The stuff from yesterday was all over the news. I’d thought the bombings weren’t getting enough media attention before, and now they were getting too much. But it was too late. Thirty-six people had died. More than the combined total of all the other attacks combined. I shook my head. The images of the chaos were burned into my mind.

It was a miracle only thirty-six people had died.

And despite all of that, the reports were all missing the worst thing. Nobody had mentioned anything about the basement. I’d told George about it, told him to look into Dr Warren and the lab records, just to see if he could find anything. But as of yet, I hadn’t gotten word of anything substantial back. And nothing about it was on the news. Instead, they were trying to frame it like the other attacks, make Lupus out to be complete and total victims of this senseless spree of violence. Those in the higher floors were, but there wasn’t even the mention of Dr Warren’s name or anything about human experimentation. It was frustrating. I’d seen it, I’d seen his twisted experiments with my own eyes and I couldn’t do anything. I'd thought George would do something at least, get word out, announce to the public that an investigation into things had begun. I just- I'd thought my word had meant more.

I sighed. I’d searched afterwards too. Looked around in the neighbouring buildings, even checked parts of the sewer; but I hadn’t found anything.

“Ow” I said, wincing as I burned my finger with the soldering iron, again. I really needed to pay attention to what I was doing. And wear gloves. My powers made me extra durable, not invincible. I webbed my gloves over to me, along with my burner phone, snatching them deftly out the air. Frowning I set the phone down. I hadn't gotten any calls today. Even on a good day, I'd at least have ten. It’d been busy yesterday. I shrugged. My sixteen hour long patrol yesterday had probably solved a lot of people's problems. None of my own though. My regular phone had been obliterated in the fight yesterday, along with my bag and two of the bots. The bots had hurt, but my phone had hurt more. I’d lost everything, including Liz’s voicemail. That'd stung. Now I'd look rude if I just showed up and I had no idea what she'd said. What if it had been something really important? What if she'd broken up with me? I sighed. I was just making excuses again. I really needed to talk to her. I’d meant too yesterday but I’d gotten too caught up helping people around the city. There was just so much to do. In my personal life as well. I needed to try sort out stuff for MJ’s birthday as well. And give Aunt May and Grandpa a call. And ask Harry just how badly I’d pissed off his dad. On top of buying a new phone, and visiting Mum, Dad, Uncle Ben and Gwen. Where would I get the time? I hung my head. There really was so much to do. I’d get it done eventually. But first, I needed to get back to work.

Now that the bots were done and I’d left them all around town to keep an eye on things, I was finishing up with my Electro countermeasure- if you could even call it that. I’d used one of the prototypes for the collar I’d used against Flint more than -wow- more than two years ago now. It was basically just a big battery that should siphon away excess electricity and stop Max from being able to do whatever it was he did. It was probably a bust, but I needed something to give myself confidence if he came up again. Really, the guy was in a league of his own when it came to villains I'd fought against.

My phone buzzed and I glanced at it. Oh shit. The bots were picking something up.

I clicked on the alert, and the phone opened, showing me the bots feed as it looked over a street. It was in Brooklyn. It’d spotted one of the Prowlers. I stood up quickly, fumbling as I looked around for my suit. I webbed it over to me and began changing as I tried to make sense of the situation. What was the Prowler doing slinking around in the middle of the day? Either one of the two was trying something new, or there was something big going down. My money was on the latter. I pulled my mask on and leapt out my window, firing a web into the distance as I swung away.

My phone buzzed again as I swung around. I looked at it, clicking on the notification. Another Prowler. They were within 200ft of each other. It looked like they were both watching the streets, looking for someone. No they were looking at the cars. They must be trying to rob cargo. What cargo though? I’d probably know if something big was being shipped legally, so it was something illegal. It was still weird though. It wasn’t like Prowler to operate during the day. He’d find a way to try and take this thing at night, even if it was harder. Maybe they’d messed up, intended to do something last night and gotten cold feet because I’d been working like a madman? Maybe. Actually I had seen Prowler during the day. It was once. An instance involving a diamond that was about to get shipped to France during the evening. He'd really wanted that one.

But still, they wouldn’t scout out like this. It just wasn’t the Prowler’s thing. Hmm... maybe they were here on short notice? That’d make more sense. But why? The Prowler wasn’t like that Shocker guy I’d read about. He wasn’t for hire. He worked for himself. Maybe the new one had convinced the olde one to do this?

