After receiving Loren's order, 2B leapt into action and charged toward Stani at lightning speed.
Seeing this, Spider-Woman still tried to stop her—but this time, 2B didn't give her a chance.
She knew the Spider-Woman before her was every bit her equal in combat, and if they began fighting, it might never end.
So instead, she hurled the Miao Dao in her hand like a javelin from a distance.
Fueled by her strength—nearly twenty tons—the blade became a streak of black lightning.
In an instant, it pierced through Iron Monger's steel armor, impaling Stanley inside and killing him outright.
"!!!!" Spider-Woman gasped.
She felt a storm of emotions as she watched Stani fall, skewered by 2B's strike: a flicker of anger, a touch of pity—but above all, deep sorrow and compassion for the loss of life.
Because her father was a police officer, she had embraced his philosophy ever since becoming Spider-Woman:
The best way to deal with criminals is to bring them to justice and let the law handle them. Never take a life unless absolutely necessary.
Non-lethal justice wasn't just a tactic for her—it was a creed.
Now, witnessing 2B's cold-blooded efficiency, she couldn't help but feel a renewed hostility toward her—and even entertained the thought of capturing her.
But at that moment, her classmate Harry frantically dug through the rubble, shouting in panic:
"Loren, come quick! Peter… Peter's buried under the debris!"
"!!!!"
The news struck both Spider-Woman and Loren like a physical blow.
Without hesitation, they rushed to the ruins—only to find Peter lying unconscious beneath a collapsed stone wall, drenched in blood. His right arm was crushed into a mangled mess, bones shattered by the weight of the rubble.
The sight was so horrific that even if he survived, his arm would likely be lost forever.
"How… how could this happen!?" Spider-Woman cried, heaving aside the rubble with trembling hands as she stared at Peter's broken form in disbelief.
In the distance, the wail of sirens grew louder—police cars and ambulances arriving, as always, just a little too late.
"2B, fall back. Leave this to me," Loren said, gazing at Peter's unconscious body.
"Understood!" 2B nodded—then paused as she passed Spider-Woman.
"Woman," she said coldly, "all of this happened because of your blind compassion. The Boss warned us: unconditional kindness only emboldens evil. The only way to deal with those who trample on life… is to show them no mercy in return. A heart so naïve is nothing but disgusting."
After leaving behind those words, 2B leaped into the air and transformed into a long rainbow, soaring toward the sky and vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Her words struck like a bolt from the blue, leaving Spider-Woman frozen in place, overwhelmed by conflicting emotions.
She never imagined her compassion would lead to this.
2B had nearly killed Loren just moments ago—and now Peter lay seriously injured.
Everything had spiraled far beyond her expectations, and this outcome was not what she'd wanted at all.
Was her belief in never killing truly right… or wrong?
She felt a flicker of doubt.
"You should leave quickly too! Otherwise, the police will arrive. Harry and I are here—Peter will be fine," Loren said, giving Spider-Woman a meaningful look and gesturing for her to go.
They stood close enough that he could clearly catch the scent clinging to her—and it was unmistakably Gwen's.
"Yeah!" Gwen nodded, fired a strand of spider-silk, and swung away swiftly.
But moments later, having shed her black Spider-suit, Gwen rushed out of the banquet hall once more.
She approached Peter with a nervous, sorrowful expression and waited alongside Loren and the others for the ambulance to arrive.
Loren glanced at the now-casually dressed Gwen but pretended not to notice anything, saying nothing.
Gwen, in turn, looked at him with a complicated expression—as if she wanted to speak.
But in the end, she forced the words back down.
Soon, paramedics loaded Peter into the ambulance and rushed him to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Since the ambulance could only accommodate two passengers, Loren stayed behind, leaving Peter's care to Harry and Gwen.
"Alice," Loren murmured once Peter was gone, speaking as if to himself. "I asked you to scan Peter's injuries. Have you analyzed the results?"
The moment he spoke, the voice of his AI assistant, Alice, chimed in his ear.
"Boss, the analysis is complete. The bones in his hand are completely shattered, and nerve damage exceeds 90%."
"So… his arm can't be saved?"
"No. It can't be saved."
Hearing Alice's definitive answer, Loren fell silent. A cold premonition settled in his chest.
Because what Peter was experiencing now didn't match any Marvel parallel universe he knew.
This was an entirely new variable.
Until this variable fully manifested, the future remained unpredictable.
For now, all he could do was wait.
"Boss, we should head back too. Tifa just messaged—Viper's awake and demanding to see you."
"Demanding to see me? What, does she want another beating?"
Loren frowned, then climbed into the waiting limousine and drove off.
Not long after he left, beneath the rubble of the banquet hall, a woman in a sleek evening gown calmly lifted the sofa pinning her down and climbed out.
She held a miniature camera in her hand—having recorded everything that had just transpired outside.
"It's only been a short while, and that woman's grown even stronger… This is terrifying," she murmured, her voice laced with astonishment.
Just then, a voice crackled through the tiny earpiece in her ear.
"Hello? Hello! Natasha, can you hear me?"
"Coulson," she replied dryly, "you're a little late. The window of opportunity's already gone cold."
"Sorry—our network's been hit again. The entire base's systems are down. We can't communicate with the outside world at all. We have no idea what's happening out there!"
"Attacked again? That's the third time this month!"
"Yeah—and today's only the 3rd! At this rate, it's happening more often than a woman's period!"
"...…"
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