"Doctor Octopus? Who is that?" asked Peter while swinging alongside the Amazing Spider-Man.
"You don't know? He's a member of the Sinister Six!" Quickly launching his web, the Amazing Spider-Man navigated through the buildings of New York, quickly reaching the rooftop of a building near where Doctor Octopus was located.
"Sinister Six?" Peter was a bit confused. He asked, "Who are they? Why don't I know them?"
"You..." The Amazing Spider-Man was taken aback. He looked at Peter and asked, "How long have you been fighting crime as Spider-Man?"
"Almost two years, why?"
"So, you've never encountered Sandman, Electro, Doctor Octopus, and the like? Who have you been fighting all these years? Was there Green Goblin? Or maybe the Lizard?"
Peter pursed his lips, reminiscing about his nearly two years as a superhero, then realizing that the number of villains he had faced alone was actually quite small.
He and Stark had jointly dealt with the Lizard. Although Bullseye, one of Kingpin's men, had been apprehended by his individual efforts, the guidance from others was indispensable. If he had to pick a villain who he had discovered, investigated, tracked, and caught all by himself, he realized that there truly was none.
After Peter described his situation, the Amazing Spider-Man was so surprised that his eyes almost popped out. He asked, "So, what have you been doing for these two years?"
Reflecting once again, Peter found that his past two years had been profoundly occupied by various experimental data. Initially, he was part of a research group focusing on low-temperature projects, which included the development of cryogenic weapons, the civilian use of cryogenic devices, cost compression, and so on.
Later, he began to participate in the Lizard Serum research organized by Doctor Connors, which mainly studied limb regeneration projects. After that, he was transferred to the Materials Group to start developing the new material, molten steel. By the time the Solar System Development Project was in full swing, he began to work on astronomical observations.
Over these two years, it seemed Peter had mastered every field, from cryogenics, biology, physics, chemistry, material science to astronomy, he hadn't missed out on anything.
He commuted daily between school, the lab, and home. His life was as linear as a straight line. Occasionally, during his commute, he would patrol and deter some unknown robbers, but he never dedicated substantial time to confronting a particular archenemy.
"Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, and Kraven the Hunter. These six are known as the Sinister Six. They're my main enemies, and I spend every day combating these evil criminals. Always remember, if you encounter them, make sure to go full force in catching them. Otherwise, they're certain to jeopardize the safety of New York," the Amazing Spider-Man instructed.
Peter nodded dubiously. However, the truth was he hadn't even memorized the names of these six individuals. Seeing him like this, the Amazing Spider-Man shook his head then launched a web and swung away.
"Hey! Doctor Octopus! Look here! Spider-Man is about to give you a lesson!"
After the Amazing Spider-Man swung down, he navigated underneath one of Doctor Octopus' massive tentacles and kicked another one from the side.
At this moment, "swoosh", another figure darted past underneath that tentacle. Stark, in his Iron Armor, shouted loudly, "Peter! What's the matter? Are your tactical moves getting rusty??"
"Hey! Mister Stark, I'm over here!" shouted Peter, somewhat disgruntled.
Just after Iron Man glided past that tentacle, he immediately fired a shot. Although the tentacle skillfully dodged the shot, it was hit by Peter, who performed a flying kick on his way down. With a "bang," the tentacle was kicked off its path. The just-flown-by Iron Man, then performed an elegant mid-air maneuver, turned around 180 degrees, and landed an elbow strike on that tentacle.
"Nice!" Peter shouted.
"Hey! Wait! There's a misunderstanding!" Another Spider-Man swung over.
However, at this moment, a tentacle was already flailing towards him. He had no choice but to twist in mid-air to avoid it, shouting as he dodged, "Stop fighting! This is a misunderstanding, Doctor Otto! I shouldn't have dropped out early-"
"Doctor Octopus! Your days of freedom are over!" the Amazing Spider-Man bellowed, delivering a punch at the root of a nearby tentacle. After a surge of electrical sparks, the tentacle began to thrash uncontrollably.
"Mr. Stark! Aim for the root of his tentacles!" yelled Peter.
At this moment, Doctor Octopus, whose tentacle was struck at its root by the Amazing Spider-Man, started to go berserk due to the pain, and the tentacle began to convulse violently.
Seeing this, Iron Man decided to retreat and assess the situation from a higher perspective. The Amazing Spider-Man, seizing the moment of victory, shot a web at the closest tentacle to Iron Man.
The tentacle was pulled towards him. Seeing the tentacle getting controlled, Peter also decided to seize the momentum and flew towards the Amazing Spider-Man. But at the same time, a third Spider-Man, who seemed intent on mediating, also flew towards the active combat zone.
Stark wanted to leave, but his exit route was blocked by the two Spider-Men rushing towards him. Simultaneously, Doctor Octopus tried to break free from the Amazing Spider-Man's web by surging his power in the opposite direction.
Just at the moment when he broke free from the web, the tentacle jerked fiercely in the opposite direction, sweeping Iron Man, who was in the middle of calculating his flight path, off his feet.
