"Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is back!"
Peter swung between the high-rise buildings, excitedly breathing in the air of New York. The days without supercriminals or the Avengers had felt completely tasteless to him.
He had learned a great deal from Tobey Peter, including how to change the shape of his webbing without relying on high technology, Spider-Man's combat style, how to effectively use his spider-sense... and how to efficiently help Aunt May buy groceries. That was also a required course for Spider-Man.
Peter quite liked the atmosphere of that world. Although its technology was only at the level of the early twenty-first century, the people were simple and honest—except for the newspaper called the Daily Bugle, which made Peter feel uncomfortable.
Bucky had also taught him some common combat techniques, the kind used by super soldiers. With Peter's physical abilities, however, it was easy for him to apply them proficiently after only a little training.
Even Bucky, a seventy-year veteran, had to admit that this little bug was truly talented.
Peter crouched on top of a tall building, looking at the sunset as it gradually receded. The afterglow of the setting sun gently sprinkled over everyone in the city, covering them with a layer of golden gauze. It was beautiful...
Beep. Beep.
"Hi! Aunt May!" Peter answered the phone and pulled off the lower half of his mask. "Yeah, uh... I'm with Ned right now... Yeah, our experimental data still needs some improvement, so..."
"Okay, okay, Aunt May, I remember. Okay... bye!" Peter patted his chest nervously. He had almost fallen off the roof in fright.
He had originally wanted to stay in that world longer, because he felt there was still a lot to learn, but Aunt May had urged him to come back quickly. She said that if he did not return, the school would not refund his tuition, and he still had to arrange time for his internship.
Aunt May often complained to Happy, Happy complained to Stark, and Tony complained to Renzo when he got bored. Renzo had almost forgotten that he had thrown Peter into another universe, so he hurriedly brought him back.
Renzo was also annoyed by Peter. The kid kept talking like clockwork and never stopped for even a moment. He could always find strange topics and concerns, which led to a large number of related—and even completely unrelated—questions, along with a lot of nonsense and terrible jokes.
Renzo actually admired Peter. After all, he lived a fulfilling and happy life every day. There were no worries about alien invasions, only silly fantasies. His strange brain circuits made even Renzo, a transmigrator deeply influenced by internet culture, marvel.
The sky had completely darkened. Peter wore a suit sewn for him by Tobey Peter using his own spider silk. It was a gift. Tobey sincerely hoped that this boy would become an independent superhero.
Whoosh!
A gust of dark wind blew behind Peter, and his spider-sense suddenly buzzed. The hair all over his body trembled, and an extremely dangerous aura he had not felt in a long time passed through him.
"Someone's going to attack me!" Peter suddenly heard a faint pop, like the sound of some liquid erupting.
Sizzle—
Peter instantly used his strong posture to dodge the sudden attack, but the roof under his feet was not so lucky. It was corroded like it had been splashed with sulfuric acid, and white smoke with a strong, pungent smell rose from it. With only a slight sniff, Peter identified the substance—concentrated sulfuric acid!
"As expected of Spider-Man... I hope you can be that fast when catching flies." A hoarse, sly laugh sounded, making people tremble. It was so cold it hardly sounded human.
"Who are you?" Peter quickly distanced himself from the sneak attacker, his eyes fixed on the guy hiding in the shadows. The last time his spider-sense had triggered such a severe alarm, it had been Adrian, the man who had toyed with him in the palm of his hand. If he met someone like that again this time, Peter was confident he could take them down in one strike.
"You should see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. You sound like Squidward with a mouthful of phlegm stuck in his throat. Can you say 'toot'?"
Peter shot a web behind him, but nothing happened. With a tearing sound, the web, ripped in half, fell casually to the ground.
"How is that possible?" Peter looked at it in surprise. His webbing was stronger than that of any spider in the world. To a certain extent, it was even better than industrial adhesive. Aside from dissolving on schedule, it had almost no flaws.
"Spider-Man... Spider-Man... someone paid for you to go see him. I advise you to be sensible. Otherwise, when the time comes... you may not be a complete Spider-Man anymore."
"Aba aba aba... please, I can't understand the bird language you're speaking. If you want to treat me to dinner, I'll probably send you to prison first and then enjoy myself afterward." Peter placed one hand on the ground, squatted with both feet, and stared sharply at the shadow.
