Spectacular Spider Hero Girls - ManOFiction245 (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

It was the perfect plan.

Bane had gone over it many times in just that night alone. One of LexCorp's research facilities contained many experimental chemicals. Chemicals he needed to make his Venom serum. Ever since that stint at Metropolis High, he had been laying low in the so-called 'city of adventure'.

But all that squandering in the darkness after escaping from the police yet again would be worth it. The chemicals in that facility wereincrediblypotent. Potent enough to create his strongest batch of Venom yet. With it, he could easily crush the Dark Knight and take Gotham for himself. All he needed to do was break into the facility and make off with what he needed.

So, after a few nights of strategizing, he had the perfect plan. Step #1: Find a guard and dispose of him in a silent manner. No unnecessary killing, as to avoid drawing any attention to himself. Step #2: Use the guard's card to bypass the scanners. Three: pick off the guards one by one. And four: get the chemicals and make off.

So simple, yet so efficient. He had practically already succeeded.

Right now, Bane knelt behind some boxes. He had been there for a good few minutes, scarcely breathing. He hadn't heard any footsteps around where he was, something that confused him. Considering the door, he had expected at leastoneguard. But no. There was an unguarded door, practically calling his name, but still impassable, thanks to the scanner. Of all the entrances he could have chosen, he chose the one where there were no guards to exploit.

Right when he was considering moving to another point of the facility, he heard some footsteps. Peering from behind the boxes, he spotted a guard leaning against the wall next to the door. Bane smiled. Perfect. Grabbing a nearby stone, he threw it at a lamppost. As expected, the guard's attention was drawn to such a thing. He turned away to the source of the noise.

Now was his chance. Standing up, Bane quickly snuck up behind him and wrapped his hands around the guard's mouth and nose. The guard starting grunting in shock and pounding his fists against Bane's fists. Bane just applied pressure. The sooner he choked this fool out, the sooner he could get what he desired. And in just a few seconds, the guard went limp, falling to the ground in an unconscious wreck.

"Pathetic," Bane sneered. He kneeled down and grabbed the card. "I expected just alittlebit more talent from people guarding such important chemicals." He smirked. "But I'm hardly complaining." He walked over to the door. He couldn't help but feel a giddy. He could almost feel the energy coursing through his veins when he made his new compound.

Watch out, Batman, Bane thought, a wide grin spreading across his fist.By tomorrow night, your spine will-

"Ahem."

Bane froze. Great, just great. He had forgotten to look out for any other guards. Clenching his fists, he sighed. No matter. He could deal with just one, with or without Venom. He turned around, rolling up his sleeve. "Don't bother calling out for help, because..."

He trailed off when he saw... nothing. There was no guard. He was totally alone. If that was the case, then what was with the voice?

He shook his head. "Forget it, Bane," he mumbled, turning back to the door. "It was just your imagination. Stay on course." He raised the card up when...

"Um, didn't you see me?"

Bane's eyes widened. Okay, heknewthat wasn't his imagination. He turned around again. But like a few moments ago, there was no one there able to be connected to the voice.

"Who's there?!" Bane whisper-shouted. "Show yourself, you coward!"

Silence. Then the voice ran out again. "Well, if you insist." With that, someone dropped to the ground from a nearby lamppost. They were covered up in the shadows, meaning that Bane could only make out their basic outline. Well, that and their eyes. Their milky-white, large eyes.

Bane squinted. "Who are you? Are you... one of the guards?" He grabbed a crowbar from his back-pocket. If this guy wanted a fight, he'd get one.

The person in the shadows folded their arms. "Really? In this outfit?" Then they snapped their fingers. "Oh, that's right. Gotta step into the light for you." And so they did, exposing themselves. One thing was clear. They weren't a guard. Instead of the traditional LexCorp security attire, this... guy wore a red and blue spandex outfit. The suit had a spider-web-like pattern all over it, and a spider emblem on the chest. Looking at them, they looked... young. Not a kid, but definitely a teenager.

Bane blinked. "What? Is this a joke?" He folded his arms. "I'm not laughing."

The costumed man just shrugged. "Not a joke, Mr. Broad Shoulders. Just someone trying to help out. And - just spitballing here, considering your Luchador mask and camouflage get up - I take it you don't work here. Would I be correct?"

Bane growled. "I have no time for games, child!" He raised his crowbar up. "If you want to be a hero, here's my suggestion: leave!"

Suddenly, the man's white eyes widened. "Is that a crowbar?"

Bane tilted his head. Well, that wasn't the response he was expecting. "Um... yes?"

The man fell to his knees. "My... one weakness. A crowbar." His voice, however, didn't convey any sense of fear.

"Look, if you're just trying to distract me-"

"No, no!" The man stood up, raising his hands into the air. "It's that... I didn't know you had such a powerful weapon! Whatever am I to-"

In the blink of an eye, Bane felt himself get slammed against the wall. Something was covering his chest, he noticed once the shock wore off. Something... sticky. Looking down, he saw that there was a large spider web wrapped around his torso, which was now connected to the wall. He looked back at the man, who was staring at him.

"Oh, that's right. Webs."

Bane attempted to rip the webs off. But these weren't ordinary webs. These webs were stronger than just a normal spider's. These weretough.

"What is this stuff?" Bane yelled. "Who are you?! I demand ans-"

Suddenly, he felt his right arm get stuck to the wall. It was another web, courtesy of the masked man. Then his left arm. Then his legs. He writhed around, struggling to break the webs. Once again, it was all for naught. This masked man had foiled him.

Bane could hardly believe it. A perfect plan, ruined! Thanks to this... this... vigilante! But he wasn't going to let this slide!

"Who do you think you a-"

Something wet and sticky hit his mouth, covering it. He continued screaming, but all that came out was muffled yells. The man then walked up to him.

"Look, man," he said. "I'm sure you're a big shot when it comes to ordinary guys. Guys without powers. In fact, I'm willing to guess you prey on them because that's all you can do."

Bane ordinarily would have corrected him, but thanks to the web-gag, he couldn't. The man just leaned in, his eyes narrow and his voice low.

"But when it comes to superheroes... you're out of your league." He took out a piece of paper and stuck it to Bane's chest. "Well, gotta go!" He said, instantly casual. "I've got a curfew. See ya!" With that, he aimed his arms up and shot off into the distance, leaving a dumbstruck Bane behind.

"Can't believe he nearly got in."

Wallace just shrugged and rested against the wall. "Hey, just be thankful he didn't. Do you want Lex to be barking at us for our failure?"

Stephen had to agree. Anything was better than an overly egotistical sixteen-year-old yelling at them and calling them 'sorry excuses for guards'. "Good point." He turned around to face Bane getting loaded into a police car, grumbling something under his breath. When he had spotted him stuck to the wall, he was honestly dumbfounded. Not by the fact that Bane had tried to break in, but by him being stuck to the wall withwebs. Webs that took a buzzsaw to cut through. He honestly couldn't wrap his head around that.

"What was with the webs?" He asked aloud. Wallace turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, do I? Unless my theory that Lex was working on mutant spider creatures in this lab, I'd said I got nothing." He folded his arms. "To be fair, it could very well be spider creatures. Luthor doesn't tell usanything, the snot-nosed brat."

"Hey, quit it," Stephen hushed. "For all we know, the guy has cameras here and is observing our every move."

Wallace laughed. However, his laughter soon trailed off when he spotted something on the ground.

"What?" Stephen asked. Wallace didn't say anything, and just kneeled down and grabbed something. It was a piece of paper and he was looking at it like he was reading something on it.

"What is it?" Stephen said, this time louder.

Wallace didn't say anything. He just turned the paper over to Stephen. He leaned in. It read-

No thanks are necessary - Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man.

"'Spider-Man'? Who's that?"

Wallace just shrugged. "No idea." He crumpled it up. "But if he's the guy that dealt with Bane, maybe he's on our side."

Stephen just looked up, as if hoping to get a glimpse of this 'Spider-Man' guy. "Let's hope so. Otherwise, Metropolis might haveanotherbad guy to deal with."

Chapter 2: Chapter 1: Metropolis, Here I Come

Chapter Text

"Yo, Tiger."

Peter blinked rapidly as a hand snapped its fingers in front of his face. His vision was blurry, on account of spending most of the trip sleeping. After a few seconds of snapping, the hand drew back, allowing a blurred face with red hair to come into view. Peter shook his head, allowing his vision to improve. Now, he could put a face to the redhead.

"Oh, MJ. Hi."

Mary Jane Watson just grinned. "You were asleep for, like, an hour. Didn't even react to Kenny shooting spitballs at you. If it weren't for your snoring, I would have thought you were dead."

Peter just laughed. "If I were dead, I'm pretty sure they'd have to fumigate the bus."

MJ smirked. "If you say so." She placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Say, are you doing okay? I think you'd be stoked for this field trip. Metropolis seems like a cool town."

Peter blinked. "Okay? Yeah, sure." He sat up straight. "Why... Why wouldn't I be?" He smiled at her, praying that it looked natural and not totally weird.

MJ just furrowed her brow. "Well, it's just that in the past few months, you've been... distant."

"Have I?" Peter shifted in his seat. "I guess I've just been... thinking."

MJ's smirk didn't fade. "About..."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I don't know." He folded his arms. "Still trying to figure it out myself."

"Well, then good luck."

Good luck indeed, Peter thought. These past few months had been a rollercoaster. Actually, no. Rollercoasters are fun. These past few months have been like being tied to a runaway train that stops and starts every once and a while. In one respect, life had gotten a little easier. The Green Goblin was gone. Right after being exposed as Norman Osborn. Well, to three. Peter, Harry, and Gwen. Harry had seen to getting rid of any evidence that confirmed who the Goblin was. To the rest of the city, what they thought was Norman Osborn was really just the Chameleon in one of his disguises, with the master of disguise himself being thrown into jail for being the Green Goblin. As for the whole 'Norman is dead' thing, Harry had told everyone that Chameleon had killed Norman just before his battle with Spider-Man.

But even then, he couldn't feel pleased about it. He had killed Norman. Not directly, but he sent his glider into that water tower, filled to the brim with pumpkin bombs. No matter what he told himself, the little voice at the back of his head still told him 'you're responsible'. The public was rather split on the issue, some blaming him and some blaming the Goblin - Jameson stoked the flames of the former - but his mind was made up. Not helping was that he was still trying to take down any supervillains that were popping up, along with catching the Sinister Six after they had broken up and reconstituted again.

Even without any Goblin/Spidey-related problems, life still felt messy. After breaking up with Liz, she hadn't spoken to him at all. Not that he could blame her. He'd probably be pissed if his boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with him after secretly having feelings for another and right after his brother was sent to jail. (Great room-reading, Pete.) He'd been meaning to talk to her, but every time he tried to do so, she just gave him her version of Gwen's 'look' and stormed off. Such a thing was usually followed by Sally saying that it's good that she's avoiding the 'geek'.

He had confessed his feelings to Gwen, and she did the same, but nothing had come out of it. Ever since the aftermath of the final Goblin battle, Harry almost seemed to be... keeping Gwen close. As in, trying to keep herawayfrom Peter. They weren't official, at least not to his knowledge, but Harry and Gwen could almost always be seen with him. In fact, Peter and Gwen hadn't spoken inweeks, thanks to Harry. But he could tell she wasn't totally happy with the whole Harry situation.

Is she putting up with Harry because she's afraid he'll go back to the Green?He thought. The thought was certainly possible, sadly. He had tried getting Harry help before they had visited Norman's grave, but Harry had brushed him off and said he didn't need help. When he asked him again after a few days, Harry just said "I've got Gwen to help." That was the last time they talked. The only people he was close to at the moment were Aunt May and MJ.

"It's about your social life, isn't it?"

Peter quickly snapped back to reality. "W-Why'd you guessthat?" He sputtered.

MJ folded her arms. "I can tell." She looked past him, prompting him to follow her gaze. Just across from him, Liz sat. She was texting on her phone, her forehead creased and her mouth curled into a small frown.

"I think you should talk to her."

Peter turned back to MJ. "What? MJ, you saw what happened all the other times. She totally ignored me and walked off."

MJ just looked at him like he was growing a second head. "And you think she'll just walk out of the moving bus?"

Jeez, MJ's wit was on par with Spider-Man's. "Good point," he muttered. He awkwardly scooched over closer to Liz, trying to push back any doubts of anything bad happening. Hey, Spider-Sense wasn't going off, so there was no danger, right?

Right?

Unfortunately for him, he moved in a littletooclose, resulting in him bumping shoulders with Liz. When she turned to look at him, Peter's face felt like it was on fire. Something that didn't subside when her expression went from 'kind of annoyed' to 'veryannoyed'.

"Oh, hello Petey," Liz said. Her voice was low.

Peter cleared his throat. "Um... Hey Liz!" He nervously grinned. "Uh..."

Come on, Pete. Just say something! Anything!

"What are you looking forward in Metropolis?"

...Well, better than nothing.

Liz blinked, her expression growing a little less annoyed. "Well, the place looks pretty cool. Like, the LexCorp buildings look pretty. I'm pretty sure I can do some of my report on the company. You know, as boring as it'll likely be. I mean, it's better than what Flash is doing: Burrito Bucket."

Peter nodded to what she was saying, before getting his mind on track.Alright, no more dancing around the issue.

"Liz... I'm sorry."

Liz's eyes widened. "Huh?"

Peter sighed. "Liz, I'm sorry for what I did. I mean, dating youwhilehaving feelings for Gwen? That... wasn't right."

Liz narrowed her gaze. "You can say that again."

"But look..." Peter rested his hands on his lap. "I should have dealt with our relationship in a better way. I still like you as a friend. You're really cool and friendly. I just..." He bowed his head. "Again, I'm so sorry for how I handled things. I can totally understand if you hate me."

There. It was out. Peter felt a weight get lifted off his shoulders. It felt... nice, and he allowed himself a small smile. He felt genuinely more relaxed now. Lifting up his head, he saw that Liz's face had changed again. Now, she looked... conflicted.

"Petey..." She sighed. "Look, I don't hate you. And honestly, I'm just happy you were upfront about it sooner rather than later."

Peter's small smile grew a little. "Thanks."

Liz shook her head. "Yeah, yeah. But..." She looked into his eyes. "Just give me a bit more time. I might consider your friend request then."

Peter just offered her a thumbs-up. "Sounds good to me." With that, he scooched back over to his regular seat, where MJ waited with that same smile on her face.

"Well done, tiger."

"Thanks." Well, that was one thing off his mental to-do list. Next up... try and talk to Gwen and try and get Harry help.

"Harry?"

Peter's head jolted up. Turning over to the source of the noise, he saw them. Gwen and Harry. They were sitting in the seats in front of Liz, but he could still spot their faces. Harry's eyes were narrowed as his brow was furrowed, while Gwen looked concerned.

"I want to talk about last night," Gwen said. She sounded quiet, yet was still loud enough for Peter to hear. "About the Green in your backpack."

Peter's eyes widened. Harry was back on the Green? He hadn't been on it since Norman's death, a few months ago. That wasn't good.

Harry rolled his eyes. "What's the issue? I didn't drink any of it, did I?"

Gwen groaned, placing her hand on her forehead. "That's not the point, Harry. The Green made you suffer from multiple blackouts. It's not healthy."

Harry just stared at her. "Gwen, please. I can take care of myself. I don't need you babying me." He sounded angry, and looked angry too. His jaw was clenched and his fingers were digging into his seat.

"I'm not trying to 'baby' you," Gwen responded. "I'm trying to take care of you. Have you looked into any of the therapists I've recommended?"

"I don't. Need. Therapy." Harry's voice was strained.

"Come on, Harry." Gwen's voice was getting more annoyed-sounding. "Your mother suggested it and I think it could help with your men-"

"I don't need that kind of help! You're making me sound insane!" Several people turned to look at him, but he continued on. "I can make my own decisions, so stop suggesting things that won't work."

Peter himself tried to say something, but his voice was caught in his throat. He only watched as Gwen sucked in a breath and rubbed her arm.

"Harry... please. You're my friend." Now her voice was strained. "I don't want to see you suffering fromanyissues. I want to help you." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Remember, if you need help... I'm here."

At first, Harry's face hadn't gotten any less angry-looking. However, when he looked into Gwen's big eyes, his face softened. "I..." He bowed his head. "You're right. I'm sorry." He turned away and folded his arms. "I didn't mean to... It's just been so hard since my dad died."

Gwen pulled him into a hug. "Harry, it's okay. I'm still here. And, if you'd let him, Peter could help as well."

Harry's mouth curled up into a small smile. "I know. I know. I'll look into that stuff you sent me." He returned the gesture. "But... I don't need Pete."

Peter sighed as he rested his hands in his pockets. Well, it was nice to know he was going to listen to Gwen. Eventually, the two pulled apart, with Harry going back to staring out the window. Then, Gwen turned around to look at Peter. He blinked in shock. Gwen just smiled and waved. Peter waved back. When she looked away, he smiled again.

"Say..." Came MJ's voice. "You got any non-school plans while in Metropolis?"

Peter shrugged. "Eh, nothing much."

MJ rested her hands behind her head. "Well, to each his own..."

Peter just nodded. He looked down underneath his seat and pulled up his bag. Just to be sure, he zipped it open and looked through it. Packed lunch from Aunt May, comics, science books, school supplies for the project...

