Fandom Beyond Infinite Crisis: Tales of Two Worlds

[Count Gensokyo]

This page is dedicated to short stories and short bios of the characters of Battleworld and Mite-World.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

TALES FROM BATTLEWORLD
​

• THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT
• THE DANGEROUS ONE
• MARVEL TEAM-UP
• THE PRIVATE WAR OF DOCTOR DOOM
• THE BALLAD OF THE SILVER SURFER

• 
  
  TALES FROM BATTLEWORLD
  STARRING
  

  

  
  THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT​
  
  Ever since New York was whisked away by the Beyonder... Merged with another universe's Tokyo and stitched to another amalgamation... The noises... the sound of sirens... I hear them everywhere...
  
  Daredevil ran through the rainy rooftops of New Tokyo, hounded by apparent heroes...
  
  The Beyonder merged our world with another full of "Heroes". One would think that if there were more heroes around then maybe there won't be as many sirens...
  
  Daredevil angled his head to sense what was behind him. It was a mountain of a woman. She was prepared to simply snatch the vigilante with her massive hands only for the Devil of Hell's Kitchen to slip away from her grasp when he hopped down on a fire escape, much to the pro-hero's disappointment.
  
  "Aw, he went in the alley!" the giant woman pouted.
  
  Yet, I hear more of them... Every single waking moment... The Sirens never stopped...
  
  The Vigilante tried to block out all the noise. He tried to focus his mind on one noise, the beating heart of an innocent girl... The daughter of the one hero who refused to listen to Fisk's lies... The daughter of a man who crossed the Kingpin. Daredevil breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her little heart beating.
  
  His heart sunk when he heard knocking on a door...
  
  Within the apartment of a young Japanese family, a man dressed in a coat and hat stood in front of the door.
  
  A young girl, no older than six, opened the door.
  
  "Hey, there... Is mommy home?" The man asked.
  
  "Who are you, mister?" the girl asked the man.
  
  "I'm a friend of your dad's..." He smiled at the girl. He then took his hat of as if to prove to the girl that he was telling her the truth, "See? I'm a superhero!"
  
  
  
  
  "Okay," the girl let the man inside just as her mother walked out of her bedroom.
  
  "Sweetie, who's at the--" the mother stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the man in the room.
  
  "It's one of Daddy's friends..." the girl explained to her mother.
  
  "Yeah, and daddy made a big mistake..." the man coldly informed the girl's mother.
  
  Daredevil hopped over to the very apartment building. He heard the voice of the Kingpin's best hitman, Bullseye... Daredevil lost his grip on the window as he fell onto cold steel of a fire escape. The vigilante managed to get back on his feet but in spite of his best efforts he was too late, Daredevil stood in silence as he heard the girl's beating heart beating faster and the deafening silence that followed... A young heart stopped beating... The heroes did their job... They stopped the vigilante and the Kingpin won the night. Daredevil heard the voices of the so-called pro-heroes moved in on his position. With not a moment to mourn, Daredevil fled the scene in the cover of night.
  
  ​
  
  Many months passed since the incident... The Pro-Heroes gave up their hunt for 'the Devil of Hell's Kitchen' when Akira Akatsuki found the bodies of his wife and daughter...
  
  Matt Murdock stood in his office, he could hear the sirens all throughout New Tokyo yet he could do nothing. War has changed for Matthew.
  
  The blind lawyer fixed his tie before he headed out of his office. Outside he was greeted by his best friend, Foggy Nelson.
  
  "Hey Matt, big day for yah, huh?" Foggy said as he sorted the files on his desk.
  
  "The first of many, Foggy," Matt smiled as he head straight to the door where his secretary, Karen Page, opened the door for him. Matt gave Karen a warm smile, "Thanks."
  
  "Don't mention it," Karen smiled back.
  
  The blind lawyer walked through the corridors and entered a waiting elevator. As the elevator went down to the bottom floor, Matt could only think back to the scream he heard that night and the silence that followed.
  
  Matt arrived at his destination as the elevator doors opened he walked out with a grim look on his face. He walked out of the building and sensed the presence of a nearby Vehicle.
  
  An Elderly Taxi driver called out to Matt, "Where to?"
  
  "The New Tokyo Courthouse, Stan..." Matt told the taxi driver before getting in the vehicle.
  
  The Pro-Hero act... A System used to protect rookie heroes... A System that ran a well-oiled machine on one world... was tampered with beyond repair... Tampered by the very man who lied to the media... Painted Daredevil as public enemy number one, orchestrated the deaths of a man's entire family and left alliances shattered...
  
  Matt sighed which caught the attention of Stan, who asked the defense lawyer, "What's beating you up, kid?"
  
  "Just a bit nervous," Matt answered.
  
  Daredevil can't fight this battle... but what Daredevil can't do... Matt Murdock can.
  
  "Yeah... we've all been there," Stan gave the blind man a smile before he drove Matt to the Courthouse.
  
  And While Hell's Kitchen will be without its Guardian Devil...
  
  ​
  Wilson Fisk calmly walked over to the doors of his office but he was shocked to find out that it was already open. The Kingpin stormed through the doors to find everything in his office was in order. Fisk adjusted his suit as he walked over to his desk where he found a peculiar note on top of it. Fisk sneered at the note when he recognized the emblem on the note...
  
  There will always be other heroes...
  
  ​
• 
  
  TALES FROM BATTLEWORLD
  STARRING
  

  

  
  THE DANGEROUS ONE​
  
  War Journal: Ever since the Kingpin turned himself in... It left a power vacuum in the criminal underworld of Valpan... Those Phantom Thieves only solved half of the problem but I intend on finishing it. Hunted every single last one of those bastards... The Triad. The Yakuza. The White Fang. And now the Russo Crime Family.
  
  Frank Castle, the Punisher, hid on top of a rooftop and looked through his binoculars. He saw two mafiosi standing guard in front of a coffee shop called "V1's". Frank scowled as he brought out his sniper rifle and fired.
  
  Brought some ammunition I got off of the White Fang... They call it Dust.
  
  The bullet struck its target, setting him ablaze, which startled and frightened the other guard who tried to run back inside only to suffer the same fate.
  
  I like it.
  
  Frank coldly walked towards the coffee shop as the two guards continued to burn.
  
  ​
  
  In the dimly lit basement of the coffee shop, the caporegime of the Russo Family, Dario Russo, poured coffee on to the face of a bagged man the capo then looked over to one of his soldiers and silently ordered him to remove the bag from their captive's head.
  
  "So tell me," Dario asked as he looked at his prisoner's badge, "Jackson... What's a cop like you doin' in our turf?"
  
  "I ALREADY TOLD YOU!" Jackson shouted at the Italian, "I'M NOT A COP! I'M A SPY WORKING FOR THE ALLIES AND WE'RE ON AN UNDERCOVER MISSION TO KILL HITLER!"
  
  Dario looked over to an elderly man dressed in a suit.
  
  "Bag 'im," the elderly man instructed Dario.
  
  "DON'T YOU DO IT!" Jackson shouted before his cries were muffled by the bag.
  
  Dario pulled Jackson's head back and poured hot coffee on the allied soldier.
  
  Jackson screamed as he was being "coffee-boarded".
  
  The Italian mafiosi laughed at Jackson's torment but that laughter died down when a loud bang was heard from outside. The old man looked visibly frightened as if he knows who or what made that sound.
  
  "HA!" Jackson shouted through the bag, "That's gotta be Tucker and Pierre! You guys are so screwed!"
  
  The capo gave Jackson a straight punch, which knocked him over, "Did I say you could talk?" The capo then looked over to two of his soldiers, "You mooks get out there and see what's makin' that noise." Dario walked over to the old man and gestured him to stay behind him.
  
  The two mafia soldiers cautiously approached the door, only to die from a hailstorm of bullets before they could reach the knob.
  
  Castle, brandishing a machine gun, kicked the door down and aimed his fire arm at the mafiosi.
  
  "It's the Punisher!" one of the mafia soldiers shouted as they were about to draw out their guns.
  
  Frank opened fired on the crime family. He gave them no time to react. No time to seek shelter. He gunned down each one of them until there was only one.
  
  The old man was the only mafioso left. He stood among the bodies of his men, broken and bloodied.
  
  Without mercy, the Punisher stabbed the elderly man in the gut with a combat knife.
  
  The Don fell to the floor in agony.
  
  Carmine Russo: The Don of the Russo Family... Now just another bloody mess on the floor...
  
  Frank stood over the bloody don, who clutched the Punisher's shin. The Punisher aimed his pistol at the dying Don.
  
  "You're digging your own grave, Castle!" Carmine shouted at Frank.
  
  "I've dug mine a long time ago," Frank told the capo before firing.
  
  Frank walked over to the mafia's captive and pulled the bag off of the man's head. The Punisher examined Jackson, "Knocked out cold..." He then noticed the American's patch, it bore a skull. Memories of Franks time serving in the military flashed in his mind.
  
  Frank heard the sounds of radio static coming from the unconscious man. Frank then looked over at the unconscious man's radio receiver.
  
  "Well Jackson, I just radioed in to tell you that Hitler got away... Again..." a male voice with a slight Australian accent came from the man's radio receiver... "Maybe if you came along, we wouldn't be in such a sticky toffee tart of a situation!"
  
  The Punisher holstered his gun and walked out of the room leaving Jackson on the ground unconscious. Frank knew that the Criminal Underworld wasn't the only cancer that cling to the lives of the innocent and slowly kill them. The War Zone has moved and as a soldier... Frank Castle must go...
  
  War Journal Update: New Mission... Kill Hitler.
  
  
• 
  
  TALES FROM BATTLEWORLD
  STARRING
  

  

  
  MARVEL TEAM-UP​
  
  I'm sorry, Cassie. I can't make it to parent-teacher night...
  
  ​
  Being a superhero...
  
  "All right! You fools want some of this!" shouted Luke Cage as he delivered a straight punch to one of the A.I.M. troopers, "Danny, how you holdin' up?"
  
  Iron Fist effortlessly dodged A.I.M. trooper fire, "Just fine." Danny then delivered a roundhouse kick to incoming A.I.M. troopers.
  
  Luke tossed one A.I.M. trooper into another before he was shot in the back with laser fire. Luke turned to see the A.I.M. trooper that shot him, "Bad idea."
  
  The unfortunate trooper tried to run away only to be caught by Luke Cage.
  
  "Not so fast, chump..."
  
  The sounds of an A.I.M. trooper screaming echoed through out the building.
  
  "Get that thing in the truck now!" The A.I.M. Scientist Supreme ordered his troops.
  
  Scott Lang the Astonishing Ant-Man rode on his winged ant through the battlefield to stop the Scientist Supreme from escaping.
  
  Just as the Scientist Supreme was about to close the doors of the delivery van, a shrunken Scott Lang delivered a punch to the Scientist Supreme which sent him flying towards the container. The impact activated the container, much to the shock of the A.I.M. troopers inside.
  
  A Mechanical screech came from the inside of the container as the A.I.M. troopers ran out of the van. "I'm just gonna guess that that's bad..." Scott muttered to himself as the contents of the container banged within it.
  
  Metal claws tore out of the metal crate as Scott ran out of the van.
  
  "What the hell did you do, Scott?!" Luke Cage shouted at Scott Lang as he ran pass the former Power Man.
  
  
  "Sweet Christmas," Luke Cage muttered in awe as the technological terror.
  
  "Don't just stand there!" The Scientist Supreme shouted at his men, "Neutralize it!"
  
  The A.I.M. troopers fired at the beast to no avail as the beast's tendrils quickly snatched their weapons. The Technovore then absorbed the weapons which caused the parasite to grow to an enormous size.
  
  The A.I.M. troopers ran from the ever growing monster.
  
  The beast scanned the area looking for more technology to assimilate into its mass, until it spotted Scott Lang and the Ant-Man suit. "ATTENTION, AVENGER: ANT-MAN." the Technovore spoke to Scott, "PREPARE TO BE ASSIMILATED."
  
  "Oh boy..."
  
  ​
  
  The Technovore, as its tendrils assimilated any and all nearby tech, charged at Scott Lang.
  
  Scott did what any self-respecting hero would do... Get the heck out of there. Scott Lang ordered the ant to fly him out of the warehouse as the Technovore followed, leaving Luke Cage and Iron Fist alone with A.I.M.
  
