Chapter 101: Harry in Danger, Coulson to the Rescue
The high-voltage arcs streaming from Peter's hands continued to crackle wildly across the Riot Symbiote's body.
Although lightning did not have the same obvious suppressive effect on Symbiotes as fire or sound waves, sustained exposure to electrical arcs this powerful began to cause noticeable damage once it passed a certain threshold.
The Riot Symbiote began to break apart across its host's body.
First came the hands, then the arms, shoulders, and chest. The deep gray Symbiote cells peeled away layer by layer.
Peter could even see the host beneath the Symbiote cells, a muscular, middle-aged white man.
There was a tattoo on the man's shoulder that revealed his identity: a golden eagle clutching an anchor, a trident, and a flintlock pistol.
It was the signature emblem of the Navy SEALs, and many SEALs had it tattooed on their bodies as a mark of their identity.
So Peter's earlier guess had been completely correct.
Just a split second before the Riot Symbiote was about to detach completely from its host, a purplish-red shadow suddenly emerged through the hole in the cafeteria wall.
The purplish-red figure was terrifyingly fast, yet there was also something ghostly about the way it moved.
Its entire body seemed weightless, gliding through the air without making a single sound, almost like a real ghost.
Peter had been completely focused on dealing with the Riot Symbiote when another warning from his Spider-Sense suddenly rang through his mind.
The next instant, Peter saw a vast wave of purplish-red surging toward him from behind!
His pupils contracted slightly as he entered Bullet Time once again.
Only then did he clearly see what that overwhelming mass of purplish-red actually was.
Hair!
That's right. Countless strands of purplish-red hair cascaded down like a waterfall.
The tip of every strand was razor-sharp.
Even the slightest contact would leave behind a horrifying mass of densely packed puncture wounds!
Peter released the massive axe in his hands. The electric arcs vanished instantly as he threw himself into a forward roll.
The overwhelming wave of purplish-red hair swept just past his heels.
Several strands sliced across the corridor walls and floor. The solid concrete might as well have been tofu, cut apart by the hair with surfaces so smooth they looked laser-cut.
Peter landed at the other end of the corridor. When he looked up, he saw a second Symbiote standing beside the Riot Symbiote.
Its build was much slimmer than the Riot Symbiote's, with distinctly feminine contours.
Its entire body was covered in a purplish-red Symbiote suit with a pearlescent sheen.
Most striking of all was its hair. Purplish-red strands cascaded from the top of its head, far longer than its own height, spreading across the floor like a pool of flowing blood.
From its color and hair, Peter immediately recognized its identity.
The Agony Symbiote.
In the comics, it was also a descendant of Venom, as well as one of the rare female Symbiotes.
Peter remained perfectly calm at the sudden appearance of Agony.
He had already expected this.
Once the Riot Symbiote realized it could not defeat Spider-Man, there were only two things it could do.
The first was to turn around and flee without hesitation.
The second was to call in reinforcements.
Peter much preferred the second possibility. The more enemies drawn to his side, the more pressure he could take off everyone else.
What concerned him now was how many Symbiotes had been deployed this time, and whether Harry had also been attacked by one.
"Come on, then. The more, the better. Let's see just how many Symbiotes you've got!"
Peter muttered under his breath as a faint shimmer slowly passed over his body.
The next instant, he vanished from sight.
Miles Spider-Man's [Invisibility] ability had been activated.
Buzz!
The Agony Symbiote's purplish-red hair suddenly erupted, surging toward him like a massive wave.
The Riot Symbiote transformed its left hand into a giant bow and its right into a long arrow, unleashing a dense rain of arrows that covered every possible escape route Peter could take.
A battle far more intense than the one before had officially begun!
...
Harry received Gwen's message while he was in the gym.
He had basketball class that afternoon, so he had arrived early to warm up.
The moment he learned that a monster had appeared in the cafeteria and Peter was fighting it alone, Harry rushed toward the cafeteria without hesitation.
There was no way Harry would let his comrade fight alone!
The instant he burst out of the gym, he stepped into the shadow cast by the building.
The pitch-black Symbiote suit surged from his back and spread rapidly along his spine, far faster than during his usual transformation.
One second later, Harry Osborn disappeared into the building's shadow.
In his place stood the Black Spider-Man.
Harry fired a strand of webbing that stuck to the outer wall of the building across from him, then swung out of the shadows.
However, when the Venom Symbiote unleashed its full power, it was like switching on a searchlight in the middle of a dark forest.
Every Symbiote creature lurking in the darkness immediately sensed the Venom Symbiote's presence.
BOOM!
Six whip-like Symbiote tentacles suddenly burst from the ground beneath Harry, sealing off every direction around him.
Immediately afterward, a vicious-looking figure erupted from underground. Its entire body was covered in densely packed spikes, all of them moving at an astonishing speed.
It threw its arms wide and lunged toward the Black Spider-Man in midair.
There was no doubt that the instant the two made contact, those densely packed, rapidly moving spikes would tear the Black Spider-Man to shreds!
This was the Black Spider-Man's greatest weakness.
He had no Spider-Sense to warn him of danger before it struck!
Harry's pupils contracted to pinpricks.
He was in mortal danger!
But at that very instant...
BOOM!
A massive pillar of orange-yellow light came crashing down!
The pillar of light was like a divine sword descending from the heavens, driving straight into the encirclement formed by the two Symbiotes.
Then the beam exploded into a powerful Shockwave, blasting both Symbiotes away at the same time.
As the smoke and dust drifted aside, the figure of a man in a crisp suit slowly came into view.
Most striking of all was the enormous, extravagantly designed energy weapon in his hands, a gun that looked like something straight out of science fiction.
At the front of the rectangular weapon, wisps of white smoke still curled from its jet-black barrel.
Clearly, the powerful energy blast that had just blown both Symbiote creatures away had come from that enormous barrel.
"Black Spider-Man, are you okay?"
Harry had barely climbed out of the rubble when he heard a familiar voice.
"Wait, that voice..."
Harry stared at the man who had come to his rescue in disbelief.
As the smoke and dust cleared, he finally saw the man's face.
It was none other than Midtown High School's new principal and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Level 8 agent...
Phil Coulson!
