The media stuff was worse than I thought. Somehow, in the span of a day, I’d managed to become infamous. All because of some camera guy. Probably. I didn’t know if this was actually him, but he’d sounded pretty indignant about his name. Brack or Breck something.

He’d mentioned something about his mom being on the Bugle board. They were putting out the most stuff about this. But that couldn’t be right, could it? Running a smear campaign because some higher up in the company didn’t like me or something. Was that even legal?

I shook my head, still scrolling through my phone as I read through another article about me. This one was just complete nonsense about how I somehow kept letting villains go just to fight them later in a public area, along with an almost conspiracy theory amount of speculation on the possible dark ties between me and the other spider squad members.

All sorts of stuff about how we were working together to keep villains out of prison and stay in the spotlight whenever the real heroes were distracted. There was even stuff saying Yu was my mental puppet or dark recruit or something because I’d fought against something that looked like him and now he was on the team.

There was even some stuff about Peter and me using pheromones to mind control the others, and one article that said we were all spider vampires going around turning people, and when it went wrong then the man-spiders popped up.

And apparently it was, just, the norm? Dark web news media was a strange space. And weird. Really weird.

And even weirder, a lot of them news articles, posts, and other coverage seemed to be running the same villain release story. I guess the photographer told them? Or they were just seeing what everyone else was sharing with the world and taking it as fact?

But that couldn’t be right, they had to have fact checkers or something, right? Maybe they were all owned by the Bugle somehow?

“But then just how many news providers does the Bugle own?” I muttered to myself.

“You’re still at this?” Sofia said, yawning as she stepped into the living room. I glanced up at her surprised and frowned.

“What?”

“It’s like seven thirty in the morning… didn’t you go to sleep?”

“No” I mumbled, blinking the dryness out of my eyes. “I was just reading I didn’t… I didn’t think it was that long”

“You, ok?”

“Uh…” I glanced down at my phone. “Kind of. Not really”

“Well… uh… yeah I have no idea how to help you deal with this” she said, yawning again.

“It’s fine”

“Morning” Maria mumbled, peeking her head into the main room.

“Morning” I responded, before looking back down at my phone.

“You’re up early”

“Well, you two are loud” she mumbled, her eyes only half open.

“It’s not my fault. All Lucas’ muttering and cursing woke me up”

“Muttering and cursing?” Maria said looking to me. “What for?”

“He’s still looking through the news about himself. Total egomaniac”

“It’s just that there’s so much about me here”

“Exactly”

“The same stuff from last night?” Maria said, ignoring Sofia.

“Yeah. I think there’s so many articles. I’ve read at least more than a hundred or something. I lost count. Even random news companies on the West coast are writing articles about it. They’ve got to all be linked somehow, like part of the same company”

“Well, they can’t all be the same company” she said.

“Yeah, but then- shit” I mumbled reading another article.

This was one of the few that brought up the idea of a link between the Bederson Reactor explosion, and what’d happened at Amy’s place. It was probably baseless speculation, just like everything else. But that didn’t make it feel any better.

“Lucas?” Maria asked.

“Yeah?” I said looking up.

“Should you even be reading that?” Maria said, raising an eyebrow.

“Probably not. But- there’s just… there’s just so much“

“Well, it’s all fake anyway. Just try to ignore it”

“Well…” I mumbled trailing off.

“Well? What’d you mean well?” Maria said, a note of worry in her voice.

“Yeah, totally not ominous at all”

“It’s… difficult to explain. Long to explain too”

“Tell us anyway. I want to hear how corrupt the New York Spider Squad really is” Sofia said chuckling maniacally.

“Sofia” Maria warned.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I’m just joking”

Maria gave her a look, then turned back to me.

“Lucas… is there something you’re not telling us?”

“Uh… yeah” I mumbled, gulping.

“Can you tell us?”

“It might take all day” I said.

“We’ve literally got all day” Sofia said.

“You don’t, you’ve got school” Maria responded.

“I wouldn’t have gone to sleep here if I was gonna go in”

“Sof you can’t just-”

“It’s like the last day. It’s fine. No way I’m missing this. Watching Lucas’ graduation was enough school to last me till the end of summer.”

“Ok, ignoring that. Lucas is there… can you tell us?”

“I…ok, alright” I gulped, turning off my phone. I set it on the couch beside me as a sudden wave of tiredness pooled over my thoughts, my mind struggling to figure out where to start.

“So… right… I… uh… I… wow this is… I- umm… I kill... ended… I ended someone” I mumbled.

“What?” Sofia said, an uncharacteristic surprise in her voice.

“Um... I- please don’t make me say it again”

“Wait, are you saying… are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Maria said, her eyes widening. I looked away, my face growing hot.

“Back when I first started. Well, it’s the reason I stopped. I… do you remember the Dr guy mom and dad used to know. The one who used to come to the barbecue sometimes?”

“Y-yeah? Uh… Lucas, where is this going?”

“He worked at the BRC. He… we had a school trip and when I saw his research, realised who he was, I went to him about everything. Because he was a scientist, and I thought… that doesn’t matter. He… he used me. I told you that a scientist betrayed me and it ended up killing my friend. Well he, took my powers experimented on it and killed his lab assistant, then tried to kill me. It caused the huge explosion, and after… when I went to Amy’s house with Uncle Jamie, he attacked and he… killed Amy right in front of me. I lost it. And… there weren’t any arrests that day”

“Cause… you killed him?” Sofia mumbled.

“Yeah. Cause I killed him” I said, the bitterness in my voice clear. “He was an evil person, who tricked and used me, then tried to kill me and killed my best friend, fucking ate here and gloated about it. A-and I’m not saying that makes it ok, I’m just trying to get you to understand”

“Holy shit” Sofia mumbled.

