"Over there!"
"Hurry!"
Cars screeched to a halt as a large group of reporters rushed to the coast to capture footage of the scene.
Amid the crowd, Betty Brant was shoved and stumbled to the ground.
"Betty, what are you doing? Get up! The Daily Bugle can't fall behind the Daily Globe!" J. Jonah Jameson shouted, chewing on a cigar in frustration from the side of the road.
Betty, with an annoyed expression, looked up at Jonah. "Boss, I just got out of the hospital. Why don't you go instead?"
"No way! I'm the editor-in-chief. Have you ever seen an editor-in-chief personally do fieldwork?"
"But you're already here."
"I'm here to supervise you, and cheer you on."
"Mr. Jameson, if you keep this up, I'm going to tell my sister."
"Wait, don't let them know our relationship!"
"Brother-in-law."
"No, no, no, stop!!"
Jonah quickly cut her off. "I paid your medical bills! Think carefully!"
Betty rolled her eyes. "I was kidnapped by the Green Goblin because of you. If it weren't for Spider-Man, I'd be dead."
"Don't bring up that guy."
"Spider-Man..."
"Alright, alright, just get back to work!"
Jonah covered his forehead in exasperation.
"Eddie, you're up!" Jonah waved to another figure.
In the car, Eddie Brock looked startled. "Boss, I'm the new guy."
"You're strong. Get in there and push through the crowd."
"But—"
"I'll pay you more."
"Okay, leave it to me."
Eddie got out of the car, threw off his jacket, and began to stretch.
"Boss, I'm going in."
"Go!" Jonah encouraged.
"I'm going!" Eddie declared.
"Wait, you forgot the camera!" Jonah yelled, but by then, a black figure had swooped overhead.
"Oh, sh*t, it's that guy—no, wait, it's a black-suited Spider-Man?"
Seeing Spider-Man, Jonah threw his cigar to the ground and cursed as he grabbed the camera from Betty's hands and charged into the crowd.
"Get out of my way! I need to see what trouble that guy's up to now."
"Brother-in-law, you're getting old, be careful."
"Sh*t, don't let anyone know about us!"
At the coastline, Jonah, with Eddie's help, squeezed his way to the front of the crowd. His perfectly slicked-back hair was now a mess.
Ignoring his appearance, Jonah raised the camera, capturing footage, when he suddenly noticed something familiar among the wreckage.
"That's... Captain America's shield!"
He gasped. "Is this plane crash related to the Captain?"
Looking closer at the wreckage, thick blood-colored mist began to spread. The black-suited Spider-Man cautiously approached the mist, and then the wreckage exploded a second time.
Boom!!
Flames erupted as debris scattered everywhere, and bizarre creatures emerged from the mist.
"What is that?"
"Oh my God, it's an octopus—a giant octopus."
"No, wait, it's a person—a muscle-bound man."
"He's got octopus tentacles coming out of his back."
"Look closely! He looks like Captain Steve Rogers!" someone exclaimed.
Immediately, the cameras zoomed in, and sure enough, Steve's face became clear.
"Oh my God, it really is Captain America."
"He's turned into a monster!"
"Spider-Man's target is him. What on Earth is happening?"
As the crowd buzzed with shock, sirens blared in the distance, and police cars arrived. George Stacy led officers to secure the area.
"This place is dangerous, get out of here!" the officers urged.
As the police began moving people away, George stared at the figures of Spider-Man and Steve, his face filled with dread.
"A black-suited Spider-Man... Has the special department shown up?" he asked one of his officers.
The officer shook his head. "No, we've informed them, but it seems they're tied up with something else."
"What?"
George gritted his teeth. "Those guys are unreliable. Looks like we'll have to handle this ourselves."
"Start clearing out the reporters."
"Yes, sir."
Back at the shoreline, as the crowd continued watching, Charlie ignored the reporters and police, walking straight toward Steve.
At this point, Steve's body was covered in large patches of burned skin, but aided by the blood-red energy, the charred skin healed rapidly, and his chest, pierced by wreckage, stopped bleeding.
Steve gritted his teeth as he pulled the fragments out of his body, glaring at Charlie with fury in his eyes.
"You ruined my plan!"
Charlie shrugged. "Sorry, crashing the plane was your choice, Captain."
He tilted his head toward the crystal coffin behind Steve. "It looks like it's starting to melt. Need me to call you an ice cream truck?"
Steve glanced worriedly at the coffin behind him. "Damn bug! This is all your fault—"
Before he could finish, Charlie seized the moment to attack, sending four black spider spears shooting into Steve's body.
Thwip, thwip, thwip!
"Here's your payback."
"Aah!!"
Steve screamed in pain as the blood-red tentacles thrashed wildly, striking everything around them.
Boom, boom, boom!!
The ground shook as the massive tentacles finally unleashed their full power. Each tentacle carried the force of tens of tons, smashing through everything like a brutal, moving fortress.
Boom!
Amid the destruction, shards of wreckage flew in all directions, and the surrounding crowd erupted into screams of terror.
"Ah!! My leg!"
"Get out of the way!"
"It's dangerous..."
As the crowd retreated, Charlie's black figure danced skillfully through the chaos, dodging every tentacle strike with ease, almost as if he could predict them. Each jump and flip was like an elegant performance.
The fusion of the Titan physique with Spider-Man's abilities had drastically increased Charlie's stamina.
Even after all this time, he showed no signs of fatigue.
And that was with Venom Mode continuously active.
Without the interference of the blood-colored clouds, Charlie's sharp senses were at their peak.
With more and more Spider-Totem powers at his disposal, Charlie's Spider-Sense had leveled up. The tentacles, no matter how fierce, seemed to move in slow motion to him. He could dodge Steve's frenzied assaults with his eyes closed.
"Elegant, just so elegant."
In the crowd, Jonah Jameson stood mesmerized by the scene, clapping his hands.
"Boss, he's Spider-Man," Eddie reminded him.
"What? Spider-Man?"
Jonah snapped out of it, immediately pointing at Charlie and shouting insults.
"Sh*t! Don't think wearing black pajamas can fool me! I'm writing a report about Spider-Man's violent behavior right now!"
As Jonah ranted, Charlie abruptly pulled back, a cold gleam flashing from the crystalline webbing in his hands.
Thwip, thwip, thwip-
In an instant, the blood-red tentacles were sliced into tiny fragments by the web trap.
The horrifying tentacles squirmed on the ground, looking like disgusting red worms.
"Sh*t!"
Steve's face twisted in shock, but before he could regenerate more tentacles from his blood-red spine, Charlie, now equipped with new web-shooters, launched another barrage of webs.
Thwip, thwip, thwip-
The webs exploded, wrapping around Steve. With a powerful yank, Steve was dragged face-first to the ground, landing at Charlie's feet.
"Damn bug!!"
Buzz~~
Steve roared, sending out a sharp sonic blast. The red-and-blue glow in Charlie's brow flickered briefly.
With his mental resistance increased by 50%, Charlie easily ignored the sonic interference.
The next second, Charlie pressed his foot onto Steve's back, his fingers forming claws that stabbed into Steve's spine.
After observing for so long, Charlie was certain this was Steve's weak spot.