Spider-Man stood on top of the Daily Planet building, using the technology built into his suit to scan the city for any trace of Electro. He had nearly forgotten about the new villain - if that's what Electro could be called at this point - over the Christmas break.
Watching the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve, though, reminded him that the electrically charged foe was still out there. He still needed to be brought in, just for questioning.
However, after finding him, Spider-Man had no clue as to how he would be able to handle Electro again. Their last encounter nearly resulted in the total destruction of Spidey's costume.
Spidey heard a click behind him.
"Well, if it's not the ever amazing Spider-Man," someone said.
Spidey turned. "Ms. Lane. I see you are well. What brings you to the roof?"
Lois walked to the side of the building, and leaned on the edge. "I needed a break. But the real question is why are you up here?"
"I'm looking for Electro."
"You mean Max Dillon? The guy who got electrocuted at the mall right before Christmas?"
"That's him," Spidey replied. "I figured I could use some of my built-in gadgets to find him." A second later he added, "It also gave me an excuse to use some of them."
Lois smiled. "That reminds me. I never thanked you for my Christmas gift."
"Ah, it was nothing. Parker asked me to do it, and I figured I owed him for all of his great publicity."
"Is that why you do it? The publicity?"
"No," Spidey replied, looking down at the street below. "I do it because I have to. A wise man once told me that with great power comes great responsibility. I learned that lesson the hard way soon after."
"Sounds like you haven't always had it easy."
"Not really."
Both were silent for a while. Something in Spidey's costume beeped.
"Nuts," he said. "Nothing. I can't find Electro anywhere."
"Too bad," Lois said, looking at her watch. "I better get back inside. I have an article due in a couple of hours."
"Good luck," Spidey replied.
"Yeah. Bye."
As Lois turned to walk back in, Spidey shot a webline and swung over the city.
It suddenly hit him. As Spider-Man swung near Times Square, his spider-sense went crazy.
He looked down, just in time to see a bolt of electricity strike his web, causing him to fall. Spidey didn't have time to create any sort of cushion, so he landed on the ground . . . hard.
Standing up, he saw Electro standing in front of him, now clad in a new costume. The electric villain was clad in a black bodysuit, with a white jacket. He wore nothing on his head. Electricity was shooting from his hands.
"I see you've been to the tailor," Spidey quipped.
"This suit contains my powers, and helps me control them," Electro replied. "That way, I can do . . . THIS!" He put forth his hand, sending a jolt towards Spider-Man's chest.
Spidey jumped sideways.
"Have you ever met some guy named Shocker? He ran with Intergang. At least, until my friend the Shadow busted them up."
Electro turned to Spidey.
"Wait a minute!" Spidey said. "Before you try to fry me, and make charred Spidey, can you at least tell me exactly why we're fighting?"
"I needed a test," Electro replied. "I need to see how my powers work. And you just happen to be here."
"Does this have anything to do with our conversation a couple of weeks ago?"
Electro chose not to respond to the wallcrawler and blasted him with another jolt of electricity. This jolt caused Spidey to be knocked to the ground. He watched at Electro walked over and stood above him.
And then, he saw Electro's lips move. But he heard nothing.
Electro was ready to blast Spider-Man, but he noticed something was wrong. He didn't hear himself speak.
Spider-Man stood up. Not only could he not hear what Electro said, he was unable to hear anything. Everything was total silence. Seeing that Electro was also distracted by the sudden absence of sound, Spidey took the opportunity to leave. He swung back to the Daily Planet and changed into Peter Parker.
At that moment, Victor Cranston was in Philadelphia, on a field trip. It was one of those overnight trips with a school club, rather than a day trip with a class. He and Jason Todd were standing by a street vendor, buying a Philly cheese steak.
"These things are awesome!" Jason was saying. "They're reason enough to come to Philly!"
Victor smiled as the vendor handed him the sandwich. "I'll take your word for it. I'm more content for coming here for other reasons."
He took a bite. "Uh, Jason, aren't these supposed to taste like meat and cheese?"
Jason looked up, disgusted at his sandwich. "These are terrible." He turned to the vendor. "Hey, buddy! Whatcha trying to pull? These sandwiches have no taste!"
