[ October 23, 2025 – Sydney, Australia ]
"Okay… Dispatch, that's the game he told me I should buy, the famous return of the Telltale devs." I muttered to myself while browsing the PlayStation Store.
'Come on, let's download it and see what it's like. I didn't spoil myself at all, so it's perfect.' I thought to myself.
While I waited for the download to finish, I went to air out my room and grabbed some snacks, nice and easy. After a few good minutes, I was back in front of my screen. I picked up my controller and suddenly felt a sharp sting in my wrist.
"Fuck! What the hell is that?!" I shouted as I saw a huge spider jump off my arm. "Shit!" I started to feel an increasingly intense tingling, like it was burning me from the inside. "I'm fu-" That was the end. My end, at least… or so I thought.
[ Miguel O'hara's POV – Los Angeles ]
"Huh? What are these memories… I died after being bitten by a spider? And I got reincarnated?" I said as I sat up in my bed, then slipped out from under the covers and stood up.
'In my memories, there was a comic with a hero named Spiderman. Apparently, he has the same abilities as me.' With that in mind, I tried to shoot webs from my wrists, and it worked. "I didn't know I could do that." I murmured to myself.
'I already knew about my super strength, my reflexes, my agility, but on top of what that Peter Parker has, I've got retractable claws and fangs.'
Before I could question things any further, my attention was drawn to the TV I had been watching before those memories surfaced in my head.
"Earlier today, Mechaman broke his silence and addressed the media." the news anchor said on the TV, followed by Mechaman's announcement.
"Looks like the end of his career." I said before turning off the TV.
'Alright, it's time for me to head to SDN to sign my contract.' Without waiting, I leave my loft and head toward the offices. I get into my car and hit the road.
Arriving at the SDN offices.
"Are you Spider?" a secretary asks.
"That's right. I'm just here to sign the last few documents I needed to sign, and to get my suit." I reply.
"Very well, here they are." He hands me my suit and the papers I needed to sign.
"Everything's in order. You'll be starting tomorrow with the Z-Team." he adds.
'This new suit is exactly what I needed.'
Later that day.
I was back home, getting familiar with my webbing.
"Gonna have to clean up when I get back." I said before heading out to swing from rooftop to rooftop.
At first, I wasn't comfortable, but I quickly started to get the hang of it.
It was evening, so I decided to settle down in a bar that was on my way.
"HA! HA! HA! AAAAH! Fuck, move!" a guy shouted while being set on fire, followed by a dwarf that I dodged.
"You've gotta roll on the ground, lad!" said the dwarf.
"What the hell is this mess." I said under my breath, then headed toward the bar. "I'll take a mojito." I told the bartender.
"Coming right up." he replied, splitting himself into four.
"HEY! Mecha Dick get the fuck out of here." He served me while his clones escorted Mechaman, who was also sitting at the bar, out the door.
"I'll take a second on-"
"Excuse me for bothering you, haven't you seen a man in gray, masked-"
"Yes, he was escorted outside." I reply to Blonde Blazer, I recognized her cause she's quite famous.
"Thanks." she says to me, orders two drinks, and leaves. The bartender hands me my second mojito, and after finishing my glass, I head back home.
The next morning.
I change into my suit, put on my mask, and head to SDN.
[ Robert Robertson III / Mechaman's POV ]
"Alright, enough with this shitty sentimental atmosphere. It's time to introduce you to your loser team." Chase says. "If I'm being honest, I thought and still think we should've canned those tunas months ago."
"And maybe your wish will come true, because if we don't see any improvement soon, the project will be shut down." Blonde Blazer says.
"Cool. No pressure." I say.
"Sonar here is a Harvard graduate who-"
"Who can't help mentioning he's a Harvard graduate." Chase cuts Blonde Blazer off.
"Who also orchestrated some of the biggest investment frauds in Silicon Valley. And also-"
"And sometimes turns into a fucking bat monster that'll eat your ass after draining your pension." Chase cuts her off again.
"Flambae, he-"
"Controls fire, flames, and his skin doesn't burn." I interrupt this time.
"True. You've already met him. You even had some history with him a few years back?" Chase says.
"I did." I reply.
"So you know he's a certified dickhead." he adds.
"Invisigal, whom you've already met, turned herself in a few months ago and entered the program on the condition that we don't ask questions." Blonde Blazer says.
"That's a bit suspicious, isn't it?" I say.
"Suspicious? Really? A criminal who can turn invisible and doesn't want to answer questions? What could possibly tip you off, Sherlock?" Chase fires back.
"Here we have Coupé, which I recently learned means 'to cut' in French hence the knives."
"That's very clever." I say.
"Yeah, it sounds dumb when you say it, so everyone just calls her Coop." Chase retorts. "She was an assassin for a mob, then she went independent. Punch up."
"Carnival strongman who made a deal with a witch. She gave him the strength of ten men. His muscles grew, but his body shrank." Blazer explains.
"Malevola, terrifying. She has a magic sword, and she can create portals that let her teleport."
"And somehow she's always late to every damn meeting." Chase says.
"I think she does it on purpose." Blazer adds. "That's Golem. He's a construct."
"A construct?" I ask.
"Yes. A pile of earth and mud, conscious thanks to magic. I think he feels lonely." she replies.
"Prism. Michigan-born and raised. Her power is weird. She weaponizes light rays or some shit." Chase says.
"Why does she dress like a pop star?" I ask without thinking.
"She's extremely talented." Blonde Blazer says, then continues.
"And this is the new one, Spider."
