As Charlie yanked out the spine, his spider-sense erupted in warning.
But it was too late.
Sshk~
The black barbs on the surface of the spine pierced through the nano-metal, pricking his finger. Instantly, his hand went numb, and the black spine dropped to the ground.
Looking down, he noticed the nano-metal retreating from his palm, and his fingertip was already rotting, with the decay creeping up his entire hand.
Charlie frowned at first, then sighed.
"Mind telling me what this is?" he asked, looking at the battered Bucky.
Seeing Charlie's hand deteriorate, though it wasn't spreading past his hand, Bucky's smirk faded, yet he didn't give up hope.
"Your powers come from a mutated spider, but the Gene Destroyer designed for mutated spider genes doesn't seem as deadly to you as I'd hoped."
"Gene Destroyer?" Charlie mused aloud.
Bucky nodded. "Yes. In the time I was gone, I made a lot of preparations—just to kill you."
"But I'm not going to die," Charlie said, his voice steady, though he felt a chill.
Having merged with titan genetics, he wasn't fatally affected by the Gene Destroyer designed for Spider-Man's powers, but he could feel his body weakening under its influence.
Only one method remained to halt the degeneration of his powers.
Charlie's words made Bucky misunderstand. He insisted, "You will die. The Gene Destroyer will completely obliterate your regenerative cells."
"Was sacrificing yourself worth it…for Steve?" Charlie looked at Bucky, puzzled.
Bucky smiled. "You have friends too, but I'm not sure if you could understand me."
Memories from the past washed over him.
When he first met Steve, the guy was just a rookie soldier who didn't understand much.
Aside from Peggy Carter, Bucky had been the one who taught Steve how to be a good soldier.
Steve had been frail, but he was sincere, kind, and had an unbreakable sense of justice.
Bucky admired Steve, and Steve respected him in return. They became good friends.
Before Steve went through the Super Soldier Experiment, Bucky had tried to dissuade him.
But Steve had insisted on going through with it.
Fortunately, Steve succeeded.
But misfortune quickly followed.
Steve became a mascot, burying the remarkable soldier he could have been.
During wartime, this was like severing his potential completely.
Bucky tried arguing with his superiors, using every method possible, but nothing changed.
He watched as a hero full of justice slowly morphed into something darker.
He could never forget discovering the truth in one of their operations.
He had intercepted Steve, who was helping Hydra retreat.
During the battle, Bucky fell from a cliff, but he didn't die.
Waiting for rescue, he had gone from hopeful to angry, and eventually, utterly despondent.
Everyone abandoned him—his most respected superiors and the comrades he once called brothers.
Everyone but Steve.
As he was on the brink of ending his own suffering from pain and the freezing cold, Steve finally found him.
Through snow and ice, Steve had carried Bucky for what felt like an eternity.
He couldn't recall how many times Steve had stumbled.
But he remembered one line.
"Bucky, I won't give up on you."
Those words made Bucky realize Steve was likely his one true friend.
When a friend faces unfair treatment, you stand by them.
But even so, he'd hesitated.
His upbringing wouldn't let him accept joining Hydra's dark ranks. It was wrong.
Then, one day, the war ended, and Steve decided to leave it all behind.
Bucky had believed peace would follow.
But to his shock, the war had never really ended.
And it never would.
Had the hero become the dragon he once fought?
No. They'd been a dragon all along.
In that moment, he realized he'd been naïve.
Finally, he chose to join Steve, not knowing if it was right or wrong.
He only knew that only one dragon could slay another.
But not long ago, Spider-Man's arrival ended everything.
Steve was gone. The only thing he could do now was avenge his friend.
The imperfect Gene Destroyer was his last chance.
It would cost him his life, but he wasn't afraid to die.
Because, in truth, he should have died on that frozen cliff 70 years ago.
If he'd died back then, he might have believed the war would end someday.
Lost memories surged and receded like a tide.
Bucky slowly closed his eyes.
"Do it…while you still have the strength."
Charlie stared silently, making up his mind.
"Alright, I understand."
Raising his other hand, he put all his strength into a single blow.
Pow!
Blood splattered on his black suit.
At the moment of his death, the bomb inside Bucky finally detonated.
He'd survived this long just for this moment.
Boom!!
Bucky's body disintegrated in a flash of blinding light, the flames carrying a powerful force aimed directly at Spider-Man's genes.
The nano-metal armor stripped away under the blast, and Charlie's body began to dissolve.
In the last moments of consciousness, his thoughts drifted to Norman's pumpkin bombs.
Seconds later, a lone spider emblem fell to the ground, the remaining nano-metal flowing into it.
Nearby, the heavily injured Alexei staggered to his feet, laughing as he picked up the spider emblem, despite his pain.
"Hahaha! Spider-Man is finally dead!!"
"Ah!! I'm about to die too!"
Suddenly, Alexei collapsed, convulsing as pieces of his monstrous form fell away, his skin dissolving into black fragments.
The side effects of consuming a mutated spider and the blood mist's influence were enough to kill him.
Desperate, he stumbled toward the city.
Only Kingpin could save him.
Not long after, the sound of another helicopter filled the night.
"Captain, there was a fight here," Coulson observed.
Carter surveyed the blast marks, her brows knitted tightly. "Looks like it's over."
"Look, the black spine!" Coulson gasped.
"Take it back."
"Yes."
Just then, Agent Hill's voice came over the comms.
"Captain, we couldn't rescue the mutants. They're heavily armed, and we couldn't break through."
"What?"
Carter's face darkened. "Kingpin…this guy's going to be a problem."
Coulson nodded. "Yes. Not only does he control the largest underground network in New York, but he's a terrifying figure himself. We've sent agents to infiltrate his ranks before, but none have come back."
"Even the military can't handle it?" Carter asked.
Coulson shook his head. "His reach goes far deeper than it appears."
Carter sighed. "This is going to be a challenge."
"Should we keep looking for Spider-Man?" Coulson asked.
Carter shook her head. "No. Let's go back."
If that guy were still alive, he wouldn't have left the black spine here.
Indeed, that guy only knows how to play the resurrection game.
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