And, buried beneath it all, a glimpse of red fabric with a web-like pattern.

Peter smiled as he zipped the bag up again and put it underneath his seat.

Just because it's not my home, doesn't mean a Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man isn't necessary.

"Hey, tiger? You hear about these 'Super Hero Girls' that apparently protect this city? They look pretty cool."

Chapter 3: New Foe, Same Business

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Food For Thought

Chapter Text

Metropolis wasn't too bad so far.

It had only been a few days, but Peter was already enjoying himself. Well, outside of the project. That was just kind of boring. But the city itself? Well, it was great. Huge, wide-open, so many sights to see... He may have only been here a few days, but he was already liking this place.

The project itself, though... He was a little stuck. He wasn't sure which part of the city to cover. Flash was focused on food places, MJ was doing her project on the theatre side... Whatever the case, he needed to come up with something, and fast.

"Pete?"

Peter quickly sat up on his bed, his eyes quickly bursting open. Blinking rapidly, his gaze soon settled on a girl standing in the doorway. A girl with blonde hair and a red jacket. Gwen Stacy.

"Oh, uh..." Peter cleared his throat. "Gwen. Hi."

Gwen just waved, not stepping in yet. "Um..." She clicked her tongue. "Look, I won't be long. I just... need to talk to you, y'know?"

Peter blinked. "S... Sure."

Gwen gave a small smile. "Thanks." She walked in and sat down next to Peter. He tried to ignore the sensation in his chest as she placed a hand on his. "So..." she murmured. "How's Metropolis for you so far?"

"Uh..." Peter fidgeted with the soft material of his bed. "Good so far. Don't know what to do my project on yet, though."

"Oh, good, good." Gwen blinked. "Not the part about your project, the part about the city."

Peter laughed: a short noise. It was awkward talking with Gwen after not having a major conversation with her in weeks, but nice. For a bit, they sat in silence. That was, until Gwen spoke again.

"Me and Harry aren't together anymore."

Peter blinked. "What?"

Gwen just nodded, her mouth curled into a small frown. "Yeah. Kind of sudden, too. Harry just talked to me and said that he'd prefer just being friends. Didn't give much of a reason, either. Just kind of... decided."

Peter had a feeling he knew the reason. Namely, him and Gwen talking about going to be togetherjustafter Harry admitted he was kidnapped by the Goblin. Jeez, he reallydidneed to learn how to read rooms better.

"Well, okay." He placed his hands in his pockets. "So, how is Harry?"

Gwen just sighed. "He's going through it, to put it mildly. I've tried getting him off the Green, but I'm always nervous about him getting back on it. Doubt he's actuallygoingto see the therapists I've been recommending, either."

Peter stood up. "Well, let me try and talk to him. I could help!"

Gwen stood up as well. "Afraid not. Harryreallydoesn't want you around him. Every time I try to convince him, he just shoots me down." She ran a hand through her hair. "I just want to get himproperhelp, but nothing's working." She bowed her head and muttered something. Peter didn't pick up on it, though.

"Must be hard." Peter folded his arms. "But, like, have you tried convincing him to tell the truth about..."

Gwen just ran a hand down her face. "I don't know. Can you imagine how he'd react to see the entire town turn on his dad? You know, when he still respects him with his life?"

Peter stood up. "I understand where you're coming from, I suppose."

Gwen twirled her hair with a finger. "Also, Harry didn't make the lie."

Peter blinked. "Huh?"

"It was his mom. She got rid of all the evidence and junk. Harry just went along with it."

To some extent, Peter wanted to be frustrated. But he just couldn't. He could understand where Emily was coming from. Hell, he could understand where Harry was coming from. It seemed like everyone was trapped in their own personal prisons. Pretty awful situation, to say the least.

"Gwen..." He looked down on Gwen, who looked back at him. "I need you to get Harry-"

"Yo, Gwen!"

Peter whipped his head around. Harry was standing in the doorway, smirking. Gwen stood up, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Oh, hey Harry," she said, waving.

Harry pointed outside. "MJ wants you for something."

Gwen's eyes widened. "Oh, really?" She brushed her hair out of her face with her fingers and straightened up. "I'll be there." She ran out quickly, leaving the two alone. Once she was out of Harry's sight, he looked back at Peter, his smirk now a frown.

Peter dusted himself off, staring right at Harry. "Look, Harry. I need to-"

"Shut up."

Peter felt like he had been slapped. "What?"

Harry folded his arms. "I don't want to hear anything you gotta say." He walked up to him. "I heard you and Gwen plotting, you know. After I was kidnapped. But you know what? I turned the other cheek. I forgave you two."

Now it was Peter's eyes to narrow. "Me? Dude, you forgaveGwen. But not me."

Harry snorted. "You know, that's a good point. But maybe I could have if you weretherefor me before."

Peter groaned. "Harry... Look, I want to help you. Iwantto be there for you. To make up for any mistakes I made in the past. If you could just-"

"It's too late." Harry harshly shoved him back a bit. "Just... stay out of my way."

Peter just walked back up to him, glaring back and trying to control his temper. "I don't want to abandon you, dude. And please... just get rid of the Green."

Harry's glare didn't get any less intense. If anything, it only grew more hateful. "I know what I'm doing, Peter. And quit sticking your nose-"

"Hey, Puny Parker!"

Oh, thank God, Flash Thompson. Wait,what?! Yikes, Peter knew something was bad when he was thankful forFlash'spresence. The man himself barged into his room, shoving past Harry. Harry, blinking a few times, awkwardly walked away, grumbling to himself.

Peter just glared at Flash. "What do you want, dude?"

Flash just reached into his pocket. "I gotta ask you something, Puny."

Peter had no idea what Flash up his sleeve/in his pocket, but he wasn't thrilled to see what it was. "And that is..."

Flash pulled out his phone. "Look!"

Peter stared at the phone. It was a news article from the Daily Planet, depicting him swinging across a building as Spider-Man. Below the image were the wordsNEW HERO OR NEW THREAT? THE MYSTERY OF THE SPIDER MAN. All he could say was "Well...".

"He's here!" Flash bellowed. "And, like, it says that he only came when we did! You know - a day ago! I mean, granted, they forgot the hyphen so you can't totally trust these chumps, but..."

Peter shook his head. "Were you going to ask me something?"

Flash snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! I asked everyone else, but they didn't have an answer." He leaned in, causing Peter to recoil. "You think Spidey follows me online?"

Peter nearly burst out laughing. Why he thought Spidey would have a social media account, he had no idea. Nevertheless, he smirked, deciding to humour Eugene.

"Maybe."

Flash's grin grew even wider. "No way! Spider-Man follows me!" He ran out of the room. "EVERYONE! SPIDER-MAN TOTALLY FOLLOWS ME!"

Peter chuckled to himself. Well, at least he got a bit of a laugh from this whole thing. So what now? There didn't seem to be any crimes happening at the moment... Might as well start his project.

Or rather, find a topic for said project. And what better place to look for a topic than the city itself?

"WhywouldLex want to put a hit out on us?"

Babs raised her head up from her ice cream to look at Karen, who had posed the question. "What?" She said through a mouthful of ice cream.

Karen fiddled with her spoon. "Well, just that. I mean..."

Kara just rested her arm on the table. "Again, it's not that complex," she said. "Lex is a psycho and wants us dead. Plain as."

Zee furrowed her brow. "Kara, two things: one, keep your voice down," she whispered to her. "We don't want anyone knowing our identities.

Kara blinked. "We're like, the only people here." Yes, it was a slow day for Sweet Justice. Probably bad for business, but good for them, Babs supposed.

"Whatever. Two..." Zee took a sip from her milkshake. "It's like what Jess said. Lex didn't doanythingsince you-know-what. But now, he's sent an out-of-town cowboy mercenary guy to kill us. You think he's planning something."

That was a good point. Babs, in her study of criminals respected in the public, knew they didn't try really shady stuff unless they were paranoid or something like that. So, by that logic, Lex was nervous that whatever he was doing, they would stop him. But what could he have been planning. What was he working on?

Well, there was the giant unveiling of a statue in a few days, but that didn't scream 'secret evil plot'.Unlessit was secretly a giant robot with a brainwashing laser...

"Hey, wait a second!" Kara's arms were folded. "Can't we just, like, break into LexCorp, find some incriminating evidence and bring it to the cops if we're all thinking Lex is trying to kill us."

Jess looked at her. "Kara, that's trespassing. Last time we tried that, he just painted himself as an innocent victim."

Kara grunted. "But wouldn't we be able to just sneak in and steal some stuffbeforehe notices?"

"Unlikely," Karen piped up. "LexCorp has some of the highest level security available. And that wasbeforeit was beefed up after we infiltrated it. The best case scenario would be us being brutally maimed." She shuddered as she shoved some more ice cream into her mouth. Kara sighed in frustration and leaned back into her seat. Diana placed a hand on hers, smiling reassuringly.

"Do not worry, Kara. I am sure Lex Luthor will eventually be forced to pay for his crimes soon enough."

The Kryptonian just snorted. "You were also sure Aiden wouldn't die inJust Before Dusk IV: Death Of The Night."

"Well how wasIsupposed to know that Caitlyn had been replaced by the shapeshifting Dracula?! Which, by the way, was a poor twist."

"Hey, that was theonlygood part of that slog!"

Babs just watched as the two started arguing about the movie. She opened up her phone, intending to play some app games to pass the time. However, she had accidentally let a news website open. There, she spotted an image of a man. A man jumping from one tall building to another, wearing red and blue spandex with big white eyes. Instantly, Babs's curiosity was piqued. She clicked on it and read the article of the so called 'Spider Man'. Then she read another about him stopping Bane. Then one about how some JJJ guy dubbed him a menace back in his hometown. She must have gone through seven articles before her attention was directed elsewhere.

"Uh, Babs?"

Babs raised her head to see Jess staring at her. "What are you looking at?" She asked.

"Oh, just about this weird spider superhero."

The rest of the girls turned to her. Even Diana and Kara stopped their 'debate' to lean in. "Aspidersuperhero?" Zee questioned. "That sounds... unsettling."

Babs shook her head. "No, actually!" She showed them all an image of the costumed man fighting a man with weird, tentacle-like appendages coming out of his back, dated for around last Halloween. "Apparently, he can climb walls, possesses super-strength, and can create webs to help him swing around."

Diana seemed to be the most intrigued. "My Hera," she whispered. "He sounds fascinating! But about the webs... How does he make them? Like an actual spider?"

Zee cringed. "Thanks for the mental image, Di."

Diana smiled. "You're welcome," she replied, not noticing Zee facepalming. Kara, meanwhile didn't seem too impressed with this new hero.

"Super-strength? Wall-crawling?" She snorted. "I can name like,tendifferent heroes that have powers like that."

Karen looked at her. "And the webs?"

Kara just shrugged. "Flight's better, probably. Point is, guy sounds lame."

Babs just continued looking at the photos of this new hero. At least, until Jess leaned over to look as well. "It says here he's in Metropolis."

Zee blinked. "Well, that's certainly... interesting, to say the least." She looked around her. "Think he can be trusted?"

"Why not?" Babs said. "He seems like a good guy, and he apparently did alotof stuff in New York. Even if there is some guy bashing him like no tomorrow." She smiled. "So, how's about we do some more research... elsewhere?"

The others just looked at her, as if expecting something more. Babs rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about the base because I think more people are going to be coming in like the whoever was stepping in just a few seconds ago."

"Ah."

"Mr. Luthor?"

Lex didn't even bother directing his gaze at Mercy as he marched down the hallway. "What?" He sighed.

He heard the footsteps grow louder as Mercy sped up to him. "Your 2 o'clock meeting, sir. With-."

2 o'clock? Lex looked at his watch. 2:30. He grimaced.

"He's late," Lex spat. When he got called by Mr. Hawthorne, who apparently was going offer him 'a wondrous proposition', he was intrigued to say the least. But evidently he couldn't be bothered to show up. And on such a busy day, Lex honestly felt insulted. "Cancel it. And if he calls, tell him-"

"No, sir." Mercy cleared her throat. "He's been here for thirty minutes.You'relate."

Lex stopped dead in his tracks. Blinking rapidly, he looked back up at her. "What?"

Mercy rolled her eyes. "You're the one who's late for the meeting, sir."

Lex felt his face heat up. "Um..."Crap. Shaking his head, he adjusted his tie, continuing to walk down the hallway and to the elevator. "W-well," he mumbled. "I'm sure he'll understand." When he stepped into the elevator, holding out a hand so that Mercy knew not to accompany him, he pressed a button and the doors closed.

Right. Just needed a good enough excuse. One that didn't make him seem unorganised. It wasn't his fault. He was just studying the blood. Mr. Hawthorne would understand. Yeah, yeah he would. He was Lex Luthor. If anything, he'd be honoured toseehim. He'd be forgiven.

Soon enough, the doors opened, and Lex stepped out. Sitting at the table was a sharply-dressed man with blonde hair, a small moustache, and a face that seemed almost unnaturally pointed and - for want of a better word - harsh. He was currently cutting himself a piece of the steak on his plate. Christ, even thechefknew he was here before him? Lex had never felt so embarrassed. Well, maybe except for that time when Lena snuck the hair removal into his shampoo and...

Whatever. That wasn't important. Straightening himself up, Lex put on his best smile. "Mr. Hawthorne! Or, may I call you Roman?"

Roman didn't say anything. In fact, judging by how he didn't even look up, his only movement being him bringing a piece of the steak to his mouth, he didn't seem to acknowledge him. Ignoring this, Lex took his own seat.

"So..." He drummed his fingers against the table. "How was the flight here? P-Pretty rocky, right?"

Still no response. Roman's attention was firmly fixed on his meal. Lex's smile faltered. Alright, small talk wasn't working. Just be honest.

"Look," Lex sighed. "I'm sorry about the delay. I was just-"

"Excuse me?"

Lex blinked. "What?"

Roman was now looking at him, one eyebrow co*cked and his gaze hard. "Did you just... apologise?"

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

As suddenly as he spoke, Roman stood up straight, slamming his hands on the desk. "Don't youdareapologise, young man! You have nothing to apologise for!" Smiling, Roman walked over to the other side of the table and stood behind Lex, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I don't suppose your father told you this, but I have quite a good piece of advice for you."

Lex just blankly looked at him. "What?"

Roman's smile only grew wider. "Don't apologise.Inever do."

"...Right."

Roman chuckled as he walked away from the table, stopping in front of a giant framed portrait. One of Lex himself. He had commissioned it as soon as the building was finished construction. A rather gorgeous painting, he had to admit. Roman seemed to appreciate it too, judging by how he slowly nodded at it.

Nevertheless, Lex stood up. "Are we going to get to the point?"

Roman didn't look at him. "Hmm?"

Lex groaned. "The 'proposition' you mentioned to me over the phone. Remember?"

Roman, at first, didn't say anything. But after a few seconds, he turned to face Lex. The smile was gone. "Of course. Thanks for reminding me." His eyes darted around. "But... first things first."

Lex tented his fingers together. "What?"

Roman started pacing around. "Keep all of this under wraps. No one can know you spoke to me. No one can know of the business we will do going forward. I cannot be seen. Byanyone but you and your closest and most trusted associates. Got it?"

Lex's eyes narrowed. Right, this was getting suspicious. "Why?" He asked, folding his arms.

Roman just spun around to look at him. "Because, as far as the world is concerned... you're speaking to a ghost."

Lex blinked. "Aghost?" Standing up, he folded his arms. "Mr. Hawthorne, are you, perchance, drunk?"

Roman placed his hands behind his back. "Ever hear of Oscorp?"

None of this was making sense to Lex. "Um... Yeah." He had done his research on it only a few minutes ago, only then finding out that its CEO was killed by the 'Chameleon'. But even before that, he was always a little intrigued with their business, especially their Tech-Flight systems being developed.

Roman reached into his pocket, rummaged around, and pulled out a magazine. He lay it onto the desk. "Look at the cover."

Lex obliged, though he didn't really know why. The cover depicted the CEO of Oscorp. It was the first time Lex had seen what he looked like. All his previous research revolved around the company itself. Funny. Something about his face seemed familiar. The longish face, the pointed features, the neatly styled hair. He almost looked like...

It was just then did two and two came together. Lex looked up at the man. "Are you saying..."

Norman Osborn smiled. "We have much to discuss, Lex Luthor."

Chapter 5: Unexpected Meeting

Chapter Text

"Right..."

Peter stared down at his notepad. "Let's see here. Sports teams... Education system... Businesses in city centre..." He groaned. "All of which are taken."

Great. Great, perfect, just wonderful. Peter had been walking around Metropolis for a good two hours and had only found three aspects of the place that he could feasibly do a good project on. Unfortunately for him, each one of them were taken: Sally, Randy, and Glori had beaten him to the punch on them. And since the teacher wouldn't allow a student to do their project on something someone else was doing, he was still searching for a topic. If he didn't find one soon enough, he was probably going to be in a bit of trouble.

He looked around himself. Well, it was worth looking on the bright side of things. Namely how beautiful the place was. He had already been around the place since he properly arrived, both as Peter and Spider-Man, but he really did have to marvel at the infrastructure. What with its tall buildings, eye-catching shops, and a large building towering about them all, even 'The Daily Planet'. One with a giant 'L' on it. Though, if he was to be honest, that particular building didn't really please him. Probably because of reminding him of Oscorp, which, to be honest, he thought was silly of him.Don't be so paranoid, he told himself.Just focus on your project and-...