"What's wrong with you kids?" the vendor spouted back. "Those are quality sandwiches. The best meat and cheeses in the state!"
"You better try one yourself, sir," Victor said, handing the vendor a piece he ripped off of his sandwich. The vendor took it and ate it himself.
"You boys are right. I am sorry. This is not normal. Here, I'll give you your money back."
The boys took the money, and handed the sandwiches back to the vendor, who proceeded to throw them away.
"Don't worry, sir," Jason said. "I will come back here. I trust that this is not your fault."
"No, it isn't. I'm sorry," the vendor repeated.
Victor and Jason turned and walked away.
"C'mon," Jason said. "Let's go get something else."
"Wait a minute," Vic replied. "Something's nagging me." He returned to the vendor. "Excuse me, sir, but may I have a soda?"
"Sure. And to make up for the poor sandwiches, it'll be on the house."
"Thank you."
Victor took the bottle of Coke that was handed to him, and took a large gulp. Nothing. The Coke was water for all Victor's brain knew.
"Sir, I think there's something wrong with us. This Coke has no flavor."
Back in New York, Lex Luthor hung up the phone. He was furious. The person on the other end suddenly hung up on him.
A few seconds later, though, he realized that he never heard a click. He pressed his intercom. It lit up, but the secretary did not acknowledge him. Nor did Luthor hear a click letting him know that the secretary was listening.
The door to Luthor's office opened, and his secretary walked in.
Luthor began to ask her why she did not respond to him when he realized that no words were coming out of his mouth.
Or perhaps they were, and the sound waves produced by his vocal cords were unable to traverse the air between his mouth and her ear and travel to her inner ear, vibrating the eardrum.
Another one of those crazies is at it again . . . he thought.
Peter walked up to the City Room. The silence was eerie. He never realized how he took the small noises in life for granted.
As he entered, he saw reporters typing away, but yet he heard no keys being pressed.
He walked to Lois's desk. When she realized he was there, she minimized the story she was working on, and pulled up Notepad.
"Do you know what happened?"
Peter leaned over and typed his response. "Not a clue. How far has this spread? Just Manhattan? The entire city? The whole state?"
"For now, we're sure it's happened to the entire city, but not much farther."
"As a photographer, there's not much I can do, so I'm probably going to head back home. I only came by to find out what's going on."
"For once, I can't tell you."
Peter stood back up, and Lois closed out Notepad, returning to her story. Peter quietly headed for the roof access.
When he reached the top, he felt a sudden buzz in his head. He realized it was someone trying to contact him telepathically.
{Peter, it's Victor.}
{What's up?}
{Other than the fact that I can't taste anything . . . }
{Where are you?}
{Philadelphia.}
{Things aren't much better here. The entire city of New York has lost their hearing.}
{This is too much for a coincidence,} Victor replied. {This has to be the work of a team.}
{And they're not done yet. I think I have an idea of who might be behind it. But I'm going to need some backup.}
{Like me?}
{And some others.}
{I'll try to get back as soon as possible.}
{No. Just contact me in fifteen minutes. I have a plan. If it doesn't work, try to get to the Hall of Justice. Oh, and have your Shadow get-up ready.}
{You're going to the Avengers League?!}
{One in particular . . . Batman. Peter out.}
{Good luck. I'll be in contact soon.}
Victor broke the "connection." Peter pressed the button on his watch which activated his Spider-Man costume, and swung towards the Hall of Justice.
Flash raced from his home towards New York. He wanted to see if he could help. Maybe being from the outside, his hearing wouldn't be affected. His path took him through Newark, New Jersey.
As soon as he put a foot in the city, he was suddenly blinded.
"Oh, crap!" he shouted, suddenly skidding to a stop.
Slowly, he turned one hundred and eighty degrees and began running. Fortunately, he was fast enough to vibrate through anything that got in his way.
As he left the city, his sight returned.
He was ready to report the lack of sight in Newark via his membership card when he remembered that no one on the other side would be able to hear him.
So, Flash simply adjusted his path, and continued to New York.
As Spider-Man swung toward the Hall of Justice, he thought about the current dilemma.
