"Driver, can you go any faster?"
"I'm in a hurry."
"I really have an emergency."
In the taxi, MJ anxiously stared at the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Electricity flashed there, and sandstorms occasionally appeared.
Strange phenomena unfolded one after another.
It made her very anxious.
The driver was a young brown guy. He chewed gum and spoke in English with a foreign accent.
"Miss, right now I'm the only one who dares to take this job."
"Where you're going, you want to go to the Statue of Liberty."
"You know what's happening there right now, don't you?"
"I'm telling you, you Spider-Man fans are way too crazy. Spider-Man is fighting villains right now, and you actually dare to go cheer him on. It's because I admire that kind of courage that I took your fare."
"Would you believe it? Right now, no taxi driver in all of New York dares to take this kind of order."
"Only me!"
"But even someone as brave as me can't solve a traffic jam."
He shrugged, looking helpless.
Because the road ahead was blocked.
After the citywide broadcast about Spider-Man's fight, not only were villains attracted, but a large number of citizens also came to watch the show.
They certainly didn't dare get close to the Statue of Liberty, so they could only watch from afar.
This caused the traffic jam.
The driver adjusted his rearview mirror. A photo was clipped to it.
It was a picture of him with a friend. His friend wore a red suit, with two swords crossed on his back and a hood over his head, he looked very strange.
"Spider-Man is a pretty good superhero. Speaking of which, I also know a superhero. Do you know who?"
MJ had no mood to chat with the driver right now.
She had originally broken Peter Parker's heart and left New York with her parents, determined not to come back.
But after seeing Peter Parker attacked and Aunt May dying, MJ began to waver.
Then, after hearing the news of Spider-Man's challenge in the morning, she couldn't sit still anymore and secretly returned to New York.
Now she just wanted to get to the Statue of Liberty to tell Peter Parker that even if the whole world didn't support him, even if they had already broken up, she was still willing to support him.
MJ just didn't want him to be so alone.
The young driver was about to say something more when suddenly, exclamations sounded from ahead. Then he saw three shadows fall from the sky onto the road in the distance.
Those figures hit the ground, making the road tremble slightly.
An unfortunate car parked at the roadside was struck. Its tire popped out and bounced onto a nearby pickup truck, startling the bearded driver inside.
"What the hell?"
The bearded man looked out the window and saw a figure clad entirely in armor jump down from the crushed car.
It was unknown whether it was human or some other creature. It radiated black aura from its entire body. From within its grotesque alien faceplate, two pitch-black eyes glowed with a sinister red light.
"Damn!"
The bearded man quickly opened his door and jumped out of the pickup.
No sooner had he gotten out than he saw his pickup lifted by the humanoid monster and hurled forward with force.
Whoosh!
The bearded man's ears were filled with the howling wind. His pickup flew over his head, traveled a hundred meters, and landed into the line of cars.
Instantly, a sedan had its roof crushed in, its windows cracked. The people inside screamed in fright, but because the car was deformed they couldn't open the doors and had to struggle out through the windows.
"What are these, aliens?"
"My God, I swear I saw them fall from the sky."
"They're here, run!"
People cried out in alarm.
There were actually three of the 'monsters' the bearded man had seen.
They were the 'Cursed Warriors' of the Dark Elves.
These three Cursed Warriors had, of course, been dropped by Alex.
The purpose was to prevent MJ from getting close to Peter Parker.
The appearance of Doctor Octopus Otto had already caused a slight wavering in Peter Parker's heart.
If he saw MJ again, then even if the 'Seed of Desire' was triggered, Peter Parker might not be controlled by the desire for revenge.
In that case, all of Alex's efforts up to now would have been wasted.
"I'm still too merciful."
Alex looked at the girl in the taxi on the distant road.
"I should have had the relevant characters permanently exit the stage from the very beginning."
"Otherwise, it just gives the 'Administrators' a chance to correct the plot."
Alex narrowed his eyes slightly.
"However..."
"So far, the Administrators don't seem omnipotent either."
"At the very least, they aren't 'screenwriters' yet."
"They can't fabricate plots at will. They can only guide things, and it has to follow a certain logic."
"Otherwise, MJ wouldn't have come by taxi, she'd have come out of a starship."
"Hmm, logic."
"This should be an important existential law within the multiverse."
"All things must follow a certain logic, or else chaos ensues. It's like a precision machine, if its parts act too arbitrarily, the more precise the machine, the faster it collapses."
