*Sizzle—*
Acid dripped onto the concrete ground, eating through it in an instant.
Pungent yellow smoke rose into the air—the unmistakable stench of death.
Peter Parker’s brain was screaming.
Not a warning.
A death knell.
A slick, ice-cold chill wrapped around his neck like a venomous serpent, instantly freezing his spinal cord.
He tried to dodge.
Rolling to the left was pure muscle memory.
Yet that mechanical tail, flickering with an eerie green light, moved with unreasonable speed.
The hydraulic transmission system let out a gut-wrenching roar.
It wasn’t a thrust; it was a horizontal sweep with the power of a battering ram.
*Bang!*
The heavy thud made his heart freeze.
Peter felt his internal organs squeezed to their absolute limit in a single second.
Like a ragdoll, he was sent flying sideways, slamming violently into the water storage tank in the center of the rooftop.
The sheet metal burst open, exploding rust-colored water everywhere.
Tons of freezing water mixed with rust slapped him down onto the waterlogged floor.
“Cough…”
Peter tried to prop himself up, but the searing pain radiating from his spine turned his vision dark.
*Tap.
Tap.*
Metal boots shattered broken glass.
Mac Gargan was clad in heavy dark-green armor, standing like a mobile fortress of steel.
The scorpion tail behind him reared high, its venomous needle still dripping acid capable of melting straight through armor plate.
“The boss wants your spine,” Gargan’s voice filtered through his faceplate, distorted by electronic static and stone-cold chill.
“Even if it’s a little broken, it should still be enough to deliver the job.”
Peter forced himself onto one knee, enduring the agony.
Ice-cold water mixed with cold sweat ran into his eyes, stinging sharply.
This was a true hunter.
Completely different from the three clownish idiots he had fought before.
This guy reeked of blood.
“Hey, big guy,” Peter panted, trying to buy time with his usual quips.
“Hanging a thing that huge behind your butt…
doesn’t it hurt when you sit on the toilet?”
“Looking to die.”
Gargan didn’t waste another word.
Blue flames surged from the thrusters on his back.
*Boom!*
Defying all laws of physics, the several-ton steel body accelerated in an instant, appearing above Peter like a short-range teleportation.
No flashy moves.
The mechanical scorpion tail was like a strikes-to-kill venomous snake, transforming into a green blur as it thrust straight for Peter’s throat.
Peter’s pupils shrank.
Too fast!
He threw himself to the side with everything he had, barely avoiding his vital throat.
But the sting at the tip of the scorpion tail still grazed the back of his left hand, leaving a single line of blood.
The very next second, a wave of numbness spread along his blood vessels.
*Damn it…
neurotoxin…*
The Spider-Sense Peter took so much pride in was now like a radar stripped of power—dead silent.
“Run,” Gargan landed, his massive mechanical pincer clicking loudly.
“Why aren’t you hopping around anymore?”
Peter stumbled backward, lost his footing, and fell into the icy puddle of water.
Despair.
This was the first time he had ever been this close to death.
Gargan raised his massive mechanical pincer, aligning it with Peter’s head.
The jaws opened slowly, revealing the black oil stains smeared inside.
Peter subconsciously closed his eyes.
*Uncle Ben, Aunt May…*
*I’m sorry.*
Just as the mechanical pincer was about to snap shut—
*BOOM—!!!*
A pillar of orange-red flame burst forth like a spear of fire cast down by God, piercing through the night sky of New York without warning.
The puddle on the unfinished rooftop evaporated in an instant.
Before the white steam could even rise, it was forcefully ignited by the terrifyingly high temperature.
The pillar of fire struck Gargan’s chest armor with absolute precision.
“What—”
Gargan’s exclamation was swallowed by the explosion.
The multi-ton steel monster was hit like a home-run baseball, blasting straight through three concrete floor slabs of the unfinished building.
Crimson lava flowed across the ground.
A figure made entirely of dark-red volcanic rock slowly straightened up from the blazing fire.
The fiery crown atop his head flickered wildly, twisting and warping the surrounding air with intense heat.
Leon tilted his burning head.
Rock scraped against rock, sending sparks flying everywhere.
Peter forced his eyes open with great difficulty.
His vision was blurry from the toxin, his heart beating violently in his ears alongside the roaring of the flames.
That figure was built from dark-red molten lava rock, with orange flames gushing from the cracks in the rock, forming an eternal, unextinguishable crown on top of his head.
He glanced down at the battered, disheveled Peter lying on the ground.
The flames in his eyes suddenly flared up, turning into a deep, bottomless blue.
Leon raised his hand.
A plasma fireball was rapidly compressing in his palm, emitting a dangerous, high-pitched hum.
“Bullying a high schooler who hasn’t even graduated yet isn’t a very good habit.
Especially…”
Leon turned his head.
His blazing eyes swept over Peter on the ground, then locked back onto the distant Scorpion.
His tone held a fiercely domineering protectiveness:
“This little spider is my prey.
Nobody touches him except me.”