  "That fool's going to get us all killed!" The Scientist Supreme cursed before Luke Cage grabbed him by the collar.
  
  "Okay, what the hell was that thing," Luke demanded information from the A.I.M. Scientist.
  
  "The Technovore... The weapon was designed to be the ultimate weapon against Iron Man," the Scientist Supreme answered.
  
  "Thanks for the tip," Luke Cage then gave the Scientist Supreme a swift punch to the face.
  
  "We better go find Lang before he makes a bigger mess out of this," Iron Fist told Luke, who sighed in response.
  
  ​
  The Technovore roared as it continued to grow in size as it assimilated more machinery.
  
  Ant-Man looked over his shoulder to see the Technovore gaining speed and mass, "Okay, so maybe outside isn't the place to go..."
  
  "ATTENTION, AVENGER: ANT-MAN!" the Technovore screamed, "PREPARE TO BE ASSIMILATED!"
  
  "Assimilate this!" Scott tossed his Pym particle discs at the monster only for them to be assimilated into its mass, "I guess you can... Okay, time to do something really stupid." Scott then directed his winged ant to fly into the Technovore's mouth.
  
  "ERROR! AVENGER: ANT-MAN, NO LONGER DETECTED!" The Technovore cried out.
  
  Within the Technovore, Scott Lang called upon a legion of crazy ants to him. As the horde arrived Scott simply looked at them and said, "All right, guys... Let's get crazy."
  
  "ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!" The Technovore screamed as its internal circuitry was being tampered with.
  
  "You're doing great guys! Keep it up!" Scott continued to direct the crazy ants to tear apart the Beast's insides. Then ex-con heard something coming from outside, "Uh, what's that noise?"
  
  ​
  Moments later. Luke Cage and Iron Fist arrived in an SUV to the scene only to find that the battle had already been won.
  
  "So, guys," the overly excited and talkative driver said, "Since I help you guys, does that mean I'm your sidekick now? How much does that pay 'cause you know--" Luke Cage immediately shut the door on him.
  
  "Lang should tell his friend to shut up once in awhile," Luke shook his head before he looked around in search of Ant-Man, "Speaking of which do you know where Ant-Man is, Danny?"
  
  Iron Fist focused his chi to heighten his sense to detect Ant-Man's presence, "I think he's over--" He was then cut off by a hoard of men with cameras.
  
  "I'm guessing they're not here for Lang," Luke said as he tried to move through the sea of people.
  
  "And I have a feeling I know who they're here for..." Iron Fist calmly said.
  
  "Today is my debut as a solo hero!" announced the pro-hero who delivered the final blow to bring the Technovore down, "So please ease up on the applause."
  
  Scott Lang walked up to the pro-hero, "Hey, Mt. Lady! Can I get your autograph?"
  
  "Didn't know that an Avenger would be a fan of mine," Mt. Lady said as she shrunk down to normal size.
  
  "Actually it's for my kid," Scott informed the pro-hero, "She's a big fan of yours." Scott then handed Mt. Lady a picture of his daughter dressed up as her for a local convention.
  
  "Aw she's adorable," Mt. Lady commented on the picture.
  
  "And can you make it out to Cassie Lang?" Scott added.
  
  "Sure, Mt. Lady gave Scott a smile before signing the picture and handing it back to Scott.
  
  "Are you Mt. Lady?" a man in a suit with suitcase in hand walked over to the vain hero.
  
  "Why yes," Mt. Lady looked over her shoulder and gave the man a flirtatious look, "Want an autograph?"
  
  "Actually, I'm from Oscorp's legal team..." the suited man explained.
  
  'Uh... see ya," Ant-Man muttered as he away on his winged ant. "Thanks for the autograph by the way!" the miniaturized hero added as he flew off into the distance.
  
  Mt. Lady nervously chuckled at the suited man, "What would they want from me?"
  
  "It's about land dispute," the man informed Mt. Lady, who slowly realized she's going to need a good lawyer.
  
• 
  
  TALES FROM BATTLEWORLD
  STARRING
  

  

  
  THE PRIVATE WAR OF DOCTOR DOOM​
  
  It's been almost a year since the convergence... and I still ask myself the same question... Why?
  
  
  ​
  Reed Richards, the leader of the Fantastic Four and one of the smartest minds on Battleworld, was analyzing the data from his machine, "Fascinating, it appears that quirks behave similarly to that of the Inhuman's own powers..."
  
  The Beyonder is normally upfront with his motives but so far he's left us in the dark...
  
  "Reed!" called out Reed's loving wife and teammate, Susan Richards the Invisible Woman, "Where were you? The guests arrived an hour ago."
  
  Could it be that we're remnants of dying universe that the Beyonder had saved from total destruction or could this be another experiment of the Beyonder's?
  
  "Sorry, I was just going over some notes. I must have lost track of time," Reed diverted his attention away from his notes and walked over to Sue asked, "How are Franklin and Valeria?"
  
  "Fast asleep," Sue answered before she gestured to Reed to follow her, "Now let's go before Johnny starts 'entertaining' the guests."
  
  Something just doesn't add up...
  
  ​
  "And that's how I saved the whole city from the Frightful Four all by myself," Johnny Storm the Human Torch boasted to the guests.
  
  "Oh gimme a break," the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing, Ben Grimm, rolled his eyes at Johnny, who continued to tell one of his strange tales to the women at the charity drive.
  
  "Oh Ben," Ben's blind girlfriend, Alicia Masters, sighed as she held Ben's arm, "Just ignore him."
  
  "Yeah, at least he ain't singing..." Ben told Alicia before he shivered at the thought of a musical number from the Human Torch.
  
  Sue and Reed arrived at the event via the elevator.
  
  Sue and Reed greeted Ben and Alicia in between apologies for their tardiness.
  
  "Sorry, we're late," Sue hugged Alicia, "Reed was busy in the lab."
  
  "Tell us, something new, Suzy," Ben joked as he pulled the couple in for a group hug.
  
  An explosion interrupted the festivities.
  
  The dust settled to reveal who crashed the party.
  
  
  "The Volcano Thieves," Johnny Storm said with mock surprise as he ignited and flew above the crowd, "You guys seriously picked the wrong time to be robbing a museum. Ain't that right, Ben?"
  
  "Yeah!" Ben Grimm cracked his knuckles before led the charge at the villains as he shouted his battle cry, "'CAUSE IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!"
  
  ​
  
  
  While the Volcano Thieves struggled in their fight against the Fantastic Four. It was clear that the FF were more experienced and had ways to contain the villains. The scene was being transmitted by a nearby drone and monitored by the Fantastic Four's greatest Nemesis, Doctor Doom.
  
  
  The fight was projected by a cyborg woman. Next to the cyborg was a woman in white.
  
  The fight concluded with the Fantastic Four victorious once more.
  
  "The Volcano Thieves have failed in their mission," the cyborg spoke.
  
  "As I expected," Doctor Doom replied.
  
  "My lord," The Woman in White spoke up as she walked up to Doom, "Why must we continue to fight the Fantastic Four? We have more to gain from an alliance with them than--" the woman's words were interrupted by Doom's own words.
  
  "Winter, while marriage has bestowed you the title of Queen," Doom gave Winter a cold glare, "It does not give you the right to question me."
  
  "Understood," Winter hung her head as she backed away from Doctor Doom.
  
  A Servo Guard entered the room and keeled before Doom, "Master, our satellites have detected a surge of magical energy east of Latveria."
  
  Doom looked over to the cyborg woman, "von Bardas, please escort Winter out of my throne room. I have urgent matters to attend to..."
  
  "Of course, my lord," Lucia von Bardas bowed before she escorted Winter out.
  
  While Richards and his Fantastic Four continue to celebrate their so-called victory... I continue to bide my time...
  
  Now left to his own devices, Doctor Doom retreated to his private library where he kept various tomes and documents from across the multiverse; but more importantly, the ever-changing map of Battleworld.
  
  With every little distraction...
  
  The new landmass was revealed to Doom as Mewnisse. A Portal opened behind the Sovereign.
  
  With every single assault on your precious family...
  
  Doom then turned around to see the portal.
  
  I shall soon claim my destiny...
  
  An ethereal voice called out, "Doom..."
  
  By any means I deem necessary...
  
  ​
  "Dormammu..." Doom spoke to the Dread Lord of the Dark Dimension.
  
  "Shall we begin discussing our little agreement, Doctor?"
  
• 
  
  TALES FROM BATTLEWORLD
  STARRING
  

  

  
  THE BALLAD OF THE SILVER SURFER
  ​
  My name is Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer. Many years ago I served Galactus, the World-Eater, as his Herald seeking worlds to which he feed upon and for many years do I struggle with the curse of the power cosmic. I had ventured to many worlds across the vast and endless cosmos... And yet none are as strange as this.
  
  "What hath the Beyonder done to our beloved Asgard?!" Thor swung his mighty hammer at the hoards of amorphous blobs that attacked the Asgardian.
  
  "Merged it with another realm," Doctor Strange answered, "We've been here long enough to figure that out."
  
  I stand along side the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange and the Valiant Valkyrie as the Defenders... We battled the many horrors of the cosmos from Mad Titans to the Living Darkness... but now on Battleworld we act as shepherds, guiding the lost to their homes...
  
  "It matters not!" Valkyrie said as she sliced through one of the blobs with her sword, "These vile creatures will know the might of Asgard!"
  
  "Strange what in the nine realms are those creatures doing?!" Thor backed away form the creatures.
  
  The Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange both paused as the blobs then merged together into a massive all consuming mass that soon enveloped the heroes.
  
  "What is it doing?!" Valkyrie cried out in pain.
  
  "Absorbing our life force," Doctor Strange answered through gritted teeth.
  
  "If that is what it so desires, then so be it!" the Silver Surfer said as he began to channel the power cosmic within himself to send out a burst of energy that obliterated the mass and thus freeing the Defenders.
  
  "An Excellent job, Silver Surfer," The Sorcerer Supreme said before he brushed off the slime from his shoulder, "Although I'd prefer that you didn't make such a mess of thing."
  
  "This is the last time we let Thor guide us," Valkyrie glared at her fellow Asgardian.
  
  "Then perhaps we should consult and expert in exploration," Dr. Strange suggested as he gestured over to the Silver Surfer.
  
  "Very well," the Silver Surfer declared as he sped off into the distance in search of Thor's home of Asgard.
  
  As the Surfer streaked across the skies of Battleworld, thoughts of his homeworld, his love, his former life began to plague his mind. His desire to reunite with those he had left behind slowly crushed his heart then the Surfer stopped. His face in awe of what was presented before him.
  
  Does my vision betray me? Could the Beyonder be so kind as to bring the land of my birth to this realm? Could this really be the world that I have for so long desired to set foot on once more? Could this really be--
  
  

  
  Zenn-La?!
  
  ​
  
  Above the city's skies was the Silver Surfer who patrolled the area, "This city, it reminds me so much of Zenn-La and yet it is so alien... Could it really be my homeworld? I must seek the answer." the Surfer then swooped down to the streets where he spotted a white bipedal rodent. The Silver Surfer then approached the being, "Do you know what has happened to my homeworld?"
  
  "Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about," the rodent replied back.
  
  "But is this not Zenn-La?" The Surfer asked with confusion.
  
  "Zenn-La? Sorry, but this is Planeptune..." The creature corrected.
  
  "Planeptune? Then it truly was merely a product of my own distorted desires..." The Surfer said with sorrow in his voice, "What a fool I am to even consider that the Beyonder would ever gift me with my homeworld so suddenly..."
  
  "Hey, if you're looking for someone who might know where your town is, I'm pretty sure Histoire knows where it is," the rodent reassured the Surfer.
  
  "Histoire?"
  
  "Well yeah, she's the oracle here," the creature explained, "It's sort of in her job description."
  
  "And where can I find this Histoire of which you speak?" Silver Surfer asked the small creature.
  
  "Well, I normally see her in the Basilicom," mused the creature.
  
  "And what would this 'Basilicom' look like?"
  
  The creature pointed at a nearby temple, "It's right over there, you can't miss it."
  
  The Silver Surfer then flew off to where he may meet this, Oracle.
  
  "You're welcome!" the small creature then waved goodbye to the Silver Surfer.
  