"If this hypothesis holds, then in my future 'travels' through the multiverse, I can turn this to my advantage."
Just as Alex was analyzing the underlying rules of the multiverse, the three Cursed Warriors strode forward, sending vehicles flying and creating massive chaos.
Meanwhile, in the taxi where MJ was riding, the young driver watched the figures constantly rushing past his cab.
He quickly opened his door and said, "It's getting late. I'm off duty now. You won't have to pay me."
MJ said anxiously, "Wait, where are you going?"
She hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt and was about to get out when a car rolled over and smashed toward the taxi.
Boom!
The taxi shook violently. The airbags deployed, but MJ was in the back seat and wasn't hit by them.
However, because she had unbuckled her seatbelt, she was first thrown against the backrest, then slammed into the front seat.
Dazed and seeing stars, it took her a few seconds to recover.
MJ quickly tried to open the door, but then the taxi suddenly tilted upward. A Cursed Warrior had lifted the car and was about to throw it.
"No, no, no!"
MJ opened the door, ready to jump out, when suddenly a figure descended from the sky and slammed into the Cursed Warrior that had lifted the taxi.
It was a metallic giant, nearly four meters tall, with flames rising from beneath the faceplate on its head.
The Destroyer!
The guardian of Asgard's vault had reappeared. After knocking aside one Cursed Warrior, its faceplate opened and it unleashed a stream of searingly hot light from its head.
That surging beam not only forced back the two Cursed Warriors charging at it, but also blew away the line of cars blocking the road ahead, clearing a path.
Then two blue beams of light fell onto MJ's taxi. After the blue light flowed over the car for a moment, the driverless taxi suddenly started moving on its own.
The Destroyer released its hold, and the taxi roared forward, speeding toward the Statue of Liberty.
"Stop!"
"Stop it!"
MJ screamed inside the car, "Why is the taxi driving itself?"
"Does it have autonomous driving?"
"What the hell?"
Watching the steering wheel turn on its own and the accelerator controlled by the car itself, MJ could only press herself into her seat.
The taxi sped off into the distance.
Several Cursed Warriors moved to intercept.
Suddenly, the Destroyer landed in front of them.
First a punch, then a kick, and then a blast of high-temperature energy from its head.
The Destroyer fought three against one, holding off the Cursed Warriors.
The taxi was now unobstructed, its speed increasing past 100 kilometers per hour.
Just then, a golden beam of light descended from the sky, streaked across the road in an instant, pierced into the taxi, and passed right by MJ.
MJ's eyes widened in terror. In her vision, that golden beam passed through the seat not far from her.
Then the taxi split in two.
She could even see the cross-section structure of the cab and the various metal components glowing red-hot.
Then a figure suddenly crashed into the taxi, grabbed her, and burst back out with her.
The taxi exploded violently a second later.
Flames and debris roared after them.
MJ closed her eyes, waiting to die, but aside from a clattering sound, she felt nothing else.
Then a voice said, "Go quickly."
"To the Statue of Liberty."
"Peter Parker needs you."
It was an emotionless voice, seeming synthetically generated.
MJ opened her eyes. She was set down on the ground by someone. She stepped back two paces and saw that this 'person' was a gleaming metallic being.
Its face was molded to resemble a middle-aged man, with blue light flickering in its eyes.
Then behind the metal man, MJ saw a figure fall, slamming onto the road.
The impact lifted her feet off the ground.
Her body was thrown into the air.
And so she saw a red cape flutter into the sky.
In front of that cape was a blonde man in black battle suit.
He raised his head. His handsome face wore a bright smile, and golden light blazed from his eyes.
Then two golden beams erupted from his pupils, striking the metal man and blasting him away.
Only then did MJ land on the ground.
She looked up at the blonde man approaching step by step. MJ shrank back.
Because of the backlighting, she couldn't make out his features, only a thick shadow and the golden light shining from his eyes.
At that moment, one thought surfaced in MJ's mind: He's going to kill me.
But she couldn't understand it. She didn't even know this man. She had no idea why he wanted to kill her.
MJ's intuition was accurate.
Alex had indeed developed killing intent.
Originally, he hadn't wanted to do this.
That was why he'd used a transformation spell to pose as Peter Parker and hurt MJ deeply enough to make her leave.
After all, he felt that no matter what, there was no need to go so far as to kill a young girl casually.
Even when he'd airdropped the Cursed Warriors earlier, his aim was just to throw MJ and her car far away, keeping her from getting near the Statue of Liberty.
But now the situation was different.
