Issue # 15: Calm Before the Storm

"So I'm swinging through the city and this random pidgeon just craps on me, has that ever happened to you?" Spider-Man asked expertly ducking a pipe as he was fighting some random muggers.

It was only three days since the death of Christopher Ford and he was going about as usual.

"What am I saying? I wouldn't be able to tell if one had done that to you guys." Spider-Man joked pissing them off before blocking the pipe, taking it and slamming it against the guy's head with enough force to knock him out as he shot webbing at the others who had knives and pistols, covering them in webbing. "Well my work here is done."

With them incapacitated, Spider-Man swung off.

'I wonder how Zack is doing on messing with Taylor's Drug Deals?' Spider-Man thought letting go of the web strand before shooting another as he swung past some buildings. 'Come to think of it, he has been a bit off the last few days.'

He was a little worried that Zarathos was the reason for Zack acting strange.

'Come on Cedric, don't think about that.' Spider-Man told himself before he swung out towards the streets to see a crowd of people.

Blinking behind his mask, Spider-Man landed on a lightpole to see someone… Most likely a young man in a pure white outfit that looked like it was bought from a costume store wearing a white face mask with antennas.

"Where is Spider-Man?!" The man shouted as Spider-Man just stared, a bit dumbfounded.

'What… The… Hell?'

Finally the guy noticed him. "Ah, so you've came to fight."

"Uh no, I'm just wondering what was going on." Spider-Man said looking at the crowd as some of them were laughing. "Who are you?"

"I am Killer Moth!" The man shouted causing Spider-Man to do a facepalm as he gloated about being the next big Villain.

That was when he stumbled and Spider-Man could hear a slur.

"Mothy, you're drunk." Spider-Man deadpanned. "Go home."

"So you are scared of fighting me?" Killer Moth asked laughing, stumbling more as he did so.

"Yeah, scared of how quickly my reputation would go down fighting you. Did anyone call the police on this guy?" Spider-Man asked as a few people raised their hands. "Okay then, I don't really see getting involved into this as he's not really doing anything-."

Spider-Man stopped as something soft hit him and he looked in time to see a McDonald's wrapper fall.

"... Seriously?" Spider-Man asked a bit dubious at how lame this guy was being.

"Fight me you coward!" Killer Moth ordered annoyed at how he wasn't being taken seriously. "When I beat you my reputation as a villain will be secured."

That was when his Spider-Sense went off, but why would it go off from him-.

Eyes widening, Spider-Man turned before jumping as tranqs flew past him, barely missing with U.N.I.O.N helicopters gaining on him while the tranqs hit Killer Moth causing him to fall over twitching.

"Damn it, not this again." Spider-Man muttered swinging away from them as Killer Moth would be out long enough for the Police to show up.

"Give up Spider-Man, there's no way out for you." Someone shouted through a megaphone.

"That's what they all say." Spider-Man quipped as he swung faster with the Task Force after him.

This could take awhile-.

A tranq barely missed his butt.

"The hell are you aiming at?!" Spider-Man shouted at that.

~With Zack~

Zack was standing outside his house as he fished for a key in his pocket.

'What are we doing?' Zarathos asked impatiently. 'We should be out there punishing the sinners.'

'First off, it's daytime, the drug deals we're interfering with happen at night.' Zack thought finding the key. 'Second off, WE'RE not punishing anyone, we're leaving it to the Police.'

'Ah yes, the Police who may be just as corrupt.'

'They aren't.' Zack snapped at Zarathos. 'Ced and I know most of the Police Officers.'

'Do you really?' Zarathos asked in a bored tone. "Can you sense their sins like I can?"

'I'm done talking to you.' Zack thought as he opened the door to show a woman in a white long-sleeved shirt and a red plaid skirt cooking. "Hi Mom."

Mrs. Maxwell turned and gave a pleasant smile. "Zack, how have you been doing today?" She asked at seeing her son considering he was rarely home these days.

"I'm doing great, Uncle Ricky has shown me a lot about being a mechanic." Zack said with a smile as he thought about the one job he got that was safe for him to get away easily.

He then sniffed the air.

"Is that Lasagna?"

"It is." Mrs. Maxwell confirmed. "Your father called and is on his way home."

"Okay, I'll set the table." Zack said before he saw it was already done and he chuckled sheepishly. "Or not."

"I could use some help in cleaning up." Mrs. Maxwell said as Zack gave a nod.

After a bit, the door closed to show a middle aged African American in a business suit.

"Sorry I'm late." Mr. Maxwell apologized as he placed a briefcase down and paused to mess with Zack's hair causing him to groan in mock annoyance. "Traffic was terrible."

