Nov 1
Leo's POV
Last night was pretty fun. We tried some food, visited a couple of haunted houses, but eventually Peter and Ned had to go home, with Gwen leaving soon after. I chilled with Harry for about an hour and talked, but eventually we went our separate ways for the night.
Since it's Sunday, I was planning on doing some more work, using Saiki's thoughtography, but apparently fate decided to make today complicated.
Is TMZ even considered news? I remember somebody calling them a glorified gossip page.
That's going to be an issue. It's always been part of my plan to be famous, because it slows down groups like Hydra from making me disappear.
That was before I got Om Nom.
Om Nom was passed out on the couch, snoring and covered in crumbs. That reminds me, I should give him a bath.
The issue is pretty obvious. Om Nom isn't normal. He's a little green, one-eyed creature, and the paparazzi is a parasite on our society. If they get a picture of him, most would assume it's fake, but all it takes is one group to check it out and try to take him.
The easy answer would be to just take down the story or site, but that would only delay it or draw more attention.
Fortunately, have another plan. I was hoping to save it for later, but I guess it's time to pull out Project: Deadsec.
"Conrad, boot up the Solidbox. It's time for Project: Deadsec."
"On it, boss… What's Project: Deadsec?"
===
Gwen POV
Dad walked into the kitchen. He looked exhausted. One of the downsides of being a police captain, long nights are pretty common.
Though, it's rare for him to spend the entire night at the station.
"Everything alright? You've been gone since I got home last night." Dad joined me at the kitchen table, barely awake. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Sorry, sweetie, can't." He rubbed his sleep-deprived eyes. "How was your night? Did you have fun with your friends?" He changed the subject.
"It was fun… hey, Dad, I have a question. Were there any reports last night of somebody stealing decorations? Dressed like somebody called the Grinch?"
Her dad sat there in silence for a moment before bursting into laughter. "That's—a good—one—sweetie," he spoke between laughs.
"I'm serious!"
As Dad's laughter died down, he gave me a strange look as he realized I wasn't joking.
"Really?" he asked. I just nodded in response. "I didn't hear anything, but I was busy with something. I'll ask around."
"It's alright, I was just curious. My friend, Le—"
RING, RING, RING
My phone rang, it was Ned. What does he need so early?
"Who is it?" Dad asked.
"Just a friend. It's probably nothing." I answered the call. "Hey, Ne—"
"We've been hacked!!!" Ned screamed. I pull the phone away from my ear before he burst my eardrum.
"Ned, calm down! What's going on?"
"Instagram—we've been hacked. Wait, it's not just—Facebook's been hacked too, and so has the Daily Bugle. TMZ—somebody's hacking everything!" Ned explained, frantic.
"Something wrong?" Dad asked, slightly worried.
"I'm checking." I opened the Instagram app. "What the—?"
Every unique picture, video, and account had been replaced. Instead, there was a blank account, the same video on replay.
===
Harry's POV
PLOP
"Damn it." I've been trying to break my record, but I can't get past 120.
According to the world leaderboard, I'm ranked number 8. Which would be considered impressive if Peter wasn't ranked number 5, with a score of 526.
"Don't these people have a life?" Number 1 had a score of 1196.
Dad walked into the living room, wearing his usual suit and tie. I didn't pay much attention to him, though, and just continued to play.
"Harry, can I speak to you for a moment?" he asked as he adjusted his tie, something he always does when he wants to discuss business.
"Oscorp is interested in your little start-up. They want a meeting."
PLOP
"Huh?" Well, I wasn't expecting that today. "Can I say no?"
"You can, but word of advice. As a businessman, this won't go away. But as your father, I'll do my best to protect you," he explained.
I pinched my brow in frustration. "What do they even want?"
"Instagram, it's getting popular. The board thinks it's only a matter of time until it overtakes Facebook, and they want to be a part of it before it gets too big."
"Ugh." I can already tell this is going to be a headache. "I'll get back to you, but no promises. I'm only a partial owner. I'll have to talk to Leo first."
"Understandable. That should hold off the board for now."
For the next minute or so, he just sat there, not saying or doing anything. It got awkward quickly.
"How's school?" he asked out of nowhere.
Ding
My phone let out a noise as I received a notification.
Thank God, a distraction.
It's a message from Ned, telling everybody to get on the app.
"What the—"
===
3rd Person POV
"SPIDER-MAN?!"
Jonah Jameson, or JJ for short, shouted as he read over the latest report.
Betty Brant, his assistant, just let out a sigh, used to her boss's personality.
"Look, I'm just telling you what I know. There's some masked guy calling himself Spider-Man, stopping muggers and leaving them for the police," Betty explained.
JJ rubbed his chin in thought. "Masked, you say? Something feels off. Why would he be wearing a mask if he's doing civilian arrests?… UNLESS HE HAS SOMETHING TO HIDE."
