Chapter 1-How it all Started

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   Max sat in his cell fiddling with a pipe from his sink. It was the only thing that was metal in there, but it was no use to him. His cell always had a rubber padding in it. Even if he tried to push electricity through anything, it would come back to scar him. He had enough scars already: his entire body had burns from being struck by lightning at the chemical plant.
   More were from his fights with...him. That bastard. Spider-Man. The worst thing about being a living power plant was that you couldn't touch water when focusing your power. The Spider took a fireman hose and doused him like a burning house. The police didn't even take him to the hospital to get his burns repaired. They just threw him in here: the Raft. It was the Alcatraz of bad guys. Anybody that Spider-Man ever fought was in there. To challenge the spider was to wage getting your ass kicked.
   Suddenly, Max heard the prison alarm go off. The light in his room went red. Someone was getting out again. He wondered who it was. It could've been that wannabe "shocker" guy, or maybe it was Fisk getting out again. He might have been a big guy, but he sure was strong. No, it couldn't be either of them. Both of them were in solitary padded rooms in straight jackets.
   He put his pipe down and went to the door to look out the single window that he had. "Guard," Max yelled over the alarm, "what the hell is going on!?"
   All of a sudden, Max heard all the guards screaming. This wasn't a break-out...this was a break in. But who would try to break into the Raft?
   Max jumped backwards as the door to his cell was ripped off. A man in goggles and a trench coat walked in. He looked familiar. His four mechanical arms gave him away. He was the doctor that helped Spiderman fight the reptile man.
   "You Maxwell Dillon?" Otto asked, setting the door aside with his extensions.
   Max approached him, letting electricity run through his fingers in case this guy wanted a fight. "I prefer Electro, Octavius," he started. Otto smiled. "That is your name isn't it? Otto Octavius. The man that helped Spider-Man save the city. Mister Octopus or some shit like that."
   "Doctor," Otto corrected. "Doctor Octopus. But you can call me Doc if you want to."
   Max looked outside at the unconscious guards that were everywhere. "Okay, Doc," he began, "what do you want me for?"
   Otto approached Max and took off his goggles. "I've had a revelation, Electro. Spider-Man doesn't protect the city like he should. He has rules. In order to be a hero, you need to have no rules."
   Electro raised his eyebrow. "You want me to help you prove that the spider is a false hero?" He chuckled. "Well, where the hell do I sign up?"
   Otto grinned. "We just need to kill one man. Unfortunately for you, Spider-Man isn't our target, but I need you and a few more criminals here to deal with the spider problem. Just keep him out of the way of my doings."
   "Deal," Max said. "I can show you some people who would love to help."
   "Lead the way."
   Max walked out of the cell and continued down one of the aisles. An elderly looking man with no hair sat there looking angry.
   "Adrian Toomes," Electro said. "He calls himself 'vulture.' Expert in aerodynamics, and hater of our fellow Spidermen." Max opened the cell door and looked at the old criminal. "Yo, Adrian!" he said in a thick Italian accent. "You wanna join me and the Doc to knock a spider around?"
   Adrian stood up. He looked at Otto and Max. A eerie grin crawled across his face. "Sounds like a great time to me."
   They moved more and more down the aisle and got to another cell. "This one is a little on the strange side," Max said. A buff man with black facial hair stood in the middle of his cell. He staired at the three men outside of his cell.
   "What do you mean by 'strange?'" Otto asked.
   "No one knows his real name," Max said. "He's a bounty hunter from Russia...claims he comes from a long line of Russian monarchial hunters. Came here after the Rhino, but the Spider came in an ruined his fun. Calls himself...'Kraven.'" He opened his cell. "What do you say, Ruski? Wanna knock a spider around?"
   Kraven walked out of his cell with his hands rested behind his back. "Spiderman...dead," he said with a heavy Russian accent. "Kraven likes."
   They approached another cell. "This one is one of the crazies," Electro said. "I'm labeled a genocidal maniac, but this guy is just cruel. He invented his own toxin that slowly crazes and melts his victims' brains." They looked at the man who had his back turned to them rocking back and forth. "He's also a schizophrenic. Yo, Mac!" Max called while opening the cell. "Or am I talking to Scorpion right now? Either way, bud, we need you to help us with a spider problem."
   Mac chuckled and turned to them slowly. "Spider...problem? Si," he said. "Scorpion wants that gringo dead. We wants to go."
   Finally, they walked to a large door. I mean a really large door. A door that would hold some sort of monster. Max looked at Kraven. "You don't have a problem working with your prey, do you?"
   Kraven looked at Max and gave a polite smile. "Kraven must make...compromises."
   Electro nodded and opened the doors. A roar came from the cell, and a hulking man slowly walked out. "What you want, lightbulb?" he asked in a thick Russian accent. He turned to Kraven and cursed at him in Russian. Kraven spat at his foot and cursed back.
   "Aleksi, it seems that we have a spider problem. Would you be willing to help?" Aleksi looked over at Kraven and snarled. "What about it, Rhino?" Max asked.
   He grinned. "Keep me away from the little hunter, and we have deal."
   "Deal." He turned to Otto. "So, Doc, you've got a nice little team. Now, what?"
   "Now," Otto said while putting on his goggles, "we plan, gentlemen. We plan."

