The six of us stared at the chaos as the portal continued to warp, and shift, more and more half men half spiders barrelling through the portal and onto the building below.

“Well… I guess that’s our training session cut short” Jess muttered.

“Alright, you two stay here” Peter said, pointing to Miles and Joshua. “The rest of you with me. Quick”

I nodded and followed Peter forward as we rushed for the ledge. The air rushed past us as we leapt down and swung into action. Joshua and Miles shouts echoed in the background, fading quickly as the shouts of men and women filled the streets.

I looked up cursing to myself as the others pulled ahead, the Man-Spider’s still pouring from the portal as a strange gas oozed out into the air with them. They crashed into the lab beneath, some stopping on the roof whilst others rushed down to the streets below, roaring at their surroundings and each other.

There had to be hundreds. Maybe a thousand.

“Shit” I mumbled. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.

Was this my fault? No. Right?

Well, I mean it was the same kind of portal in the same spot. Something in the lab could be causing it. Shit. Why hadn't I checked yesterday?

I'd let my own emotions and laziness get in the way when I probably should’ve investigated inside. Stupid. Stupid.

I shook my head. There wasn’t a point thinking about this now. There was a horde of deformed Man-Spider's falling out of the sky, I had to focus.

“What do we do?” I shouted out, the screams of civilians running, shrieks of the Man-Spiders, and the horrendously loud warping of the portal enough to drown out my voice.

“What?!” Peter called back.

“What do we do?!” I shouted.

“I… we’ll go up and fight! Make webs from building to building and keep the monsters off the ground! Lucas you stay lower! I’ll try to reach the portal and close it!”

“Could there be something in the building?!”

“What?!” Peter shouted.

Then we were at the lab. And above us, rushing down in a chaotic horde were the monsters, most descending down the walls, though some crushing through the wreck of the lab.

"What'd you say?!" Peter asked turning to me.

"Nothing!" I shouted. "It's fine"

He nodded then looked back up.

“Ok, we need to cover the whole building-"

"I can go around!" Yu shouted.

"Good idea b-"

"I’ll go around!” Yu shouted, before smashing through the glass beneath us. Peter cursed, before looking back up.

“I’ll go to!” Jess said, looking to Peter. "Watch his back!"

"Ok!" Peter said. "Try to make a barricade as you go around!"

"With the web bombs?!"

"Yeah!"

She nodded, and I watched her leap away and swing off. I looked back to Peter, who was already rushing ahead, barrelling up the glass, as he fired bursts of web forward.

I followed after him, my breaths heavy as I watched web bombs exploded above me, creating a blockade between us and the monsters. But not one large enough. While some got caught in the web, many clambered around it as Peter slowed, firing more to block them. The blockade grew uneven, as more got through still, their ear-grating screeches growing closer and closer.

Finally I came to a stop besides Peter. Monsters were on us in an instant, slashing and stabbing with bloodied and rotten legs, as they fought each other just to attack us, their mandibles clacking desperately for our flesh.

I punched the first few away, giving Peter time to encase them in web before we both leapt back. But the creatures only continued to swarm us further and further back.

And as we descended, leaping back and firing at the monsters over and over and over, the web built up, growing and growing till it resembled foam moreso than webbing. But still, creatures slipped through, screeching in our faces as their rotten smell washed over us, the bloodlust and hunger apparent just from their manner. I dodged as they crashed into a clump on our former spot, then kicked a desperate one back hard, the monster flying back so hard it impaled itself against another's leg.

Then the others all jumped on it, sensing the blood and weakness, ripping it to shreds as they began eating away, not even waiting for the monster to die. And as they clambered over each other, descending into a fight with each other over the corpse, the chaos grew more and more, the monsters killing each other just to feast.

My eyes widened. The monsters was far lighter and weaker than the one Yu and I'd fought in the sewer, and they didn’t exactly seem to be on the same team. They were hungry, and it's all that seemed to matter. We could use that against them, trap them whilst they ate each other.

I moved forward, but Peter grabbed me.

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"They're hungry! Chasing after food! Finish the blockade and we can keep them enclosed by staying and fighting them here! Just on this building!"

I nodded, and together we began firing webs across the street to form a larger blockade.

"What about the sides?!" I called out

"I sent spider-bots to do it!" Peter shouted. I nodded, then glanced up the monsters, still distracted as they fought each other.

So I continued, firing web after web until Peter and I were cast in shadow. We both finally stopped, breathing heavily and I glanced below. Some civilians still milled about in the street; phones raised as they filmed us.

“Run you idiots!” I shouted. They listened, racing away.

I looked back up, at the monstrosity of web, stained with blood as the echo of distant shrieks rang out through the empty streets, sunlight only visible in blotches below.

“This would make for a good horror movie” Peter said.

“Shame it’s real” I mumbled back, my heart hammering in my chest. I looked around, before spotting the still warping portal through a gap in the webbing. “Uh... do we call the Vanguard?”

“I do every time something big happens. I don’t know if they’ll come”

“Surely they will if it gets bad enough?”

“Too many will dead by that time”

“Oh... right”

Peter looked to me.

“Can you hold here on your own?” Peter asked.

"Like... under here?"

"I mean, above the webbing"

“No way”

“… can you try?” he said, the desperation clear in his tone.

“I- sure” I muttered.

Peter nodded, then looked up again.

“It’ll be hard, but you’ll be good… do good” he muttered, the tension in his voice clear as he surveyed the wall.

“At least I don’t have to go through that horde… Man-Spiders... fucking crazy” I muttered shuddering.