Chapter 102: The Situation Escalates; S.H.I.E.L.D. Steps In
When Harry joined S.H.I.E.L.D., he had received basic agent training.
He had also met Phil Coulson, who had been sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to Midtown High School, once before.
Naturally, there was no way he could mistake him for someone else.
"Mr. Coulson, what are you doing here?"
Harry stared at the massive energy weapon in Coulson's hands, which looked almost comically oversized compared to his build, both surprised and delighted to see him.
"I'm the principal of this high school."
Coulson blinked and rested the massive energy weapon on his shoulder. His tone was casual, but his eyes remained alert.
"Protecting students is my duty, even if that student happens to be a Superhero."
Before Harry could respond, the Phage Symbiote and Lasher Symbiote, which had been blasted away, were already climbing back out of the rubble.
Coulson's earlier shot had done quite a bit of damage.
Of the six symbiote tentacles on the Lasher Symbiote's back, only four remained, and the missing two showed no sign of regenerating. Apparently, those symbiote tentacles had some special function and couldn't simply be regenerated at will.
The Phage Symbiote's injuries were even more obvious. Its left hand and entire left shoulder were completely gone, leaving behind a huge, ragged wound.
But the wound was already regenerating at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The fragments of Symbiote scattered across the ground were also writhing their way back toward the Phage Symbiote's body.
"Looks like our little chat is over."
Coulson's tone lost its earlier lightness. He lowered the massive energy rifle from his shoulder and aimed it at the Phage Symbiote.
"One each. I'll take the spiky one. The other one has too many tentacles for me to deal with."
Harry gave him an OK sign, then raised his hand and fired a continuous stream of black spider silk at the Lasher Symbiote, drawing it away.
At almost the same moment, the barrel of Coulson's massive energy rifle lit up again.
This time, Coulson adjusted the weapon's firing mode.
Instead of an energy beam, it began firing one energy sphere after another.
The energy beam had tremendous area-of-effect damage, but it also came with an obvious cooldown period, requiring several seconds before it could fire again.
Since there was no guarantee of killing the enemy in a single shot, the continuously fired energy spheres were better suited to the current situation.
The energy spheres poured out like rain, and they proved remarkably effective. The Phage Symbiote was forced back again and again, unable to mount any kind of counterattack.
Compared to Coulson, however, Harry was having a much harder time.
Harry's spider silk wrapped around two of the Lasher Symbiote's symbiote tentacles. Using them for leverage, he abruptly changed direction in midair and dodged the counterattack from the other two.
He then slipped around the Lasher Symbiote's front and threw a punch from its blind spot, knocking it backward into the air.
But just as Harry moved in to press his advantage, the symbiote tentacles on the Lasher Symbiote's back seemed to move on their own. They shot toward him like arrows and collided head-on with his fist.
With both sides protected by Symbiote suits, the fight had become a war of attrition, with victory depending on whose Symbiote could hold out longer.
That was not the kind of fight Harry wanted.
He was still worried about what was happening with Peter.
Just as their battle settled into a stalemate, a deafening crash suddenly erupted from the direction of the cafeteria.
A huge hole was smashed through the roof of the cafeteria building.
A dark gray figure and a purplish-red figure came flying through it together.
They had been sent flying by an overwhelming force.
The Riot Symbiote and Agony Symbiote traced a graceless arc through the air before slamming heavily into the lawn in front of the gymnasium.
At the same time, a red-and-blue figure swung over from the cafeteria, flipped once in midair, and landed steadily on the lawn.
Peter straightened up and brushed the dust off his suit. He glanced down at the Riot Symbiote and Agony Symbiote lying in the crater, then looked over at the two Symbiotes still fighting Coulson and Harry.
"Principal, that's a pretty big gun you've got." He waved at Coulson. "Looks like things are pretty lively over here too."
Whoosh!
A flash of blue light appeared beside Peter as Magik teleported in, Soulsword in hand.
"Need any help?"
Magik looked at the two Symbiotes Peter had already taken down and realized she had arrived a step too late.
"No thanks. They shouldn't be able to fight for a while."
Peter's one-against-two battle had been dangerous, but he had ultimately used his Bio-Electricity powers to paralyze both Symbiotes at the same time.
The situation had now completely reversed.
Three Superheroes and one super agent had the four Symbiote creatures surrounded.
Without a numerical advantage, the threat posed by the Symbiotes dropped to its lowest point.
Before long, Coulson and Harry also forced the Phage Symbiote and Lasher Symbiote onto the lawn.
Phil Coulson adjusted the massive energy rifle in his hands to maximum power.
He was ready to end the battle.
But at that moment, a dense buzzing filled the sky.
The next instant, a huge swarm of drones dove from above in a tightly packed formation.
Peter and Harry fired their webs at the same time, weaving them into a massive net in midair that caught the incoming drones.
But there were far more drones than anyone had expected.
Some slipped through the gaps in the web and escaped the net.
They slammed into the lawn at tremendous speed, triggering a series of massive explosions.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The meticulously maintained lawn was reduced to a wreck in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately, Magik had teleported everyone away before the explosions went off. The Symbiotes, on the other hand, were caught squarely within the blast radius.
Once the explosions subsided, Peter and the others returned to the scene, only to find something completely unexpected.
The Symbiotes were gone.
In their place were three men and one woman, the hosts of the four Symbiote creatures.
All four of the newly freed hosts were still unconscious.
Their breathing was relatively steady, however, so their lives did not appear to be in immediate danger.
"Where are the Symbiotes? Did the explosions kill them all?"
Harry was somewhat taken aback by what they were seeing.
"I don't think so. Symbiotes are incredibly resilient, and they can change their shape at will. Without specialized equipment, they're extremely difficult to contain."
Peter disagreed with Harry's guess, then turned to Coulson.
"Can you trace where those drones came from?"
"Shouldn't be a problem. I'll report this to the Director first."
Phil Coulson was starting to feel a serious headache coming on. It was obvious that some organization was operating behind the scenes and manipulating these Symbiote creatures.
And whoever they were, they had considerable resources. They had managed to deploy that many drones at once just to interfere with the battle.
That meant even bigger trouble was likely waiting for them down the line.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had no choice but to intervene in this incident.
"Secure the area for now. I'll tell everyone to go home and temporarily suspend classes."
