Now, with Scarlet Cat AKA Jasmine Russo now part of Spider-Man's team, it was definitely unexpected but it was an eventuality of it happening. Jasmine was lucky to find out who Spider-Man really is under the mask, which made her feel happy to know who it is. At the same time, the others were excited to work with a new teammate, Karai and Andrea happy to have another girl on the team.
In addition, thanks to the new modifications Leo had gone for Jasmine's Scarlet Cat outfit, the redhead has been able to keep up with the webslinger and his crew, and on top of that, she has gotten notice by the news as she's the next member of the Spider-Crew (as far as the populace of New York calls them). Thanks to this, the crew has gotten more recognition and love from all those around New York, except for Jameson (who continues on with his tyrannical ranting about how Spider-Man and his crew are not heroes but menaces).
~*~*~
One calm evening, a group of armed thugs in black ski-masks are making their way through an alleyway towards the Bank of America, over on the corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, not far from the Washington Square Arch on Greenwich Village.
The thugs all look from the shadows of the alleyway, now spotting an armoured money truck. The thugs all look to one another as they head over to the truck. The thugs made their way over to the truck, two burly men armed with crowbars starting to try and pry their way into the back of the van, with some of the thugs armed with automatic rifles look around.
But as they do so, two strands of white and black webbing struck two of the thugs and sent them flying back. A second later, a small red winged drone struck another thug, sending him flying into the wall, only to get caught in a web. The thugs look around in uncertainty, the burly men also getting their crowbars at the ready. Suddenly, something red shot out of the shadows and judo kicks the two burly thugs before leaping onto the back of the truck, planting two magnetic devices to the thugs, making them magnetise back-to-back, smacking their heads together and knocking them out. The last three thugs all look around on uncertainty and fear, all their eyes trying to find what or who had just attacked them. Sure enough, the other thugs were caught in webbing and taser blasts, stopping them in their tracks, and finally got weighed down to the ground.
Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Tengu, Agent Venom, and Scarlet Cat soon appear on the scene, the teammates all giving one another high-fives and bro-fists as they made their way over.
"Trying to break into an armoured truck at this time of night..." Agent Venom sighed as he cracks his knuckles. "That's just sad, and you didn't even bother with the security cameras."
"Definitely." Scarlet Cat shook her head, while rolling his eyes in amusement. "Just lazy..."
"What a complete waste." Spider-Woman said. "We had better runs with carjackers and jewel thieves better than these guys."
Spider-Man now looks over his shoulder once he heard the sound of police sirens closing in. "Let's go, team." He called, now shooting a web upwards and swings away. "Let's have the police take care of this."
Spider-Woman, Agent Venom, and Scarlet Cat fire webs or cables off to swing away, as Tengu deploys his wingpack and flies off after the others. They all laugh and chuckle to one another as they swing/fly away, the police arriving on the scene to take the crooks away.
But as Spider-Man goes for a backflip and midair spin, something struck him and sends him flying into the top floor of an office building, some folks inside startled from Spider-Man crashing through the window, but some running over to check if he's alright. However, the sound of a howling jet engine made them go for cover as Black Goblin flies in out of the darkness straight at Spider-Man!
"Prepare to die, Spider-Man!" Black Goblin called out with a maniacal laugh, only for a cable to strike him in the back and his glider, stopping him in his tracks. "What in the-"
"Not today, ghoul-face!" Tengu called out, pulling back with Scarlet Cat, the two using the cables to pull back and lock their feet against the floor, Tengu utilising anchor spikes in his feet to brace.
"Now get away from him!" Scarlet Cat added in.
Black Goblin grunted, then abruptly deploys a sword from his gauntlets with a flex of his fingers, and slices the cables off, Scarlet Cat and Tengu nearly falling out of the building. "Stay out of this!" Black Goblin turns his glider around and shoots gunfire at then, Tengu now grabbing Scarlet Cat and flying out of the office building as gunfire shoots out.
