“Awesome job, Spider-Man!” A kid’s voice cheered from above.
It turned out he had watched the entire fight from his window, completely mesmerized as Spider-Man turned the tables, and couldn’t help bursting into applause.
Peter gave a light spring, leaping right up onto the child’s window ledge.
“Thanks for the support, kid!
Do me a favor and give the police a call, alright?” “You got it, Spider-Man!” Peter offered a wave before scrambling up to the rooftop to catch his breath.
To tell the truth, his body hadn’t fully recovered yet; he had forced his way through that last beating on pure adrenaline and sheer willpower.
Now, he needed to let his whole body relax so his healing factor could work its magic at maximum speed.
Finding a quiet corner against the rooftop wall, he rested his head back, letting his mind drift as he mulled things over.
He had originally planned to tail Captain Stacy to pull off a show-stopping rescue, single-handedly turning his public image around.
Instead, after that whole detour, he had completely lost the captain’s trail.
He needed to figure out a way to track Captain Stacy down again.
Right on cue…
*Buzz—* The phone stashed in his pants pocket vibrated.
Peter pulled it out to find a fresh text message from Gwen: [Hope you’re okay.
Is everything alright?
Something big is going down over at the Williamsburg Bridge.] “The Williamsburg Bridge!
Thanks a ton, Gwen!” Peter grinned beneath his mask.
Gwen had clearly gone out of her way to gather intel for him, terrified he’d lose his lead.
Gwen was just as desperate as he was to see Spider-Man’s name cleared in her father’s eyes.
Otherwise, she’d be stuck right in the middle between the two most important men in her life—her boyfriend on one side, her father on the other; one representing romantic love, the other familial devotion.
Caught right in the crossfire, she was genuinely torn apart.
Honestly, she probably wanted Peter to redeem Spider-Man’s reputation even more than Peter did!
Slipping the phone back into his suit pocket, Peter stood up and gave his limbs a thorough stretch.
After that short breather, his body was officially back to one hundred percent.
During those few minutes of rest, he had also diagnosed the issue with his broken web-shooter.
A tiny internal screw had worked itself loose, causing the trigger mechanism to jam up.
With a simple, firm nudge, the minor issue was fixed.
He didn’t stop there, though.
Relying on experience from his original universe, Peter made a few quick adjustments to the web-shooter’s internal parameters.
With just a slight tweak to its settings, the web-shooter—which previously had only one basic firing pattern—suddenly boasted three distinct output modes.
Peter tested a quick shot into the night sky.
Perfect!
Performed like a charm!
“Awesome, let me out!” Peter looked up, his eyes lighting up under the mask.
A police helicopter was cruising through the sky nearby, heading straight in the direction of the Williamsburg Bridge.
“How about I catch a free…
ride?
Man, I really am a genius little spider!” Taking a quick running start, Peter launched himself high into the air, firing a line of webbing mid-flight that latched onto the underside of the chopper, letting him hang effortlessly beneath it.
“That little detour wasted some time—hopefully, I won’t be too late getting there!” …
Meanwhile…
Traffic on the Williamsburg Bridge far below had ground to a complete, agonizing halt.
Dr.
Rajit Ratha sat in the back of a luxury sedan, growing increasingly impatient as the vehicle crawled to a dead stop.
He had just come from Oscorp, where he delivered a cold ultimatum to that pathetic Curt Connors.
He demanded that Connors bypass proper channels and push their newly formulated serum into human trials at the Veterans Hospital under the guise of a routine flu vaccine.
Yet that ungrateful scientist had the nerve to flatly refuse him!
With no other choice, Ratha had to take matters into his own hands.
Right now, he was en route to the Brooklyn Veterans Hospital.
And yet this damn gridlock had trapped him smack in the middle of the bridge!
“Alfred, can you go check what’s going on up ahead?
When is this damn traffic going to move?” Ratha asked, straining to maintain a semblance of composure.
“Right away, Doctor,” his driver, Alfred, opened the door and stepped out into the night air.
*THUMP!* Not long after Alfred left, the sedan’s rear bumper took a violent hit, sending the entire vehicle shuddering.
“Oh~” Ratha muttered in annoyance.
“Just fantastic…” *CRASH!* Before he could finish grumbling, the vehicle behind him rammed into his car with tremendous force, shoving his sedan entirely off course and slamming it sideways against the bridge’s outer railing.
“Hey!
What the hell are you doing?!” Ratha swung his head around, barking in anger.
That was when he noticed the chaos outside his window.
Swarms of panicked drivers and passengers were fleeing from the far side of the bridge, screaming as they ran for their lives.
“What’s happening?!” “Get back in the car!” “Hey, what’s going on back there?!” “Mommy!” “Oh, motherfucker!” Complete bedlam erupted across the bridge.
Infected by the escalating hysteria, Ratha felt a sudden, icy knot of dread tighten in his chest, entirely clueless about what was unfolding.
Still, his instincts screamed that something was terribly wrong.
After a split second of hesitation, he decided to abandon the car, blend into the running crowd, and get as far away from this mess as possible!
However, when he reached for the door handle, he realized the door was jammed shut!
“Damn it!” Ratha yanked furiously at the handle, then kicked at the metal with all his strength, but the door refused to budge an inch.
Just his luck—when his car got rear-ended, it had been squashed into a tight squeeze!
Pinned by another vehicle on the left and the bridge railing on the right, he was completely trapped inside!
That was when he stole a frantic, terrified glance into the rearview mirror—only to freeze dead in his tracks at the sight of a massive, terrifying silhouette.
Standing well over seven feet tall, the figure dragged a heavy, muscular tail behind it.
Its body was covered in thick, coarse, green reptilian hide—looking for all the world like a monstrous, giant-sized bipedal lizard!
“What in God’s name is that thing?!” Ratha gasped, paralyzed with horror.
He watched in terror as the humanoid lizard casually peered into car after car with its massive snout, as if hunting for specific prey.
Target acquired!
Just as Ratha stared at the reptilian beast, the monster’s head whipped around, its golden slit-pupils locking directly onto his face.
“Ratha…” the Lizard rasped, spitting out the name through razor-sharp fangs as it lunged toward Ratha’s car with heavy, thunderous strides.
*THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* Every heavy footfall sent micro-tremors rippling through the concrete bridge deck.
And each thud slammed directly against Ratha’s racing heart!
He had no idea why, but he knew with sickening certainty that this hideously mutated beast was coming specifically for him!
*SMASH!* The sedan’s reinforced window shattered into a shower of safety glass as a massive, clawed hand thrust straight inside!
Scrambling in sheer panic, Ratha pressed himself as far as he could into the opposite corner of the back seat.
The Lizard’s claws missed him by inches, shredding the fine leather upholstery like paper!
*CRASH!* Another deafening impact rocked the car.
The Lizard leapt onto the luxury sedan’s hood, driving its sharp talons downward to tear a massive hole straight through the roof!
Ratha ducked and cowered in absolute terror, squeezing his body beneath the rear passenger seats.
The razor-sharp tips of the creature’s claws grazed across his designer suit, shredding the fabric over his chest into ragged ribbons.
A foul, pungent odor of urine began to spread slowly through the ruined cabin…