Peter stopped when he heard his stomach rumble. "Huh. Guess I'm a little hungry." He hadn't eaten since breakfast. He looked to see if he could spot a place to eat. That's when he noticed it: a pink dairy café, with the words 'SWEET JUSTICE' above its door as an unlit neon sign. Peter thought about it for a bit, before shrugging. Why not? Stepping in, hearing a bell ring above his head, he noticed that it was surprisingly empty. In fact, the only people in it were some girls talking about something at one table. Nevertheless, he walked up to the counter.

"Um..." He rang the bell. "Hello? Anyone there?"

After a few more rings, someone finally came to the counter. At almost supersonic speeds, for what of a better term. The boy smiled at him, adjusting the hat on his hat.

"Hi there! Welcome to Sweet Justice!" He talked a little fast, like he was excited just by what he was saying. "I'm Barry Allen!"

Peter just smiled back. "Cool."

"So..." Barry drummed his fingers against the counter. "What do you want?"

"Uh..." Peter looked up at the menu, reading over the potential meals he could pick. A few caught his eye, but before he could make a decision, he reached into his back pocket. He hadn't brought his wallet, so all he could get out was $2 and 50 cents. Looking up again, he started seeing which one of his choices he could actually afford. Eventually, he found one.

"I think I'll have a slice of vanilla cake," he said. "With a coffee on the side, please."

Barry's smile grew wider. "Cool! I'll be right back!" With that he dashed back into the kitchen. Seeing he had time to kill, Peter leaned against the counter, absentmindedly flipping his two dollar coin. Well, two times. The third time he flipped it, it shot off away from him. Before he could grab it before it hit the ground, the coin landed and rolled forward, before coming to a stop just under one of the tables.

"You're kidding me..." Peter muttered. The Parker luck sometimesreallyliked screwing him over in such minor ways. It was better then something, like, the entire Sinister Six ambushing him and trying to cut him into pieces, but still...

Whatever. He just needed to get it back. He quickly knelt down near the table and starting crawling underneath. Unfortunately for him, the coin had gone back pretty far. And just as he noticedwherethe coin was, he noticed the pair of legs dangling over it.

Peter felt his face grow red. Crap. This was going to be awkward if they spotted him. Shaking his head, he sighed. He was still good. He could just snatch the coin and crawl out before any the girls at the table noticed him and freaked out. He moved just a little closer, at this point nearly entirely under the table, whichreallydidn't help with the embarrassment he felt. Just needed to grab it...

That's when the ground gave out beneath him. Peter didn't even have time to scream before he felt himself falling. After a few seconds, he started feeling something solid. Which, for some reason, felt like a slide. What was going on?! Was this some weird kidnapping thing? Where was he even going?

Eventually, he came to a stop, landing on a mattress before bouncing off to the side. Groaning, he placed a hand to his head. Right, just needed to take in his surroundings. Ground? Yeah, that was back. Location? Underground... maybe. Well, at least his Spider-Sense wasn't going off, so maybe he wasn't in any-

"Um, girls?"

Peter whipped his head up to face the source of the voice. It was... one of the girls who was at the table. One who wore a sweater and had her primarily brown (with a yellow streak in it) hair done up in buns. Her face was pale, and she was pointing an almost accusatory finger at him.

"What it is, Karen?" Another voice called out. "Is it a dead rat? Babs, I thought I told you to clean out the..."

The speaker soon stepped into Peter's view, her own eyes wide. Peter shakily got up, cracking his back into place.

"Um..." He smacked his lips, before awkwardly waving with a small smile. "Hi?"

That's when another girl came into view, this one wearing a purple hoodie. When she spotted Peter, she blinked. "Oh... uh..."

Then a blonde girl came into view. She looked angry. "What the-? How did you get down here?!"

Peter raised his hands up. "Look, I have no idea. I don't know who you are and I don't know how..."

He trailed off when he spotted something on a nearby wall. A newspaper clipping proudly displayed 'SUPER HERO GIRLS SAVE DAY FROM METALLO!' in large text. Below it were six girls, all of whom had been photographed celebrating. Peter squinted, walking over to the newspaper.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He heard the blonde ask. Peter didn't register it, instead examining the six heroes. Weirdly enough, some of the girls looked a little familiar. Where did he...

Hold up. He turned around to face the girls, who had gathered. He stared at the one with the purple hoodie. Then back at the newspaper, this time focusing on the girl dressed as a purple bat. The hair was the same, the height, and even the general face...

Wait a minute. He looked around the lair. It was decorated in superhero memorabilia. All dedicated to the 'Super Hero Girls'.

It only took Peter eight more seconds to connect the dots.

"Are..." He looked back at the girls, who stared at him back. "Are you guys... these 'Super Hero Girls'?"

This caused the girls to all awkwardly look away from him. Some of them went "Um, actually..." or "You know...", but no further than that. At least, until the blonde stepped up to him.

"Whatever, you don't know anything, dude," she said, folding her arms. "Just get out and-"

Peter raised his hands up. "No, wait! I won't tell anyone and..." He trailed off. This wasn't going to get him anywhere. But he knew something thatmight. It was risky, dangerous even. But they kept this secret, supposedly, and they were also heroes. Maybe they'd relate.

"I'm... actually a superhero too."

Silence. The girls continued to stare at him, their jaws slightly hanging open. Peter internally groaned.Crap, maybe this wasn't my best idea.

"Really?" The purple-haired girl asked, walking up to him. "How do we know you're not lying to stay here?"

At this point, Peter's mind was so muddled, he couldn't think straight. All that hecouldfocus on was how he could prove his status as a superhero. So, almost automatically, he jumped onto the wall, sticking to it. It got no response. So, as much as that little voice in the back of his head screamed at him to stop, he climbed up the wall until he was clinging onto the ceiling. Looking down, he spotted the girls, who now lookedreallysurprised.

"...Yeah." Using the web-shooters under his sleeves, he shot out a web that allowed him to lower himself to the ground. He stood up straight and folded his arms. "So, do you believe me no-"

He felt himself get the wind knocked out of him when the purple-hoodied girl ran up to him, accidentally slamming her hands into his chest. Her eyes were wide with excitement.

"No way!" She gasped. "Are you that spider guy?!"

Peter blinked. "Wh-why would you assume-"

The girl backed away, scoffing. "Come on! The sticking to walls, the web-like stuff... I read a few articles on you just a few minutes ago, FYI."

The girl in green rolled her eyes. "Okay, Babs. Give him time to breathe."

Babs chuckled. "Whoops. Okay, sure, sure..."

The tallest girl stepped up to Peter, making him shrink back as he realised that she was like a head taller than him. "Is it true?" She sounded curious. "Are you the spider hero?"

Peter clicked his tongue before sighing. Well, he already revealed himself. He was only hoping this wouldn't be a terrible idea.

"Yeah, I am. And the name's Spider-Man."

Babs looked back at him. "Wow! That's awesome!" She sat down. "Wanna tell us your backstory?"

Peter blinked. This one girl seemed pretty energetic. "Okay, fine," he said. "But on one condition..."

The girl in the sweater's eyes widened. "What?"

"You girls have gotta fill me in too."

Chapter 6: New Alliances

Chapter Text

"And you just faked your own death?"

Lex stirred his coffee as he looked up at Norman, whose back was to him. "Yes." He removed the towel around his hair, and Lex saw that all the yellow hair dye had been washed out. "After my identity was exposed and I was assumed dead, I knew I had to flee town." He took the seat across from Lex again, smirking. "Imagine my surprise when I learned that my wife had cleaned my name by blaming my accomplice." He chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

For the past thirty minutes, Lex had heard Norman Osborn's life story. How he built up a company, how he got into a dispute with this weird Toomes guy and, most importantly, his life as the Green Goblin. According to Norman, he had taken something called 'Globulin Green' after being kidnapped by the aforementioned Toomes guy. Apparently, he had done so because he hated feeling helpless at the hands of another, saying that it made him look 'weak'. When he did take it, he decided to dress up as a... well, green goblin creature, and try to take over New York's criminal empire.

Lex didn't know what it was. If it was any other person talking about this stuff, he'd have them thrown out. But something about Norman intrigued him. The way he talked, the way he thought, and how he did such a good job in hiding his secret identity. He honestly fascinated him. Kind of reminded him of himself. A older him. Something he appreciated.

"Huh," Lex muttered, sipping his coffee. "Quick question: what was that 'Globulin Green' thing you mentioned?"

Norman blinked a few times. "Well, I can show it to you, if that helps." He reached into his pocket and placed a few dozen vials containing green gas in front of Lex, who raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm... thought the Green was a liquid."

"It can be," Norman replied. "But it's far more efficient in gaseous form. I took some samples with me when I came here, but I'll allow you two for study purposes, if you want to."

Lex stared up at him, which caused his smirk to grow wider. He slowly took two of the vials and pocketed them. There was still one more question he had, however.

"What do you actually want from me?"

Norman tented his fingers together. "I'm glad you asked, Luthor." He stood up. "You see, Oscorp's currently 'dormant' as a new heir is being chosen. And since I faked my death, I can't exactly just swoop in to take it back. Not yet, anyways."

Lex frowned. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Norman scoffed. "Oh, I have an idea. Before that, however, you can help me with taking back something else."

This caused Lex to stand up. "The criminal empire you mentioned?"

Norman laughed, patting Lex on the shoulder. "You're smart, kid. But yes." He looked out the window. "You see, I've running low on resources while laying low. So, what better place than LexCorp for getting the technology I need to succeed in my goals?"

Lex glared at him. "Look, Osborn. I don't know who you think I am, but I cannot, in good conscience, endorse a supervil-"

Norman spun around, now sporting a glare of his own. "Cut the sanctimonious act, Luthor. I know all about you." Before Lex could give a rebuttal, Norman pulled out a folder and slammed it onto the table. "Take a look inside."

Against his better judgment, Lex obliged, taking out a few of its contents. And what he saw stunned him. Somehow, this folder contained evidence for his... less legal activities. There was one photo of him paying off a reporter so that he wouldn't tell anyone about how he had been responsible for Metallo's creation. Another photo showed him shaking hands with a few mob bosses, remembering how he gave them the means to grow in Gotham. And another of him... getting his father a free liposuction. With the exception of the last one, he felt his blood run colder and colder. He stared back up at Norman, who still had that same damned smirk.

"How did you-" Lex hissed, finding that his words got caught in his throat before he could finish.

"I have friends in high and low places, Luthor." Norman moved over to him, taking the files and putting them away. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. Your assets are too valuable to lose."

"Um..." Lex suddenly feltveryunsafe. "Okay, then." He shook his head, trying to push the nervousness back into the corner of his mind. "But, what do you wantmeto do?"

"Simple." Norman folded his arms. "Like I alluded to: Lexcorp has some of the finest technology of its time. Hell, even I had just 5% of your offensive weapons you've been developing, I doubt anyone in New York could stand up to me."

Lex crossed his own arms, glowering at him. "Right. But, what about the whole company thing?"

This caused Norman's smile to become even smugger, something that Lex thought was impossible. "Simple. The story my wife's made up doesn't actually specify my death. Can't blame her, to be honest... But, just speaking hypothetically..." He walked up to him, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "What if you, Metropolis's golden boy, came out with an announcement? That you foundme, Norman Osborn, saw me crawl onto flat ground after emerging from the sea, and nursed me back to health."

Lex tried to say something, but only air came out. Norman chuckled.

"I would then come out and spin my own narrative: how the Chameleon non-fatally, unbeknownst to my wife, stabbed me. How I made a boat to escape, not wanting to draw to much attention to myself, in fear of getting killed by Chameleon. And then..." Norman moved away, placing his hands behind his back. "Well, I can get my company back, as well as the criminal underground. And I'm sure you can develop something to make Chameleon totally loyal, as to keep my perfect alibi."

Lex's mind was running at a million miles an hour. Such a plancouldbe carried out. Metropolis believed everything he said. He theoretically could fulfil all of Norman's dreams. But...

Lex dusted himself off, changing his face to look authoritative. "Well, what's in it for me?"

Norman shrugged. "I heard you wanted Spider-Man's blood."

Lex wasn't surprised that he knew that. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if he knew his favourite ice cream flavour. And yet, he couldn't fight the smile coming onto his face as he connected the dots.

"Are you suggesting that we work together to... eliminate this new guy?" When Norman nodded, Lex's smile grew wider. "And, per chance, could we also conspire to take out the Super Hero Girls of this city?"

"That's certainly possible." Norman grabbed a glass of wine from the table. "I know you've created Metallo, so do you think you could do it again?"

Lex placed his hands in his pockets. "Does the winged freak in Gotham have a thing for bats?" He pulled out a notebook. "I already have some in mind, all untraceable back to me."

"And I can help." Norman walked back up to him. "You know, I'm something of a scientist myself. Ever hear of Sandman? The Rhino? Doctor Octopus?"

It was funny. At the beginning of this little meeting, Lex felt unnerved and a little afraid. But now, he felt like his dreams and goals wererightin front of him. The future already seemed set. The girls would be dead, Spider-Man's blood would be his, and he and his new partner would be on Cloud Nine.

Lex stuck his hand out. "I think we've got a deal, Mr. Osborn."

Norman's hand moved to his for a handshake. "I believe we do... my boy."

Babs had heard many superhero origins ever since she found her team. Besides her friends, she knew the origins of the Invinci-Bros, Superman, Katana, not Batman because she wasn't with him for long enough which kind of sucked... All of them intrigued her. She couldn't help it. It was her curiosity speaking, she guessed. Some were sad, some were pretty light, and, to be honest, they were all kind of rollercoasters.

This Peter guy's origin was arealrollercoaster. She and the other girls had been listening to him keenly as he explained everything. How he was bitten by a spider and gained superpowers. How he first used them to win a wrestling match.

How his uncle had been killed.

That part had caught her off-guard. The tragedy aspect of backstories always made her sad, and this was no exception. This part also seemed to affect the other girls. Jess, in particular, audibly gasped and Diana held Peter's hand as a form of comfort. He smiled at her, kind of a sad smile, but just continued with his story. He went overwhyhe became Spider-Man, and all the trials and tribulations that came with it. He even talked about the stuff he went through with school, namely with Gwen Stacy, Liz Allan, and his former friend Harry Osborn.

"And now I'm here," Peter said, sitting up on the sofa.

Kara was the first to speak up. "Huh... that's a story if I've ever heard one."

Peter smirked. "Guess so." He placed his hands behind his head. "You guys seem to have gone through a lot, haven't you?"

The girls all nodded. They had told Peter their stories before he did. He was definitely intrigued by them, especially with the mentions of them fighting world-ending threats. Though, he evidently didn't believe that Babs had fought a guy called 'Condiment King'.

Presently, the boy stood up and looked around him. "Wow. You guys sure have a nice base."

Zee stepped forward, placing a hand on her chest. "Well, thank you! We've all cleaned it up."

Babs nodded. She was about to interject by saying when she built it when a thought crossed through her head. "Ooh!" Babs smiled. "Where'syoursecret hideout?"

Peter just turned to them, frowning slightly. "I... don't have one. I just... go around the place like a normal kid." He picked up a discarded newspaper and squinted. "Huh. Looks like you guys have a good reputation. Unlike me back home." He chuckled.

Diana walked up to him. "Are you referring to that 'Jameson' person? He doesn't sound too pleasant."

Peter smirked. "Try working for him."

"I'll pass."

The rest of the girls chuckled. "Okay," Karen said. "But, now I have one more question."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Being?"

Babs and the others looked at Karen as well, who was fiddling with her fingers. "Well... now what?"

Peter shrugged. "Well, I guess I go back up and tell no one about this." Then he squinted. "You guys won't tell anyone about this either, right?"

"Of course not," Jess responded. "Your secret is safe with us."

Peter smirked. "Good, good." Then he blinked. "Wait... where is the exit, exactly?"

Babs scoffed, folding her arms. "Oh, simple! It's just behind that-"

"Hey, girls?"

Zee's voice caught their attention, even Peter's. They all walked over to her to see what she was looking it. A news reporter was standing outside the Lexplorium.

"We are here at the Lexplorium, which is currently being raided by the Super Villain Girls," the reporter said. "All officers that have been sent in have been defeated, and the villains show no sign of stopping."

The girls all looked at each other. "Well..." Zee's hands glowed purple. "Iwasgoing to be doing a magic show, but this'll have to come first." The rest of the girls started getting out their outfits.

"Hey, wait!"

They all stopped, turning to look at Peter, who was now standing behind the sofa.

"Um... what?" Kara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I was just wondering if..." He smirked. "You needed assistance."

This made Kara roll her eyes. "Look, dude. We can handle this on own o-"

"Of course!" Diana interrupted. "The more help, the better!"

Peter's smirk grew into a grin. "Cool. Lemme just..." He grabbed his blue t-shirt and... took it off.

Babs looked away. "Dude! Privacy is impor..."

Then she looked back. He was now wearing his hero outfit's top.

"I wear it underneath my actual clothes," Peter clarified.

Babs smiled. "Ooh, good thinking! That means you're never unprepared!"

