Spider-Man 2099 Special #1
The Menace of the Man-Spider
A man/spider hybrid is running amok early in the morning at the offices of the Syntha East Bio-Development Lab. Seeing the staff as interfering with his plans, he begins webbing them to the walls. However, one of the scientists manages to call security, summoning the Syn-Cops, Synthia's private police force. Injured in the crossfire, the Man-Spider decides to flee the scene before it is injured further and its secrets revealed. Fleeing into the sewers beneath the city, the Man-Spider reverts back to human form before it has time to allow its arm to heal. The man who was the Man-Spider then passes out from his injuries.
While above the city, Spider-Man has just been spotted by a Roving Eye and is ordered to surrender.[1] The masked vigilante refuses to surrender, wondering when Alchemax began utilizing Roving Eyes as part of their wide-sweeping surveillance systems. After destroying the flying drone, Spider-Man slips into a nearby alley where he changes back to Miguel O'Hara. He curses the Roving Eye, one of the legacies of his late father, George O'Hara, and the fact that Layla let him sleep in, making him late for work.[2] Now running late for his lunch date with his fiancee Dana D'Angelo, he meets with her at the Synthia offices and sees that the facility was attacked the night before. On their way out, Miguel makes a joke about Antoine Tarantella, Synthia's resident "mad scientist", who is also joining them for lunch. Antoine does not find Miguel amusing, blaming him for the damage caused to the facility. Dana wonders how Antoine can say such a thing, especially since eyewitnesses say that it was a monster that attacked the facility. Despite the false accusations, Miguel notices some strange luminescent gunk lying around the lab thanks to his enhanced vision. While nobody is looking, he picks up a sample to examine later. He also finds Antoine's attitude out of character for the usually straight-laced scientist.
As the trio have lunch together, Miguel asks Tarantella what he meant when he accused O'Hara of wrecking the lab. Antoine admits that he didn't mean Miguel personally, but blames O'Hara's employers at Alchemax of sabotaging his work. This belief has been solidified due to the fact that Alchemax has agreed to assist Synthia in his experiments, believing that the company is intending to use his work for military application. However, Miguel reveals that he has been looking over Antoine's work and warns him to go over his calculations before he begins any kind of testing. Learning this is taken as an insult by Tarantella, who wishes he did his work in a secret lab. This reminds Dana of when he and Antoine were kids and they had their own secret clubhouse. This was where Dana and Antoine kissed, seeing them reminiscing about the old days, Miguel can't believe that Tarantella is flirting with his fiancee right in front of him. Changing his subject back to his work, Antoine explains that his bio-fusion process will allow them to create the ultimate livestock and ensure that his work will be used to benefit the poorest countries with the harshest environments. When Dana asks Antoine to calm down, she touches him by the arm, causing him to shriek in pain and runoff, leaving Dana and Miguel to wonder what is going on with Tarantella.
Feeling himself losing control, Antoine tries to get away by dashing across a maglev highway. Unfortunately, the pain becomes too great and he collapses to the ground. Suddenly, Antoine transforms into the Man-Spider. Later, Dana D'Angelo uses her role as a liaison between Synthia and Alchemax to look into Antoine's claims and is surprised to see that they have an agenda of their own.[3] As she walks through one of the labs she overhears Tyler Stone ordering his scientists to work through the current Synthia crisis so they can beat their partners to patent the work. However, she is not convinced that Alchemax had anything to do with the attack on Synthia. Meanwhile, Miguel O'Hara uses his lab to examine the strange fluid he found at Synthia. He finds that it has a DNA profile that matches the Man-Spider that attacked the Synthia lab. When he runs the DNA through a database to learn the identity of their man-monster, the name that comes up shocks him. At that moment, the Alchemax scientists try to splice a caterpillar with a bull, creating a massive creature that runs amok in the lab. Before it can endanger Dana, the Man-Spider comes crashing in through the skylight.
