//------------------------------//
// Issue #21: Rise of Doctor Octopus 
// Story: Spider-Man: Web of Magic 
// by MetalJrock 
//------------------------------//

"Yo, Peter!"

That familar scratchy voice made Peter halt in his tracks and cringe. He didn't even need his Spider-Sense to know it was bad news. He sighed at this, 'Okay, yeah, I probably deserve what's about to happen...' he mused in disappointment.

Storming up to him was Rainbow Dash, looking a little peeved at the boy. Parker pretty much knew why. She said, "You know, I thought you were a pretty chill egghead, but letting Twilight down like that? That's kinda low, dude."

Peter said, "Look, Rainbow. I really am sorry about that. Things just kinda popped up at the last minute and I wasn't able to call. I'm actually looking for Twilight to apologize. Do you know where she's at?'

Rainbow folded her arms, "She's really not in the mood to talk to you, Peter. Can't say I blame her. She sounded really upset this morning."

"Yeah, I don't blame her either honestly..." Peter admitted. "So... You gonna beat me up and shove me in a locker?"

"No. I'm upset, but I'm not that mean." Rainbow admitted, "Just... Don't upset her again or I will do that."

"Duly noted, Dash."

Rainbow Dash only nodded and left Peter to his own thing. However, he was met with a palm to the shoulder before he could move, earning a surprised yelp from him. Peter heard a giggle and spotted Sunset Shimmer standing behind him, "Jeez, Sunset... Gotta warn me next time." he whispered.

"Don't you have Spider-Sense to do that?" Sunset said.

Peter said, "It only works on threats, which you aren't. So you come to scold me on being the Spectacular Spider-Ditcher? Because I can't say I don't deserve it."

Sunset replied, "Kind of. I can pretty much guess why you didn't make it." she deduced.

"...Yep."

"Listen, Peter. I'm not as upset with you as my friends, but that's only because I know about your... double-life. I don't get why you won't tell her." Sunset wondered quietly.

Peter said, "To protect her. Too many people know my identity as it is, including the Vulture and Shocker. Her knowing what I do could put her in danger."

"Shouldn't you only be worried about your enemies finding out who you are and not your friends?" Sunset wondered.

"Yeah, but at the same time, I don't want it to become common knowledge." Peter replied.

The girl crossed her arms, "You don't trust Twilight to keep a secret?"

"I do, but--" the boy paused. "It's complicated."

"I'm only suggesting that telling her could save the two of you a lot of trouble. Leaving her unaware of what you're really up to isn't going to end well emotionally. I already told Twilight what I was doing for instance, and I can't see that information hurting her." Sunset added.

Peter raised his arms, "Look, I'll think about it. Right now, I have enough on my plate as it is."

Sunset raised a brow at that, "Like what?"

Lowering his voice so nobody could hear, Peter replied to her, "The Big Man is sending more bad guys after me, and Wolverine mentioned that Iron Man didn't give me the full story when he asked me to go to Germany."

"I see. Just... remember if you need a hand, I'll be ready to jump in." Sunset reminded him.

"Yeah, I figured. We'll have to talk about that at some point. For now, we should probably get to class." Peter dismissed, deciding to leave that can of worms for another time. His mind just wasn't all for debating with Sunset again.

"Yeah. See you soon?" Sunset hinted.

Peter shrugged, "Maybe...?"





"You met Wolverine again?" Ned whispered in class. The teacher pointing at the presentation slide they set up for the students to write notes on. Something that Peter tried to do until his friend spoke.

Peter rolled his eyes and whispered back, "I did, but we can talk about it later? I'm trying to focus."

Later in gym class, Ned asked, "Was he cool?"

"He tried to beat the crap out of me last time we met. He isn't cool because of that." Peter replied. "It doesn't help that he's always so moody and edgy."

"Oh yeah. Sorry." Ned apologized. "...Did you kick bad guy butt together?"

