Shocker.
Real name, Herman Schultz.
He had originally been just an ordinary man, though a fairly talented inventor.
By relying on the high-frequency vibro-shock devices he invented, he gained extremely destructive power.
Before this, he had tried robbing banks several times, but Peter had always found out and stopped him.
After clashing with Peter a few times, he learned that Kingpin wanted Spider-Man dead, so he immediately joined in. After all, getting rid of Spider-Man, an enemy he hated, and collecting a bounty from Kingpin at the same time was a win-win.
"All right!"
The moment Peter saw Shocker threatening him, he immediately put on a frightened act and raised both hands.
"The problem is, which Spider-Man are you trying to find?"
"Both of them, of course."
Kraven answered without hesitation.
"Wait, Kraven." Bullseye, standing up high, immediately shouted. "Two Spider-Men aren't something we can deal with. Tonight, there's only one prey here."
"You're wrong!"
The moment Bullseye finished speaking, another voice rang out.
Then a crisp sound echoed through the empty space of the abandoned factory.
Clack.
It sounded like a glass marble rolling across the ground.
Along with it came the ticking warning sound of a bomb.
That noise instantly put everyone present on edge. They all moved in the shadows, and naturally knew dangerous weapons well.
That sound was unmistakably the sound of a bomb.
Bullseye's gaze shifted, and he instantly spotted a yellow sphere rolling toward Rhino's feet.
"A pumpkin bomb?"
"Watch out!"
Boom!!!
Rhino had not even had time to react before the violent fire and heat of the explosion completely swallowed him!
Then a green figure crashed through the ceiling like a ghost as Harry dove down on his glider.
He shouted, "You're the prey!"
At the first sight of him, everyone present was stunned.
"Green Goblin?"
The most shocked of all was actually Peter.
He could not understand why the Green Goblin, who was supposed to be dead already, had returned now.
But very quickly, Green Goblin's actions left him even more confused.
With both hands moving at once, he hurled pumpkin bombs with all his strength.
And the targets were not Bant and Peter.
They were the villains.
Harry was not worried about the bombs accidentally hitting Peter or Bant, because while the Green Goblin armor's support AI was nowhere near as powerful as Eunice, it could still help him calculate the bombs' blast radius, throwing angle, and force.
"They're fighting each other?"
Peter turned to Bant and said.
"Could you possibly be any dumber?" Bant rolled his eyes at him and said disdainfully. "That's Harry."
"Harry? Then why is he wearing the Green Goblin's outfit?"
The words slipped out before Peter could stop himself, but he quickly realized he had asked a stupid question.
The Green Goblin armor had originally belonged to Osborn in the first place.
Sure enough, after a round of bombardment, Harry immediately turned his head and shouted at Peter and Bant, "Peter! Little Bant! Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine."
Bant casually exerted a little force through his wrist and directly snapped the ropes Kraven had used to bind them.
At the same time, when he saw the pumpkin bombs flying in, Shocker immediately raised his arm and unleashed a vibration blast, detonating them in midair.
Bullseye fired a shot as well.
Boom!!
Kraven did not intercept the pumpkin bombs, but after leaping away from the blast, he immediately used the beams and pillars inside the factory as footholds and pounced toward Harry.
Harry barely managed to dodge Kraven's lunge while standing on the glider, but in the next moment, Shocker fired off another blast from behind and hit him squarely in the back.
Fortunately, the underside of the glider had magnetic locks holding Harry's feet in place. Otherwise, that blow would have knocked him right out of the air.
Against these terrifying criminals, Harry, who was essentially just an ordinary man, would be in a very bad position if he lost the ability to stay airborne.
"Green Goblin!"
Kingpin's voice came from the communicator at Bullseye's waist, grinding with fury.
"I don't care who he is. Kill him!"
The instant he finished speaking, a furious roar came from the flames. Rhino, his whole body burning, charged out like an armored tank and grabbed an oil drum, hurling it at Harry.
Harry narrowly dodged the attack in a panic.
Realizing how powerful his enemies were, he immediately shouted, "Peter, Little Bant, run first! I'll hold them off!"
In a situation like this, there was no way he could guarantee Bant's and Peter's safety.
In truth, Harry could barely protect himself.
With his level of strength, he was simply no match for these villains. And since they were inside a factory, even the glider's advantages were hard to bring into play.
"Little Bant, let's pull back first."
Peter shot Bant a meaningful look.
The meaning was clear.
It was time for Spider-Man and Hacker to make their entrance.
"I get the logic, but do we really need to retreat?" Bant said. "If I remember right, you always wear your suit under your clothes, don't you?"
"What? But..."
Peter looked confused.
He clearly remembered that the one who insisted he keep his identity secret had been Bant.
So what did this mean now?
Was he supposed to transform in public?
