Miles was completely stunned off to the side. How could someone say something that cold with a mouth that was still 98.6 degrees?
And this Peter really did seem terrifyingly strong. He never hesitated when he fought. Sure, he still liked running his mouth like the other Peters from time to time, but once the fight started, he showed absolutely no mercy.
Those claw-like hands were proof enough.
At that moment, Miles felt a little lucky that he had not completely pushed him over the edge the day before. Otherwise, with this guy's personality, he probably would not have killed him, but he definitely would have crippled him.
Then again, only a Peter like this could really protect Gwen.
Miles had tried to edge in between them and had still walked away in one piece. That already felt like a miracle.
Besides, Gwen had not even looked at him that way from the start.
He was seriously considering whether he ought to move to Gotham, because the way he had been acting these past two days had been pure clown behavior.
While his brain was still spinning through all that, the Peter in front of him had already rushed forward, grabbed both of Scorpion's pincers, and started wrenching them apart with brutal force.
"AAAAAH!"
"You really have no idea how strong Spider-Man actually is!"
Peter's icy voice hit like a knife straight through Scorpion's chest, and he still did not stop talking.
"You really think this universe's Spider-Man was only a little stronger than you?!"
"Do you think tens of tons, maybe close to a hundred tons of strength, is some kind of joke?!"
"If he hadn't had a merciful heart, how many lives do you think you would have had left by now?!"
"I'm not Ultimate Spider-Man! I've got plenty of strength and plenty of methods!"
Rip!
Peter suddenly exerted all his strength and tore both of Scorpion's giant pincers clean off. Sparks flew everywhere as Scorpion screamed without stopping.
Once the giant metal claws were ripped away, his original hands were exposed underneath.
But they had already fused with the machinery, eaten away until they were a bloody mess, with white bone and red threads of flesh visible in places.
So even a cyborg could still feel pain.
Looks like the pain response had not been removed after all.
"You sick bastard!!!"
Scorpion howled furiously through the pain.
Peter simply started walking toward him, slow and steady, each step making Scorpion feel like death itself was closing in.
"If you want to kill people, then you'd better be ready to get killed too. There's a saying for that. What goes around comes around."
"Next, I'm going to tear every piece of armor off your body one by one, then hoist you up and force your head down so you can watch your precious strength get dismantled right in front of you."
"He seems even crueler now…"
Spider-Gwen, who had shifted over to help Spider-Noir beat Tombstone into the ground, went absent-minded for a moment. She had always known Peter could be ruthless, but this version of him was new even to her.
"I think that suit is affecting him. I had one like it before. It was made from an alien organism. After it bonded with me, it turned into a symbiote suit. It boosted every part of me, but it also made me extremely violent. There was a moment when I genuinely wanted to kill someone. Luckily, my willpower was strong enough."
"I think what he's dealing with now is similar to what I went through, except it makes him even more bloodthirsty and merciless. Haven't you noticed? He's almost enjoying it."
Middle-aged Peter, who finally had a free second, gave his analysis. Even without having seen Peter's suit before, his veteran eye had figured out most of it almost instantly.
"Cold, merciless, and effective. I like it. In my era, he would've been a bounty hunter people feared by name."
Spider-Noir nodded in open approval, then drew a pair of sharp daggers from inside his coat. He had apparently decided to start doing the same thing.
To be fair, he was not exactly a good person either.
In the era of the Great Depression, good people died ugly deaths.
"So he really is kind of dark after all. I thought he was comforting me before. I'd seen how he killed before, but this is the first time I've seen him like this…"
Peni, who was still holding her own against the Prowler with room to spare, managed to throw in a comment too.
"Oh, my spider aunt. Good thing he held back that day, or I'd have turned into a dead pig."
Peter Porker, swinging around wildly from the ceiling, swallowed hard and spoke with genuine lingering fear.
"Peter, be careful. Don't let yourself get hurt."
Aunt May, on the other hand, did not have all those extra thoughts. She understood perfectly well that not every Peter carried the same virtues, but she also understood exactly why he was so furious.
As his aunt, all she cared about was whether her nephew was safe. As for how he chose to fight, she would neither judge it nor interfere.
Every Spider-Man had to make his own choice, did he not?
"Don't worry, Aunt May! I'll be fine!"
At that exact moment, the local New York news had already begun covering the violent chaos breaking out in the area.
And the main participants were none other than the villains and the Spider-People.
When the public found out that there were suddenly several Spider-Men running around, everyone was utterly dumbfounded.
How was it that after one Peter fell, a whole army of Spider-Men had popped up?
It was absurd.
At that very moment, in a nearby alley, a stiff-moving figure in a Spider-Man suit stood watching the LED screen.
That was his home.
The place he knew better than anywhere.