  It was 9:00 in the morning. Peter sat on a nearby rooftop. "You're not relaxing your fingers enough," he told Gwen. Gwen was still learning how to control her powers. She felt lucky that Peter felt like he had a responsibility to teach her. They were in a abandoned back alley
   Gwen still couldn't remove her fingers from the wall. Her toes wouldn't budge either. "Peter, if I relaxed anymore, I would be dead," she said.
   "It's not about relaxation," he said, taking a sip of coffee. "It's about being in the moment."
  She sighed. "Yeah, I'm in a moment, and currently it's a pretty freaking bad moment." Gwen slowed her breathing and yanked one more time. Still nothing happened. "This is bullcrap!"
   Peter took off his shoes and jumped to the wall she was on. Naturally, he casually stood up on the wall and walked to where she was. "Look, it's literally this easy."
   "How is it everything is so easy for you?" she asked, still trying to pry her hands and feet from the wall.
   Peter shrugged. "I don't know. You just can't think about it. It's supposed to be just as easy as walking. It becomes muscle memory."
   Gwen raised her eyebrow. "Peter, that literally makes no sense to me right now."
   Peter sighed and sat on the wall next to her. "Okay, then...turn off your mind."
   "Are you serious?"
   "That's literally the only way I can explain it to you now. Don't think of anything, and I mean anything."
   Gwen sighed and slowed her breathing. She closed her eyes and just tried to imagine nothing. Suddenly, her fingers and toes detatched from the wall. Not being quick enough, she fell straight on her butt on the alley floor. "Oh crap, Gwen," Peter exclaimed, jumping down to the floor to help her up. "Are you okay?"
   She wiped dust and dirt off of her butt. "Yeah, I'm fine I guess."
   Peter smirked. "I guess I got you to get off the wall, though."
   She giggled a little. "Yeah, I guess so. How do you do it so naturally?"
   He shrugged. "I've been Spider-Man for nearly a year, Gwen. I've had a lot of time to practice."
   She shook her head. "I really don't want to wait that freaking long to figure out my powers." She bent down to put her shoes and socks back on.
   "Well, we can figure it out." Suddenly, he felt his spider sense chill his spine. It felt like the danger was coming from... "...oh, no. The Raft."
   She pressed her lips together. "That's another thing. My spider sense doesn't work half the time. Why the hell is that?"
   Peter took off his clothes to reveal his Spiderman outfit. "We'll continue this tonight, after me and MJ go with Harry and Liz to meet about the wedding."
   Gwen was MJ's best friend, but she was getting tired of hearing her name now. She was all Peter ever talked about. Sometimes she regretted ever trying to push Peter away. "Sounds good," she said.
   Peter looked at her while he put on his mask. "You sure that you don't want to go with us tonight?"
   She shook her head. "No, you guys have fun."
   "See you later, then." He activated his com device. "Hob-Goblin, do you copy?"
   "Loud and clear, Spidey," Harry replied on the comm. "What's up?"
   "Meet me at the Raft. My spider-sense just went off, and I feel like something awful just happened..."

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