With a "bang," Iron Man was embedded into the wall. The three Spider-Men yelled in unison, quickly swinging towards the building where Iron Man had crashed. They then stuck onto the wall and, like spiders, began to crawl towards Iron Man.
Stark shook his head, asking, "Jarvis, what's going on? Do I have a concussion? Why are there three Spidermen?"
In his field of vision, three Spidermen who looked almost identical, leaned in, looking at him with very worried expressions. Stark reached out his hand and waved them off with a hard flail.
He controlled the battlesuit, flying out of the building wall, looking at the three Spidermen, gathered around him, and asked, shocked, "Peter, what are you up to? Why have you turned into three? "
Just as Peter was about to start speaking, the last-arrived Spiderman anxiously said to Stark, "Wait, I can explain it, it's like this, Doctor Otto, he is not..."
But then, Doctor Octopus's tentacle lashed out again, the three Spidermen and Iron Man scattered, one of the Spidermen shouted, "Stop! It's a misunderstanding!"
The remaining two Spidermen, one busy attacking, another with a confused look on his face, three almost identical figures weaving between the tentacles, Stark hovering in mid-air, covered his eyes and said, "Am I hallucinating because I stayed up too late? What is going on?"
"Sir, according to scanning results, all three are Peter Parker."
"Has Peter cloned himself?" Stark said, highly surprised. "I told him not to keep learning that strange biological technology from Dr. Connors. He actually split himself into three???"
"According to scanning results, these three Mr. Parker are not the product of cloning, they are slightly different." Jarvis answered again.
However, it seemed that Dr. Octopus did not intend to let Iron Man in mid-air off. He controlled a long tentacle, slapping at him again. Jarvis said,
"Based on scanning, the tentacle should be connected to the nerve. Once his body is subdued, you can control the tentacles. The tactical suggestion is to activate the electric shock module..."
Quickly, electricity was flowing up and down Iron Man's body, his arms gathered at his sides. A full-speed sprint, smoothly dodging the flailing tentacles in the air, the space around his field of vision blurred as he sprinted, only the silhouette of the target, becoming clearer and clearer.
Like a shell, Stark flew at Doctor Octopus, slowing down when he got close to him, then extended his arms, embracing Doctor Octopus, a flash of electricity on his body.
In an instant, the four tentacles on the back of Doctor Octopus stopped working, a series of severe sparks later, they hung down one by one, while Doctor Octopus himself began to fall.
Before hitting the ground, however, he was caught by a Spiderman clinging to a spider's thread, and was once again placed on the nearest building's rooftop.
Three Spidermen gathered on the rooftop, Iron Man flew over, standing with his hands on his hips scanning their faces, then asked, "Now, can you explain what's going on?"
"I am Spiderman!" Peter began, then lowering his voice a bit, said, "They might be too..."
The Amazing Spiderman shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Okay, I am also Spiderman, but maybe not the one you know. Umm, you should also know me... I mean, in my universe, but..."
"Stop! Listen to me!" Another Spiderman spoke up, "Things aren't what you guys think. Dr. Otto is not evil; it's just that..."
At this time, Doctor Octopus, lying on the ground, coughed twice, waking up. He slowly sat up, and the Amazing Spiderman backed off two steps, striking a defensive pose.
At this moment, Stark really took a good look at this man full of tentacles. He asked, somewhat doubtfully, "Otto, is that the same Otto? The nuclear physicist Otto Octavius?"
"That's right." One of the Spidermen walked over, helped Otto up. The Amazing Spiderman shouted, "Hey! What are you doing? How can you help Doctor Octopus?!"
"Doctor Octopus? Who is Doctor Octopus? This is Doctor Otto, head of the Nuclear Physics Joint Research Group... uh... He just had a bit of an accident..."
Stark landed on the ground, approached Otto, looking him up and down. Otto looked pale, with big, dark circles under his eyes. Stark asked him, "What happened to you? How did you turn yourself into this?"
Otto coughed heavily a couple of times, then shouted, "How dare you even ask me what's wrong? Tony Stark!!"
Stark backed off slightly, staring at Otto. The resentment in Otto's voice was as if Stark had stolen his girlfriend. Stark thought back, but he had not been messing around lately. So what was with Otto's resentful tone?
"Dr. Otto, calm down. I know you've been working hard, but…" The Spiderman holding him tried to reason.
"Have been working hard..." Otto murmured and then raised his voice suddenly, saying, "Am I really tired??? I'm almost dying!!! You bunch of busyness doers! You'd rather swing around in the New York sky than help in the lab!!!"
"What the hell is going on?" Stark looked at Otto and asked. Now he also realized that Otto didn't seem to be causing havoc deliberately. Based on his mental state, he should be clear-headed, and had no intention to take revenge against society either. After all, his four huge tentacles had swung around New York sky for so long, apart from breaking a lot of glass, no one had actually been hurt.
With a deep sigh, Otto began speaking. From the tone of his voice, everyone could hear his near desperate frustration. He said,
"It all starts with this so-called head of the Solar System Development Project Team coming to me..."