Black Spider

In the command room, Pierce watched the battle below and asked the Cloaked Man, "Aren’t you going down to help?"

"Twenty elite Lizardmen plus an exceptionally powerful Winter Soldier are more than enough to handle those Super Heroes. There’s no need for me to act. I was created to deal with the Blood God. Huh, Spider-Man is here too?"

The Cloaked Man had not been interested at first, but when he suddenly spotted Spider-Man leaping around, his eyes lit up. Rising to his feet, he said, "I’ll go down and kill that Spider-Man. Call me if anything comes up. I’ll be back immediately."

With that, before Pierce could agree, the Cloaked Man vanished.

Pierce’s expression darkened. After thinking for a moment, he asked the Helicarrier, "How much longer until takeoff? We don’t have much time."

A Helicarrier crew member replied, "Sir, please give us another five minutes. In five minutes, we’ll have the engines repaired and the attack systems restored."

"Hurry."

Pierce nodded. Just then, President Ellis’s voice suddenly came from a nearby television. He sharply turned his head and saw President Ellis delivering a speech onscreen.

"I know you must be wondering why I’m here. The reason is simple: I was never captured. I was merely luring the snake from its hole.

"I will explain the details after this on Trish Talk.

"For now, please rest assured and wait calmly for the results. God will bless America and bless every one of you."

After he finished, the television switched scenes. The viewers froze for a moment, then erupted into cheers. If the president was fine, then America was fine. And if America was fine, ordinary people like them were fine.

"God?"

Thinking of something, a New Yorker asked his wife, "Honey, do you think the god the president meant could be the Dragon God?"

"You’re overthinking it. Other than us New Yorkers, who still worships the Dragon God?"

His wife scoffed. "The god the president meant should be God."

The New Yorker laughed at himself. "Yeah, I overthought it."

What that New Yorker did not know was that President Ellis really had meant the Dragon God. In fact, if his aides had not strongly opposed it, he would have said Dragon God directly on television.

How could God be as useful as the Blood God? With all the trouble New York had faced, hadn’t the Blood God solved every single one?

President Ellis had gone on television yet said almost nothing. It seemed unnecessary, but it was essential—if he did not show himself now and only explained afterward, no one would believe him.

Throwing the president out there to get kidnapped? Please, not even a third-rate screenwriter could come up with a plot like that.

"President Ellis was actually rescued?"

Pierce’s expression changed. Could the battle in New York already be over? If so, that would be trouble. The Blood God could appear at any moment.

"Now I can only hope Lizard Doctor’s trump card really works."

Pierce turned to look at the already assembled machine, his face filled with gravity. Lizard Doctor had sounded extremely confident, but that was the renowned Blood God! Meanwhile, the Cloaked Man found Spider-Man. The moment Spider-Man saw him, he had a strange feeling, as if he had encountered one of his own kind.

Spider-Man frowned and asked, "Why are you wearing a cloak? Are you uglier than those Lizardmen?"

"Yes, I’m super ugly. So ugly I break through the sky."

Rather than getting angry, the Cloaked Man seemed delighted. He removed his cloak, revealing a suit almost identical to Spider-Man’s—except for the color. Spider-Man’s was red, while his was black.

Seeing his outfit, Spider-Man blinked in surprise before saying, "Um, sorry, but the copyright for the Spider-Man suit belongs to me and Watchmen Company. If you copy it like this, you’ll get sued."

"Is that really the important part?"

Black Spider was speechless. Too lazy to say anything else, he raised a hand and shot a strand of black webbing at Spider-Man. Thanks to his Spider-Sense, Spider-Man dodged in advance.

"You have web-shooters too?"

Spider-Man was astonished. At the same time, he fired webbing at Black Spider, who also dodged in advance. He rushed in front of Spider-Man and kicked at him. Spider-Man evaded, then swung a fist at Black Spider’s head.

Black Spider ducked under it, then swept his right leg at Spider-Man. Spider-Man jumped up and fired webbing at Black Spider’s face, but Black Spider tilted his head aside and avoided it.

The two exchanged more than a dozen moves without touching each other even once. It was practically like they were doing a partner dance.

Spider-Man’s brows knit tightly as he asked in disbelief, "You have Spider-Sense too?"

"Of course I do."

Black Spider burst into laughter, then suddenly jumped onto a wall and clung to it tightly. Spider-Man was dumbfounded. Web-shooters could be imitated, but electrostatic adhesion was his unique ability.