  
  The Silver Surfer wandered the halls of the Basilicom in hopes to find the guidance he so desperately needs. In his search he soon collided with what appeared to be a young girl with long purple hair yet in spite of her innocent facade, the Surfer sensed great power within her, power to rival that of the Surfer's own power cosmic. "I apologize," the Surfer reached out to the girl only for her to let out a cry of distress, "What troubles you?"
  
  "I'm sorry, but I shouldn't worry you with my troubles," the young girl told the Surfer, "I was just clumsy, that's all..."
  
  The girl's voice betrayed her words as the Surfer could plainly tell. The Surfer knelt down to retrieve a broken toy, damaged from their collision not long ago, "Is it this toy that troubles you?"
  
  "Actually it's a model rifle, I bought it as a gift for a friend of mine," the girl corrected the former herald, "And seriously, you don't need to worry about me, I could always go buy another one."
  
  "That would not be necessary," against the girl's protest the Surfer used his power cosmic to repair the damaged model rifle much to the astonishment of the girl, and as quickly as the Surfer repaired it he returned the model to the girl.
  
  "Thank you," The girl stood at awe of the Surfer before swiftly her disposition changed, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."
  
  "I am Norrin Radd," the Silver Surfer told the young girl.
  
  "Nice to meet you, Norrin. My name's Nepgear," The girl shook the Surfer's hand, "Welcome to Planeptune's Basilicom, my sister, Neptune's away but--"
  
  "I desire an audience with the Oracle, Histoire," the Surfer interrupted Nepgear.
  
  "Oh! Okay, just follow me," Nepgear said as she led the Surfer to the Audience chamber, where he may meet with the oracle.
  
  Nepgear was the first to enter the chamber and after the briefest of moments she exited the chamber, "You can come in."
  
  The Surfer walked inside the chamber, he could sense one other lifeform within the chamber.
  
  "Welcome," spoke a soft voice.
  
  The Surfer looked down to see a small winged being who sat upon a tome, "You must be Histoire."
  
  
  "Yes, I am the tome, Histoire," the fairy introduced herself, "I hold the vast knowledge of the realm what was once known as Gamindustri... Please, tell me... Who are you?"
  
  "I am Norrin Radd and I come to you, oracle, in need of your wisdom," the Surfer knelt down before the oracle as a show of respect.
  
  Histoire held out her hand to the former herald, "I can sense that you are in great pain and sorrow." The oracle then shed single tear for the Surfer, "You are unsure of your place in the universe..."
  
  "Ever since I first set foot on this twisted world I have I guided the weary of Battleworld and aided them in their search of where they belong," the Surfer told the tome, "And yet, I find myself lost... Haunted by images of my world, a world I so long to set foot on once more. While it goes against what I stand for... I could not help but envy those I aid... I was tasked as the shepherd and yet I find myself to be nothing more than a lost lamb seeking guidance," the Surfer clasped Histoire's hand within his own hands, "I am forever burdened by my desires to return to my home world and into the waiting arms of my beloved Shalla-bal! Oracle, I wish to return to my world, where I belong..."
  
  "While I understand your desires to return home, Norrin Radd," Histoire placed her hand on the former Herald's shoulder, "You must come to understand that you must accept your new found responsibility. You came to the Basilicom in search of guidance yet it is you who should be the shining light that guides the lost back to their homes and perhaps one day your labours will be rewarded."
  
  The Wisdom I sought from the Oracle were echoes of those of my teacher... I had let my desires cloud my judgement and I had lost sight of my mission.
  
  The Surfer then stood back up and bowed before Histoire, "I thank you for your wisdom, Oracle" the Surfer told Histoire. The Surfer knew that he had strayed far enough from his duties and must return to them, "To me, my board!" with a wave of his hand the Silver Surfer summoned his board and bid farewell to the oracle of Planeptune, "'Till we meet again, Histoire." The Silver Surfer then raced off to return his duties. To return to the Defenders...
  
  My name is Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer. Many years ago I served Galactus, the World-Eater, as his Herald seeking worlds to which he feed upon and for many years do I struggle with the curse of the power cosmic. I had ventured to many worlds across the vast and endless cosmos... All of which bore many strange and fantastical wonders; yet none have I ever loved more than my world, Zenn-La. But I mustn't let such desires betray the teachings of my world, for I, the Silver Surfer now soar above the ever-changing terrain of Battleworld in search of the lost and guide them to where they belong. I am Norrin Radd the Silver Surfer and I will be your guide.
  

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

BAT-MITE PRESENTS!
​

• EVIL'S MIGHT

• 
  
  BAT-MITE
  PRESENTS!
  
  EVIL'S MIGHT​
  
  Even when a Fifth-Dimensional Imp throws countless worlds and dimensions into a mess of a solar system...
  
  
  

  
  
  "Hal Jordan of Earth, Green Lantern of the Honor Guard," spoke the Guardian, Appa Ali Apsa, "It has come to our attention from the Nova Corps that you were meddling with the affairs of those out of Guardian Space."
  
  Some things just never change...
  
  "Sir, the Skrull and his White Martian accomplice were using the borders to escape justice for their illegal arms deals," Hal explained to the Guardians, "I was in the process of tracking down the White Martian's arms trade when I discovered his involvement with the Skrull arms dealer."
  
  "And you did not see it fit to consult with the council or the Nova Corps?" Appa interrupted Hal Jordan.
  
  "The White Martian was in possession of an armory's worth of Nth Metal Weapons. If I didn't act then and there, they could have sparked a universe-wide war," Hal responded, defended his actions.
  
  Before Appa could respond, the Green Lantern corpsman, Galius Zed, rushed into the council's chamber and put an end to the discourse. “Guardians!"
  
  Appa glared at Hal Jordan before turning his attention to the corpsman, "What is it, Galius Zed? This better be important."
  
  "Daemonite ships are approaching Oa!" the corpsman warned all who were in the council.
  
  And in the skies above, the Daemonites prepare for their assault on the Planet Oa.
  
  
  
  "Lord Helspont, our mutant warriors are ready for deployment," the monstrous alien Daemonite reported to its master, Helspont.
  
  "Then we shall see if the mutagen's genetic-manipulating properties are as powerful as the legends say..." The Daemonite Leader, Helspont, muttered to himself.
  
  "Awaiting your commands, my lord."
  
  "Proceed with the invasion," Helspont ordered, "We will show the Green Lanterns no mercy."
  
  
  
  ​
  
  A Squadron of Carrier ships landed on the surface of Oa and deployed an army of Daemonite mutants that began their assault on Oa. The Green Lanterns fought the hoard to the best of their abilities, but the new mutant powers of the Daemonites gave them the edge on the Corps.
  
  On the roof of Oa's citadel, Hal Jordan, the greatest of the Green Lanterns, was locked in combat with the Daemonite King, Helspont. It was clear that Helspont was besting Hal in combat.
  
  "So, this is the legendary Hal Jordan!" Helspont said mockingly as he delivered a punch across the face of Green Lantern. "The ‘legendary hero’ who defeated Nekron and his Black Lanterns!" Helspont taunted before kneeing Hal in the gut and smashing his fists into the back of the Green Lantern's head. Helspont kicked Green Lantern over onto his back. "Honestly, you are quite the disappointment."
  
  "I can still..." Hal tried to get back to his feet only to stumble back down to the ground.
  
  "You should quit, human...Daemonites have won!" Helspont laughed as he stood over the battered body of the Emerald Knight.
  
  "Sorry, Helspont, but we Green Lanterns just don't know when to quit!" Hal then fired his ring with all his might at the Daemonite, which sent the alien despot flying into a wall. The Emerald Knight kept his fire on the Daemonite Despot until his ring ran out of energy and Hal Jordan was but a normal man once more.
  
  "I see that even your legendary willpower has its limit, Green Lantern," Helspont muttered as he slowly emerged from the ruins and on to his feet. "While I may be weakened, know that I still have my army!"
  
  
  
  A hoard of Daemonite mutants swarmed the powerless Green Lantern.
  
  Ring out of energy, power battery still in the ship, and a thousand-foot drop behind me...nothing I can't handle.
  
  A powerless Hal Jordan, in spite of it all, stood his ground and taunted the Daemonite hoard with all hope seemingly lost.
  
  "Hey Jordan, you forgot something!" called out the voice of Hal Jordan's closest ally, Kilowog, who tossed Hal's power battery over to him.
  
  Kilowog was not alone, for he brought a small squad of Green Lanterns to assist Hal in his fight with Helspont.
  
  "Thanks for the save, Kilowog," Hal thanked his fellow Lantern as he caught his power battery.
  
  Kilowog jumped in front of the powerless Hal Jordan and formed a mini-gun construct, opening fire on the Daemonite Mutants. "Just charge your ring, Jordan. We'll cover for ya!" Kilowog smirked as he continued his assault on the Daemonite hoards. "Come at me, poozers!"
  
  As the Daemonites attacked the Lanterns, Helspont quickly realized that Hal was in possession of his power battery. "Stop him! Do not let him charge his ring!" Helspont commanded his Daemonite minions, whom all charged at Hal.
  
  "In brightest day!"
  
  Amidst the chaos, Hal Jordan kept a firm grip on his power battery and held his ring against it as he ran for cover.
  
  "In Blackest night!"
  
  Hal slid under a Daemonite that was locked in battle with Ch'p.
  
  "No Evil shall escape my sight!"
  
  Hal ducked under a pouncing Daemonite that was then batted away by Guy Gardner.
  
  "Let those who worship evil's might!"
  
  Hal's ring began to glow a bright emerald green.
  
  Three Daemonites managed to grab ahold of Hal Jordan, who firmly kept his grip on the power battery despite the Daemonites' best efforts.
  
  "Beware my power—"
  
  Hal, knowing there was no other option, jumped off of the rooftop.
  
  "Green Lantern's Light!"
  
  ​
  The Green Lantern emerged from the onslaught, fully charged and ready to face Helspont's Daemonites. With the other Green Lantern Corpsmen by his side, Hal Jordan was able to defeat the Daemonite mutants with only Helspont alone amidst the fallen bodies of his mutant warriors.
  
  "It's over, Helspont," Hal said as he stood triumphant over the defeated Daemonite."Your army's defeated, and it's just you against the Green Lantern Corps."
  
  "You think this is over, Green Lantern?" Helspont chuckled. “This is just the beginning..."
  
  "Keep Laughing bud—" Just before Hal could apprehend Helspont, the Demonite disappeared with a blinding blue light.
  
  After the last of the Daemonites were defeated and detained, Hal received a message from Jon Stewart on Mite-World.
  
  "Hal, do you read me? It's Jon," called out Hal's fellow Green Lantern.
  
  "I copy, Jon," Hal replied back.
  
  "There's a mob of mutants over here in Coast City, and we'd sure love it if you could help out!" Jon said with some weariness evident in his voice.
  
  "Hey Kilowog," Hal said, turning to his friend. "You think you can handle clean up? I’ve got something to do back home."
  
  "Yeah sure, tell me something new, Jordan," Kilowog grumbled as he cleared the debris from the battle against the Daemonites.
  
  "Thanks. I'll return the favor!" Hal gave Kilowog a couple of finger guns before flying off to Mite-World.
  
  Kilowog only stood there in confusion, the ‘human‘ motion lost on him.
  
  Like I said, somethings never change.
  

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN

​

• ULTIMATE DESPAIR
• ULTIMATE FEAR
• ULTIMATE FINALE

• 
  
  
  ULTIMATE DESPAIR​
  
  "In what seems to be a repeat of the tragic events that occurred in Hope's Peak Academy..." a news anchor reported. "...Another alleged 'Killing Game' is now being held at Brooklyn Visions Academy."
  
  "It is currently unknown if the culprit is the same as the one who orchestrated the Killing Game of Hope's Peak,” another news broadcast aired on another television set as a mysterious figure zipped past the building.
  
  "What do you mean, there's no one coming?"
  
  Outside of Brooklyn Vision, squads of police cars barricaded the area.
  
  Captain Yuri Watanabe argued with a dispatcher over the radio, "We've got an entire Campus full of students taken hostage and not a single 'professional' hero is available?"
  
  Yuri paused to let the dispatcher speak before responding in a tone of great urgency. "I don't care if it's the League of Villains, the Masters of Evil, or even HYDRA! We need backup!"
  
  "Captain!" a police officer ran up to Yuri with urgent news.
  