"Too close." Tengu comments, Scarlet Cat hanging on.
Agent Venom suddenly swings in, switching into his hulking muscular form as he snarls out, backhanding Black Goblin off his glider and right into the wall, a hole now in the wall. Agent Venom now turns to run over to Spider-Man, who looks to be struggling to get to his feet. "You good?" He asked.
"Been... better." Spider-Man muttered as he shook his head. "I think he broke something important..."
Agent Venom now helped Spider-Man up to his feet. He did take note of how slow his fellow webslinger was moving, so he placed him on his back, Spider-Man wrapping his arms around his neck, and sprints for the window. "Tengu, keep Goblin at bay. Scarlet, Spider-Woman, you're with me. We're outta here." With that, he takes a huge leap into the air as he shifts into his sleek stealth form, Spider-Man stuck to his back for safety, as he opens his arms out, the Symbiote forming a set of bat-like wings from his arms, and began to soar in the air.
Scarlet Cat and Spider-Woman saw this and were in surprise that Agent Venom could do that. They look to one another but they follow on after the black-suited Spider-Man and the downed red/blue webslinger. As this goes on, Tengu was opening fire at Black Goblin, the villainous individual being bombarded by the Crimson Bombs as they let off smokescreens and also electrocuted him, leaving him immobilised.
'Guess his suit isn't that well-insulated to handle big volts of electricity.' Leo thought to himself, then he saw a water pipe next to Black Goblin. 'Let's see how much voltage this guy can take.'
Tengu holds his hand out, a small bladed boomerang now forming in his hand, and he throws it at the water pipe with such force to make it spray out. Water and electricity don't mix, and Black Goblin was being bombarded and electrocuted, the leaking water also hitting the switchboard for the building, the lights all going haywire as Black Goblin yelled out in response.
"Time to fly!" Tengu deployed his wingpack and took to the night sky as the power went out to the building. "Tengu to The Haven. Black Goblin has been struck with 1.21 gigawatts." He reported in.
"Acknowledged, Tengu. Spider-Man, Agent Venom, and the girls are back here at The Haven." Goddess Eye now answered on Comms.
"How is Spider-Man?" Tengu asked in concern as he accelerated onwards back to base.
"You'll find out when you get here." Agent Venom answered back.
~*~*~
Tengu eventually made it back to The Haven. When he landed, he saw the others around Spider-Man, who's lying on his back on a table, who looks worse for wear. He definitely looks like he's been through the wringer, tears in his uniform and one of the eye lens broken.
"How is Braedey?" Leo asked, retracting his wingpack and his helmet folding back to reveal his head.
Dante now has Venom stretched out and attached to Braedey, the Symbiote starting to attend to the latter's injuries. "Broken ribs, as well as a broken arm, and his jaw being dislocated... aside from that, he'll be fine after Venom patches him up." Dante informed.
"Ouch..." Braedey groaned under the mask.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Jasmine asked in concern, removing his mask to look at his face.
"I will be, eventually." Braedey admitted with a wince of pain. "Man, that Goblin really packs a wallop with that punch."
"This Black Goblin has his targets set on Spider-Man." Dante stated bluntly, everyone looking to him, just as Venom returns to his body after fixing up Braedey. "We cannot let him go out and about at night."
"What?" Braedey echoed in surprise.
"I'm with Braedey. Are you being serious?" Andrea added in.
"I mean, during the night." Dante pointed out. "During the day, Braedey can still be Spider-Man, but at night, he's to stay in The Haven."
"I can understand that." Leo acknowledged at this. "Thanks to his active camouflage and weaponised suit and glider, Black Goblin has a serious upgrade to him that would very well put down Spider-Man if we're not too careful."
"Still, I can't risk you guys getting hurt for me out there against those like Black Goblin." Braedey spoke up as he sat up on the medical bed.
"It's for your own health and safety." Jasmine said in concern to him. "Don't want you to be sent to the hospital, right?"