As the Man-Spider struggles with the creature, security comes in with guns blazing. Although the monster is killed, one of the scientists was trampled to death in the rampage. Thinking that the Man-Spider was responsible, the guards prepare to open fire on him as well. Seeking to get away, the Man-Spider grabs Dana and carries her away and leaps back up through the skylight. Minutes later, Miguel has changed into Spider-Man to go looking for Antoine. Considering how events have unfolded, he figures that Tarantella is reacting out of fear. Recalling how Antoine and Dana are childhood friends, he decides to starts looking into the past to try and figure out where Antoine may have taken her. Meanwhile, the Man-Spider has taken Dana into the sewers where he explains what happened to him. He explains that he always felt inadequate compared to Miguel O'Hara, who was always a step ahead of him in genetic research. Wanting to push his genetic-fusion techniques he attempted to fuse two different breeds of spiders. Unfortunately, a leak in the testing chamber exposed him to the experiment causing his first transformation into the Man-Spider. Afraid of what he became, Antoine, fled the scene until he could make sense of what happened. He returned to the lab to try and cure himself where he was interrupted, leading to the nightmare his life has now become. After finishing his story, Antoine asks Dana for her help. However, Dana has no idea what to do and wishes that Miguel was there to help. Hearing Miguel's name unhinges Antoine who gloats at his advancements and how they are far superior to those of O'Hara. He then decides to totally embrace his transformation into the Man-Spider.
That's when Spider-Man arrives to save Dana, kicking the Man-Spider in the face. This causes the creature to flail his arms around breaking a number of pipes causing the tunnel to flood. Becoming more monstrous, the Man-Spider fights back, gloating about how it has become the ultimate hybrid being. When the Man-Spider bites Spider-Man in the neck, his venom causes the hero’s neck to feel like it is on fire. Although Spider-Man breaks free and begins fighting back, the venom begins to take its toll. Seeing Spider-Man in danger, Dana finally frees herself from the Man-Spider's webbing and tosses a brick at the back of the monster's head. Shocked that his childhood friend would harm him, the Man-Spider turns to attack her. However, Spider-Man recovers and strikes the Man-Spider with enough force to send the monster into a nearby torrent of water that washes the creature down several miles of pipe into a sewage drain somewhere outside the city.
Later, Miguel returns to Synthia where he goes through Antoine's database and deletes all his work in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands but keeping a copy for himself in order to keep it alive and give it to the right people. After he finishes his work he goes out for lunch with Dana. While in the sewers below, workers are busy cleaning out a clog in one of the pipes where they find a strange web-like substance clogging everything up.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Dana D’Angelo, Tyler Stone
Continuity Notes
The narrative states that this story takes place prior to Spider-Man 2099 #34. Specifically, this story takes place between Spider-Man 2099 #11 and Spider-Man 2099 #12.
George O'Hara's death was first reported in Spider-Man 2099 #10. At the time of this story, Miguel believes George to be his biological father. However, it is later revealed that he is the son of Tyler Stone as seen in Spider-Man 2099 #25.
Tyler Stone arranged a partnership between the two companies in Spider-Man 2099 #8.
Afterimage
Now
While cruising through Cyberspace, Gabriel O'Hara -- in his alter-ego of Firelight -- is sideswiped by the legendary hacker known as Blitzgeist. The hacker puts his flying motorcycle on auto-pilot and jumps over to Firelight's ship. Gabriel tries to fight back, but his arm is ensnared by tendrils that emerge from Blitzgeist's chest. As he struggles for his life, O'Hara thinks back to how he found himself in this situation...
Earlier
Gabriel was out testing a new flying car program and enjoying the ride with the female avatar he created for himself. He then spotted a "Net Novice" crash and decided to go and investigate. Examining the body, he discovers that this crash was not caused by a Black Carder, but reminded him of an old internet legend that was told to him by his brother Miguel when they were kids in an attempt to scare him. Remembering them now, causes Firelight to feel chills down his back. That's when Blitzgeist appeared, proving that he was not the myth that Gabriel had dismissed for years. Attacked by the legendary hacker, Gabriel's avatar was deleted by his attacker.
