The asphalt outside the Moon residence violently buckled. Mac Gargan's heavy mechanical tail tore through the street, severing the underground power mains. A localized EMP rippled outward, plunging the block into darkness and instantly frying the network of concealed S.H.I.E.L.D. sensors buried beneath the pavement.
The front door of the house across the street kicked open. The occupants—a seemingly normal suburban family—were actually undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stationed to protect Cindy Moon's civilian identity. They poured onto the lawn, energy rifles raised and locked onto the massive figure rising from the fractured street.
"Lethal force authorized," the team leader barked, his finger tightening on the trigger. He wasn't worried about backup; the blackout would trigger an immediate S.H.I.E.L.D. response. His only concern was keeping this monster contained until they arrived.
Gargan looked like a twisted mirror of Iron Man. Dark green, heavy-duty plating covered his body. The helmet left only his jaw exposed, while the upper half of his face was hidden behind an orange, multi-faceted visor that glowed like the compound eyes of an insect.
"I think we all know what happens next," Gargan said. His mechanical tail whipped upward, the tip glowing with an intense green light. "But I'm on a tight schedule. I don't have time to play."
A massive magnetic pulse emitted from the stinger. The invisible force ripped the energy rifles straight out of the agents' hands. The weapons suspended mid-air. Gargan flicked his tail. The rifles spun around, discharging directly into the agents' chests. They dropped to the lawn without a sound.
"Too easy," Gargan scoffed.
He marched toward the Moon family's front door. Two heavy, EMP-hardened automated turrets deployed from the porch ceiling. Before they could rotate and fire, Gargan's tail whipped forward, spraying a jet of highly corrosive acid. The turrets dissolved into molten slag. Gargan didn't even break stride. He punched through the heavy wooden door and ripped it off its hinges.
Inside, he activated his thermal imaging. The Moon family was smart. Instead of trapping themselves in a basement, they had moved to the second floor, preparing to jump from a side window to escape.
"Where exactly are we going, Mr. Moon?"
Gargan ignored the stairs. He lunged upward, his armored shoulder shattering straight through the second-floor ceiling. His mechanical tail lashed out, wrapping around Albert Moon's waist. He hurled the man backward into the hallway, then tossed his wife and son out behind him. The three crashed heavily onto the hardwood floor.
Gargan dragged his heavy frame through the debris, looking down at them. "You should blame your daughter for this. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be stuck in this suit, and I wouldn't be standing in your house."
Albert Moon didn't cower. He pushed his hands against the splintered floorboards, forcing himself to stand. He positioned himself squarely between the mechanical monster and his wife. "Whatever Cindy did, she didn't do anything wrong. If she stopped you, it's because you were a threat."
Gargan paused. The mechanical whir of his armor went dead silent. Then, a low, rasping laugh echoed from his exposed jaw.
"You're right, Albert," Gargan sighed. "Which means I get to do what the bad guys do."
He raised his tail, the nozzle widening as it aimed dead at Albert's chest.
Thwip. A thick strand of webbing slammed onto the stinger, jerking it off target.
Cindy Moon stood in the ruined doorway of her own home. She gripped the web-line with both hands, her muscles coiled tight.
"Get out of my house!" she screamed, ripping backward with everything she had.
Gargan barely stumbled. He narrowed his eyes, reached out, and clamped his massive armored hand directly over the webbing.
"Stupid girl," Gargan snarled, reeling his arm back. "Scorpions eat spiders!"
He violently yanked the web-line. The immense force ripped Cindy off her feet, launching her directly toward his waiting fist. She let go of the web mid-air, twisting her body to avoid the strike, and drove a vicious punch toward his unprotected jaw.
Her Spider-Sense screamed.
She aborted the strike instantly, contorting her spine in an unnatural backward somersault. A hidden stinger shot from Gargan's chest plate, slicing through the air exactly where her throat had been a millisecond before. She landed in a low crouch, breathing hard.
"The freak who put me in this suit called it my Scorpion Sense," Gargan chuckled, tapping the side of his helmet. "It's not as sharp as yours. But it's sharp enough to tell me exactly how to spring a trap."
He smiled, turning his heavy mechanical tail away from her and pointing it directly at her parents on the floor.
"And it tells me exactly how to make you freeze."
The acid sprayed. Cindy moved entirely on instinct. She fired a massive, concentrated web-net over her family, throwing herself in front of them. The corrosive liquid splashed against the webbing. It sizzled violently, but the reinforced bio-silk held firm, refusing to melt.
But it didn't matter. The distraction was the point.
Before Cindy could drop her arms, Gargan's massive hand closed around her throat. He lifted her off the ground, her boots kicking uselessly against the armor.
"Do I crush you now..." Gargan mused, his grip tightening. "...or do I wait for Spider-Man to show up?"
Suddenly, the Scorpion Sense violently flared in his skull.
He looked up, but there was no time to react. The roof violently caved in. The iconic red-and-gold armor of Iron Man dropped like an anvil from the sky, both heavy boots slamming directly into Gargan's chest. The impact shattered the floorboards, driving them both into the living room below.
The Iron Man suit pinned Gargan to the ground. The repulsors in its palms flared bright white, blasting Gargan point-blank in the face.
Gargan roared in pain. His tail whipped around blindly, the metal stinger extending into a cluster of razor-sharp spikes. He drove the tail upward, piercing clean through the Iron Man chest plate.
"You're dead, Stark!" Gargan screamed.
"I already told you how this ends, Mac!"
The voice didn't come from the Iron Man suit. It came from directly above him.
The chest plate of the Iron Man armor was completely empty. Spider-Man had ridden the suit down from the sky, bailing out the exact second his Spider-Sense warned him about the tail strike.
Peter dropped from the ceiling, grabbing Gargan by the armored collar. He ripped the Scorpion out of the wreckage, hauling him straight through the massive hole in the roof and into the night sky.
Gargan looked at Peter, laughing arrogantly as they hit the apex of their ascent and began to fall. "So what? You're gonna punch me in the face on the way down?"
Peter gripped the armor tight. He didn't blink.
A blinding flash of white bio-electric lightning erupted from Peter's fists. The energy arced violently across the dark green armor, turning the night sky into a localized thunderstorm. A massive sphere of pure electrical force detonated mid-air. Plumes of thick black smoke swallowed them both as they plummeted hundreds of feet in a vertical freefall toward the shattered street below.
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