Max Dillon was in an unstable state of mind—again.
Ever since that day when Cindy Moon had saved him from being suicide in Hell's Kitchen, something inside him changed. She hadn't just saved his life; she had given him a glimpse of hope, a fleeting moment of connection in his otherwise lonely, gray existence.
Max became obsessed.
He thought Cindy was a superhero—maybe even more powerful than Ghost-Spider. She had appeared like an angel, swift and mysterious, vanishing just as quickly after the rescue. From that moment on, Max devoted himself to searching every corner of the internet for any scrap of news or information about her.
But there was nothing. No headlines. No mentions. No photos beyond that one blurry surveillance clip.
Still, Max clung to the idea. He began to fabricate stories online, claiming that he was actually a superhero too—the one who had saved her. He posted under fake names, started threads on forums, and called Ghost-Spider a fraud compared to Cindy.
Naturally, the internet did what it does best.
Ghost-Spider fans flamed him hard. Trolls mocked him. His threads were downvoted into oblivion.
Max spiraled further.
At Oscorp, where he worked as a maintenance tech, he barely functioned. Sleep-deprived and delusional, he stumbled through the days like a ghost. One day, distracted by thoughts of Cindy, Max slipped while working above a bio-electrical test tank.
He crashed straight into a pool filled with genetically engineered electric eels, along with a tray of volatile chemical agents.
The result was catastrophic.
Lightning arced through his body, fused with the serum compounds, and twisted his biology into something else entirely. When he woke up, he wasn't Max Dillon anymore. His skin glowed faint blue, veins pulsed like electric circuits, and power surged with every step.
He had become Electro.
And he was done being ignored.
The first to die was his smug supervisor, who always took credit for his work. Then it was the coworkers who laughed at him in the break room. Then random bystanders. Pedestrians. Even a stray dog that barked too loud.
Electricity danced through his fingertips with a thought, tearing apart streets, traffic lights, buildings.
Police responded quickly—but bullets passed right through his surging electric form. He laughed as they retreated in fear.
"Invincible... I'm invincible!" he screamed, his voice crackling with static.
Chaos erupted across downtown Manhattan.
"Somebody, help us!"
"Where are the heroes?!"
"Ghost-Spider, anyone—please!"
"The Lizard's attacking in the Bronx! They're tied up!"
"Oh god, it's the end! The whole city's falling apart!"
A woman tried to drive away with her children—but Electro blasted the car, sending it flipping into a storefront. Screams filled the air.
A thunderous crack split the sky.
Electro raised his hands, power crackling between his palms, grinning like a maniac. "Superheroes? Where are they now?! Come face me!"
Just then—a loud, metallic clang.
A red-and-gold blur slammed into the pavement between Electro and the civilians.
Dust cleared to reveal Iron Man in full armor, repulsors glowing.
Tony Stark stepped forward with a cocky smirk. "You rang?"
Max's eyes narrowed. "Stark…? Finally, someone worth frying."
Tony raised his repulsor gauntlet and aimed it directly at Max. "Alright, Sparky," he said coolly, "you're coming with me. Hope you like prison food."
CRACK!
Max responded without hesitation, launching a bolt of thick blue lightning. It smashed into Iron Man, hurling him backward and skidding him across the street.
"Superhero? That's it? Pathetic," Max spat.
[Jarvis: Sir, the arc reactor is fully charged. Energy levels are surging. Recommend immediate discharge.]
"What do you mean fully charged?" Tony asked, glancing at the sparks dancing along the edges of his suit.
[Jarvis: Excess energy absorption from external electric interference. Systems destabilizing.]
"Well then, let's vent some of it!"
Tony unleashed a massive unibeam blast from his chest reactor. The blinding light slammed into Max, sending him flying across the plaza and crashing into the Oscorp Tower with enough force to rattle nearby windows.
Stunned, Max stumbled out from the wreckage.
Turns out, bullets may pass through him harmlessly—but pure energy? That stung.
Suddenly, one by one, the lights in Oscorp Tower began to flicker and die. Entire floors went dark as Max absorbed their electricity like a leech.
From within the gloom, his furious voice echoed: "ASSHOLE!"
Max surged back out, glowing bluer and more unstable than ever. Tongues of electric current lashed out from his body like serpents. This time, instead of direct assault, he tried something more insidious—infiltration.
He aimed his voltage streams at Iron Man again, not to shock, but to interface.
Every circuit, wire, and servo in Tony's armor became a path. Max was hacking the suit in real-time—his powers giving him control over anything electric.
[Jarvis: Sir… emergency… systems… compromised…]
"Jarvis!" Tony barked. His suit twitched unnaturally as Max's electricity wormed its way deeper into the system. The armor felt foreign—like it wasn't his anymore.
The emergency insulation protected Tony physically, but his AI was crashing, and that meant one thing: he was defenseless.
"Next time, Stark," Max growled through the current, "install an electric firewall."
But just then—WHAM!
A black figure streaked down from above and dropkicked Max across the street. Electricity sparked on contact but was repelled in bursts of inverse charge.
Jack Kadere landed, clad in the black tactical version of his Knight Spider suit. Electric resistance plates shimmered across his armor.
"You again?" Max hissed.
"Iron Man's got tech," Jack said coolly, walking forward as lightning danced in his path. "But I've got insulation."
"Black Spider!" Tony shouted, regaining some control. "Watch out! He's immune to conventional attacks!"
"I noticed."
Max snarled and hurled bolts of electricity at Jack, but they merely crackled across his coat, unable to pierce his reinforced weave. The Knight Spider advanced calmly through the storm.
The tide was about to turn.