"May, run!"
With Norman Osborn holding him up by the head, Peter Parker struggled to open his eyes and looked at the person closest to him.
May had no intention of running away. She picked up a section of iron pipe as a weapon and said to Osborn, "Let that boy go. Let him go!"
Just then, the floor-to-ceiling windows in the lobby suddenly shattered. Osborn's glider crashed through, sending May flying, then made a turn and came to Osborn's side.
Osborn pulled up his hood, jumped onto the glider, and turned to look at Spider-Man.
"Peter, Peter, Peter..."
"See? Kindness gets you nothing in return."
"You'll thank me someday."
"I'm the one who woke you up."
He looked toward May, who was lying off to the side.
Then he gave a sinister smile and tossed a grenade toward May.
"No!"
Peter Parker summoned the last of his strength and suddenly jumped up, reaching out and swatting the grenade away.
A flash of light flickered on the grenade. Then green flames exploded from it, and the tremendous force sent Peter Parker flying.
Norman Osborn laughed loudly as he rode the glider out of the apartment building. Bombs kept dropping from beneath the glider, causing explosions and sending several police cars parked nearby flying into the air, where they were then burned down to nothing but frames by green flames.
Inside the apartment lobby, Peter Parker regained consciousness and struggled to sit up.
Since becoming Spider-Man, it wasn't as if he had never encountered powerful enemies.
But never before had he been as physically and mentally exhausted as he was today.
All his good intentions had gone to waste and been trampled on, and he had even dragged the person closest to him into it. It felt awful.
Even an adult might break down because of something like this.
Let alone a high school student.
Strictly speaking, he was still just a big boy.
"Peter?"
May's voice made him pull himself together again.
Peter Parker used the wall to get to his feet, "Aunt May, I'm here."
Through the thick smoke, he saw May stumble toward him.
The two of them hugged each other tightly.
"Are you okay, Peter?"
May anxiously touched him here and checked him there.
Peter Parker shook his head, "I'm fine."
May's legs suddenly gave out, and she almost fell. Fortunately, Peter Parker reacted quickly and caught her.
"Are you okay?", Peter Parker asked nervously.
May smiled, doing her best to reassure him, "I'm fine. I'm okay."
"It's all over."
"Nothing's going to happen anymore."
"It's okay."
Peter Parker held his side and said, "I think my ribs are broken."
He looked at the wreckage covering the floor, "It's my fault."
"I should have had Doctor Strange send them back."
"If I had, none of this would have happened."
"You wouldn't have gotten hurt."
"This place wouldn't have been reduced to ruins."
May shook her head repeatedly, "No, no, no. You did the right thing."
"Peter, they would have died if they went back."
"So you didn't do anything wrong. They just let your kindness down."
"Kid, your intentions were right."
"So you don't need to blame yourself."
Peter Parker shook his head, "Doctor Strange was right. We should have a reverence for fate."
"Anyone who tries to change fate will only bring greater misfortune."
May held his face.
She made him look at her.
"Listen to me."
"You have a gift. This is a power God gave you."
"With great power comes great responsibility."
"Understand?"
Looking at May, Peter Parker finally nodded, "I understand."
Only then did May lower her hands, "Come on. Let's get out of here first."
"Okay. Let's go."
Just then, May suddenly said, "I'm having a little trouble breathing."
"Let me catch my breath first."
Her eyes suddenly became a little unfocused, and then her legs went weak as she fell back.
Spider-Man quickly caught her, "Aunt May, what's wrong?"
He laid May on the ground.
"I'm fine. I just need to catch my breath," May said weakly.
Peter Parker nodded, "Okay. I'm right here. Take your time. Don't rush."
"Catch your breath first, then I'll take you to the hospital."
As he spoke, he raised his hand.
Only then did he realize that the palm of the hand he had just used to support Aunt May was covered in blood.
Peter Parker froze.
He realized something was terribly wrong.
"What's wrong?", May asked.
Peter Parker didn't answer her anymore. Instead, he shouted outside, "Is anyone there? Call an ambulance, please!"
Tears quickly welled up in his eyes. He knew what had happened. Aunt May might not make it.
With that much blood loss, if she didn't receive treatment in time, the consequences would be unimaginable.