Peter nodded, "Yeah, actually. We fought a giant robot."

"Awesome. So what happened last night anyway?" Ned asked.

Peter exhaled, "Remember that weirdo with the hook and chain? Well, on my way to meet up with Twilight, he shows up in this green scorpion armor. Of course I had to stop him before he hurt someone, and I was really late because of it."

"Dude, that sucks." Ned admitted.

"Yeah, then I went to find Connors. Wolverine and I did just that at least, so last night wasn't a total bust." Peter admitted.

"Okay, yeah that is cool." Ned then said, "I saw Rainbow Dash walking towards you earlier. Did she anything about what happened?"

"She did." Peter answered, "I've probably milked the Stark Internship for too long."

Ned nodded, "Yeah, you probably did."

"...Great. Might as well move on, because I pretty much ruined any chance of asking her out again."

Ned hummed to himself, "There is one thing you can do."

Peter asked, "And what is that one thing?"

Looking around to ensure nobody else was listening, Ned made his suggestion known, "Tell her you're Spider-Man."

Peter rolled his eyes, "Why does that keep coming up? You and Sunset suggested it today."

"Is it a bad idea?" Ned asked.

"That's the thing, Ned. I don't know." Peter responded.

Ned scratched his head and said, "Well, I mean, you're not lying. You are Spider-Man, which is cool by the way, so I don't see the harm in telling her. Trixie, your aunt, and I know."

"I told you before I decided to go put on a costume and fight crime." Peter reminded his friend. "It's a risk I take everyday. I feel bad enough putting you all through that as it is. I'll think about it at least... But I think some space between me and Twilight will be good for right now."

"I get it, bro." Ned agreed. 

"Alright enough warmup, time for rope climbing!" said the gym teacher, holding a ball in his arms.

Peter and Ned's eyes went wide once they heard that, "Time for what now?"





At Oscorp, Doctor Otto Octavius trembled as Norman scolded him over the failures of his and Smythe's project. Luckily for Norman, the lab they were in was empty, allowing him to yell. "You incomptent octopus! You had one job, create an army of soldiers for the Big Man to destroy Spider-Man! And you messed up multiple times!"

"I-I'm sorry, sir..." Otto murmured, cringing at hearing that accursed nickname.

As Osborn rambled on, Otto dozed off with his eyes open and ran with his imagination. He pictured a world where his name was known, his science changed the world, and Norman Osborn wasn't able to step on him like doormat. He pictured himself using his metal arms to throw Norman around like a toy as payback for all the abuse he endured. Oh how even picturing it brightened his dour mood.

"Otto!" Norman shouted. "Are you ignoring me?!"

"Uh, n-no, Mister Osborn sir. J-J-Just thinking about what I did wrong again." Otto lied to his boss.

Norman put his hands behind his back and said, "I see... Just get to work, Octopus. That reactor of yours cannot tend to itself. I cannot have weak-minded scientists in this little organization after all."

As Norman walked out, Otto was following him, ready to point out how much he despised that nickname once more, but the door was slammed, leaving Octavius to sigh in disappointment.

Deciding to do as instructed, Otto walked to the fusion reactor he was working on. Octavius noticed that the safety key was already removed, meaning that he was free to tinker with it. He built the arm harness for a reason, and this project was it. He knew that creating this experiment would be a risk, and they all thought he was foolish.

No longer would he be treated with disdain, the name Otto Octavius would be known all around the world once he succeeded. Octavius smiled at these thoughts, knowing that he would no longer have to grovel at Osborn's feet in order to succeed. One day his time will come, that he was sure of.

However as Octavius did his work, a mysterious green figure walked into the lab in silence, placing the safety key into the monitor, commencing the next phase of his plan. An AI spoke out, "Safety key in place. Experiment may now commence in ten seconds."

Otto's jaw dropped once he heard that and turned his head, noticing the door closing behind him. "No! Who's in there?!" with his arms retracted, Otto ran to the door and slammed his fists, unable to open it. "No! I'm in here! Please don't!"