Phil Coulson immediately exercised his authority as principal.
Peter nodded, then turned to Magik.
"Then let's head back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. We'll leave this place to the agents. They're the experts at handling this kind of thing."
...
Chapter 103: Thick Fog, the Disappearance of Norman Osborn
On the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Peter leaned against the metal wall in the corridor outside the Director's office, his arms crossed over his chest.
Harry sat on the bench opposite him, gazing out the porthole at the clouds. His eyes were slightly unfocused, and there was no telling what he was thinking about.
Magik stood beside Peter, quietly discussing his recent battle with the Symbiotes. She was quite interested in enemies like the Symbiotes, but unfortunately, she hadn't gotten the chance to fight one herself.
Before long, the door to the Director's office slid open. Nick Fury had just hung up the phone, and his deeply furrowed brow made it obvious that he was in a foul mood.
The three of them entered the office.
Peter looked at Nick Fury after he put down the phone. Fury's face was already dark to begin with, but now it looked even darker. Unable to contain his curiosity, Peter asked,
"Looks like that call really put our Director Fury in a bad mood. Who was it?"
Nick Fury shook his head helplessly and sighed.
"Who else? Those guys at The Pentagon."
The Pentagon?
The moment Peter heard that, he immediately understood why Nick Fury had such a headache.
After all, The Pentagon and S.H.I.E.L.D. were competitors.
Originally, The Pentagon had been responsible for conventional military defense, while S.H.I.E.L.D. specialized in dealing with supernatural, extraterrestrial, mysterious, and similar incidents. The two organizations had once stayed in their own lanes without interfering with each other.
But supernatural forces were becoming increasingly widespread.
The threats posed by supervillains and supercriminals had already begun to surpass conventional military threats.
The Pentagon could feel its own influence declining while S.H.I.E.L.D.'s status continued to rise.
Because of that, The Pentagon had begun targeting S.H.I.E.L.D. more and more often, trying to claim a place for itself in the field of supernatural forces as well.
Now that The Pentagon had called Nick Fury directly, they were probably trying to use the sudden Symbiote attack on Midtown High School as an opportunity to make an issue of it.
"The Pentagon heard about the Symbiote attack on Midtown High School and wants S.H.I.E.L.D. to hand over biological samples of the Symbiotes."
"They say it's a matter of national security and that S.H.I.E.L.D. shouldn't have exclusive control over such a unique biological resource."
"I gave them a good piece of my mind. They'll probably file a complaint with the World Security Council soon, but until that complaint gets approved, the samples remain under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s control. Nobody is taking them."
Nick Fury explained the whole situation in one breath, then fixed his single eye on Peter and spoke pointedly.
"The Pentagon is getting more and more out of hand. They've tried to walk all over S.H.I.E.L.D. several times already. This Director's chair gets harder to sit in every day."
Peter immediately waved his hands.
"Don't start with me. I have absolutely no interest in taking your seat."
Fury's expression darkened even further.
"Do you have any idea how many people in the world dream of sitting in this chair?"
"Then let whoever wants it have it. I certainly don't."
Peter spread his hands, voicing his honest opinion.
"If I had to sit in that chair every day and play politics with that many different factions, I'd end up bald sooner or later."
"My being bald has absolutely nothing to do with being the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
Nick Fury was so furious he looked ready to start smoking from the head. He slammed a hand on the desk, making the coffee cup on top of it jump.
"I was joking. All right, enough small talk. Let's get down to business."
Peter immediately changed the subject. The shift in his tone was so abrupt that Harry nearly burst out laughing.
Nick Fury took a few seconds to calm himself before leaning forward slightly and resting his chin against his interlaced hands.
"Fine. Let's talk business. What do you think of those Symbiote creatures' combat capabilities?"
Peter considered it for a moment.
"They're much stronger than the Venom Symbiote was back then. Whether it's their upper limit in strength, reflexes, or ability to coordinate in combat, they're far beyond what the Venom Symbiote showed at the time."
"Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that the hosts are responsible for some of that difference. After all, the physical capabilities of the hosts of these New-Generation Symbiotes are far superior to Harry's back then."
Nick Fury's expression immediately grew much more serious.
"That's about as bad as news gets."
He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face with both hands before slowly continuing.
"That unknown force is at least two generations ahead of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Symbiote research. We haven't even finished decoding the complete genetic map of the First-Generation Symbiotes, and they've already created Second-Generation Symbiotes."
"So this time, we absolutely cannot afford to wait. S.H.I.E.L.D. will mobilize its forces to trace the source of those drones. The Guardians need to remain on 24-hour standby from now on. You may be deployed again at any moment."
Peter nodded, then changed the subject.
"Could Oscorp have been involved in this attack?"
Nick Fury thought for a few seconds, then activated the screen on his desk. An encrypted communications interface appeared.
Soon, the face of a middle-aged Asian woman appeared on the screen.
Behind her was a room filled with surveillance monitors.
The woman wore a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent uniform. Her name was Melinda May, a Level 7 agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"How long has Norman Osborn been out of the public eye?"
Nick Fury got straight to the point.
"Twenty-three hours."
Melinda May gave a precise answer.
"His last public appearance was a board conference call yesterday afternoon. He hasn't had any public engagements since then."
Nick Fury nodded, then briefed Melinda on the large-scale drone attack at Midtown High School.
Melinda May immediately understood what the Director was getting at and began typing rapidly on her keyboard.
It didn't take long for her to find the information she needed.
"I pulled the internal logistics records from Oscorp's industrial division. There's no sign of any large-scale drone deployment within the past 72 hours, and the R&D logs from the technology division show no unusual requests. As far as the drones are concerned, we can tentatively rule out Oscorp for now."
Fury remained silent for several seconds, his expression still grave.
"Norman Osborn hasn't been seen for almost 24 hours. There aren't that many coincidences in the world, especially not all happening at the same time. We can set the drone lead aside for now, but there's definitely something wrong with Norman's whereabouts."
He turned toward Harry.
"Can you contact your father?"
Harry's expression immediately turned grim. He quickly pulled out his phone, found Norman Osborn's private number, and called it.
The phone rang for a long time before eventually going to voicemail.
Harry's expression grew even worse.
He never could have imagined that this whole situation would somehow end up involving his own father.
