Peter almost ended up getting skewered by Carnage's final, desperate strike before death.
Because Carnage exists as a molecular-level hive mind where every symbiote cell possesses its own independence, Peter had to get close enough to use Mysterio's program to interfere with Cletus's mind. Consequently, he had to catch Cletus just as the final blade was thrusting toward him, nearly failing in the attempt.
Fortunately, my skills were a cut above.
In the end, what Cletus saw was an illusion of himself piercing through Spider-Man; using this opening, Peter was able to make physical contact with him.
What followed was simple: upon touching Cletus, Peter used the program to sever the mental link between Cletus and the symbiote molecules on his body, then utilized Anti-Venom to purge the symbiote from his system.
By the time the process was finished, Cletus—who had only a single breath left anyway—was thoroughly dead, his spirit ascending to the symbiote home world.
"But seriously, surviving even for a moment under those conditions is just ridiculous..."
Offering one final remark on Cletus's death-defying resistance, Peter sighed and contacted the Bus team.
"Agent Coulson, Carnage is dead. Completely dead."
"Much appreciated, Spider-Man. Those employees infected by the symbiote, and likely many more out there, will need time for investigation and quarantine."
Those who had been infected by Carnage might no longer be controlled by the symbiote due to its death, but the symbiote cells remaining in their bodies were still a latent threat. Currently, the only way to completely eradicate those cells was Spider-Man's Anti-Venom.
Thus, the aftermath of this incident would require Peter's further assistance.
Peter naturally had no objections, though at this moment, he had only one thing on his mind: getting some proper rest.
"I'll wait for your word, Agent Coulson. But for now, I just want to go home and sleep. Goodbye."
With the final battle concluded, Peter used a Sling Ring to open a portal leading home and stepped through.
Back at NASA, Coulson breathed a sigh of relief now that everything was finished. As Ward knocked out the last infected NASA employee, the crisis had effectively come to a temporary close.
"We won, everyone. Carnage has been eliminated, and the symbiote infection didn't spiral out of control."
Coulson looked at everyone with a smile, offering a summary: "Spider-Man may have done the bulk of the work, but that doesn't negate our own efforts in this. Everyone, go get some rest!"
The entire Bus team was elated. Skye was already pondering where to go for a short vacation.
The only one who seemed somewhat lost was Ward; he didn't know what to do, or even what he could do.
Fortunately, Coulson had already made arrangements for him. After the others had left, Coulson asked Ward, "No plans?"
"I... I really don't have any plans, sir."
Coulson smiled and handed a small device resembling a headset to Ward. Ward took it, asking with some confusion, "Sir, what is this...?"
"Regret medicine."
Hearing the name, Ward felt even more puzzled, but luckily Coulson quickly provided an explanation.
"Headquarters designed this equipment based on Mysterio's technology. It's used for mission debriefs, psychological therapy, and reviewing past mistakes."
Coulson explained the device's function: "You can keep trying it to see if there were better ways to deal with enemies."
"I understand, sir."
Ward took the device and forced a smile. "Since I have nothing else to do, it seems like a good way to pass the time."
Coulson added a well-intentioned warning: "Be that as it may, this thing is still in the experimental phase. Special situations often occur, especially when seeing decisions you made much earlier. You should be careful."
Ward nodded dismissively and returned to his room. Only Coulson watched him leave, a slight, unreadable smile playing on his lips.
Back in his room, Ward placed the device on his ear, closed his eyes, and activated it.
However, he didn't return to any battle. Instead, Grant Ward found himself back in the juvenile detention center—the young boy who had not yet set foot on the path of Hydra.
Ward knew what was supposed to happen next: Garrett would find him and mold him into a Hydra mole.
But a voice interrupted Ward's expectation. To his shock, he saw that the person recruiting him was Coulson instead of Garrett.
Ward sat up abruptly in fright, disconnecting the program. He seemed to understand why Coulson had given this to him.
"So that's how it is..."
Ward muttered, glancing at the device again as if he had made a final decision.
Meanwhile, look there—in far-off Atlantis, a significant event was unfolding.
An Atlantean approached the throne, reporting the events that had just occurred on the surface of the sea. Since Atlantis was located on the ocean floor, insulated by miles of deep water, the beam from S.W.O.R.D. had not physically affected the kingdom.
However, someone was unhappy—unhappy to the point of outrage.
"This is a provocation from the surface dwellers!"
An Atlantean let out a roar of fury. How wicked were the surface people? When they encountered a troublesome dangerous element, they simply dumped it into the ocean and fired a main battery at it.
Not to mention the previous Raft prison, floating around the sea with dangerous convicts locked inside.
"What do the surface dwellers think the ocean is? A trash can?!"
The general spoke indignantly to the Lord of the Seven Seas, then respectfully dropped to one knee to show his loyalty. "Your Majesty, please allow me to lead the army directly to the shore to show these surface dwellers what for!"
"And how do you plan to do that?"
The speaker was Namor, King of Atlantis. After hearing the report, he let out a sneer and posed the counter-question: "You? Go and wipe out humanity for me? Can you actually do it?"
Faced with the boss's impossible question, Namor's subordinate was unable to provide a good answer for a moment and had to retreat stammering. Seeing his subordinate's display, Namor's contempt only deepened.
However, one thing said was true: although this incident had not yet directly impacted Atlantis, it was still a form of provocation. Given Namor's character, he would not allow such a thing to slide.
Therefore, a gesture had to be made.
"I will make the surface dwellers obediently hand over the compensation Atlantis deserves."
Namor gave a cold, confident laugh. "If they cannot do it, I wouldn't mind bringing them destruction!"
Namor's grand declaration caused the Atlanteans to roar with excitement, as if they could already see humanity suffering a crushing defeat at his feet.
They completely failed to consider one thing: Could Namor actually win?