"Peter! You can't!" The 1st-generation Gwen clung to his arm, her eyes wide with fear—not for herself, but for him. She had seen what the symbiote did to him before, the darkness it encouraged.
"It's okay, Gwen. Believe in me," he said, his voice muffled by the new mask. He gently took her hand, his touch firm and reassuring. "We have to end this before that storm gets here. This is the only way I can help out there." He looked toward the transparent barrier of the Mirror Dimension, at the fiery hellscape beyond. "I have to."
He turned to Strange, his black-clad form radiating a newfound, chilling confidence. "I'm with you."
Strange studied him for a long moment, his gaze sharp. "Are you certain you can handle this?" he asked, the concern in his voice genuine.
The black suit seemed to ripple, to breathe with a life of its own against Peter's chest. "Yeah," Peter replied, a grim smile touching his lips. "I can feel its excitement. It's been waiting to fight alongside me."
"Very well." With a flick of his wrist, Strange opened a portal. Peter leaped through without a second's hesitation, leaving Gwen and Harry to watch with worried expressions as the gateway snapped shut.
The moment he was back in the real world, the heat intensified, but Peter felt nothing. The symbiote insulated him completely, a cool, living armor against the inferno. He felt no fear, only a rising tide of power. Strange and Mysterio took to the sky, but Peter looked at the surrounding forest of burning, collapsing trees. He remembered the footage of his younger counterpart face-planting into a tree and shook his head. He wasn't about to make the same mistake. He broke into a dead sprint, his symbiote-enhanced legs carrying him directly toward the fire elemental.
Meanwhile, Tony assessed the new tactical situation. "EDITH, the drones with clogged weapons are a liability. Pull them back. Have the remaining units expend their payload. Target the torso. Let's see what a little micro-singularity can do." He hoped the terrifying gravitational pull of the Dark Elf grenades could tear through to the creature's core.
Following his orders, the functional drones fired their black hole grenades. The small projectiles embedded themselves in the elemental's massive chest, and instead of exploding, they imploded. Pinpricks of absolute nothingness tore open a large hole, consuming the molten rock and creating a passage deep into the creature's internal structure.
"Excellent!" Tony exclaimed as more grenades flew through the opening, burrowing deeper. For a moment, it seemed to be working. Circular voids appeared inside the titan's body as the grenades devoured matter in their one-meter radius.
But the elemental reacted. Like clotting blood, massive amounts of lava were redirected from other parts of its body, plugging the wound and blocking the path of the subsequent grenades. The damage was quickly contained, healing before it could reach the core. The plan had failed to deliver a decisive blow.
Tony wasn't discouraged. They had plenty more grenades. At that moment, Mysterio flew to his side through the superheated air.
"Hey! Took you long enough!" Tony greeted him with a cocky grin. "I almost had this thing solved by myself."
Mysterio rolled his eyes beneath his fishbowl helmet. He had learned to filter out Tony's bravado. "Do you have another plan?" he asked, his voice strained.
"Always," Tony shot back. "Jarvis's analysis confirms its core isn't fixed. It moves, just like the water elemental's. It only stops when it's channeling energy for a major attack. We have to keep hitting it, force it to react, and then we can pinpoint the core's location."
"Understood," Mysterio nodded, a flicker of hope in his eyes. "I'll try to hold it in place."
He raised his hands high, and triangular green energy constructs materialized in his palms. He unleashed the power, weaving massive restraining cables that shot across the sky and wrapped around the fire elemental's ankles. "This is for my world!" he roared.
The emerald energy strained. "This thing… its power is immense!" Mysterio's expression contorted with effort.
The elemental simply lifted its foot. The green energy constructs shattered like glass, the backlash sending Mysterio staggering through the air.
"Whoa, whoa! Easy there, fishbowl!" Tony shot forward, steadying him. "This thing is on a whole different level!" He hadn't expected such a reckless, direct assault. Mysterio didn't respond. He stared at their nemesis, the creature that had stolen his home, and his body trembled with a desperate, all-consuming desire for vengeance.
Strange, encased in the shimmering, golden light of a Seraphim Shield to ward off the extreme heat, watched the failed attempt. It's Dormammu's power, he realized. It makes the creature nearly invincible. I have to find a way to sever that dark connection.
His first priority, however, was the valley itself. The water from his earlier spell had long since evaporated, and the raging wildfires were spreading again. He had to remove the fuel. He pushed his hands forward, chanting the ancient words. "By the Winds of Watoomb!"
A tremendous mystical gale erupted from his hands, powerful enough to push back the rain of falling magma and blast apart the burning trees, clearing a path while simultaneously shielding Peter below.
The 1st-generation Spider-Man saw the lava falling from the sky. He swallowed nervously, then tentatively stepped onto the molten ground. He felt… nothing. The symbiote was a perfect shield. A wave of relief, mingled with the thrill of power, washed over him. He began to move forward with confidence, taking one careful step after another, a lone black figure walking through a sea of fire.
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