  "What is it, Mulligan?" Yuri asked Officer Mulligan.
  
  "Future Foundation just arrived," Mulligan informed his commanding officer. "But I don't think we have enough muscle to breach the defenses."
  
  "Just tell them to—" Yuri paused when she noticed a mysterious figure sneaking into the school. “Stand by...We got our backup."
  
  Within Brooklyn Visions' Gymnasium, a mass of students gathered around the stage where an odd plush bear presented to them the objective of the 'game'.
  
  "So! If you kids really wanna get out of here..." the teddie bear, Monokuma, smiled at the students. "You’d better start with those killings!"
  
  Murmurs among the students filled the Gymnasium.
  
  The sound of gunfire echoed behind the steel door that kept the students within the gymnasium.
  
  "What was that?!" one of the students squeaked, quaking in fear.
  
  "Of course he'd be here..." Monokuma muttered irritably, visibly annoyed with the events that have unfolded. "We've BEARLY even started the game, and he has to show up!"
  
  "See?! I told you there were Pro-Heroes around!" a rather hopeful boy cheered before the already aggravated Monokuma tossed a brick at him.
  
  "Sorry, kids. Looks like your headmaster has to discipline our uninvited guest!" Monokuma said as he jumped into a trapdoor to deal with the intruder personally.
  
  The sound of Monokuma's sickening laughter echoed beyond the steel door, followed shortly by a loud crash and a deafening silence. The silence was broken by the sounds of the steel door being slowly opened.
  
  The opening was wide enough for a damaged Monokuma head to roll into the Gymnasium.
  
  "It's All Might!" a student exclaimed with glee. “He's here to save us!"
  
  "Sorry to disappoint, kid...”
  
  The mystery hero pried open the Doors that prevented the students from escaping. "...I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."
  
  
  
  ​
  
  Within the school's security room sat the Mastermind of the Killing Game. Watching as the Future Foundation agents stormed into the school to secure the students, the Mastermind couldn’t help but sigh at what seemed to be a total failure.
  
  "You know, we really need to stop meeting like this, Junko," the wall-crawler dropped from the ceiling and onto the floor.
  
  "Spider-Man? Wow...are you here to, like, arrest me or something?" the Mastermind, Junko Enoshima, said with a bored look on her face.
  
  "That's the plan," Spider-Man casually replied. "So, why don't you be a good girl for a change and surrender peacefully?”
  
  "Like hell I'm gonna!" Junko's more vulgar personality took over.
  
  "Suit yourself," Spider-Man said, firing his impact webbing at Junko only for a black substance to shield her from it.
  
  I got a bad feeling about this...
  
  "Oh, you're just so un-bear-able!" Junko giggled with bliss as a black substance enveloped the body of the nihilistic mastermind. "I've been waiting a long-ass time for this! Ever since you ruined my game at Hope's Peak!"
  
  Spider-Man's eyes widened when he realized exactly what he was up against. "Oh boy..."
  
  "OH! That look in your eyes...I know that look anywhere, even behind that shitty mask of yours! It's..." Junko's grin now showed a row of razor sharp teeth."Despair!"
  
  Junko, now fully bonded with the symbiote, looked like a maddening amalgamation of Venom and Monokuma."Ding Ding Ding! It's Hope vs. Despair...live from Brooklyn Visions!" Junko announced, trying to contain her overflowing excitement. Security cameras emerged from the walls and set their sights on the two combatants.
  
  Spider-Man realized what Junko was doing. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..."
  
  She's taking a page from Screwball's playbook...fun.
  
  "It's..." Junko morphed her hands into scythes.
  
  Spider-Man's spider-senses went off as he prepared himself for the imminent danger.
  
  "Punishment time!" Junko yelled as she thrust the bladed appendages at Spider-Man, who made an effort to dodge the attack.
  
  She's fast...
  
  The scythe-shaped tendrils managed to slash Spider-Man across the chest and drew blood.
  
  Okay! Ow...really fast.
  
  Junko's tendrils wrapped around Spider-Man's ankle and bashed the web-slinger on the floor repeatedly. "Aw...poor wittle Spider!"
  
  As Spider-Man struggled to regain his footing, he quickly analyzed the room for anything that could help him weaken the Symbiote-powered Junko Enoshima.
  
  Gotta get the suit off of her. Fast!
  
  "Come on, Spidey!" Junko grabbed the super hero by the head and aimed it at a nearby security camera. "Every single peasant in the whole kingdom is watching, each one waiting with baited breath to bear witness to your execution!"
  
  "Sorry, Junko.” Spider-Man shot his electric webbing at the security console, which caused the system to overload. "I'm a bit camera shy."
  
  Junko's eyes widened, and she braced herself for what was to come. The resulting explosion blasted the two super humans away.
  
  The flames began to consume the room.
  
  Spider-Man slowly recovered from the blast. "Okay, not one of my smartest moves."
  
  Junko, despite the intense force of the blast, giggled to herself. "It's back and forth with you."
  
  Junko’s grin widened beneath her Symbiote exoskeleton, "Don't you get it, Spidey? Wherever there's Hope, there's always Despair!"
  
  "The only way this is gonna end is with one of us dead," Junko drearily expounded on her point before her vulgar personality took over. "And I'm the only one who's got the balls to do it!" Junko shot bladed tendrils out of her hand and sent them straight at Spider-Man.
  
  "No..." Spider-Man quickly webbed up a piece of burning debris and used it to shield himself from the Symbiote's tendrils. "That's wrong."
  
  "Jeez, you're just as bad as Makoto!" she whined.
  
  Junko was appalled to see the symbiotic tendrils recoiling from the flames. "What the hell? Don't pussy out on me now!"
  
  "Hey, I guess they’re feeling a little despair, huh?" Spider-Man quipped, tossing the debris away.
  
  Junko, enraged by the hero's mockery of Despair, lunged at Spider-Man.
  
  "So, you wanna talk about Despair?" a battle-worn Spider-Man countered Junko with an uppercut that sent her flying upwards. "Then let me tell you something about despair!" Spider-Man yanked Junko viciously to the hard floor below with his webbing.
  
  "There was this boy from Queens!" Spider-Man gave a swift roundhouse kick to the side of Junko's head as the Ultimate Despair struggled to regain her footing.
  
  "One day...he was given amazing powers!" Spider-Man dodged Junko's wild swipes before he fired webbing in her face.
  
  "He thought of using those powers to make a living as a wrestler!" Spidey punched Junko in the face just as she tore the webbing that blinded her off.
  
  "But one night, a thief stole money from the promoter..." Spider-Man webbed up nearby debris and tossed it at Junko.
  
  "The boy didn't see it as his responsibility to stop the man!" with Junko dazed, Spider-Man flung himself at the Ultimate Despair and delivered a punch across her jaw.
  
  "Then on that same night, the boy went home to find his uncle murdered!" Memories of the night Uncle Ben died flooded the web-slinger's mind. "It filled him with despair!" Spider-Man furiously struck Junko again and again.
  
  "It motivated that boy to hunt down the man who murdered his uncle!" Spidey was then forcibly shoved away by Junko, but Spider-Man managed to regain his footing just before he crashed against the burning debris.
  
  "When he finally found him..." Spider-Man glared at Junko as the Ultimate Despair's bond with the suit weaken.
  
  "He saw the face of the same burglar who he could have stopped that one night..." Spider-Man lunged at Junko with a vicious punch that caused her to stagger.
  
  "He wanted to kill him for taking his uncle's life!" Spider-Man shouted at Junko as the masked hero struck her down with a kick to the face.
  
  "But you know what he did, Junko?" Spider-Man furiously grabbed Junko by the collar.
  
  "He did something that you never have the guts to do!" Peter Parker stared straight into the eyes of the mastermind behind all the torment that had plunged his city into despair. "He showed mercy."
  
  Spider-Man released his hold on Junko. "Because he learned that night..." suddenly, his Spider-Sense alerted him of the Symbiote's oncoming attack.
  
  Junko shot out shards of symbiotic blades at Spider-Man.
  
  Spider-Man dodged the symbiotic blades. "That with Great Power..."
  
  "...There must come Great Responsibility!" Then, with all his might, Spider-Man landed the final blow and sent the Ultimate Despair crashing against the wall.
  
  "I hope you learned something from our chat," Spider-Man said between gasps for air.
  
  A loud explosion was heard outside of the burning room as smoke began to envelop the room.
  
  Of course she rigged the whole place to explode!
  
  Spider-Man adjusted the lenses in his mask to search for Junko through the heavy smoke. He finally found an unconscious Junko trapped under debris.
  
  No one's going to die...not tonight.
  
  Spider-Man quickly pulled an unconscious Junko out of the wreckage.
  
  Not even someone like her.
  
  "Okay, now where's the suit...?" Spider-Man searched for the Symbiote, only to find it nearby, trying to latch itself on to the hero. "No thanks, little fella!" Spider-Man trapped the symbiote with a quick web-bomb. "I like the suit I'm wearing now."
  
  Outside of Brooklyn Visions, every available police unit surrounded the school. Each and every officer tended to the students.
  
  Spider-Man, with Junko and the Symbiote in tow, swung over to Captain Yuri Watanabe. "One psycopathic teenager and alien symbiote delivered in thirty minutes or less."
  
  One of the Future Foundation officers took the webbing that the Symbiote was trapped in.
  
  "Be careful with that one, it's a fighter," Spidey warned the officer, who quickly placed it in a containment cell.
  
  "I think the Future Foundation can handle it," Yuri reassured Spider-Man.
  
  "Well, you can never be too careful," Spidey shrugged before he looked over to the webbed up Junko, whose somber personality took over. "So, what about her?
  
  "Well, given her mental health, she's earned a trip to Ravencroft," Yuri informed Spider-Man of Junko's fate.
  
  "I think the Ultimate Fashionista could make a white robe work," Spider-Man joked. “Just keep her away from Cletus and pals."
  
  "I'll make a note of that," Yuri nodded in agreement. "We can handle the rest here, Spider-Man...thank you."
  
  "All in a night's work for..." Spider-Man paused dramatically as Yuri came to a horrible realization of what Spider-Man was about to say. "Spider-Cop!"
  
  "Just go before I arrest you for vigilantism..." Yuri sighed out of embarrassment.
  
  Spider-Man saluted Yuri before swinging off into the distance.
  
  The Chief'll come around... Eventually...
  
• 
  
  
  ULTIMATE FEAR​
  
  A Thunderstorm raged on outside of the Yokohama Police Department.
  
  Ever since we ended up here, there were more heroes per city block than there were food carts… Really made my job easier...
  
  Yuri walked down the hall, her eyes full of fire as she marched towards the interrogation room.
  
  And then she happened...
  
  Before she could even lay a single finger on the doorknob, Yuri heard someone call her name.
  
  "Captain Watanabe,” the voice came from the department’s Patrick Mulligan. “Uh, what are you doing down here?”
  
  “I’m here for the interrogation, Mulligan,” Yuri sternly stated with her eyes focused on her objective.
  
  “Are you sure you should be doing this, Captain?” Mulligan questioned Yuri’s motive.
  
  “Mulligan, listen… I know we got an open and shut case on her but…” Yuri froze as her mind was bombarded with all the loose ends in their case. “She has to know more… She’d have to have someone helping her.”
  
  “Yeah but are you sure?” Mulligan pleaded with Yuri to back down. “I haven’t seen you like this since Captain DeWolff died…”
  
  Yuri sighed before answering Mulligan’s concerns, "It's just that something about her, Mulligan... just doesn't seem human."
  
  “I know, before she showed up here, the worst part of the job was just the paperwork,” Mulligan tried to joke in an attempt to help lighten the mood.
  
  “This isn’t the time for jokes, Mulligan,” Yuri snapped at Patrick while keeping her eyes at the door to the interrogation room.
  
  “Sorry, Captain,” Patrick apologized. “I just wanted to lighten up the mood…”
  
  Yuri sighed in response as she and Mulligan entered the scarcely lit interrogation room. The room had their suspect restrained and behind a desk.
  
  The two police officers seated themselves opposite to the suspect.
  
  "Jeez, you’ve kept me waiting here for hours..." the suspect opposite of Yuri moaned somberly from across the table before suddenly shifting to a cutesy tone. "That's no way to treat a girl on the first date."
  
  
  
  
  "You guys are just so fucking hopeless!"
  
