Spider-Man and T'Challa stood side by side in the Wakandan field-turned-warzone as the arachnid from New York held the Atlantean King's trident, pointing it toward the king of the sea. Namor was infuriated, shouting at the boy like a child who had their toy taken from them.
"Unhand my trident, boy! You haven't the slightest hint of what you are doing!" The king yelled, nearly turning red in the face due to his fury. Stealing the king's trident was one of the most forbidden concepts in Atlantean culture, Eren Parker had crossed a line.
Exhausted, the white and black-wearing spider breathlessly taunted the Atlantean. "You mean this big, golden fork? Make me, fishboy."
Namor began shaking with anger before dashing at the two fighters, using nothing more than his own fists as weapons. Spider-Man and Black Panther reciprocated the gesture, dashing forward themselves before attacking the sea king.
Putting his weaponry training to the test, Spider-Man swung the trident down on Namor, forcing the king to block it with his gauntlets using an X formation. Meanwhile, T'Challa attacked from below, slicing Namor's chest with his Vibranium claws, leaving a panther-claw-shaped scar on the king's chest.
Namor stumbled backward before getting met with his own Adamantium trident in the face, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, swinging the trident as if he were aiming for a home run.
Namor's entire body twisted, being beaten so hard that he could only hear a faint ringing in his ears whilst his vision blurred. Using his webs, Spider-Man yanked Namor forward before the king could fall, allowing King T'Challa to kick Namor in the chin, doing a backflip in the process and sending Namor soaring through the air.
Meanwhile, the Human Torch was flying high above the Atlanteans, dodging spears and knives as he threw fire blasts at them, almost immediately subduing them due to fire being the natural enemy of the Atlanteans.
Those who were able to escape the flames of Johnny Storm would be met by Ben Grimm, the Thing, as he had finally arrived shouting, "It's clobberin' time!". The orange, rocky hero started off by grabbing two Atlanteans and smashing their skulls together, knocking them out immediately before delivering punches to whoever got in his way.
Having landed after receiving King T'Challa's kick, Namor looked around with his vision still blurred and ears still ringing, seeing that his army was being destroyed before his very eyes, despite their numbers.
The king of Atlantis tried to get back up on his feet, only to be yet again knocked down by Spider-Man, using his own weapon against him. "It's over Namor..." Spider-Man told him, looking down at the pathetic display beneath him. T'Challa added on, "Call off your army. No more people need to die today."
"I will never surrender to the likes of you." Namor muttered before spitting on King T'Challa, angering the Wakandan king.
With his clawed hand, T'Challa lifted Namor in the air, chafing his neck and drawing blood as the Atlantean tried to break his grasp. "I am giving you one last chance." T'Challa declared, raising his other clawed hand in the air next to Namor's stomach. He was prepared to gut him like the fish he was.
Spider-Man was very against this method of doing things. He'd sworn off taking lives long ago, but he knew this wasn't his fight nor was he the king of this nation. His people had been murdered in cold blood by Namor and his army, so if T'Challa was going to go down this route, Eren respected his choice.
However, Spider-Man had one last idea up his sleeve, one last way to stop all of this death. "Hey!" He shouted, gathering the attention of many. "Is this your king?" He proclaimed, pointing at him with the trident.
Immediately, the Atlanteans began to panic, but before that, Eren spoke up. "Don't move. Drop your weapons, surrender, and your king will be spared. He is willing to die for this war, but are you willing to relinquish your king over a losing struggle?"
"He has the Trident of Neptune..." One of the Atlanteans said, drawing everyone's attention to it.
"Damn right, I do. Maybe I'll be your new king." Spider-Man jested, slamming the trident into the ground.
Knowing the battle would be lost without both their king and their sacred weapon, the Atlanteans dropped their spears and put their hands up, surrendering to Spider-Man, King T'Challa, and the Wakandans.
The Wakandans had won... though it wasn't a joyful victory for many lives were unnecessarily lost over a simple misunderstanding via Dr. Doom's manipulation.
The Black Panther released Namor as the Wakandan army began apprehending the Atlantean army, Namor included.
Spider-Man, using the trident as a crutch, continued to try and hold himself up, breathing heavily and feeling himself beginning to drift off. He still hadn't fully recovered, he shouldn't have even been walking around with the amount of damage overusing his power had caused to his body. However, aiding people was of utmost importance to him.
