“I didn’t know my little witch was the jealous type!” Holden hissed, exaggerating a wince as he rubbed his side.
As a seasoned veteran in the game of romance, he knew the golden rule: if a girl pinches you with killing intent, you pretend it doesn’t hurt.
If she pinches you lightly, you act like she just stabbed you.
“You are so—” BOOM!
Just as Wanda was about to pinch him harder, a deafening explosion echoed from down the block.
The two of them immediately snapped their heads forward, greeted by a massive, billowing cloud of dust engulfing the intersection ahead.
Drivers in front of them began stepping out of their vehicles to see what was going on.
“Ahhh!!!
It’s a monster!” “Run!” “What the hell is that?!” “Get out of my way, move!” Terrified screams and panicked wails erupted from the epicenter.
In an instant, the entire street descended into absolute chaos.
Pedestrians shrieked, turning and sprinting in the opposite direction.
Cars desperately threw it in reverse, slamming into the vehicles behind them in their frantic bid to escape.
The air was instantly filled with the cacophony of blaring horns, crying civilians, and wailing sirens.
“What’s happening?” Wanda immediately unbuckled her seatbelt, her hand gripping the door handle as she stared at the unfolding disaster with a deep frown.
Something like this rarely happened in the heart of the city.
It had to be a supervillain attack.
If that was the case, she had to step in.
If she didn’t, there would be massive casualties.
“Something’s coming,” Holden said, stepping out of the Cayenne with narrowed eyes.
Inside the churning dust cloud, a massive silhouette was hurtling toward them at terrifying speed, the sheer force of its sprint whipping the dust into a frenzy.
A second later, the hulking figure burst out of the smoke.
It was a giant humanoid reptile.
Its heavily muscled body was covered in thick green scales, with sharp, needle-like spikes running from the top of its head all the way down its long, thrashing tail.
Shreds of a torn white lab coat clung desperately to its expanding frame.
“ROARRR!” The beast violently flipped a car out of its path like it was a plastic toy.
Its deafening, guttural roar sent a fresh wave of primal terror through the fleeing civilians.
‘Dr.
Connors!’ The moment Holden saw the creature, he instantly recognized it as the Lizard.
“Who is that?
What kind of monster is that?!” Wanda demanded, stepping out of the car to stand beside him.
Her expression turned dead serious as wisps of scarlet Chaos Magic began to swirl around her wrists, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
Even though the public currently despised her, her innate sense of justice wouldn’t let her just stand by and watch people die.
“ROARRR!” The Lizard ripped a heavy steel door right off a sedan and hurled it fiercely toward a nearby storefront.
The sheer force of the throw embedded the metal deep into the red brick wall, sending a shower of sharp debris flying across the sidewalk!
“Damn it!
I have to stop that thing!” Wanda’s eyes hardened, her magic flaring as she prepared to launch herself into the air.
But before her feet could leave the pavement, Holden firmly grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t rush.
Someone else is already here!” Look.
Among the towering skyscrapers, an agile white figure darted nimbly through the air.
“Hey, big lizard, that’s not your chew toy!” A cheerful, light voice rang out as the white silhouette swung in a smooth arc, delivering a vicious kick that sent the reptilian monster tumbling to the ground.
With a graceful backflip, she landed perfectly on an open patch of concrete.
“It’s Ghost-Spider,” Wanda noted, instantly recognizing the newcomer.
The Avengers had looked into the vigilante before, so Wanda was quite familiar with her profile.
“ROARRR!” The downed Lizard scrambled up.
Gripping a nearby telephone pole with its scaled left hand, the monster violently uprooted it from the pavement.
With a furious bellow, it swung the massive pole at Ghost-Spider like a baseball bat, the sheer force tearing through the air with a deafening whistle.
Ghost-Spider vaulted backward, effortlessly dodging the lethal swing.
“You’re way too slow!
I’ve seen iguanas with better reflexes!” Ghost-Spider quipped, casually dodging another strike.
“Tell you what, how about I check you into a nice, cozy cell so you can catch up on Animal Planet?
Maybe it’ll give you some inspiration!” She hopped over a parked car.
“Over here!
Where are you looking?
Don’t go that way!” The endless stream of chatter drove the already furious beast completely insane.
Roaring, the Lizard hurled the telephone pole at her, then violently ripped a heavy steel door off a parked Hummer.
Holding the door like a riot shield, the monster charged at Ghost-Spider like a runaway bulldozer.
“She talks a lot,” Wanda muttered from the sidelines, unable to hold back her critique.
It was her first time seeing someone ramble so much during a life-or-death fight—and without ever repeating a joke.
“I guess being a chatterbox is just a mandatory Spider-trait,” Holden remarked with a relaxed smirk.
Out of all the superheroes in the world, only a Spider could pull off a stand-up routine mid-brawl.
Bang!
Crash!
The sound of heavy collisions echoed down the street.
No matter how hard it tried, the Lizard just couldn’t land a hit on the impossibly agile Ghost-Spider.
It was like trying to swat a hyperactive mosquito, pushing the monster’s rage to its absolute limit.
As the Lizard wildly tracked its target, it caught sight of two figures standing casually in the middle of the street just a short distance away.
A vicious, bloodthirsty gleam flashed in its reptilian eyes!
“Looks like the oversized iguana just noticed us,” Holden sighed, shrugging with a helpless smile.
They were just trying to enjoy the show, but of course, they had to get dragged into the mess.
“ROARRR!
Die!” The monster bellowed, thick veins bulging against its scaly green arms as it hoisted the Hummer door and charged straight at Holden.
“Crap!
Move, get out of the way!” Ghost-Spider yelled, panic lacing her voice.
She had been so distracted she hadn’t even realized there were still civilians in the crossfire!
Gritting her teeth, she abandoned her evasive maneuvers and vaulted directly in front of Holden to intercept the attack.
Seeing Ghost-Spider willingly put herself in the line of fire, the Lizard let out a triumphant hiss.
It swung the massive steel door down at her with bone-crushing force.
“Ugh!” Gwen threw her arms up, crossing them to block the brutal strike.
The sheer weight of the impact drove her heels inches deep into the asphalt.
The Lizard bared its jagged, bloodstained teeth in a horrific grin.
It had perfectly baited her.
Before Gwen could recover her footing, the monster whipped its massive, muscular tail around.
The devastating blow slammed into her ribs, sending her crashing hard into the pavement.
Without wasting a second, the Lizard brought the heavy steel door crashing down toward her head.
Pale and winded, Gwen stared up at the descending mass of metal.
There was no time to dodge.
In that terrifying final second, fear took over and she squeezed her eyes shut.
CLANG!
Dust exploded outward as a deafening metallic crash echoed across the street.
But the crushing pain never came.
Gwen cautiously opened one eye, then both, staring in absolute shock.
A tall, broad-shouldered man in a black t-shirt stood casually between her and the beast.
One of his hands was tucked lazily into his pocket, while the other was effortlessly holding back the crushing weight of the Hummer door.
“Stand back.”