The rain fell in sheets over New York's underdistrict, a cold curtain that did little to wash away the pain coursing through Peter Parker's body. Huddled in a derelict tenement, Mad Spider and Gwen Stacy caught their breath, the city's neon glow seeping through cracked windows. It was 2030, and Earth-731's dystopian sprawl felt like a cage closing in. Peter's blood-red costume was soaked, the crude spider emblem barely visible. His regenerative powers kept him alive, healing the sniper's graze, but the electroshock torture's aftereffects burned deeper, a relentless pulse that twisted his thoughts. He laughed, a sharp, Joker-like sound that made Gwen flinch. "They keep zapping my ghosts," he said, clutching his side. "But ghosts don't die, do they?"
Flashback: At 16, Peter woke in Oscorp's lab, his first day as Subject 731. The shocks came without warning, targeting his body to break his spirit. "You're nothing," a scientist hissed, cranking the voltage. Peter's screams drowned out his memories of Gwen, her smile fading into pain.
Gwen sat beside him, her stolen tablet flickering as she scanned for Neon Shadows' signals. Her blonde hair clung to her face, her blue eyes haunted but resolute. "We need to find Cipher," she said. "She's our best shot at cracking the nanite data." Peter nodded, but his mind was elsewhere, trapped in the lab's echoes. The pain flared, dropping him to the floor, his laughter turning to a choked sob. Gwen knelt, her hands steady on his shoulders. "Peter, stay with me," she whispered. Their ritual began, her touch a gentle anchor against the storm in his mind. "The shocks… they damaged nerves," she explained, her voice soft but heavy. "They wanted to control you, but you're stronger than that."
The ritual was more than physical—it was a tether to his humanity, a moment of intimacy that quieted the madness. Gwen's love, unspoken for years, poured into every touch. Flashback: At 14, Gwen watched Peter stand up to a bully for her, taking a punch without flinching. "Why do you do it?" she asked later, bandaging his knuckles. "Because someone has to," he said, his smile shy but fierce. Now, in the tenement, Peter's eyes met hers, raw and vulnerable. "You're the only thing keeping me sane, Gwen," he murmured. She smiled, tears brimming. "Then I'll never stop."
Their plan solidified: find Cipher, decode the nanites, and expose Oscorp's mind-control army. But the city was a warzone, with Blackweb drones and bounty hunters on every corner. Peter's spider-senses kept them one step ahead, but the pain was relentless, each flare fueling his madness. "They want a monster?" he said, his grin sharp. "I'll give 'em one." Gwen gripped his hand, her voice firm. "Not a monster, Peter. A hero." He laughed, but her words lingered, a spark in the dark.
They moved through the slums, Peter swinging Gwen across rooftops, his agility defying the rain. At a derelict comms tower, they found a faint Neon Shadows signal. Cipher's voice crackled through a hacked radio. "You're alive," she said, relief mixed with urgency. "Meet us at the old shipyard. We've got a plan." But Peter's senses flared—a Blackweb trap. "It's a setup," he growled, webbing Gwen to his side. They reached the shipyard, a maze of rusted hulls, only to find drones waiting.
The fight was brutal. Mad Spider danced through laser fire, his regeneration soaking up damage, his banter a chaotic mask. "You guys need a hobby!" he shouted, webbing a drone into a crane. Gwen hacked a control panel, disabling half the drones, but Blackweb operatives swarmed in, their shock-batons glowing. One hit Peter, the voltage a cruel echo of the lab. He roared, his madness erupting, and tore through the operatives, his violence unchecked. Gwen's shout pulled him back. "Peter, stop!" He froze, blood on his hands, the line between hero and villain blurring.
They escaped, Cipher's signal lost in the chaos. In an alley, Peter's pain overwhelmed him, his laughter broken. Gwen held him, their ritual a desperate anchor. "We'll end this," she vowed. But a city-wide alert flashed: a million-credit bounty on Mad Spider, dead or alive.
Cliffhanger: Mad Spider and Gwen huddle in the rain, the bounty broadcast blaring. "They want a war," Peter laughs, his eyes wild. "Let's give 'em hell." But a new Oscorp signal hints at a deadlier trap.