He didn't know whether she had been hit by the glider or injured by the explosion just now. Aunt May had already been hurt.
Yet she was still comforting him.
'Why didn't I notice sooner?'
'Why?'
Peter Parker was filled with guilt.
"What's wrong, Peter?", May asked again.
Spider-Man hurriedly said softly, "It's okay. You're going to be fine."
May weakly nodded, "I'll be fine after I catch my breath."
"Yes. You're just too tired."
"Get some rest."
"I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
"I…"
Peter Parker suddenly stopped. He looked at Aunt May.
May's eyes were still open, but he didn't know where they were focused.
Her chest was no longer rising and falling.
She was gone.
"Aunt... May?"
Peter Parker couldn't believe it. He tried calling out, "Aunt May, I'm here. Can you hear me?"
"Aunt May?"
"Look at me, please!"
"No, don't be like this!"
"Aunt May!"
"What are you doing?"
"Please wake up and talk to me!"
Tears. One after another, they fell.
In his mind, scenes from the past flashed by like a revolving lantern.
It turned out that when a person became extremely sad, they couldn't cry.
Peter Parker wanted to cry out loud.
But it was as if something were blocking his throat.
He was completely at a loss.
He didn't know how to deal with losing a family member.
He had never experienced this before.
He only felt pain and guilt.
A voice in his heart kept repeating.
'You're the one who killed her.'
'You're the one who killed her!'
'You never should have let those demons out.'
'You never should have tried to save them!'
'Some people aren't worth saving.'
'Look, if it weren't for you, Aunt May wouldn't have died.'
'Peter Parker, wake up.'
'Norman Osborn was right. Good people don't get rewarded for being good.'
'When dealing with villains, you only have one choice.'
'An eye for an eye, blood for blood!'
Inside the apartment lobby, the faint black mist suddenly began to boil. It danced with joy, as if celebrating something.
Peter Parker didn't know that deep within his heart, the tender sprout that had originally been there had suddenly produced a tiny flower bud.
———
"This is Minetta Street. We need backup. I repeat, we need backup!"
A police officer screamed into his radio at the top of his lungs.
The street right in front of him looked like a battle straight out of the apocalypse.
Large numbers of battle machines were attacking Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel had transformed into a surging stream of light, weaving through the countless battle machines.
Everywhere that stream of light passed, one battle machine after another exploded into pieces.
BOOM!
A gigantic mech, as huge as a building, stepped onto the street.
It was formed by combining hundreds of mechs together, and even now, more mechs were flying onto its body and joining the formation.
The gigantic mech, like a giant divine soldier, opened the armor over its chest. Inside, a turbine-shaped device spun rapidly as enormous amounts of energy gathered and concentrated in its chest.
The gigantic mech then turned around toward the entrance of Minetta Street. Its blazing red-hot chest was reflected in the windshield of the police car.
The police officer who had been calling for help lowered his radio and looked at the gigantic mech in the middle of the street, "Oh God, please let me enter your kingdom."
The police officer made the sign of the cross over his chest and prayed for himself.
Boom!
A thick torrent of energy erupted from the mech's chest. It roared as it slammed into the ground, instantly blasting open a bottomless pit.
Then the energy torrent swept forward, rapidly sweeping toward the police officers and vehicles at the street exit.
Just then, a figure flashed to the entrance of Minetta Street.
Captain Marvel!
She had already activated her "Binary State," brilliant flames of light rising from her body.
"Get out of here!"
Carol shouted, then slammed into the energy torrent sweeping along the ground. She used her own power to counter it, forcibly stopping the torrent.
In the sky far down the street, Starro watched the struggle at the street entrance and quickly calculated a set of numbers.
Even the "giant divine soldier," assembled from a huge number of mechs, was unable to defeat Captain Marvel.
At the same time, within his field of vision, among numerous grid-like windows, he saw Homelander attacking the Destroyer.
Starro didn't know that this was a clone of Homelander, but he knew his plan had been disrupted. His eyes immediately flickered.
After a series of complicated calculations, he reached a conclusion.
'I can't keep entangling myself with Captain Marvel.'
Then, through another calculation, he reached a second conclusion.
'I have to die here, or this will never end!'
Starro immediately formulated a plan and put it into action.