“I… sorry” I mumbled, putting my face in my hands. “I… ”

“So… the news company knows?”

“No. ”

“Well… didn’t Might kill a guy once?”

“Sof”

“No, I’m serious. Haven’t all big superheroes killed at least like one person?”

“Sof that’s not-”

“But I’m right? Hey, maybe even the other Spider-Man’s killed a guy?”

“No” I said, shaking my head. “He’s not that kind of person. He’s… he’s good. Actually good”

“And you’re not?”

“W-what?” I mumbled, confused. “Sof I killed someone”

“A piece of shit. He killed your best friend in front of you. The dragonfly girl, right?” Sofia said. “She’d probably be proud you got him.”

“What? Sof don’t-” I muttered.

“Hey, if someone killed me in front of you I hope you’d kill them”

“Sofia, stop” Maria said. “You’re not helping”

“I-” she glanced between me and Maria, then shrunk into herself slightly. “S-sorry”

Maria looked back to me, her gaze distant, before letting out a breath.

“Well… Sof’s not entirely wrong. But… shit… I’m not sure what to say?”

“Should I… turn myself in?” I sniffled.

“No” Sofia said.

“Absolutely not” Maria responded.

“But-”

“No Lucas. He was a supervillain. Sure, you shouldn’t have killed him, but you were a kid, and you know what you did was wrong. If you turned yourself in now, they’d try you as an adult, take all context out of the situation and make it out like you killed him in cold blood. And think about all the good you’re doing now. I mean, you saved a bunch of people from a guy flying around throwing bombs literally yesterday. You’re a hero Lucas. You made a mistake, but you’re a hero”

“Mistake’s understating it don’t you think?”

“Well, if you turn yourself in, they might try to figure out who the other spider-men are. That wouldn’t do anyone any good” Sofia added.

“Crap” I muttered, putting a hand to my head as I sniffled again. “Man. I thought… I don’t know… I thought you guys would hate me when I told you this”

“Well… it’s a lot, but…” Maria shrugged. “You seem to realise you did the wrong thing. Even if he might have deserved it”

“Deserved it… who gets to decide that?” I mumbled.

“Sounded pretty deserving to me”

“Sof”

“Sorry”

We all remained silent for a second, a stillness in the air and our thoughts. I went to speak again, unsure of what I wanted to say, knowing only that I had to fill the space with some words, no matter how pointless.

Then suddenly my phone buzzed. I glanced to it. Peter was calling. I sniffled again, then wiped at my eyes.

“Who’s that?” Maria asked.

“Someone important” I said. “I should take it”

I picked up the phone and answered.

“Hey Lucas”

“Hey. What’s up”

“Sorry, but could you show up by the same building for ten? I’ve got some stuff to do later, and it’s the only time that worked for everyone”

“I… yeah. That’s fine”

“Great. “

“Uh, you, ok?”

“I… yeah”

I hung up, then looked up at my sisters.

“Well… duty calls” I muttered. “We’ll have to talk about this later”

They both nodded silent, the deep thoughts clear in their expressions.

-

I swung smoothly through the air, taking my time as I fired web after web, thinking to myself. A vague mess of my sister’s words, preconceived notions of my own guilt, and the news rumbled about in my head, all neatly tied together by a bow of uncertainty.

I’d thought coming clean, telling everyone and acting like a hero would make me one, but after the conversation with my sister. I glanced down below, then fired another web. Well, not completely square one. Still, I couldn’t help but feel strange about this whole thing. Especially how my sisters had reacted.

I wonder, how would others react? How would the public react if it ever did come out, if I ever did turn myself in?

“What would Yerin think?” I mumbled.

I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. I yawned and fired a final web before swinging towards the building, landing smoothly on the roof. Peter, Jess, Joshua, and Miles stood looking toward me.

“Told you” Jess said, looking to Peter. “Guess we’re having pizza tonight”

“Yeah, yeah” he muttered, before looking to me. “Hey Lucas.”

“Hey. Uh… what was that about?”

“Yu’s last again” Jess said, grinning as she finished off the last of her hot dog. “I think I’ll make a pretty penny off this”

“Nope. I’m literally never going to make a wager again”

“Aww”

“You seen the news?” Joshua said, grinning as he stepped towards me, wearing a builder’s uniform.

“I… yeah” I muttered.

“They’re really putting you through the ringer, huh?”

“They did it to me too, you’ll be fine” Peter said, stepping over.

“Oh, there he his”

Yu landed down,

“Hey everyone. Sorry I’m late guys. Slept in a bit” he chuckled awkwardly,

“That’s fine” Peter said. “Now, alright. Everyone, we’re a bit tight on time so let’s do this quickly. Today, we’re going to be figuring out strengths and weakness so we can sort out a way for us to all work together properly and effectively. That includes patrol pairings, times and-”

Suddenly his watch began beeping, followed by Yu’s and Jess’.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“The sensors all across town” Jess muttered. “they’re picking up something weird”

“Like what? One of Osborne’s test things?”

“I don’t think so” Peter said. “It’s different. And it’s coming from that lab that went up in flames“

“Another portal?” Yu asked.

“Maybe. Wait the NE is practically-”

Suddenly a shockwave rocked the city, weaker than others, but still enough to make the building we stood on shudder for a moment. My eyes widened, and I turned, looking off in the direction it’d come from.

A portal floated in the middle of the air only a few, this time much more akin to the one I’d come through from the other universe. It warped and shifted in mid air before stabilising as it hovered in place, a weird almost record scratch like sound reverberating through the air.

Before any of us could say anything, a bunch of man spiders began falling out of it, onto the remnants of the building below.