Ultimate Spider-Bug

“Spider Lenses on full power. Nova’s nearby, we’re catching up!”

“Spidey! I see you snapped Ladybug out of her funk?”

“Takes a certain way to get through her hide. But that’s another day. Spotted lightning butt yet?”

“Err… not him… although I AM seeing something else…” A sudden swipe of his mighty claws sent Nova plummeting to the ground, forcing Spidey to catch Ladybug in mid swing. The electric sentimonster glared at the heroes.

“Whoa… how has Electro managed to control Zzazzz?” Ladybug was about to mention this was almost certainly one of Shadow Moth’s sentimonster creations and therefore something she could reasonably handle… before being slammed to the ground near their comrades with a mighty wave of electricity. As they barely managed to miss Power Man, the creature’s electric master took notice of them.

“You! Spider Man! I was wondering when you’d show up!”

“Whoa, Electro? Boy, did you get a makeover!”

“Electrocutioner now, webhead! In case it hasn’t clicked for you yet, me and my friends are working with this Shadow Moth guy on this one!”

“As if we couldn’t have guessed…”

“Ah, you were such a hoot to hear scream, little bug! I mean, hearing such screams was part of the reason I even took this job! We might only have a minor part to play here, simply to distract you lot while Ock and Mothy get the real work done elsewhere!”

“I don’t suppose you’d care to share what that is, lightning butt?” Enraged by Spidey’s remark, Electro shot a tremendous blast of lightning directly into Spidey’s heart, which quickly spread across to the other heroes as well. Only Nova seemed unaffected, probably due to the nature of his powers.

“Do you really think I’m stupid, spider? Do you really think I’d just tell you that Ock, Mothy and Doom are conspiring to kidnap the bug’s fellow heroes and turn them back into their villainous forms? That Ock’s dreamt up something to make sure Ladybug can’t just will their troubles away? That soon we’ll have an army of these villains ready to stomp you and SHIELD out like a barbeque fire?!” Electro was about to continue before suddenly stopping, realising he’d said too much. But he quickly shrugged off the idea. What good is this lot knowing the plan if they’re not going to be alive to stop it?

“Whoa, back up a bit. Doctor Doom’s here too?”

“And… you’re making akumas I can’t cure…?”

“Oh, close your pieholes, you’re getting nothing more from me!” He generated a massive ball of lightning between his hands. Everyone was smart enough to recognise that was bad news. They ducked and dodged as Electrocutioner threw it at them. It instead hit a car behind them, exploding it into a shower of sparks. Landing expertly, Spidey and Ladybug whipped their trademark weapons out at Electrocutioner, but he flared up in a massive burst of electricity, disintegrating his webs and blasting her yoyo elsewhere. Far enough away in fact that she had to let go of it to avoid being tugged to somewhere she didn’t want to be.

“Ow, ow, owie, static shock!”

“Oh, I hate it when that happens, bug…”

“Hahahaha! When will you posers learn nothing you can do will make an impact on Electrocutioner?! I am going to finish all of you off singlehandedly and… actually, I’d better not say, I’ve blabbered too much already and Ock is going to kill me if I spill everything too soon…” Another tremendous burst of electricity shot through the skies towards the red and blue/red and black spotted heroes. How fortunate that Power Man leapt in front of them and took the bullet for them. Clearly unsatisfied with Power Man going down, Electrocutioner signalled for Thunderbolt. The electric sentimonster gave a deafening roar before breathing out what could only be described as electric fire. This time, Nova leapt in front of the blast and, probably due to his energy absorption powers, managed to absorb the blast slowly but surely…

“Ok bug, you seem to know more about this electric thing than we do, how do we stop it?”

“It might be a simpler task than you think, Spidey. I would have to logically assume that Electro must’ve been in close proximity to Shadow Moth, so… Aha, the armour! Electrocutioner’s armour! That must be where the akuma and amok must be!”

“Ok, in English please?” Ladybug rolled her eyes in frustration. Sure, these types of heroes didn’t have Shadow Moth breathing down their necks daily so they wouldn’t know what a sentimonster is…

“Just break his breastplate, you’ll see what I mean!”

“Easier done than said! Or is that the other way around?” Another lightning bolt cut him off before he contemplate further. “Ok, Nova’s busy, Luke’s out cold… down to just me, Danny, Ava and… bug-girl here… to stop Electro. Preferably before he turns the whole city into the world’s biggest scrap heap…!”

