The television in George Stacy's office was producing a wide range of opinions.
"Three vigilantes saved the city from collapse."
"Where are these heroes?"
"They are not heroes! They are criminals!"
"All who take the law into their own hands must be held accountable, which means these vigilantes...."
"People are scared and traumatized by this attack that the police system failed to prevent."
"What exactly happened? Why did the response fail today at...."
"If it were not for these heroes, many of us would be...."
"Now you are asking who these vigilantes are? I will tell you! They are the real crim...."
"Spider-Man saved my life! Thank you!"
"Spider-Man, you saved my daughter and my wife! I am eternally grateful!"
"Spider-Man kills! It is a criminal act!"
"I was saved by a man with claws! It was genuinely...."
"A man was shot in the head and survived! They are extraordinary!"
"A man in red saved me! It was so...."
Spider-Man sighed as the television cut off.
"You should not be watching this garbage," Dan said, throwing the remote onto the table.
"Whatever they say does not change the fact that we took this city back tonight, and we did it with your help."
"Daredevil and Wolverine also...."
"Ouch! What the hell, woman!"
"Do not move," Yuri said simply, stitching the wound with the focused attention of someone who has done this before and will not be argued with about it.
"And yes, they helped."
"Okay. That is enough," he said when she finished. "I thought this was just going to be basic first aid."
"That is exactly what I did," she said, beginning to clear the instruments, but he stopped her, took everything that had blood on it, wrapped it all together with bandage material, put it in a basket with some alcohol, and deployed his last electric web, causing everything in the basket to catch fire.
"You know," she said, putting things away, "you are very paranoid. I have told you this before."
"Paranoia has never hurt me. It has consistently saved me, along with luck."
"Something tells me your version of luck is not the version I am thinking of."
"Knowledge. Use. Effectively. Resources. Have. Success. L-U-C-K."
"Yes. I figured." She leaned in and kissed him, through the mask, directly on his lips.
"Thank you."
"Ah." He was in George Stacy's office, where Yuri and Dan had dragged him by force to have the wound treated, despite his argument that the healing factor would handle it.
He had lost that argument decisively. "He opened his mouth?"
"If he did, right now I want him to close it permanently," Dan said, turning a monitor toward him.
It showed Eel in an interrogation room with two officers.
He was without his suit and had been talking continuously since being stripped of it, not about anything useful but about himself and his master with the enthusiastic dedication of a man who had never been taught when silence was valuable.
One officer had the look of someone considering drastic personal choices. The other had the look of someone who had already made one.
A third officer was attempting to prevent both outcomes.
"Once we removed the suit and mentioned handing it over to you, he started rambling like a man who had lost everything holding him together. All about who he works for and how magnificent his master is."
"A true believer. Not surprising."
"The subject is Edward Levell, a known figure in certain underworld circles. He operates directly under the Count of Nefaria, one of the structural pillars of the Maggia syndicate.
He took the Eel mantle after his predecessor was killed by a rival organization. He has kept a relatively low profile up to now. Arrogant, self-interested, but not without some intelligence, even if he has not de-...."
"It is not because he is smart," Spider-Man said.
"It is because he knows nothing. He is an attack dog. He receives instructions and executes them. He does not have the capacity to have organized an operation at this scale.
Someone else planned this.
Someone who could direct this entire scenario from a distance without us noticing the hand that moved the pieces."
He stood up from the sofa and moved toward the window. "There is nothing useful left to get from him. You will not get it out of him."
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving."
"No, wait! I am still th-...."
"You must leave now," George said, entering with Yuri and Trish. "The mayor is demanding your arrest. You need to go as soon as possible."
"You cannot do this!" Dan said, angry in the specific way of someone who believes in what he is fighting for. "This man is our salvation...."
"Dan," George said, sitting down and rubbing his temples, "this is outside what we can control."
"Per-...."
"Dan," Spider-Man said. Dan turned. "It is fine."
"I.... I understand." He pressed his hands together.
"I will see you again," Spider-Man said, and waved and went out the window.
George watched the window for a moment after the figure was gone.
'Thank you for saving us today, son. Thank you.'
He leaned back in his chair as the door closed behind everyone else and the office went quiet. He exhaled slowly.
"Today was genuinely the most messed-up day I have had in a very long time," he said to himself.
Memories arrived without asking.
"I am trying to make sure that when The 'Phase' arrives, the change is minimal and less dangerous."
"The Phrase? What do you mean by that?"
"You will see. Everyone will."
"Is this it?" he said quietly, to nobody present. "Is this what he meant by all of us seeing it?"
He sat with that for a moment. "Humans with extraordinary capabilities.
Technology that does not belong to this decade. And whatever else is coming." He looked at the window.
"This feels like it came out of a comic book. And I spent years thinking the most super thing I would ever see was Captain America on a historical news reel."
He looked at the photos on his desk.... His family.... His daughter.... He held the smile for a moment.
"I think it is time," he said, and made a decision. He turned to a piece of paper on the desk that he had been looking at for several weeks. It read: Letter of Resignation.
"Now it all depends on you," he said.
....
"I have prepared a detailed report on the repairs and improvements the suit requires," Cortana said, finishing the document.
"But since our priority is preventing this kind of situation from recurring, I would recommend focusing on the improved spider project and nanotechnology first. Those are our most important current objectives."
"Agreed," he said, landing on the roof of the house and taking off his mask. "Start all the necessary preparations. Tomorrow we begin Project Spider."
"Understood."
"Home sweet home," he said, slipping through the dark bedroom window and beginning to remove the top and bottom of the suit to put it away in the concealed location.
"I need my belle-.... sleep."
"You are late...."
He froze.
The lights in his bedroom came on.
He turned around.
May and Missy were both looking at him.
"Oh," he said. "Shit."