Inside the building.
Several villains gathered together. The Prowler roughly slammed the unconscious Green Goblin onto the floor, then held a hand out to Bullseye and said, "Pay up. I'm done. I'm not taking part in what comes next!"
After that clash, the Prowler had already realized the gap between himself and the others.
He didn't have any superpowers. His tech gear looked impressive, but in truth it was only so so. After witnessing what Spider Man could do today, he no longer wanted to get mixed up in this.
One million was already a lot.
His brother, the cop, probably couldn't earn a million dollars in his entire life. Why would he risk his life for whatever money was left on the table?
Neither Bullseye nor Kingpin cared about the Prowler leaving.
To be honest, they never thought much of this hired thug with no superpowers. Against ordinary people, the Prowler's gear was pure bullying. But against a monster like Spider Man, it was useless.
Since he wanted to leave, then pay him and be done with it. It also let everyone else see that Kingpin kept his word.
Besides, the Green Goblin was already back. Soon, Kingpin would have four new superpowered men. Then he'd force Storm to hand over the Green Goblin tech, and that would mean four new Green Goblins!
With power like that, what was there to fear from Spider Man?
"It's a shame someone dropped out early," Bullseye said with a mocking look under his mask. Then he turned his head to the others, meaning Kraven. "He's lost his chance to meet the underground emperor, Kingpin."
After speaking, Bullseye bent down, grabbed one of the Green Goblin's feet, and walked toward the elevator outside.
"Let's go."
Kraven followed.
He was also a little curious about the legendary Kingpin.
So the two of them stood in the elevator together. Bullseye took out something small and pressed it against the control panel. Then the elevator, which had been restricted, immediately rumbled and began moving higher.
Thud.
A faint sound. The elevator reached the top floor at last.
The doors slowly opened, revealing a dark space before Kraven.
Darkness meant nothing to Kraven, a man with superpowers. He could see everything clearly.
What entered his view was a grand hall like a palace. Pillars rose to support the ceiling, and a luxurious red carpet covered the floor.
The carpet stretched all the way to the far end of the hall.
There sat a massive square table trimmed with gold. Behind it, Kingpin, wearing a white suit, sat on his throne.
A crushing pressure poured off that powerful man.
It was as if he controlled New York's entire underworld, like a king looking down on all sin, and all his subjects.
In that moment, Kraven realized that this man named Kingpin was also prey worth hunting.
Of course, he still couldn't compare to the prey called Spider Man.
Kraven curled his fingers like claws, but his shoulders stayed tight.
At that moment, Kingpin rose and walked down from his chair. Bullseye tossed the Green Goblin forward like he was throwing away trash.
Kingpin didn't even glance at the Green Goblin. A loser didn't deserve his attention. If not for the serum, he wouldn't have bothered with him at all.
As Kingpin walked past Bullseye, he murmured, "Don't forget to get rid of that useless lawyer."
Bullseye nodded.
Then Kingpin turned his head toward Kraven. "This is our first meeting, isn't it, Hunter?"
Before Kraven could speak, Kingpin continued. "It's a pity the Prowler left us, but don't worry. I know your goal is to hunt Spider Man, and you saw it too. Spider Man's strength is beyond our imagination."
"Before today, we underestimated Spider Man and thought he was nothing special, but now I know I was wrong. His superpower is abnormally strong," Kingpin said.
His voice echoed alone through the hall. "But don't worry. Soon, we'll have several new superpowered men. I'm sure you don't mind hunting together with others, do you?"
Kingpin had no time to mourn the Prowler's exit. The next battlefield was waiting for them, and it would be four Green Goblins.
Kraven didn't care.
Pack hunting was common among beasts.
Just then, the Green Goblin let out a muffled groan. He sucked in a cold breath and slowly woke up, pressing a hand to his head. His skull still buzzed, flashing with images of Spider Man beating him senseless.
But soon he realized he'd escaped danger. Even Kingpin's meat mound of a body looked a lot friendlier to him now.
"Kingpin, thanks for getting me out!" he said with a wicked grin. The modified serum clearly still had huge problems, twisting his emotions into something extreme and bizarre.
But Kingpin didn't give him any face at all. He reached out with a massive hand, seized the Green Goblin by the throat, and lifted him off the ground.
"Storm. Now you can tell me where the serum is."