"Well, rumor has it that he climbs on walls, shoots webs, and does whatever a spider does."
"So he's a mutant. Makes sense. Those MRD goons have been in the area lately. He has to hide his identity. I can see the headline: Masked vigilante, MRD in the streets, New York in peril?"
"Wait, who's the bad guy? This Spider guy or the MRD?"
"Both. Spider-Man is a vigilante, and the MRD are just goons hiding behind a corrupt law."
Robbie Robertson burst into the office, laptop in hand. "Jameson! You need to see this."
JJ glanced at the laptop screen, a weird video playing. "What am I looking at?"
"The Daily Bugle site," Robbie answered.
"WHAT?!" JJ yanked the laptop out of Robbie's hand. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'm not sure, but it's not just us. It's on every major news site." Robbie watched the video with JJ and Betty. "Whatever it is, it's big."
===
As the video played on repeat, dozens of people watched in confusion.
The room was pitch black, the only source of light coming from the camera itself.
In the center frame was a figure. They wore a black hoodie and pants, their body shrouded in darkness. Their face was warped, distorted—jagged pixels, a blank white mask.
"Greetings," they spoke.
The voice had been altered, multiplied. Dozens of voices spoke in perfect unison—some high-pitched, others low. Distorted, combined, spliced.
"HORRID PEOPLE RUN THE WORLD."
Harry just narrowed his eyes as he watched the video.
"THEY HIDE THEIR CRIMES. USE THEIR CONNECTIONS TO COVER THEM UP. BELIEVE THEMSELVES UNTOUCHABLE."
"Way to state the obvious," MJ said as she watched the video.
In an instant, a dozen screens lit up. The images and sound of static were off-putting. Two of the screens were dangling from the roof, held up by their cables. One TV was mounted onto a small cart. Another sat on top of a trio of cinder blocks. A few hung in the air, with no visible suspension.
"What the?" Captain George Stacy muttered as he watched over his daughter's shoulder.
"THEY HIDE IN THE DARK, BUT NO MORE. I AM HERE. THEY WILL SEE THE LIGHT… AND THEY WILL BURN."
The video cut. The image of a man was displayed.
Gwen didn't recognize him, but Peter and Ned did. A famous actor, considered iconic for his roles.
The video cut again. The image of the man changed, his eyes crossed out, a twisted smile scrawled over his mouth.
Pictures appeared, then videos. Parts cut, blurred, spliced. Meant to hide the victims, but still revealing the actor's crimes.
"The fuck!" Harry cursed as he stared at the video.
Peter stared in horror, speechless.
"What the?" George Stacy snatched the phone from his daughter.
Before he could properly examine the evidence, the video went black. The image of a frowny face was displayed.
"Dang it!" George cursed. "That could have been useful."
"Uhmm, Dad…" Gwen held up his phone. "You might want to see this." The video continued to play. "Instagram took the video down, but it's still on Facebook."
George watched the video in horror. If the evidence was real, then this was going to be a media nightmare.
===
Leo's POV
RING, RING, RING
Looks like Ned is calling me. Welp, time to pull out my Dexter templates and act innocent.
I took a deep breath, answered the call, and screamed, "What the hell was that!?"
"I don't know!" Ned shouted.
"Who was that guy?"
"I don't know!"
"How did he hack us!?"
"He hacked everything!"
"How did—wait, what do you mean he hacked everything?" Time to act stupid.
"Dude, he hacked everything—news sites, Facebook," Ned explained.
Time to gaslight. "Jesus, who the hell is this guy?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" Crap.
"What do you mean?"
"I tried to track his IP, but I lost it after a minute or so." Probably because I had Conrad jump and bounce my signal everywhere.
"Don't look him up! This guy just hacked us. and probably all of New York."
Ned froze, probably realizing that trying to track somebody who can hack a city is a bad idea. "…What do we do now?" Good, he switched the subject.
"Well, I already kicked him from Instagram. Problem solved."
"But he's still on Facebook, and like half a dozen news sites."
"That sounds like a them problem."
Ned tried to respond, but nothing came out. Eventually, he just let out a sigh.
"So what now?" Ned asked.
I just shrugged. "I don't know. Look, what this guy did is probably hella illegal. The police will deal with him."
Ned just sighed. "I guess you're right. It still kind of freaks me out, though, that there's somebody with that level of skill."
It wasn't easy, my fingers are killing me.
RING, RING, RING
Looks like Harry's calling. I'm really getting a lot out of my Dexter template.
(Author Note: I'm going to be honest, i'm struggling. as you can tell, this chapter kind of sucked. i'm struggling, and can't keep up with my weekly updates. I don't know if i'm just a bad writer, or i'm burnt out. sorry)