“Ahahahahaha, you really shouldn’t speak out loud so much, Spider Man! Now why would I want to smash this stinking city when it’s a crucial part of our plan? Course, I’m not going to say any more about it ‘cause the others will razz me ‘till I’m blue otherwise! Now… let’s test these heightened powers to the max, shall we? Let’s make a lightning storm that will force all the Ladybug’s little friends out of hiding, right into our trap!” Instantly Electro threw his arms into the air, shooting a tremendous blast of lightning into the clouds, causing them to swarm together into a massive electrical storm of doom. “Now THAT is an Avengers level threat! I fail to see why it won’t attract a few measly superheroic lightweights!” Electro’s self-absorbed ranting was suddenly cut off by a karate kick to the face, knocking him down to street level. Good timing, Danny. Still, that wasn’t enough to finish the human battery, as he immediately starting shooting his lightning blasts indiscriminately across the streets of Paris, igniting several trucks and cars, electrocuting various innocent civilians by mistake and, eventually, strike a decisive blow directly to White Tiger’s heart, just as she came in for a claw swipe attack. She screamed in agony for a moment before slumping down unconscious. Enraged at the sight, Spidey decided Electro had gone too far and just needed to be stopped. Ladybug’s expression clearly indicated that she agreed. If all they need to do is break Electro’s breastplate, then it’ll probably take a decent amount of strength to do so. And then the idea lit up.

“Idea formed! Ladybug, recall your yoyo!” She complied. “Think you can get it around Luke over there?”

“Err… uh, ah… I think I get what you’re saying… if we web him and spin around enough…”

“…it’ll send him flying into Electro, smashing his armour and freeing whatever you said was his power source! Oh yes, sometimes my Parker genius surprises even me…” Thankfully, Electrocutioner was too preoccupied with Iron Fist and Nova to overhear Spidey’s plan. Thank goodness for that. A couple of thwips was all it took to get Power Man hooked, just as he regained consciousness. While Luke’s normally pretty brave, he sure voiced his protests as the bugs began spinning. Faster and faster. The centrifugal force expanding massively… until Spidey gave the signal. Screaming in despair, Luke went flying through the air at breakneck speed (thankfully his invulnerable skin granted him some protection against that), before smashing into Electro’s chest at maximum velocity. As the human battery fell to the ground, clearly dazed from the impact, the purple butterfly and feather were ejected from his now destroyed breastplate. They didn’t escape Ladybug’s notice either. Another thwip was all it took to catch them both, and within a second, both were purified. Electro struggled into a sitting position just in time to watch his sentimonster ally disperse into nothingness, and his armour dissolve into purple mist.

“No… NO!!! I almost had you! I was going to destroy you all! I…!” Then his frustration turned to satisfaction. “Enjoy your momentary victory, heroes. When the whole city is under our beck and call…” He let out a wheezy laugh as he fell back down, unconscious. The heroes regrouped.

“Well, that was… urgh… different. Argh, oh man, static shock!”

“Problematic indeed, Tiger. But the real prize should go to Ladybug. She charged in with me into a battle against a proper supervillain for once and came out on top. I’m honestly not sure if we could’ve done it without her.” Ladybug gave a slight blush at Spidey’s comment.

“Yeah, I agree, she’s a fighter, I’ll say that much. Although please give me advanced warning next time you’re planning to use me as a missile…!”

“Hey, where’d the fun in that be?”

“Ok, ok! Enough praising the new girl, I spent most of that battle holding off that lightning monster… thing! If anyone’s due a little credit, it should be me!”

“Calm yourself, Nova. This is not the time to get egotistical.”

“Heh, for once I understood Danny. That’s one down, but still five more to go. Six counting this Shadow Moth guy. Seven if Electro’s quip about Doom was real.”

“Strictly speaking Ava, he said that to a group of relatively powerless heroes, well… compared to him anyway, who he was about to kill. So why would he lie about something like that? Still, you’ve got a point. Whatever lightning-butt meant about that supervillain army probably needs investigating. We’ll have to make this a working vacation. I’ll call Director Fury at once, see if he can get someone here to pick up Electro…” At which point, Spidey was cut off by Luke pointing to where Electro was lying a moment ago. He wasn’t anymore. All that was left was a wrecked breastplate and a couple of dark green feathers. “Oh. Right… that’ll be Vulture’s doing, I shouldn’t doubt… better Director Fury anyway, he’ll want to know about this…”

“But what are we going to do, just wait around for another attack? Electro said they were specifically targeting my fellow heroes, which means they’re going after everyone who I’ve ever entrusted a Miraculous to over the past year or two! And he said they were going to turn them into akumas that I can’t cure! And…” Ladybug continued rambling for a hot minute. While most of which was able to be tuned out, the Spider Team couldn’t help but ponder the truth in Ladybug’s words. That could be a great many candidates for Ock’s army if left unchecked… And if Ladybug won’t be able to cure them, what could they do for them? This could be a very important situation. One that Director Fury needs to know about ASAP.