Even though Kingpin didn't have superpowers, he had trained this body to the absolute peak of humanity.
Under that suit was never useless fat. It was dense, solid muscle.
"I'll tell you, Kingpin," the Green Goblin begged in broken bursts, his face flushing red as his throat was squeezed tight.
To be fair, he truly didn't intend to go back on his deal with Kingpin.
Putting aside the fact that Kingpin's training alone had given him strength on par with ordinary superpowered men, Storm didn't dare betray him just based on Kingpin's influence and power.
This hall looked empty, like there were only a few of them, but Storm was sure Kingpin had already laid countless traps here.
Only then did Kingpin loosen his grip.
"The serum, cough, the serum is located at…"
The Green Goblin dropped to his knees, gasping hard. He was just about to spit out the location, and Kingpin's ears practically perked up.
His heart lifted with it.
Four vials. Even if he had to give the Hand two, he'd still have two left.
At minimum, he could create two Green Goblins.
But his ambition didn't stop there.
Kingpin wanted to fully analyze the serum's composition, mass replicate it, build his army of superpowered men, then rule New York, even the entire American underworld.
Now he only needed the Green Goblin to say where it was.
But what he got wasn't an answer.
It was the Green Goblin's shriek.
"Ah!"
The lunatic convulsed like he'd been electrocuted, crashing to the floor as his body spasmed nonstop.
The sudden change shocked even Kingpin, but just as he thought this might be a trick, Bullseye saw it.
Under the Green Goblin's skin, blue toxin was spreading, glowing with a cold light.
"Don't go near him!" Bullseye stepped in front of Kingpin, then kicked the writhing Green Goblin away.
The torment didn't last long.
Very soon, the Green Goblin went completely still. His pupils dulled to gray, staring into death's hollow emptiness.
The group fell silent for a beat.
Bullseye said, "He's dead."
Kraven crouched and tore open the Green Goblin's clothing, revealing the neurotoxin that had spread across his body. At this moment, half of his body had turned an eerie luminous blue. The toxin flowed through his blood vessels like a massive net, spreading until it invaded his heart.
Kraven pressed his fingers against the corpse, then drew a plain looking hunting knife from his waist and sliced open the Green Goblin's skin.
Not long after, the blade pried out a small round disk.
"Looks like our other spider has poisonous fangs," he said with a smile.
He'd already met Peter. He didn't believe Peter would kill.
That meant there was only one answer. The one who killed the Green Goblin was Hacker Spider Man.
"No wonder. Hacker never showed up from start to finish. From the very beginning, he never intended to let the Green Goblin live," Kingpin said, his face instantly dark.
Now everything was gone.
The Green Goblin was dead. The serum was gone. After a whole day of work, he'd gained nothing.
More importantly, he, Kingpin, had been played by Hacker Spider Man.
He couldn't swallow that humiliation.
"Hacker Spider Man, I'll make you pay!"
Kingpin clenched his fists, teeth grinding as he roared in fury.
He swore that if Hacker Spider Man ever fell into his hands, he would tear him apart piece by piece.
But even as he raged, Kingpin knew he still had another problem to solve.
The Hand.
Or rather, the payment he'd promised them.
Earlier, to kill Spider Man, he'd cooperated with Madame Gao, and the price was two vials of serum.
Now the Hand had provided manpower, and he had brought the Green Goblin back, but the serum had vanished.
Kingpin thought about how he could explain this to Madame Gao, how to make her believe it was Hacker who killed the Green Goblin, and not that Kingpin had murdered Storm to keep the serum for himself, then made up a lie.
Without convincing proof, the Hand would never accept his explanation. Even if they did, with Madame Gao's personality, she wouldn't let it go so easily.
Without the serum she wanted, she'd probably want to bite a chunk of flesh off Kingpin instead.
Thinking of that, Kingpin's fury at Hacker, the one who killed the Green Goblin, flared even hotter.
And at this moment, the Bant he was cursing was in a great mood, taking Felicia to the movie theater.
"Two tickets for Man of Steel," Felicia said, holding popcorn in one hand while ordering the tickets.
Then she turned to Bant and asked a little awkwardly, "I've never watched these movies before. Will I be lost? Should I catch up and watch the earlier ones first?"
Bant shook his head. "No need."
"Anyway, it won't be long before they get rebooted."
/-\
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