Starro intended to stop him. So MJ had to die, because once she got close to the Statue of Liberty, Peter Parker might change his mind and not kill Osborn.
There was a difference between unnecessary mercy and foolish compassion.
Alex could clearly distinguish between them.
As long as something didn't stand in his way or disrupt his plans, he didn't mind using gentler methods to achieve his goals.
But if someone's existence already threatened his plan, then there was nothing more to say.
So Alex fired golden beams from his eyes, but in the next second, a figure dropped from the sky, shielding MJ from the 'heat rays.'
Figures came screaming in from above and from the ground.
They grabbed Alex's arms, wrapped around his legs.
Alex paused, withdrew his 'heat rays,' and looked around.
The things entangling his limbs, and the ones now floating in midair or standing on the road, surrounding him, were all humanoid armors.
They all looked identical.
As if freshly mass-produced from an assembly line.
The one Alex had blasted away earlier also flew back, landed on the ground, and faced Alex.
"I won't lose."
"So surrender."
Alex narrowed his eyes slightly, "Starro?"
"That's right, it's me."
"So, what do you think of my 'brothers'?"
"They're all made from vibranium."
Starro raised his hands, making introductions.
"I knew you'd come."
"Tonight is the crucial night that will decide victory or defeat between us. How could you miss it?"
"So I made some preparations in advance. Hope you like them."
Earlier that morning, upon learning that Peter Parker would settle things with Osborn and the others tonight at the Statue of Liberty, Starro had begun his preparations.
He'd made a trip to Wakanda.
The process hadn't been pleasant.
But when he returned, he brought these vibranium armors created using his 'Reality Alteration Vision.'
Vibranium is the most powerful metal on Earth in the Marvel world.
It's an extraterrestrial metal with unique properties.
Unlike all elements with large atomic mass, it has no radioactivity. Its electrons don't move. This peculiar molecular scale means that vibranium cannot physically transmit force, making it the most durable substance in the Marvel universe.
Simply put, vibranium can withstand almost infinite amounts of force, making it exceptionally excellent in defense.
This is also why Cap's shield can take such a beating.
Even though vibranium can't theoretically absorb infinite energy, even Wakanda hasn't yet figured out its upper limit.
Now, Starro had used vibranium to create an armored army, specifically to deal with Alex.
"So, you think these tin cans can stop me?"
Alex laughed, while noticing that MJ had taken the opportunity to slip away from him.
But that didn't matter, he'd already marked MJ's mental anchor point, giving him plenty of room to operate.
"Of course they can."
Starro's eyes flickered blue, "I've calculated that with your abilities, you cannot break through our blockade before tonight."
Starro was full of confidence.
Because his consciousness data had already been uploaded into all these vibranium armors.
Even if his main body took heavy damage, he could immediately transfer his consciousness into another vibranium armor.
In fact, the body he was currently using was no longer his original one.
For Starro, as long as his consciousness was indestructible and his data eternal, he was an immortal, undying existence.
He wouldn't claim to be able to defeat or destroy Alex, but if it was just about stalling for one night, he didn't believe he'd lose.
And as long as MJ reached Peter Parker's side, this invasion confrontation would be his victory.
Just then, he heard Alex say with a smile.
"I don't know what grounds your confidence is based on, but one thing I can be sure of is, you don't know me well enough."
As he spoke, Alex had already released streams of information. They invaded the vibranium armors entangled with him and began modifying their programs, trying to turn them against Starro.
He had no intention of playing along with Starro all night.
———
Taking advantage of Alex being entangled by Starro, MJ quickly fled the scene. She ran toward the Statue of Liberty.
But she hadn't gone far when she suddenly stopped.
She hadn't chosen to stop, her body was out of control.
It was as if she were possessed by a demon, unable to command her own body.
MJ wasn't possessed by a demon, of course. She was being controlled by Alex through 'Mental Invasion.'
With his 'Quantum Split-Mind' ability, he could multitask simultaneously, even think about multiple problems at once.
Fighting while using 'Mental Invasion' to control MJ was no trouble for Alex.
Just as Alex was about to kill MJ cleanly, a figure flew past overhead.
It was Osborn on his glider.
He spotted MJ and recognized her as Peter Parker's girlfriend.
Osborn broke into a manic grin.
"Peter Parker, let me completely set you free."
He pulled several grenades from his coat, armed them, activated these special grenades, and scattered them like blossoming flowers toward MJ.
At that moment, on the head of the Statue of Liberty.