In the distance.
Gargan looked down at the near-melted dent in his chest armor, his heart hammering in terror.
If it weren’t for Osborn’s special alloy, that single hit would have cooked him alive.
“Are you that ‘Heatblast’?” Gargan raised both pincers, trying to look fierce while trembling inside.
“Whoever you are, stay out of this!”
“I’m your daddy.”
The concrete beneath Leon’s feet exploded.
Using the propulsive force of an explosive burst, he turned into a meteor, instantly plowing straight into Gargan’s chest.
“And I’m here to send you on your way!”
*Bang!*
A burning heavy fist slammed into the mechanical arm.
Extreme heat was the ultimate counter to metal.
The hydraulic arm Gargan was so proud of instantly turned glowing red and soft.
The drive shaft let out an unbearable, twisting screech.
“Get off me!”
Gargan roared, his venomous tail spraying high-pressure poison.
*Sizzle—*
Before the poison could even get within three meters of Leon, the thousands-of-degrees heat surrounding him vaporized it into harmless green smoke.
“Too weak!”
Leon didn’t even bother to dodge.
He charged straight through the mist of poison and slammed a fist into Gargan’s faceplate.
Gargan was sent flying backward, smashing through two load-bearing pillars.
“You damned monster!”
Gargan panicked.
He slammed his thumb onto the red button on his wrist.
“Taste this!
The Osborn Sonic Oscillator!”
*Hummm—!!!*
A device popped out from the base of the scorpion tail, instantly releasing visible high-frequency sound waves.
It wasn’t targeting the ears; it was targeting physical matter structures.
The flames on Leon’s body abruptly stagnated.
Under the high-frequency vibration, the lava framework inside his body felt as though it were about to disintegrate.
The core of the Omnitrix flashed an unstable red light.
His movements stiffened.
“Haha!
Got you!”
Gargan seized the opportunity.
His mechanical pincers clamped down hard around Leon’s waist.
With his thrusters at full blast, he rammed him toward a reinforced concrete pillar.
*Bang!
Bang!
Bang!*
Steel rebar snapped, concrete flying everywhere.
Although physical attacks had limited effect on Heatblast, that damned sonic device prevented Leon from concentrating enough high temperature to counterattack.
Peter lay on the ground, trying hard to see the situation clearly.
His left eye was completely blind now; the toxin was paralyzing his optic nerve.
But he heard it.
The sound of a fan spinning crazily.
“The cooling vent!”
Leon’s voice suddenly exploded across the battlefield, laced with urgency.
“His jetpack!
That’s the cooling vent!
He’s running at full output!”
Peter’s whole body jolted.
He didn’t need any further explanation.
Peter bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the excruciating pain to force a fleeting moment of clarity.
He raised his remaining functional right hand, adjusting his wrist angle slightly.
Hand up.
Aim.
He only had one shot.
Leon seemed to sense Peter’s intent.
He stopped struggling, spreading his arms wide to completely release all restraint over the energy inside his body.
*BOOM!*
A storm of raging flames erupted with him at the center.
The alarm inside Gargan’s armor blared wildly: [Warning!
Overheating!
Cooling valves fully open!]
The armor plates on his back automatically popped open, revealing the red-hot turbine fan inside.
*Thwip!*
A glob of grayish-white webbing shot inside with absolute precision.
It was Peter’s special blend mixed with quick-dry cement powder.
*Click, click, click—!*
The fan jammed instantly.
With the cooling vent blocked and extreme fire baking the exterior, this single-soldier suit of armor worth a fortune became a high-pressure cooker on the verge of exploding.
“No!
The temperature!
The temperature is out of control!”
Gargan screamed in sheer panic.
*Zzzzt—BOOM!*
Black smoke spewed from the thrusters, stalling completely.
Deprived of power, Scorpion crashed heavily to the ground.
The intense heat inside the armor scalded him so badly he squealed like a butchered pig, the stench of burning flesh filling the air.
“AAAAGH!
Let me out!
It’s burning me to death!”
Gargan desperately slapped at his faceplate, but the electronic systems had already melted shut.
The battle was over.
Peter let out a sigh of relief, his arm dropping powerlessly.
“Nice…
work…”
He received no reply.
*Tap.
Tap.*
Footsteps approached.
Peter forced his head up, witnessing a sight that chilled him to the core.
The burning figure walked over to Gargan, who was squirming on the ground, looking down at him like a judge of hell condemning a demon.
He held no rescue tools in his hands.
Only a ping-pong-ball-sized fireball radiating a blinding white light.
Extremely compressed plasma.
If he pressed it down, forget the armor—even the concrete floor beneath would be vaporized in an instant.
The flames on Leon were no longer wild and chaotic; instead, they had pulled inward, dangerously controlled.
That was pure, unadulterated intent to kill.
“Game over, scum,” Leon’s voice bore no trace of emotion, only a stone-cold sentence.
“Since you like playing with fire, I won’t even leave your ashes behind.”
He slowly raised his hand.