"Harry's one of us. It's fine if he finds out. As for these criminals..." Bant pressed his hand onto the Omnitrix as the core popped up. "Don't tell me you're planning to let them walk out of here alive?"
At the same time, his voice turned as cold and sharp as a blade, filled with killing intent.
"You want to kill them?"
Peter covered his mouth in shock.
"Is there a problem with that?" Bant replied. "They dared come after us today. Tomorrow, they might go after Uncle Ben and Aunt May, or Mary Jane and Felicia. Maybe even your Gwen."
"What do you mean my Gwen..."
Peter's face turned bright red.
But Bant did not care.
He continued, "Think about it. How many times have these people made a move on you already? That guy Shocker, you've caught him several times, but he still broke out of prison and got off with barely any punishment. The others are exactly the same."
"You can let them go once, twice, or even more times. But if they refuse to repent, then what's the point of throwing them in prison?"
"They're never really punished, because there are plenty of people willing to bail them out so they can keep doing evil."
"The principle you cling to is basically telling them, 'Go ahead and do evil. Spider-Man can't really do anything to us anyway.' That's exactly why they've become more and more reckless."
Peter was left speechless by Bant's words.
Because he knew Bant was right.
The law was supposed to be a deterrent against evil.
It was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over one's head, making people fear it.
But when people realized that sword had no killing power at all, who would still be afraid of it?
Bant placed a hand on Peter's shoulder and said seriously,
"When you root out evil, root it out completely, Peter."
In the brief instant the two of them were talking, Harry had already taken quite a few attacks.
Of all the villains there, he did not really care about most of them.
Bullseye's bullets were nothing to him while he wore the armor. Kraven's attacks were fierce, but his target was large and his attacks were easy enough to dodge.
As for Aleksei, that bulky brute had almost no anti-air capability at all. His little juggling act of throwing objects did little more than interfere a bit.
Only Shocker was truly dangerous.
His attacks were invisible, and the distorted vibration waves were hard to spot in the dim factory.
No matter how much Harry tried to stay alert, he would still occasionally miss one.
After several exchanges, he had already fallen into a disadvantage.
At any other time, if Harry found himself overmatched, he would have chosen to flee immediately. With the ability to fly, the people in front of him could not have stopped him if he wanted to leave.
But the problem was that Bant and Peter were still here.
If he left, those two good friends of his were dead.
Thinking of that, Harry could not help but start complaining.
"What are you two doing?!"
"Run already!"
Harry was practically beside himself with frustration.
He saw Peter and Bant standing there talking about who knew what, and thought the two of them had suddenly become heroines in some melodrama, the kind who were nothing but dead weight but still refused to run.
Harry was furious.
If he had been strong enough to carry two grown men, he would have grabbed Peter and Bant with one hand each and flown off already.
Peter was still hesitating.
But Bant was no longer willing to keep waiting.
"Eunice, hack every surveillance feed and communication line in this place."
"Yes, sir."
Since he was not wearing his Spider-Man suit, Bant planned to fight in alien form again for the first time in a while.
But before making his move, he thought one step ahead and hacked every network feed, making sure no one else would see what he looked like when he transformed.
In the next moment, the Omnitrix's DNA began overwriting his body.
Bathed in green light, his body started mutating. Strange tendrils extended from both sides of his face, while from his back, like a butterfly breaking free of its cocoon, a pair of wings unfurled.
Though rather than a butterfly, it looked more like some terrifying insect.
"Ugh, what is that?"
A thick, nasty stench hit Peter in the face. He pinched his nose and recoiled with a look of disgust. In that instant, every bit of his confusion and hesitation got shoved aside by the smell.
Out of a certain brotherly affection, Peter tactfully refrained from saying it smelled absolutely vile.
"An alien monster? A facehugger?"
"It's Stinkfly!"
Bant's voice had turned shrill, almost like an insect's cry.
So far, among the original ten alien heroes, this was Bant's first time transforming into Stinkfly.
As for the others, even heroes without especially powerful combat ability like Ripjaws and Wildmutt had at least been used once.
There was no helping it.
The practical use of these three alien heroes simply was not that strong to begin with. Although Stinkfly had flight, he was not very fast in the air, making him less useful than Heatblast instead.
If Bant had looked more carefully at the Omnitrix icon this time, Stinkfly probably would not have shown up for a long while yet.
But since he had transformed already, Bant was not about to switch forms on the spot.
Against these small fries, Stinkfly's power was more than enough!
Thanks to Novel-Loving Passerby for the 1782-point tip, and to Nangong Hanyi, Yonghao, and Qingniangong for the 100-point tips, as well as everyone for the birthday wishes.
My head was killing me today, and I had originally planned not to push for a huge update. But when I saw so many people wishing me a happy birthday, I still kept going. Thank you, everyone. I wish you all happiness every day.
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