Chapter 7: First Fight

Chapter Text

One perk of Metropolis was its buildings. Not only were they pretty beautiful to look at, but they were tall. Like,reallytall. And tall buildings meant there was more space for web-swinging. It was just like New York: zipping through buildings and swinging above people's heads as they looked and pointed at him. He even did a few mid-air tricks, just to show off a little.

However, what Spider-Man's new colleagues lacked in style (except for Zatanna. Seriously, did she do everything so extravagantly?) they made up for in speed. Namely with Bumblebee, Supergirl, and Green Lantern. They just flew straight ahead, and they werefast. It was honestly somewhat something to behold. Peter had never seen heroes flying in person, so this was pretty cool to see.

Right now, he swung over to Batgirl, who was also moving through the air, namely by rushing upwards with her grappling hook and gliding with her cape. "Your friends are fast!" He shouted, trying to make his voice heard.

"Heck yeah, they are!" Batgirl grinned, turning her head to him. "Sooo, you enjoying Metropolis so far?"

"Yeah," Spider-Man replied. "Quick question?"

"Yeah?"

"Who..." He swung once more, launching himself upwards just as Batgirl did the same. "Who are these 'Super Villain Girls'? Also, who ripped off who?"

Batgirl chuckled. "Well, first of all, we came up with the name first! Well, some girl scouts did but..." She started gliding again. "Anyways, there's Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Livewire, Star Sapphire, Giganta, and their leader Catwoman."

Spider-Man did another flip. "And you've dealt with them before, I assume?"

"Totally!" Batgirl said. "So many times! And- Oh hey, we're here."

Indeed they were. The Lexplorium was just ahead of them. Right. Letting go of the web, Spider-Man landed on the roof. Batgirl followed suit, her landing just as graceful. She spread her cape.

"Super bad guys, get ready for the Super Hero Girls!" Looking at Spider-Man, she smiled. "Oh, yeah. And Spider-Man."

"Heh, nice." He had to admit, this was a little... exciting? Was that the word? Whatever it was, this was his first time working with a team. Like he was in the Avengers. Y'know, if the Avengers were teenagers as well.

Batgirl walked over to the museum's skylight. A hole in the shape of a cat's head had been carved out. "Catwoman's work, no doubt," she narrated in a husky voice. "Once again, the cat-themed burglar and her team of crooks have decided sow chaos in Metropolis. But little do they know, the super heroes of this city are-"

"Wait."

Batgirl turned to Spider-Man. "Hmm?"

"Are you... narrating?" Spider-Man raised an eyebrow.

Batgirl's face reddened. "Uh, yeah. I just think it's cool."

Spider-Man chuckled. "Nice. I narrate too, sometimes." Noticing how Batgirl grinned at this fact, he crouched near the hole in the skylight. "So, who's this 'Catwoman'?"

Batgirl folded her arms. "Someonenotto be underestimated. She doesn't have any powers. but she's really,reallysmart. And the rest of her friends are no pushovers either. One of them can shoot electricity."

"Really?" Spider-Man chuckled as he shot a web to the inside of the skylight, stretching it so that he could use it to descend. "Good thing I've dealt with psycho electros before." With that, he lowered himself into the museum, touching down on the floor. The place was dark. Like,dark-dark. No doubt the bad guys had cut the electricity.

"Hey, wait up!" Batgirl's voice was followed by the sound of her using her cape to glide down next to him. Before he could say anything to her, she ran off into the dark hallways.

"...I could say the same." Whatever. Spider-Man followed her, though moving at a slower pace. After a bit of walking, he finally saw a room with light. And in that room, were his team and the team he was going to be fighting against. On the 'villains' side were six girls: a white-face-paint-wearing jester, a girl with plants for clothes and green skin that heassumedwas plant-related and not gangrene, some pink princess who was levitating, a blue girl with a lightning bolt on her top and spiked shoes, ahugeredhead whose size and brutish nature and probable lack of strategic thinking put the Rhino to shame, and, standing in front of them all, was a girl wearing a black cat outfit, holding her tail like it was a whip. The Super Villain Girls, he presumed.

"Did you really think you wouldn't get noticed by us?" Diana- Sorry, Wonder Woman's voice was loud and authoritative. The rest of the girls adopted combat poses, with Green Lantern floating up to Pinkie's level.

"Ofcoursewe thought you'd notice," Catwoman sneered, her voice sly and smarmy. "But we aren't going to let something as silly as that stop our little heist."

"She's right." The plant girl, probably Ivy, clenched her fists. Several large vines began to come out of some of the cracks in the room, which upon closer inspection, seemed to have been pilfered of all its gems. "It's six against six."

Well, enough standing around. Time for action. Spider-Man quickly jumped into the room, aiming his web-blasters at the nearest bad girl. "Count again."Shwip. A sticky web collided with the pink girl's face, sending her flying backwards, spinning around and making mumbled screams. He landed on his feet, facing the villains. "Hey everyone."

His team smiled at him, while the villains glowered. Catwoman, in particular, seemed rather incredulous about his arrival. "Who areyousupposed to be? I didn't expectanotherred-and-blue spandex-wearing punk to show up."

"Yeah, there's a buy-one-get-two-free deal on," Spider-Man said, folding his arms. "No refunds. Oh wait, you haven't paid." He cracked his fingers. "How about the gems? That should cover the bill."

Catwoman just narrowed her eyes, a smirk appearing on her face. "I'm a shoplifter many times over, whoever you are." She looked at the rest of her team. "Let's squish these heroes and the night can still endpurrrrfectly."

Ow. That hurt. Is that how Doc Ock felt when he made a crappy octopus joke? Whatever, it was hero time. The pink one - Star Sapphire, he guessed - ripped the webs off and her fists glowed pink.

"Get them!" She shrieked, throwing two translucent disks at Green Lantern, who threw up a shield. The rest followed suit, and an all-out brawl broke out. Just like back in Metropolis, Spidey figured. You know, if he had a team to deal with Mysterio when he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Wonder Woman was wrestling Giganta, wrapping her arms around her neck and trying to knock her over, Batgirl was throwing Batarangs everywhere, trying to hit Harley who was leaping around like a maniac, Supergirl was engaging a a classic battle-of-the-beams with Star Sapphire, and Zatanna was cutting through vines to get to Ivy.

Spider-Man himself, meanwhile, found himself getting punted across the room by one of them. As he hit the wall, he jolted a bit. Electricity. He recognized the feeling from fighting Electro. Looking up, he spotted a blue-skinned, blue-haired girl laughing.

"Ha, you're supposed to be the new hero?" Livewire sneered. "What a joke!" She shot out another bolt of lightning, but Spider-Man's spider-sense alerted him. It was a narrow dodge, but a dodge nonetheless.

"Hey..." Spider-Man lunged forward, delivering a swift right hook into Livewire's jaw. "Did your mother never tell you how to greet new people?"

Livewire shook her head to focus herself, still keeping her grin. "Nah. I'm more concerned withfryingnew people!" Another lightning bolt, this time one that Spider-Mandidn'tdodge. He was sent flying back into a wall again. Ow. This Livewire girl was giving Maxie a run for his money, that was for sure.

Wait... He started rummaging in his belt. "Come on, I know it's in there somewhere."

Livewire suddenly appeared in front of him, raising her arms into the air. "Alright, pal. Time for a new LexTube special:Livewire Stomps Out Insect!" Electricity started to gather into a medium-sized sphere, with several arcs of electricity striking the surroundings - thankfully none hitting off against Spidey himself.

Spider-Man raised up his head. "Okay, first of all, spiders arearachnids, not insects."

"Whatever!"

"And secondly..." Slamming what he needed into his web shooters, he fired at her, hitting her hands and face. This made her sputter and gag, taking a few steps back as the electricity-sphere fizzled out.

"What is this stuff?!" Livewire hissed. "Screw it, I don't care. You're done!" She pointed her hands at him and tensed up her muscles. She was clearlytryingto shoot out some electricity to turn him into an overcooked spider, but just kind of looked constipated.

Eventually, she noticed that she wasn't shooting out anything. "What the-" She looked at her hands. "Why can't I-"

Spider-Man chuckled as he stood up. "Just a new web fluid formula I developed. Got some silicate in it, afamouslypoor conductor. I intended to use it on myownshock master... but I don't even thinkhe'dtake that long to kill me."

Livewire looked like she was about to scream all seven dirty words at him, but he decided to deck her in the face before she could. She flew into a wall, going limp as soon as her head hit the cold material.

Spider-Man chuckled, placing his hands on his hips. "Bit of a shame. You could be really could at providing clean renewable ene-"

Wham! His feet left the ground and he did a few involuntary flips in the air before falling on his face. Ouch. Great, not only did he now have a bad back, but he also got interrupted mid-quip. Hehatedwhen that happened.

"Ha ha!" The rough voice made Spider-Man raise his head up. The giant lady was standing over him, folding her arms and laughing. "Take that, you stupid insect!"

Spider-Man coughed. "Did you not hear me talking to your friend? Is arachnidthathard to pronounce?"

Giganta frowned. "Shut up!" She raised her foot up. "Any last words?"

Spider-Man was about to shoot a web at her face, only for a chilly breeze to blow in. Like,reallychilly. So chilly, in fact, that Giganta's leg... froze? He blinked.

"Huh?"

Giganta, for her part, looked just as flabbergasted at he did. "What the-" That's when a red-and-blue blur struck her in the face multiple times. Giganta wobbled a bit before falling over, thankfully not on Spider-Man. When he stood up, Supergirl floated down to his level, smiling.

"Thanks," Spider-Man said. "Jeez, and I thought the Rhino hit hard."

Supergirl chuckled. "Eh, she's not too tough when you fight her enough." Cracking her knuckles, her eyes glowed. "Two down, four to-"

Something hit Supergirl at the back of the head. And as he heard itclinkonto the ground, Spider-Man noticed Supergirl's veins turning... green? And just a second later, Supergirl fell to the ground, moaning. Behind her was a green glowing rock.

"What's that?" Spider-Man pointed at rock.

Supergirl groaned loudly. "Kryptonite..." Her voice was raspy. "Like, my one weakness."

"Oh." Looking around, he saw that the rest of the villains were currently engaged with his team: Batgirl was tying Harley up, Green Lantern was trying to trap Poison Ivy in a green bubble and Wonder Woman and Bumblebee were trying to disorient Star Sapphire to get in a few hits. Good. He could safely get the kryptonite off and-

Suddenly, he got tackled so hard he was sent out of the room, skidding on the ground. Looking back up, he saw a big-eared, smugly grinning,literalcat-burglar.

Crap. Forgot about Catwoman.

"Ooh, you're tough, aren't you?" Catwoman stood up, placing a foot on his throat, presumably to stop him from making jokes about her outfit. "But not tough enough." She spread her arms out, allowing him to see that they were decorated in jewellery. "Like my winnings? Shame I had to drop the green one, but oh well." She whipped her tail up to a turned off light on the roof. "That's life."

Spider-Man quickly shot out a hand to grab her leg. When she tried to pull herself upwards, she tripped over and slammed face-first into the ground. Spider-Man took this opportunity to get up, only to have to narrowly avoid a claw swipe. It seemed as soon as Catwoman had fallen over, she had gotten right back up.

"Well, aren't you a smart little spider?" Catwoman purred (no pun intended - okay, it was intended), smirking mischievously. "Shame I've gotta tear up your pretty costume."

Spider-Man rolled his eyes under his mask. "Hey, come on..." Another swipe dodged. "There's no need to ruin this suit." He threw a punch, one she dodged effortlessly. This game of punch-swipe-dodge went on for a bit before Catwoman tripped him up with her tail. Before slashing him in the chest.

Catwoman laughed at him again. "Looks like I've struck the first blow." She turned tail, and ran deeper into the building. "Don't even bother chasing me, spider. Do you really want to lose at cat-and-mouse?"

Spider-Man, once sure that he wasnotbleeding, quickly launched himself forward with his webs. "Funny you should mention cat-and-mouse..." He swung down the hallways until he found Catwoman running away from him. "Because even though the cat occasionally got a few shot-ins..."

Thwip thwip thwip. Several webs had been attached to Catwoman's ankles and back. Spider-Man quickly pulled the webs and she was sent flying at him.

"They usually lost."

A quick uppercut knocked Catwoman onto her ass. And a few more webs stuck her to the ground. Catwoman blinked in shock, then glared at him.

"Come on!" She struggled against the webs. "I was so close-"

"And yet so far." Spider-Man folded his arms. "Jeez, I already have one cat-burglar who likes making cat jokes, so anyone is-"

"Wait a sec."

Spider-Man turned to Catwoman, whose eyes were wide. He raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

Catwoman clicked her tongue. "Are you talking about Black Cat?"

How did she know about her? Had Black Cat seriously made that big a splash in the criminal underworld? "Uh, yeah-"

A squeal pierced his ears. All of a sudden, Catwoman looked like a kid who saw an ice cream truck. "No way! I love her! I've seen her heists and she's so talented! Gotta say, she's my idol. Tell me, how those she fight? How much as she stolen overall? What..."

Spider-Man groaned. A fangirl wasnotwas he was expecting. "Ugh."Thwip. Another web struck Catwoman... in the eyes.

He coughed awkwardly. "Uh, that was meant to cover your mouth for a gag."

"Why don't I feel better?" Her voice was dry once more.

"Super awesome super heroes for the win!"

Babs had all her old friends in a group hug, all of whom were reciprocating. Just another victory for them. The Super Villain Girls had been arrested and the cops were currently cleaning up. Theirnewfriend, however, was talking with one of the cops. Babs didn't really pay attention to him though.

Eventually, the cops cleaned out, leaving all the heroes alone. Peter walked up to them, and they all stopped hugging.

"Excellent work, Peter," Diana said with a smile. "You already show great potential."

Peter chuckled, folding his arms. "Well, thanks."

Diana nodded. "It is the truth! It is especially good how you used the webs your body produces to ensnare Catwoman."

Peter blinked, tilting his head. "Huh?"

Diana raised an eyebrow. "Those webs come from your wrist, do they not?"

Peter raised up a finger, only to lower it and sigh. "Whatever."

Babs walked up to Peter, giving him a hug. "You're a good teammate, dude." She smiled. "Say, wanna hang out as civilians tomorrow? Get to know each other better?" When she pulled away, Peter had his hands on his hips.

"Hmm... that's not a bad idea."

"Nice!" Babs threw her hands in the air. Peter laughed, moving his hand to lean against the museum wall.

However, his hand stuck to something else. Something... purple.

Zee blinked. "What the-" She tried pulling away. "Dude!"

Peter looked at her, white eyes widening in shock. "Oh, sorry!" He began pulling himself. "Crap, this usually doesn't happen."

"Get it off!"

"I'm trying, I-"

Rip.

Babs cringed when she heard the sound. She looked at Peter first, who was staring at his now purple hair-covered hand. Then at Zee, who now had a hand-print in her perfectly combed hair. Her teeth were gritted and if looks could kill... there would be no Spider-Man for future team-ups.

Peter backed away. Even through his mask, Babs guessed his face was as red as the mask itself. "Should... I just go? Because she looks like she's going to kill me."

Kara stepped up to him. "That's a good idea."

Peter was gone in just a few seconds, swinging away and disappearing behind a building. Now alone, they were silent.

"But his websdocome from his wrist? Why would he question otherwise?"

Karen folded her arms. "Do you want me to ask him?"

"Very much!"

Chapter 8: Shown Around Town

Chapter Text

"So, lemme get this straight... He's a Green Lantern who turns yellow at the sight of his ex?"

The girls laughed at Peter's joke. At the moment, they were walking through the streets of Metropolis, chatting and joking around. And the girls were loving it. They had already gotten a good impression of Peter back at the base and during their crime-fighting session, but it was pretty great getting to know him more. Definitely a pretty good guy, and pretty funny too.

"Yeah, pretty much," Jess said, shaking her head slightly. "And to think there areactualYellow Lanterns..."

"Soooo..." Babs took Peter's hand. "How are you finding Metropolis?"

Peter smiled. "Pretty good, gotta say." He looked around himself. "And, considering the fact that the fact that this place seems to have a pretty big supervillain problem..." He feigned wiping a tear from his eye. "It's just like home." He burst out laughing, prompting the girls to follow suit.

"Well, we are happy to hear that!" Diana held his other hand. "Speaking of which, you simply must try the food of Sweet Justice. It is most-"

Peter's eyes suddenly widened as his smile grew larger. He raised a hand in the air. "MJ!"

Kara blinked. "MJ? Who's-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before a redheaded teenager around Zee's age sauntered up to them. She was holding her phone in her hand and looked to have been snapping pictures before this.

"Tiger! I was wondering where you were," MJ said. "When I came to your room, you were just... gone."

Peter scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well... I found some new friends and they wanted to show me around the city."

MJ looked a little confused, but her smile stayed in place. "Really?" She turned her attention to the girls themselves. "What are you guys' names?"

Babs stepped up, with a proud smile. "My name's Babs! And that's Kara, Diana, Karen, Zee, and Jess." She pointed to each friend as she named them. The others muttered a few 'hello's and the like. Karen, meanwhile, raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I've seen you around town," she said. "Saw you getting off a bus - are you on a field trip?"

MJ just folded her arms. "Yeah, pretty much. Say, you know where to find any other theaters in this place?"