Chapter 104: An Unexpected Discovery, An Unfinished Human Enhancement Serum
Harry still wasn't ready to give up. He hung up and tried calling several more times, but the result was always the same.
"Strange... Why isn't he answering?"
Harry slipped his phone back into his pocket, anxiety creeping into his voice.
"He never ignores my calls. Even during the most important meetings, his personal line is always on."
Nick Fury took a deep breath, rose from his chair, and planted both hands on his desk.
The video feed switched over to Phil Coulson.
"Coulson, take a team and conduct a full investigation into Oscorp. Find out where Norman is as soon as possible, and determine exactly what connection there is between his disappearance and this Symbiote attack."
On the other end of the feed, Phil Coulson's voice remained steady.
"Understood. We're already pulling surveillance footage from around Oscorp Tower."
Nick Fury's single eye shifted toward Peter and the other two.
"Tracing the drones and investigating Oscorp will both take time before we get any results. There's nothing you can do by staying here."
"So head back for now. Keep your communications open. I'll contact you directly if anything comes up."
The three of them left Nick Fury's office, and Harry immediately spoke up.
"I'm going back to the estate to take a look. Even if I can't find out where my father went, I can at least figure out when he last left the estate."
"Stay in touch."
Peter nodded.
"Let me know immediately if you find anything."
...
Four masses of Symbiote surged out through an underground drainage outlet beneath Midtown High School.
They sped along the bottom of the Hudson River toward the estuary.
Although the explosion on Midtown High School's lawn had given the Symbiotes an opportunity to escape, it had still inflicted significant damage on them.
The Riot Symbiote, originally the largest of the four, was now the smallest.
Unable to quite keep pace with the others, it trailed behind the group, its dark gray, liquid-like body swimming forward with all its strength.
The Phage Symbiote and Lasher Symbiote swam side by side in the middle.
The Lasher Symbiote's four symbiotic tentacles provided considerable propulsion as it moved through the water.
The spines covering the Phage Symbiote's body rotated continuously as it swam, functioning almost like propellers.
The fastest of them was actually the Agony Symbiote. Its purplish-red strands spread out completely, and each time they extended and contracted, it propelled itself a considerable distance.
But that changed once the Symbiotes descended to a depth of two hundred meters.
As the water pressure continued to rise, the badly injured Symbiotes were forced to gather together and withstand the deep-sea pressure as a group.
The four differently colored Symbiotes pressed tightly against one another.
As they continued to descend, the immense pressure gradually compressed the four masses of Symbiote into a state of partial fusion.
The once distinct boundaries between their colors became impossible to distinguish.
Dark gray, black and yellow, gray-green, and purplish-red. All four colors were compressed into a single, constantly pulsating hybrid Symbiote.
At last, the Symbiotes passed through the underwater base's drainage outlet and successfully returned inside.
The crushing deep-sea pressure vanished in an instant. The hybrid Symbiote formed from the four struggled violently several times before finally separating again into four individual entities.
Doctor Octopus, standing in front of the collection tank, had witnessed the entire process.
The lenses of his glasses reflected the four masses of Symbiote slowly writhing inside the tank.
He raised a hand, rewound the surveillance footage, and played it again.
The image froze at the exact moment the four Symbiotes separated from the hybrid Symbiote.
Using his mechanical Octopus Tentacles, he enlarged the image and repeatedly watched the separation process.
"Very interesting."
Doctor Octopus spoke softly, but there was unmistakable excitement beneath his voice.
His fingers moved rapidly across the main console, bringing up the Symbiotes' genetic sequence analysis interface.
Scorpion stood behind him with his arms crossed, a trace of impatience on his face.
"The Symbiotes have all been recovered. What do we do next? Those people at The Foundation aren't like Norman. They're not going to give us much time. We need to show them some impressive results."
"Give me a little more time."
Doctor Octopus's mechanical Octopus Tentacles slowly spread out behind him.
"The temporary fusion they underwent during their descent proves one thing. Under certain conditions, different Symbiotes can completely fuse together and form a super-Symbiote."
"As long as we can keep that super-Symbiote stable, its combat power will far exceed that of any individual Symbiote. And the increase after fusion won't simply be additive. It will grow exponentially."
Exponential growth?
Was it really that dramatic?
Scorpion was somewhat skeptical of Doctor Octopus's claim.
But he wasn't a scientist, so he had no way to prove whether Doctor Octopus was right or wrong.
All he could do was be patient and wait for Doctor Octopus to finish his research.
"Oh, there's one more thing. Norman hasn't eaten or drunk anything for more than twenty-four hours. It looks like he's trying to starve himself to death."
A strange gleam flashed in Doctor Octopus's eyes.
He turned away from the collection tank, crossed the laboratory corridor, and stopped in front of the observation window of the isolation chamber.
Norman Osborn's hair was disheveled, and his once immaculate suit was now badly wrinkled. He looked utterly miserable.
The moment he saw Doctor Octopus, he rushed toward the observation window and began pounding his fists against the glass.
"Norman, it looks like you still have plenty of strength left. That's excellent."
A strange smile appeared on Doctor Octopus's face, giving Norman Osborn the chilling sensation that a venomous snake had fixed its eyes on him.
"Haven't you always been pursuing the perfect Human Enhancement Serum?"
At some point, one of Doctor Octopus's mechanical Octopus Tentacles had produced a syringe. The liquid inside gave off an ominous dark green glow.
"Here's a Human Enhancement Serum that hasn't been fully developed yet. Since you're planning to starve yourself to death anyway, I might as well use it on you. Consider it your final contribution to science."
"And there's something else you should know. This contains part of Carl King's genetic structure. If you're lucky enough, you might even turn into Spider-Man, or a Spider Monster."
Norman Osborn stared at the syringe, his chapped lips slowly parting.
"Otto, you've become a complete madman."
Doctor Octopus merely curled his lip dismissively.
"I don't care. Those who are the first to grasp the truth are often regarded as madmen."
Chapter 105: The Deformed Six-Armed Green Goblin
The moment Norman Osborn saw the unfinished Human Enhancement Serum, he knew something was terribly wrong.
He backed away as far as he could, trying to put some distance between himself and Doctor Octopus.
