After last night I knew for certain there was a lot I had to investigate surrounding whatever the hell was going on with Lupus, Oscorp and the people blowing themselves up in exo-suits. So, I’d taken the week off work. I’d phoned the others beforehand, and I could tell Sajani was disappointed, but they’d all understood. Grady had even encouraged me. I sighed. Even after I’d sorted this out, there was a ton of other stuff to do. Finish the ‘countermeasures’ to stop Max, get the spy bots out to keep an eye on Prowlers one and two, sort out MJ’s birthday, and then take a long hard look in the mirror so I could finally get the balls to talk to Liz about… well everything really.

She’d been concerned last night. Practically all her anger had vanished after whatever had happened at the ball. She’d known something was off.

We’d left quickly after I’d talked to Mr Osborne, said our goodbyes, grabbed a taxi and headed back to her place. She’d wanted me to stay, but I couldn’t. I’d had to remind her she was angry at me for her to stop pushing it and then I’d left. She’d left me a voicemail that I hadn’t listened to yet. I was saving it. Definitely not avoiding things.

“Ow” I winced. I shook my finger and blew on it, glancing at the circuit board for one of the spy bots. I sucked at this kind of stuff. At the very least I was nearly finished. I went to go back to work when I paused and looked up at the TV. I needed to change the channel. The Bugle was talking about me again.

I watched for a few moments as they somehow managed the mental gymnastics to pin the blame of the Max’s two attacks, onto me. If it wasn’t so insane, I might even find it funny. They were calling him Electro now, because Max was too plain, I guess. Joke was on them; he didn’t even want to be called Max anymore anyway. He’d probably love the call name. I turned off the TV and hunkered down, getting back to work. I didn’t get what they had against me. I didn’t get what they had against non-Vanguard superheroes in general. Sure, government authorised militia groups like the MDA were great at handling the weaker metahuman threats, but bigger for ones – like Max – they were way out of their depth. Nobody except Might really had the technology to help regular people deal with serious metahumans threats and Might, didn’t believe the world was ready for most of it any time soon. Given people like the Prowlers existed, I was inclined to agree.

I frowned. Was the coverage some kind of political bid from the Bugle to get Might to share his it’s tech? Or was it about something else. I didn’t know, and I shouldn’t have cared but I did. It was embarrassing how much criticisms, got to me, especially the stupid ones. I could still remember that celebrity they’d had on who’d said my branding was piss poor. It’d been a segment about whether or not superheroes blatant use of meta-abilities in a roundabout way encouraged supervillains to use their powers.

I shook my head.

“Stupid on top of crazy” I mumbled. Why couldn’t they talk about other things? I know they were New York based, but couldn’t they focus on literally anything else? I sighed. I bet they’d try and pin the blame of the exo-suit bombings on me too.

My hands slowed to a stop as thoughts sifted slowly through my mind. Lupus. Whenever I thought about them the first thing that came to mind was Dr Warren. He’d been the biology professor at ESU. I’d known him. I’d spoken to him regularly because Gwen had been friends with his TA, Helena. He was a good person. I doubted he knew about anything if Lupus was even involved. Maybe it might be a good idea to talk to him? Get info on anything suspicious going down? No. That wouldn’t make sense. I didn’t know him that well, and if I pretended I was searching for a job, Mr Osborne would probably find out somehow.

I’d go investigate first and then I’d talk to him if I didn’t find anything. It was the same reason I wasn’t taking this straight to the police. They probably wouldn’t be able to get a warrant, and even if they could, if nothing was there it was a waste of time. I’d just be alerting whoever it was using Lupus manufactured materials that I was on to them. Still. There was no point taking this straight to the police, but it’d also be pretty weird if I just showed up out of nowhere asking questions about exo-suits and materials I probably shouldn’t even know about. Maybe I could lie and pretend Mr Osborne had told me about it. He kind of had. Actually, no. That was far too risky. I’d stick with just investigating and I’d contact Dr Warren if I ever found anything. I sighed. I couldn’t believe I’d put it off for this long. Well, everything with Liz, and Max had kind of distracted me. At least there hadn’t been another bombing.

I winced again as I drew back my finger. I needed to focus. Once this bot was finished I’d only had seven, but that was more than enough to get started, and test out just how effective they’d be. But first, I needed some gloves.

-

Brutes were starting to get seriously annoying. I’d thought the number had peaked ages ago but whatever the BRC explosion had done to the people of New York was still in full swing. I mean how many people now had gotten superstrength and suddenly decided it was a good idea to just rob people.

“Did you have to fill out a form to get your powers, or was it some kind of divine intervention?” I said, ducking another punch.