“It’ll be fine”

“Yeah” I said, nodding as I steeled myself. “Ok, how do we do this?”

“We’ll go through the web further back, then I’ll break through the monsters' line make for the portal, while you stay back and keep them off the streets”

“Ok” I mumbled. “Ok.”

Peter nodded, and then without a word, we swung up towards the building across the street, then slipped through one of the gaps in the web.

We landed atop the it, and looked across to the mess of spiders, crawling around and in the remnants of the lab, covered in blood as they screeched at each other, some still fighting over corpses. The portal still warped above us, growing louder and louder as monsters still climbed outwards.

The creatures turned to us almost instantly, and then with a chorus of joyful shrieks, clawed their way out of the building and across the web towards us. Peter rushed forwards and I followed after him, firing at the creatures, trapping them against the web or in clumps with each other.

We reached the wall Peter leapt forward, crashing against the glass. With ridiculous speed, he rushed up the side of the building, shooting past the disorientated mess of monsters that only began to rear their ugly head from the burnt wreck.

“Good luck!” I cried out. He offered me a thumbs up, without looking back, continuing onwards and upwards as he raced through the thinner crowd, steadily getting higher on the obliterated lab walls.

Then a monster screeched loudly as it closed in. I dodged, landing further back, and my breaths slowed, my eyes darting around. Looking, to all the monsters surrounding me, quickly closing in. Go time. I leapt into action. Firing web after web, then dodging closer attacks and backing away from the monsters as my spider-sense reached out, warning me off the monsters I couldn't see.

It was a dance. A rhythm of attack and dodges, like a well timed two-step. We made our way across the web, then back up to the villains, somewhere in my mind cognizant of the civilians that screamed from the windows of adjacent buildings.

Almost subconsciously, I kept them to me. Whilst my mind focused on evading the crowd then striking, small actions slipped out. The occasional shout, or a yank back when one of the creatures got too interested in the surroundings. The smash of glass or a punch to the face to illicit a shriek. All to draw their attention. To keep them away.

I darted back and forth, keeping the monsters at away with defence and holding my offence close to my chest until they were brave enough to come too close. They were hungry for a reason. I was faster than them, stronger. And they were slow.

It was wonderful in a weird way. With my life on the line, alone, my nerves were suddenly forgotten.

It seemed like ages ago Peter had left me here. But it could've only been a minute. Maybe more. I couldn't tell how long the dance had been going.

And then the moment was over. I leapt dodging a a creature when the glass beneath me exploded, a long and sharp leg narrowly missing me as my body moved.

I was alive but the illusion was broken. The smell of blood, the loud warping, the feeling of fear, they were back. And the monsters were atop me. Crying out, I dodged the snap of mandibles, then kicked at another, scrambling down the wall as others pressed forward, screaming and slashing at the glass beneath them, the multitudes closing in far too quickly for me to stop it.

“Get back dammit!” I roared, kicking out before leaping from the wall. I landed on the web, and spotted a monster behind me, rushing towards the windows of the adjacent build. Civilians were still inside, at the windows. I fired, yanking a monster back onto the web, then trapped it with the growing array of cocoons beneath me.

“Get away from the windows you idiots!” I roared, leaping forward, before I kicked another monster down, and covered it in web, trapping it too.

Then the rest of the creatures reached me. Pushing me back more and more, swarming me as they cut at me, only barely slicing into flesh.

But the slashes were getting deeper and deeper. And with each cut I was getting slower and they were getting faster. My fear was growing as I kept pushing them back, urging me to release my claws and start slashing. The same monstrous urge that’d commanding me to kill to survive.

But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. They were monsters, but they had faces. Human faces marred by whatever had happened to them. They might’ve been monstrous now, but they’d been people. Peter had fixed Joshua, and I didn’t know if he could fix these people, but I didn’t want to kill.

I roared, and continued fighting back, dance forgotten, instead using brute force to keep the Man-Spiders away. But there was a reason I'd default to dodging. One caught me, slashing at my back with a leg, and I went down, cursing out. The monsters descended upon me and I threw myself to the side bouncing along the web as my own blood, smeared and sept into the silk.

It seemed to draw the creatures up into a frenzy, and they rushed forward, hungry. But then they slowed, stopping in place suddenly before looking to the sky. I looked around, my heart still racing, as I stood. But the creatures all remained still, unmoving as they looked to the sky. So, I looked up too.

The pour of monsters had slowed, and Peter stood on the edge of the building, looking around confused before glancing to his watch. He too looked up, and then with a cackling that echoed through the surroundings, a man clad in black and blue spandex, long stained by blood dropped out of the portal; the last of the monsters released. He crashed into Peter, knocking him back.

His laughter echoed loudly over the surrounding buildings as he landed, the monsters all around, coming to a stop as they looked upwards, to the top of the building. The man laughed as he cried out, webs flying past him before he and Peter appeared, flying over the ledge of the building as Man-spider’s clawed after them.

The two traded blows mid-air, then broke apart, Peter crashing through the glass below as the man skidded to a stop along the wall face. He stood straight slowly, his laughter growing in its hysteria.

Then it in a moment it stopped, the silence sudden. Eerie was the only word to describe it. The sight of New York’s downtown skyscrapers and open blue sky filled with silence, the usual sounds of chatter and noise far more distant than usual.

My eyes narrowed, focusing on the man as he stood tall against the wall, chuckling to himself as Peter raced toward him. Then suddenly – with a bloody finger - he pointed to the rest of the city, small snickers escaping his lips before he spoke.

“Eat, my children! Eat!”

And the Man-Spiders charged.