Although Norman Osborn had always been obsessed with developing the Human Enhancement Serum, it was only a means for him to make money.
That didn't mean he wanted to use the Human Enhancement Serum himself.
The Norman Osborn of this Multiverse was, at heart, purely a businessman.
Making money was his life's pursuit. He had absolutely no interest in becoming either a Superhero or a Villain.
In that respect, Harry Osborn and Norman Osborn were complete opposites.
"You can't get away, Norman."
Doctor Octopus let out a sinister chuckle as his mechanical Octopus Tentacles reached into the isolation chamber.
One mechanical Octopus Tentacle restrained Norman Osborn.
Another drove the syringe into Norman Osborn's carotid artery and slowly pushed the plunger all the way down.
As the dark green liquid entered his bloodstream, Norman Osborn's body suddenly arched backward.
Bulging, grotesque veins spread from his forehead across his entire body.
His eyes became bloodshot and bulged so far from their sockets that they looked ready to pop out at any moment.
Then his fully developed skeletal structure began growing again.
New bones formed outside his shoulder blades and beneath his ribs.
They grew at an astonishing rate, quickly developing into four new arms that tore their way out from both sides of his body.
Each new arm was packed with muscles that looked as solid as steel reinforcing bars.
His hands seized the edge of the steel-framed bed inside the isolation chamber and effortlessly crushed the entire frame into scrap metal.
Norman Osborn spread all six arms at once, his nails scraping across the walls with an ear-piercing metallic screech.
Aside from growing four additional arms and gaining a tremendous increase in muscular strength throughout his body, Norman Osborn's appearance had not changed much.
His bloodshot eyes locked onto Doctor Octopus. There was no trace of human reason left in them, only pure madness.
Doctor Octopus took a step back and looked the deformed six-armed monster up and down.
"Excellent. It seems you really were lucky enough to acquire the spider's multi-legged gene."
He turned to Scorpion.
"Now that you've seen Norman turn into such a beautiful creature, don't you want to give it a try too, Mac?"
Doctor Octopus's words sent a chill down Scorpion's spine.
"Don't even think about it! Norman was right. You're getting crazier by the day, Otto."
Their conversation was interrupted by violent pounding from inside the isolation chamber.
Norman Osborn, now transformed into a deformed six-armed Green Goblin, was frantically smashing his fists against the walls.
Every punch left a deep indentation in the wall.
Had the walls and floor of the isolation chamber not been made entirely of alloy, they never would have withstood such terrifying force.
Hiss! Hiss!
The ceiling of the isolation chamber released anesthetic gas powerful enough to knock out an elephant.
Norman Osborn gradually lost his strength, collapsed to the floor, and fell completely unconscious.
"Keep him alive. We'll use him as a test subject for future drug trials. A specimen with such extraordinary vitality isn't easy to find."
Doctor Octopus turned and headed back to the laboratory, where he resumed his research into Symbiote fusion.
...
In the New York Harbor District, sea winds had left an old pier covered in rust.
Nick Fury stood beside a black Rolls-Royce Phantom, his single eye fixed on the data that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Intelligence Division had just transmitted to his tablet.
"Norman Osborn's usual vehicle has been parked here for more than forty-eight hours."
"And some time ago, Oscorp's financial records showed an earmarked payment to an undisclosed undersea engineering project located near the edge of the continental shelf off New York Harbor."
He switched off the tablet and turned to Peter.
"That undersea project should be the place we're looking for."
Magik and Harry stood beside Peter.
Harry looked at the familiar Rolls-Royce Phantom and confirmed that it was indeed his father's car.
"Magik and I will head down first."
Peter climbed into the driver's seat of the Spider-Cycle and spoke to Nick Fury.
"Once we reach the undersea project, Magik will open a Portal and bring Harry over. Then I'll message you, and the main S.H.I.E.L.D. force can follow."
"Be careful. Your mission this time isn't to fight, so keep a low profile if you need to."
Nick Fury gave them one final warning.
Magik then climbed into the passenger seat of the Spider-Cycle.
Once they were both ready, Peter pressed a button on the dashboard.
The silver-gray vehicle automatically switched into underwater mode right there on the pier.
"Guys, if you find my father, say hi for me, assuming he isn't doing anything bad."
"If he is, stop him. Don't hold back because of me."
Harry looked at Peter with a complicated expression.
When Harry chose to become a Superhero, he had already imagined that one day he might have to stand against his own father.
He just hadn't expected that day to come so soon.
Based on the intelligence they had gathered so far, Norman Osborn did indeed seem to have an undeniable connection to the Symbiote attack.
It was no wonder Harry had come to that conclusion.
"Got it."
Peter waved to Harry, then twisted the throttle. The front and rear reactors lit up at the same time.
Whoosh!
The Spider-Cycle shot off the edge of the pier, tracing a silver-gray arc through the air before plunging into the ocean.
The instant it entered the water, sealed glass panels beneath the vehicle automatically closed, completely enclosing the reactors and cockpit.
Seawater streamed over the transparent canopy, and Peter could even make out schools of fish in the distance.
The Spider-Cycle began descending at an astonishing speed.
Before long, sunlight could no longer penetrate the surrounding water.
Absolute darkness and silence became all that Peter and Magik could perceive.
It felt as though they had entered an entirely different world... the world beneath the sea.
At that moment, Peter thought of a place... Atlantis, the ancient underwater kingdom deep in the Atlantic Ocean.
Ruled by Namor, it was home to the Atlanteans, a branch of humanity that had existed for twenty thousand years and were also known as Homo Mermanus.
"I just hope we don't run into the Atlanteans this time. Those guys are not easy to deal with."
Just thinking about Namor, the king of Atlantis who was ready to go to war at the slightest disagreement, gave Peter a headache.
Soon, the searchlights switched on automatically, sending two cold white beams piercing into the endless darkness ahead.
The Spider-Cycle continued its descent and soon reached a depth of three hundred meters.
The surrounding deep-sea pressure had already reached an astonishing level, equivalent to thirty atmospheres and placing roughly three hundred metric tons of pressure on every square meter.
The Spider-Cycle still appeared to be functioning perfectly, easily withstanding the tremendous pressure outside.
...
Chapter 106: Infiltration
The Spider-Cycle's theoretical maximum diving depth was around 300 meters, which meant they had already reached its stated limit.