"Five, four, three..."

Otto whimpered as he lied on the floor in defeat, "But I've been good..."

"Two, one..."

Green energy enveloped the room, leaving Otto to scream in pain as he felt the metal of his harness fuse to his skin, the chip he used to control the arms melting within his spinal cord. The room began to collapse on itself as the nuclear explosion continued and ended.





Rain poured all over Spider-Man as he swung around the city on his usual patrol. 'Huh. Now that I think about it, when was the last time it rained? Must've been a drought or something.' he mused. He clung to a building and looked around, noticing the people below looking for cover from the precipitation. "It's crazy down there. Can't blame them. It's terrible out here."

"Hopefully crime can take a break today. The last thing you need is a cold, Parker." Trixie said through the comms. "Hey, with Ned busy, somebody has to make sure you keep yourself healthy."

"Tell me about it. Running around in a skin-tight suit in the cold rain isn't exactly healthy." Spider-Man replied, his lenses narrowing and observing his surroundings.

Trixie replied, "You should get yourself a thicker costume.”

Peter sighed, "Tried that when I was making my own stuff. It didn't look good at all. Ugh..." he shuddered at the memory. He recalled that the suit was extra baggy and could barely fit him.

"I know Rarity. Perhaps she can make you a new suit per Trixie’s request?"

"And have more people know my identity? Not what I need right now. I can make myself one later." Spider-Man dismissed.

"Did I touch a nerve or something, Parker?"

Spidey said, "Not really. Sorry, just thinking about what Wolverine told me last night." he admitted. He still found no trouble below. Good, maybe he was making a difference in the city.

Trixie hummed, "Ah yes, the supposed half-truth of Iron Man. You know, Wolverine doesn't look like someone Trixie could trust. Just ask Iron Man about it or something."

"Yeah, maybe I'm a little hasty about calling Tony a liar. Hopefully he has a good reason for dragging me along into that, because the last thing I want to hear is that I aided in disbanding the Avengers..."

Trixie could only say, "I doubt it. In the meantime you should--"

KABOOM!

Spider-Man spotted a giant green light emitting from the top of Oscorp, covering the entire sky in a bright light. He narrowed his lenses, "Uh... I'll call you back, Trixie. Either something big's going on at Oscorp, or we're being invaded by aliens again."

"Right before my words of wisdom too..."

Spider-Man zipped forward, running on the side of a building, as he spoke, "I'm sure what you were about to say was really wise and motivating, gotta go now bye!"

Peter pretty much knew that whatever was going on, he had to hurry.





Norman walked into the lab Otto was in, while paramedics were already on the scene in hazmat suits. "Mister Osborn--" one of them said to the man in charge.

"Move." said Osborn sternly, removing the safety key from its spot.

Running inside, Norman found Octavius lying on the ground, pieces of ceiling lying atop his back, making him unable to move. "Otto...?" he called out to the scientist. He knelt down and placed his hands on the debris as the paramedics walked in.

"Strange... It looks like the harness somehow fused into his skin. I don't know if it can be removed..." said the doctor.

While they were talking, Spider-Man finally arrived and crawled into the lab, seeing the scene. He only overheard the last part, "What happened here...?"

Norman faced the superhero, "There was untimely activation of Doctor Octavius' experiment while he was in here working. I'm not sure who did it, but I'll be sure he gets proper care and recover."

Lifting the debris off Otto, Spider-Man threw aside the giant piece of the ceiling and knelt down alongside Norman. "Otto..." said the CEO, "Are you alright? Otto?"

Otto twitched on the floor, hearing the voice of his boss. But not what he was saying currently. No, instead all he could hear were the insults thrown at him over the years. All the pain, the mockery, all of it was flashing in his hand. He clawed on the floor and gritted his teeth as all his anger bubbled up at this moment. In a sudden haste, Otto moved one of his metal arms and wrapped the pincers around Norman's body, moving it around so that he was pinned to a wall.

