Su Yi had been observing from the sidelines, ready to make his move at any moment, but the plot development had spiraled beyond his immediate expectations. Little Spider Peter Parker was not just defeated; he was shocked into temporary unconsciousness by Electro Max Dillon, a villain not even at full power.
Was Peter's resistance to electricity simply too poor? Su Yi mused, watching Peter twitch weakly on the pavement. It was true that most living creatures, save for electric eels or specific bioconductors, possessed extremely low resistance to high voltage.
Su Yi himself had been shocked by Thor's divine lightning—a far superior energy form—and it was undoubtedly unpleasant. This was a lesson Peter needed to learn: his Spider-Sense could predict danger, but it couldn't protect him from a force of nature he couldn't touch.
Watching the incandescent figure of Max begin to prepare for a true, devastating rampage, Su Yi decided his time for observation was over. His father-in-law, Captain George Stacy, was still directly in harm's way; if he waited any longer, Gwen wouldn't be able to contain her panic.
George Stacy, a veteran of street wars and super-human crises, picked up the microphone from his reinforced cruiser. His hand was steady, but his eyes, fixed on the dangerously glowing figure of Max, betrayed his deep fear for his officers and the trapped civilians.
"Sir, please release the hostage—Spider-Man is injured—and raise your hands," George's voice boomed, calm and authoritative, cutting through the sirens.
Electro Max Dillon, whose mind was now a swirling vortex of energy and emotional pain, shouted loudly in George's direction, the sound crackling with static electricity. "I am stronger than Spider-Man! I am the hero who should be worshipped! He tried to stop me! They tried to stop me!"
George, utilizing years of crisis negotiation experience, immediately recognized Max's state—an emotional break fueled by extreme narcissism and delusion. This situation required careful psychological handling, not force.
"Yes, we all saw it. You are indeed stronger than Spider-Man," George conceded easily, prioritizing de-escalation over truth. "Your power is incredible, no doubt. But right now, you have disrupted normal life, and you have harmed the person in your hand. You want to be a hero, don't you?"
Max hesitated, the compliment momentarily satisfying his frantic ego. "Yes! I deserve it!"
"Then do what a hero should do, Max," George pressed, using the name to remind him of his humanity. "A hero protects people. He doesn't destroy the city's power, and he doesn't harm others. We need your help to fix this."
George used the subtle distraction of the dialogue to coordinate his team, having them quickly evacuate the remaining, stubborn onlookers—the 'show-watchers' who refused to leave. This was his biggest liability.
If Max were to suddenly unleash a torrent of energy, these ordinary people would be vaporized. George felt a surge of professional frustration and helplessness, knowing he had to face this creature of lightning while simultaneously praying his two other unofficial allies—the other Spider-Men—would finally appear.
Are friends that unimportant? George internally grumbled, focusing his attention back on Electro. The verbal gambit had worked, but only barely.
Max's eyes, burning with blue light, narrowed. "He stopped me from becoming a hero; are you going to stop me too?"
Before George could craft a non-committal answer, a voice, calm yet possessing the weight of divine authority, descended from above, cutting through the police radios and the chaotic static.
The arrival was instantaneous and devastatingly effective. Su Yi, in the shimmering, gold Iron Celestial armor, slammed down onto the asphalt a few meters behind Max, creating a shockwave that kicked up dust and snapped off the nearest traffic light at its base.
Max spun around, his rage immediately shifting from the puny police force to this new, far more powerful presence.
"Enough, Max," Su Yi's voice boomed, completely devoid of emotion or flattery, "If you continue, you will have no way out. You just want to gain more attention and recognition, but those are not the pursuits of a hero. They are the demands of an ego."
The use of the word ego triggered Max's profound sense of inferiority. The last restraint snapped.
"I am stronger! I am the Superhero everyone should recognize!" Max screamed, his voice dissolving into a torrent of static. "You and Spider-Man will both be defeated by me!"
He violently hurled the still-stiffened Peter Parker aside, sending the limp hero skidding across the pavement. Peter landed dangerously close to a pooling puddle.
Immediately, a quick, precise web line shot out from the rooftop where she was hiding. Gwen Stacy, demonstrating her fast reflexes and chemical expertise, secured Peter's body and pulled him back to the relative safety of the police line near her father. Max was left solely to Su Yi.
Max, focused only on destroying this new obstacle, unleashed his maximum output. He became a living generator, releasing brilliant, arcing blue lightning directly at the Iron Celestial.
Su Yi stood completely still, bathed in the blinding electric light. The electrical energy, despite its high voltage, had absolutely no effect on Su Yi whatsoever. Its quality was vastly inferior to Thor's divine power, being just raw, unenhanced electricity. Moreover, its quantity was minuscule on a cosmic scale.
With Level 7 Electrical Resistance, Su Yi felt only a slight, generalized numbness. More crucially, thanks to his newly acquired Infinite Devour ability, this vast but localized energy was instantly metabolized. As the lightning struck the gold armor, it was cleanly and efficiently absorbed by Su Yi's core, converted into stored bio-energy, and vanished.
Max could feel it—the incomprehensible, catastrophic failure of his attack. His most powerful blasts, the very manifestation of his new identity, were hitting this figure and simply… disappearing.
"This... how is this possible?" Max whimpered, his confidence dissolving into primal terror. "It's not gone! It's being absorbed and converted into other forms of energy!"
Max felt a terrible sucking sensation, realizing he couldn't even retract the power he was generating; Su Yi's gravity well of absorption was too strong. Driven by a desperate, panicked instinct, he made a ruthless choice.
With a gritted-teeth scream, he dove for the nearest large, humming power cable, tearing it open with his hands and grasping the massive, pulsating copper wires. He began to draw raw, city-level current into his body while simultaneously discharging the maximum possible output toward Su Yi.
