The elemental's magma spray had coated the drones in a thick, heavy slag. Though EDITH commanded them to evade at maximum speed, their movements were sluggish, their agility stolen. The elemental's hundred-meter arms swung down with impossible speed, and the sound of impact was a deafening crunch of rending metal. Twenty drones, built from alien alloys meant to withstand bombardments, were instantly annihilated, their fragments scattering like shrapnel through the burning forest.
The titan was not satisfied. A burning cosmic vortex of flame intensified around its massive body. It slowly raised one colossal leg and stomped down again with earth-shattering force. The few drones that had survived the first strike were caught in the second, crushed into nothing. A powerful shockwave, a localized earthquake, radiated from the impact point. Trees splintered and collapsed, their burning branches tracing fiery arcs through the superheated air. Even from a distance, the heroes felt the ground heave beneath their feet.
"Whoa! This thing's ground game is as bad as the earth elemental's!" the 2nd-generation Spider-Man quipped, trying to keep his balance.
The words had barely left his mouth when an ice-pick of pure panic stabbed into the back of his skull. His spider-sense shrieked, a frantic, overwhelming alarm that made his face go pale. A split second later, the 1st-generation Spider-Man and Gwen felt it too, their bodies tensing with a primal sense of imminent danger.
Before they could even voice a warning, the 2nd-generation Spider-Man screamed, "Strange! Get us out! Mirror Dimension, now!"
Without hesitation, Strange wrenched open a gateway, pulling them all into its safety. Two seconds later, they watched in horror as the very ground they had just been standing on bulged upward. Streams of superheated magma erupted from the earth, shooting straight into the sky in fiery columns. A second geyser tore through the surface, then a third, and a fourth.
The fire elemental had forcibly drawn magma from the nearby, dormant Mount St. Helens, turning the valley into a volcanic hellscape. The lava columns surged toward the drone formation. EDITH's processors ran countless evasive maneuvers, but the eruption was too vast. The molten rock couldn't destroy the durable drones, but the sticky magma clogged their weapon ports, rendering a huge portion of the fleet useless.
"Oh my God… Did you see that?" Captain America, arriving late in the Quinjet, stared in stunned silence at the lava fountains erupting in the distance.
"I see it," Mysterio replied, his face grim. "But it shouldn't be possible…" In his universe, the fire elemental could trigger eruptions, but it had never shown the power to rip magma from the crust on flat terrain. He gritted his teeth. "Open the cargo hatch, Cap!"
"Okay! Be careful out there!" Captain America hit the control, and the rear hatch hissed open. A blast of turbulent, hot air rushed into the cockpit. "Is that the heat from that thing?"
"That's the one! Fly safe, Cap! Don't want to see you go down!" Mysterio forced a confident smile, then leaped from the jet. Green illusory smoke trailed behind him as he soared toward the elemental. He was still a good distance away when a pane of glass seemed to shatter in the air before him. Before he could react, he plunged straight through it.
Natasha, seeing him approach, had asked Strange to pull him into the Mirror Dimension. While his fishbowl helmet could filter the toxic volcanic gases, it wouldn't protect him from a direct hit by molten lava.
From the sky, Captain America and Barton, piloting a support craft, could only watch from a safe distance, Bucky at Cap's side. The area for several kilometers around the elemental was now a flowing river of magma. Anything that hadn't escaped—trees, animals, the very earth itself—was gone.
Inside the Mirror Dimension, Scott looked at the molten landscape with an expression of pure terror. "If it wasn't for your spider-sense," he said to the 2nd-generation Spider-Man, his voice trembling, "we'd be… part of that."
The dimensional barrier cut off all communication. "I have to get out there," Tony said, "I need to assess the damage." Strange opened a small portal, and Tony flew out. His HUD instantly lit up with red icons. Three-quarters of the drone fleet were non-operational.
"The rest of you, stay here," Strange commanded. "The temperature is too extreme. It's pointless for you to engage."
It was a demoralizing truth, but they all knew he was right.
"I can help," Gwen suddenly called out. "The symbiote… it's not affected by the heat."
The 1st-generation Spider-Man looked at her, then at the inferno raging outside. He had seen the suit protect her, but he hadn't realized the extent of its power. "It's really not affecting you? Not even this?"
"No. I haven't even broken a sweat. I don't feel hot at all," she said, her voice firm.
He nodded slowly, a dark, familiar idea taking root in his mind. He looked at her, his expression unreadable behind his mask, and extended a hand. "Symbiote," he commanded, his voice low and firm. "Return to me."
The black, liquid suit that enveloped Gwen instantly recoiled. With a fluid, silent motion, it flowed from her body, leaving her standing in her normal suit, and leaped across the small space to him.
"What?! Peter, what are you doing?!" Gwen cried out, reaching for his arm in shock.
But it was too late. "You don't have the suit anymore," he said, a strange mix of regret and exhilaration in his voice. "It's with me." The symbiote flowed over him, the iconic red and blue of his costume melting away into a stark, living canvas of black and white. He clenched his fists, feeling a surge of raw, intoxicating power.
"Wow," he breathed, the sound amplified by the newly formed mask. "I haven't felt this in a long time." He could feel his strength multiplying, his senses sharpening to a razor's edge, all wrapped in a comforting, familiar darkness.