"Silence! You poor excuse of a human being!" Otto shouted.

Spider-Man saw this and webbed Octavius' back, "Hold on there. We just saved your life! I think a small thank you is in order!"

Otto glared at the wall-crawler, "You..." he moved one of his other arms towards Spider-Man. Before Peter could react, a third arm smacked his side, catching him off guard so that the first acting tentacle could grab him and pin him next to Osborn. "I should've known you were behind that accident, Spider-Man. My intellect frightened you, so you decided to do me in. Unfortunately it worked against you. I have been improved, and became one with my harness!"

"Do you in?" Spider-Man growled, struggling to move Otto's arms, his hands pinned down as well, "Buddy, I have no idea who you are or that you even existed till right now."

Otto smirked, "Do not try to play games with me, hero. But if you do nit know me now, then once I finish you, the whole world shall tremble before the name Doctor Octopus!"

"Otto, you're delusional..." Norman pleaded, "Calm down and we can help you."

Doctor Octopus hissed, "Your help? You've done nothing for me! I've had to endure the tedium of constant mockery from my peers along with your annoying insults! But I am not weak anymore! No longer shall Otto Octavius be the world's doormat!"

Spider-Man spat, "Wow. And I thought I had self-esteem issues."

"Find this funny, arachnid?"

"The guy calling himself Doctor Octopus is wondering if I find something funny. Gee, I wonder what I could be laughing at." Spider-Man quipped at his new foe. 

"Shut! Up!" Octavius screamed, slamming Spider-Man across the room. However, by doing that, Otto freed Peter's arm, allowing him to web up Otto's goggles, causing him to release Norman.

"Go! All of you! I'll subdue him the best I can!" Spider-Man ordered. Norman and everyone else ran out, leaving Spider-Man alone against Doctor Octopus.

Spider-Man crouched down and backflipped away from Octopus' arms, one hand touching the floor. "You know, Ock. Can I can call you Doc Ock? Anyway, we're both based off eight-armed creatures, maybe we can talk this out at Sugarcube Corner?"

"Do you find yourself funny, arachnid?" Doc Ock asked.

"I like to think so. Usually there's an audience, but I kinda had to escort them out what with all the crazy going on here. Even Goblin sounded less arrogant than you!" Spider-Man retorted. He was smacked by one of Doctor Octopus' arms, causing him to fly out of the room. Peter groaned as he rolled onto his back.

"I like to believe I earned it. Only a man of my intellect deserves such an improvement!" Doctor Octopus gloated, wrapping an arm's pincers around Peter, throwing him out the window. Spider-Man shivered at the sudden feeling of the cold rain. Peter got his bearings and stretched both arms out in front of him, using his web-shooters to shoot a line at the wall. He lightly swung himself towards the side of the building.

'Okay. This isn't going well. I need a game plan to take down Doc Ock before he hurts Norman.' Peter thought.

Octavius stood at the edge of the window, "Come on out, Spider-Man! I predicted that you did not die from that fall! Now come and face your superior!"

Suddenly, two lines of webbing attached to Otto's shoulders. Looking down, he saw Spider-Man standing on the side of the building, hid hands gripping around the substance. "Wow, Ock. I thought you were a genius. You should know better than to stand outside the broken window." he then yanked down and jumped, pulling himself closer towards the now descending Octopus.

Spider-Man delivered a punch to Octopus, which was responded to with a smack with Ock's metal tentacles. Peter grabbed one of the arms and kicked Doc Ock in the stomach. This gave him a moment to breathe and shoot a webline back to the Oscorp building. Using his momentum, Peter swung in its direction and slammed Doc Ock on the surface of it first, creating a small dent. Otto got his bearings and used one of his arms to pick Peter up. "Wow, Ock. With how much you use these, it feels like you're a fan of... well, you know..."