“Don’t make fun of me!” the mugger shouted. She swung endlessly, punching more frantically every second.

“Hey, you’re not special missy. I make jokes with everyone” I said. She let loose a frustrated roar and swung faster than usual. There was a wall was behind me. Crap. I’d been having too much fun with this. I caught her fist easily.

“Can you tone it down a bit? Property damage is kind of a big no-no” I said. She looked at me incredulous and pulled away, before turning tail and sprinting away. Great, she was a runner. I webbed her feet, then yanked her up, tying her upside down around a streetlight. I took the bag she had and glanced inside.

“Diamonds? Seriously, you can be more original than that” I said.

“Let me down!” she shouted.

“Just sit tight. The MDA’s already on the way” I said.

I leapt off the sidewalk and swung away. I quickly dropped off the diamonds and went back to swinging calmly through Brooklyn. The spy bots worked like a charm. They didn’t cover as much ground as I hoped, but they were effective enough that if something big went down near downtown, I’d know. I landed on a building, staring at my phone. I had two left. Now that I’d tested their capabilities I could head over to Lupus and take a look at things myself.

I swung, covering ground quickly and taking in the view. It was starting to get a lot colder now. I’d have to start working on that winter suit, or just wear regular winter clothes over the costume like I had last year. I dropped off one of the spybots on the roof, and quickly swung away. I came to a stop on a rooftop a few blocks and pulled out my phone. Now I was actually here, this felt kind of shady. Regardless of the outcome, I’d need to be careful not to cross any lines in the future.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I started the bot, and the feed of spider #7 appeared on the camera. I directed it, crawling into the vents of the Lupus office, until it found it’s way into the lab. The bot crawled along the ceiling, taking a currently empty lab that looked pretty similar to one of the ones I’d seen at Icarus. It was lunch right now, so the perfect time to sneak around without getting caught. I continued directing the bot, and despite its small size, listened and watched closely to ensure it wouldn’t get caught.

After at an hour of scurrying about, I’d found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing to do with materials, nothing to do with exo-suits, nothing to do with anything relevant to what I was looking for. Which put me back to square one. I sighed. I’d just have to move the bot to a position I could collect and then head home to work on the Electro stopper. Not that I’d made much progress in the first place.

I moved the bot back into the vents and started making my way out towards the side of the building when I paused. I could hear echoes. Echoes from below. Of course they had a basement. It was a small building after all, and they’d owned all the other floors. Time to do some more investigating. I directed the bot further down, the sounds growing louder and louder. Suddenly interference cut across the screen, distorting the visuals and audio. Then everything went black. Crap. I tapped the screen several times. Nothing.

Had it died? No, it shouldn’t have. Maybe I’d messed up some of the circuitry? It didn’t matter, I needed to go grab it. I didn’t want it to get knocked out the vents and land in the perfect place for people to figure out exactly what it did. Plus, I’d worked hard on that, I didn’t want to just lose it.

I stood, stretching out my legs then leapt off the side of the building. I slipped my phone into my bag and swung landing on the side of Lupus labs building, and quickly slipping into the vent. I climbed through, humming quietly to myself as I thought about my next steps. Oscorp was a lot bigger, but I’d definitely need to start looking into them. Max was targeting the company anyway, so I’d be more likely to know if he attacked. It wasn’t a big bonus but it was something. I stopped and snatched up the bot. Weird. It was still on. Could it not get signal from underground? But I’d been nearly two blocks away before. I pulled out my phone. No signal. I climbed back up, and the signal quickly returned.

Anti spying equipment wasn’t exactly out of the norm in places like this, but if they had them in the basement, they should’ve had at least some measures in the rest of the lab. I frowned, listening closely to the sound of voices below. I might as well check it out. I climbed all the way down and peered through the gap in one of the vents. My body froze.

The room was filled with people in large cylindrical containers filled with slightly green liquid. Most of them looked relatively young. A college kid, a girl no older than fifteen, a guy in his mid-twenties, and in the largest vat with multiple tubes connected was a guy I recognised. Lorien. Helena’s younger cousin. I’d been his RA at college. What the hell was he doing here?! I climbed around the vents to get a better view and peered into a different opening. My heart thumped loudly in my chest.

On the other side of the room was another set of tubes, but inside were people, wearing the green exo-suits with the scorpion tails. The only thing exposed were their faces. They all looked almost exactly like Lorien. Clones. And standing just in front of them, talking as he pointed back and forth between the clones was Dr Warren. He spoke casually, his voice as dull as ever. A few younger scientists surrounded him, taking notes like they were just in a regular lecture, like they weren’t surrounded by human test subjects.