Now
Struggling to get free, Gabriel notices that Blitzgeist is trying to drain away his own integral codes. Fighting free, Miguel kicks his attacker out of his vehicle. Blitzgeist gets back on his own vehicle and continues to race after Firelight. Using his flying skills, Gabriel manages to trick his opponent into crashing into one of the many buildings that dot the landscape of cyberspace. With his foe destroyed, Gabriel realizes that he realizes that he doesn't like legends so much anymore.
Recurring Characters
Gabriel O’Hara
Eye Spy
A video stream bootlegger named Cathode Ray tries to interest a customer of video footage showing Spider-Man getting beat up by a gang of crooks. The buyer is more interested in the hidden camera material that Ray has to offer, saying that footage of Spider-Man is boring. He also tries to convince the buy into purchasing some rare footage of a serial killer calling himself Jumpcut, explaining that the killer uses teleport technology to ambush his victims and escape before the authorities can arrest him. Once again, the buyer passes on this rare footage and leaves after purchasing his smut.
Wondering why he has to deal with such perverts, Cathode Ray returns to his Spider-Man footage and is surprised to discover that not only did he capture the Spider-Man fight, but he also recorded the hero removing his mask afterward. Copying this video to disc, Cathode begins running it through some software to clean up the footage so he can get a better look of Spider-Man's true face. As he is engrossed in his work, the killer known as Jumpcut teleports into Ray's video editing suite. Jumpcut has come to kill Ray as he had heard that the bootlegger has footage of his crimes. Mistaking the disc containing Spider-Man's identity for the footage that Ray took of him, Jumpcut tries to retrieve it from Cathode before killing him. Ray, fearing for his life, trips up Jumpcut and tries to flee. However, Jumpcut refuses to stop until he has recovered the disc and killed Cathode Ray.
Three days later, Spider-Man is swinging across the city when he sees a holographic project on the side of a building showing him pulling up his mask. He is relieved that the footage is too dark to make a positive identification and follows the projection to its source. He finds Cathode Ray on a nearby rooftop and hangs the bootlegger over the edge of the building to find out what this man is trying to play. Ray explains how Jumpcut is after him and promises to give Spider-Man the footage revealing his identity in exchange for stopping the serial killer. That's when Jumpcut teleports onto the rooftop and tries to kill Ray. Although Spider-Man tries to defend Ray, the killer manages to slip past the hero. However, Cathode Ray buys more time by creating holographic duplicates of himself. This gives Spider-Man time to knock out Jumpcut. However, the battle draws the attention of the Public Eye who tries to apprehend Spider-Man. The hero grabs Cathode Ray and flees the scene. Once they have successfully eluded the Public Eye, the hero demands that Ray hand over the footage of his unmasking. However, before Ray can hand it over, Jumpcut appears out of nowhere and snags it. When Spider-Man tries to stop him, Jumpcut teleports away.
However, Ray explains how Jumpcut was after different footage and will likely come back to his home to look for the real thing. Sure enough, Jumpcut does just that, demanding that Ray give him what he wants. Recovering the discarded disc containing his identity, Spider-Man battles Jumpcut ultimately pushing the killer into the banks of recording instruments this fries the killer's cybernetics and destroys Ray's lab. To add insult to injury, Spider-Man has no interest in returning the disc, crushes it in his bare hands, apparently leaving Cathode Ray without a business. However, Ray has had a backup plan the whole time. Thanks to hidden fish-eye cameras hidden in his hideout, he recorded the entire battle. Once he has his operations set up again, Cathode Ray begins selling the footage promising his customer’s more exclusive never-before-seen footage in the future.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man