  ​
  
  
  “Cut the romantic crap, Enoshima,” Yuri slammed her hands on the table and glared at Junko. "We're not here for that..."
  
  “Oh come on, don’t tell me this doesn’t scream romantic to you,” Junko whined in a cutesy manner. “The dim lights, the handcuffs and the thunderstorm…”
  
  “Well, Thor’s in town,” Patrick Mulligan explained the sudden thunderstorm recently. “It’s kinda expected…”
  
  “Mulligan,” Yuri ordered Patrick to shut his mouth while she kept eye contact with Junko.
  
  Patrick gave Yuri a nod and kept his mouth shut.
  
  “I know it was you that was behind the original Hope’s Peak Massacre,” Yuri clasped her hands together to present a calmer figure to the suspect, Yuri wanted to remind her who was in control.
  
  "Oh, so it was you figured out that ol' Kamukura wasn't behind that tragedy?" Junko was impressed with the Captain's detective skills. "And the whole department didn't even believe you, with crime-hounds and all! That sure bit them in the ass, huh?"
  
  Yuri’s eye twitched at Junko’s callous disregard of the severity of her actions. Yuri took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing, “Then there was the second "Killing Game"... Jin Kirigiri turned Class 78th’s school building into a bunker while…”
  
  “While my man, Carnage, was painting the town red!” Junko threw up the horns hand sign as she stuck her tongue out. “Hell Yeah!”
  
  Yuri, with her hands firmly squeezing the edge of the table gave the psychopathic young woman a look of utter disgust before continuing, “You and your sister were among the students… During the incident on Tatsumi Patch Island, you two somehow managed to take control of the school’s defences.”
  
  “Don’t forget the part where we managed to kill the old headmaster! We stuffed him into a rocket and launched him into space! That shit was rad!” Junko’s rocker persona gleefully reminded Yuri before sighing, “Well the him dying part… not him himself, that is… Seriously, he was such a drag…”
  
  “Was he as much of a drag when your sister died?" Yuri spitefully asked Junko, who proceeded to react in a rather unexpected manner.
  
  Junko began to burst into tears, weather or not they were legitimate was unclear to the two.
  
  “Oh Mukuro!” Junko sobbed. “I miss her so much!”
  
  “I doubt that… Eyewitness reports suggest that you killed her yourself,” Yuri offered the weeping Junko no sympathy.
  
  “I could only imagine what was going through her mind when her adorable little twin sister activated the trap…” in between sobs, Junko confessed to her crimes.
  
  “If you missed her then why did you do it?” Yuri asked through gritted teeth.
  
  “Because I really really really loved her!” Junko’s tears continued to flow like a river as she remembered her twin sister’s death. As suddenly as it began, Junko’s sobs ceased and a smile formed on her face. “The despair I felt when I did that… That was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever felt…”
  
  Yuri stayed silent as most of her energy was being used to restrain herself.
  
  “And so begins the Mutual Killing Game!” Junko cheerfully announced.
  
  "Talk about a fucking highlight reel, right?" Junko's rocker personality shined through, "I mean it was fuckin' great watching that shit."
  
  “It’s a good thing that Spider-Man stopped you then,” Patrick was quick to remind Junko of how her game ended.
  
  “That peasant also interrupted our glorious execution!” Junko dramatically explained, she then suddenly shifted to a somber and more miserable demeanor, “Which sucks, especially after I went through the effort of holding a class trial…”
  
  “You mean your little kangaroo court,” Yuri spat venom at the Ultimate Despair’s claims.
  
  “Excuse me?!” Junko looked almost offended by Yuri’s statement, “Those class trials were fair and just! I mean really! What do you take me for?”
  
  Junko’s lips curled into a wide smile, “Besides being an Omnicidal Maniac, of course!”
  
  Yuri’s fist shook as the police captain resisted the urge to beat Junko Enoshima. Patrick Mulligan saw this and quickly placed his hand on Yuri’s shoulder and tried to calm her down.
  
  Mulligan sighed, “Brooklyn Visions… You somehow managed to kill the headmaster just days after the school break… then--”
  
  “Yeah, I already know that part…” Junko waved her hand dismissively at the police officer, before going back to her somber persona, “Honestly, I only went there just to lure Webs over to me… And show him my nice new costume!”
  
  “We recovered tapes in the school’s security room…” Patrick stammered as the horrific events of the massacre flashed in his mind, “Their contents were footage from the… Original Hope’s Peak Massacre.”
  
  “You watched the tapes didn’t you?” Junko’s cutesy persona emerged as she curiously asked the two police officers. “What’s your favorite part?”
  
  Patrick said nothing but simply glared at Junko.
  
  "It’s a shame I wasn't in the room when you guys saw it," Junko's demeanor shifted to her somber personality before going back to her normal persona. "I bet the others were just despairingly mortified! ‘Why would anyone record this?’ and ‘That could have been my kid!’ Oh, yeah… taking away their hopeful futures was just so--”
  
  "You did more than that, you bitch!" Yuri grabbed Junko by the collar of her blazer.
  
  "Oh Captain, I didn't know you were the grabby type!" Junko flirted with Yuri as Patrick Mulligan pulled her away from Junko.
  
  “Captain,” Patrick patted Yuri’s shoulders in a desperate attempt to calm her down.
  
  “I know,” Yuri whispered to Patrick before they both sat back down.
  
  Junko’s persona changed once more to a formal and well-spoken one, “But really know, I’m sure we all know why we’re even having this little meeting… You want to know how could only one girl, the Ultimate Fashionista, be capable of such despair-inducing atrocities, procuring a symbiote from the Life Foundation and somehow almost always managing to get away with it…”
  
  “Isn’t that right, Captain Watanabe?” Junko smirked at Yuri, who returned the gesture with an intense glare.
  
  “No, that's wrong,” Patrick stood up from his seat and looked directly into Junko's eyes, “Spider-Man always stopped you!”
  
  “But isn’t he a no-good vigilante like that blind guy from Hell’s Kitchen? I mean shouldn’t a ‘Pro-Hero’ be enough to deal with lil’ ol’ me?” Junko began to laugh the ever familiar laugh of Monokuma, “I guess those Pro-Heroes better turn in their licenses if they could bearly find the time to stop me!”
  
  Patrick with his world-view in question, slowly sat back down.
  
  “You had help, didn't you?" Yuri finally spoke and asked Junko.
  
  “Well duh! Of course I had help! Hell, I got a whole organization working for me! Ultimate Despair!” Junko's rocker persona shined once more.
  
  “How the hell did you manage that?" Yuri questioned the validity of Junko's words.
  
  "Oh come on, Captain… I mean look at me!” Junko chuckled at Yuri's disbelief before switching personas once more, “People say I’m, like, cuter than a hundred chihuahuas… So of course just about anyone desperate enough would just flock to me… Nihilists, Homicidal Maniacs and Perverts thinking that joining the group means they can get me in bed with them… Such is the life of Junko Enoshima... “
  
  “I think we're done here," Yuri got up from her seat alongside Mulligan.
  
  Mulligan grabbed Junko's arm to lead her back to her cell.
  
  Junko smiled in response as they left the interrogation room.
  
  "Be seeing you around, Captain!" Junko blew a kiss at a disgusted Yuri before Patrick Mulligan led Junko back to her cell.
  
  Yuri simply stood there with her hands balled up into fists as Monokuma’s laughter rang out in her mind.
  
  Honestly, I’m thankful that Spider-Man stopped her… But sometimes I wished he just let her die.
  
• 
  
  

  
  FEATURING
  

  

  
  ULTIMATE FINALE
  

  
  "Peter!" called the cheerful voice of one CiRCLE’s staff members, Marina Tsukishima. She looked up high at the lighting rig of CiRCLE’s live stage where their new technician is at work, "So did you figure out what’s wrong with the rig?"
  
  "The problem’s just a voltage spike, Marina. It should be an easy fix," Peter called back to Marina before going back to work.
  
  "Thank you, Peter!" Marina sighed in relief, "Honestly, this is the last time I let Kokoro mess with the lighting rig for her concerts…"
  
  Marina was suddenly startled by a loud electrical boom. She quickly looked back up at Peter to see what had happened.
  
  Peter looked just about as startled as Marina was. The Technician scratched the back of his head as he looked back at his CiRCLE co-worker, and nervously chuckled "Okay, maybe it’s a bit more complicated than a voltage spike…"
  
  "Good grief…" Marina sighed knowing full well that it’s going to take longer than she previously thought.
  
  Meanwhile upstairs in the studio room, the various members of five different girl bands were busy discussing the plans for their next joint concert.
  
  "Before we start discussing the venue, we need to finalize of what we call the joint concert," Rimi announced to everyone the current topic for their meeting.
  
  "We should call it the Smile-Fest!" Kokoro enthusiastically raised her hand up as she announced her suggestion.
  
  "No, this isn’t just for HaroHapi, you know?" Arisa shot down Kokoro’s suggestion.
  
  Kokoro cupped her chin as she pondered on an alternative name.
  
  "Now that I think about it," Roselia's ever serious guitarist, Sayo, interjected herself into the discussion, "We haven't decided on a theme for the concert."
  
  Arisa sighed before turning her gaze over to the brains behind the joint concert, "Hey Kasumi, can you tell them what you had in mind?"
  
  "Yes!" Kasumi gave her well-endowed introverted friend a thumbs up before addressing the other her plans for the concert, "I'd like to have sparkling, heart-pounding concert with everyone!"
  
  The room fell silent, each band member, including her own bandmates, stared at Kasumi.
  
  Sayo's voice soon broke the silence, "Could you please be more specific?"
  
  "Specific?" Kasumi was taken off guard by Sayo's question and quickly attempted to collect her scatterbrain thoughts together, "Um, an amazing… Spectacular… Inspiring and fun…"
  
  Kasumi finally managed to collect her thoughts and blurted out, "I once heard the beat of the stars when I was a little girl…"
  
  Sayo glared at Kasumi, "So, you haven't decided on anything then…"
  
  Kasumi's fellow bandmate, Saaya, came to the rescue. The drummer laughed nervously, "We'll have the details for you soon!"
  
  Saaya's words did little to lessen the intensity of Sayo's gaze. Thankfully, salvation came barging into the room, in a nice suit.
  
  "I’m sorry, was I interrupting something?" a neatly-dressed man asked as he entered the studio room.
  
  "Nothing!" Saaya desperately waved off the earlier tension between Kasumi and Sayo.
  
  "All the tables and that whiteboard doesn’t really scream to me as nothing," the man retorted as he surveyed the room, "So come on, spill it."
  
  "We were just discussing plans for our joint concert!" Kasumi blurted out, "We haven’t figured out a theme for it though…"
  
  "A theme for a joint concert?" the man smiled at the girls, "I could help you with that."
  
  "How?" Arisa bluntly asked the mysterious man, "I mean just who are you?"
  
  “Okay let’s start this intro over just this once,” the man dug his hand into his coat pocket to retrieve his business card, “My name is Hadley Harper and before Battleworld, I was one of the biggest music producers in New York!”
  
  The girls all collectively gasped in shock and astonishment.
  
  “I got a theme for you, girls…” Hadley smirked at the girls as he dramatically unveiled his idea, “Super Heroes!”
  
  “Super heroes?” Sayo muttered as she pondered why would a bunch of grown adults in tights would be a suitable theme for their concert.
  
  “Yes! Super Heroes!” Hadley waved his arms to emphasize his point, “Before this whole mess started, Super heroes were the talk of the town and even now, not much has changed.”
  
  “Now then… Girls, tell ol’ Hadley who’s your favorite Super Hero?” Hadley asked, hoping that this could lead to them finding common grounds.
  
  “Spider-Man,” the girls, with the exception of Sayo, all stated in unison, much to the shock of the producer.
  
  “Seriously, what’s wrong with Iron Man or that guy with the big hair?” Hadley offered up some suggestions of his own.
  
  “They’re all wonderful people, Harper-San,” Kasumi spoke up from the group.
  
  “Then why don’t any of you pick one of them instead?” Hadley Harper asked the girls.
  
  “It’s because while they all are great heroes in their own right… but Spider-Man is our hero,” Kasumi stayed firm on her and the others stance on making songs for their Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
  
  “Seriously, what’s so great about that Web-Head?” Hadley was stumped with why they all unanimously agreed with going with a Spider-Man theme for their concert.
  
