"So? I'm a man of my word, wouldn't you say?"
Having floored the Lizard, Peter turned back to look at Gwen, his voice lazy and lighthearted.
Gwen & The Green Goblin: "???"
Before Gwen could even process what she was seeing, the Green Goblin instinctively glanced at the internal time display in his helmet.
He immediately sucked in a breath of cold air. From the moment this "Arbiter" fellow engaged the Lizard to the moment the beast lay motionless like a dead newt, the entire process had actually taken less than a minute!
The moment he realized this, a shiver ran through the Goblin, nearly causing him to tumble off his glider.
The madness and mockery in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by the specific brand of weakness and compromise unique to a cornered capitalist.
Run! I have to run right now!
This man was not someone he could handle. Norman knew his own physical condition—the Performance Enhancer had only boosted his strength about a dozen times over.
In terms of raw power and speed, he was no match for the Lizard. To put it in gaming terms: he was an ADC. And what sane ADC tries to go toe-to-toe with a heavy-duty tank-juggernaut?
The Lizard had hyper-regeneration, which allowed him to tank over a hundred of the Arbiter's punches.
As for Norman? If those fists landed on him, he wouldn't just be beaten into mincemeat—he'd be tenderized into beef balls!
Without a second's hesitation, the Goblin opened fire with the machine guns on the front of his glider and dumped every remaining pumpkin bomb he had. Then, he turned tail and fled without looking back.
His plan was perfect on paper, but he had overlooked one thing: Gwen's Spider-Sense.
Almost the instant he twitched, Gwen reacted. "Look out!" she screamed as a warning, leaping off the hallway railing and firing a web line that snagged the tail of the Goblin's glider.
Peter, too, made a split-second judgment. He scooped up the unconscious Dr. Connors and performed a "leap of faith" from the third-story classroom.
Just as Peter hit the ground with Connors in tow, the building behind them erupted into a pile of rubble from the concentrated explosions.
In that same heartbeat, Gwen—realizing she had to do something—poured every ounce of her strength into the web line, physically yanking the airborne Goblin out of the sky.
The coordination between Peter and Gwen was flawless. Sensing the web line was about to snap under the tension, Peter launched himself upward the moment the Goblin was dragged within range.
A swirling sphere of brilliant blue energy—a Rasengan—condensed in his palm.
BOOM!
The Rasengan slammed into the center of the glider, gouging a massive hole through the high-tech metal.
The glider exploded instantly, sending the Goblin crashing to the pavement. His armor was severely damaged by the combined force of the impact and the blast.
Gwen instinctively moved to subdue him, but Peter held out an arm to stop her. He stepped toward the Goblin and knelt down. Just as he did, the Goblin lunged upward, a hidden blade snapping out from his gauntlet, aimed straight for Peter's throat!
If this had been Gwen, even with her Spider-Sense, she likely would have taken a serious wound even while dodging the fatal blow.
But Peter had intercepted her precisely because he anticipated this "dirty" trick. He didn't have Spider-Sense, but he had "predicted the predictor."
As the Goblin struck, Peter tilted his head slightly with lethal precision. Before the blade could even pass his ear, he reached out with lightning speed and crushed the Goblin's forearm.
The terrifying pressure pulverized the armored gauntlet and the bone beneath it simultaneously.
"AAGH!"
The Goblin shrieked in agony, immediately losing his fighting spirit. To ensure there were no other hidden surprises, Peter pressed several key points on the suit, effectively crushing the mechanics into scrap metal. The Goblin was now helpless.
Norman hadn't expected the "heroic" Arbiter to be so ruthlessly cautious. Deprived of his gadgets, he began a desperate attempt to manipulate Peter with promises of wealth and power if he let him go.
Peter ignored him entirely, tucking the Goblin under one arm and slinging Dr. Connors over the other shoulder.
"You can't just take them!" an exhausted and bruised Gwen tried to protest.
Peter only replied coldly, "Miss Ghost-Spider, I'm sure you wouldn't want me to unmask you in front of this crowd, would you?"
"You... we're both supposed to be heroes! This is too much!" Gwen's face flushed red under her mask. But the threat hit home.
She knew in her current state, she was no match for him. She could only resort to frustrated self-hypnosis: I'm not backing down because I'm scared! I'm just... I'm just worried about Peter! Yeah! I don't know where he hid or if he's safe!
Seeing Gwen wisely back off, Peter turned his gaze to the surroundings. Countless students wanted to swarm him to get a closer look, but they were held back by fear of his power, settling for shouting questions from a distance.
Looking at his classmates' gossip-hungry faces, Peter's mouth quirked into a mischievous grin behind his mask. "Hey, kids, you know what? Gossip always comes with a price."
The students laughed, thinking the Arbiter was just joking with them. But in the next second, they watched as he walked toward the smoking ruins of their school and placed a single hand on a pile of rubble.
"What is he doing?" a few students muttered, a bad feeling rising in their guts.
Then, they witnessed a sight that was both unforgettable and utterly soul-crushing.
As a soft white light emanated from his hand, covering the wreckage, the burning debris began to float. Under the influence of a mysterious power, the school started to rapidly reconstruct itself.
In the blink of an eye, a brand-new Midtown High stood before them—looking even newer than it did before the bombing.
"NOOOOOO—!!!"
At that moment, the collective heartbreak of hundreds of teenagers resulted in a literal explosion of groans.
"Enjoy your 'happy' school days~!"
Leaving behind that parting shot, Peter leapt over the campus fence with the Goblin and the Lizard in tow, disappearing with a stylish flourish.
Behind him, as the Arbiter "left as soon as the task was done, hiding his name and fame," the student body completed a full character arc from fans to haters in record time.
"F*** you, Arbiter! You failed us!"
"Arbiter, you have no heart!"
"Scumbag! I'm never having your babies! NEVER!"
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