"How did it go at the office, dear?" Mrs. Maxwell asked as Mr. Maxwell gave a groan.

"Terrible, a lot of lawsuits for the property damage because of those vigilantes." Mr. Maxwell said in annoyance causing Zack to barely hide a wince. "This city is going to hell with those two making problems worse."

Zack looked down, not opting to say anything while Mrs. Maxwell rolled her eyes. "I don't know, if they weren't around those two that attacked people wouldn't be locked up."

"For all we know they created those two, that Electro ripoff showed up not even a week after Spider-Man's first appearance." Mr. Maxwell said pointing out the coincidence that was actually pretty damning. "Besides, when the hell did we put our faith in a guy wearing tights and a flaming skeleton instead of the Police?"

"When they failed to do their job by allowing this Genesis to exist." Zarathos said glaring at the man as Zack winced and rubbed his head.

'Shut up.' Zack told him.

"Zack are you alright?" Mr. Maxwell stopped his small rant against the Vigilantes when he saw what his son was doing.

"Y-Yeah, just a small headache." Zack said with a forced smile.

The dinner continued as they all conversed, although Zack wasn't all that into talking at the moment.

~The Base~

Cedric had his mask off as he was looking at a small board that they put in there, something like what his Dad had at work to keep track of a case.

Thankfully with being the son of the Chief, he was able to copy some of the files without his Dad noticing and he was doing his own detective work.

Plus he needed to get his mind off the weirdness that happened earlier.

"Alright, Sniper Bullet." Cedric muttered as he remembered seeing the bullet slam into Ford's head. "It's Military so mercenary? Or does Genesis have hired Hitmen?

Shaking his head, Cedric figured that wouldn't make any sense.

If Genesis did have a Hitman, chances are they would've shot at him rather than Ford.

Yet he-or she didn't even try to hit him.

"And then my Spider-Sense." Cedric was confused on why it didn't go off.

… Was it because he wasn't the one in danger?

Looking away from the board, Cedric saw the time and winced.

He needed to leave if he was going to meet up with Miranda.

Pulling his mask on to take the expressway via web swinging, Spider-Man grabbed his backpack filled with his clothes and began to get on the move.

~Police Station~

Scott Bales could only shake his head as he saw some of the Officers pulling a struggling man calling himself Killer Moth to the nearest Jail Cell.

"Unhand me, I am above you petty people!" He shouted drunk as hell. "I will show you my power!"

"Isn't that Norman?" Kent asked incredulously recognizing the voice as the drunk man who they would get calls for, who was now laughing as he was pushed into the cell.

"Apparently he prefers Killer Moth now." Scott said dryly massaging his left temple at how crazy his life was getting. "I suppose we should be thankful he's not a Giant Moth with how this city is going."

"At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if that happened." Kent said shaking his head before seeing a new pile of papers on Bales desk. "More resignations?"

"Yeah we lost about half the force because of what happened, most of them have only been in this department for two years." Scott said sounding angry. "We won't be able to do our jobs with so little manpower."

"Can you blame them?" Kent asked as Scott went quiet at that.

"No I can't." Scott said before closing the door to his office to avoid anyone listening in. "It's been a few days since Ford was murdered and we're no closer to finding out who killed him."

"And the fact that we couldn't investigate the people on that list too closely." Kent said with a frown. "Otherwise this Genesis would know that we were onto them. And Spider-Man is still out there with us having no damn clue who he is… Say what you want, the guy is good at keeping that secret."

Scott snorted at that as he thought about the Vigilante as well as what he said the last time they spoke to each other.

'I know you don't trust me, but I'm on your side.'

Scott frowned as that sentence repeated in his head.

Back when Spider-Man said that, he threw it back in his face but now after the incident with the Hobgoblin, or as Cassandra identified him as Mickey Harvard, Scott knew that this was only the tip of the iceberg if Genesis wasn't stopped and as much as he hates to admit it, working with one of the few 'Meta's' as people are calling them that was on their side seemed to be the best option.

A knocking on the door caused both men to tense before it opened to show Marsh who walked in. "Bales I need to speak with you."

The alone part didn't need to be said as she gave Kent a look.

Scott frowned at that. "Whatever you need to say can be said with Kent around."

"It's fine Chief, I'll look more into Ford's death while you deal with… Whatever just happened." Kent said walking out.

After he left, Marsh closed the door. "Harvard isn't talking about where he got the abilities from." She said as Scott frowned.