  "Spider-San embodies bushido!" the platinum haired PasuPare keyboardist, Eve, enthusiastically stated her convictions on Spider-Man.
  
  “He saved our band when our tour bus was knocked off of the Manhattan Bridge,” Aya chimed in with her own tale of Spider-Man’s heroics.
  
  “Yeah, that Rhino guy was intense,” Maya chuckled, “I did like Spider-Man’s jokes in the fight though.”
  
  “Spider-Man’s jokes are either hit or miss,” Maya’s fellow PasuPare member, Chisato giggled, “But they did add some needed levity.”
  
  “I have no opinion on him,” the teal-haired guitarist of Roselia, Sayo, bluntly stated.
  
  "His gadgets are really Boppin'!" Sayo’s twin sister, Hina, excitedly pushed herself through the crowd to say her piece on Spider-Man.
  
  “I even made my own web-shooters!” Hina mimicked Spider-Man’s web-shooting gestures, “Even Spidey said they were Boppin’!”
  
  “Wait! How did you--?!” Hadley was stunned by Hina’s claims.
  
  “Maya-chan helped me!” Hina pulled her fellow PasuPare bandmate over to her side.
  
  “Yeah, the real challenge was figuring how to replicate his webbing but Hina-san managed to figure it out!” Maya patted Hina’s back.
  
  “I gave him a zappin’ gadget for him to use also!” Hina folded her arms with pride.
  
  Hadley’s eyes widened, “You gave him those electrified webs of his!?”
  
  “Nope, I gave him a suspension matrix!” Hina corrected Hadley’s assumption.
  
  “What…”
  
  “His web binds us all in a… uh…” Ako's dark performance faltered as she pauses to think of what to say, “His web…”
  
  “He looks out for the neighborhood,” Tomoe gave a simple yet valid answer to why she admired the Wall-Crawler.
  
  “He saved me and Tsugu when the Shocker and his gang tried robbing Hazawa Coffee!” Himari threw herself into the scene with Tsugumi right behind her.
  
  "Must have been quite the mess," Hadley commented on the battle between Spider-Man and his not-so-Superior Foes.
  
  “Well… the only thing they broke was the window,” Tsugumi chuckled slightly, “Spidey-san did say sorry about it.”
  
  Hadley rolled his eyes upon hearing what Spidey said to Afterglow's Keyboardist after the battle was won.
  
  “He gave me tips for my costume designs,” the soft spoken Rinko chimed in.
  
  “He’s pretty cool…” Moca gave a dry answer to why she admired Spidey.
  
  “Care to explain?” Hadley gestured to Moca hoping she’d elaborate on why.
  
  “He saved my bread when I dropped it from the roof on accident…” Moca answered before smirking, “As expected of Moca-Chan!”
  
  “I had a chat with him once,” Ran offered her experience with Spider-Man.
  
  Ran’s claim caused Moca to turn her head away from Ran’s line of sight to giggle.
  
  "I admire his dedication," the cold and fierce vocalist of Roselia, Yukina, muttered out her piece.
  
  “He’s stubborn, I’ll give you that,” Hadley sighed out of exhaustion from all of the girl’s Spider-Man related praises.
  
  "He helped me get over my fear of insects," Lisa offered up her experience with Spidey.
  
  “His adventures of amazing fantasies and heroism,” Kaoru theatrically threw out her hand as she made her declaration, “They are the perfect muse.”
  
  Himari and Rimi both squealed at Kaoru’s dramatic aura however, Hadley buried his face in his own palms out of embarrassment.
  
  “He reminds me of Misaki-Chan,” Kanon smiled at her dear friend, Misaki.
  
  “You know that I’m not even trying to keep it a secret…” Misaki sighed as she thought back to how apart from Kanon, Hello, Happy World can’t seem to understand that she is indeed Michelle.
  
  “Sometimes when he’s not swinging around, he’d walked among the people and bring smiles to their faces!” Kokoro praised Spider-Man’s down to earth nature much to the annoyance of Hadley Harper.
  
  “So does any other loser who dresses up like him in Times Square,” Hadley bluntly stated, “Is there anything else? I don’t know, something more personal?”
  
  “Oh! He saved us too! We had a concert at the F.E.A.S.T. center when evil bees attacked!”
  
  “The Swarm?” Hadley saw an opportunity for a joke and took it, “He must have been on a sting op.”
  
  “That’s what Spidey said!” Kokoro giggled at the coincidence.
  
  “Of course he did,” Hadley however didn’t feel the same.
  
  “He stopped by my family’s shop to buy our croquettes!” Hagumi smiled as she took pride in Spider-Man enjoying her family’s goods.
  
  “He usually stops by Yamabuki Bakery to buy our bagels,” Saaya as well, beamed with pride and joy.
  
  “He found my lost rabbit when he wandered out of his cage,” Tae recounted a time her beloved pet was returned to her by the hero.
  
  “You see, Harper-San… We all love Spider-Man and we couldn’t think of a better hero for our concert than your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!” Kasumi added the final exclamation point to the girls’ defense of Spidey.
  
  “Fine…” Hadley sighed in defeat, “You girls made your point…”
  
  “We’ll make it a…” Hadley paused as he tried to come up with a catchy name for the concert before he suddenly snapped his fingers and blurted out, “Spider-Live!”
  
  The girls’ eyes gleamed with excitement for the finalized theme of their next Live Concert.
  
  “How fleeting!” Kaoru dramatically exclaimed with all of her heart and soul.
  
  Hadley simply stared at the boyish girl and asked, “D-Do you even know what that word means?”
  
  Kaoru shrugged and chuckled nervously while still keeping her dramatic persona up.
  
  “Forget I asked…” Hadley sighed just as the door to the studio room opened.
  
  Everyone turned their heads towards the door to see CiRCLE’s maintenance man, Peter Parker, there.
  
  “Peter-San!” Kasumi waved at Peter, “How’s the live stage?”
  
  “Well, the lighting rig should be fixed now,” Peter scratched the back of his head and chuckled before noticing Hadley Harper in the room, “Uh, who’s the suit?”
  
  “Hadley Harper,” Hadley took Peter’s hand and shook it, “I just moved here from Miscovy.”
  
  “Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Harper,” Peter gave the mysterious music producer a weary smile.
  
  ‘My Spider-Senses are telling me there’s something not right about this guy!’ Peter eyed the music producer suspiciously only for a loud boom to snap him out of his focus.
  
  “What was that?!” Arisa exclaimed as the room shook violently.
  
  “It’s the live stage!” Peter ran back to the door only to jump out of the way as the door flung open to reveal a soot covered Marina.
  
  “Marina, wh-what happened!?” Peter stammered in equal parts worry and astonishment, “How did you get here so fast?”
  
  “It wasn’t only the lighting rig that had a problem,” Marina explained between coughs, “Also I’m a good runner.”
  
  “Marina, I’m sorry!” Kokoro clasped her hands together into a praying position as she begged for Marina’s forgiveness.
  
  “Don’t worry, Kokoro… You had nothing to do with it,” Marina lifted the guilt off of HaroHapi’s vocalist, “It’s probably an issue with merging two cities with different voltage outputs.”
  
  “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to realize it sooner,” Peter apologized profusely to Marina.
  
  “I know, Peter, but if I’m going to pay for the damages,” Marina sighed heavily as she mustered the will to finish her sentence, “I’m really sorry… I have to let you go.”
  
  “Oh…”
  
  “No!” Kasumi stepped between Marina and Peter, “We’ll raise the money to repair CiRCLE with our Joint Concert!”
  
  “Kasumi, y-you really shouldn’t,” Peter tried to talk PoPiPa’s starry-eyed Vocalist out of it, “I’ll be okay.”
  
  “No! It’s not the first time something we’ve done ended up blowing up CiRCLE!” Kasumi stood firm with conviction, “It’s our responsibility to help our beloved Live house!”
  
  “Wow, you almost reminded me of my aunt,” Peter smiled at Kasumi, “She always looked out for everyone.”
  
  Kasumi smiled back at Peter, “CiRCLE wouldn’t sparkle the same without you, Peter-San.”
  
  “Kasumi, what about the venue?” Marina poked a hole in Kasumi’s feel good plot.
  
  Hadley stepped in with another one of his suggestions for the joint concert, “I’ll handle that.”
  
  Soon, the girls with the help of Hadley Harper managed to secure a venue for the Spider-Live Joint Concert.
  
  “The Ditko Theater!” Hadley presented the girls a pamphlet for the historic theater, “It might not look it, but back in the day this place was bigger than Broadway!” Hadley boasted the theater’s rich history before asking them, “You guys had heard of Broadway, no?”
  
  “I have!” Chisato excitedly raised her hand to grab Hadley’s attention.
  
  Hadley smiled at the teen idol before sighing, “I had fond memories of that place when I younger…”
  
  In the following days, the five bands went to work for their own Spider-Man tribute act for the show.
  
  In her bedroom, Kasumi wrote drafts for PoPiPa’s tribute song.
  
  "♪Spectacular!♫" Kasumi giggled as she found her groove and with it her song.
  
  Meanwhile on the roof of Haneoka Girls’ High, Ran sat near the edge of the roof as she wrote down the lyrics to her tribute.
  
  Unbeknownst to Ran, her childhood friend, Moca spied on her from afar in a Spider-Man mask.
  
  Their tributes were more than just original songs. Roselia’s seamstress and Keyboardist, Rinko, took inspiration from Spider-Man’s darker suits to find synergy with Roselia’s Gothic aesthetics.
  
  “How’s the costume?” Rinko asked the lively guitarist of Roselia, “I did my best to combine both Spider-Man’s black costume and Black Cat’s suit together.”
  
  Lisa examined how the costume fitted her as she twirled around to meet Rinko eye-to-eye, “Yukina is going to love it!”
  
  “But I made it for you…” Rinko muttered.
  
  “I know,” Lisa gave cheeky wink in response.
  
  As the day of the Spider-Live came ever closer, Hadley Harper was busy enjoying some coffee at the live house’s outdoor cafeteria.
  
  “Beats the coffee Otto had…” Hadley muttered to himself.
  
  “Harper-San!” called out the cheerful voice of HaroHapi’s leading vocalist, Kokoro Tsurumaki.
  
  “What?” Hadley turned his head to the direction of Kokoro’s voice. The music producer was stunned when he saw that she was calling from a hot air balloon with the visage of the band’s bear mascot, Michelle, on the balloon itself.
  
  Kokoro dove out of the balloon’s basket and without missing a beat, cartwheeled over to the astonished music producer.
  
  “Ta-Da!” Kokoro presented Hadley a piece of paper that depicted HaroHapi's Bear Mascot DJ, Michelle, dressed as Spider-Man fighting six other Michelles who are dressed as the Webslinger’s most sinister of foes.
  
  Hadley was startled by Kokoro’s sudden appearance, “How did you… Wait, what's that?”
  
  “Something for our concert!” Kokoro pulled out a piece of paper with a crudely drawn picture of Michelle dressed as Spider-Man cheerfully informed the Music Producer, “The Sinister Michelle Six are going to fight Spider-Michelle!”
  
  “So, I’m suppose to find six guys to dress up in those Bear suits?” Hadley asked the enthusiastic Kokoro.
  
  “Nope, I was wondering if you could build six robots for us?” Kokoro asked with a smile on her face.
  
  “Six Robots, eh? Are you sure you could afford this?” Hadley answered back with a question of his own. The Music Producer doubted that a relatively minor band would have the money to fund such a thing.
  
  Kokoro nodded as she handed Hadley a check worth over a Billion Dollars.
  
  Harper’s eyes lit up at how much money he’s making, “Give me about a week.”
  
  A week passed by with barely any update from the rather mysterious Hadley Harper.
  
  “It’s been a week and there’s no news from Harper-San!” Kokoro looked at her phone.
  
  However, while the other band members were in dismay, Michelle or rather the girl inside the suit, Misaki, breathed a sigh of relief.
  
  “At least I don’t have to do stunts in this costume anymore,” Misaki muttered to herself, knowing full well how much of a burden the suit was during the summer.
  
  “Misaki-chan, did you say something?” the group’s drummer, Kanon, asked her suited friend only to be given no response when the door to the studio room opened to reveal Hadley Harper carting something under a large tarp.
  