However, Dr. Connors had used only the highest-quality materials when building the Spider-Cycle, so its actual diving limit far exceeded its theoretical one.
Peter continued guiding the Spider-Cycle downward, and before long, they reached a depth of 450 meters.
It was even darker here. Absolute darkness surrounded them in every direction.
Without the Spider-Cycle's lights illuminating the water ahead, it would have felt as though they had plunged into the depths of a black hole.
"Good thing neither of us is claustrophobic. A place like this could seriously mess with your head."
Peter joked with Magik, keeping the silent journey from becoming too dull.
Suddenly, Magik pointed at the sonar display above the virtual dashboard.
"Something seems to be moving over there..."
Peter looked at the sonar display and, sure enough, spotted two moving signals off to their front left.
To be safe, Peter switched off the searchlights and activated infrared night vision.
He then steered the Spider-Cycle toward the moving signals.
Soon, the infrared system picked up a scene that had no business happening in the deep sea.
A mechanical octopus was hunting a real octopus.
The mechanical octopus was about the size of a basketball, and its eight metal tentacles were wrapped around a living octopus.
Its prey was an Atlantic octopus nearly two meters long, futilely trying to free itself from the metal tentacles with its suction cups.
Unfortunately, the difference in strength between them was far too great.
The metal tentacles quickly pierced the Atlantic octopus's head, killing the unfortunate creature outright.
A cloud of ink burst from its body and spread through the deep water, forming an ever-expanding black cloud.
Peter watched the mechanical octopus hunting in the depths, and memories of his previous battle in the sewers surfaced in his mind.
That had been Peter's first time working with the Avengers. Although things hadn't ended perfectly, the encounter had introduced him to one of Doctor Octopus's signature creations.
This exact kind of mechanical octopus.
Dr. Otto Octavius, who had vanished without a trace after escaping from the sewers, had been hiding beneath the ocean this whole time?
If this was Doctor Octopus's new base, then there was no longer any need to guess where the Symbiotes had come from.
Doctor Octopus was behind all of it.
In fact, when Peter first learned that Norman Osborn had disappeared, he had already suspected that Doctor Octopus was most likely the mastermind.
Now, the appearance of the mechanical octopus had completely confirmed his suspicions.
Peter lowered the Spider-Cycle's power output to its minimum setting.
He made sure it produced as little noise as possible so the mechanical octopus ahead wouldn't notice them.
The Spider-Cycle followed from a distance as Peter waited to see where the mechanical octopus would go next.
After killing the Atlantic octopus, the mechanical octopus dragged the carcass behind it and continued swimming.
A little over ten minutes later, it reached a section of rocky seabed and followed the rock formations until it suddenly disappeared behind a large underwater boulder.
Peter's heart skipped a beat. He pulled up their current coordinates and confirmed that they almost perfectly overlapped with the coordinates of Oscorp Industries' undersea project.
"Looks like we found the place."
Peter turned and exchanged a glance with Magik behind him.
The Spider-Cycle slowly moved forward until it reached the area where the mechanical octopus had disappeared.
What appeared before Peter was a seemingly bottomless ocean trench.
Hidden within the rocky wall of the trench was a well-concealed drainage outlet.
Clearly, the outlet served as the mechanical octopus's route in and out of the undersea base.
And the Atlantic octopus it had hunted was most likely intended as food for the people inside.
Peter stopped the Spider-Cycle near the drainage outlet.
"Can you bypass this outlet and teleport directly into the space behind it?"
Peter glanced back at Magik.
Magik studied the position of the outlet for a few seconds before nodding.
"Shouldn't be a problem. I can try."
"Be careful. If there's any danger, teleport back immediately."
Under Peter's watchful gaze, Magik suddenly let herself fall backward.
A flash of blue light appeared, and she vanished from the back seat of the Spider-Cycle.
Three seconds later, another flash of blue light appeared, and Magik returned.
"There's plenty of space inside. No problems there. There aren't any guards either, and I didn't see any sign that the active defense system has been activated."
That was about the best situation Peter could have hoped for.
"Looks like Lady Luck really is on our side today. We're off to a good start."
Peter shut down the Spider-Cycle's power system, leaving it suspended just outside the drainage outlet.
"Teleport the whole Spider-Cycle inside. We might need it later."
Magik looked over the Spider-Cycle's dimensions and gave a small nod.
She then steadied herself and focused all her strength on opening a Portal large enough for the Spider-Cycle.
Whoosh!
Deep blue energy flared to life, and the Spider-Cycle instantly vanished from the seawater.
The surrounding water immediately rushed in under the immense pressure, filling the empty space and sending a stream of bubbles racing toward the surface.
...
When Peter's vision cleared, the Spider-Cycle had landed on a maintenance platform surrounded by pipes.
Above them stretched an arched alloy dome about three stories high, with dim lights illuminating the space.
The air was thick with the smell of machine oil.
Peter climbed off the Spider-Cycle and activated its stealth mode.
Within seconds, the Spider-Cycle's silver-gray exterior blended into the shadows cast by the surrounding pipes.
Only the water on the floor showed that the Spider-Cycle had ever been there.
Peter then raised his wrist and contacted Nick Fury.
"Director, coordinates confirmed. The base belongs to Doctor Octopus, and the Symbiotes are his work too. You can deploy the fleet."
The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds.
"Understood. We're already on our way. We should arrive within fifteen minutes."
After ending the call, Peter gave Magik a signal.
Magik immediately understood and activated her Teleportation Ability again, bringing Harry over from the dock where he had been waiting.
Harry saw the light and shadows around him shift. The next moment, Peter and Magik were standing beside him.
He didn't activate his Symbiote suit right away. He was worried that doing so might trigger a reaction from the other Symbiotes inside the undersea base.
Peter brought Harry up to speed on everything they had discovered.
When Harry learned that his father had actually worked with Doctor Octopus to secretly construct such an enormous undersea base, his eyes dimmed for several seconds before regaining their resolve.
"If my father is responsible for this, then I'll be the one to make it right!"
Chapter 107: The Traitor
Inside the undersea base, a metal staircase extended downward from the maintenance platform.
Every metal step gleamed as though it were brand new.
At the bottom of the staircase was a corridor leading deeper into the undersea base.