Karen perked up. "Oh yeah! There's one just past the city park. You just take a right at the entrance, then the second left and you should be there."

MJ's smile widened. "Nice. Thanks... you're Karen, right?"

Karen nodded. "Yeah."

This earned her a handshake from the redhead. "Cool." Then she blinked, her smile faltering slightly. "Wait. Where the heck is Peter?"

Diana blinked. "What are you talking about? Peter Parker is right..."

She trailed off when she realized she wasnotplacing a hand on Peter's shoulders and was instead grabbing air.

"Somewhere that is not here."

Zee frowned. "Huh. He sure knows how to slip away unnoticed."

Babs nodded. "Yeah. Must be useful when-"

She was interrupted by Jess slamming a palm over her mouth. Babs's hyperactivity and talkative nature was one of the things the girls liked about her, but sometimes she needed to be quiet. Couldn't go revealing identities accidentally, after all.

"Hey!" Kara's voice got all their attention. "He's over there!" She pointed over to a soda machine on the other side of the road, which Peter was standing in front of. At the moment, Peter had just deposited a quarter, but was still waiting on his drink.

"Come on," he muttered, tapping his foot. Well, it appeared as though Metropolis hadanotherthing in common with New York: really bad vending machine. He delivered a quick kick to the machine. Not too hard, though: didn't want to kick a hole through it with spider-strength.

That's when he heard a voice.

"Peter!"

Peter quickly turned to the source of the voice. He had to take a few steps back as well, considering how close the source was. It was Gwen again, smiling awkwardly at him. Next to her, arms linked, was Harry. Unlike Gwen, though, Harry looked annoyed, his mouth in a slight grimace.

Shaking his head slightly, Peter returned the smile. "Gwen! Good to see you again."

Gwen folded her arms. "Uh, yeah. Sorry, I guess just because we haven't talked too much in a while - well, aside from at the hotel - and you're alone-"

Harry groaned loudly. "Gwen." He sounded bored, yet still somewhat annoyed. "You said you were going to help me with my project."

This just made Gwen's brow furrow. "I thought you had decided on your topic on your own."

Harry huffed, crossing his own arms. "Yeah, but I could still do some help. Would be a better use of your time than trying to make googly-eyes at-"

Gwen didn't even seem to heed what he was saying as she walked up to Peter, taking him by the hands. Ignoring the way Harry stared at him like he was some weird literal spider-mutant, Peter looked into Gwen's eyes.

"...You okay?"

Blood rushed to Gwen's cheeks. "Oh, me? I'm fine! I guess..." She stepped back. "Again, I just wanted to talk with you more and-"

"Yo, Pete!"

Peter whipped his head around. The girls were approaching him, with Kara waving at him. "We were wondering where you were," she said, smiling slightly.

Peter just chuckled. "Hey, I wasn't far, was I?"

Diana just placed her hands on her hips. "No, but we would appreciate it if-"

"Um... Pete?"

Peter turned to Gwen and Harry, the former of whom had spoken. She was now frowning slightly, and her brow had furrowed further.

"Yeah?" Peter asked.

"Who are these girls?" Gwen pointed a finger at the group behind him. Peter was about to answer her when a purple hoodie stepped in front of him.

"We're Peter's friends!" Babs answered. "My name's Barbara Gordon, but you can call me Babs."

The smile returned to Gwen's face, but it seemed a bit more insincere. "...Cool." She backed away a little, not taking her gaze off his new friends. She didn't look too happy, though.

Harry, meanwhile, was more vocal about his confusion. "Seriously? We've been here for, like, a few days." She gestured to Babs. "How'd he find you and your... clique so soon?"

Babs's cheery demeanour didn't falter in the slightest. "We just met up. Say, did you know he's super good at Chemistry? And he's got a cool phone?"

The comment made Harry's face harden. "He's my friend... Barbara. Iknowall that." He raised an eyebrow at the other girls. "Is she always this... obvious?"

Jess folded her arms, her eyes narrowing. "Hey, she didn't know. No need to get prickly over it."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Oh, and that phone? It was made by my dad's company. But Pete over here got it before it even came out."

Babs blinked. "And that's an issue how?"

Harry's eyes widened slightly. "I never said it was an issue."

Babs just clicked her tongue. "Yeah, but I inferred it." She started talking faster. "I mean, just judging by your tone and face, and also how you emphasized how Peter got it in such a way that you thought that you should have gotten it instead because of-"

Harry groaned, placing his hands on his ears. "Ugh, shut up." He grabbed Gwen's hand. "Come on, Gwen. Let's go get something to eat."

Gwen, however, didn't budge, instead keeping her gaze on Peter, who was looking pretty confused about the whole thing. She didn't even seem to heed how Babs looked a little miffed. Peter himself could have been mistaken, but did Gwen look a little... jealous?

Eventually, after a silence thick enough to cut with a knife, she reacted to Harry tugging at her arm. "Alright. I'm going." As they turned away, she mouthed a 'Sorry' at Peter, before walking off.

"...Well, that happened, I suppose." Zee sounded a little annoyed herself. "I take it that's Harry?"

"Yep." Peter placed his hands on his pockets. Currently, his mind was stuck on how pissed off Harry looked at him justbeing there. How Gwen looked also stuck in his mind. At this point, the idea of her still have feelings for him had come back to the forefront of his mind. It made sense, he guessed, and he'd be lying if he didn't have some feelings for her in turn, but...

Babs folded her arms. "Jerk." She faced the other girls, who didn't look much happier. "What's his deal?"

Karen sighed. "I don't know, but considering what Peter told us, he and Harry are on..." She trailed off. "Peter?"

Peter was still staring at the two walking away. With a roll of her eyes, Kara walked up to him, waving a hand on his face.

"Yo, Pete!"

Peter stiffened up a bit before turning around. "Uh... yeah?" He asked, plastering a grin on his face.

Kara raised an eyebrow. "What was with you..." Then she blinked. "Oh yeah. You still have feelings for her, don't you?"

This made Peter flush. "What?! I..." He shook his head. "Uh, is there anyplace we can get food?" It was clear that he was trying to change the subject, but Kara didn't care. She wasstarving.

"Oh, I know a place." Kara slung an arm over his shoulder. "Follow me." She walked off, the rest of the girls trailing behind.

"Wait a minute."

Babs turned to Diana. "Yeah?"

Diana folded her arms. "I noticed something with Harry Osborn. When Gwen was looking at Peter, he seemed... irritable."

Babs blinked. "That's a pretty good observation... Yeah, he did seem a little annoyed. But why?"

Diana's eyes narrowed slightly. "I am not sure. But something tells me it is somethingGwenherself is not pleased with."

"...You think?"

"Possibly." Diana looked down at her. "But perhaps we should talk about it later. I'm very hungry myself."

Babs shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat." With that, they sped up the pace, with Babs having to explain how the 'boat' was metaphorical. Oh well, at least dealing with some seemingly pretty annoying rich kid would be the worst thing to happen today.

"So these are the so-called Super Hero Girls?"

Lex nodded, not even facing Norman. He knew he was re-watching the footage from last night in the Lexplorium. The footage that he himself had watched around five times.

"Yes." Lex placed the book he was reading back on the desk. "You think Spider-Man's bad? Trysixof him."

Norman made a sound that sounded a little like a laugh. "Well, I've heard some people back in New York say that Spider-Man has the strength of six men. Though, I just think the Sinister Six are weak men led by a weaker man."

"Mm." Lex folded his arms. "I suppose I should thank those heroes this time. They stopped that stupid cat from stealing all the rare gems." He grimaced. "But times like this are the rare exception. Other then that?" He sighed. "They're more irritating than the EPA, SEC, and my mom combined."

Norman was silent for a bit. Then he spoke again.

"These... Super Hero Girls. Have you faced them more than once?"

Lex turned to Norman, who was still staring at the footage intently. "No," he answered. "They haven't tried to butt in on any of my plans. Mainly because I haven'thadany plans recently. Shocker was the exception."

Norman turned to face him now. "Well, at least now we know what draws them out."

Lex rolled his eyes. "Oh, the heroes are drawn to moments of crisis. What a shock!" He folded his arms. "Comeon, Osborn. My sister could tell you that."

Norman just raised an eyebrow. "Just an observation."

Lex just sighed again, walking back over to the window, looking down upon the town. To be fair to the man, Norman was right. Those girls were drawn to any crime like a moth to a flame. Whether it was that stupid space star with one eye or a kitten stuck up a tree (come to think of it, how bad was this town's cat owners), they were there, ready to 'save the day' and smile for the cameras.

"I know what to do."

Lex turned to his side. Like a ghost, Norman had appeared right next to him without a sound, staring down town.

"What? Start working on the villains?"

Norman turned to face him, a small smile on his face. "I don't mean to brag, but I'm quite... proficient in causing 'scenes', so to speak."

Lex blinked. "What? How can you..." He trailed off when a thought crossed his mind. "Oh yeah. You're-"

Norman cut him off. "Don't worry, my boy. I know what I'm doing. And besides, I've got a bit of help if I need it." He winked.

Lex just frowned. "Him? Oh comeon, Norman. He's..." He sighed. "Whatever. Look just don't expose yourself as you're wrecking the place up."

Norman placed a hand on his shoulder. "You hardly think so little of me, do you?"

Lex was about to tell himNo, but the chances of you falling off that dumb glider and exposing your mug to the world aren't zerowhen his wristwatch beeped. Tapping the screen, he saw a message that read:

You're needed for the experiment.

Lex looked up at Norman. "I have to go." And with that, he walked out of the office, the door slamming shut behind him.

Norman was alone. After looking around a bit, he walked up to the door and locked it. Then he pressed a button to activate the shutters on the windows. Perfect. He was alone. Just the way he liked it.

Walking up to the desk, he pulled out the bag he had brought to LexCorp. Unzipping it, he felt around. Stacks of dollars, spherical metal balls, vials, spare fuel...

There it was. He pulled out the mask. Thankfully, he had a spare costume in Oscorp's basem*nt, so he didn't have to make a new one. He had seen himself in costume so many times in the news that the mask looked wrong without its trademark grin.

He felt the grin spread across his own face. "It's been a while since I've put this old thing on."

Lex stood in front of the glass box, arms behind his back.

"Is the subject ready?" He asked aloud.

Mercy nodded, one hand hovering over a red button. "Yes. He's awake and, while he was a little confused, we were able to talk him into staying calm."

"Good." Lex placed a hand on the glass: it was reinforced, so even if the subject got a bit... restless, he wouldn't be able to break out. "How are you feeling, Bane?"

Bane lifted his head up to stare at him, glaring at him through the eye-holes in his mask. "Fine," he spat. "Though I find my position... uncomfortable."

Lex couldn't help but agree with him. If he was strapped into a chair with leather straps digging into his arms, legs, and neck, and had a few tubes going into the back of his head, he'd be a little irritable too.

"Well, you won't be like that for too much longer." He gave him his best smile. "I'm sure my good men here told you what you're getting into."

This seemed to ease Bane, who allowed a smile to cross his own lips. "Yes. I have to say, if I had known you'd be generous enough to supply me with Venom, I wouldn't have gone to one of your facilities."

Lex chuckled. "Hey, it was no picnic for me either. Do you know how hard it is to bust you out of the back of the paddy-wagon while making sure it couldn't be traced back to yours truly?"

Bane laughed. Good, he had his trust. It would make this whole thing easier. Namely because he wouldn't be trying to bust out.

"So..." Bane's voice was quiet, yet expectant. "May I receive what you promised?"

Lex nodded. "Of course." He turned to his side. "Mercy!"

Mercy returned the nod and pushed the button. The hissing that signified a metal door opening filled his ears. Looking up, he saw the container slowly lowering down through the new hole in the ceiling. It touched down on the glass box, its holes lining up with the ones connecting it to the tubes.

"Alright," Lex said. "Now to-"

"What's going on?"

Bane sounded confused, but a little angry. "Excuse me?" Lex asked.

"I heard something... banging on something. What is..."

As he was speaking his eyes moved upward to see the container. Lex bit his lip. Dangit. He wasn't supposed toseeit. Currently, Bane was staring, open-mouthed, at what was in the container as it thrashed and banged itself against the glass, letting out small squeals and shrieks.

"What the hell isthat?!" Bane started thrashing around himself. "I didn't sign up for this! Let me out! You lied to me, you son of a-"

"Bane, came down!" Lex interrupted. "Look, I may have stretched the truth atinybit, but-"

"You promised me my Venom!" Bane's voice was vicious: he was obviously trying to intimidate him. But all it did was make Lex smile.

"And you shall receive it! After all, during my research, I think I saw something about your new friend calling itself that."

Bane blinked, his eyes growing even wider. "N-newfriend?"

"Yep!" Lex placed his hands on his hips. "Found it crawling around in the sewers of Metropolis. My boys captured it and we ran some tests. And now..." His smile grew wider. "It needs a host." He turned to Mercy. "Let it in."

Mercy took out a key and placed it into a keyhole on the control pad, turning it. Almost instantly, the black ooze started crawling down the tubes, getting closer to the pleading man in it. And as soon as it got to his head, Bane started screaming. His thrashing reached a new level as his veins started to bulge out and turn black.

"Don't worry, Bane." Lex's cheerful voice was still audible, even over all the screaming. "We just need to get you some training. After that... you're going to bespectacular."

Chapter 9: Crashing The Game

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: Goblin Mania

Chapter Text

When Gwen had heard she was going to Metropolis, she had made sure to do her research on the place. It never hurt to know about where you were going beforehand, after all. And during her research, she learned about Metropolis's... villain problem, so to speak. But in spite of all the news reports of aliens, killer robots, and psychos with superpowers, she didn't feeltootoo fazed. New York was the same way, she supposed. Sure, she would have loved tonotever have to deal with supervillains, but hey, at least Metropolis had heroes to protect against the villains.

However, she could've never expected a face from the past coming back from the dead.

At the moment, though, she could barely hear his loud, ear-piercing laughter. Instead, her ears were filled with screaming. From her and the rest of the crowd. People were running out en masse, the remaining players ran out, and they were all trying to avoid the bombs the man on the glider was throwing around. Miraculously, a lot of people dodged them, but that didn't mean he wasn't aiming for them.

"Gwen!" Gwen spun around to see MJ. The look of fear on her face was honestly unsettling. "Take my hand! We'll run out to-"

A large boy, twice the size of her or Gwen, suddenly rammed into MJ, continuing to run forward. He ended up dragging her with him, seemingly oblivious to her presence or her screaming that she needs to go back to get someone.

"Dammit!" Gwen whispered. Okay, just needed to keep a cool head. She's been through this stuff before. Sure, they always terrified her, and she was terrifiednow, but she survived Doc Ock (twice) and Venom. She could make it through. Her gaze fell onto one side of the bleachers. Perfect. A way out. Just needed to-

Someone crashed into her back, knocking her onto her hands and knees. Blinking rapidly, she noticed that the world had become far more blurry. As in, what she saw without contact lenses.

Oh no.

Gwen tried to get up, but she was shaking so much she couldn't. "No, no, no!" She whimpered. "Where are they?" She didn't knowwhyshe was searching for her lenses when she should have been running, but it was near-impossible to think straight at the moment.

Suddenly, a loud cackle cut through everything else. She looked over her shoulder to face the man on the glider. Except, someone else caught her unfocused gaze. Namely an orange blurry ball getting closer...

Gwen's eyes widened. "NO!" She shielded her face with her hands, stiffening up. Was this it?

Then something latched onto her and, in practically a microsecond, took off into the air. Gwen continued to scream, gaining only the slightest bit of relief when she heard the bomb exploding beneath her. She was safe... for around two seconds, it seemed.

"Don't worry, innocent girl!" The voice was not what she expected, which made her do a double-take. It was high-pitched, but not raspy and more upbeat. "You've been saved!" The two touched down somewhere that, judging by the large school-shaped blur behind her, was behind the school.

"Thank... thank you." Gwen's voice slowly steadied. "Who are you?"

The purple and yellow shape chuckled. "Just your friendly neighbourhood Batgirl!" She pointed away. "Now you'd better go."

Gwen nodded and walked off, moving slowly as to not fall onto her face. Alone, Batgirl placed a hand on her chin.

"Huh. Wonder if Peter's copyrighted that saying..." Then she remembered. "Oh yeah!" Quickly pulling out her phone, she dialled Peter's number (they had all exchanged their numbers with his after the Lexplorium fight) and held the phone up to her ear.

"Hello?" Batgirl asked. Only a faint buzzing could be heard. "Peter, please pick up the phone!"

Thankfully, just after she said that, he did. "Babs?" He sounded confused. "How's the game going?"

Batgirl started pacing around. "Um, pretty badly. It's been hijacked by a supervillain! We need you!"

"What?" Peter replied. Then his voice shifted to 'determined'. "Don't worry. I'll be right there."

The smile returned to Batgirl's face. "Cool! It's an new guy, as well." She started getting out some batarangs and gadgets as she continued to talk. "I mean, he's flying on this weird glider-thingy, he's throwing bombs everywhere, cackling like a maniac and..."

She noticed that Peter had gone silent. Only his breathing could be heard. "Um... Pete?"

"Yeah?" He sounded bewildered.

"You okay?"

"I..." A shaky sigh came from the phone. "I'll be there soon."

