"We need to sweep the grid and check on the other sectors," Peter called out over the rushing wind, firing a web-line to swing around a glass high-rise. "Knull's little 'retreat-to-advance' maneuver caught a lot of people off guard. We have heroes fighting a two-front war out here."
Cindy swung silently beside him, nodding in agreement. She didn't waste breath on banter; she simply followed his lead, her dark eyes scanning the chaotic streets below.
They didn't have to look far. A few blocks away, an absolute mess of a brawl was unfolding.
Jack of Hearts and Living Lightning were desperately trying to fend off a malfunctioning Citizen V android. The problem? Citizen V was actively trying to execute War Machine and Darkhawk, who were both heavily possessed by Knull's symbiotes and currently trying to slaughter everyone in sight. It was a chaotic, disorganized five-way free-for-all.
Peter dropped from the sky like a stone. He unleashed a massive, wide-spray web net, securely pinning the symbiote-possessed Darkhawk's wings to the asphalt. A second later, Cindy landed flawlessly on War Machine's back, using her razor-sharp webbing to violently rip Rhodey's shoulder-mounted Gatling gun off its moorings before dragging the heavy armor down into a controlled, high-altitude crash.
"Don't worry, the symbiote will absorb the impact! Rhodey won't be crushed!" Peter yelled to the others.
He looked over at Jack of Hearts. It was painfully obvious that the energy-wielding hero possessed the raw firepower to put War Machine and Darkhawk down, but he was actively holding back out of fear of killing his friends.
"Symbiotes aren't made of glass, buddy!" Peter shouted, dodging a swipe from Darkhawk and webbing the alien firmly to a brick wall. "Sometimes you have to hit them a little harder to get the point across!"
Jack of Hearts let out a massive sigh of relief, lowering his glowing hands. But the relief was short-lived.
Whirrrrr-CLACK.
The Citizen V android deployed a pair of metallic wings, mirroring Darkhawk's exact flight capabilities, and engaged its shoulder turrets, perfectly mimicking War Machine's arsenal.
"Wait a minute," Peter blinked, recognizing the shifting technology. "Is that a Super-Adaptoid chassis? It's copying their tech!"
"THREAT DETECTED. ALLIED COMBATANTS COMPROMISED," the android's synthetic voice droned. "ELIMINATION PROTOCOL ENGAGED."
"We have to stop him from hurting them!" Jack of Hearts panicked. "Spider-Man, I need your help!"
"Helping is literally in the job description! Give me a second!"
Peter launched himself directly at the Super-Adaptoid. The robot adapted instantly, firing a stream of synthetic webbing from its wrists to match Spider-Man's fighting style. They collided mid-air, exchanging rapid, brutal blows.
But Peter wasn't fighting alone.
Cindy dropped from a fire escape above, firing two thick strands of silk that adhered directly to the android's back.
"Pull!" Peter yelled.
Peter grabbed the robot's front chassis, planted his boots against its chest, and hauled back with all of his enhanced arachnid strength. Cindy anchored herself and yanked in the opposite direction. With a horrific screech of tearing metal and snapping wires, the two spiders literally ripped the Super-Adaptoid completely in half.
Jack of Hearts let out a horrified, "Oh!"
"Relax, man," Peter casually tossed the sparking upper torso onto the pavement. "Your teammate isn't a living person. As long as its hard drive isn't corrupted, the Engineer guy can just weld it back together after the apocalypse. Treat it like a Lego set."
Jack of Hearts offered a strained, forced nod, realizing he hadn't actually considered the robot's modular nature. "Uh... thank you, Spider-Man. Leave the Colonel to us. You should get back to your objective."
Peter and Cindy swung away, leaving the energy heroes to contain their corrupted teammates. According to Mr. Stark, weakening Knull required mobilizing every single available asset. They needed to clear the board of these chaotic side-brawls so the heavy hitters could focus on the dragon.
"Activity at our three o'clock," Cindy called out, pointing toward a narrow side street.