Braedey shrugged and sighed. "I guess you're right. So what now?" He asked.
"Not sure. But, I'm gonna head off the next day or so to see the unveiling of something created by the name of Doctor Oliver Octavius." Leo stated next.
"And what might that be?" Dante asked.
"Not sure of what. But from what I can gather, it could be something that can help those with disabilities." Leo answered back.
"That sounds like something that can help others." Jasmine commented.
"Perhaps. Still, with Silverback involved with this whole thing, I have a feeling that something sinister or bad might happen." Dante added in.
"No doubt." Everyone else agreed.
"Andrea. Best you look up whatever's happening within Oscorp internally and see what's with Octavius and what is happening." Braedey suggested. "Best to be on the safe side than anything."
"Already on it." Andrea acknowledged.
"I'll go with Leo. Better to have an extra set of eyes." Dante opted.
"Very well. Dante and Venom will assist Leo. If anything happens, Agent Venom and Spider-Man can help." Braedey opted.
"Very well." Everyone else acknowledged, though they were not sure if Braedey should go out there, especially with Ares Silverback out and about...
~*~*~
About a day after what happened with Black Goblin, late in the afternoon, Leo and Dante both met up with some reporters, with Andrea and Shawn among them, as they go and see with other investors at a warehouse at 32 Second Avenue, East Village. As they go inside, they meet up with Oliver and his mother Rosie, who were all in one main room ready to announce the demonstration.
Oliver Octavius looks to be a man in his late 20's, with short black hair, green eyes, and fair skin. He looks to be a rather average and skinny man with a black button-up shirt and black pants, and a black belt. He did look rather handsome.
Rosie is an stunningly attractive woman with sexy hip-length black hair with bangs hanging on the right side with two ahoges, green eyes, a mole under her left eye, red round glasses, one earring on her left ear and a voluptuous figure. Her outfit consists of a green knitted turtleneck, a tight black miniskirt, along with cross garter motif stockings, and and white lab coat.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my mother Rosie and I would like to welcome you this afternoon." Oliver thanked to everyone. "But first, before we begin, has anyone lost a large roll of $100 dollar bills in a rubber band? Because we found the rubber band." He chuckled, with some folks laughing as well. "It's a terrible joke. But thank you for coming." He then got focused. "Today... you will witness the birth of a new fusion-based energy source, as well as an innovation of science and technology. A vision that my father Otto Octavius was planning on for years until he tragically passed away due to a motor neurone failure. Safe, renewable energy and cheap electricity for everyone, as well as the newest technology for anyone. Let me introduce to you my assistants."
Oliver made his way over to something that was hidden under a cloak. As he pulled it off, it reveals what looks to be a harness. But it's what's attached to the harness is what got people's attention: there look to be about four long mechanical tentacles attached to the back of it, the tentacles about 4.5 feet long, plus a flexible spine-like piece that's curled up.
'Strange... and unique.' Leo noted mentally.
"These four specially-designed actuators were fully-developed and have been programmed for the purpose of creating successful fusion. They are impervious to heat and magnetism." Oliver explained as he gets himself strapped up into the harness. "Other uses for these actuators can be adapted in the service of the fire or police departments, maybe even in the construction industry."
Once he was strapped inside, Oliver now types in some commands on a keyboard, the flexible spine rolling up his back to the base of his neck, just as a set of small rods now intersect and lock into his back with a metallic hiss and sinking sound, most of the investors and reporters all wincing from this. Once done so, an inhibitor chip at the base of Oliver's neck flashes blue. Oliver closes his eyes as he takes in a deep breath, raising his head. As he does so, the mechanical tentacles slowly start to move, eventually coming out of their holding position, the tips opening to form three-prong claw tips, Oliver opening his eyes as he looks at the four arms, a smile on his face as he does so.
'Most impressive.' Leo thought to himself. 'Four arms under his control...'
