Rhino wanted one thing on this cold, dark night: to crush Spiderman with his own two hands. He had chased that clue for a week, and it led nowhere. Now he stood in an alley below the tall tower with the red BUGLE sign, his rhino suit dented, his face raw with cold. He punched a dumpster. Metal folded like paper. But punching metal did not find Spiderman. "You can't catch a shadow alone," a voice said. Rhino turned. A crystal ball floated in the dark where a head should be. Green cloth, a magenta cape. This was Mysterio, a trickster who bent men's eyes with lies and smoke. Beside him crouched Green goblin, small and sharp-eared, grinning under a pink cap. An old man in green stood higher, wings spread wide against the wall. Vulture watched Rhino with cold bird eyes. "I don't need help," Rhino said. His fists stayed up. "You've spent seven nights," Vulture said. "You found gum on your boot. Nothing else." Rhino's jaw tightened. The old man was right, and that stung worse than the cold. A fourth figure stepped from the shadows. He wore a white smock, dark glasses, and four metal arms that clicked as they moved. One tentacle lifted a coffee cup. Another scratched behind his ear. "I'm Doctor Octopus," he said. "I run a small group. We call it the Sinister Six. We each want something in this city. You want the bug." A metal arm pointed up at the tower. "He works there. Or someone who knows him does. Six pairs of eyes cover six times the ground." Rhino stared up at the lit windows. He had watched that building for two nights and seen nothing. One man alone could not watch every door. "What do you get?" Rhino asked. "Spiderman ruins my plans too," Doctor Octopus said. "You break him. I profit. We both win." Green goblin snickered. "Or you keep hugging trash cans, big guy." Rhino swung. His fist stopped an inch from the goblin's nose. Green goblin didn't flinch. He just grinned wider. "Temper," Doctor Octopus said. A tentacle rested on Rhino's shoulder, light but firm. "Save it for the spider." Rhino looked at the four of them. He hated needing anyone. He had always solved things with his hands. But his hands had found nothing for a week. He wanted the fight more than he wanted his pride. "Fine," Rhino said. "I'm in. But I get him first. I break him." "Agreed," Doctor Octopus said. The metal arms clicked as he offered a human hand. Rhino shook it. The moment he did, the alley felt different. He was not a lone brute anymore. He belonged to something bigger, and something bigger belonged to him. Doctor Octopus turned toward the tower. "Then it's settled. We start at the Bugle. And when we find him, Rhino, you'll have your battle." Rhino smiled for the first time in a week.

The tower stood dark against the sky. Rhino crouched in the alley with the other four. Guards moved behind the glass doors below the red sign. More stood on the roof. Doctor Octopus counted them with a tapping metal arm. "Twelve," he said. "Maybe more inside." Rhino stared at his own hands. In the rhino suit he stood two heads taller than any man. His shoulders filled the alley mouth. He could not slip past a single guard. "I can't sneak," he said. "They'll see me first." Green goblin grinned under his pink cap. "He's right. Big guy sneaks like a truck." He kicked a can. It rolled loud across the ground. "Should've stayed home." Rhino's jaw tightened. Vulture spread his green wings and hushed them both. "Quiet," the old man said. His beak turned toward the roof. "They watch the roof and the doors. Nothing else." Mysterio floated forward. His crystal ball head swirled with blue light. "Then let them see something," he said. He raised his green gloves. Green smoke poured from his hands and filled the alley. Inside the smoke Rhino saw shapes. Fake guards. Fake shadows running the wrong way. "I make them look at the front. You go through the back." Rhino saw the plan now. He was too big to hide. So they would not hide him. They would use him. "I don't run and hide," he said. "I break things." Doctor Octopus lifted a tentacle. "Then break the back wall. Loud. While Mysterio pulls their eyes forward. The noise inside covers the noise outside." Rhino liked that. He circled to the rear of the tower. Mysterio's smoke bloomed at the front doors. Shouts went up. Boots pounded toward the fake shapes. The roof guards leaned over to watch. Every eye pulled to the smoke. Rhino lowered his head and charged. The brick wall met his horn and folded. Dust and stone flew inward. He crashed into a dark office. Papers rained down. He stood tall in the hole he had made, chest heaving. Then a shape dropped from the ceiling. He hung upside down on a thread. Red and blue. A black spider on his chest. White eyes fixed on Rhino. Spiderman. The one Rhino had chased for a week. He was here. Right here. "Wow," Spiderman said. "You rang the doorbell with your face." Rhino froze. His heart slammed. The whole city he had searched, and the spider hung inches away. "You," Rhino said. But a siren screamed outside. Rhino's wall had tripped an alarm. Red light washed the room. Down the hall, boots thundered his way. Spiderman flipped upright and landed light. "That's my cue," he said. He shot a web at the ceiling and swung out the broken wall, into the dark. Rhino roared and grabbed at empty air. He was inside now. He had found the spider. But the whole tower knew where he stood, and the spider was already gone.

The alarm still screamed inside the tower. Rhino spun in the wrecked office, chest heaving. Then he saw a red shape swing back through the broken wall. Spiderman had returned. Doctor Octopus climbed in behind Rhino, metal arms clicking on the floor. Mysterio floated in through the dust, his glass head glowing blue. Green Goblin waited outside in the dark. The spider had not run far. He had come back for a fight. "You brought friends," Spiderman said. "Cute." Rhino did not talk. He fired a web of his own—no. Rhino had no web. But he lowered his head and charged. Then a real web hit him first. Spiderman shot a thick line straight at Rhino's face. The sticky rope wrapped his eyes. Rhino roared and clawed at the mess. He stumbled blind into a desk and split it in two. "Now," Doctor Octopus said. His four metal arms shot forward. Two grabbed Spiderman's legs. Mysterio raised his green gloves and poured smoke around the room. Fake shapes swam in the fog—a dozen Spidermen, all fake. "Confuse him," Mysterio said. "He can't fight what he can't find." Rhino ripped the web from his eyes. He saw the real spider caught in the doctor's arms, kicking hard. This was it. A week of hunting. Rhino stepped forward to crush him. Then the window shattered. Something small dropped through the glass. It landed on the desk—a raccoon, no taller than Rhino's knee. He wore an orange suit. He held a gun bigger than his own body. His eyes were sharp and mean. "Sorry I'm late," the raccoon said. "Traffic." He aimed the gun at Doctor Octopus. "Let the bug go, tall dark and creepy." Rhino stared. He did not know this creature. Neither did the others. "Rocket," Spiderman gasped. "About time." Rocket Raccoon fired. A blast of blue light struck Doctor Octopus in the chest. The doctor flew backward. His metal arms let go. Spiderman dropped free and rolled to his feet. Rocket kept firing, sweeping the room. Mysterio's fake shapes popped like bubbles. Rhino charged the raccoon. Rocket jumped, quick as a cat. Rhino's horn hit only wall. Brick rained down. Rocket landed on Rhino's back and fired point-blank at the suit. The blast knocked Rhino to his knees. His ears rang. The floor cracked under his weight. "We're leaving," Spiderman said to Rocket. He grabbed the raccoon's arm. He shot one long web at the ceiling. "Say hi to the guards for me." Then both swung out the shattered window, into the cold night. Rhino climbed to his feet, slow and sore. Doctor Octopus lay tangled in his own arms. Mysterio's smoke thinned to nothing. Boots pounded closer down the hall. The spider was gone again—and now he had help. Rhino wiped web from his face and made a fist. Next time he would come ready for two.