No way to contact Oracle if he won't be able to hear me. It's gotta be something like a cloak of white noise. But I can't use my costume to filter it because it works on voice commands. Need to get somewhere else. Hopefully, Batman can help.
As Spider-Man finished the thought, he arrived at the Hall of Justice. He rang the doorbell. He was greeted by Jarvis, who was carrying a dry-erase board and red marker.
'Hello, Spider-Man,' he wrote. 'What can I do for you?'
Spider-Man erased what Jarvis wrote and replied, 'I need to see Batman and get away from the city.'
'None of the Avengers can be contacted from here,' Jarvis wrote. 'But the Watchtower on the moon is now functioning. Martian Manhunter is there now.'
Just then, Flash appeared behind Spider-Man. With lightning speed, he erased the board and replaced it with his own message. 'I'm with ya, Spidey.'
Jarvis led the two to the transporter room.
Mere seconds after entering the teleporter, Spider-Man found himself in the Avengers League Watchtower. The first thing he noticed was the hum of the machines operating.
"It is so refreshing to hear something!" he exclaimed.
Martian Manhunter was watching a whole bank of screens, each showing a different news broadcast. He turned around when he heard Spider-Man.
"Greetings, Spider-Man," he said. "It is nice to see you again."
"Yeah. Sorry I had to decline your invitation to join the Avengers League last time we saw each other, but I need your help," Spidey replied. "I need to contact Batman."
"I will be able to establish a mental connection with him. We should be able to transport him shortly."
"So, Spider-Guy, what's the deal with everyone going senseless?" Flash asked.
"It's Spider-Man. Don't forget that. And I don't know for sure, but I think the Sinister Six are back."
"I recall hearing about their first outing. You and Batman teamed up to take them down . . . " Martian Manhunter said.
"That's right," Spidey agreed. "But they kinda got away. However, I think they might have been a little upset when they realized that we duped them."
"How?" Flash asked.
"We didn't give them real money."
"That would tend to tick villains off," J'Onn commented. "Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll try to contact Batman."
Ten seconds later, J'Onn walked over and activated the teleporter.
As Batman appeared, Spider-Man received a telepathic "call" from Victor.
{Peter, are you ready?}
{Yeah, I'm on the moon. Try contacting the Martian Manhunter. He'll get you here as well.}
Aloud, he said, "Martian Manhunter, a partner of mine in Philadelphia will be contacting you. If you could teleport him up as well . . . "
"It shall be done. And please, call me J'Onn."
"Nice to see you again," Batman said, walking past Spidey to watch the broadcasts.
"Same here," Spidey replied. "Nice to see you're still you're same cheery self."
"I try," Batman said. "What's going on?"
"I think that someone enveloped New York City in a cloak of white noise. It's so loud, no one can hear anything."
"Sensory adaption," Batman muttered.
"Excuse me?" Spidey asked.
"Sensory adaption is when one of our senses get exposed to a certain stimulus for a long time and we get used to it."
"Like when you go to a dump and stay for two hours. By the time you leave, it doesn't smell bad," Flash offered.
"Er, thanks for that . . . interesting analogy," Batman said. "But that's right."
"I have a feeling something like that might be happening," Spidey added. "Two cities have been deprived of different senses."
"Three," Flash interjected. "On my way here, I was blinded in Newark."
At that moment, the transporter hummed, and the Shadow appeared.
"Hope I'm not too late," he said.
"Nope, you're just in time. Shadow, meet Batman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter. But you can call him J'Onn."
The Shadow nodded to all in acknowledgment. "Ah, yes. Batman, Martain Manhunter, and I have met. So, do we know for sure who we're up against?"
"The Sinister Six," Batman said, confidently.
"You're master detective skills can tell you that for sure, already?" Spidey asked.
"No," Batman answered, pointing to the news broadcasts. "That does."
Everyone turned to watch the broadcast of Doctor Octopus. It was closed-captioned so the citizens of New York City could read what he was saying.
"And so, the Sinister Six will keep all six cities hostage until the desired amount of money is paid, and delivered personally by Batman and Spider-Man."
"Six cities?" the Shadow asked.
"I hate being right," Spider-Man said, hanging his head.
Continued in Detective Comics #12!