Peter looked down. A young girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, was sprinting for her life down the alleyway, frantically looking over her shoulder. Chasing her was a massive pack of grayish-white elite symbiotes.
Peter's brow furrowed beneath his mask. Why is a civilian still wandering the streets? But he didn't have time to ponder the logistics. The lead symbiote lunged, its jaw unhinging.
"Watch out!" Peter yelled, swooping down like a falcon.
He swept low over the pavement, wrapping his arm securely around the girl's waist to scoop her up into the air.
He didn't grab her hand. Real-world physics didn't work like Superman movies; jerking someone into the air by their arm at sixty miles an hour would just dislocate their shoulder.
But the moment Peter swung upward, the impossible happened.
The terrified girl squeezed her eyes shut, let out a panicked squeak, and literally passed right through Peter's solid arm like he was made of smoke. She fell straight back toward the pavement in a dead free-fall.
"Whoa!" Peter yelled, his arm swiping through empty air.
Thankfully, Cindy was swinging right behind him. She shot a flawless web-net, catching the girl like a trapeze artist and hauling her safely up to the roof of a nearby brownstone.
Peter landed a second later, his white lenses wide with shock. He looked at the short girl. She had chestnut hair pulled into a messy ponytail and rare, striking amber eyes.
"Hey, Spider-Man! I see you on TV all the time!" the girl panted, her voice shaking with adrenaline. She looked at Cindy. "And this is... Spider-Woman?"
"Silk," Cindy corrected softly.
"Oh! Right. Thank you, Silk! And Spider-Man, I am so, so sorry!" the girl babbled nervously, wringing her hands together. "It wasn't that you didn't grab me tight enough, it's just... I fell straight through you!"
Peter crossed his arms, the tactical gears turning in his head. He already had a pretty good guess regarding her identity, but he let her explain.
"I... I think I might be a mutant," she whispered, looking down at her hands. "I never had any superpowers before. But yesterday, when those alien monsters almost grabbed me, I just phased right through them. I've been running ever since." She looked up, her amber eyes full of worry. "So, am I a mutant?"
"What's your name?" Peter asked gently.
"Katherine. Katherine Kitty Pryde."
Bingo, Peter thought. The girl standing in front of him was Shadowcat.
During his previous encounters with the X-Men, Peter had noticed Kitty Pryde wasn't on their active roster. It made sense now; she was from a younger generation, roughly the same age as Jubilee, and her mutant X-gene had only just triggered under the extreme stress of the invasion.
"Well, Kitty, it definitely seems like you have a knack for self-preservation," Peter said, stepping closer. "We need to get you to an evacuation point..."
Peter paused. An absolutely insane, highly dangerous idea suddenly sparked in his brain.
He looked at Kitty, sizing up her phasing abilities. "Actually... do you think you could do us a massive favor?"
"What kind of help?" Kitty asked, blinking in surprise. Then, her eyes widened as the realization hit her. "Wait a minute! You mean... I can help you? I can help the Avengers?!"
"Yes," Peter nodded slowly, his tone turning dead serious. "But I'm not even sure if I have the right to ask you this. What I need you to do is incredibly dangerous. Like, off-the-charts, end-of-the-world dangerous."
Peter squinted at her. If Kitty agreed, she would be stepping into the ring with the most physically devastating force on the planet. But if her phasing powers worked... if she could slip right through the alien biomass... the Avengers would get the Hulk back.
"I mean, I should be able to handle it, right?" Kitty reasoned, a nervous but determined courage swelling in her chest. "As long as they can't physically touch me, there's nothing to worry about!"
She took a deep breath, looking Spider-Man right in the eye. "Tell me. What do you need me to do?"
"We need you to walk right up to the Hulk," Peter said grimly.
Kitty froze. "Huh? I'm fighting the Hulk?!"
"No," Peter corrected, pointing a finger at her. "You're going to phase your hands into his chest... and you're going to pull him completely out of the symbiote."
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