"I think I have an idea on where." He said opening his desk drawer as he pulled out a flash drive, he made a backup of what Spider-Man gave to him to give to U.N.I.O.N. "Spider-Man visited and dropped this off."

"And you didn't arrest him?" Marsh asked with a raised brow as he tossed it to her.

"Tried to, he rendered my gun useless before jumping out the window." Scott said. "Have you heard of Genesis?"

Seeing Marsh tense confirmed it. "I need to go-."

"Hold it." Scott got in front of her before she could leave.

"Out of the way-."

"No." Scott glared at her. "Whatever this Genesis have planned, I want in on any way we can take them down."

"This is a matter of national security-."

"Screw national security this will affect a lot of lives in this city and I'm not going to sit by on this matter." Scott said to her. "You either keep me in the loop or I do my own investigation."

"You do realize I could throw you down a hole to keep you out of this." Marsh said coldly as Scott's eyes narrowed.

"Just try it and see what happens." Scott told her. "I'm not backing out."

It got silent as they glared at each other before Marsh gave a short nod.

"I'll see what I can do." She said to him as she could see his points as she walked by him and this time he didn't stop her from leaving. "Oh one more thing."

Scott looked over his shoulder to see outside of the office was some crates.

"The main reason I came over besides discussing the investigation was that the new equipment that was promised came in." Marsh said as she left.

As she was leaving a small smirk overcame her face.

Scott Bales had some guts to do that when she could just as easily carry out her threats and she looked over his file to see that he was an Ex-Marine turned Police Officer.

But the fact remains.

Genesis, so they're still kicking after all these years.

~With Cedric~

"Sorry I'm late." Cedric said rubbing the back of his head as he was walking with Miranda, both of them dressed casually for the night at the mall. "I missed the bus."

In actuality there was an attempted break into a nearby apartment that he intervened with, leaving the bad guys tied up in webbing.

"It's fine, I'm just happy that you were able to make it." Miranda said smiling at him.

Cedric raised a brow.

He wasn't expecting for Miranda to just take the excuse like that.

"So what do you want to do now?" Miranda asked curiously.

"Huh, do you want to grab a Milkshake?" Cedric asked pointing to the Ice Cream Parlor.

Miranda busted out laughing. "What is with you and Milkshakes?" She asked as every date they've been on he's ordered one.

"I like Milkshakes, what's wrong with that?" Cedric asked with a grin causing her to chuckle a bit. "But in all seriousness, how about we head to the Arcade instead?"

"I'm fine with that." Miranda said as they walked towards it. "So I heard that a DC Villain showed up today."

Cedric had to bite back a groan. "More like a drunk who thought he was the next big villain." He said remembering that. "When I talked to my Dad earlier he complained about it."

"Well it's kind of a relief that was it rather than another Goblin or Electro." Miranda pointed out.

"Good point." Cedric said rubbing his arm where he had a small burn scar from Electro.

He still had some bruises from the Hobgoblin as well.

Thankfully they weren't on his face so he didn't have to come up with a story for them-.

Pain spasmed through Cedric's body as he stumbled and hunched over, grabbing his stomach.

"Cedric?!" Miranda asked in shock as he was starting to see spots. "Are you alright?! What's happening!"

"I-I think that Chili Dog from earlier is coming back to bite me." Cedric lied straight through his teeth as he didn't know what was going on. "I-I need to use the bathroom."

Seeing one, Cedric ran right in as Miranda gave him a worried look wondering what just happened.

Stumbling as he was in the bathroom, Cedric placed a hand on the stall door as he made it to the toilet and heaved.

Coughing after a bit, Cedric was panting. 'W-What was that?' He thought his body burning up.

He was fine a second ago, so why was he acting like this-.

More pain spasmed through him as he bit back a cry.

That was when he saw a slight yellow glow in the palm of his hand but it disappeared right before he could get another look.

Pulling his hand off the wall, he looked at it in surprise as the pain disappeared.

"What the hell?" Cedric muttered in confusion.

He waited a few minutes just in case the pain would return but when it didn't he left only to frown as he saw two guys talking to Miranda who had an annoyed expression.

It was when one of them grabbed her arm that he moved quicker. "Hey!" He shouted causing them to look at him, right as Miranda grabbed the guy's hand and pulled the finger back causing him to cry out in pain before she straight up just kicked him in the face causing him to fall over.

Cedric looked at his girlfriend in surprise as the guy's friend backed up. "What? You really think I live in a Military family and not learn how to defend myself?" She asked seeing his look.

"Uh." Cedric had the decency to look sheepish as the guy got up and spat some blood out because of the hit and he pulled out a knife. "Look out!"