My phone buzzed again, and I looked down. Third notification from a spy bot. I clicked on it and felt time slow. Dr Warren. One of the bots had spotted him in the passenger seat off an SUV, tailed by two large white vans. He was in Brooklyn and steadily nearing closer to location of the Prowlers. Oh shit. The Prowlers must’ve known about the cloning tech. They were probably planning to rob Lupus before it went up in flames and now they were targeting a convoy that no doubt had all the equipment from the basement inside. Actually they were probably just there to keep track of where they were moving stuff to. This was perfect. If I timed this right, I could take out two birds with one stone. Take out the Prowlers and catch Dr Warren with all the prisoners he probably had in the back of the trunk.

Speeding up, I made my way towards Manhattan Bridge. I needed a plan of attack. Damaging the vehicles was a no go given what was inside them, but that might be difficult if I got into a fight with the Prowler’s heat bombs. Actually, they probably didn’t want to damage the stuff inside either. Still the idea of fighting in the middle of Downtown Brooklyn didn’t exactly bode well with civilian safety. I shook my head. It wasn’t rush hour so it should be fine. I always took care anyway. I couldn’t miss a chance like this to finally get something done. I needed to focus.

I swung in long, sweeping arcs, my gaze focused on the city as I crossed over the East River. The wind whipped past me, a rumbling in my ears, accompanied by the sounds of traffic in the background. My thoughts stilled, my entire being focused on swinging. I reached Downtown Brooklyn, swinging between the buildings as I searched, looking out at the cars below. I spotted the rooftop one of the Prowlers had been on and slowed to a stop. I needed to be careful now. Didn’t want to lose the element of surprise.

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I crawled quickly along the face of the wall and sprinted across a roof keeping low. Peering over the lip of the buildings edge, I scanned the rooftops as I looked around. There. One of the Prowlers, looked down at the street, waiting carefully. Did I attack him now? It was a decent distance, but not something I couldn’t manage. There probably wouldn’t get a better chance, plus I might draw in the other Prowler whilst my bots kept an eye on Dr Warren’s troupe.

I let out a breath, then fired out webs, pulled back, and slingshot myself across the street. I flew through the air and fired webs at the Prowler as I did. At the last second, he spun around and the pellets of web slammed into his visor, before I two-footed him in the chest. We hit the ground, rolling, but I recovered quicker. Leaping up, I webbed his arm to the floor, and grabbed his other one before he could even move. I twisted it behind his back as he struggled against me, then webbed his feet to the floor. He struggled uselessly as I grabbed the power pack on his back and ripped it out. The suit’s synthetic muscles were instantly weakened and the Prowler became limp. I webbed him some more for extra measure, as I looked around nervously, waiting to see if the other Prowler came. Nothing. That'd been kind of easy. I guess there was a reason the Prowler didn't really work during the day. I glanced back at him.

“Don’t move” I said. I pulled out my phone and called the police.

“Hi this is emergency services, how may I be of assistance?” the responder said.

“This is Spider-Man. I’ve got one of the Prowler’s on a rooftop in downtown Brooklyn, with another one nearby. Also, there’s some illegal cargo being shipped close by. You’ll want to send a lot of guys for that stuff” I said.

“Alright, people are on their way”

“Thanks”

I cut the call, and with a sparing glance at the Prowler behind me, made my way over towards the edge of the building. There. Dr Warren’s cars were driving down the street. I’d gotten here just in time. Suddenly a parked vehicle swerved out into the road, cutting off the SUV. The SUV veered wildly as people cried out in the streets and horns blared. The SUV and the vans behind it came to a stop and the sound of tyres screeches echoed from all around. More cars were coming. What the hell was going on? Who else knew about and wanted this cloning stuff? Before I could leap into action, my Spider sense blared and I dodged as a claw swept through the air. I spun around, dodging another attack to see the second Prowler behind me, attacking with a wild confidence. How the hell had he gotten so close to me without me noticing? I continued dodging his attacks, before dropping to the floor and kicking his legs out from under him. He fell, but caught himself on the ground with one hand, and spun around acrobatically kicking me in the face. I skidded back across the rooftop and dodged another blow when the sound of gunfire echoed in the streets.

