The rain-soaked slums of New York's underdistrict on Earth-731 buzzed with danger, a fitting stage for Peter Parker, now Mad Spider, and Gwen Stacy as they fled the Blackweb Unit's relentless pursuit. It was 2030, and the city's neon veins pulsed with Oscorp's control, their drones scouring every shadow for the fugitives. Peter's blood-red costume, patched and jagged, clung to his frame, his spider-powers—strength, agility, regeneration—pushing him through the pain that gnawed at his body, a cruel echo of Oscorp's electroshock torture. His laughter, sharp and unhinged, echoed off rusted walls as he swung Gwen across rooftops. "They keep throwing toys at us," he quipped, his Joker-like madness bubbling up. "But I'm the one who breaks 'em!" Gwen, clutching her stolen tablet, shot him a worried glance. "Focus, Peter. We need to find Cipher before they do."
Flashback: At 15, Peter lay strapped to Oscorp's table, the first shocks tearing through him. "You'll be our masterpiece," a scientist sneered, cranking the voltage. Peter's screams drowned out Gwen's face in his mind, her childhood kindness fading under pain. The memory fueled his rage, his laughter now a weapon.
They'd tracked Cipher's signal to an abandoned data hub, a concrete husk littered with broken servers. Gwen's tablet confirmed the Neon Shadows' plan: hack Oscorp's secondary servers to amplify their expose. But Peter's spider-senses screamed as they approached. "Trap," he growled, webbing Gwen behind a pillar. Before they could retreat, a holo-screen flickered to life, Norman Osborn's face looming large. "Subject 731," he said, his voice cold. "You can't outrun progress." A pulse of energy surged from the hub's floor, and Peter's world dissolved into static.
He awoke in a virtual reality killbox, a nightmare woven from Oscorp's neural tech. The lab reappeared, pristine and sterile, his body strapped to the table. Scientists materialized, their faces twisted into cruel grins. "Useless," they hissed, shocks ripping through him, targeting the same nerves Oscorp had tortured for years. The pain was real, amplified by the VR, each jolt fracturing his mind further. Flashback: At 16, Peter begged for mercy, his voice hoarse. "Why me?" he'd sobbed. Norman's voice answered, chilling: "Because you're perfect." Now, in the killbox, Norman's avatar appeared, smirking. "You're still mine, Peter."
Peter's madness surged, his laughter a defiant roar. "Yours? I'm nobody's!" His spider-senses, heightened even in VR, caught a glitch—a flicker of code. He focused, his mind clawing through the pain, and saw Gwen's voice breaking through, her hack infiltrating the system. "Peter, fight it!" she shouted, her words a lifeline. He visualized his powers, webbing through the virtual lab, smashing consoles that weren't there. The scientists flickered, their shocks weakening. "Bad code, worse plan!" he taunted, his Deadpool-like banter masking desperation.
Outside, Gwen worked frantically at a terminal, her fingers flying over the tablet. She'd jacked into the hub's network, her tech skills battling Oscorp's AI. A flashback hit her: at 18, she'd hacked her first Oscorp file, learning of Peter's torment, vowing to save him. Now, her hack disrupted the killbox, giving Peter an edge. He tore through the virtual lab, his regeneration healing simulated wounds, until he faced Norman's avatar. "Time to log out," Peter snarled, webbing the avatar and shattering the VR's core.
The real world snapped back, the hub's lights flickering. Peter collapsed, pain flaring from the shocks' echo. Gwen rushed to him, their ritual beginning—her touch soothing the burning nerves, a moment of intimacy that anchored his madness. "You pulled me out," he whispered, his voice raw. "Always will," she said, tears in her eyes. But the hub's alarms blared—Blackweb drones were closing in, drawn by the hack. Peter stood, his grin wild. "Let's blow this place."
They rigged the hub's servers to overload, a fiery distraction to cover their escape. As flames erupted, Mad Spider swung Gwen into the night, his laughter echoing. "Norman's gonna hate this rerun!" But the VR had shaken him, his madness louder, his humanity fraying.
Cliffhanger: As the hub burns, a Blackweb transmission crackles: Norman's manhunt escalates, with a new weapon in play. "They're not done with us," Peter laughs, his eyes wild with chaos.