Elsewhere, back in the Latverian embassy, the mood was turning bitter. By now, news of Electro’s defeat, and the other four being unable to reach the scene in time to salvage things, had reached the demented Doctor Octopus. To say he was annoyed would be a maddening understatement. Even now he was flailing his mechanical arms about like helicopter blades, smashing various pieces of lab equipment across the tables in the process. He let out a frustrated scream.

“How could they triumph like that?! Kraven and Electro defeated and…?!” He screamed out in anger once again. “This is impossible! There must be something special about that red and black heroine that allows her to cure those we transformed!” Looking over his shoulder through the window at the bustling city, Shadow Moth was equally annoyed at such a development.

“Gah! Wretched heroes… wretched Ladybug… I’ll destroy every one of them!” Struggling to control his emotions, Shadow Moth fell to his knees in frustration, as the former dark lord of Latveria made his reappearance.

“So our enemy succeeds and leaves us open to a further attack, and possibly increased pressure from the local authorities. A minor annoyance… requiring a minor change in plans…”

“What exactly do you have in mind, Doom? I hope it’s not something like picking apart the brains of the three former heroes we’ve already transformed, that serum took me all night to perfect and recreating it is not an easy task!”

“Nothing quite so vulgar, Octavius. We simply need to recall the re-akumatised who you dispatched to ensnare their classmates. When your original six warriors return, we can discuss the particulars of my plans. But in short, we simply need to put the original plan of capturing them individually to rest. All we need now is to establish a choke point. If we lure the remaining heroes out into a trap and overpower them, then the problem is solved.”

“But that will necessitate a thorough scan of the city via my Octobots, which could leave us open to a premature discovery! Not to mention the risk of Spider Man interfering like he always does!”

“Valid concerns, Octavius. But… you are forgetting why I am the most feared man on the planet. Why I am the archenemy of the Fantastic Four, and a major enemy of every hero worth noting. I am the Lord of Latveria! I am the greatest genius mind on this planet, or any other! AND I SHALL NOT BE DENIED!!!!” His gauntlets primed themselves in an instant, and fired out their blood-red blasts directly at the centrepiece of Otto’s life support system. The electrical shock zoomed throughout his body, forcing him to scream in unimaginable agony. Shadow Moth did not even attempt to help him. Though that might be because he is smarter than some give him credit for. He is certainly no slouch, but his abilities are mainly focused on supporting others. With only his swordstick, he would certainly stand no chance against SHIELD’s number one supervillain. He merely looked on, deeply concerned for Otto’s safety. Eventually Ock could stand it no longer and pleaded for the torture to end. Doom seemed content that his place in the hierarchy of this operation had been reestablished and shut off his energy blasts. “Both of you, heed my warning: insubordination will not be tolerated. If you or any of our comrades in this conspiracy raise concerns about allying yourselves with Doom again…!”

“I know it well, you’ll kill us.”

“You think me stupid, Shadow Moth? No. I never waste a potential resource. So I will not kill you if you voice your concerns again. But if such occurs, I can promise you will be begging me to! NOW GET BACK TO WORK! BEGIN THE SCANS! GET ON WITH RAISING OUR ARMY TO SEIZE ALL OF THE MIRACULOUSES!!!” Evidently unwilling to cross Doom after that show of power, both Otto and Shadow Moth quickly submitted and obeyed, waiting for Doom to leave before resuming conversation.

“You know something, Octavius…”

“Please, call me Otto.”

“…when I first began down this path about a year ago, I never imagined I’d still be fighting this battle after this long. And I would never have envisioned I would be working with Doctor Doom of all people to acquire the Miraculouses… Honestly… he terrifies me…” Ock rose a tenacle and gently gripped Gabriel’s shoulder, looking him right in the eye.

