of the building and lets Spider-Man go. He then flies beneath the hero and uses the grappling hook to wrap around Spider-Man’s leg and pulls him to plummet toward the colorful New York streets. Spider-Man repositions himself in the air and shoots a web at a building to start a swing right before he hits the ground to gain some altitude. The Vulture uses his sharp wings to cut the web, sending Spider-Man onto the streets. Many cars are speeding through the streets and people running through the sidewalk. While the chaos is unfolding, the hero can only think about how he left his aunt on her birthday.
Spider-Man’s spider-sense rings through his head. Before he can look around, The Vulture gets the grappling hook around Spider-Man’s torso. The Vulture takes flight, weaving between buildings.
“This is not how I think either of us saw today going,” Spider-Man quips as he flies through the air, The Vulture doesn't respond, “Oh come on, Adrian, after all these years, you know you can't just ignore me,” The Vulture grunts in anger.
“Would you just shut up!?” The Vulture comes to a stop and the grappling hook comes off of Spider-Man sending him flying through the air uncontrollably. The hero shoots a web but before it hits anything he breaks through a window into an apartment. A couple is eating dinner, unaware of the brawl happening outside, when Spider-Man bursts into the apartment and tumbles on the floor, the couple screams and stands up.
“Yeah yeah, sorry,” Spider-Man gets up off the ground, his voice strained from being thrown through a wall, “That wasn’t fun for me either,” He runs out through the hole that Spider-Man and Vulture created. Spider-Man leaps out of the hole and shoots a web at Vulture and pulls himself closer to the villain. The two wrestle in the air. The Vulture accidentally starts to accelerate, leading to frantic flying as he attempts to hit Spider-Man. The adversaries eventually fly back to the Empire State Building. Vulture stops before hitting it and Spider-Man webs him in the eyes before jumping off of The Vulture. Spider-Man shoots a web at the top of the building and swings around it at a fast pace. Spider-Man goes in a full circle around the building, arriving back around to The Vulture. Just as Vulture gets the webbing off of his face, Spider-Man kicks Vulture’s chest. Spider-Man sticks to Vulture and they both start rotating around in the air. The Vulture manages to knock Spider-Man off but the hero grabs Vulture’s leg and pulls himself up. Spider-Man gets ready to punch Vulture, in defense, Vulture tries to stab Spider-Man with his wings.
Spider-Man punches Vulture in the face and one of the wings slightly cuts him on his shoulder. Spider-Man flips over to Vulture’s back and starts punching at the flight pack, trying to disable it. The Vulture takes off at a high speed to try to shake the spider. Vulture lowers himself to be next to an upcoming building. The masked hero’s spider-sense intensely rings, causing him to stop punching the flight pack and look around. Once they arrive at the building, Vulture turns and shoves Spider-Man into the bricks of the building. “Yeah, I should’ve seen that one coming,” Spider-Man quips with strain. He shoots a web at Vulture’s flight pack and gets dragged in the air by it.
Spider-Man starts to climb the web to try to get back to the flight pack. Vulture sees this and spins around, chopping off the web. Spider-Man starts to freefall but Vulture throws his grappling hook and it wraps around the hero’s leg. Vulture pulls Spider-Man into the air above the avian. Vulture pulls Spider-Man back down and he lands on Vulture’s back. Vulture returns the grappling hook to his side and, before Spider-Man can even breathe, shoots off at maximum speed. Vulture puts on an oxygen mask and pulls up toward the clouds.
“What are your thoughts about breathing, Spider-Man?” Vulture rhetorically asks Spider-Man.
“Y’know,” Spider-Man starts to punch the flight pack with all that he has, “I actually like it thank you very much,” Spider-Man damages the flight pack, turning it into a glorified glider.
“What have you done!?” Vulture yells out as Spider-Man starts to steer the wings, "You've killed us both!" Spider-Man lines up with the roof of a building. Spider-Man starts to pull the wings toward himself to slow them down, bending the wings in the process.
“Tuck and roll, Adrian,” Spider-Man instructs as they approach the roof. Spider-Man jumps off and rolls on the roof. Vulture reclines the wings back into the flight pack before landing on the roof, unable to roll. Spider-Man and Vulture lay on the ground from the terrifying experience. Spider-Man eventually gets up himself. Vulture gets up, knowing that Spider-Man would've arrested him if he didn't. Vulture pulls his grappling hook out and throws it at Spider-Man. He simply dodges it, grabs the chain, and breaks it. “And here I thought the fight was over,” Vulture pulls his wings out and runs at Spider-Man. He moves out of the way before Vulture hits him. The Vulture uses what’s left of the flight pack to try to take flight. Spider-Man is ready for another round of the fight when his spider-sense starts ringing louder than tornado sirens.
Spider-Man looks around in mystery, Vulture is just as confused. Suddenly, a loud sound booms through the area and Vulture’s flight pack is disabled, causing him to fall back onto the roof. Spider-Man chuckles, thinking that Vulture's flight pack was just destroyed, and webs Vulture up for the police to take him away. Spider-Man starts leaving but his spider-sense continues to go off. He looks around, but suddenly a bullet zooms toward the hero. Spider-Man dodges out of the way. Pistol shots are then fired at him twelve times, but she dodges them just as easily. Spider-Man sees a figure in the window of a nearby, taller building. Spider-Man uses two webs to slingshot himself through the window. The figure starts to run to the halls of the building. Spider-Man runs into a wall, breaking a hole into it, and runs toward the figure. The two of them turn corners in this maze of a building, police sirens getting louder in the background.
Spider-Man reaches the end of the hall and sees an open door. He goes through the door into an abandoned apartment. He sees one of the windows open and looks outside, the figure has escaped. The hero’s spider-sense signals that the figure is not in the apartment. Spider-Man walks back to where he found the figure at first. He sees a table with a folder on it, he picks up the slim folder. The folder says Project S-6. The hero, filled with curiosity, opens the folder and sees a file on Adrian Tooms. Spider-Man turns past the file and, to his surprise, there isn't another file in the folder. Spider-Man closes the folder and leaves the building with the folder. Spider-Man knows whatever this Project S-6 is, it can't be good.
Spider-Man goes through the window to his apartment and takes off his mask. He opens a desk drawer and puts the folder in it, he closes the drawer and lays down in bed. He tries to get some sleep after a long, long, day.