Cedric moved as quickly as he could trying not to show that he was Spider-Man as he grabbed the guy by the arm who struggled as he tried to keep moving, surprised by how Cedric was easily holding his arm.

Spider-Sense going off, Cedric leaned back to dodge a punch to the head, spinning his foot to kick the first guy's feet out from underneath him while Miranda punched the back of the second guy's head knocking him out while his friend landed on the ground and looked up in time for Cedric to punch him, not as hard as he could but enough to where he'll be out for awhile.

"Nice moves." Miranda said as her suspicions were a bit confirmed, but that didn't make it any less of a surprise that she was right.

"What was that about?" Cedric asked in confusion.

"While I was waiting those guys tried to come onto me and they wouldn't back off even though I said I had a boyfriend." Miranda glared at the two unconscious guys. "Or the fact that I was way too young for them."

Cedric frowned before he smiled. "Well you had some pretty neat moves too." He said feeling some relief.

"My Dad taught me." Miranda said laughing. "He didn't like the idea of me being by myself unless I knew how to throw a punch and shoot a gun."

"I guess that's… Reasonable?" Cedric said not really sure what to say about that.

Miranda smiled before she remembered the reason he went into the bathroom. "Enough about that, are you okay?" She asked in concern.

"Uh yeah, like I said bad chili dog." Cedric lied with a grin. "I'm fine now."

"If you're sure." Miranda said still sounding worried.

"I am." Cedric said looking to change the conversation. "So Arcade?"

Miranda felt her lips twitch. "Why not." She said, but making a note to keep an eye on him just in case something like that happens a second time.

~The Base~

"Wait, so your hand was glowing while you were in pain?" Zack asked sitting in the chair while Cedric was back in uniform looking at the information from the flashdrive on the laptop they brought down. "And you have no idea what caused it?"

"Exactly, it freaked me out." Cedric said cupping his chin as he looked at the info. "How is it going on Taylor's Drug Trades?"

"Pretty good, I managed to take down at least four meetings these last few days." Zack answered with narrowed eyes. "Now don't change the subject, we need to find out what happened."

"You think I don't want to know?" Cedric asked with a frown. "I was in agonizing pain before it disappeared, I definitely want to know, but we can't let that distract us from taking down Genesis."

Zack went to say something else but paused as he knew that Cedric was right about Genesis.

Who knows how much longer they had before something else came.

"Fine, but Cedric if this happens again, especially in the field then we are going to look into it." Zack said giving him a glare.

"Got it." Cedric said before he opened a page. "Huh this is interesting."

"What?" Zack asked looking over Cedric's shoulder in time to see the map of a building. "Wait, isn't that-?"

"The Restaurant you worked at before Electro attacked?" Cedric finished as he gave a nod. "Yeah, according to this Genesis has a base hidden underneath it."

Zack heard Zarathos snort at the irony there.

"Cedric, please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking." Zack tried to say but Cedric shook his head.

"Zack, I'm done waiting." Cedric said looking at him. "I'm going to hit them hard tonight, before they can do anything else… Before anyone else dies."

~Taylor Foundation~

"Are you serious?!" Donald Taylor, an bald man with a black goatee that was grey on the edges, asked in annoyance, his green eyes burning with anger. "Another deal was ruined by that damn freak?!"

"I'm sorry sir, but there was barely anything we can do the Rider keeps burning our weapons before we can hit him-."

"I don't want to hear any excuses, if your boys fail me one more time I will cut out your damn eyeballs and hang you by them!" Taylor roared, slamming his fist on his desk. "Do you understand me?!"

"Y-Yes sir, i-it won't happen again sir." The punk hung up as Taylor gripped it tightly before he began coughing, his chest in pain.

Putting the phone down as he opened his desk drawer, Taylor's eyes widened when he saw that his medicine was missing.

"Looking for something?" An amused voice asked as Taylor looked to see Maker in his office.

"If the boss sent you to find out why the drug money is less tell him it was that Rider freak." Taylor said digging some more before he heard a pill bottle rattle and looked up to see Maker with his pills. "Give that back."

"You seem to be running out and all of this stress can't be good for your heart." Maker tossed it back as Taylor grabbed it. "How long have you ran this city for Genesis in the shadows? Twenty years?"

"You already know the answer to that question." Taylor said swallowing a pill as the ache in his chest lessened. "What do you want?"

"How much longer do you have before your heart gives out?" Maker asked curiously. "At this rate I'd estimate you would be dead by the end of the year."

"If this is about that offer to have you experiment on me then you can shove it." Taylor spat out. "I've seen the shit you do to those people."