Peter took the lead. His Spider-Sense could warn him of danger in advance, making him the best choice to scout ahead.
Harry still hadn't activated his Symbiote suit, though he was ready to summon it at any moment.
Magik had already summoned the Soulsword, prepared for anything that might happen.
The three stayed close to the wall as they moved silently through the dim corridor.
After passing through two security gates, they spotted an unusual room at the far end of the corridor.
Peter, Harry, and Magik continued forward until they reached it.
Before them was the isolation chamber where Norman Osborn was being held.
Through the narrow observation window, they could see a figure in a tattered suit curled up in one corner.
The instant Harry recognized the figure, his pupils contracted sharply.
That was unmistakably his father... Norman Osborn!
Norman Osborn was still unconscious from the anesthetic, and his torn suit happened to conceal the four deformed arms that had grown from his body.
Because of that, the three standing outside the observation window had no way of realizing that Norman Osborn was no longer quite the same as before.
From where they stood, he simply looked like a man who had been tortured into a state of complete exhaustion, a stark contrast to the powerful business tycoon he had once been.
"That's my father! Why is he being held prisoner here? What the hell is going on?"
Of the three, Harry was easily the most shaken.
At first, he had even prepared himself for the possibility of turning against his own father. After all, everything they had uncovered seemed to point toward Norman Osborn being one of the masterminds behind the incident.
But after infiltrating the undersea base, what they found was the exact opposite.
Norman Osborn had been imprisoned, and judging by his condition, he had been treated with extreme cruelty. If anything, he looked more like a victim.
Harry's emotions had been thrown from one extreme to another.
"I'll go in and get him out."
Magik was about to activate her Teleportation Ability, but Peter reached out and stopped her.
"Now isn't the time to rescue him. Mr. Osborn is obviously an important prisoner under close surveillance. If he suddenly disappears, the enemy will know something's wrong."
Magik lowered her hand and asked with some concern,
"Then what do we do?"
Peter thought for a moment before turning to Harry.
"Harry, stay here and wait. The moment the main assault begins, open this door and get Mr. Osborn out."
"Illyana and I will keep moving deeper into the base. We'll try to find Doctor Octopus before the assault starts. Maybe we can end this whole mess early."
Harry took a deep breath, then nodded.
"Got it!"
Peter and Magik exchanged a glance, retraced their steps toward the entrance of the corridor, and took another route deeper into the base.
The two figures slipped silently around the corner and vanished into the darkness.
Harry remained by the observation window for a few more seconds before turning away and crouching behind a stack of equipment crates near the corner of the corridor.
He blended into the shadows and waited silently.
About five minutes later, footsteps echoed from the other end of the corridor. The metallic clanging came from armored boots striking the metal floor.
Harry's ears twitched slightly, and he shifted farther into the shadows behind the equipment crates.
A figure in dark green armor approached from the far end of the corridor.
Scorpion's mechanical scorpion tail swayed gently behind him.
Harry held his breath and carefully peeked out toward the approaching footsteps.
With just one glance, his heart began pounding wildly.
He had seen a face he never expected to find here.
Scorpion's armored visor was raised, revealing a face Harry would never mistake.
Mac Gargan, his father's most trusted bodyguard.
He was also the head of security at Osborn Manor.
Mac Gargan was carrying a small medical kit and an IV bag.
He stopped in front of the observation window and unlocked the control panel with his fingerprint. The steel door slid open without a sound.
He entered the isolation chamber, crouched in front of Norman Osborn, and hung the IV bag from a hook on the twisted steel bed frame. His movements were quick and practiced.
"Mr. Osborn."
Mac Gargan's hoarse voice filled the room.
"You can't die here. I'm not letting Otto kill you before we've squeezed every last bit of value out of you."
He tore open the sterile packaging around the IV tubing and positioned the needle over a vein in Norman Osborn's gaunt arm.
Going without food for more than two days wouldn't kill him, but going without water certainly could.
At that exact moment, a figure burst from the shadows.
Like a bolt of lightning, he rushed through the still-open doorway and appeared behind Mac Gargan before the man could react.
Harry didn't activate his full Symbiote suit. He relied only on his enhanced physical abilities to ambush the traitor, Mac Gargan.
He chose the simplest, most direct, and most effective method... a rear naked choke.
Harry hooked his right arm around Mac Gargan's neck.
His left hand gripped his right elbow, forming a triangle with his arms before tightening the hold.
Once properly locked in, a rear naked choke could restrict blood flow through the carotid arteries, depriving the brain of oxygen and causing almost immediate unconsciousness.
But that only applied to ordinary people.
Harry had overlooked one very important detail.
Mac Gargan had a steel mechanical scorpion tail.
The instant the mechanical scorpion tail detected the attack, it snapped upward from behind him. The tip opened and stabbed toward Harry's face.
Harry used the momentum to flip over Mac Gargan's head, avoiding the mechanical scorpion tail while driving a heavy punch into him.
His fist slammed squarely into the side of Scorpion's armored helmet.
The blow sent Scorpion flying sideways into the wall before he crashed to the floor, crushing the medical kit beneath him.
Mac Gargan quickly rolled over and rose to one knee, staring at the man in front of him in disbelief.
Harry's face was now covered by the Symbiote suit. To avoid triggering a reaction from the other Symbiotes, this was the most coverage he dared use.
"Black Spider-Man? We're at the bottom of the ocean. How the hell did you find this place?"
Mac Gargan's voice was filled with confusion and shock.
Harry answered with nothing but a cold smile.
He tilted his head slightly, avoiding another strike from the mechanical scorpion tail, then threw a punch that collided head-on with Mac Gargan's right fist.
Boom!
A burst of intense pain shot through Mac Gargan's hand.
Only then did he realize that Black Spider-Man's fist was also covered by the Symbiote.
Black Spider-Man was far more skilled at using the Symbiote than the Second-Generation Symbiote creatures!
A terrible feeling rose in Mac Gargan's chest.
If Black Spider-Man was here, then where was the other Spider-Man?
Chapter 108: Awakening
A grim look flashed through Mac Gargan's eyes as he rolled his neck, still numb from the chokehold.
His armored helmet automatically closed over his face, putting him fully into combat mode, while his mechanical scorpion tail rose high behind him.
