Splat!
As expected, the moment Charlie's five fingers locked onto Steve Rogers' spine, the ear-piercing sonic waves abruptly ceased. Steve's entire body slumped, and he could no longer summon his octopus-like tentacles.
"Oh, my back..."
As Steve weakly groaned, Charlie's arm strength surged, and with brute force, he yanked Steve's spine out of his body.
Rip~
"Aaaah!!"
Steve let out a blood-curdling scream as his spine was torn from him. Knowing his fate was sealed, he struggled in vain.
Trembling and silent, Steve began crawling towards the crystal coffin amidst the wreckage. Though the distance was only a few meters, it seemed impossibly far for him in his weakened state.
His back, a mess of blood and exposed flesh, bled profusely as his movements slowed. But even then, Steve refused to stop.
Staring at the coffin just inches away, Steve's vision began to blur.
"Peggy..."
He whispered his lover's name, as if it could bring warmth to his cold, dying heart.
The scene horrified all the onlookers.
"My God, this is too cruel."
"The black-suited Spider-Man is terrifying."
"Captain Steve Rogers is finished."
"They're all monsters."
"New York doesn't need monsters to protect it. They're going to destroy us."
Fear and unease rapidly spread through the crowd, but no one dared step forward to hurl insults or accusations.
They felt comfortable criticizing the red-and-blue Spider-Man because he only captured criminals and never killed anyone.
But against the black-suited Spider-Man, they lost their courage.
Even George Stacy and the officers with him were too scared to make a sound, stunned by the ferocity they had never seen in Spider-Man before.
Cowardice and fear were on full display in that moment.
Meanwhile, Charlie silently observed the scene, tossing aside Steve's now-blackened spine. He slowly raised his right fist, ready to end Steve once and for all.
Showing mercy to an enemy was the same as suicide.
And Charlie wasn't ready to die just yet.
Crack~
Suddenly, a strange noise came from the crystal coffin, now beginning to melt. Both Steve and Charlie froze in surprise.
Crack, crack, crack-
As the crystal coffin rapidly shattered, Peggy Carter, dressed in her red floral dress, slowly sat up, her body stiff and her face filled with frustration.
She had been conscious for some time, but after being frozen for seventy years, her body had been too rigid to move.
Thankfully, after winning her resurrection trial, her body had gained a certain level of enhancement. Plus, the high temperatures from the crash had melted the cursed ice coffin, allowing her to truly return to life.
"Peggy!!"
Seeing Peggy come back to life, Steve seemed to experience a brief moment of energy, crawling quickly toward her.
"Y-you're alive again? How is that possible?!"
He gazed at Peggy in disbelief, reaching out to touch her, yet afraid it might just be a dying hallucination.
Peggy turned her head to look at the disheveled Steve, her eyes calm and tinged with a trace of mockery.
"I've been conscious the whole time, Steve Rogers. And now it seems your plan has failed, hasn't it?"
She glanced at the black-suited figure walking slowly toward them.
"Charlie Parker, I knew it was you," she said with a smile.
Charlie nodded. "I guessed correctly. We're from the same world."
"I'm glad we met again."
Peggy maintained her smile, but when she looked back at Steve, her face turned cold.
"Don't give me that disgusting look. I taught you how to fight, I got you the Super Soldier Serum, and you betrayed me. You betrayed everyone. You deserve to die."
"You..." Steve, though surprised that Charlie and Peggy knew each other, was too weak to care anymore.
He lay on the ground, bitter and defeated.
With trembling hands, he fought off his nausea and shoved a piece of octopus tentacle flesh from the ground into his mouth, chewing to regain enough strength to speak.
"Yes, I learned a lot from you, Peggy. I should've repaid you, but even after injecting the Super Soldier Serum, what difference did it make? The higher-ups only wanted me as a mascot. They made me perform on stage, saying things no one believed. You know what they called me behind my back? They said I was a clown, a coward who wouldn't fight, just a man surviving off a woman's help."
"I wanted to prove myself, and what did I get? Confinement. I blew up their bunkers, saved countless lives, but to them, any soldier with the serum could've done the same. I was just another lab rat."
"They thought I survived because of them, not because of anything I did. I knew then that power was the only thing that mattered. I had to become like them. I had to gain absolute authority—only then would my life have meaning."
"For that goal, during a mission to take down Hydra, I met Johann. I let him go, and he rewarded me. We became friends, and I joined them, learning their secrets."
"They were experimenting with new Super Soldier Serums, and I volunteered to be their lab rat because they respected me. The experiment worked. I became even stronger."
"But even with all that power, I was still small in the grand scheme of war. I couldn't change the world because I was just a soldier. No matter how strong, I couldn't overthrow the system."
"I knew once this era ended, soldiers like me would be wiped out. They wouldn't allow someone they couldn't control. And I didn't want to be controlled."
"This era is brutal, especially for people like me."
"A hero's fate was already sealed."
"I needed to survive into the next era—that would be my stage."
"The freezing plan began. My clones and Johann would complete the mission with my memories."
"And I accepted Hydra's ultimate power. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced."
"I freed myself. I became truly free."
Steve's voice grew softer as he glanced at Peggy, his eyes filled with a flicker of guilt.
"I was so happy you agreed to that dance that night. But I never expected you had already discovered my secret."
"So, you killed her," Charlie interjected.
Steve took a deep breath. "Yes. If she didn't die, I would've. Hydra's power hadn't fully merged with me yet, and I was too weak to escape the base."
"You think telling me all this will make me forgive you?"
Peggy was now able to stand. She towered over Steve, looking down at him with a steely gaze. "I don't mind that you sought power, but you shouldn't have betrayed your friends and comrades. They trusted you, and you turned them into monsters."
"I don't need anyone's forgiveness!" Steve laughed bitterly. "Johann taught me that to gain something, you must give something up—friendship, love. Those aren't necessary."
"But I failed, which means I haven't fully let go of those things. I shouldn't have taken you with me. Now this bug has caught up with me."
He glared at Charlie, his face full of resentment.
"I'm not content with this, Charlie Parker. You're incredibly lucky. That mutated spider gave you powers everyone envies."
"If I had known, I never would've agreed to that meaningless biological experiment."
"Your parents betrayed me, and now you've ended me."
"I only lost to myself."
"But don't get cocky. After I die, all the failed experimental spiders in the lab will spread across the entire city. I will—"
"Take your life!"
Before Steve could finish, Charlie punched him, smashing his head to pieces.
"So annoying."