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It doesn't take me long to get to the Empire State Building. Swinging is by far the most efficient way of traversing New York. I need to make sure no one notices that, or I'll end up with Tony Stark ripping off my webshooters and selling them to every idiot stock broker who things they're important enough to need the shortcut. Actually, you know what, maybe I should let that happen. It would probably mean a whole lot less idiot stock brokers running around New York, and honestly who wouldn't want that?

When I get to the New York landmark, I see a bunch of flying light drones forming an arrow to the very top of the building. I sigh. Of course he wants me to go all the way to the top. He's a weirdo criminal gameshow host. The only way this was going to happen is if he gets the best shot he can of me atop the most famous building in the city. Still, that doesn't make me any more annoyed.

Yet again, Richard Dragon's warnings of becoming imbalanced echo through my brain, and I take a few deep breaths as I start my climb to the top of the spire.

Once I get there, the drones swirl around me, before forming into a new shape a few yards in front of me. Instead of the arrow, they now look like a crude representation of Arcade's face, all of them lit up in that bright white, just like the suit he was wearing in the video earlier.

"Well done, Spider-Woman! Well done!" the drone drawing grins and mimics its master's movements. Whoever this guy is he has some serious engineering skills. To get drones to act like this, in perfect synchronization usually takes a huge team of techs, and they even end up screwing it up. He's good. He's really good. "Now smile, you're being broadcast all across the world on the internet. I wanted everyone to see my Murderworld challenge, and I wanted everyone to see you fail. Once we're done here, I'll test the rest of the so-called heroes on earth, to see who's good enough to survive Murderworld!"

I roll my eyes under my mask, "Listen, PITA Barnum. I have people to save. Can we get on with this so I can put you behind bars?"

This guy wants me to fail, so he's going to do his best to keep me talking. He probably thinks he can sucker me into some dumb mistake that will end up with a bunch of dead partiers.

Think again, a-hole. This is the kinda new and semi-improving Gwen Stacy.

"Very well, Spider-Woman,' the weird, drone thing smiles without any teeth. "Your first challenge is a simple race. Get through my obstacle course alive, and we can move onto the next one. Sounds awfully simple now, doesn't it? Shall we begin."

"Wait, you said a race? Like against the clock?" I ask, confused. There's clearly no other racers here, so I can't be running against someone, right?

"Why you're racing away from them, of course," Arcade responds just as the beep goes off inside my comm systems.

[i]"Goblin patrol incoming,"[/i] WEB warns me.

Of course. How did I not see this one coming? He told the freaking world where I'd be. Of course some Goblins would have been dispatched to the location. It's the most obvious thing to happen, and I didn't even consider it.

"Better get moving, Spider-Woman!" Arcade yells with glee as his face turns back into an arrow pointing down towards the street.

Not wasting any time, I leap, following the direction. As I do, I can see the Goblins streaking up to meet me. I streamline my arms and legs in order to give the smallest possible target to them. Just in time, too. My Spider Sense warns me as they let go with a volley of the bladed projectiles that gave me such an issue on Christmas night. Thankfully, the first volley misses thanks to my quick thinking. They won't miss again though. But I'm not low enough to swing out of the way and start putting some distance between them and I.

The next round of projectiles come my way, and I'm forced to do some midair acrobatics in order to get out of the way of them. All the while, they keep getting closer. I'm gonna have to do some more fancy moves if I'm going to get past them.

"How is Spider-Woman going to escape this one, viewers?" Arcade cackles. Great. He's commentating. 

I decide to give them some New Years confetti.

Letting go with my webshooters, I fire a few streams of webbing towards the heads of the goblins at the center of the formation coming my way. That causes them to open a hole for me to pass through. I do just that, and in the process get to the level of the city where I can swing away easily.

"Ha! See ya, boys!" I laugh as I swing away.

My Spider Sense tells me that maybe it's too early to celebrate.

As I come through my swing, I see that the drones are not floating in front of me in formations of four. Suddenly, force fields begin forming between them, creating obstacles I need to dodge.

"Oh right. The obstacle course."

It takes all my concentration and my reflexes to get me through the barriers. As I do, the ones behind me zoom past me and form new ones further down the street. Who knows how long this is going to end up being. Trying to gain altitude doesn't help, as the barriers move to box me in. Arcade thought of everything, and if I'm gonna get out of this and save those people, I'm gonna have to play his game.

"Uh, so are you okay?" Peter's voice comes over the comms.

"Yea!" I responds. "I'm just glad you always make me play video games."

"What's this one like?" he asks, almost with amusement.

"Uhhh...you know that level in Battletoads with the speeder bike?" I respond, shooting through a gap. "It's like that."

"Oh god," he responds, clearly aghast.

"Yea. Right?" I say through gritted teeth. "So I'll check in after I'm done here."

"Copy, babe."

When he hangs up, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I turn my head slightly to find the Goblins catching up to me yet again. The momentary glance has repercussions, though. Turning back to where I'm going, I find two of the barriers closing in front of me. I zip a line between them, and yank myself through quickly. Behind the now closed passage, two of the Goblins slam into the barriers at full speed, causing a huge explosion. Their two comrades go around the other way, but at least the numbers have thinned a bit.

"Oh! Look at that, good viewers!" Arcade thrills at the sight. I can't even imagine how many hits this nutball is getting right now. "Spider-Woman escapes by the skin of her teeth and takes two of her foes down with her. That's going to be on Sportscenter!"

God this guy is unbearable. 

Luckily I'm starting to get the hang of this course. A couple more blocks, and I can see flashing red barriers in the distance. Hopefully, that means I'm almost at the end. That's good for me. What's also good for me is, I now know that the barriers can cause the Goblins some irreparable harm. I purposefully swing by one, missing it by milometers. As the obstacle disappears in order to form another one down the street, I loop [i]back[/i] and behind the following Goblins. Quickly, I fire weblines to the rudders of their gliders and yank them both towards a pair of obstacles. They hit them with the same kind of force, taking them out of the equation.

"And look at that! She's take the other two out as well!" Arcade celebrates, though I figure he's just playing a part. He's probably really disappointed.

Good.

A few more blocks, and I pass through the red barriers, and fireworks explode as I do, celebrating my "victory".

"Congratulations, Spider-Woman!" Arcade mocks. "But the games are just beginning. There are some people waiting for you in Central Park, and you're not going to want to let them down."

"You want to play, Arcade?" I growl. "Then let's play."