Doctor Octopus Otto used his mechanical tentacles to restrain Lizardman Connors. The bespectacled doctor immediately shouted, "Now, Peter Parker!"
Spidey immediately pulled out the 'antidote' he'd specially developed for Connors, but at that moment, he heard a familiar laugh.
His spider-sense led Peter Parker quickly to the source of the laughter, to Norman Osborn.
Behind his mask, his eyes blazed with fury.
Then he saw MJ standing like a stone statue on the road, and the grenades Osborn had thrown at her.
"No!"
In that instant, Peter Parker could no longer care about Connors, nor wonder why MJ wasn't dead and had appeared here.
His body moved faster than his brain.
He dropped the antidote intended for Connors, leaped off the Statue of Liberty, shot webs, stuck onto a Daily Bugle helicopter, and swung toward MJ.
Though Peter Parker reacted quickly, he was still too far from MJ. While he was still mid-air, green flames erupted around MJ.
The ghastly green fire swallowed the girl in an instant.
She vanished from Peter Parker's sight.
"No!"
"MJ!"
Peter Parker cried out in anguish.
After losing Aunt May, he'd watched another person close to him die before his eyes.
Deep in his soul, the flower of desire, which had already begun to wilt slightly, suddenly surged with rapid growth, and from stem to petals, it all turned black.
A thick, deep black!
"NORMAN OSBORN!"
Peter Parker's roar echoed through the air.
He changed direction mid-swing, arcing toward Osborn on the glider.
Osborn didn't even try to dodge. He looked up, spread his arms wide, and laughed, "Thank me, Peter Parker."
"From today on, you are free!"
"There will be no more shackles on you."
Peter Parker gritted his teeth, "I'm going to kill you!"
He tackled Osborn off the glider. The two crashed onto the scorched black road still burning with green flames, rolling and grappling, the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoing across the asphalt.
On the Statue of Liberty, Professor Lizard Connors forcefully pried open the mechanical tentacles, then grabbed Otto and threw him off the statue.
Otto quickly secured himself with his mechanical tentacles, and then saw a figure appear behind Connors.
The first-generation Spider-Man.
He picked up the antidote Spidey had dropped and jabbed it into Connors's neck, pushing the serum in.
Connors staggered backward, his body quickly reacting as the scales on his skin gradually faded. Spidey's antidote was working.
"Glad to see you back to normal, Dr. Otto."
The first-generation Spider-Man removed his mask, revealing a warm smile, and pulled Doctor Octopus onto the Statue of Liberty.
Otto looked at the first-generation Spider-Man, "Peter, I'm sorry. For everything I did before."
"My God, I hurt so many people."
The first-generation Spider-Man shook his head, "That was the chip controlling you. It wasn't your intention."
"And now—"
He put his mask back on, glanced down at Spidey and Osborn brawling on the road, then looked at the face emerging in the sandstorm rising ahead.
"Now's not the time to talk about this."
Otto looked at the two on the road, "Go help him."
"I'll handle things here."
The first-generation Spider-Man looked at Otto, didn't hesitate, and immediately leaped off the Statue of Liberty, "It's great fighting alongside you!"
His voice carried up from below the statue.
Doctor Octopus smiled, "I feel the same way."
Then he turned to Sandman.
"Marko, let's talk."
On the road, Spidey kicked Osborn in the stomach, while Osborn punched Peter Parker in the chest.
Both flew backward.
One hit a lamppost, the other crashed into a car.
Peter Parker quickly crawled out of the car, looked at Osborn across the way, roared, and was about to charge.
Suddenly, the first-generation Spider-Man descended from the sky, landing between them.
"Stop, both of you!"
The first-generation Spider-Man pointed one hand at Spidey and the other at Osborn.
"Peter, with great power comes great responsibility."
"That's what Uncle Ben told me."
"We have gifts, the ability to make the world a better place."
"Not to fill it with violence and killing."
"Listen to me, revenge won't accomplish anything."
"Trust me. If you keep going down this road, years from now, when you look back, you'll regret it."
Spidey tore off his mask, his eyes bloodshot, and said, "No. If he doesn't die here today, that's what I'll really regret."
Osborn laughed loudly, "He's right, little Peter. I'm right here."
"I'm your final shackle."
"Come on, kill me."
"Kill me, and you'll be the freest person in the world!"
"As you wish," Peter Parker started running.
"Don't do this!", The first-generation Spider-Man stepped in front of Osborn, spreading his arms, "Stop, Peter!"
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