And now he could no longer go back.
"Protect… Aunt May…"
His broken mind could barely form coherent thoughts anymore, but his subconscious still forced out those hoarse words.
After he died, his vocal cords had already been damaged. Even his tongue had started to decay. His speech was barely understandable now.
What was carrying him forward at this point was a rotting body with a soul driven by obsession.
And that obsession kept telling him the world was on the verge of destruction.
There were things he had to do.
Even if doing them might put civilians at risk, at least everyone would still be alive afterward.
Back on the battlefield, Scorpion's stinger kept tearing scratch after scratch across Peter's suit, but it could not fully pierce the armor, and the suit's repair function was absurdly fast. The damage had barely appeared before it started sealing itself again.
Scorpion was on the verge of breaking down.
What made it even worse was that Peter had now seized the stinger and was swinging him around the room like a wrecking ball.
Rip!
Peter drove a vicious kick downward and tore the entire tail off. Electricity still crackled across the detached metal as current surged over Peter's body, but he did not seem to feel a thing.
"Your suit is insulated too?! What the hell kind of monster are you?!"
Crushing the tail into a ball with sheer force, Peter shot out a strand of web and started using it like a meteor hammer, smashing Scorpion over and over.
Scorpion was practically concussed.
"I already told you. Spider-Man didn't kill you because he didn't want to, not because he couldn't take you down. But I will."
As he spoke, the metal ball kept slamming into Scorpion faster and harder each time. Huge lumps started swelling all over Scorpion's bald head.
The front mechanical legs were ripped off entirely. The rear ones were twisted until they snapped. The pain being fed through his sensors drove him to the edge of collapse.
Scorpion had always been a selfish, violent, utterly shameless private investigator who would do anything for profit. Murder, arson, dirty work, he did it all.
So why had he ended up facing a demon like this?
A moment ago he had been swaggering around with all the confidence in the world.
Now he was reduced to this.
"I was wrong! I swear I'll never do it again! Please spare me! I really know I screwed up!"
Scorpion, now held high above the floor, looked down at the shattered parts of himself scattered all over the ground and felt the urge to lose control of his bladder.
Unfortunately for him, as a modified human, he no longer had the ability to excrete anything. The flood of adrenaline and chemical panic raging through him only made him feel worse.
Peter slowly lowered him by the throat.
For one glorious second, Scorpion thought he had been spared.
Then Peter's next words shattered whatever hope he had left.
"You don't regret what you did. You just know you're about to die, right?"
"Too bad. The kind Spider-Man is dead. I'm not him!!!"
His claws pressed in deeper.
Scorpion's skin split.
The room filled with screams.
Heroes and villains alike stopped mid-fight and turned to look at the horrifying scene.
Blood started spilling from Scorpion's throat. Electric arcs flashed wildly along the mechanical patterns on his face. His legs kicked weakly, and his hands kept clawing desperately at the hand around his neck.
It was useless.
Peter had deliberately not removed the pain-feedback sensors from Scorpion's body.
He wanted him to feel everything as directly as possible.
Rip!
Peter put more force into it, and the skin of Scorpion's neck tore open. His windpipe collapsed in an instant. Cold air flooded into his chest. Blood and oil churned together as Scorpion's body convulsed.
He was in agony, but death would not come right away.
His nose could still draw in air.
His lungs could still filter enough to keep him alive just a little longer.
But he no longer had the strength even to raise a hand.
"Anyone want to be next?"
Peter flung the dying body out the door. The blades on his forearms snapped back out with a metallic sound. He tilted his head toward Olivia and Tombstone, and there was something disturbingly delighted in his voice that sent a chill through everyone listening.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out from outside.
Then came Miles's desperate scream.
"Uncle Aaron!"
By the time the Spider-People and villains rushed out, the Prowler had already collapsed on the rooftop, a clear bullet wound through his chest.
Standing there with a gun in his hand was a fat block of a man.
Kingpin.
And at the same moment, police sirens began wailing in the distance.
Every villain fled on instinct.
Kingpin, despite his massive bulk, ran the fastest of all. Before anyone could react, he had already vanished.
Miles, panicked and at a loss, gathered the Prowler into his arms and fired out a strand of web, trying to get him to the nearest hospital.
But the shot had gone straight through Aaron's heart.
Miles knew he could not save him.
But he still could not let go.
Just like Aaron had defied Kingpin and refused to kill him, Miles could not bring himself to abandon him now.
He was family.
One of the only people he had left besides his parents.
If Aaron had not given up on Miles, then how could Miles give up on him?
Peter watched the scene and let out a quiet sigh.
Now this part had lined up with the game almost exactly.
And just like that, another Spider-Man who was about to lose his uncle was being born.
(End of Chapter)
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