Mac Gargan's fury stemmed from the actions of the two Spider-Men, which resulted in his spine being pierced by his own bullet, leaving him a permanently paralyzed cripple. To exact revenge and walk again, he had to undergo modifications, becoming a monster burdened with a scorpion tail.
He believed this was the fault of Spider-Man and Silk, and thus he sought to unleash his rage.
As for Spider-Man, his anger was exceptionally clear.
With a roar and brute force, he tore the Scorpion's gold titanium alloy helmet in half, tossing it aside, then kicked the Scorpion flying.
In the distance, Tony Stark, witnessing this, couldn't help but quip:
"That kid doesn't need us at all, except for a ride."
The Avengers' main focus here was to seal off the surrounding neighborhoods to prevent Cindy's identity from being revealed to the media and others. As for the Scorpion, dealing with him was something Peter had insisted on handling himself from the start.
Captain America, looking at the tablet in his hand, clearly understood Peter's current state.
Spider-Man was unleashing his rage.
The Scorpion's tail, still on the ground, continued to shift form, transforming into a razor-sharp blade that began sweeping in wide arcs. He believed Spider-Man couldn't possibly have appeared silently beside him. Spider-Man must have merely re-cloaked himself; why else would he have torn off his helmet?
His tail fired bullets to cover the surroundings while the blade swept everything in its path. The Scorpion himself stood up, surveying his surroundings.
Suddenly, he sensed an unprecedented danger, but it was too late. His knee was brutally stomped from behind, forcing him uncontrollably to his knees. Spider-Man had appeared behind him, nobody knew how, and then, with immense force, violently tore off half of the Scorpion's arm armor, throwing it to the ground.
Don't push your luck!
Using strength greater than Spider-Man's and even swifter speed, the Scorpion spun around and threw a heavy punch, but he hit nothing. Spider-Man hadn't just cloaked himself; it was as if he had suddenly vanished.
Peter Parker had indeed vanished.
He wasn't just tearing at the Scorpion's armor; he was tearing at the very fabric of reality. In that instant, as he ripped off a part of the Scorpion's armor, he moved himself entirely onto the Web of Destiny between multiverses, then swiftly returned to his own universe to launch his next attack on the Scorpion. This was essentially like teleportation, the only difference being that Peter could almost only return to the exact spot he left from, with a maximum deviation of a few meters.
But it was enough to shatter the Scorpion.
"Argh!"
The Scorpion missed again.
The Scorpion is a scorpion that preys on spiders, and a scorpion's genes are far more powerful than a spider's, Otto Octavius had claimed. But the current reality was hard for the Scorpion to accept. He had paid such a heavy price, he had almost gotten his hostage, he had choked that girl Cindy, and he could have twisted her neck right then and there.
Why couldn't he even hit one Spider-Man now?!
His tail constantly shifted form in his chaotic thoughts: electromagnet, cannon, blade, acid sprayer. With continuous transformations, even the Scorpion himself couldn't control it anymore. He faced a silent, elusive monster that suddenly appeared beside him, tearing off his gold titanium alloy armor—the same material as Iron Man's—with bare hands, its white eyes constantly wide.
"Get out! Get out here!"
The Scorpion roared, screaming hysterically.
Spider-Man emerged. He looked at the Scorpion, who had only a few pieces of armor left, and finally, just as the Scorpion had planned, he grabbed his tail. The Scorpion seemed to smile in satisfaction. Spider-Man had finally appeared; he was a human, not some ghost or monster, not a nightmare that kept appearing and disappearing.
Then, Spider-Man grabbed the Scorpion's tail, spun him around, and slammed him heavily onto the ground, then spun him around again and slammed him heavily onto the ground once more.
Mac Gargan felt his face slam heavily against the ground.
Mac Gargan felt blood flowing from his nose and mouth.
Mac Gargan spit out his teeth.
Mac Gargan's entire face went numb, blank.
No one came to stop Spider-Man, neither the Avengers nor anyone else. Spider-Man was well aware of his own body's durability, and also the durability of the Scorpion, who had undergone similar modifications. So he just gritted his teeth, holding the Scorpion's tail and slamming him heavily onto the ground, again and again.
Until someone held him back from behind.
"You're going to kill him!"
The person who yelled this was someone Peter hadn't expected: Cindy. He looked at Cindy in disbelief, but his voice was calm, almost flat: "He almost killed your family."
"But... my dad said you can't kill people, at least not him."
Peter saw the dilemma in her eyes.
"My dad said he's not worth it."
Peter roughly shook off Cindy because, in that brief pause, the Scorpion's tail pierced towards their heads. Cindy fell to the ground, watching Spider-Man disappear and reappear effortlessly. Only she could sense that Spider-Man hadn't truly left; he was just... gone for an instant.
The Scorpion's face was a bloody mess. With his teeth scattered, he let out desperate, grotesque laughs. This last attack still missed, but then, a suffocating sensation appeared. His neck was directly stomped on, making his breathing difficult.
Spider-Man reappeared. He pulled up the lower part of his mask, revealing his chin and mouth. He stomped on the Scorpion's back, then roared, and the entire scorpion tail along with the nerve connector on his spine was slowly ripped out from his body. Gargan's eyes widened, and he let out a wail. He couldn't feel his legs again; they had once again disappeared.
Peter threw the tail aside. The Scorpion was still alive. He looked at Cindy. Cindy looked at the partially revealed mask, unable to discern the expression of the person beneath it.
"Indeed, he's not worth it."
White lightning erupted from Spider-Man's entire body. He grabbed the Scorpion's leg from the ground, lifted him upside down, and thousands of volts of electricity instantly pierced through the Scorpion's body. Peter then threw him aside and, using the Avengers' communication system, called his new friend.
"Mr. Scott (Cyclops), I need Ms. Emma Frost's help. Someone's brain needs her to handle it."