I’d found what I was looking for. And I was going to put an end to it. Right now. I burst through the vents and everyone turned to me as I slammed to the floor.

“DR WARREN!!” I shouted, firing webs at the group. They dived to the floor but it was too late, and the webs caught the people closest to me. I leapt towards them, firing more webs as I searched for Dr Warren amongst the small crowd. There was a shout, and then alarms went off. The tubes with the clones exploded as they stepped out, adorned in their exo-suits. A bespectacled scientist pointed at me and screeched.

“ATTACK!”

The clones didn’t need to be told twice. They bull rushed me, claws extending from their hands and their tails primed for attack. Shit. I dodged as an endless barrage of claws and tails cut through the air. I didn’t know if I could fight back. Didn’t know if the bombs were ready to explode. If they did, they might hurt me, and the people in the cylinders. But every second I stalled the criminals were getting further away. They were probably banking on the fact I wouldn’t risk mutually assured destruction. Still, I needed to do something. I leapt upwards, landing on the ceiling, before leaping towards the vent. I’d lead them outside and up.

One of the scorpions tails extended out, and I dodged, the telson embedding into the ceiling. It tore through the concrete, sliding towards me and I was forced to leap down. Mistake. Another scorpion clone lunged at me, claws at the ready. I spun through the air, dodging it’s claws, but it kneed me in the chest. I smashed through the ceiling, crashed against something and fell to the ground. Screams filled my ears as I stood up looking around.

Blood. There was blood everywhere. Lunch was just ending, and the scientists were returning to their labs. The lab that chunks on concrete and debris had flown through. The scorpions leapt through the hole, located me instantly and charged.

“RUN!” I shouted at the scientists leaping away from the exit as I fended off the scorpion clones.

They didn’t give me time to think. I didn’t have enough time to get away without being stabbed in the back, and but staying to fight them was just making things worse. Their screeches and roars, echoed in my head as I evaded their blows whilst desperately trying to avoid the injured. It was no use. The scorpions fought like rabid animals, decimating the lab despite my attempts to preserve it. In my desperation, one caught me by the leg, and slammed me to the ground. My spider sense roared, and I pulled my leg away, and leapt upwards, but it was too late. The clone exploded sending me smashing through even more floors and shaking the entire building.

I struggled to my feet, my spider sense buzzing. More people were screaming now. Too many. The group in the basement didn’t care who they killed on the surface. I leapt away, but a piece of debris flew through the air knocking me back to the floor. I forced myself up and looked around. The clones were on top of me again. They came from all sides. Hulking machinations just waiting to explode the second they got close enough. I couldn’t understand it. They were people, they were alive, but they acted like monsters. It’s like their minds were twisted in some kind of sick way. Even if they were trying to kill me, I wanted to save them. But I didn’t know how. I didn’t know the mechanisms to the exo-suits they wore, and I couldn’t possibly disarm the bombs without getting close. Even if I could, disarming a bomb whilst fighting five, maybe even more was impossible. I couldn’t save them. So, I had to at least try and save the rest of the people in the building.

I leapt up, slamming through the floor above. The scorpions followed, leaping after me. I turned and jumped forwards, smashing through a window and out into the open. I spun as I turned through the air, expecting to see the scorpions following after me. Instead, they stood by the shattered glass staring as I flipped through the air. Huh? There was a bright flash and the windows on the top floor shattered, as heat, glass, dust, smoke and shrapnel were expelled in a huge explosion. Shit! I leapt into action, firing a web and swinging around the building, leaving barricades of web in my wake. I landed on the ground hard and skidded across the pavement my entire body aching. I looked up, watching as the webs strained under the weight of the debris. I leapt around, shepherding frozen onlookers away from the building as I reinforced my webs.

Quickly I rushed back up to the building. The top floors were decimated, but there were still survivors clinging on to life. I swung through the building, saving them as I cursed my stupidity. This could all have been avoided if I’d thought it through before jumping down to confront Dr Warren. I’d let my personal connection to him get in the way of my usual judgement, and now others were paying the price.

By the time I’d finished, saving people, ambulances, fire-trucks and police were stationed around the building in serious numbers. I could see George amongst the crowd, waiting outside. He could wait. I leapt back down, swinging into the alley quickly making my way back into the vent. I leapt through with force, denting the vent out of shape until I reached the basement. But it was too late. The room had been cleared out, a few bodies of the scientists I had trapped, crushed by rubble. I clenched my fist in frustration. I’d fucked up. I’d seriously fucked up.