The howling gale didn't just obliterate the Elementals' localized weather system; it whipped Silvija Sablinova's silver hair into a chaotic frenzy. She shoved the strands out of her eyes, staring blankly at Spider-Man.
"Are you Gandalf?"
Peter lowered his hands, shaking out the magical cramps in his fingers. "Uh, no. I do actually know a guy with a cape, though. Just to be clear, that took a lot out of me. I can't spam spells like that. And I'm about to... step out for a second."
The Winds of Watoomb was exactly what it sounded like: a spell borrowing power from the mystical entity Watoomb. Since Peter didn't have a direct cosmic hotline to the mystical realms, he was basically taking out a magical loan with terrible interest rates. A wave of deep, soul-aching exhaustion washed over him. Fortunately, he only needed the spell to clear the board.
Silvija's eyes darted between him and the dissipating storm. "If you're stepping out, does that mean you're not going to fight them?"
"I never said that," Peter said, rolling his shoulders. "I just need to tackle these four from a different angle. Don't worry, my suit is gonna cover for me."
Silvija blinked, completely lost. "What do you mean, your suit—"
Across the ruined courtyard, the four Elementals hovered, looking equally bewildered. Hydra's intelligence briefings hadn't mentioned a single word about Spider-Man wielding the mystic arts. The wind had stripped away their dramatic entrance, leaving them entirely exposed.
Peter clapped his hands together. "Okay, look. I know who you guys are, but I'm terrible with names. Sandman and Hydro-Man are just easier to remember. So, here's the deal: surrender now. It saves us all a lot of property damage, and it saves me the headache of hunting you down later."
Hydro-Man scoffed. He surged forward on a geyser of pressurized water. "You think you caught us? You've never stopped us before, bug. You die here!"
Peter sighed. "If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I could fund the Avengers myself."
He pressed two fingers against his chest. He pushed.
A translucent, glowing blue projection of Spider-Man violently shoved its way out of Peter's physical body. He had spent hours practicing this specific trick with Doctor Strange just to ensure his astral form maintained the mask. Operational security mattered, even in the astral plane.
Silvija and the Wild Pack mercenaries froze. The Elementals stalled in mid-air.
Before Peter's physical body could hit the asphalt, black liquid erupted from the suit's pores. The symbiote surged over the fabric, expanding into a hulking, muscular silhouette with jagged white eyes and a slavering jaw.
Venom stretched his massive arms. [Hello, lady,] he hissed at Silvija.
Silvija's hand twitched toward her sidearm. She forced her fingers to unclench.
Venom didn't wait for permission. He launched his massive frame directly at the Elementals.
"Symbiotes hate fire!" Molten Man roared. He stepped in front of the others, his body glowing like a blast furnace. "I'll burn this freak to ash!"
Molten Man lunged.
He never reached Venom.
Peter's astral form blurred across the courtyard, moving at the speed of thought. He drove a glowing, transparent fist squarely into Molten Man's jaw. The fiery giant staggered backward, the impact jarring him to his core. He hadn't felt physical pain in months.
While Molten Man reeled, Venom aimed his wrists and fired two compressed liquid nitrogen capsules directly into the villain's chest.
Peter floated backward, completely immune to the ambient heat. Astral forms didn't burn. When he caught Molten Man's punch, he hadn't touched molten slag. He had intercepted the man's soul.
If Molten Man had been a baseline human, an astral punch would have passed right through him with a slight shiver. But he wasn't.
Peter's lenses widened in realization. "I knew it. You guys aren't physically transforming into elements. You're psionic entities puppeteering ambient matter!"
It made perfect sense. If the Elementals' physical bodies were actually transforming into sand or water, the severed limbs the Wild Pack had recovered would have reverted to human flesh. They never did.
They hadn't mutated. They had shed their physical bodies entirely to become incorporeal spirits. They gathered surrounding elements to build temporary shells. That was why Peter's astral fist had connected—he was punching spirit to spirit.
Down on the pavement, Venom took advantage of the liquid nitrogen. Molten Man's magma shell rapidly cooled into dark, brittle slag. Venom drove a massive black fist into the solidified metal, shattering a huge chunk of the villain's torso.
Molten Man shrieked in genuine terror. "Watch out! The floating Spider-Man can touch us!"
Peter crossed his glowing arms. "I really should be thanking you guys. If you were still physical, my magic wouldn't be able to lay a finger on you. But you turned yourselves into spirits. You're playing by ghost rules now." He pointed at the remaining Elementals. "Last chance. Surrender."
"Kill the host!" Whirlwind roared, a localized hurricane spinning up around his torso. "That thing he did leaves his real body vulnerable! Tear the black monster apart, and the spirit dies!"
The screech of burning rubber interrupted the villain's battle cry.
A heavily armored military jeep drifted around the corner, its tires smoking. It vaulted the curb and slammed dead-center into the gathering Elementals, scattering them like bowling pins.
Black Cat flipped out of the driver's seat. She landed gracefully beside Silvija, adjusting her domino mask. "Looks like I made it just in time for the main event."
Silvija stared at the smoking wreckage. "That jeep cost twenty thousand dollars."
Felicia offered a shamelessly unapologetic grin.
Cindy dropped down from a nearby streetlight. She closed her eyes, tapping into her unique spider-sense. A smile tugged at her lips. She could track Peter perfectly. His bio-rhythm was radiating from the hulking black monster on the ground, and echoing directly from the glowing blue spirit hovering in the sky.
PS: Marvel Fun Fact!
Let's talk about Weapon Plus! In this fanfic's universe, the Weapon Plus program is a massive, multi-tiered Hydra operation, and it differs a bit from official Marvel canon. Here is the complete breakdown of the 10 Projects:
Project I: Rebirth (Developing the super soldier serum)
Project II: Savage Force (Splicing animal genes with human DNA—hello, Spidey!)
Project III: Shapeshifters (Creating perfect infiltration spies)
Project IV: Red Room (Stripping free will to forge weaponized assassins)
Project V: Symbiotes (Developing methods to control extraterrestrial biomass)
Project VI: Elements (Transferring human consciousness into a psionic state to control matter—our current bad guys!)
Project VII: The Castle (Transforming humans into magical creatures like vampires)
Project VIII: Radiation (Modifying the human body using gamma and cosmic rays)
Project IX: Mr. Hyde (Altering physiological structure and powers via personality switching)
Project X: Weapon X (Creating artificial and weaponized mutants—looking at you, Logan!)
The scariest part? Hydra can combine these projects! Stay tuned to see what horrors they mix up next!
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