"It's good for you to agree, because that person... is the emperor of New York." The black shadow finally revealed himself. Dark-green armor, a long stinger-like tail trailing behind him, the sharp needle reflecting the moonlight—and the enemy's face.
The bald man with a scorpion tattoo on his forehead stared at Peter sinisterly, his dangerous aura plainly revealed.
"What is this? A collective escape from the zoo? First there was a vulture, and now there's a scorpion. Is a rhino, lion, tiger, or something going to escape one day too?"
Peter was a little surprised inside, but he did not care too much. What concerned him was what Scorpion had said.
"Why does the emperor of New York... want to see me?"
"Well, it seems the deal has fallen through..." Scorpion sneered, and his tail stinger suddenly shot out pungent liquid. Fortunately, Peter had already reacted, and those attacks could not hurt him at all.
Scorpion had not expected to succeed with just one strike. He caught up to Peter in a few steps at extreme speed. The long scorpion tail whistled toward Peter with such force that it even made the sound of breaking through the air.
Peter sensed the force behind the blow and quickly stretched out his arms to block it. The tremendous impact knocked Peter off the tall building, and he disappeared below.
Scorpion sneered disdainfully. He did not understand why he had to find this piece of trash and keep pressing the attack. The suit gave him the same crawling ability as a scorpion, no weaker than a spider. The sharp stinger at the tip of his tail kept chasing Peter, carrying neurotoxin with every move. It only needed to prick a tiny wound, and Spider-Man would lose the strength to move and obediently follow him back.
Peter repeatedly relied on his spider-sense to dodge Scorpion's constant attacks, moving around the buildings to avoid Scorpion's line of sight.
"Where is he? He really can run!" Scorpion chased him for a while and discovered that Spider-Man was no longer nearby. His brows suddenly furrowed. If the boy escaped, he would definitely suffer that person's wrath.
"Look here!" came the clear, clean voice of a young man.
"Above!" Scorpion instantly raised his head, only to be greeted by a ball of white webbing that stuck directly to his face.
"Disgusting!" Scorpion was furious. He had always been the one shooting others in the face, but now someone actually dared to shoot him in the face. Rage nearly swallowed the bald man whole.
"Also, don't worry. I think white suits you better!"
Peter seemed to fly through midair, constantly using footholds and webs to interfere with Scorpion's attacks. After a few seconds, Scorpion was almost stuck to the ground, unable to move.
"Don't think weird things. This is the special webbing I developed. It's different from the stuff used to create humans." Peter landed easily and kept muttering, "Is your armor made of something like keratin? Did you get superpowers after being bitten by a mutated scorpion? Who is that emperor you mentioned? Does it really not hurt to have a scorpion tattooed on your head?"
Peter spoke as he approached Scorpion. "Oh, I'm sorry. I accidentally sealed your mouth too."
Scorpion stared coldly at Peter. Like the pelt of a polar bear lying on the ground, a fierce light flashed in his pupils as he silently thought to himself: Closer. Come closer!
Peter approached Scorpion without knowing anything. Just as he was about to reach the danger zone, Scorpion was almost ready to laugh... but Peter stopped.
Scorpion was dumbfounded, and Peter waved his hand. "Although I believe in the toughness of my own webbing, I trust my intuition more. It's telling me that you're very dangerous."
"A senior told me this. He taught me a lot. One of those things was... don't trust your opponent!"
"Ah!" Scorpion suddenly burst free, easily breaking away from the webbing on his body, and swung his enormous tail toward Peter. The steel-hard scorpion tail easily split open the water tank on the roof.
Peter had felt the power of that tail. It was impossible to resist it head-on. The only way to fight was to dodge, exhaust him, and use guerrilla tactics. This was Spider-Man's way of fighting.
Peter leaped high, performed a forward somersault to avoid the tail carrying terrifying force, and punched Scorpion in the head. The terrifying strength directly struck Scorpion and forced him to stagger backward. If not for the protection of the armor, that punch would have been enough to knock him unconscious.
"Damn it!" Scorpion no longer dared underestimate the bug in front of him. Just now, Peter's nerve reaction, speed, and strength had all been terrifying. No wonder that guy valued him so much.