“From experience working with other supervillains, Gabriel, I would strongly advise you keep an eye on your partner at all times. I am smart enough to at least suspect my genius is being used. For instance, I know for a fact that Doctor Doom is well known for betraying his partners and taking the power for himself alone. Hence why I am also working on a side project. Something that help us both. If Doom intends to betray us, we’ll simply have to betray him first. The Sinister Six are my creation, they only take orders from me! And yet Doom treats us all like pawns. A man who you might well know if you read the business section of the local newspaper, Norman Osborn, once used me long ago. He betrayed me then. But I got my revenge by turning him into the Goblin. He who laughs last laughs best!” Then Otto’s tone changed, and a hint of sadness crept into his eyes. “But… I’m… I’m also aware that getting the last laugh often leads to loneliness. A state I often find myself in. Perhaps… once all this is over, and once you’ve gotten back your wife… and I’ve reconstructed my body to regain my mobility… maybe we could be friends…?” Gabriel looked taken aback for a moment, before showing a rare smile.

“I… I think… I’d like that, Otto.”

“Urgh, maybe I would to. Unfortunately, we have work to do. As much as I’m sure Spider Man and his teammates wouldn’t object, I don’t fancy being tortured to death anytime soon.” Had he not just seen his new friend be ruthlessly tortured by the world’s most notorious supervillain, Shadow Moth might’ve taken that a joke.

“Very well. I will recall my puppets at once. And then we have to organise a proper hunt for somewhere to ambush the Miraculers… I’m sure Kraven will love that part…”

Elsewhere, swinging through the streets of Paris, completely unaware of what was transpiring in enemy headquarters at this very moment, Spider Man was indeed dialling up Nick Fury. These developments could be world-threatening, especially if Doctor Doom was involved. Fury needed to know, if only to check if Damage Control has a European branch, just in case.

“Spider Man to Tri-Carrier. Spider Man to Tri-Carrier. Director Fury, do you read me?”

“Receiving you loud and clear, Spidey. How’s your vacation going, no problems with transportation are there? I hear that’s a thing in some cities…”

“Meh, not so much for a web-slinging superhero like me! Ok, better put on my serious hat for a moment. We might have to reschedule the actual rest-and-relaxation vacation, Director Fury. And before you get too huffy, let me explain. This one’s going to have to be a working vacation. We’ve just encountered Electro trying to take over City Hall. And I remember seeing Kraven earlier too. The Sinister Six are in Paris, Director.”

“Urgh, so much for some peace and quiet. Certainly frustrating as it means I’ll have to resubmit those vacation requests, but good on you, Spidey. This sounds like it could be worth investigating. I have no idea what six of the world’s most dangerous criminals want in the City of Love, but we both know it’s nothing like charity work. There must be something in Paris they want.”

“Probably not free omelettes or croissants. Also, those anonymous tip-offs we had about a supervillain in Paris using butterflies to turn people evil? We’ve just confirmed they were in fact genuine. We probably should’ve gotten involved sooner. Way sooner, in fact. A local hero helped us with Electro, but there’s still five more bad guys to lock up.”

“Hmm… if the Sinister Six are in league with this mysterious French supervillain, that’d be six. Hang on, your expression… Spider Man, is there something else you want to tell me?”

“…um… ok, I’ll just spit it out! It’s eight villains in total, counting Electro! He mentioned something about Doctor Doom being involved as well. I think he also said something about creating a supervillain army to attack SHIELD…”

“That’s very disturbing news, Spider Man. We both know from experience that Doctor Doom is no one to take lightly.” Spidey was in no position to deny that, given he’d once led his team on what was retroactively considered a suicide mission to capture Doom himself in Latveria. Needless to say, it didn’t go so well. “If he’s operating in Paris, he’ll probably be the brains behind this conspiracy. I’ll mobilise the Tri-Carrier at once, and get SHIELD on highest alert. If Doom wants to attack us, he’s going to find that SHIELD isn’t unprepared.”

“Good to hear. And hey, any chance of getting Doctor Strange on board? These new heroes seem to be magical and that’s sort of his thing…”

“I’ll send him a heads up, make sure he knows about what’s going on in Paris in case worst comes to the worst. I’ll also warn the Avengers, make sure they’re ready if things really hit the fan. For now, recuperate and keep me in the loop. Any new developments, I want to be the first to know! Fury out.”