"I don't know this guy yet." Chase says.
"That's normal. He officially joined the program yesterday. We can take a look at his file so you'll know more." Blonde Blazer replies.
"Let's do that." Chase says. "Let's see… age 29, height 6'9, this motherfucka's tall. But then again, when you've got Golem… abilities: superhuman strength, superhuman agility, accelerated vision, durability, enhanced healing, paralytic fangs, wall-crawling… basically, he's a fucking Spider-Man."
"Hence the name, Chase." I say.
"He's from New York. He was a scientist, more precisely, a genetic engineer, who gave himself spider abilities. The problem is, to get there, he had to sacrifice his colleagues for his experiments. That's the gist of it." Blonde Blazer says.
"Creepy." Chase comments.
"Wait, so, uh… the Z-Team, my team, they're the Phoenix Program?" I ask Blonde Blazer.
"Correct."
[ Miguel's POV ]
I was still at SDN headquarters. From what I'd been told, my shift was supposed to start in about thirty minutes, so in the meantime I figured I should go join the other members of the Z-Team.
'I'm really inside Dispatch. Unfortunately, I have zero information about the events happening in the game.' That was the conclusion I'd come to the day before, after signing documents that wouldn't stop talking about dispatching.
I was walking down the hallways when I reached the room where the team was. I opened the door.
"Who's this?" asked a woman dressed like a pop star, in blue and pink.
"Spider." I said, pointing at myself, then continued. "I'm joining the Phoenix Program starting today." After that, there were brief introductions with the team.
"Alright, it's time. Our shift's about to start, lads." Punch Up said.
Everyone headed out and put on an earpiece. After a few short minutes of waiting, our Dispatcher started talking. "Hi team...this is your... Dispatcher, Robert Robertson, and I'm starting my first shi-"
Suddenly, most of the team burst out laughing.
"Tell me that's not your real fucking name?" Prism said, laughing.
"You can't stutter on your first day, you can't do that." Flambae said.
"Robert. Roberts. Robertson. Roberto. Bobert." Sonar rattled off.
"Can we clear the channel? There's a bit of overlapping." the Dispatcher said.
"I've seen him in his underwear." Invisigal said.
"Who? Roberto Robertoson?" Prism said. I'll admit, that one made me laugh a little. She continued, "He packing much?"
"No, but he's got a ton of scars, which I'm into." Invisigal said.
"We didn't need to know all that." I said.
"Thank you, Spider. Once again, can we clear the channel." Robert the Dispatcher said.
"We get it, you're an em-" Coupé started before getting cut off by Chase.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! Let me remind you, these calls are fucking recorded for training purposes! So keep the fucking line clear before we send your fucking asses back to-"
I decided to mute him until he finished, then unmuted him.
"Are we clear?" he finished.
Beep beep* A signal indicated that I was being dispatched to retrieve a child's balloon. "Seriously?" I said.
"It's your first day too, and climbing clearly isn't a problem for you." Robert replied in my earpiece.
So I headed to the location, swinging from building to building until I arrived at the so-called mission site. I retrieved the balloon from the top of the tree, then climbed down and handed it to the boy.
"Thank you, mister, you're so cool." the kid said. I took off my mask and replied. "You're welcome, kid and thanks." I nodded to the mother, put my mask back on, and headed out to return to HQ. On my device, I confirmed that the mission was completed.
"Who is this Vanderstek guy?" Prism asked, referring to a new mission that had just come in.
"Willem Vanderstek. Certified genius. Literally, he has a certificate." Sonar replied.
"You're not a genius if you need a piece of paper to say you're a genius." she shot back.
"You're just jealous. That guy rules." Sonar said. The mission was assigned to Sonar, my device indicated.
"Hmm, I'll take Wednesday." Punch Up said.
"Tuesday." Coupé said.
"Dibs on Monday." Malevola said.
"What are you talking about?" Robert asked.
"We're betting on the day you're going to quit." Invisigal replied.
"Hmmm… Friday?" Golem said.
"Today is Friday." Robert said.
"I know." Golem replied.
"Spider, what day are you betting on?" Invisigal asked me.
"No idea. I don't know when your Dispatchers usually quit. Ask Flambae." I replied.
"I'd say Wednesday too." he answered.
The day continued like that, with everyone handling the missions they were assigned, with Flambae burning a few places here and there.
Beep beep* This time, I was sent to a museum where there were thieves who had taken hostages.
I arrived on site; it was surrounded by police. I entered through an upper window of the museum and started crawling along the ceiling. I began webbing up each individual I came across, quietly and efficiently, and just like that, the mission was completed.
The hostages all thanked me, some of them even emotional.
I have mainly dealt with this type of case and a few anecdotal assignments. Overall, it was a pretty calm day, at least on my end. From what we heard, Invisigal had some trouble at a Granny's, a place that sells donuts.
It was now the end of our day. We were done. I started heading home when Malevola and Sonar approached me.
"Hey, Spider, you want a Twinkie?" Sonar asked me.
"No thanks, Sonar." I replied.
"You sure? Our Dispatcher gave them to me." he said.
"Sure." I said, so he started to eat it.
"So you saw him?" Malevola asks him.
"Yes, weird guy, he even got a left hook from Invisigal." he replies.
"Hmm, got anything planned?" Malevola asked me.
"No, I was about to head home. Why? Are you guys going somewhere?" I asked in return.
"We're going to grab something to eat. Since you're new, we figured maybe you'd want to join us." she said.
"Yeah, why not. I'll come with you."