"So what if you Spider-Men managed to find this place?"
The tip of his mechanical scorpion tail extended into an even sharper point.
"Finding this place doesn't mean you'll make it out alive."
Harry didn't bother responding with words.
His answer was a right hook aimed straight at Mac Gargan.
Mac Gargan raised both arms to block. A deafening metallic clang erupted through the narrow corridor as the impact forced the Scorpion armor back two steps.
Harry had no intention of letting up. He knew he had to keep Mac Gargan completely suppressed and under no circumstances allow him to trigger the alarm.
Ignoring the pain shooting through his right hand from the recoil, strong enough to make his bones ache, Harry pressed forward.
His left fist followed immediately, smashing into Mac Gargan's abdominal armor.
Amplified by the Symbiote, Harry's tremendous strength cracked the abdominal plating, which was made from numerous narrow interlocking plates.
Mac Gargan's mechanical scorpion tail stabbed at him from the side. Harry tilted his head out of the way, and the tail grazed past his ear before burying itself in the wall.
Harry caught the tail with one hand, then fired a mass of pitch-black spider silk from his free right hand directly into Mac Gargan's face.
Mac Gargan's vision instantly went black.
The next moment, the world seemed to spin around him. Harry had grabbed the mechanical scorpion tail and was swinging him around like a flail.
Then, with a tremendous crash, Mac Gargan was slammed into the corridor floor and sent tumbling away like a bouncing ball.
While rolling, Mac Gargan used his mechanical scorpion tail to stabilize himself before quickly getting back to his feet.
He reached toward the upper-right side of his abdomen and only then realized that the armor there had been completely torn away during their exchange, leaving the most vulnerable spot on his entire body exposed.
The upper-right abdomen was exactly where the liver was located.
A heavy blow to the liver could produce such overwhelming pain that a person would instantly lose the ability to fight and collapse to the ground.
That was what made the Liver-Shattering Punch so dangerous.
A bead of cold sweat slowly rolled down Mac Gargan's forehead.
Only now did he realize just how dangerous Black Spider-Man really was, far beyond anything he had expected.
Just as Mac Gargan hesitated over whether he should keep fighting, a muffled boom suddenly echoed through the base, like distant thunder.
The entire corridor floor jolted violently with the impact, accompanied by the teeth-grating sound of metal twisting under strain.
At the same time, alarms began blaring from the ceiling throughout the corridor.
The lights embedded overhead switched from white to flashing red.
Harry immediately realized what was happening. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s main force had arrived and was launching its assault on the undersea base!
A faint smile appeared on Harry's lips.
For him, this was excellent news.
There was no longer any reason to conceal the Symbiote's power. He could finally fight at full strength!
The pitch-black Venom Symbiote instantly spread across Harry's body, enveloping him from head to toe. In the blink of an eye, he had fully transformed into Black Spider-Man.
Mac Gargan had already lost all desire to keep fighting. Taking advantage of the brief moment Harry needed to activate his Symbiote suit, he suddenly lashed out with his mechanical scorpion tail.
But the tail wasn't aimed at Harry.
Its tip pierced the fire extinguisher mounted in the corner of the corridor.
High-pressure dry powder exploded into the confined space, instantly flooding the entire corridor with thick white smoke and reducing visibility to zero.
By the time Harry burst out of the cloud of white powder, the far end of the corridor was empty.
Only several scrape marks left by armor across the floor showed which direction Mac Gargan had fled.
"Mac Gargan!"
Harry growled and was about to give chase when a stifled, painful groan suddenly came from behind him.
It was Norman Osborn.
Harry stopped in his tracks and turned toward the corner.
Norman Osborn's curled-up body was trembling.
His eyes were still tightly shut, but the peaceful expression of unconsciousness was gone, replaced by a strange, twisted grimace.
Harry didn't hesitate. He hurried over, crouched down, placed both hands on his father's shoulders, and with some effort rolled him out of the corner and laid him flat on the floor.
Then Harry froze.
He finally saw what had happened to his father.
Four grotesque arms extended from beneath Norman Osborn's ribs.
Together with his original two arms, Norman Osborn now had six arms in total.
Through the contact of his palms, Harry could also feel something deeply abnormal about the muscles beneath Norman Osborn's skin.
These were nothing like the muscles a fifty-year-old man who had never seriously trained should possess.
They were thick and tough like steel cables, packed with such tremendous power that even Harry felt an enormous sense of pressure from them.
Harry's pupils contracted.
Something terrible had clearly happened to his father.
Norman Osborn's eyes suddenly snapped open.
His bloodshot, dark red pupils startled Harry.
"Father..."
Harry hadn't even finished speaking when a fist came hurtling toward his jaw.
At the last possible moment, Harry crossed both arms in front of himself.
The terrifying blow crashed into his guard. Its force traveled straight through the Symbiote suit and into the bones of his arms, sending his entire body flying off the ground.
Harry's back slammed into the ceiling. The Symbiote suit absorbed part of the impact before he crashed heavily back onto the floor, kicking up a cloud of dust.
He grunted and looked up at Norman Osborn.
"Father, it's me. I'm Harry."
Harry withdrew the mask of his Symbiote suit, revealing his face.
Unfortunately, Norman Osborn had already lost himself completely.
Nothing remained in his mind except a violent urge to destroy.
He wanted to tear apart every living creature he saw. There was no chance he could recognize his own son.
Norman Osborn ripped away the tattered suit restricting his movements, then grabbed the mangled remains of the steel bed frame beside him and hurled them at Harry.
The jagged pieces of steel tore through the air with a piercing whistle.
Harry fired strands of pitch-black spider silk, catching the pieces one after another, then jumped backward to avoid Norman Osborn's incoming punch.
Boom!
With six arms, Norman Osborn could throw three punches from the same side at once.
The destructive force was effectively tripled, and in an instant, three deep craters appeared in the metal wall.
Harry sighed as the Symbiote suit once again covered his entire body.
"Since talking isn't going to work, I guess we'll have to settle this the hard way."
Harry slowly assumed a fighting stance.
The last shred of hope in his heart disappeared completely.
At that moment, Black Spider-Man stood face-to-face with the deformed six-armed Green Goblin.
A battle between father and son was about to begin!