“Always so charming…”

Spidey and his team were preparing for the long haul. Marinette in particular having spent the rest of that morning and most of the afternoon phoning or video-calling her friends, in particular everyone who she’d given a Miraculous to at that time. All very good. But unfortunately, they were not the only ones hatching a plan at this time. Back at the Latverian Embassy, the villainous ensemble were also plotting…

“One thing I will make clear, Octavius, you’ve always had lousy timing! I was about to finally put that red and blue insect out of our misery at last!” Electro gave a mocking laugh at Kraven’s proclamation before confirming that he was the one who did most of the work in that instance. Vulture and Scorpion remained silent, aside from one moment where the latter gave a minor grunt when Shell Shock tripped over his tail, earning a slight chuckle from Rhino. Otto, obviously not wanting to look like he can’t control his own team and presumably fearing for his life after earlier, viciously slammed down his extra arms to force them to listen to him.

“QUIET!!! Now… I will make it clear that is far from the most convenient of options. I would happily continue with our original objective, but Electro’s ineptitude in distracting Spider Man and Ladybug has forced our hand. Doom has ordered a shift from targeting individuals to a group target. With the aid of Lady Wi-Fi, Shell Shock and Hornex, we stand a better chance of success. Now… having identified the remaining heroes, we need to arrange a place to ambush them. Kraven, you have experience with setting traps, how should we proceed?” Kraven stroked his beard thoughtfully for a moment before responding.

“The element of surprise is essential. I would recommend reviewing the scans of the city. I believe…”

“I say we lure them underground! Trap them in the sewers, find somewhere where all the paths connect eventually, we each take one - BOOM!” Scorpion’s interruption seemed to only annoy his comrades, Electro being the most vocal, pointing out they tried that once and it led to a flood, and water does not mix well with electricity. Kraven continued, saying the key to a successful trap, in his opinion, is the bait utilised to lure the prey into it. So before they look into where to set up their trap, they should work out what they’ll use as bait to lure the remaining Miraculers into their palm. At which point Vulture decided to speak up. Nobody had taken notice of the sack he’d been wearing over his shoulder for the entirety of the meeting. Or if they did, they assumed he’d explain it in his own time. He did. He dropped the sack into the middle of the circle in which they were sitting. He said he’d found their bait while Electro and Kraven were holding off the heroes. He unsheathed a talon and bent forwards, precisely slashing the sides of the sack off with a single swipe. Out fell a young child of very short stature with tan skin, messy dark brown hair pulled back into two pigtails, gold eyes, and two upper front buck teeth, wearing a white t-shirt with rolled-up sleeves about the elbows, light violet rolled-up denim overalls with a purple belt around the waist and a light purple and magenta flower pattern, and red Mary Jane dress shoes with black soles. Shadow Moth looked uneasily at Vulture, clearly recognising who he’d selected as his victim.

“The Puppeteer…”

“You remember her, Gabriel?”

“I… used her before… what is your plan, Vulture? Are you planning to hurt her?” Manon looked worriedly at the supervillains around her, even running up to Lady Wi-Fi, clearly recognising her as having once been Alya, and desperately cuddling her leg. She made no attempt to dissuade the young girl. Not wanting the girl to get any ideas, Vulture confirmed she would remain unharmed, provided she played along with their little so-called ‘game’. He explained that the remaining Miraculers, while they might not know Manon personally, would likely be heroic enough to be unsettled if a child was put in danger. With or without their Miraculouses, they might be provoked into attempting a rescue. One that they would foil and lead to the abduction of her would-be saviours. The rest of the Sinister Six seemed uneasy about endangering a young child to lure out their targets, not least because it would almost certainly attract Spider Man’s team and Ladybug as well, which would complicate things even more. But Doc Ock nevertheless agreed. Possibly out of fear for his life, should Doom find out he neglected an opportunity for the sake of morals. As much as he hated to do so, he knew they may not have much time before Spidey decided to call in reinforcements. And that may not be enough time to return Manon to her parents and find a replacement victim. This could be the best chance they’re going to get. Nevertheless, Ock did declare they’d only proceed if Vulture gave them his word that nothing would happen to Manon. He confirmed this, explaining that he intended to leave Rhino in charge of protecting her, although seeing how well she was bonding with Lady Wi-Fi, his mind was changing. She would not be hurt. At all. Full stop. That was seemingly enough to satisfy the doctor, who still clearly had his doubts about the whole affair, but nevertheless authorised the mission. As the Sinister Six and their three new allies left however, Shadow Moth ordered Lady Wi-Fi back. Initially being amused by the idea of his former girlfriend being in trouble and wanting to see it, Shell Shock quickly changed his tune upon receiving a death glare from the evil fashion designer.

“Master, if this is about the girl, I can handle it. I will protect her with my life.”

“Excellent to hear, but no. I have an alternative mission for you…”