Su Yi merely sighed, the sound carried faintly through the armor's external speakers. "Too weak," he murmured.
If Max had managed to drain the entire city grid and attack, it might have registered as a minor pinprick. But this amount of energy, sourced from only two or three nearby blocks, was negligible.
Su Yi didn't rush. He walked, slowly and deliberately, into the continuous, searing electrical impact. The blue bolts simply vanished against the gold plating. He closed the distance in three calm strides, appearing directly in front of Max.
In Max's panic-stricken eyes, the Iron Celestial was no longer a threat; it was a predator.
Su Yi easily grabbed Max's wrist, applying just enough pressure to make him drop the main feeder cable. With the external power source severed, Su Yi focused his Infinite Devour ability inward, targeting Max's bio-electric core.
The draining was over in less than one second.
Su Yi didn't need to struggle or fight; he just drank. He devoured over 99% of the free electrical energy stored within Max's body, leaving him only the minimal, baseline bio-energy necessary to keep him alive.
The sudden loss of power was traumatic. Max Dillon collapsed, his incandescent skin turning a sickly gray, the frantic blue glow fading to a dim, pathetic flicker.
Max felt his body shrink, his strength vanishing, his new identity—his whole life—being ripped away. He was utterly terrified. He had tasted power and adulation, and now he was returned to being Max Dillon, the nothing-man.
"No... my energy! Give it back!" Max pleaded, weak and broken.
"Insignificant energy, not even enough to fill a tooth," Su Yi declared, releasing the now-limp body of the former electric god.
Su Yi realized that with Infinite Devour, he could, if he chose, completely consume Max's entire bio-energy signature, effectively erasing him. But he had no strange, cannibalistic preferences. Besides, this minuscule bit of bio-energy was less than he would naturally absorb by simply spending a few seconds basking in the sun.
Having successfully and cleanly neutralized Max, Su Yi turned his attention to the cleanup, which was far more complicated than the fight itself.
"Done. The electrical energy in his body has been controlled by me," Su Yi announced to George and the stunned officers. "As long as he isn't allowed to continue absorbing electrical energy, he won't be able to harm others."
George Stacy approached cautiously, looking from the smoking crater where the cables were to the twitching, powerless figure of Max, then up at the impossible, golden armor.
"Thank you... Sir," George stammered, recovering his composure. "My men will contain him. We'll transport him to a secure facility on Riker's Island."
Su Yi shook his head. "Chief George, I cannot hand him over to you. With all due respect, your holding cells are insufficient. Max can absorb electrical energy, and electrical energy is everywhere. Once he recovers, the danger will be immense. He will break out. You have no way to contain a man who can drain the power grid."
George, grim-faced, knew Su Yi was right. "I really hope they can handle these people properly and won't let them escape again. Our system is not built for this kind of threat."
Hearing George's weary complaint, Su Yi offered a wry smile through the armor's optical sensors. "It's the natural cycle of the world now, Chief. They get caught, they get locked up, they escape for some reason, and they cause trouble again. The next time, Max will be looking for a much bigger battery."
Sure enough, the predictable cavalry arrived. Within minutes, unmarked, specialized vehicles bearing the insignia of S.H.I.E.L.D. appeared, led by agents already briefed on the necessity of immediate, deep containment.
"I'll leave him to you. The insulated carriage they brought should be sufficient for transport," Su Yi directed, nodding toward the reinforced vehicle. "I'll be leaving now."
Su Yi came and went in a flash. With a soft hum of the repulsors, he vanished from the spot, ascending vertically until he was a golden speck above the Manhattan skyline.
George Stacy was left behind to deal with the inevitable paperwork, media frenzy, and the cleanup of a disaster that, thanks to Su Yi, resulted in zero civilian casualties—save for the minor electrocution of Spider-Man.
Su Yi reappeared on the rooftop near Gwen, the Iron Celestial armor retracting in a shower of light and noise to reveal his street clothes. Gwen immediately rushed to him, but her first concern was Peter.
"How is he? He wasn't moving—"
"He'll be fine, Gwen," Su Yi assured her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He's tough. He just needs a good night's rest and maybe a full check-up to make sure his nervous system is undamaged. His enhanced metabolism will handle the shock quickly."
Su Yi quickly shot a web line down to Peter's unconscious body and another to the nearest rooftop, securing him for transport.
They spent the next few minutes taking Peter back to his apartment, where Su Yi administered some basic, high-tech treatment with a small bio-stimulator from his inventory.
Gwen looked at the pale, still form of Peter Parker, then at Su Yi. "Why did you wait, Su? You could have stopped it before he hurt Peter, or before my dad got involved."
Su Yi sat down, watching Peter's steady breathing. "Peter has the heart of a hero, Gwen, but he's also a kid who thinks words can solve everything. He needed to see a clear line drawn in the sand—that some threats can't be reasoned with, and that idealism has its limits when lives are at stake. Max crossed that line when he chose vengeance over restraint. Peter needed to know the cost of that failure."
Max Dillon is contained. Peter Parker has been humbled and taught a crucial lesson about power. George Stacy is safe. Tony Stark is my next move, Su Yi thought, his mind already calculating the quickest and most advantageous approach.
He needed to find a way to meet Tony that didn't involve forced confrontation, but rather, a strategic display of superior technology. The Iron Celestial's power signature—a level of energy absorption that baffled even S.H.I.E.L.D.—would be enough to pique the genius's curiosity.
He looked back at the exhausted Peter. Peter's lesson on the vulnerability of heroes was complete, but his education on the hierarchy of power was just beginning.
Now that Peter is recovering and Electro is contained, do you want Su Yi to focus on approaching Tony Stark to discuss technology, or should he focus on his relationship with Liz Allan and the other girls after their pool party?