"Right. See you!" A beep signalled the end of the call, leaving Batgirl alone. She was about to run into battle when she remembered something Peter had mentioned about his villains.

"Wait... that guy's..."

Wonder Woman leaped into the air, drawing her sword as she closed in on the man on the glider. He was unaware of her approaching, instead throwing more bombs around, laughing even louder than before. Landing on the back of the glider, she stood up straight.

"You!" She pointed the sword at him. The man paused, a bomb still in his hand, slowly turning around to face her. His yellow eyes were focused on her, his smile wide.

"Ah, I know you," the man sneered. "The 'Wonder Woman': leader of the Super Hero Girls." He placed a hand on his pointy chin. "I was expecting you'd a little more intimidating in person."

Wonder Woman merely glared at him. "I care not for your taunts. You will stop this assault on this fair school now, you... emerald elf!"

The creature giggled. "Oh, you didn't get the memo? Oh, that's right. I'm in new waters." He raised up a finger, which was now glowing with green energy. "I am the Green Goblin! But you can call me... your death!"

A green beam hit her between the eyes, making her stumble back. Thankfully she was able to gain her footing before she fell off the glider. "Please." She swung her sword, narrowly missing his face. "I have fought much worse foes. You will not be difficult."

"Hey, that's not a very nice thing to say!" The Goblin grabbed a razor-blade with a pumpkin in the centre and threw it at her, slicing open her cheek. "I come all this way to see you, and you don't respect me?"

"Sorry, loser!" A red-and-blue blur suddenly dashed up to him, nearly throwing him off balance. "But you don't..." Supergirl trailed off when she got a good look at him. A smile slowly spread across her face.

"Supergirl?" Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow. "Are you-"

She was cut off by loud laughter. But not from the Goblin. Supergirl had thrown her head back, cackling loudly. She was also pointing at the Goblin himself, who merely co*cked an eyebrow.

"Hahahaha!" Supergirl took a deep breath. "Sorry, sorry. It's just..." She burst out laughing again. "What isthat? Hey, you miss St. Patrick's Day?" She placed a hand on her knee, giggling wildly.

The Green Goblin, for his part, just smiled. "Well, I could look worse. I mean..." He moved the glider closer. "My face could be totally decimated."

This got Supergirl's attention, with her blinking slowly. "Face could be..."

She didn't get to finish before a bomb exploded in her face. She was sent flying to the ground. "Ouch," she muttered. The Goblin, still grinning, fired another laser at Wonder Woman, which she was able to dodge this time. With a battle cry, she tackled the Goblin. The shift in weight made the glider back up at a rapid pace, outright leaving the football pitch behind. Wonder Woman delivered a few punches to his chest, but he soon caught her fist.

"Nice... nice jab!" Goblin wheezed, still keeping his smile. "Wanna see mine?" He pulled back for a punch of his own.

But before he could throw it, a white sticky substance hit him square in the face. "Sorry if I'm interrupting anything!" Then another red-and-blue blur swung up, landing on the glider as well. It was cramped, to be honest, but the new visitor made Wonder Woman smile.

"Spider-Man!" She said. "I am happy to see you here!"

Spider-Man just folded his arms. "Same here." He turned his head over to face the Goblin, who ripped the webbing off. "So, who are you? A Norman Osborn fanboy? A rip-off artist?"

Green Goblin gave a mock gasp. "That'sit?!" He threw his arms out to the side. "Wild accusations? No formal greeting? How about 'Oh, Gobby, it's nice to see you again!'" He frowned, placing a hand on his chin. "Honestly, Spider-Man, I'm hurt."

He kept that look for around two more seconds. Then he smirked. "Nah. I think I'll just hurtyou."

With a backflip, Spider-Man dodged the laser blast, sticking onto the wall of a building they were currently at. "Not gonna happen, Goblin-wannabe. Whoever you are under that mask, I'm still going to kick your butt." As if on cue, the rest of the Hero Girls showed up. Most of them hovered around the Goblin, while Batgirl latched onto the building along with Spider-Man while grinning.

"Oh boy," Batgirl said. "You're introublenow, Gobby!" She quickly grabbed a batarang, readied herself to throw it...

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Only for an explosion to knock her off the building. Green Lantern was quick to catch her in a giant baseball mitt while Spider-Man shot a web to prevent himself from falling. Wonder Woman turned towards the new assailant, who was flying towards them quickly. For a split second, she thought it was another Green Goblin.

But then she looked at him properly. It was another man on a glider, but... Wait. It wasn't a glider. It was more like a hoverboard. And then there was the occupant o said hoverboard. He was wearing a cape and cowl, with his face hidden by a metal mask, one with red eyes and no visible mouth. In one hand was a pumpkin bomb and in the other was a glowing energy sword.

Wonder Woman squinted at him. "Who... are you? Are you an ally of him?" She pointed at Green Goblin.

"What was your first clue?" The man's voice was deep and distorted, probably thanks to the mask, as he folded his arms. "I'm the Hobgoblin and if you filthy vigilantes know what's good for you..." He pointed the sword at Spider-Man. "You'll admit defeat and give yourselves up into our custody."

Spider-Man himself placed a hand to his chin. "I'm thinking... I kick your butt instead!" He quickly launched himself into the new foe. Unfortunately, the Hobgoblin was quick to grab him by the ankle and hoist him above his head.

"Good job, pal!" The Green Goblin cackled, reaching for a bomb. "Hold him still while I-"

He was interrupted when two yellow boots collided with his jaw. Batgirl landed on the glider as the Green Goblin fell onto the roof of a nearby building.

"Come on, girls!" She grabbed a few batarangs. "Let's get these guys!"

The rest nodded. Hobgoblin, meanwhile, just threw Spider-Man downwards. Thankfully for him, he was able to shoot a web to prevent him from splattering all over the ground. Looking up, he saw Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Green Lantern engage the Hobgoblin in an aerial fight. Right, now he could focus on the Green Goblin. Who, let's be honest, was probably just a crazed fanboy of Norman's.

Right?

"You'll never catch me!"

Zatanna quickly dodged yet another pumpkin bomb. Whoever this Hobgoblin guy was, he wascrazy. Not as crazy as his green friend, but crazy enough. And by enough, she meant 'enough to give her a headache'.

"Get back here, villain!" Wonder Woman's voice was louder, but alotmore pleasant on the ears. She was jumping from roof to roof to keep up with the Hobgoblin, who let out a loud scoff.

"Me? A villain?" He turned his head around to face them, not even slowing down slightly. "Have you looked in the mirror lately? You're just like the bug." He threw out a disc with spikes on it, which nearly sliced off Zatanna's head. "Arrogant, reckless vigilantes!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Zatanna saw Green Lantern raise an eyebrow. "...Areyoulistening to yourself?"

"Shut up!" The Hobgoblin's deep voice briefly went up in pitch as he spun around. He wobbled slightly as he did so, but caught his balance. "You don't knowanythingabout me!"

"Whatever," Zatanna said, rolling her eyes. She placed her hands together. "Worra mrots!" Instantly, hundreds of purple arrows flew at the Hobgoblin. A few struck him, damaging his armour, but he was able to weave his board to avoid the majority of them.

"Good shot," The Hobgoblin sneered. He threw another disc. "But not good enough!"

Green Lantern created a wall to block the disc. Flying up, she glared at the Hobgoblin. "Who are you?" Two large arms appeared out at her sides, homing in on him. However, stomping on the board, Hobgoblin dashed towards her. With a slash of his sword, Green Lantern flew into Zatanna, knocking them both to the ground.

"Ouch," Green Lantern moaned. "Sorry, Zee."

Zatanna stood up and helped Green Lantern up, dusting herself off. "It's fine. We just need to help Diana." At the moment, Wonder Woman was leaping into the air to clash swords with the Hobgbolin. Each time she did so, the Hobgoblin's grip on his sword loosened.

Green Lantern nodded. "Right." Forming a shield around her, she shot up, quickly catching Wonder Woman as she fell.

"Whoever this man is, he is a formidable enemy," Wonder Woman said. "His sword skills in particular are rather refined."

Green Lantern smiled. "Yeah, well... I think I have a plan. If we get him off his hoverboard, we can swarm him more easily."

Wonder Woman smiled back. "Good idea." She looked at Zatanna. "Zatanna! Try and take out his hovering board!"

Zatanna cracked her knuckles "Way ahead of you." Her eyes glowed purple. "Noisulli fo dniw!"

In the air, a construct of Zatanna herself appeared in front of the Hobgoblin, making him jump. "What the-" He sputtered, slicing at it. It dissipated into... well, thin air, as Green Lantern flew up. Channelling her ring, she summoned a giant magnet. Almost instantly, it worked: the Hobgoblin's board flew into it.

"Gotcha!"

Anotherthunkfilled the air. Blinking, Green Lantern looked up. Hobgoblin himself hadalsobeen magnetised. Probably should have realised he had armour on.

"Good job!" Wonder Woman sounded pleased as she hauled herself onto the roof. "We have caught the Hobgoblin!"

"Yep." Green Lantern made the magnet dissipate, dropping Hobgoblin flat on his face. Zatanna also hovered onto the roof, smiling.

"Well, that takes care of that." Then Zatanna frowned. "Now let's see who's under that mask..."

Hobgoblin's red eyes suddenly flared up. "No!" He grabbed Zatanna's arm and, with sparks travelling up his own arm, he sent what looked like a million volts into Zatanna. She yelped and fell backwards. Green Lantern gasped, but quickly turned her attention to the Hobgoblin.

"I don't have time for this!" Hobgoblin bellowed. He quickly picked his hoverboard back up, got onto it and quickly took off. It took him all of a few seconds for him to escape their sight.

Wonder Woman's eyes widened. "He is getting away! We must follow him!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Zatanna sat up, rubbing her face. "Just give me a minute."

Green Lantern looked to her. And then she noticed her hair. All of a sudden, shereallyhoped Zee didn't notice how it was sticking out everywhere.

"Oh standstill!"

Spider-Man politely disregarded the advice of the maddened green maniac on a glider as he ducked a pumpkin bomb. At the moment, he was just trying to get fake-Gobby deplete all his resources so he could hit him in the face. Batgirl, meanwhile, was seemingly trying to fight fire with fire. As in, throwing as many batarangs as Goblin did.

"Give it up, Green Goblin!" Batgirl yelled. "You're no match for... half the Super Hero Girls and Spider-Man!"

Green Goblin just laughed. "Oh please. For all your valiant efforts, you've barely damaged my costume!" He threw a razor-bat at her, which cut her cheek. She squealed as she fell to her knees on the roof, covering her cheek.

"Batgirl!" Bumblebee ran over to her. "Are you okay?"

Batgirl raised her head up, smiling slightly. "Sure thing! It hurts like hell, but..."

Bumblebee nodded. "Good. I'm going to try and disable his glider." With that, she shrunk down and flew towards the glider. Spider-Man looked back up at the Green Goblin, who was priming up for another razor-bat throw.

"No you don't!" Spider-Man quickly shot out a web that knocked the razor-bat out of his hand. As Green Goblin registered this, Spider-Man took the opportunity to grab a piece of debris with his webs and throw it at the Green Goblin. It hit him square in the face.

"Look, I'm on abitof a schedule here," Spider-Man said. "So can you show me your face and we can just go home?"

Green Goblin got back up - he didn't look too fazed by the shot either. "Nowwhywould I do that? I've done it for you before!" He threw a bomb at Spider-Man, which blew him onto his ass. "Now, like I said... stand still!"

He fired a green laser from his fingertip at Spider-Man, who quickly got up. However, before he could dodge, Supergirl stood in front of him, the laser not even fazing her in the slightest. Spider-Man took this opportunity to leap over her and onto Green Goblin's glider. As he steadied himself, he noticed a yellow glow beneath it, along with the sounds of metal clanking. Spider-Man smiled under his mask.Good job, Karen, he thought.

He was about to call out for Supergirl to help him when a green fist collided with his face. "Ow." Spider-Man caught the next punch. "God, you are the worst, you know that?"

Green Goblin cackled. "I could say the same toyou!" He turned around to face Supergirl, who was now flying off the roof. "Ah, you. I nearly forgot that you existed."

"Yeah, well you shouldn't have." Supergirl cracked her knuckles. "Because I'm going to kick your stupid green butt!"

This only made Green Goblin raise an eyebrow. "Well then... bring it on,Mrs. Superman."

Supergirl's eyes narrowed. "Okay, that's it!" Then they turned red. Two lasers shot out and nearly took out the Goblin... and Spider-Man.

"Hey!" Spider-Man narrowed his own eyes. "You nearly hit me!"

Supergirl blinked. "Oh. I-"

She didn't get to finish before Green Goblin hoisted Spider-Man over his head and threw him like a fish. She quickly caught him. "You okay?" She asked.

Spider-Man groaned. "Yeah, just annoyed." He quickly leaped down to the ground. "Uh, Batgirl? You got any ideas?"

Batgirl shook her head. "Not yet... but it looks like Karen does!"

Spider-Man turned around to see what she meant. As it turned out, Bumblebee was flying around Goblin's face, giving him small electric shocks. They didn't seem tohurthim, but they did distract him.

"Good." He primed his web-shooters. "I'll web him up." He quickly fired a blob of web-fluid. It flew towards Goblin... but hit the one whowasn'tgreen. Bumblebee turned back to normal size as she fell to the ground, covered in web-fluid.

"Ack!" She spat. "I think some of it got in my mouth."

Batgirl's eyes bulged out of her head as she looked at Spider-Man. "Dude!"

Crap. "Sorry! I thought I could get him and-"

Suddenly, Green Goblin was sent flying off his glider and onto the roof. Supergirl was flying above his unmanned glider, which fell onto the roof, as she glared at him. "Got him." She dashed up to Spider-Man. "Also, good job webbing up one of our allies."

Spider-Man raised his hands above his head. "Look, I didn't mean to..." Then he trailed off. He realised that he needed to confirm something.

"Supergirl?"

Supergirl raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"I need you to see through his mask."

This made the Girl of Steel blink. "Huh?"

Spider-Man sighed. "I need to know if he's really a fake." As Supergirl focused her gaze on the Goblin, who was struggling to get up, Spider-Man tried to reason with himself. Sure, Osborn not being dead meant that he could go without the knowledge that he had accidentally killed someone. But if he was alive...

Supergirl turned to Peter. "Well, he's not exactly 'handsome'. His face is kind of long, he has red hair and he kind of looks like an older version of..."

Spider-Man didn't need her to continue. He stared at the Green Goblin, his eyes narrowing. When he spoke, it was with equal parts fear and anger.

"Itisyou."

The Green Goblin smiled wide. "The one and only." With that, he leaped back onto his glider.

"Sir!" Oh great, it was the Hobgoblin, who flew up to the Green Goblin. "What do we do now?"

Green Goblin smiled. "Well, since Superbrat over here saw through my mask..." He gave a bow. "We'll take our leave now!" With that, the two flew off, the Green Goblin cackling loudly while the Hobgoblin was silent.

Batgirl stomped her foot. "Dangit! This is the second time this week!" She folded her arms. "We gotta stop that from happening again."

Spider-Man just stared at the two goblins flying away. He couldn't help but wonder: if Norman was the Green Goblin... then who was the Hobgoblin?

"Roof entrance opening."

Lex didn't even turn to face the man lowering himself down. Nor his stupid accomplice. He did, however, turn around when he heard the sound of boots connecting with the floor. Green Goblin was chuckling to himself as he walked up to Lex.

"So..." Goblin smiled at him. "Have I gained your trust?"

Lex cringed slightly. "Uh... yeah." Clearing his throat, he stood up. "Do you... think you can take off that mask? Gives me the creeps."

Green Goblin sneered. "Well, if you insist." He grabbed the mask by the ears and slipped it off. A smile was on Norman Osborn's face: one wider than Lex had ever seen before. Like that of the Goblin.

"Good," Lex said. He turned back to the footage of Norman throwing bombs at everyone. He couldn't help but be a bit disturbed. He knew he had to create a scene, but... he was enjoying thiswaytoo much.

"Something the matter, Lex?"

Lex jumped a little, but quickly steadied himself as he turned to face Norman again. "Not at all."

Norman smiled down at him. "Good." He folded his arms. "I have to admit, I thought I'd be rusty. But what do you know?"

Lex just nodded. "Yeah." He was tempted to tell him that he failed to seriously wound any of the heroes, but something told him that wasn't too smart.

"Sir?"

Lex and Norman turned to the source of the voice. It was the Hobgoblin, who was staring at another computer screen. This one was depicted the guy who had caught the first pumpkin bomb being hauled into an ambulance. He was still, simply staring at the computer in silence.

"Yes?" Norman raised an eyebrow. When he didn't get an answer, he narrowed his eyes. "Is there something you want to say?"

The Hobgoblin was silent for a bit longer before he turned around. His red eyes looked less sharp than usual. "You said we weren't going to hurt any innocents."

Norman's brow furrowed. "And Imeantit. I only used the bombs in the pitch as a way of drawing those vigilantes out." He placed a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Not anyone we didn't mean to."

The Hobgoblin tapped his foot. "Yeah, but you were la-"

"Come on, now." Norman's voice was harsh. "Do you really think I'd lie to you... boy?"