Spider-Man asked in shock and anger, "Who exactly are you?"

"Who am I? I’m Peter Parker, of course."

Laughing wildly, Black Spider took off his mask, revealing Peter’s face. Spider-Man stared in disbelief, then seemed to realize something and hurriedly said, "Put it back on! My identity can’t be exposed, or Aunt May will be in danger."

"Idiot. You clearly have powerful abilities, yet you live like a rat that can’t stand the light."

Black Spider sneered as he put his mask back on. Filled with hatred, he said, "Spider-Man, I’m going to kill you and avenge myself."

"Who exactly are you? Wait, don’t tell me you’re my long-lost twin brother? No, that can’t be right. Spider-Man’s abilities can’t be inherited."

Spider-Man scratched at his mask in frustration. He was beginning to understand why Mr. Wang had sent him here.

"Think about it slowly in Hell."

Black Spider stopped wasting words. His hands flicked repeatedly, shooting web after web at Spider-Man. Spider-Man kept dodging and shouted, "Are you my brother or not? I’ve always wanted a little brother!"

"Why does it have to be a little brother? Why can’t I be the older brother? You’re so weak and so stupid. What makes you qualified to be the older brother?"

Black Spider seemed to have inherited Spider-Man’s chatterbox trait. He attacked while mocking him, and under his relentless assault, Spider-Man had less and less room to dodge.

When the timing was right, Black Spider took a deep breath and spat out a ball of blazing fire. Spider-Man had no time to evade and was struck head-on.

Black Spider laughed loudly. "Hahaha, now you’re a roasted spider!"

Just then, Spider-Man leaped out of the flames and asked with a surprised look, "Why can you breathe fire? I can’t even spit webs."

Black Spider asked in disbelief, "Why are you okay?"

"The clothes I’m wearing were made by Mr. Wang for hundreds of millions of dollars. They’re impervious to water and fire."

Spider-Man tugged at his suit and said, "Oh, right, it’s also high-tech equipment with lots of special functions. Mr. Wang said I’m too young to use some of them, so I was planning to get my classmate to help crack them…"

"Die!"

Black Spider could not be bothered to listen to Spider-Man ramble. Opening his mouth wide, he sprayed a cloud of poison gas at him. Yet Spider-Man was still completely unharmed.

Spider-Man said, "Didn’t you hear me? This is high-tech equipment. Poison resistance is a basic function, just like Mr. Stark’s armor. Actually, the suit also has an oxygen circulation system, so I can stay underwater for an hour."

"Die!"

Black Spider grew even angrier. Electricity lit up in his hands, crackling as it shot toward Spider-Man. Yet Spider-Man was still fine, and the little spider on his chest even lit up.

Spider-Man went on introducing his suit. "This suit is also insulated. Oh, and the spider on my chest can fly. It’s really useful. Not only can it scout ahead for me, it can also fire electric shocks."

"Shut up!"

Black Spider ground his teeth. He was jealous—jealous that Spider-Man had such good equipment.

"You don’t need to get that angry, do you? This suit is great, but it’s crazy expensive. I’m always afraid of damaging it. I can’t afford to pay for it."

Spider-Man said, "It would be great if I had as many abilities as you. When game developers make Spider-Man games, they probably don’t even know how to design my special moves."

"You have no idea what these abilities cost, Spider-Man. I’m going to kill you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have to endure this pain."

Black Spider appeared out of thin air beside Spider-Man, then viciously kicked him. Although Spider-Man dodged immediately, Black Spider was simply too fast, and he was still sent flying.

"You can teleport too? Isn’t that totally cheating?"

Spider-Man shouted in alarm. Seeing that he was outmatched, he used the wall for leverage and fled into a nearby building. Black Spider immediately chased after him. No matter what, he would kill Spider-Man and avenge himself!

Meanwhile, inside the Quinjet, Jemma held up a test tube and said excitedly, "Everyone, good news! We’ve developed a drug that can deal with the elite Lizardmen."

"Great!"

Everyone was overjoyed. Natasha said, "That new antidote was developed really quickly."

"This isn’t a new antidote. The elite Lizardmen can’t turn back into humans."

Dr. Connors shook his head and said resentfully, "That bastard Lizard Doctor doesn’t deserve to be called a scientist. He actually mixed monster blood into the Lizard Serum."

"Monster blood? No wonder they have all sorts of abilities. They got them from monsters."

Everyone suddenly understood. Dr. Connors said, "That’s right, monster abilities. The success rate for this new serum should be extremely low, otherwise there wouldn’t be so few of them.