'Kind of like how Venom can make multiple tentacles.' Dante commented mentally.
"But not as cool as me." Venom said in Dante's head.
"These four smart arms are all controlled by my brain through a neural link. Nanowires feed directly into my cerebellum, allowing me to use these arms to control fusion reaction in an environment no human hand could enter." Oliver explained, the four arms looking at the folks around the room. "They are also able to handle weights of up to 30 tonnes, and extend out further than any arm can reach."
"Doctor, if this artificial intelligence in the arms is as advanced as you suggest, couldn't that make you vulnerable to them?" One female reporter asked to Oliver.
Oliver gave a nod. "How right you are to ask me such a question, Miss. Which is why I have developed this inhibitor chip to protect my higher brain function. It means I maintain control of these arms, instead of them controlling me." He gestured to the inhibitor chip behind his head, all the while with the tentacle arms moving about gently and elegantly, as if he's performing an orchestra within his head.
"But, Doctor." Leo stepped up, Oliver looking to him. "As impressive as these arms are, what if there was to be an accident that had disabled the inhibitor chip?" He now asked. That was indeed a very good question.
"Hmm... how right of you to ask me. But rest assured, I know of the risks." Oliver reassured to him.
'I just hope so...' Leo thought to himself in uncertainty.
"And now, onto the main event." Oliver gestured over behind him, where what looks to be some kind of odd-looking device the size of a city car was located. There looks to be four metallic prongs that have what look like laser beams focused onto one single point in the middle.
Oliver made his way over to a set of keyboards nearby, typing in some commands as a blue light illuminates the area. Once done so, one of the mechanical arms reaches out and over to collect a small perfect sphere of some kind of golden material, and moves it into the centre of the huge device, hovering mid-air.
"Precious tritium is the fuel that makes this project go. There's only 25 pounds of it on the whole planet." Oliver said. "I'd like to thank Ares Silverback and Oscorp Industries for providing it."
Ares shrugged. "Whatever, Otto."
Rosie walked over to Oliver, giving him a pair of welding goggles. She looks concerned for him, but he gives a look of reassurance, Rosie taking some steps back. He puts on the goggles, just as the laser pointers aim at the tritium in the centre.
"Ladies and gentlemen... fasten your seatbelts." Oliver declared. With that, he types in commands on the main keyboard, a series of lasers shooting at the tritium, now creating a miniature sun in the middle of the whole device.
'Whoa...' Was all Andrew and Shawn could think of at that moment. 'He just created The Sun.'
"Doctor, we have a successful fusion reaction." One technician informs to Oliver, a series of claps coming from the press in response, Oliver smiling happily as he looks back at everyone. "We're producing a thousand-megawatt surplus."
As everyone watches on, they could see the miniature sun grow in size, all the while with Oliver's four mechanical arms containing the solar flares and spikes that are forming, containing it as it grows.
"The power of the sun... in the palm of my hand..." Oliver said softly as he looks at the small sun. "Father..."
But as this is all happening, Braedey felt something amiss. He sees a lone paper clip be drawn up into the sun, as well as seeing the metal fixtures overhead move towards the glowing orb. At the same time, some objects seemed to be drawn towards the sun, being sucked in as if it was some giant super magnet.
"Keep calm! It's only a spike! lt'll soon stabilise!" Oliver insisted to them. He looks to Rosie, who's hiding behind one of the pillars and gripping onto it. "Mother..."
Ares was about to say something, only for him to see both Braedey and Dante have both vanished. At the same time, Shawn and Andrea both decided to take their leave at once, not wanting to be here nor see what is going to happen. Just then, an alarm sounds out, warning of an overload, just as more metal and other objects were being drawn towards the sun.
"We have a containment breach!" One scientist called out, just as a large solar flare of energy blasts out and cuts a hole in the roof, everyone soon running for cover and trying to get away.
"Oliver, please get back!" Rosie called out.
"Shut it off, Octavius! Shut it down!" Ares ordered.