More silence. Then the Hobgoblin slowly raised a hand up to his neck. He pushed down a button on the armour's neck. The mask slowly retracted, revealing the freckled, redheaded face of a teenage boy.

"No..." Harry Osborn replied.

Norman gave a small smile. "Good." He kneeled down to his level. "Do you remember why we're doing this?"

"Yes." Harry folded his arms. "To stop those 'heroes'. Prove that they're the real maniacs. I learned that after Spider-Man..." He swallowed. "It was horrible all those months. When I got that phone call two weeks ago, from you..."

Norman stood back up. "I know. And I know you probably would have wanted a confirmation of my survival far earlier. But I couldn't risk anything." Then he frowned. "But I reiterate... Do you really think I'd lie to you?"

Harry shook his head. "Of course not."

Norman smiled again. "Good." He patted him on the back. "You can go now. Go back to your friends."

Harry allowed the smallest smile to cross his face. "Thanks." The mask was applied once again as he got back on his board. The ceiling door opened and in just a few seconds, he was gone.

Now that they were alone, Lex raised an eyebrow. "You never told me you didn't intend to hurt any innocents."

Norman just laughed. "Harry's a very trusting boy.Anda talented one." He sat next to Lex. "So... may I have a status report?"

Lex rummaged around in his pocket, pulling out a notebook. "Well, there's an experiment for you to undertake with Montana, our new ally will nearly be done training, and the serums we're working on is coming along nicely."

Norman looked down at him, still smiling. "Good job. You're a very smart man, you know that?"

Lex felt his face grow red as he smiled. "Thanks." Pushing back how his own father had never praised him like that, he went back to watching the footage.

Watch out, Hero Girls, Lex thought.It's only a matter of time before it's all over for you.

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

"You look great!"

"I look like a dork."

MJ placed her hands on her hips. "Comeon, Gwen. The glasses are nice!"

Gwen looked back into the mirror. She already missed her contacts. Hell, the whole reason she went to MJ and requested the contacts was because she hated her glasses. But now she was stuck with them until she could find another pair.

"I prefer the contacts."

She heard MJ sigh. "Yeah, well, beggars can't be choosers and all that crap." MJ appeared in the mirror next to Gwen. "Besides, I'd just be grateful to bealiveafter what just happened."

"I am," Gwen said. She sat down on her bed. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that the Green Goblin was alive. Was it really Norman Osborn? Or was it some weird poser? Which answer was worse?

Actually, it was the first one.

"Well..." MJ sat next to her. "How's the situation Harry?"

Gwen huffed. "Still just the same as it was when you talked to me about him during the game."

MJ's eyes narrowed. "But my point still stands. Harry's a total dick. I mean, when you two were dating over the summer, I knew it was out of obligation." She grabbed her hands. "You arenothis property."

Gwen shook free. "Believe me, I know that. Hell, I've been trying to reach Peter, but I never have enough time. Harry still needs a ton of help. I mean, he's only recently got a therapist, apparently."

MJ folded her arms. "Look, I'm not blind, Gwen. Or stupid. Harry's being clingy as all hell with you, and that'snot good."

"You think I don't know that?" Gwen laid back on her bed. "IknowHarry's being incredibly clingy, but..." She sighed. "It's been a really bad year for him. He watched his own daddie. I lost my mom: I know how they can affect someone."

MJ's face fell. "I know. And what happened to him is terrible." Gwen swore she heard MJ call Norman a 'piece of sh*t' under her breath. "But that's not an excuse for him being so..."

"I know," Gwen said. "But he's my friend. I want to help him."

MJ sighed. "I know and I respect that. But if that guy lays afingeron you..." She smirked. "I'll kick his ass."

Gwen allowed herself to smile. "Cool." When MJ left the room, Gwen sat back up and looked back in the mirror. Hmm, maybe the glasses weren't that bad. Sure, the contacts were way better, but the glasses weren't too bad. Though, honestly, she just wished she had perfect vision. Then she wouldn't have to worry about losing her contacts and/or glasses-

"Hey, Gwen!"

Gwen looked up. Liz Allan was standing in the doorway, her arms folded. "Um... hi, Liz." Gwen stood up, folding her own arms. "Do... do you need something?"

"Yeah, yeah." Liz ran a hand through her hair. "I... need to talk to Harry. Like, not too urgently, but urgently enough. I don't know exactly where he is in this place, so can you help me find him?"

Gwen sighed. Well, what else was she going to do? Lie on her bed and mope? Might as well use this chance to stretch her legs. She walked past Liz, gesturing to her to follow. Liz quickly speed-walked up to her, slowing down to keep at an even pace.

"Why do you even need Harry?" Gwen asked. She was honestly surprised Liz wanted to beseenwith a 'geek'. Guess dating Peter had really changed her. Even if that period that make her feel as green as the Hulk.

"Well I kinda sorta need help with my project," Liz said, twiddling her thumbs. "And I figured 'Hey, Harry's pretty smart, so he could probably give me some hints on how to go about it." She smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not going after him, before you think I'm coming onto your ex."

Gwen just rolled her eyes as she stopped by a door with the number25. "This is Harry's room." She decided that she might as well stick around when Liz asked Harry. Hopefully she could have a civil conversation with Harry afterwards.

"Hey, Osborn," Liz announced, opening the door. "I need help with..."

She trailed off and blinked once the door fully opened. Gwen peeked over her shoulder, and what she saw made her raise an eyebrow. Harry was in the room, but he was practically hiding under the covers of his bed. His head was sticking out, but he looked like he had just jumped under them. His face was also pretty dirty, and he looked slightly flustered.

"Oh, Liz!" He looked past her. "And Gwen! What a surprise to see you two! You need any help?" He offered a nervous smile.

"Um..." Gwen stepped into the room. "Well, Liz needed your help with something and..." She frowned. "Are you okay? Why are you hiding under your bed covers?"

"Oh, well..." Harry was sweating now. "I heard someone coming and hid underneath here because... well... I'm kind of naked right now."

Oh.Oh. Gwen suddenly felt like her face was on fire as she stepped back. "Oh my God! I-" She fiddled with her glasses as her face heated up more. "We're so sorry we disturbed you!"

Harry just shrugged. "Eh, it's fine."

As opposed to Gwen, Liz looked totally calm, if a little confused. "What's wrong with your face? It's filthy."

Harry blinked. "I... was cleaning the chimney in this place earlier. I neededsomethingto do after my therapy session."

Liz's brow furrowed. "I don't think this placehasa chimney."

Harry's eyes widened. "Whaaaat?"

Gwen just grabbed Liz by the arm. "It's okay, Harry. We'll come back when you're decent!" She dragged her out of the room and slammed the door. Then she groaned as she placed her head in her hands. Well, that was going down as one of her most embarrassing moments.

"I don't think he was naked."

Gwen felt her jaw fall open as she looked at Liz. "What doesthatmean?"

Liz folded her arms. "I don't know. I think that geek is... hiding something. Don't ask me why." She started down the hallway. "It's just... a feeling."

Gwen decided it would be best to go back to her room as well, but she couldn't deny... there did seem to be something up with Harry. What it was, she didn't know. But... she hoped that if he was struggling with it, he wouldn't keep it hidden. As unlikely as that sadly was. Nevertheless, she couldn't just sit here moping. She still had work to do.

"So Norman Osborn's alive?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah, Supergirl used her X-ray vision and it was him." He sighed as he laid back into the couch. "And I have no idea how to feel about it."

"How so?" Diana asked, coming to sit next to him. She looked confused, yet concerned. "This means that you did not murder him."

"I know." Peter placed a hand on his forehead. "I guess... if he really was alive, why didn't he reveal himself? I mean, I knew he was a piece of crap, but putting his family through mourning? Leaving his wife to clean up the mess he left behind?" He gritted his teeth. "God, I can't believe I used to look up to him. And that's not even getting into what he did to Harry."

Babs frowned. "He really wanted his dad's approval, didn't he?"

Peter sighed. "Yeah."

Jess folded her arms. "I like to believe there's good in everyone, barring some exceptions. And something tells me Norman Osborn is one of those exceptions."

Zee leaned against the wall. "Sounds like it." She moaned. "And I can't believe he got away. Him and his little sidekick."

Kara snorted. "Well, maybe we could have gotten him ifsomeonedidn't web up one of our own allies."

Peter blinked, looking up at Kara. "Um... what do you mean?" He asked. He sounded neutral.

Kara huffed, laughing slightly. "Oh come on, Peter. Karen was literally in the middle of hacking into Goblin's stupid glider andyouwebbed her up."

From the beanbag in the corner of the room, Karen sat up. "Um... yeah, I can vouch for that."

Babs stared at Peter. "Wait, seriously?"

All of a sudden, it felt like there were twenty eyes on Peter. "...Yeah. Yeah, I did that."

Zee stared at him, raising an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Kara pointed at him. "Yeah, see? He ended up compromising Karen instead of actually succeeding in taking down the bad guy.I'mthe guy who got the Goblin off his glider. It's like he's never worked with another hero before!" Then she blinked. "Actually..." She looked at him. "Have you ever worked with one before?"

Peter coughed, suddenly looking very sheepish. "Um... no. I've always been a solo hero." He folded his arms. "I mean, I worked with Black Cat once, but she's more a criminal and you guys know how that whole thing goes-"

"Yeah-yeah-yeah." Kara waved her arms, a way of telling him to stop. "That would explain your crappy teamwork."

Peter's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Hey, I wasn't theonlyone who was messing up, Kara." He stood up, pointing at her. "You nearly fried my head off with your laser eyes!"

This made Kara's eyebrows slightly raise. "I... um..." She sighed, though it was less like she was nervous and more like she was tired. "Look, I was trying to get the Green Goblin."

"Yeah, and you could have burned me alive!" Peter folded his arms. "You've been on a team for longer than me, I thought you'd be better at making sure you didn't accidentally set your partners on fire."

Kara stepped closer to him. "At least I didn't mess up a perfectly good strategy by failing to properly cooperate!"

"Yeah, well-"

"Enough!" The two stopped their bickering at the sound of Diana's voice. "Petty squabbling will not help us in our mission." She turned to look at Peter, her face stern. "Peter Parker, your teamwork abilities are severely lacking. If we are going to stop the Green Goblin and his helper, we will have to work together properly."

Kara smirked. At least until Diana's eyes settled on her.

"Kara, your anger issues are still a major problem. I completely understand why you have them, but I must remind you to control your anger when it comes to making sure your partners don't suffer the ill effects of it."

Peter bit his lip, hoping that no one noticed his slight smirk. Kara nodded her head, looking disappointed. "Yeah, I'll work on that."

"I'll work on my stuff too," Peter added, now serious. "I mean, hey, working together more will help that, right?"

Diana smiled. "Yes, that sounds about right. Good on you both." She walked over to the couch and sat down. "Now, what now?"

Jess looked up from the sign she was painting. "Well, it doesn't look like there's any supervillain attacks at the moment... so I guess we can just relax." She grabbed the remote and switched on the TV. A title card for a movie had popped up:Just Before Dusk VII: Werewolves vs. Vampires.

"Ooh!" Zee's face broke into a giant grin. "This is my favourite one!" She looked at Peter. "Hey, come watch it with us! You might like it."

Peter looked at the screen, which was now depicting a man who looked like his handsome face was meant to compensate for his wooden acting, a girl covered in dirt talking about how she had 'dug him out of the grave of Dracula', and a large, broad-shouldered man with unconvincing wolf makeup watching them from the shadows. It looked like trash, and movies like this weren't his type of movie.

"Eh, screw it."

But it could be fun to riff on.

"Are they finished, Ms. Graves?"

Mercy looked up from her clipboard. "More or less, Mr. Osborn. We followed your instructions to the letter. One of them resisted, the other didn't. They're in sector B-13, if you want to talk to them."

Norman tented his fingers together as he looked back through the glass at the surgical table. The man on it was groaning in pain as several painkillers were being injected into him. Several mechanical parts were attached to him, with men in lab coats examining them. A green rock in a glass jar was next to them, its green glow illuminating the face of the patient, revealing a laceration on his face. Norman couldn't help but smile.

"I hope Montana appreciates his little upgrade." With that, he turned away and entered the elevator, hitting the 'B' button. Once he had reached the correct floor, he walked down a dark hallway into an even darker room. On either side of him were two glass boxes. He couldn't see anything in them yet, though.

He folded his arms. "Morris? Are you there?"

There was a silence for around a few seconds. Then he heard something. Something... sloshing. Rhythmically so, as if someone was walking. Or more accurately, running. Suddenly, a man slammed against the wall of his glass cell. His body rippled as he pounded at the wall. His eyes were wide, his teeth were clenched, and he looked as though his mind had been fried.

"What have youdone?!" The man continued to bash the wall, to no avail. "Everything... it feelswrong! I don't feel like..." He trailed off when he got a good look at who was looking at him. "Osborn?"

Norman smiled. "Yes, Morris. It's me. It's a long story, but an interesting one." He stepped closer to Morris. "How do you like your augmentation?"

Morris glowered at him, his eyes giving off a new level of hatred. "You've... ruined my life! I'm a freak! A monster! And for what?! Some... some science experiment?!" He bashed the wall again. Now he was rippling so much Norman was wondering if he was going to collapse into a puddle.

"Pfft. Speak for yourself." Another voice, rough and ragged, came from the other glass cell. Norman turned around to face another man who had emerged from the shadows. He was covered in dark green armour, with only his face being uncovered. A long, prehensile tail was attached to the armour, with a sharp stinger at the end.

"Gargan?" Morris sounded shocked. "What have they done to you?!"

Gargan smirked. "What do you think, Bench?" He gestured to himself. "I thought it was pretty obvious. God, I knew you were stupid but... you really provide a good example of the termwater on the brain."

Morris clenched his fists, staring back at Osborn. "What did you do to us? Why?" The fire in his voice had died. Now he sounded lifeless.

"This city... has a problem." Norman turned his back to them. "Manhattan had been filled with superhumans ever since the debut of that wall-crawler. This city? Metropolis? It's worse. They've got enough heroes and villains to form a good few teams." He turned to look at them. "And we can't be having people with that kind of power run amok, can we?"

Gargan tapped his foot. "Are you getting somewhere with this? Where's my money? That's, like, have the reason I signed up for this thing."

Morris blinked. "You signed up to get turned into a monster?"

The smirk on Gargan's face hadn't grown any smaller. "Between Manhattan and here, monsters are the future. And honestly, this is safer than being a private investigator. Anyone tries to sneak up on me..." Suddenly, a glob of acid splatted against the wall. He grinned as the tip of his nail emitted smoke. "Boom. They're dead."

Norman, knowing that the glass was acid-proof, turned back to Morris. "I assume you want something in return for your service?"

"Service?" Morris's eyes widened. "And... do I want something?" When Norman nodded, Morris sighed. "Can you reverse the process?" Another nod. "So... will you."

Norman smiled. "Of course," he lied. "But first, you need to do some work. But you won't be alone." He turned away. "You'll both have some help."

As he stepped back into the elevator, he held a phone up to his ear. "Bane. It's almost time."

Chapter 12: Experiment Failed

Chapter Text

"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine. I wasn't even at the football game when he attacked."

Harry heard a sigh over the phone. "Good, good." She sounded a bit tired. "Sorry that I sound like I'm going to collapse. I'm just a bit ragged from running Oscorp.It's tough business."

Harry smiled sadly. It sucked that his mom was being swamped with all this work. Though, ironically, she had been a lot more present in his life now. She wasn'ttoodistant in the past, but she was making actual efforts to be involved with his extracurricular activities, like showing up for a play he was in and helping him with his homework. Guess she realised how she needed to do better after she thought Dad died. Even now, she was convinced that the Green Goblin in Metropolis was a fake. "I understand," he said. "Speaking of which, how's production going on the new Osberry?"

"Hmm." He could practically hear Mom's smirk. "Are you asking me this so that you can get one sooner than the public?"

Harry chuckled. "Maybe." He looked at the elevator buttons: he had just arrived at his floor. "Alright, I'm going to the pharmacy for medication. My therapist wrote me up a prescription. See you."

"See you, Harry. Love you." A soft drone came from the phone as Harry pocketed it. He sighed as the doors opened. Right in front of him, sitting at a desk overseeing the city, underneath the twentieth logo for the building he was in, was Lex Luthor.

"Hey." Harry's voice carried enough volume to reach Luthor. He didn't respond though. He kept his gaze on something in his hands. Harry huffed, stomping over to him.

"I'm talking to you, Lex. What's the matter? Don't wanna talk to your partner?"

Now that he was standing right behind Lex, he looked over his shoulder. The guy was fiddling with some kind of advanced Rubik's Cube. He was solving it easily, and he looked bored while doing so. Harry was two seconds away from grabbing him by the face and forcing him to look at him when Lex turned around.

"Can I help you, Harry?" Lex sounded as bored as he looked.

"Yeah, you can." Harry's face softened. "Where's my dad? I wanna talk to him."

The corners of Lex's mouth twitched upwards slightly. "Why? Got your butt kicked by some thug at your school and need him to sort it out?"

Harryitchedto deck him in the face. "I've barely spoken to him since I've arrived in Metropolis. You, meanwhile, have been buddying it up with him while I'm off doing my silly little project."

Lex folded his arms. "You've done Shakespeare, didn't you?"