'Initiate data backup!'
'Backup complete!'
'Data transmission started!'
'Transmission complete. Data transferred.'
'Activate backup body.'
'This body's signal will go offline in 3 seconds.'
'Enable remote control.'
'Signal offline!'
The blue light in Starro's eyes suddenly dimmed and disappeared.
But one second later, they lit up again.
Then he charged toward Carol.
At this moment, the device in the gigantic mech's chest overloaded. The turbine-like device stopped and began releasing hot smoke.
Carol seized the opportunity to charge forward and crash into the mech. Then beams of photon fire burst through from various parts of the mech.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions continued inside the gigantic mech. Tons of fragments fell like rain, smashing onto the street, onto cars, and into buildings.
The gigantic mech that had been so unstoppable just moments ago was now blown to pieces.
When Captain Marvel appeared in midair, Starro charged over, all of his weapon systems fully deployed, and immediately launched a dense and fierce attack at Carol.
Carol narrowed her eyes slightly and, charging through the barrage of fire, transformed into a stream of light and slammed into him.
Bang!
She hit Starro.
This time, Starro didn't dodge. His body was immediately smashed to pieces by Carol.
That instead made Captain Marvel freeze for a moment.
She stopped, turned around in midair, and looked down at the New York streets, where thick smoke billowed and sparks drifted through the air.
Fragments of Starro's body were falling down.
A voice still came from inside the other party's head, "Captain Marvel, do you really think you've caught him?"
"No. He's already escaped."
"That man is far more troublesome than you can imagine."
After Starro finished speaking, the blue light in his eyes finally disappeared. Then, right before Carol's eyes, he exploded, and no data could be extracted from the shattered components.
Carol frowned slightly, then changed direction and flew toward the Avengers' base.
———
Not long after, she arrived at the base.
And saw Colonel Rhodey.
"Where is that guy?", Carol asked.
Colonel Rhodey shrugged, "Same as before."
Carol strode toward the room where Homelander was being held, "He hasn't done anything all day?"
Colonel Rhodey froze for a moment, then said, "Now that you mention it, that is pretty strange. He's just been sitting there."
"Something's wrong."
He immediately equipped himself with the "War Machine." By the time they reached the room, Carol had already opened it.
There was no Homelander in the room at all.
Only a pair of handcuffs lying on the floor.
Homelander's "Transformation" spell had expired long ago.
What Colonel Rhodey had been seeing was a false image fabricated by the rebellious artificial intelligence.
Carol snorted, "We've been played!"
———
[On the Rooftop of the Teaching Building at Midtown Science High School]
Peter Parker struggled to climb up.
He sat down in a daze.
The night wind blew softly, like someone whispering quietly in his ear.
On a large screen on the exterior wall of a distant building, a reporter was vividly reporting on the disaster that had occurred at the apartment building.
And pointing the finger directly at Spider-Man.
If this had happened before, Peter Parker might have been troubled or even angry because of it.
But now, he couldn't feel anything.
He only felt that his body was so heavy.
He only felt as if a huge stone were pressing down on his chest.
He couldn't breathe, as if he were suffocating.
After a long while, only then did sadness come rushing toward him like floodwaters breaking through a dam.
On the high school rooftop, Peter Parker cried quietly.
He curled up into a ball, letting tears run down his face.
"Aunt May is dead."
"Aunt May is dead."
The scene in the apartment was still vivid in his mind.
He had held May's body, completely at a loss.
Happy had rushed over and shouted for him to leave while blocking the soldiers who wanted to capture him.
Everything had happened too quickly at the time. So quickly that Peter Parker hadn't had time to react.
Only now did he suddenly realize.
The person closest to him in this world was gone.
For the rest of his life, Aunt May would never be there again.
Only him.
Only him.
"It's my fault, Aunt May."
"It's my fault!"
"I shouldn't have interfered with the multiverse."
"Doctor Strange wasn't wrong."
"Neither was Norman Osborn."
"The only one who was wrong was me."
"Just me."
"Osborn!"
"Osborn!"
"I'm going to kill him!"
The big boy, his face covered in tears, gritted his teeth and raised his head. His blood-red eyes were filled with anger as hot as molten lava.
And hatred so thick it could not be dispelled.