  “Haper-San!” Kokoro beamed with excitement the moment she saw the producer walked into the room.
  
  “Behold!” Hadley said dramatically as he removed the tarp to unveil six Michelle Robots that Kokoro requested for, “Six of Spider-Man’s most sinister foes… as bears.”
  
  “Happy! Lucky! Smile! Yay!” Kokoro cheered when the Michelles were finally revealed to her and the group.
  
  “These are just the prototypes…” Hadley informed the ecstatic vocalist, “Rest assured, the finalized versions will really tear the house down!”
  
  “Do you think you could get them ready for this weekend?” Kokoro asked curiously.
  
  “If all goes according to plan then yes,” Hadley reassured Kokoro much to her delight.
  
  Kaoru and Hagumi smiled at Kokoro’s beaming charm and energy while Kanon shivered in dismay for her friend, Misaki.
  
  

  
  ‘He really did build them…’ Misaki felt dread as the prospects of performing complicated fight scenes in the Michelle costume became more of a reality. The shock caused the young woman to faint.
  ​
  Kanon turned away at the sinister synthoids to attend to her dear friend, “Misaki-Chan!”
  
  Meanwhile, Poppin’Party handed out fliers to the citizens of Manhattan.
  
  “So, you’re going to do a concert at the Ditko Theater, huh?” asked a grumpy sourpuss of a man as he took the handout from Kasumi.
  
  “Yeah! I’ll be slamming my bright red Random Star on stage!” Kasumi announced to the man as she showed off her prized guitar to him, “So I hope you’ll come and see us!”
  
  “I have no idea what’s that supposed to mean but I’m always up for encouraging the youth of today to use their talents for good,” the man stated before examining the handout. The man’s eyes widen in shock and outrage.
  
  “Spider-Live!?” The man shouted as he tore the handout apart much to the confusion of Kasumi and the rest of Poppin’Party.
  
  “Eh?” Kasumi stared blankly at the man.
  
  “Is there a problem?” Saaya asked the angry man.
  
  “Of course there’s a problem! I’m a Pulitzer award winning journalist and have been the editor of the Daily Bugle for years so I think I have the credentials to tell you exactly what’s the problem!” the man shouted at Poppin’ Party, “SPIDER-MAN IS A MENACE!”
  
  Arisa with her ears covered stared at the outraged man and simply said, “You don’t have to shout, you know?”
  
  
  NIGHT OF THE SPIDER-LIVE CONCERT​
  
  In the theater’s storage room, Hadley Harper removed the drapes to reveal the completed Sinister Michelles.
  
  Hadley inspected one of the Michelle robots that was dressed to resemble the Sinister Six’s leader and mastermind, Otto Octavius, “The resemblance is quite striking, if I do say so myself…” Hadley muttered in an almost mocking tone.
  
  Hadley opened up a trunk that he hauled over to the storage room to reveal a plexiglas dome, green suit and purple cape. Hadley smiled to himself and muttered, “It’s time for ‘Hadley Harper’ to exit the stage and prepare for--”
  
  He was then suddenly interrupted by Rimi suddenly opening the door.
  
  “Ah! Sorry, Haper-San!” Rimi apologized to the clearly angered man, “I was just getting some of our props for the concert.”
  
  “It’s fine…” the fraud of a music producer groaned out of frustration, “Just make it quick!”
  
  “Okay!” Rimi gave the so-called producer a respectful bow before she hastily grabbed the props and made her way back out of the storage room.
  
  “I knew I forgot to lock the damn door!” the man locked the door and sighed.
  
  “It’s time for ‘Hadley Harper’ to exit the stage,” he restarted his speech once again while also slowly taking off the prosthetics that hid his true face, the face of Quentin Beck.
  
  “And prepare for my magnum opus,” Beck quickly suited up in the green suit and donned the purple cape before concealing his face once more with the plexiglas dome.
  
  
  “For this is the night that Mysterio will have his revenge!”
  ​
  “And now to summon our illustrious guest…” Mysterio announced before he dramatically laughed as if he was in a movie of his own.
  
  Outside of the storage room, Rimi overheard Mysterio’s mad laughter, “Harper-San must be watching funny videos on the internet.”
  
  
  
  High above the city was New Tokyo’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, out on one of his nightly patrols.
  
  “Just another quiet night in New Yor--Kyo…” Spider-Man muttered to himself before he sighed. “Man, I’m never gonna get used to that name.”
  
  “Spider-Man,” came a very familiar voice over Spidey’s comm.
  
  “Why do I do this to myself?” Spider-Man rolled his eyes behind his mask, as he knew his job was far from over.
  
  “I’m glad to know that you’ve survived your encounter with the Ultimate Despair group,” Mysterio said, mockingly feigning concern for the Wall-Crawler.
  
  “Mysterio,” Spider-Man’s voice expressed disdain for the man on the other end of the line, “I’m guessing you’re not calling just to ask how I’m doing, right?”
  
  “Indeed! For a concert is being held at the Ditko Theater in Harlem,” Mysterio informed the web warrior. “A tribute in your name from those whose lives are indebted to you.”
  
  “Jeez, Mysty…didn’t know you’re so out of luck that you’re resorting to advertising Spidey-Concerts,” Spider-Man mocked the costumed criminal while swinging through the city.
  
  “And yet our special guest is nowhere to be found!” Mysterio continued on with his bit in spite of Spider-Man’s attempts to mock him. “A pity, really. If you can’t come in time…then perhaps I shall, how we say, ‘Blow the roof off this joint,’ without you. And you know me, Spider-Man…I never disappoint.”
  
  “Mysterio, you wouldn’t dare!” Spider-Man raised his voice in anger.
  
  “Your adoring public awaits your arrival with bated breath, Spider-Man…” Mysterio taunted Spidey. “Don’t be late. Traffic’s a killer.”
  
  ‘The Ditko Theater? That used to be one of Mysterio’s old hideouts!’ Spider-Man thought to himself as he directed himself towards the Concert Hall. ‘Which means whatever’s there is probably very bad for my health.’
  
  At the Ditko Theater, Spider-Man’s many admirers were enthralled by the music of the bands that performed. All of them, unaware of what role they'll play in the mad illusionist's plot.
  
  Spider-Man, seeing no other option to save time, fired two weblines at a pair of chimney pipes to create a makeshift slingshot.
  
  “Webs, don’t fail me now!” Spidey muttered to himself before slingshotting himself towards the Ditko Theater.
  
  Spider-Man managed to land on the Theater’s rooftop unscaved and soon entered a nearby vent to infiltrate the theater.
  
  Spider-Man crawled through the oddly large vents of the acclaimed theater as he could faintly hear Pastel✽Palettes performing to the Theater’s audience.
  
  Peter couldn’t help but comment on their performance, “Wow, I never really took the time to listen to them but… Pastel✽Palettes' pretty good.”
  
  As the Wall-Crawler navigated through the ventilation shaft he tuned the frequency of his mask so he could better listen to Pastel✽Palettes’ song, “And they’re calling me invincible… That’s sweet but that’s the other guy.”
  
  Eventually, Spidey reached a nearby grating in the ventilation shaft that lead into the Theater’s storage room. Spider-Man looked through the grates and spotted the bomb that Mysterio had planted, “Looks like I’m the bomb squad now…”
  
  “Okay, Spidey.” the Spider-Themed Hero muttered to himself as he lowered himself down the ventilation shaft by a thread. “It’s showtime.”
  
  Spider-Man proceeded with caution to the bomb as one question lingered within his mind, ‘Why is Mysterio making this easy?’
  
  Once he reached the bomb, Spidey quickly moved in to disarm it but just as he was disarming the device his spider-senses triggered, ‘Of course he wouldn’t have made this easy…’
  
  The bomb was in fact a dummy that shot out green fumes at the hero’s face before he could move out of the way.
  
  “Surprise!” Mysterio mocked Spidey over his comm.
  
  Spider-Man coughed as he tried to recover from the dummy-bomb’s gas, “There wasn’t a bomb, was there?”
  
  “Indeed, you’d be right, Spider-Man,” Mysterio answered, “As a man of Theatre, I could not bear to see the historic Ditko Theater be torn asunder even if it meant your destruction!”
  
  “You know, I’d admire that…” Spidey finally his barings from the ambush, “If you weren’t crazy and all…”
  
  “But don’t fret, Spider-Man!” Mysterio coldly mocked Spidey as green mist filled the room, “The show’s just begun.”
  
  “I don’t know about you but…” Spider-Man readied himself for a fight, “This looks like a cause for fretting.”
  
  “Behold!” Mysterio loudly announced as six Pink Bear mascots in the guise of the Sinister Six emerged from the mist, “My Sinister Michelles!”
  
  “Seriously? You’re really going with that?” Spidey quipped just as his Spider-Sense warned him of impending danger, "Well, you did come up with the 'Sinister Six', so I get the branding."
  
  The Ock-Michelle launched its tentacles at Spider-Man while the Electro-Michelle tossed electrified rods at the Webslinger.
  
  “And they’re also Killer Robot Bears! Even after what went down in Brooklyn Visions last week?” Spider-Man dodged the Sinister Michelles’ attacks. “And you wonder why your agents never call you back!”
  
  “But I have to admit, Mysty! I love the line-up you have here!” Spider-Man kept his spirits high as the Sinister Michelles charged at the masked hero, “You got some of the classics here like Doc, Electro, Vulture and you, obviously!”
  
  Spider-Man dodged the mechanical bears’ attacks with ease, “I love how they’re about as good at fighting as the regular ol’ six!”
  
  “Then let’s see how you fare against this one,” Mysterio taunted his adversary as a hooded Michelle with a skull mask jumped into the fray and managed to kick Spider-Man in the midsection.
  
  Spider-Man quickly recovered from the blow only to stare in awe of the automaton that was responsible for the attack. The Hooded Michelle pulled out an energy sword and swiped at the Wall-Crawler.
  
  “Wait a sec! Is that a Michelle-Taskmaster!” Spidey ducked under the Task-Michelle’s energy sword before kicking the robot away from him, “I’m surprised you updated the roster so fast!”
  
  Spider-Man’s spider-senses quickly alerted him of something massive charging at him.
  
  “You even got Stegron!” Spider-Man exclaimed as he dodged out of the Michelle-Stegron’s way, “Whoever paid you to make them must really hate me.”
  
  The Michelle-Stegron halted dead in its tracks before swiping at Spider-Man with its spiked tail.
  
  Spider-Man grabbed the automaton’s tail only to be flung at the wall by the mechanical beast.
  
  “And she hits just about as hard as the real deal… Ow.” Spider-Man winced in pain as he staggered back up to his feet.
  
  The Sinister Michelles surrounded Spider-Man with the Mysterio-Michelle front and center.
  
  “Your life’s a tragedy, Spider-Man!” the voice of Mysterio came out of the Mysterio-Michelle’s speakers, “So allow me to give you a fitting end.”
  
  “Death by cute cuddly bears… sounds more like a comedy to me,” Spider-Man retorted as he prepared himself for the fight of his life.
  
  “Then so be it,” the Mysterio-Michelle raised its paw at Spider-Man and shot out a stream of green flames at him.
  
  Spider-Man jumped out of the Mysterio-Michelle’s fire, “I can just tell you splurged most of your budget on your robo-bear!”
  
  Spidey looked up to see the Michelle-Vulture swooping down at him. The Wall-Crawler attempted to hit the Avian Michelle with an uppercut only for the Robot to fly away from the punch.
  
  Still airborne, the Michelle-Vulture fired feathered darts at Spider-Man. The Webslinger dodged the bird-bear-bot’s attack.
  
  “Okay, I stand corrected…” Spider-Man quipped “You put a bit of effort in to Vulture’s Michelle clone.”
  
  The Michelle-Vulture swooped down at Spider-Man with its claws ready to tear at the hero.
  
  “But I hate to break it to you, Mysty…” Spidey quickly jumped over the Michelle-Vulture and fired two weblines at its wings before tearing them clean off.
  
  “Bears were never meant to fly,” Spidey quipped as the Michelle-Vulture crashed head first into the shelves that soon fell right on top of the automaton.
  
  Spider-Man’s eyes widen as his spider-senses warned him of impending danger but before he could react, he was ensnared by the mechanical arms of the Ock-Michelle robot.
  