"It will stabilise! It's under control!" Oliver insisted.
"SHUT IT DOWN! I ORDER YOU!" Ares yelled out in anger, his eyes a pulsing green. But he was unaware of a large metal beam hurtling towards him, before he got pulled back by... Agent Venom? "You..."
"You can thank me later." Agent Venom grunted before jumping off. Spider-Man now swings in and overhead of Ares, who could only growl in anger before being lead out of the building. "Let's go to work."
"I'm on it!" Spider-Man called out.
"What are you doing?" Oliver demanded, now seeing the webcrawler hanging off the wall.
"We're pulling the plug." Agent Venom declared.
"No!" Oliver yelled, swinging one of his tentacle arms at Agent Venom, sending him into the wall and falling to the floor.
"Venom!" Spider-Man immediately dodges one of the mechanical tentacles that was sent at him, forcing him to swing about, Oliver trying to stop him.
But as this is all happening, the steel structure of the window frame began to buckle and groan, Rosie now looking over to see the windows shattering as the glass now become sharp projectiles flying straight at her! Rosie could only scream out in horror, her screams now getting Oliver's attention as he turns around, just as Agent Venom gets up. The mechanical arms block the shards striking against them, just as Oliver takes off his goggles, now seeing his mother fall limp to the floor.
"Mother!" Oliver yelled, only for a discharge of energy to now strike him in the back, making him yell out, just as his inhibitor chip blows out in the process, Oliver falling to the ground, his mechanical arms falling limp.
Spider-Man, thinking faster than before, sees the main control boxes, and he pulls on the plugs and cables, ripping them out of the wall. A second later, he looks back in time to see the sun collapse in on itself before creating a massive explosion before being drawn into a singularity as it fizzes out, leaving nothing behind but scorched metal and broken pieces.
"My god..." Was all Spider-Man could say. He looks to see Agent Venom get to his feet, shaking his head. "You good there?" He asked.
"Let's go." Agent Venom simply said, he and Spider-Man both leaving the scene at once.
~*~*~
Sure enough, paramedics, police officers, and the fire department all arrived on the scene to take care of what had just happened at the demonstration. The paramedics have collected Oliver's unconscious body and have taken him away to be tended to at once, with those who've been injured also taken away.
"That was too close." One man said to one of Oscorp's investors.
"If he had more than a drop of tritium, he could have destroyed the city." Another man agreed.
Ares stomped out with an angry and frustrated look on his face. "I'm ruined. I have nothing left, because of Spider-Man. He and his crew..." He snarled in anger, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fist.
"They saved your life, sir." One man said to Ares, only to get a shove back by Ares.
"He humiliated me. He and his crew..." Ares snapped.
Medusa walked up, taking his hand. "The press will be here soon. I suggest we move on." She said, leading him off to their car. Unbeknown to them, Shawn and Andrea had both heard them talking, so the two took their leave before anyone could ask any questions.
As the Silverbacks leave the scene, both Spider-Man and Agent Venom were watching the scene from an adjacent building. They could see the paramedics now taking Rosie's form and loading it into an ambulance. The medics seem to be confused and in awe of something, just as the ambulance leaves the scene.
"Now I feel bad for Octavius. He had such a great idea and ambition..." Spider-Man said finally after some silence.
"Except something went wrong." Agent Venom grunted, Spider-Man looking to him in confusion. "It should have worked. Something about the demonstration had gone wrong, but it wasn't from Octavius."
"How do you mean?" Spider-Man asked.
"I'll explain later. Let's go." Agent Venom said, he and Spider-Man swinging off to get back to The Haven.
As they swung off through the city streets and go back to The Haven, Spider-Man was lost in his thoughts about what Agent Venom had said to him. 'Something about the demonstration had gone wrong, but it wasn't from Octavius...' Did both Venom and Dante know of something that he doesn't? He'll have to ask Andrea back at The Haven when they get there.