"You're out of pumpkin bombs, and I think I'm ready now."
Charlie yanked the webbing, causing Norman, who was wrapped like a giant cocoon, to roll continuously. But Norman's arm device quickly ejected a series of Green Goblin blades.
Thwip, thwip, thwip~~
In an instant, the webbing was sliced apart, and the giant web was shredded by the spinning blades, turning the narrow alley into a zone of sharp, flashing danger.
"Gahaha, kid, you've underestimated how cunning the Goblin is."
Norman got up, tapping his arm device to remotely control the blades, locking them onto Charlie's movements.
Thwip, thwip~
Sharp gleams repeatedly severed Charlie's webs, preventing him from using them to move freely. The blades whizzed past his nano-suit, sparks flying, but they couldn't penetrate its defense. This gave Charlie a sigh of relief.
Then, his eyes flashed blue as the AI system helped him lock onto all the flying blades around him.
Tensing his muscles, Charlie delivered punch after punch with precision, smashing the whirling blades into useless scraps of metal that fell to the ground.
"What?!"
Norman was stunned, but before he could react, the red-and-blue figure used his webbing to close in rapidly.
"Wait, I'm not ready yet—"
Boom!!
Charlie delivered a textbook right hook, the force of ten tons of strength slamming Norman into a wall.
Boom!!
With a loud crash, rubble fell as Norman, dazed, barely managed to pull his head out of the wall. The next second, Charlie grabbed him by the head and repeatedly slammed him back into the wall.
Bam, bam, bam~~
"No, stop! I'm getting dizzy..."
Norman cried out in pain, groaning with each thud. Without his high-tech gadgets, he was outclassed in strength. If not for his helmet, his skull would have been shattered by now.
"Is that so? Well, I'll consider your old age," Charlie grinned as he slapped Norman's helmet off and scooped up some dust to rub into his face.
"I'm going to throw some dust in your eyes."
"Damn it, stop! I'm the most terrifying goblin; you can't do this to me!"
Three minutes later, Norman, his face covered in blood and dust, slumped against the wall, utterly defeated.
"How... how did it come to this..."
After enduring such inhuman torment, a hint of confusion flickered in Norman's eyes.
"It hurts... What did I... Charlie, what did I just do?" He looked at Charlie, suddenly snapping back to his senses.
"Kid, I'm sorry, really... so sorry. That wasn't me. I didn't want to become this kind of monster. I only wanted to work with you. I never really wanted to hurt your family... You have to believe me." Norman wept, clutching his head in despair.
Clearly, he hadn't forgotten about threatening Charlie's family.
Charlie dusted off his hands. "I'm sorry too, but it's hard to forgive you. Is there any way to stop your condition?" he asked.
Norman lowered his head, tears streaming down his face. "There's no way. I can't control it. I've done too many wrong things... There's no turning back."
"So, kid, if you want to stop me, then you'll have to..."
"Die!!"
Suddenly, Norman snarled viciously, and Charlie's spider-sense returned, sending a chill down his spine.
The danger wasn't coming from Norman—it was from behind!
Did Norman have accomplices?
"What are you waiting for? Kill him!"
Shing!
Norman ejected a blade from his wrist and lunged at Charlie. In a swift spin, Charlie narrowly dodged the blade, smoothly flipping over Norman's head and landing behind him.
The fluidity of his movements was flawless.
Anyone who had been friends with Spider-Man knew that this spinning maneuver was a reflex of Spider-Man's instinct, requiring no practice.
Slash!
In the next moment, everything changed. Hot blood splattered onto Charlie's face, blurring his vision.
In front of him, he saw a steel claw flash as it brutally pierced through Norman's back, ripping apart the armor and exposing a horrifying, bloody wound.
"What...?"
Charlie's expression was one of shock, and he instinctively stepped back.
He had dodged Norman's sneak attack, but Norman had been fatally wounded by his so-called "ally."
The irony was thick.
Boom!
Suddenly, thunder cracked in the night sky as light rain began to fall into the alley.
The mysterious figure slowly pulled the claw from Norman's flesh. Blood mixed with the rain, forming a dark pool on the ground. Norman turned around, blood gushing from his mouth.
The madness in his eyes quickly faded, and it seemed he found satisfaction in this manner of death.
He smiled, a smile tinged with reluctance that soon morphed into fear.
"Kid... don't... don't tell Harry. And don't... don't be Spider-Man anymore... Run!!"
In a desperate, final roar, Norman tossed something to Charlie before lunging at the shadowy figure in the dark.
Rip!
With the sound of his armor tearing, blood soaked the alley.
The rain poured down, the dark figure in the storm like a beast, devouring all in its path.
[You have defeated a supervillain. Restart opportunities +9]
Whoosh~~
The rain cascaded off Charlie's nano-suit as he fired his webbing, zipping through the city. His heart raced.
He wasn't afraid of dying, but his amplified spider-sense magnified his fear of death, making him instinctively flee the scene without a second thought.
Who was the one that killed Norman?
The fact that his spider-sense reacted so strongly to that person meant they were incredibly dangerous, someone he wasn't capable of defeating.
Norman seemed to know who it was and warned him not to get involved.
This wasn't a random event!
Thinking about it made Charlie's scalp tingle.
The Marvel universe seemed far more terrifying than he had imagined, so terrifying that he couldn't even guess who his true enemies were.
Lost in thought, Charlie suddenly felt completely drained, unable to fire his webbing anymore.
"Damn it."
The weightless sensation took over as he free-fell from the sky, his face showing a hint of resignation as if he knew what was coming.
He had used too much webbing; his body could no longer produce the necessary silk proteins, and his strength had diminished significantly.
As expected, after a few seconds of freefall, Charlie crashed headfirst into a balcony on a nearby building.
"Motherfu—who the hell keeps a giant snake on their balcony?!" he cursed.
The balcony's owner heard the commotion and opened the window, overjoyed to see Charlie entangled with a giant python.
"Oh my, it's Spider-Man!"
"Yeah, it's me, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."
Charlie said, pinning the snake's head with one hand as he carefully peeled it off his body, then noticed the pizza in the man's hand.
"Hey, Jack, is that your dinner?"
Casually tossing aside the python, Charlie greeted the man before smoothly taking the pizza from his hands.
The nano-metal on his face receded, exposing his lower half, and Charlie shoved the pizza into his mouth.
"No, I'm not Jack. My name is—"
"Alright, Jack, have a good night."
Charlie snatched all the pizzas and walked toward the door.
"Mmm, nice—beef pizza."
"Wait, that's the bathroom. The door's on the left," the man said, bewildered.
"Thanks, Jack. Say hi to Rose for me."
As soon as Charlie left, a woman emerged from the bedroom, her eyes narrowing.
"Who's Rose?"
The man shrugged, "I don't know."
"Jason, you've been caught."
"Wait, listen to me explain—"
In the hallway, Charlie heard the argument and scratched his head.
"Weird. Do people really fight over having Spider-Man at home?"