Captain Stacy frowned as he entered the other bedroom.
There, he found his partner aiming a gun at another human husk.
A second victim?
Captain Stacy swept his flashlight over it.
The husk appeared to belong to a young white man with short golden-brown hair and a face covered in freckles.
“His face…
Why does he look so familiar?
Let me think.
I should know this victim…”
Captain Stacy finally remembered.
Two weeks ago, he had seen this face in a class documentary filmed by his daughter, Gwen Stacy.
Everything matched, from his facial features and hair color to the freckles on his face.
“Gwen told me this kid was unpopular in their class and often bullied others.
I think his name was…
Carl King.”
After more than twenty years as a police officer, Captain Stacy instinctively paid close attention to school bullies.
Once they graduated from high school and entered society, people like them had a high chance of becoming juvenile offenders.
That was why Carl King had left such a strong impression on him.
Even after two weeks, Captain Stacy still remembered his name.
Then, at that very moment, something terrifying happened.
The instant the name “Carl King” left Captain Stacy’s lips, the human husk on the floor twitched.
“What the fuck!”
Captain Stacy recoiled in shock, ready to empty his magazine at a moment’s notice.
At the same time, the detective beside him let out a terrified cry.
“Oh my God!
Captain!
There are spiders everywhere!”
Captain Stacy whipped around and saw a horrifying sight he would remember for the rest of his life.
Countless tiny spiders were crawling across the ceiling from the bedroom he had just left.
In the blink of an eye, they poured into Carl King’s human husk like a black torrent.
As the two officers watched in horror, nearly fainting from the sight, the human husk began to swell like an inflatable doll.
Soon, it looked almost like a normal person.
The only difference was that instead of ordinary pupils, its eye sockets were packed with clusters of tiny spider eyes.
There was no doubt about it.
This was a monster.
Captain Stacy immediately emptied his magazine, but every bullet passed straight through its body.
The holes were instantly stitched shut with gray spiderwebs.
“You look delicious, but I’m already full.”
Carl King’s voice was hollow and lifeless.
The next moment, he twisted the joints of his hands and feet at impossible angles, climbed through the window, and scuttled across the exterior of the apartment building.
All Captain Stacy could do was lean out the window, watch which way Carl King fled, and call for backup over the radio.
A minute and a half later, the first to arrive was not an NYPD patrol car.
It was Spider-Man, racing toward them on his Spider-Cycle.
Spider-Man was here?
He always showed up at just the right time.
But why was Spider-Man riding a motorcycle tonight?
Captain Stacy hated to admit it, but Spider-Man looked undeniably cool on a bike.
Shit.
What a crazy night.
At this point, Captain Stacy no longer had time to dwell on his prejudice against Spider-Man.
“57th Street!
Be careful.
That monster is made up of countless spiders!”
“Thanks for the warning, Captain.”
Spider-Man’s voice drifted back from the distance as the Spider-Cycle sped off in the direction Carl King had fled.
…
At midnight, a dangerous chase unfolded through the deserted streets.
The Thousand, the swarm Carl King had transformed into, could shoot webs and swing between skyscrapers just like Spider-Man.
However, his webs were gray and formed from countless finer strands, carrying the stench of decay.
‘Damn it.
I already recovered the bodies of the Mutated Spiders, so why did Carl King still become The Thousand?
Did I miss something important?’
For the first time, Peter personally experienced what it meant for the Multiverse to always have surprises in store.
Peter’s presence had triggered a series of Butterfly Effects, causing the universe around him to change.
Parts of the storyline had already mutated, becoming completely different from the events he remembered.
The longer Peter remained in this universe, the more drastically the storyline would change.
‘In that case, I’ll clean up this mess myself.
Every person The Thousand devours makes him stronger.
I can’t let him grow any further.’
Peter twisted the Spider-Cycle’s throttle all the way, and the engine roared like a steel beast.
The distance between him and Carl King rapidly narrowed.
Carl King glanced back.
Countless tiny spider eyes turned in unison and locked onto Peter.
“Spider-Man,” a hollow voice drifted through the night air.
“We finally meet.”
“Stop.”
Peter’s voice came through his mask.
“This is your last chance.”
Carl King did not answer.
He abruptly released his web, and his husk shattered in midair.
Thousands of spiders burst out from within, scattering into a cloud of black mist.
The two webs Peter fired passed straight through the center of the swarm without catching anything.
“He can scatter his entire body to avoid physical attacks?
That’s one troublesome ability.”
Peter frowned.
The Thousand was even harder to deal with than he had expected.
The black mist gathered again on a rooftop ten meters away, and gray spiderwebs stitched the shattered husk back together.
“Spider-Man, admit it.
I’ve evolved beyond you.
I’m the more perfect life form!”
“Haven’t you heard that villains always die because they talk too much?”
Peter snagged a trash can with his web and hurled it at Carl King.
Carl King split his body vertically down the middle to avoid it, then fired webs from both palms and continued fleeing.
He was smart enough to realize that he was not yet a match for Spider-Man.
He needed to hide and devour more people before he could become an invincible Thousand.
In the blink of an eye, the midnight chase crossed several streets.
Then Peter noticed a distinctive building ahead.
It was a skyscraper completely covered in glass curtain walls.
At its highest point stood a massive letter A surrounded by a ring of white light.
It was Stark Tower, owned by Iron Man and home to the Avengers.
A streak of gold and red shot out from the enormous A emblem.
It was not a missile or an aircraft, but a human figure clad in steel armor.
Iron Man had officially joined the battle.
Leaving a long trail of jet exhaust behind him, Iron Man carved a wide arc through the air before slowing to a low hover above Peter.
“Hey, young superhero.
Looks like you could use a little help.”
“But next time you decide to race through my neighborhood, give me a heads-up first.”
Tony Stark’s unmistakable voice rang out from behind the steel mask.
This was the first meeting between Iron Man and Spider-Man.