Monday, the fourth week of September, was a day Peter originally thought would be good, but it turned out to be anything but. Because today, a supervillain, without any warning—or rather, not entirely without warning—suddenly burst onto the scene.
Rhino.
Peter knew he'd have to prepare for Rhino ever since Oscorp Technologies' artificial metal polymer skin was stolen, but he didn't expect him to appear so quickly. He'd been busy dealing with Scorpion these past few days and hadn't thought Rhino would show up.
The opponent stood three meters tall. Of course, he wasn't naturally that tall. That metal polymer skin, combined with a gray-black metallic exoskeleton power frame, was worn by Rhino, making him look fierce and intimidating. Relying on that exoskeleton, with some hydraulic rods exposed, he was almost entirely covered in heavy armor. The few small areas not covered were also protected by the gray metallic skin, making him look muscular. And the massive, sharp metal horn on his head, though not sharp-looking, was exceptionally thick and heavy.
He looked almost identical to Rhino in the Marvel's Spider-Man game, except that even his skin now had a metallic outer layer.
"I once met a guy named Vulture who built himself a magnificent set of wings as a weapon. Are you called Rhino?" Peter quipped as he swung next to Rhino, simultaneously web-slinging his face and shocking him with an electric current.
The powerful current instantly made black smoke rise from Rhino's entire body. He even opened his mouth and exhaled black smoke, but to Peter's surprise, he remained standing. He even turned towards Peter, then lowered his head and charged.
"Or, were you bitten by a radioactive mutant rhino? Mutant Rhino-Man?"
A graceful backflip dodged Rhino's charge. At the same time, Peter fired strong webs, hooking Rhino's back to prevent him from crashing into anything, and pulled hard to minimize property damage.
"Come on, buddy, say something!"
Spider-Man, straining to pull Rhino, was incredibly frustrated: "Are you really a living person and not some rhino robot? Or something sitting inside a rhino mech?"
"As long as I control the damage, you Avengers won't send the Hulk, so you'll have to spend time dealing with me."
As soon as Rhino's English, tinged with a Russian accent, came out, Peter was shocked. He immediately understood that this guy, who had scared away pedestrians, smashed a few shops and a dozen cars—the guy he told Captain America Spider-Man could handle alone—was actually buying time.
"What are you buying time for?!"
Rhino said nothing, merely lifted an unoccupied car, and hurled it at Spider-Man. Peter Parker leaped high, directly web-slinging the thrown car and smashing it against Rhino's body. Unlike Shocker, who staggered after being hit by a car, Rhino stood firm.
But his task was already complete.
"Economic news: Wilson Fisk, CEO of the Fisk Corporation, has surrendered to the police, admitting to three additional federal felonies. Now, let's go live to the scene."
On the giant screen of a roadside building, Fisk appeared in a fine suit. He was already handcuffed, looking calmly at the reporters: "I am very grateful to my wife. She has always advised me on what is right and what is wrong. What kind of person I could have been. She... healed my psychological trauma from childhood. For my wife, I will voluntarily surrender my ill-gotten gains, pay three times the compensation, and provide adequate compensation to all victims' families."
The devil in the white suit showed a sincere expression as he spoke: "Of course, I know it's not enough to make up for the harm I've caused them. But I hope our city, our community, can become better because of my actions..."
Kingpin surrendered?
Why?
He hadn't even found any evidence, only suspicion, and Kingpin just surrendered?
"The Raft prison..." Connecting this to Shocker and Mysterio's transfer to the Raft prison these past two days, Peter suddenly understood.
This wasn't a confession; it was seeking asylum. Because if all his super-powered crimes were exposed, Kingpin wouldn't be going to a New York prison, but to the Raft prison, which was under UN jurisdiction and outside U.S. sovereign territory. The Raft prison had no human guards and no forces Kingpin could develop. If he went there, he'd truly have nothing.
This was also why Daredevil still thought Kingpin should be sent to prison, because now there was a prison Kingpin couldn't escape from.
So, if Kingpin's business was already done for this phase, what difference did it make if he was in prison or not? In fact, any unfound evidence might have already been destroyed.
Amidst his shock, Peter suddenly realized something.
Rhino wasn't attacking him.
"My mission is complete. I've received my payment."
Rhino looked at Peter calmly, appearing ready to surrender, but Peter was even more bewildered: "If Kingpin was going to surrender, no one could have stopped him. Why did you need to cause such a commotion in the streets?!"
"It makes no sense!"
"I don't know," Rhino said honestly, then further explained: "I only know that they told me that if the news of Kingpin's arrest came through, it meant my job was done. I only needed to stall you, Spider-Man. You're a busybody. If I caused trouble, you'd definitely arrive earlier than the other Avengers."
"They even told me you'd be available at this exact time."
Available now...?
No, Rhino didn't need to explain further.
Peter had specifically set up Jarvis to monitor his friends and their families in real-time to prevent potential dangers. If there was any possibility of trouble, he could immediately get them to evacuate. This naturally included Cindy, as S.H.I.E.L.D. might just be Hydra-S.H.I.E.L.D. now and completely untrustworthy.
And now, Jarvis had just shown him footage of Scorpion emerging from the sewer near the Moon family's house.
"Alexei! I know it's you! Listen!" Peter roared at Rhino, who froze at the sound of his name.
"You... you don't want to do this, do you? Then stay here and wait for the Avengers to arrest you!"
Having said this, Spider-Man leaped up and swung away, while Rhino, hearing his words, actually sat down obediently on the ground, propping his chin and remaining motionless.
"Jarvis, connect me to the Moon family's phone!"
[Communication blocked.]
"Then connect to Silk's phone!"
In a desperate rush, as soon as the call connected, Cindy heard Peter's urgent shout: "Cindy, where are you?"
"I'm on my way home. No training today. What's wrong?"
"Scorpion, I mean, MacDonald Gargan, the gunman you stopped when I was dealing with Mysterio, he's been mutated into a radioactive scorpion, and he's headed to your house, you..."
Cindy hung up the phone. Peter gritted his teeth and then called another channel.
"Cap?! Tony?! I need the Avengers!"