"Never mind that. The new drug Jemma and I developed can make the elite Lizardmen lose their combat strength through blood conflict, but it has to be injected to take effect."

"That’s enough. Jemma, prepare the doses quickly. We need at least thirty."

Natasha asked Fitz, "Fitz, is Black Widow repaired?"

Fitz replied, "Temporarily, but it can only last half an hour. After that, it’ll be completely ruined and will need to be replaced."

"Anyway, S.H.I.E.L.D. will reimburse us. Uh, S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to have gone bankrupt."

Natasha frowned and asked Coulson, "Will S.W.O.R.D. reimburse it?"

"Probably. S.W.O.R.D. has the richest person in America backing it."

Coulson said, "And they don’t have a super-corrupt criminal among them."

"The biggest corrupt criminal in American history."

Natasha could not help shaking her head as well. She said, "I heard Fury wanted to join the fight too, but Steve told him, ‘Don’t come make trouble. If Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. see you, they might surrender to Hydra on the spot.’"

Coulson gave a bitter smile. Skye, standing nearby, could not help asking, "What is S.W.O.R.D.?"

"I’ll tell you later. Make the drug first."

Coulson hurriedly changed the subject. Soon, the drug was ready. Natasha put on the Black Widow suit and returned to the battlefield with the doses.

Natasha did not act immediately. She first informed the others through the communicator, then activated her stealth function and quietly delivered the doses into everyone’s hands.

While dealing with the Lightning Lizardman, Carter said, "I’m ready."

Danny knocked the Tough Lizardman back and nodded. "Me too."

Barton, Human Torch, and the Drone Armor units also quickly got ready.

"Natasha, this Winter Soldier is hard to deal with. Come help me."

As Tony dodged the Winter Soldier’s ice attacks, he called out to Natasha. Natasha nodded and said, "Keep his attention on you. I’ll ambush him."

"Move."

Once everyone was ready, Steve immediately gave the order. Then he hurled his shield at the Teleportation Lizardman opposite him. The Lizardman immediately teleported, appearing five meters away.

Steve activated the jet boots on his feet and instantly appeared in front of the Lizardman, driving a heavy punch down at him. The Teleportation Lizardman could not teleport a second time in such a short span, so he could only fight Steve at close range.

Seizing the opportunity, Steve stabbed the syringe into the Teleportation Lizardman’s shoulder. At first, the Lizardman did not care, but he quickly lost all strength, collapsed to the ground, and howled in agony.

At the same time, Carter, Barton, and the others also succeeded. Only Tony and Natasha failed.

In fact, Natasha had successfully ambushed the Winter Soldier, but the Winter Soldier sensed that something was wrong and immediately froze the syringe along with part of his own blood. He then knocked Natasha away, pulled out the syringe, and threw it aside.

Tony gritted his teeth. "This guy is a real pain. You deal with the other Lizardmen. I’ll call the Drone Armor back and blast this guy to death."

"Okay!"

The others had no objections. With everyone working together, the Lizardmen quickly fell apart, leaving only a few still struggling desperately.

"Damn it."

Seeing this, Pierce was both furious and alarmed. Thinking of something, he shouted at the Winter Soldier, "Winter Soldier, take off your mask."

The Winter Soldier obeyed, revealing a weathered yet handsome face. Tony sneered, "What’s the point of taking off your mask? You’re dead today."

Tony was about to attack when Steve and Carter both cried out in disbelief, "Bucky!"

"Who’s Bucky?"

Tony and the Winter Soldier asked at the same time. Pierce burst into laughter from above. "That’s right, Steve. He’s your closest friend, Bucky Barnes. Back then, he didn’t die after falling off the cliff. Hydra rescued him, wiped his memories, and turned him into the Winter Soldier."

Hearing this, confusion flashed through the Winter Soldier’s eyes, but it quickly faded. He continued attacking Tony.

"I don’t care who he is."

Tony was about to resume his attack when Steve and Carter rushed over. Steve shouted, "Tony, don’t! He’s Bucky."

Tony roared, "He killed my parents."

"Yes, he killed them brutally. I have surveillance footage. Do you want to see it?"

Pierce laughed wildly, but inwardly he was extremely anxious. One more minute. I have to stall them.

"Shut up!"

Tony roared toward Pierce while firing wildly at the Winter Soldier. He shouted, "Steve, Aunt Carter, don’t stop me. I have to avenge my parents."