"Enough with the quips!" Octavius screamed.

"Sorry... It's just what I do best!" Spider-Man said, webbing up Ock's goggles again. Peter delivered a right hook while Otto tried to yank off the material. Once he did, he retaliated by throwing Spider-Man off the building, "You know, Spider-Sense. It'd be nice if you could react for me one of these days!" he scolded his brain.

He watched Octavius used his metal arms to crawl down the building after  him. Peter web-zipped forward and ran down the building. "Yikes!" he yelped, taking a step to the side once he felt his Spider-Sense go off, dodging one of Ock's arms.

Finally, Peter arrived onto ground level and hopped. "Everybody get out of the way now!" he warned. Then Doctor Octopus jumped down and smashed the top of a car. 

"My car!" someone screamed.

"It doesn't matter!" Spider-Man shouted, "Just go!"

Doctor Octopus threw the car at Spider-Man. The wall-crawler shot as much webbing as possible to entrap it within a net to not only save himself, but the people making an escape from the scene. Octavius lashed an arm out at Spider-Man, the webslinger leaping over it and smacking it down with both of his palms. However, one of the other arms managed to grab his leg and slam him on the ground. He muttered out quietly, "My face..."

Hanging him upside down, Octavius glared at Peter, "It's a futile effort, Spider-Man." he declared, "With my exo-harness, I can never tire. Now bow down to your superior at last."

Spider-Man spat, "Yeah, keep talking. It's not gonna matter once I web you up like all the other baddies." he webbed up Ock's two remaining arms and yanked Otto's shoulders, using his free leg to kick himself free once he yanked the mad scientist closer to him.

Peter got to a knee once he landed, wondering how he was going to take down Doctor Octopus. 'Okay, think, Peter. This guy is a supposed genius, but he uses metal arms. It doesn't look to be made of Vibranium or whatever Black Panther's suit is made of, so it should be easy to turn off or remove its power source.'

The scientist lashed out once again, trying to pin Peter down. But Spider-Man webbed up the arm and flipped over Ock saying, "Yoink!" once he got the ground, he threw Ock over him, causing him to land in a puddle. His arms shorted out for a moment, but it didn't do much to deter Ock's precise movements.

Peter noticed that Ock was throwing more objects at him. He did his best to web them down, ensuring that nothing could hurt the currently escaping bystanders. Doctor Octopus took notice of this and smirked, "Ah, I understand now."

"What?" Spider-Man asked.

"You're like who I was once was; weak. You cannot dare to see the innocent get hurt." as he said this, Doctor Octopus grabbed a man and a woman in his metal arms, tightening them in their tight grip. "Such a fatal flaw. Looks like I found your undoing, Spider-Man."

Spider-Man growled, "Let them go. This is between me and you. Nobody else needs to get hurt."

"If I wish to eliminate you, then I must resort to this." Octopus admitted.

Peter thought quickly, 'Hm... I think I can do something about this.'

Spider-Man then said, "Hold on there, Otto. Don't you want to prove that you're superior to me? You won't be that if you fight dirty!"

"What are you blabbering about, child?"

Crossing his arms, Spider-Man continued, "I'm just saying, Octavius, a true man of your intellect shouldn't have to resort to pragmatic combat. If you find yourself so high and mighty, you wouldn't need to shield yourself with innocent people and can very easily take me on mano a mano, right?"

Listening to his nemesis, Otto pursed his lips, wondering if he should truly listen. "Very well. If I wish to best you as your superior, then I will fight with honor." he decided, putting down the bystanders and allowing them to run.

With a quiet chuckle, Spider-Man dodged one of the arms Ock lashed out and grabbed it while he leaped, throwing Otto underneath him. The wallcrawler punched the floor as he landed, noticing Doctor Octopus using his harness to stand back up. "Is that all you can do, Spider-Man? I expected much more from a hero of your supposed caliber."