I felt my blood run cold. But I didn’t have a chance to look back, the second Prowler was already on top of me again. I dodged his slashes repeatedly, but now, my attention was more focused on the gunfire. I spared glances into the street, hearing people scream and shout as I watched them run from the blockade of cars surrounding the SUV and it’s vans.

I needed to get down there. I needed to get down there now. I focused back on Prowler two, and instead of dodging away, slipped his punch. Stepping inside swiftly caught him off guard and he stumbled, trying to shift his weight. Too late. I cracked him across the jaw, shattering his visor. He slumped to the floor and didn’t get back up. I webbed him to the ground then turned, leaping into the street, swinging towards the commotion. A group of gunmen in black suits surrounded the SUV’s and vans. Scientists who’d tried to run lay dead in the street, and one gunman dragged a wounded Dr Warren across the asphalt. One of them noticed me, and pointed, shouting something in Russian. The others turned, and instantly open fired on me. I stayed high, using my spider sense to navigate a safe path through the air towards a different rooftop. I landed awkwardly and rolled. That'd been close. The gunfire stopped and I heard the sound of more shouts, followed by engines revving. I peeked my head over the edge of the building and I ducked back quickly as bullets whizzed past. There were too many of them. At least thirty. I couldn’t deal with that many at once. Dammit. What the hell were the remnants of the Bears doing here? Were they working with the Prowlers, or had they both gotten word of this on their own. It didn’t matter, I needed to do something, and fast. I pulled a web fluid pellet off my waist, then as quickly as I could, threw it towards the street below. There was a burst of gunfire and a bullet grazed my forearm, but it stopped quickly, followed by shouts of Russian. I glanced over the edge. Strands of web had shot out all over the place, covering the gunmen on this side of the road. Now was my chance. I dived down, and landed in the street, making quick work of the gunmen who weren’t trapped.

The squeal of tires echoed loudly behind me, and I spun to see one of the vans take off. I fired webs at it, but my spider sense buzzed, and I leapt between two cars as gunfire cut through the air. The gunfire followed me, peppering holes through the car I was behind. I leapt away, crashing through a building window, before scrambling for cover. Ow. Someone had gotten me across the back of my heel. My Achilles was shot. Literally.

I shook my head. This wasn’t the time for dumb puns. I webbed the wound closed and focused on my surroundings. I could hear the sounds of crying and harsh whispering in other parts of this building. I needed to get out of here in case someone got caught in the crossfire. I peeked up and a burst of gunfire cut through the store. I shot down and leapt to different cover. Shit. The gunmen were focused solely on me now. They’d killed all the scientists, and there weren’t any police here yet. Dammit. I guess they really didn’t want anyone else knowing how to do this. I shook my head. I needed to focus. One van had gotten away, but there was still one left. I needed to get out there and save the people inside.

I looked around realising I'd jumped into some kind of restaurant. There were huge tables everywhere. I webbed one to me and threw it out into the street. I heard gunfire followed by a cry of pain. Now was my chance. Leaping up, I sensed outwards. I fired webs quickly, yanking two guns away from gunmen and whipped them around slamming them into those that hadn’t been taken out by the table. I leapt forwards, grabbing another table and threw it at the remaining gunmen as I emerged from the restaurant. The SUV was still here, but the other van had started getting away. I leapt through the air and landed on it's roof. I fired webs onto the back tires. They stopped, screeching loudly, and the car slowed to a stop. The guy in the front shouted loudly, before stepping out and making a break for it. I webbed him to the floor. I heard curses from inside the car. English cursing. From a familiar voice. Dr Warren was still alive. I crawled forward and smashed my fist through the windscreen, shattering it completely and grabbing the person inside. I yanked Dr Warren as he cried out and brought him to my eye level.

“You bastard! You’ve ruined everything! You imbecile! You-”

With a swift slap, I knocked him out and dropped him, letting his body slump onto the van’s roof. I jumped down, circled the car and threw open the backdoors. All the people were there, sat in their tubes, except Lorien. Dammit. I needed to find the other vehicle.

I turned around and leapt into the air, swinging away. It couldn’t have gotten far at all. I focused intently, becoming more aware of everything. The sound of sirens echoed through the streets, followed by a rare but familiar sound. I glanced up, spotting an MDA chopper in the distance, zipping over from the Hortz-Bruig. They’d brought out the big guns, just for this? But nobody here was even metahuman? I didn’t understand it, any of it. Nothing about this made any sense. Something big was going on behind the scenes and I was out of the loop.