Silk Spider #3: Welcome to Murder World

 

December 31; 4:34pm

The screen blips and rolls into static. A dark figure in the control room, pounds his fist on the console and the image on the monitor corrects itself. Robotic drones relay the scene as it unfolds.

The police surround a house, 739 Winter Garden Drive, Forrest Hills, Queens, New York. They peel away an envelope taped to the front door of the house. It says two words, “Silk Spider” in thick black ink and it has the police in a confused flurry. The police don’t open it because they don’t know if it’s a message or a threat, because the house belongs to Captain George Stacy, head of the NYPD’s super villain task force. What the police don’t know is that Captain Stacy’s teenage daughter, Gwen, is also the costumed hero, Silk Spider.

The drones buzz overhead unnoticed. Gwen notices the commotion and rushes to the door, where the officers tell her dismissively to shut the door and stay inside. She spots the envelope and asks what’s happening but they continue to dismiss her and ask her to go back inside. She stomps her foot defiantly and does finally go back in.

The officer in charge is Detective Karen O’Donnell. She holds the envelop to the limited light while the other officers search the grounds around the home. Obviously Captain Stacy isn’t home.

Gwen opens an upstairs window and peers down at the envelope. Detective O’Donnell sets it on the hood of her car for just a second, and Gwen takes that opportunity to try to use her webbing to snatch up the curious item. Gwen fails two attempts and decides that the direct approach is the best.

In a matter of seconds, Silk Spider is standing next to the car. She walks up to Detective O’Donnell and tells her that she shouldn’t open other people’s mail. She grabs it and zips away.

The figure in the control room is certain that Silk Spider must have have thought that the envelope was from Harry, her classmate and fellow Spider-Friend. But when she sees what’s inside the envelope, the man swears that his drones hear her whisper the name, Peter. What she holds is a small white tracking device and a note that reads, “Follow this whenever you need to find me♥.”

Silk Spider zips into the evening sky.

She knows she needs to find Spider-Man. She doesn’t know what kind of trouble he’s in, but the note and the beeping tracker say all she needs.

The drones don’t move fast enough to keep up with her, but there are more drones waiting for Silk Spider at her destination. Waiting to capture all of the upcoming action.

It’s an old airplane hangar outside of the city. She approaches cautiously, and pushes the large rolling door open.

The drones follow.

Inside the hangar sits a city block. Skyscrapers and streets. Trucks and cars. Traffic lights and crosswalks, all pretending to be real and there for the people who don’t really live there.

Carnival music begins to play and a voice comes over an intercom. “Welcome! Come in! Come in and close the door. Welcome to Arcade’s Murder World! We’re going to have so much fun! The reason you’re here is because someone has paid me to kill you. But let me tell you what I’m going to do. I’ll give you a chance to get out of here alive. You just have to follow the house rules.”

Silk Spider steps further into the hangar, trying to see where the voice is coming from.

“I, of course, am Arcade, and the rules are as follows: Somewhere in the city is someone you care about. If you try to free him, the ton of explosives he’s strapped to will explode. Also in the city are some of my lovable creations, and they will try to kill you. There are four other people in Murder World. If you die and/or your friend dies, they will be free to leave unharmed. For you and your friend to leave unharmed, at least one of them has to die. Also, I’ve allowed the person who hired me to join in on the fun. Soooooo, let the games begin!”

Silk Spider immediately searches the buildings in the city. She finds nothing of importance, except for the fact that someone must have paid this Arcade a lot of money to go to this kind of trouble. She heads out into the street and hears a silly theatrical chuckle coming from a figure moving toward her. It looks like a giant stuffed teddy bear. The thing laughs and waddles with it’s arms outstretched. Long metal claws pop out from it’s paws. Then suddenly, unexpectedly, the teddy bear shoots red beams of laser light from its eyes, hitting Silk Spider in the torso.

She’s in pain but recovers quick enough to shoot a web missile at it.

It’s obvious, that in the middle of this fight, Silk Spider is wondering where her friend is. Then she sees him. Spider-Man is unconscious and strapped to a truck loaded with explosives.

She takes another hit from the bear and scampers indoors to keep the fight away from the other hero. She searches inside for something to use against the walking nightmare and discovers a mechanical gizmo that Harry Osborn invented. A Spider-Bot. They’re made to skitter around following their controller and are filled with things like snacks or books, or whatever the controller puts in them. She leans over and opens the bot’s back. A first-aid kit. She uses the bandages and pops a pain killer, ready to go back into battle.

She dodges the killer toy again, firing her own blasts at it, and goes from building to building looking for the people Arcade mentioned.
In a lounge, music plays and guests dance, unmoved by the fighting outside. Silk Spider enters and realizes that none of the party goers notice her. In fact, they’re not real! She enters a shop where guns and ammunition are laid out on the counter. The mere idea of shooting a gun makes her sick but she needs to do something. She takes a machine gun with her and blasts the bear in the face. That’s when another giant stuffed toy comes out of a building with red beams firing from its eyes.

“Now you have two friends to play with!” The voice over the intercom sounds gleeful. “Didn’t I mention that you’d also get to meet the person who wants you dead?”

From the darkness of a nearby alley steps six metal legs attached to Harry Osborn, the Steel Spider.

He raises a hand to her and needle-like darts eject from his palm.
Silk Spider leaps out of the way and asks him why?

“

I’m not trying to kill you, Gwen! I just want you and Peter to see that I am just as important as you are.” Harry lets his guard down. “Do you think it was easy for me to pretend that I was bitten by that spider like you and Pete were? Do you think I found it easy to pretend to have powers like you guys, while I was building equipment that helped me mimic spider powers?”

She yells to him that he’s crazy and webs up his mouth so he can’t talk, and while he’s busy trying to free himself Silk Spider decides that if she could be quick enough, she could free Spider-Man from the truck of explosives before they go off.

She blocks a blast or two from the giant stuffed bird on the sidewalk and swings into action.

One, two, three, four straps holding him down. And lightning fast – one, two, three, four…

There’s a scream from somewhere nearby. Harry is free and he rushes toward the truck.

Gwen becomes distracted and the bombs go off. The explosion is silent to Silk Spider. No sound except for the ringing in her ears. The fire and the heat are gone quickly. The force of the blast sends her flailing through the air and across the street. It also sends a jagged chunk of the truck deep into the Steel Spider’s chest. But the body of Spider-Man, Peter Parker, doesn’t move at all. Gwen shakes her pain off and runs to the shattered and lifeless body of her best friend. Her wails carry throughout the pretend city.
“Well done!” says Arcade. “As promised, one of you died, so that means you and the four people get to leave unharmed. I know you didn’t find four people in your search of the city, but you never found my office. So me and my three staff members will bid you adieu. Till next time!”

The drones buzz overhead. She never once looks at the body of Harry Osborn. She never once considers that he was also trying to save his best friend.

Gwen Stacy carries Peter’s lifeless body back to his home and holds him to her chest as she sobs in his back yard. The sounds of fireworks and merriment happen all around. It is now the New Year, 1964 and the man in the control room picks up a hideous green monster mask and vows to get revenge for the death of his only son.