  “These things are just about as strong as Doc’s arms,”Spider-Man struggled to break free before screaming in pain as the mechanical arms of the Oct-Michelle squeezed him tighter.
  
  “Michellectro, show him what happens when you get stabbed in the heart with pure electricity!” Mysterio’s voice echoed within the storage room.
  
  “Aw! You call her Michellectro, that’s adorable!” in spite of the pain, Spider-Man cooed at the oddly adorable name that Mysterio gave the killer robot, “Ow…”
  
  The Michellectro robot pulled two lightning rods that were pulsing with electricity. Michellectro lunged at the ensnared Hero.
  
  Spidey countered by kicking it away with both legs. The force of the kick shoved the Ock-Michelle into the wall which in turn loosen its grasp on the Wall-Crawler.
  
  Spider-Man turned his attention to the damaged Ock-Michelle. The Webslinger threw a straight punch through the Ock-Michelle’s head to destroy it. Suddenly, Spidey’s spider-senses triggered as the Michellectro recovered. The robotic bear extended its paws at Spider-Man and fired out electrified darts at him.
  
  “This is going to hurt me more than it’s gonna hurt you!” Spider-Man dodged the onslaught before firing electrified webbing at the Michellectro’s paws.
  
  The electrified webbing caused an energy surge that caused the Michelletro to explode. The resulting explosion knocked Spider-Man into the wall.
  
  “How Ironic,” Mysterio laughed at Spidey’s current predicament, “Bested by your own web! Oh, this better than I had hoped!”
  
  The remaining Sinister Michelles gather around Spider-Man.
  
  “Getting killed by cute bear mascots from a girl band… Not exactly how I imagined my night turning out,” Spider-Man slowly staggered back up to his feet, “Oh, who am I kidding…”
  
  “I could already tell that your sanity is slowly eroding into nothingness, Spider-Man,” Mysterio’s voice echoed throughout the storage room as the Michelle-Stegron charged at the dazed Webslinger.
  
  “Honestly, it’s already a bad sign when this isn’t the weirdest thing that happened to me all week!” Spider-Man said between gasps for air before jumping on top of the rampaging Michelle-Stegron and steering the Dino-Bear-Bot at the Task-Michelle, “Seriously!”
  
  The Michelle-Stegron trampled over the Task-Michelle. Before the mechanical beast could crash into the wall, Spider-Man leapt off of the robot and kicked it straight into the wall, destroying both.
  
  With only the Mysterio-Michelle left to deal with Spidey quickly webbed its feet to the floor before charging at the robot.
  
  “My life makes no sense,” Spidey mused as he uppercutted the Mysterio-Michelle’s head off. With the Sinister Michelles defeated, Spider-Man soon received another call from his dome-headed nemesis.
  
  “Normally, this is the part where I’d say, ‘You’ll pay for this, Spider-Man!’ but with the kind of money, I got for just making those things?” Mysterio in an oddly calm manner said, “I have enough to finally retire in a nice beach house in the Bahamas…”
  
  “That’s nice, so why are you still doing this complicated revenge scheme?” Spider-Man asked mentally questionable Mysterio.
  
  “Well, I can’t really retire on a high-note if I don’t kill you first…” Mysterio casually answered Spider-Man’s question, “I am your arch-nemesis after all!”
  
  "Yeah but White Rabbit kinda beats you in that department," Spidey joked with his so-called Arch-Nemesis, "I mean she's still a pain in the butt even after she retired."
  
  “So I’ve heard.”
  
  “Of course you did…” Spider-Man said before abruptly hanging up the call, “Jeez, Lorina really needs to shut up sometimes…”
  
  As Spider-Man crawled through the ventilation, he could faintly hear Kokoro singing from afar
  
  “If I know anything about my usual crop of costumed whack-jobs,” Spider-Man ventured further through the Ditko Theater’s ventilation, “Mysterio would be gunning for as big of an audience as possible.”
  
  The sounds of HaroHapi’s song tribute to Spider-Man grew louder and louder as he crawled closer to the end.
  
  “Looks like I gotta follow the music then,” Spider-Man muttered to himself just before he received another call from Mysterio.
  
  “Like the Pied Piper leading the spider up the water spout to his doom!” Mysterio spoke with a menacing tone in his voice.
  
  “Mysterio, you’re mixing your metaphors here,” Spider-Man quipped at the Mad Illusionist, “White Rabbit doesn’t do that.”
  
  “Shut up,” Mysterio tossed aside his usual dramatic flare before ending the call.
  
  “Heh, Finally got to him!” Spidey chuckled to himself as he neared his destination. The Wall-Crawler peaked through the vent to see a catwalk below. Spidey jumped out of the vent and on to the catwalk.
  
  “Now where’s ol’ Bubblehead hiding?” Spidey muttered to himself as the show’s closing act was about to make their entrance.
  
  “Hi, everyone!” greeted the familiar voice of Kasumi Toyama, “We are Poppin’Party! We hope you all enjoyed the show! Because we’re getting ready for the finale!”
  
  “You’re going to love the finale, Spider-Man…” Mysterio called up the Webslinger once more to taunt him, “It’s going to be a blast!”
  
  “So does it mean that the Great and Powerful Mysterio can come out of the curtains now?” Spider-Man asked his theatrical foe.
  
  “Patiences, Web-Head!” Mysterio snapped at the Webslinger, “One mustn’t rush an artist at work!”
  
  “I forgot how pretentious he could be,” Spider-Man muttered to himself just before his spider-senses alerted him to an unmanned bat-shaped drone behind him, “Seriously, drones!?”
  
  Below the Catwalk, Poppin’ Party began their performance.
  
  “Say hello to your adoring public, Spider-Man!” Mysterio’s voice came out of the drone as it filmed Spider-Man.
  
  The footage from the drone was being broadcasted on the LED screen below.
  
  The Audience cheered with excitement when they saw Spider-Man on the screen.
  
  “Uh, everyone don’t panic! Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s here!” Spider-Man announced to the audience and to the band below before muttering to himself, “Please don’t panic.”
  
  “I believe you should start panicking, Spider-Man,” Mysterio’s voice came out of the drone as a gun emerged from underneath.
  
  "You gotta be kidding me..." Spidey muttered to himself as Poppin'Party performed their song.
  
  “♪LIVIN’ ON THE EDGE! FIGHTING CRIME! SPINNING WEBS!♫”
  
  The drone fired a hailstorm of bullets at Spider-Man, who managed to dodge all of them with ease before firing electrified webbing at the drone to disable it momentarily.
  
  Another drone appeared from the opposite catwalk and fired at Spider-Man as well.
  
  Spider-Man rolled out of harm’s way. During the chaos, Spider-Man was able to snatch the disabled drone before swinging over to the opposite catwalk.
  
  “♪SWINGING FROM THE HIGHEST LEDGE! HE CAN LEAP ABOVE OUR HEADS!♫”
  
  Spider-Man gracefully dodged the drone’s fire before swinging its disabled counterpart straight at it, destroying both drones.
  
  The stunt earned the Wall-Crawler an applause from the audience.
  
  “♪VILLAINS ON THE RISE! AND THE CITY’S VICTIMIZED!♫”
  
  “Cower, Mortals!” Mysterio’s voice echoed through the concert hall as green mist enveloped the catwalk and from the mist emerged the master of illusions himself, “For the Great Mysterio has returned!”
  
  “I don’t know about you, Beck, but after the Sinister Michelles, still can't believe you went with that, this is kinda underwhelming,” Spider-Man readied himself for whatever trick, Mysterio had under his sleeves.
  
  “We’ll see about that.”
  
  Green mist enveloped the catwalk once more as five more Mysterios appeared before Spider-Man, “You can’t defeat all of us, Spider-Man!”
  
  “Of course I can’t…” Spider-Man sarcastically replied as steadied his stance.
  
  “♪SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! SPIDER-MAN!♫”
  
  The Mysterios all charged at Spider-Man but the webslinger quickly dodged their clumsy attacks.
  
  Spider-Man fired a web-trap on to one of the robots that was then quickly triggered by the android in front of it.
  
  “That’s just embarrassing,” Spidey quipped when the two androids were quickly webbed together.
  
  “♪SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! SPIDER-MAN!♫”
  
  Spider-Man was alerted to a single android coming at him with a cutlass.
  
  “What, no eyepatch or pegleg? That’s a real big missed opportunity there, Mysty!” Spider-Man webbed the cutlass out of the androids hands before kicking its head off with full force.
  
  A Mysterio android came up from behind Spider-Man while he was busy fighting the other android and managed to punch Spidey in the back of the head.
  
  Spidey rolled through and managed to turn around to face the android, “You’re a sneaky one, aren’t you?”
  
  Spider-Man leapt forwards and delivered a hard right hook to the Mysterio android and destroyed it, leaving one last android left to deal with.
  
  Wishing to end the skirmish quickly, Spidey fired two weblines at the android.
  
  “♪SPECTACULAR!♫”
  
  “You’re mediocre at best, Spider-Man!” the last Mysterio android flew up to avoid Spider-Man’s webs.
  
  “I wasn’t aiming for you,” Spider-Man slingshotted himself at the android out of the air and down to the stage below.
  
  The pair crashed right in front of Poppin’Party, however in spite of chaos, the band continued to play their song.
  
  The android was destroyed on impact much to Spider-Man’s relief.
  
  Spider-Man turned his sights over to the catwalk above where an angry Mysterio shook his fist at the Webslinger.
  
  “How are you still alive?!” Mysterio’s domed visage appeared on the LED Board as he cursed his nemesis, “This plot was fool proof!”
  
  “How many times have you said the exact same thing before it usually blows up in your face?” Spider-Man taunted the illusionist, “Oh yeah! All the time!”
  
  “♪RACING UP AND DOWN THE WALLS! BRINGING JUSTICE TO US ALL♫”
  
  Spider-Man quickly ran up the LED board back up to the catwalk where the real Mysterio was.
  
  Once back on the catwalk, Spider-Man quickly spotted Mysterio making a break for it.
  
  Thinking quickly, Spidey fired webbing at the door to prevent the super criminal’s escape, “Hey! Where do you think going?”
  
  “Ah, hell,” Mysterio cursed and seeing no other option of escape, the costume criminal jumped over the railing and on to the stage below.
  
  “Come on! At least stick around for the autographs!” Spider-Man called out as he continued to pursue the illusionist.
  
  “♪SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! SPIDER-MAN!♫”
  
  Mysterio looked over his shoulder to see Spider-Man in hot pursuit. The Dome-Headed criminal attempted to run into the crowd only to have his feet webbed to the stage floor before he could even make it half way.
  
  “♪SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! SPIDER-MAN!♫”
  
  “Ready for your close-up, Mr. Beck?” Spider-Man launched himself at Mysterio and delivered a hard punch to Mysterio’s helmet, cracking it.
  
  “♪SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! SPIDER-MAN!♫”
  
  Spidey nearly fell off the stage from his own momentum, but he regained his balance at the last second. “Curtains down,” Spidey quipped.
  
  The audience applauded and cheered everyone on stage for the performance.
  
  “The show’s far from over, Spider-Man!” Mysterio staggered back onto his feet. The costumed criminal then revealed a gun from under his cape.
  
  Before Mysterio could pull the trigger, Kasumi slammed Random Star over the Illusionist's head. The strike shattered Mysterio’s helmet and knocked him unconscious.
  
  Spider-Man quickly webbed up the downed Mysterio. “And that’s a wrap!” Spidey looked up at the young guitarist to see her prized guitar was unharmed. “Jeez, what is that thing made of?”
  
  Kasumi gave the webslinger a bashful grin in response.
  
  Spider-Man pulled out his phone and was prepared to send Yuri a text to pick up Mysterio but before sending the text, Spider-Man looked at the girls who made the concert as a tribute to him.
  
  “Uh, you girls wanna take a selfie?” Spider-Man asked Poppin’Party as he waved his phone at them.
  
  The girls eagerly nodded as the other bands flooded the stage as if they were waiting for this moment to happen.
  
  “Give me a sec,” Spider-Man quickly fired a webline at Mysterio and managed to hang the unconscious villain in a cocoon in front of the center of the LED board.
  
  Spider-Man took his phone out and prepared to take a group selfie with the girls.
  
  “Okay everyone, smile! This is probably going to make headlines,” Spider-Man instructed the girls before snapping the photo and sending the text to Yuri.
  
  ​