"Jeez, Ock. All this belittling. Maybe you should see a therapist about your anger-- Oof!" Spider-Man grunted, getting slapped in the face by Otto's tentacles. He was then pinned onto the floor, arms and legs unable to move because of Octavius. "Okay, I get it. You have metal arms. In this case, that's totally not awesome! You stop one punch and suddenly everybody with metal arms have a vendetta!"

Peter was then raised up and down repeatedly, hitting the ground mutiple times. At one point he was even flipped around and tasted concrete. He groaned and struggled, but Ock's pincers remained too strong for him to break at this point.

"All your quips will do you no good, Spider-Man." Ock declared, raising the teenage hero upwards once more vertically, the boy's head lowering. "It is time you see that Doctor Octopus reins triumphant!"

Raising his head tiredly, Spider-Man looked at Ock's harness and hatched another idea, saying, "There's something you should know, Ock..."

Doc Ock smirked, "And what is that?"

"That like you, I don't tire!" Spider-Man shouted, moving his wrist and activating his web-shooters so that it could hit Ock's shoulders. With a powerful yank, Otto slipped and released Peter accidentally. "Yep! Just a simple superhero comeback."

Spider-Man stood atop of Ock's body, webbing up the claws of the four tentacles trying to get him. "And guess what? As expected, I realized your little gloat about never getting tired was all bark and no bite. Your exo-harness is most likely a very polished prototype, and so..." he webbed the cylinder on the harness strapped to Otto's wrist and pulled it towards him, gripping it. "Your tentacles run on a power source, one that was going to run out soon enough anyway. Without this, you're nothing but a common goon wearing a weird strap."

"No... My energy source... I am your superior..." Otto grumbled, trying to reach for it. Spider-Man swiftly webbed up Octavius' arms and legs, then his goggles again for good measure. Then he punched him in the face, knocking him uncouscious.

"That's enough out of you."

"Spider-Man!"

Peter turned to find Norman running to the scene, "Mister Osborn? Are all of you alright?"

"We are, thanks to you of course. I apologize on behalf of Doctor Octavius. I believe the accident he was caught in scrambled his brain." Osborn said.

"No need to explain that part. Any idea on how that happened?"

Norman replied, "We checked all surveillance and found nothing."

"...Interesting." Peter muttered. "...Normally I'd ask for a pen and note, but it'd get soggy in this weather." he sneezed, "Yep, I should probably get to shelter. Stay safe, Mister Osborn. Don't worry about Ock, he's all tuckered out."

Spider-Man swung away to go back home. Unknown to him, a strange figure clad in an orange and purple hoodie managed to watch the aftermath of the battle saying, "Looks like you didn't need my help this time. Oh well."





Peter finally arrived back to the apartment, taking in the fact that he's no longer getting drenched in rain. He shuddered, ready to take a shower and go to bed. However, he noticed it was more quiet than usual on this night. "...May?"

Curious, he opened his bedroom door and found his Aunt May sleeping on the table, clearly exhausted. All around the table were newspapers, ads and the like. Peter felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach.

All this time, he's been out there going on adventures and fighting bad guys as Spider-Man, and he hadn't even thought about helping May financially. To think that they're potentially going broke without Uncle Ben around to help reminded Peter of what he promised. He promised to step up, and it was time he told himself to do just that.

Curious on what he could do for work, Peter picked up one of the newspapers and looked over the articles. Eventually something did catch his eye: the Daily Bugle was looking for photos or videos of Spider-Man for their news program. He remembered his vlogging when he was down in Germany and how it turned out. Maybe he could use that to help, even if it is small.

Luckily he was done homework, so he could very easily set up a way to get some footage of his alter-ego in action to show tomorrow. Deciding to prepare, he put the paper down.

However, he was so focused on the Daily Bugle job listing, he failed to check the headlining article, which was about a mysterious new vigilante appearing in the rooftops, one who would look awfully familiar to Peter if he noticed.