Scorpion pounced directly at Peter, refusing to let him continue wearing him down. Once he got close, the initiative in this battle would be in his hands.
Peter rolled aside to avoid him. Scorpion's tail stabbed toward Peter, but Peter turned and tightly hugged it instead.
"Ah!" Peter roared, and the muscles of his thin body suddenly bulged. Spider-Man's terrifying power was brought into play. Peter directly grabbed Scorpion's tail, spun him around several times, and threw him away.
Scorpion's body crashed into a building. The office workers inside, still working overtime, looked in horror at the weirdo who had flown in. They immediately dropped the work at hand and rushed out of the company.
Scorpion sneered, and his tail instantly wrapped around a woman who was running slowly.
"Ahhh! Help! Don't kill me!"
The woman shouted in horror, her two pale legs swaying wildly. From Scorpion's perspective, it was rather pleasing to the eye.
"Shut up!" Scorpion could not stand the woman's piercing screams. The woman was so frightened that she instantly closed her mouth. Her legs stopped moving as well, and she only felt as if she were about to lose control.
"Let her go!" Peter landed in front of the shattered floor-to-ceiling window and said anxiously, "This has nothing to do with her. Come at me if you can!"
For the first time, Peter truly felt the sinister nature of people's hearts—threatening others by kidnapping innocent people.
"Come at you?" Scorpion smiled evilly. "Fine, I'll come at you!" Scorpion used his tail to smash through another glass wall and threw the woman out.
"Ah! Help! Spider-Man!"
Peter immediately chased after her. This was a forty-story building. Even if Captain America fell from here, he would be reduced to a puddle of meat.
The cold wind whistled in the woman's ears. She closed her eyes in despair. She had not become rich yet, had not used her husband's money to support her younger brother, had not humiliated her old boss yet... she was still so young. She did not want to die!
Whoosh!
The woman only felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as a huge force pulled her back. The sound of the cold wind stopped instantly, and the noise of busy traffic downstairs rang in her ears.
"Are you okay?" Peter had caught up, holding the woman as he swung between the tall buildings.
"Go, go!" Peter placed the woman on the roof of a building and turned around to chase Scorpion. He had to send that man to prison. If such a dangerous guy stayed free, he would definitely cause a lot of disaster.
Buzz!
His spider-sense suddenly trembled violently.
"Oh no!"
Peter still wanted to turn around, but Scorpion's tail stinger pierced his back. The neurotoxin was instantly transmitted from the tail into Peter's body, quickly paralyzing his nerves.
The boy felt everything in front of him suddenly blur. His body became so heavy, and even his thoughts slowed down.
Boom!
Scorpion slapped Peter with his tail, sending him flying into a wall, unable to move.
"Spider-Man... poor good man. You will pay the price for your dull sense of responsibility!"
Scorpion's tail immediately wrapped around the boy's body and smashed him hard against the wall behind him. After several heavy blows, he directly smashed through the entrance to the roof. He raised Spider-Man high and showed off his final victory.
"Let me see who you really are!" Scorpion was about to pull off Peter's mask, but the boy had no strength to fight back at this point. He was not even conscious enough to realize what Scorpion was going to do.
Cold hands touched Peter's face, and his mask was slowly pulled off. The smile on Scorpion's face became gloomier and more arrogant...
Slash!
"Ah!"
Peter was awakened by the scream. What entered his eyes was Scorpion's pained expression. Suddenly, Peter's body relaxed, Scorpion's tail fell to the ground, and Peter weakly collapsed.
At that moment, a strange man in pitch-black armor with white stripes jumped down from the high platform on the other side. He held a laser weapon in his hand, and a spider logo was printed on his chest. The attack just now had been made by him, directly cutting off Scorpion's tail.
His armor was connected to his nerves. In addition to the parts covering his body, the tail was also part of him. When a part of him was cut off, the pain... ordinary people simply could not bear it. An ordinary person might have fainted from the pain. This Scorpion... could be considered a man.
__________________________________________
You can read early chapters on Patr*on. If you enjoy my work and would like to support me, consider becoming a patron. My Patr*on username is Renzo28557.