Peter POV:
The Collider chamber burned with chaos. Sparks rained from the ceiling, arcs of unstable energy tearing open flashes of other worlds. The clash of steel and webs filled the air.
Miles had revealed himself in his black-and-red suit, standing tall, but his courage was immediately tested.
Doctor Octavius roared back to her feet, her tentacles slicing through machinery with lethal precision. She charged, her arms snapping forward like guillotines.
"This is gonna take a while." Groaned Peter B.
My spine glowed with neon fury as I raised the Dominator. The weapon's voice was steady, colder than stone.
"DESTROY DECOMPOSER ENGAGED."
"No. It won't." My voice was flat as ice.
The Dominator howled with cyan-green light. A searing beam erupted, swallowing Doc Ock whole. The chamber trembled as the blast vaporized her and anything near her. Steel pillars, scaffolds, even part of the collider's outer shell vanished in a blaze of light.
In an instant, she was gone.
Gwen stumbled back in shock. Peter B's jaw went slack and Gwendolyn just let out a sigh. Miles's eyes widened behind his mask.
"What… what was that?" Miles stammered.
I lowered the weapon, smoke curling off its frame. His expression unreadable. "Power that leaves nothing behind."
Gwen muttered under her breath. "Guess we're really playing for keeps."
The fight raged on.
Scorpion's tail lashed like a wrecking ball, smashing the cockpit of Peni's mech into the ground. Metal screamed as the mech crumpled, sparks bursting from its joints.
"SP//dr!" Peni cried, scrambling toward the wreckage.
Scorpion hissed, his mandibles clicking. "Pathetic little bug!" He raised his claw to crush her.
Noir and Spider-Ham leapt. Noir's fists cracked against Scorpion's jaw while Ham darted with his hammer, cartoonish blows landing with surprising force. But Scorpion was a monster. He shrugged them off and swiped his tail, slamming them into a wall.
He loomed over them, victory gleaming in his eyes.
"DESTROY DECOMPOSER ENGAGED."
The Dominator roared again.
The beam ripped through Scorpion, vaporizing his armored body and the floor beneath him. The chamber shook violently as the villain was obliterated, leaving only molten slag where he had stood.
Miles flinched again, still unable to get used to the sheer destructive power possed by the weapon. Ham's breath caught. Even Noir's face hardened beneath the brim of his mask.
I didn't falter, I stopped faltering a long time ago. He stepped toward Peni, who knelt trembling beside the broken shell of her mech, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I lost him." She whispered. "I lost my dad's gift."
I knelt and pressed a small pendrive into her palm.
She blinked, confused. "What… what is this?"
"Upgraded schematics." My voice softened involuntarily. "A new mech. Stronger. Faster. Yours to build."
Her lip quivered, hands shaking as she clutched it.
I rested a hand on her shoulder. "Flesh withers but deeds endure. Your father lives through you. Through what you'll create next."
The chamber fell silent. Even through the storm of battle, his words carried.
Peni nodded, her face resolute. Her hands clutched the pendrive like a lifeline.
Then alarms screamed. The collider surged with unstable power, its core spiraling out of control. Energy cracked like thunder, arcs of light clawing at the walls.
From the control platform, Kingpin roared. "They're mine! Vanessa and Richard will be mine again!"
The silhouettes of Vanessa and Richard flickered at the collision point, forming out of the distortion.
I leapt upward, goober in one hand, gauntlet in the other. My nanobots swarmed over the collider's console while I entered the override key in its slot, forcing the machine to obey.
"No." I growled. My hands blurred over the interface. "Your collider dies here."
The machine screamed. Reality folded inward. The mirages of Vanessa and Richard wavered, stretched and shattered like glass as the quantum polarity was reversed.
"No!" Kingpin's roar rattled the chamber. "No!"
The collider shrieked, slowly pulling back all the dimensionally displaced objects.
It was over.
The portal shimmered, stabilizing. One by one, the Spiders approached, ready to return home.
Peni, still teary but resolute, SP//dr perched on her shoulder, stepped through first. "Thank you Peter. From both of us." She returned the Dimensional Stabilization watch. Peter gave her a small nod.
Noir tipped his hat and followed. "I love you guys… and I'm terrified of you, Peter. Also, I'm taking this cube thingy with me. Don't understand it now but maybe someday I will."
"That's all folks." Spider-Ham winked, falling back into the light.
"Is he even legally allowed to say that?" Peter B muttered.
Then it was Gwen's turn. She hesitated, her gaze lingering on Miles, Peter B, Gwendolyn and me."
"Thank you. For giving me hope again." Her voice cracked as she spoke.
But before she could leap a thunderclap split the air.
Quantum lightning slammed into the floor beside her, currents flickering in unnatural angles. Glitching arcs spiraled outward, shaking the chamber to its foundation.
A silhouette began to form in the crackling light. Gwen's stomach dropped.
Everyone froze.
Peter and Gwendolyn's Dimensional Navigation Gauntlets began to shriek with frantic alarms.
The fight wasn't over. And now, the real twist was beginning.
Read 43 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
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