Soon enough, the sound of the Namor's golden trident hitting the ground was followed by a thud, as Spider-Man's adrenaline had finally worn off and he collapsed.
Spider-Man didn't open his eyes for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, Namor was escorted to the King's palace, restrained of course, and was shown the messages from Dr. Doom, being shown proof that he was being manipulated. Namor tried to refute the claims, but the proof was right there.
The king swallowed his pride and apologized the King T'Challa, begging him for his forgiveness and most importantly for the forgiveness of his nation.
"I will never forgive you for what you have done to my people, but I shall let you live because I want this war to end. Do not let me regret this." T'Challa told him, wanting more than anything to slash his throat on the spot. However, he knew that would only cause more issues.
Namor and T'Challa made a mutual agreement that their nation shall never attack one another again.
Namor and his army were then sent back to the ocean, having lost around seventy percent of their numbers. However, that was nothing compared to the countless innocent lives lost in the drowning of the Golden City.
Those who lost their homes were given places to live in one of the many nearby cities, and a funeral would be held for everyone within the next couple of weeks, only after Doom was beaten.
The reality of it was that it was pointless to have a funeral now, as they knew even more lives would be lost in the next week... things were especially grim in Wakanda.
When Spider-Man still hadn't woken up, Shuri and Reed performed many tests on his body, discovering a lot about him. As Eren lay on one of Shuri's medical beds equipped with dozens of sensors and all types of specialties, Reed began reading off of a screen, explaining what was happening.
"See these fast-moving cells that are slightly discolored?" Reed pointed to a few cells within Eren that were zipping back and forth just as he would when using Godspeed. "Let's call these GSP-cells. These are unique to Eren, it's the result of him obtaining that power he calls Godspeed. From what I can tell, Godspeed originates from neurons in the brain, sending signals to these GSP-cells, which is what allows him to move." Reed explained before Shuri took over.
"You see these cells here, the ones that aren't moving at all and are all shriveled up? These are dead GSP-cells. Reed and I deduced that when Eren overuses his ability like he did when he tried to stop the wave, he kills those GSP-cells." Shuri ascribed, pointing toward the screen.
"In other words..." Reed added. "He's killing his body every time he pushes too far. Now, we aren't sure if these cells can regenerate, but if he were to push himself like that again, he could lose his ability to use his power, or even worse, his ability to use his limbs." Reed clarified.
Everyone was stunned, none of them had a clue that Eren was even capable of pushing his body to such an extent. Eren himself knew that there were going to be major side effects if he were to push passed his trained limit, but he never expected it to be this bad.
He was far too reckless.
However, if he was awake, he would tell them all that it was still worth trying, even if it gave him the chance of saving a single person.
"So what now? The kid gonna be alright?" Ben asked, really feeling for the boy.
"Yeah, is Eren going to be okay?" Franklin asked, standing on his tippy toes to look at Eren on the futuristic bed.
"Yeah, he'll recover, but not for another month." Reed answered, which was bad news considering the fact that Doom would be there in a week, maybe even sooner if he pulled another fast one on them.
"However, there is still another option." Shuri added, smiling at the Future Foundation and her brother. "Who here has seen Star Wars!" Shuri asked, getting a hand from everyone in the room aside from her brother and Valeria.
"Good! Who knows what a Bacta tank is?" As she said this, everyone's hands immediately shot down, not remembering that part of the films. "Nevermind. I have created a recovery pod that can quadruple the recovery speed of anyone who rests inside it. He should be able to recover before Doom makes an appearance."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's throw him in." Johnny told her.
"Right." Shuri said before grabbing the hospital bed and pushing him over toward a white cylinder-shaped machine. She pressed a button, causing the machine to open up and turn to about sixty degrees. It was nearly fully filled with water, almost like some sort of strange bathtub.
"Lift him up." Shuri said, looking over at Ben Grimm as she pressed another button, causing an opening to form on the glass tub.
The Thing lifted the boy up, dunking him inside the machine. The boy began to float and Shuri hurried around to the other side of the pod, grabbing a breathing mask before placing it on Eren's face.
The machine closed, enveloping Eren in the glass coffin before completely filling itself with water, giving him no space to breathe if he wasn't wearing that mask. Soon, the glass was covered by a white metal sheet, enveloping the boy completely.
The room fell silent, understanding that their strongest fighter, as well as one of their main intellectuals, was down and may stay down once Doom gets there.
All anyone could do was wait...
...hoping that Spider-Man would wake up before Doom was upon them.