Harry blinked. "What? I mean, yeah, but-"

"Then have you heard of the dramaOthello?" He turned away. "How they talk about the 'green-eyed monster' of jealousy?"

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Are you accusing me of being jealous? Of what, your wealth?" He placed his hands on his hips. "Oscorp makes just as much money as LexCorp does, I'll have you know."

He heard Lex scoff. "God. If there's one thing you didn't inherit, it was intelligence. I'm not talking about measuring company stocks. I'm talking about your dad."

Harry felt his cheeks flame. That made more sense. "W-what do you mean?" He tried to make it sound like he had no idea what Lex was referring to.

Unfortunately, this only made the smug look on Lex's face become even smugger. "It's about the time I've been spending with him, isn't it?"

Harry's voice had been caught in his throat. Good. He didn't trust himself not to make himself look like a fool. "I..."

Lex rolled his eyes. "I knew it." He walked over to his water cooler. "Thirsty?"

"Yeah." He tried to sound emotionless. "Sure, I could do with some water." He walked up behind him, waiting as Lex filled up a Styrofoam cup.

"Howhasyour 'silly little project' been going, Harry?" Lex turned around, holding the cup. "Hope you haven't been slacking when it comes to important things, like learning how to fly your hoverboard straight."

Harry's jaw clenched. "It's none of your concern." He grabbed his own cup. "Now please elaborate: what do you mean you were talking about my dad?"

Lex brought the cup to his own lips. After a nice long sip, he spoke. "You feel like you're being replaced."

Harry felt like he had been slugged in the stomach. "What?"

"You heard me." Another sip. "You're jealous of me spending so much time with your dad. You resent me for it. Wish I wouldn't do so." He placed the cup down. "So, listen, Ozzie-"

"Don't call me that."

"I understand how you feel." Lex crossed his arms. "You feel a... disconnect from your dad. And, well, I can relate."

Harry didn't expect that. "Really? W... what do you mean?"

Lex frowned. "As I'm sure you're aware, I'm a genius. But my dad... well, he's more into the farming lifestyle. He just doesn't understand how my stuff - my company, inventions -work." He scoffed. "I can understand though. He's not a genius. Not like me."

Harry kept his mouth shut. Last thing he needed was him saying something stupid and Lex flying off the handle at him.

"I mean, he's a good dad. A great dad, even." Lex leaned against the wall. "But he's just... not the one I reallyneed."

Harry frowned. "I... Is that why you're hanging out with my dad so much?"

Lex shrugged. "Your dad's a smart man. Really smart. And, well... there's a connection with us." He smiled. "He really understands my intellect and all I've done."

Harry bit his lip. "Do you feel like your dad... doesn't pay attention to you?" That had to be it. Lex said he related to Harry. Honestly, he was feeling a bit sorry for Lex.

"Nah."

Harry's eyebrows raised. "Huh?"

"My dad's always in my life. Takes me out for family outings, play games... all that jazz." Lex walked up to Harry. "Why do you ask?"

At the rate he was biting his lip, Harry felt like he was about to draw blood. "No reason."

Lex's smirk grew wider. "It's because you feel like that with your dad, don't you?"

"I..." Harry was fixing to give Lex a nice smack upside the head. "Don't you think you're being a bit unfair onyourdad? You just admitted he loves you, spends time with you... I want that frommydad."

Lex rolled his eyes. "Were you listening to me? My dad can barely understand what I do. Can't articulate how he finds me smart. Trust me, spend a day in my shoes and you'd understand." Then he grimaced. "Andanotherbig issue in my life."

"What's that?"

Lex's grimace grew pronounced. "Superman."

Harry blinked. "You mean the guy with the cape?" He threw his hands into the air. "He's, like, the nicest guy ever! Well, from what I've read. Even though he's a bit of an egotist."

The way Lex stared at him... Harry didn't realise that the gaze could get more poisonous. "Superman-" Lex sounded poisonous too. "-is a glory-seeking, attention-sucking, arroganttwit. He makes humanity dependent. He makes us weak. He-"

Harry held up a hand. "Wait a sec. Are you just saying this... because you're jealous." Lex didn't say anything, causing a grin to cross Harry's face. "Oh my God, youare."

"Shut up!" Lex pointed at him. "I thought you'd relate to me. What withyourclear daddy issues."

The smile on Harry's face disappeared like a line in the sand. "Excuse me? I think there's a pretty big difference withthosetwo issues."

"Pfft." Lex turned his back on him. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. Don't even know why I thought it would."

"Screw you." Harry placed his hand in his pockets, turning around as well. "Me and my 'daddy issues' aren't the same thing as Metropolis liking Superman more than you."

Before he could actually start to leave, Harry felt something hit his back. Something hard enough to make him hit the ground. He cursed as he brought a hand to his nose. It was bleeding. When he looked up, he saw Lex standing over him. And he lookedpissed.

"Don't youdaretalk about what you can't understand!" Lex sounded a lot less suave and sophisticated now. "I'm a tenth-level intellect, what's your biggest achievement? Sneaking your dad's drugs?!"

Harry stared up at him with wide eyes. Then he closed them when Lex raised up a foot.

"Uh... sir?"

Then he opened them again when he heard the voice. He turned to the doorway, seeing Lex's assistant. She looked slightly baffled.

Lex blinked a few times. "Oh, hello Mercy." He smoothed out his suit and adjusted his tie. You'd have never guessed he had just assaulted him. "Are we ready?"

"More or less." Mercy looked at Harry. "What happened to you?"

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Lex held up a hand. "He fell over. Landed on his nose."

Mercy didn't look convinced, but seemed to accept it. "Okay. Well, come on." She turned around. "No one ever changed the world by sitting around."

Lex smirked. "Reading from my autobiography, have we?" He looked down at Harry with a frown. "Tell your dad about this and I'll make you regret it."

With that, he walked away, following Mercy. Harry stared at the ground, clenching his fists. Humiliated, pushed around, suffering a nosebleed, and now being threatened if he told his dad that he wasattacked. If he only had some Green...

No. He wasn't going to go back on the Green. It was clearly making his dad crazy. He didn't need it, anyways: he had the Hobgoblin armour. He just needed to stay calm. Clear his mind, be the bigger man, andcowboy up. Do what he had to.

Standing up, Harry walked back to the elevator. Oh, but not before 'accidentally' knocking over one of Lex's many awards on the shelf. Oopsies.

Peter squinted. And he squinted harder. And harder. Nope, his eyes were deceiving him. Something was wrong.

"Hey, Babs? Zee?"

As soon as he said that, he heard some footsteps. "Yeah?" Babs asked.

"...Did you two edit my costume?"

When he turned around, he saw Zee and Babs, both with wide grins on their faces. "We sure did!" Babs looked especially pleased with herself.

Peter's eyes narrowed slightly. "...How so?" He held up the costume. "I mean, I knowwhatyou edited." He gestured to the web-armpits. The fabric had been altered, and they were slightly wider. "But why?"

Zee smirked. "Well, I was looking at your suit." She gestured to it. "And I thought those... 'web-armpits' looked a little weird. I mean, they're not even doing anything so..."

Babs stepped forward. "Your web-armpits have been reincarnated into beautiful web-wings!"

"Web-wings?" Peter felt the fabric of his new 'web-wings'. "What does that mean?"

Zee laughed. "What do you think? They allow you to-"

"Fly?" Peter smiled. Sure, web-slinging was great fun, a good rush, but being able to fly could really save on web-fluid.

"Uh, no. Just glide." Zee folded her arms. "In future, please let me finish."

"Oh." Peter looked at the wings. Well, they would still be useful. Hopefully. He did kinda wish they had come to him before making them, though. How would they like it ifhemeddled with their costumes with his lack of costume design skills? Not to say that they didn't have costume design skills but-Okay, Pete, you've been thinking for too long and Zee's looking at you funny. "Thanks," he said.

Zee's smile returned. "You're welcome." She sat down a beanbag. "Come and sit with us."

Babs smiled as well. "Yeah. They'rereallycomfy."

Peter took a seat. Babs was not lying. He smirked as he lay back into the beanbag. "I can see why you guys have a secret base. Wish I had one. Wouldn't have to hide my costume in the costume and/or under the bed."

Babs shrugged. "I usually hide my costume in my bag. Which I usually bring with me or hide in my closet. Thankfully, my dad doesn't usually come in unless I'm making a lot of noise or the place needs cleaning."

Peter nodded. "Cool." He started staring into space, allowing his thoughts to run wild. About the fact that Norman was still alive. About how Harry would take the information if he knew. Why, if hewasalive, he didn't just reveal himself to his family, hisgrievingfamily who-

"What are you thinking about?"

Peter turned to look at Zee, blinking rapidly. "Uh... nothing much."

Zee's eyes narrowed the slightest bit. "Might you be thinking about a blonde with glasses?"

Peter's felt his face crimson. That was the one thing hewasn'tthinking about. "No." Although that was the truth, he didn't sound too convincing. And judging by the sly smile on Zee's face, she didn't believe him for even a second. "Look, I'd... rather not talk about it."

Zee frowned. "Why not?" She folded her arms. "I mean, it's clear you still have a 'thing' for her, so to speak."

The heat only increased as Peter gritted his teeth. "Yeah, well..." He ran a hand down his face. "Urgh, this is difficult to articulate."

"Take your time." Babs fiddled with her hoodie's drawstring. "You're not in any rush."

Peter smirked. "Thanks guys." He sighed. "Well, I mean... Idostill have feelings for Gwen. As much I've been trying to deny it, it's true."

Zee grinned. "I knew it!" When Peter raised an eyebrow, the grin shrunk down to an awkward smile. "Sorry, sorry. Continue please." She rested her chin on her interlaced fingers.

"Okay." He folded his arms. "It's just that, it's beenreallyhard to actually interact with her."

Babs blinked. "How so? You two seem like pretty good friends."

"We are." Peter's eyes narrowed slightly. "But she's been... pretty busy. Busy with Harry, mainly. Every time me and her try to have a real conversation, Harry ends up getting her away from me." He frowned. "I'm not trying to blame him. He's been struggling ever since Norman 'died'. But..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Zee held his hand. "I know how it must feel. Like, if I was struggling to have a major conversation with one of my friends, I'd been pretty frustrated too."

"Yeah." Babs offered a supportive smile. "I know if it was me and Harley, I'd bemorethan frustrated. I might even do some deep detective work to discover whether or not the cause of it was something to worry about and..." She continued going on about such a hypothetical situation, making Peter chuckle. He hadn't known Babs for very long, but he knew that when she got started on something, it was pretty hard to make her stop.

"Thanks guys." Peter stood up. "Though, I do really wish I could reach out to her. Heck, I could even help her with helping with Harry. Like I said, he's still struggling with issues, and he needs all the help he can get."

"Sounds like it." Zee placed her hands on her hips. "Maybe we can get Jess to help. Trust me, when she sees a problem, she won't stop trying to fix it for anything."

Peter smirked. "Cool." Then he awkwardly coughed. "I'll try and talk more with Gwen, and help Harry. I just need to unwind for now."

"And we'll help you," Babs added. "Though, since you're not doing anything..." She ran over to the TV. "Wanna watchJust Before Dusk 3?"

Peter raised an eyebrow. He had heard of theJust Before Duskmovies. They didn't really appeal to him, he had never been too into romance films... but then again, he supposed it couldn't hurt to try and watch one.

"Uh... sure." He leaned back into the couch. "Will any of you fill me in on the plot details?"

Zee smirked as Babs grabbed the disk and slammed it into the DVD player. "Sure thing. So basically, Aiden and Caitlin are star-crossed lovers..."

"Are you ready, Willis?"

Livewire stopped fidgeting with the cables attached to her fingers and looked up. She smirked. "I've been ready for the past few hours." She rolled her eyes. "And where's the other guy?" Then a look of confusion spread across her face. "Actually,whois the other guy?"

Norman just interlaced his fingers. "Glad you asked." He pressed a button. "Bring in Electro."

Behind the glass, a metal door slid open, a loud buzzing noise filling the air. Standing behind it was a man in a green containment suit. Several tubes connected to the suit buzzed with electricity. The lenses showed two glowing eyes, that were narrowed. As if the man underneath was just as impatient as Livewire was.

"Abouttime," the man hissed. "I feel like I've been waiting for hours." He raised an eyebrow when he saw the girl (though it was hard to tell thanks to the mask). "What? Who's the kid?"

"Kid?" Livewire grimaced. "I'm, like, eleven months away from being eighteen!"

"Right." Electro looked at the people outside. "Wait, is this kid the one doing the experiment with me?"

Lex folded his arms behind his back. "That's right." He looked at Livewire. "She's got a lot of power, and shares the same electric powers you do."

This seemed to interest Electro a bit. "Interesting, I guess." Then he looked at the machine in the room: an egg-shaped chamber with several large tubes attached to large batteries. "What are we doing, exactly?"

Lex's smile grew wider. "Glad you asked. What we're looking at is an exchange of energy. The both of you have different forms of electrokinesis. Max constantly produces a form of bio-electricity, while Willis is able to absorb the electricity from different technology. She even has the ability to turn herself into living lightning." He looked at Electro, who was still staring at the machine. "And she is able to be outside of a suit. Wouldn't you want that?"

Max dug his fingers into his palms. "But Ilikethe power. I'm not Max Dillon anymore. I'm Electro."

Livewire stared at him. "Are... are you good?"

Norman adjusted his goggles. "Don't worry, Electro. If all goes well, you'll be able to 'turn on' the electricity in your body. You'll be able to drain electricity yourself. Don't you want life outside of that suit?"

Electro's eyes narrowed slightly as a smile formed under his mask. "That sounds... good, actually."

Livewire looked at Lex. "Wait, what do I get out of this? I know I probably should have gone over this beforehand but I needed to check my Supersta."

Lex just rolled his eyes. As good as a friend Livewire was, he felt like this same scenario had happened ten times before. "You'll be able to supply your own electricity. No more need to worry about losing power. And how does that sound?"

Livewire grinned. "Like it's my birthday."

Lex smiled. "Excellent!" He fitted on his goggles. "Okay, Electro. Step into the machine."

Electro looked back at the machine. "I gotta get into that?"

"Yes, Electro." Norman's tone was impersonal. "It's a chamber that connected to Livewire. This is how the power exchange happens."

Electro was silent for a bit, before muttering an "Okay then." He stepped into the egg-shaped machine and a glass door closed behind him. Livewire just breathed in, smiling. She nodded at Lex, signalling him to begin. Lex looked at Mercy.

"Activate it."

Mercy pulled down a switch. Almost immediately, the chamber Electro was in started to glow and hum. The cables connected to Livewire's fingers also started glowing. Yellow electricity travelled through the cables, turning Livewire's outline almost yellowish. Within the chamber, Electro looked totally serene. His eyes were closed and Lex imagined that there was a content smile on his face. Everything was going according to plan.

Then he heard a spark. Lex's eyes narrowed slightly. What? He looked at the machine, his eyes widening when he saw that some of the wires were sparking. Yellow arc of electricity were travelling up and down the wires and the outside of the machine. Even Electro seemed to notice that.

"What's going on?" Electro's voice was loud enough to be heard over the sparking. Even Livewire looked a bit perturbed.

"Sir?" Mercy sounded apprehensive. "Should I do something?"

Lex opened his mouth to tell her to shut it down, only to feel a hand clasp over his mouth. "More energy," Norman stated. His voice was completely stoic. Several of the technicians hit a few buttons. The sparks grew larger and brighter as the machine started juddering.

"Okay, screw this!" Livewire tried ripping the wires off her fingers, but they were stuck to her fingers. "Lex! Do something, dude!"

Lex opened his mouth to speak, only for Norman's voice to drown him out. "Don't stop now!" He barked. "Keep going!"

The sparking grew in volume, to the point where Lex could barely hear his own thoughts. "No!" He yelled as loud as he could. "Stop it right no-"

Banging. Loud, fierce banging filled the air. Lex stared at the machine: Electro was banging on the door. "Let me out!" He roared. "It hurts! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME-" He was cut off by himself screaming in agony. The light was blinding at this point, but Lex could still make out how it almost looked like he was getting... pulled into some of the cables. The man himself had suddenly disappeared, leaving an empty suit to collapse.

The wires connected to Livewire glowed bright yellow as her eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something, but only an ear-piercing scream came out. Her entire body started to glow yellow as she threw her head back, hands on either side of her head. She almost seemed to lose shape as the glow grew brighter and brighter. Her screams reached a new volume before... she collapsed into a few sparks. The wires fell to the floor as a few yellow sparks arced across the floor before fizzling out. Lex stared in open-mouthed horror as the machine powered down and opened up, revealing the suit that once contained Electro.

"Dear God..." He muttered. He didn't want this to happen. Hell, Livewire was one of his friends: someone to hang out with while playing games. "N-now what?"

Norman removed his goggles. "We'll just have to try again. No one ever made a change to the world without a few mistakes along the way." He looked at Lex. "Don't be so soft, Lex. Men like us are made of stronger stuff."

Lex felt his face go pale. "Of... of course." Swallowing a little, he looked at Mercy. "Throw out the suit. We... need to send out the troops." With that, he exited the room, with Mercy, Norman, and the rest of technicians following him. And as they left, they failed to notice the green electricity make its way from the loose wires on the ground to a plug socket. As if it was alive.