"And you saw the results of my work with Electro and Hobgoblin." Maker said with a smirk as he saw Taylor hesitate. "Don't tell me you aren't intrigued in getting something similar that would allow for you to live longer without the pills."

Taylor looked down at the pill bottle in question.

"Aren't you sick of being careful to avoid strokes or heart attacks?" Maker asked that question as he saw how the man was breaking bit by bit. "Imagine what you could do with the strength I can give you."

"What's the catch?" Taylor asked giving Maker a look. "I've been in this business long enough to know that there's always a catch."

"The catch is that it will help with my research, which I prize above all else." Maker said coldly. "You can either take it or leave it, give me your answer tomorrow morning."

With that Maker left the room as Taylor looked from where he left back to the pill bottle.

He could feel the temptation sinking in.

~On the streets~

"Three days and we still found nothing." Violet muttered as she and Dex were in the News Van that they drove everywhere searching for the Web Head.

They nearly caught him with that incident with the drunk calling himself Killer Moth but the interference from U.N.I.O.N prevented her from getting answers.

"Maybe we should call it a night?" Dex asked as it has been a long day for both of them. "Violet I know that you're dedicated to the story but this is pushing it a bit."

Violet sighed. "Perhaps-." She stopped as she saw a familiar figure swinging overhead before they heard a Motorcycle as Ghost Rider shot past them. "Dex!"

"On it." Dex muttered in annoyance as the plans to head home were put on hold as he attempted to keep up with the two Vigilantes.

~Unknown Location~

The same man who killed Ford was loading several guns as he had a map of the restaurant where Genesis hid underneath.

It took him all week to get this map and he was going to use it.

Making sure the silencer was on the pistol, he aimed it before giving a nod.

Tonight, Genesis will lose whatever they're working on down there.

To Be Continued…

Alright, been a long time coming for this chapter and I think I set things up pretty nice for a future arc with Donald Taylor's meeting with the Maker.

And we also have a hint of Cedric's unique power that each Spider-Man has.

For example, Miles can cloak himself and use the Venom Blast while Miguel had the organic webbing and the spider venom in his fangs.

It will ultimately be revealed by the end of this Arc and the next chapter will bring more surprises with who the Punisher Prime is, I haven't shown his character at all besides the obvious.

Now I bet I caught everyone off guard with the Killer Moth joke, he may show up again as a character that's taken as a joke but in time he may actually become more of a threat, haven't decided yet.

Also, we finally show Zack's parents and man you can tell the problems that would come if Zack's father knew the truth, am I right?

Now let me answer some reviews.

Mysterious Dark Lord V3.2: Thank you and I hope that I can keep the quality for many chapters to come.

Coldblue: Thank you and Blade will show up in either the next Arc or the one after it. Don't worry, the Punisher's motives will be explained in the next two chapters along with his hatred for anything relating to Genesis. Exactly, Zack really wasn't lying but he did have envy as well which also played a part in his decision even though the thought of saving Cedric outweighed all of the reasons good and bad. Yes I suppose having Violet becoming like Jonah could be easily seen but that remains to be seen at the moment. No it isn't easy being Spider-Man, especially with all the people who know him as Cedric could recognize him if he isn't too careful.

Now for your questions. 1) Now the reason that Cedric's Spider-Sense didn't go off was because Punisher wasn't aiming at him, if he was then it would definitely have gone off. 2) Nope. 3) Now that's an interesting idea, thank you. 4) Eventually. 5) Huh, I didn't think about that one. 6) Yes. 7) Yes. 8) Possibly. 9) You'll see. 10) You'll see. 11) Haha maaaaybe. 12) You will see very, very soon. 13) Possibly at the end of this Arc. 14) At the end of this Arc. 15) I'm still on the fence about that, sorry.

G. S. Phoenix: Thank you and I'll take that idea into consideration.

Matt: Well not really idiotic, just one who doesn't know the full story.

Guest9: Probably on the ISpider, sorry about the HP and the Sorcerer of Gaia.

Masoliki: Thank you for the ideas and I may put them in.

Nightmaster000: Thank you.

Slenderbrine: It stands for Issue.

Mario986: Eventually for Spiderverse, not so sure about Secret Wars.

DannyPhantom619: If she's ever added to the story it might be because of a dimensional mishap but I don't think she'll be a love interest and sorry but I'm not sure about the idea about a harem. … I may do some one shots to where he's with a different person once I get far enough into the story, or finish it.

Alright I will try to update this a lot sooner, see you all later.

This is Spidey Signing Out!