The streets of New York, which were once lively and crowded, were now eerily silent. Ever since the city's flagship hero began speaking with the villain in the video, the citizens still held onto hope that he might escape this situation—just as he had before from other seemingly impossible predicaments.
But fate did not seem to be on the side of the New Yorkers watching the screen, for Spider-Man had just been struck in the chest by the villain, and with that blow, all hope vanished.
They could only watch as their hero suffered a massive wound right where his heart was—a heart now firmly gripped by the villain on screen.
Many New Yorkers tried to broadcast what was happening to the world, hoping that some of the planet's most powerful heroes would see it and come to Spider-Man's aid. But they found themselves unable to do so. The device Mysterio had lent Rhino effectively jammed all signals in the city, making it utterly impossible for any news outlet to alert the world—and thus, the other heroes—about what was happening to Spider-Man. However, Mysterio hadn't accounted for Rhino wanting to ruin Spider-Man's reputation in such an outdated and stupid way.
The New Yorkers stood in complete silence. They couldn't bring themselves to insult Spider-Man in a moment like this. It would be heartless to attack the very person who helped them every day, despite their own past hostility toward him.
.......
In a luxury apartment, a woman with white hair sat with trembling hands as she clutched her TV remote. When the broadcast of Spider-Man's recording with Solus first began, she had immediately changed the channel, wanting nothing to do with him. But no matter how many times she switched, the same footage kept playing. Realizing it was likely the work of one of Spider-Man's villains, she resigned herself to watching.
What she didn't expect was how strongly she would react upon seeing the hero who had once rejected her. Even though he later tried to apologize, claiming his body had been possessed by Otto, she couldn't bring herself to believe him—especially since she had gone to him hoping for something serious, not just another casual fling.
After that incident, she never thought she'd still harbor such strong feelings for Spider-Man… until the moment the villain confirmed that her beloved Peter Parker wasn't the one who had betrayed her. The truth hit her like a wave of anxiety—she didn't want to believe she'd made such a terrible mistake.
That anxiety only grew worse when Spider-Man's villain made a sudden move, one that seemingly caught the hero off guard. The sight was so overwhelming that, for the first time, she felt death breathing down her neck. She stumbled back from the TV, unaware of the small table in her path. Disoriented by what was happening, she couldn't react in time—her body slammed hard onto the floor, and she lost consciousness instantly.
....
A woman with fiery red hair sat on her couch, watching the broadcast of Spider-Man being impaled by the villain. Despite never having met the hero personally, she felt an overwhelming sadness—something she attributed to the fact that he was her city's protector.
As she distractedly watched the transmission, flickering memories began surfacing in her mind—memories of herself with a man named Peter Parker, Spider-Man's alter ego. The strangest part of these fragmented recollections was that she seemed to have been in a romantic relationship with Spider-Man, loving him more than her own life.
What unsettled her even more was the realization that her current partner might have been the one who tore her away from Spider-Man, altering her memories in the process.
"Johnny… do you know Spider-Man?" she asked quickly, her voice slightly hoarse. She hadn't even noticed the tears streaming down her face.
She waited for an answer that never came—because a sudden dark-red silhouette emerged from her bedroom and attacked before she could react.
Now she understood. Those memories were real. That's why she never wanted intimacy with Johnny, why her body and mind refused to share a bed with him. It turned out… she had already loved someone else.
"Die, wretched human! Inferior beings have no right to be near me. If that damned Mephisto hadn't forced me to watch over you, I would never have come close!"
After the demon spoke, she heard nothing else. Her eyes slowly closed, and in her fading vision, she thought she saw the demon cursing someone before vanishing.
....
In a small apartment, an elderly woman sat beside a man of similar age, who was deep in thought as he held a newspaper.
"Hey, Jonah, why don't we watch TV?" the old woman asked as she reached for the remote and settled onto the couch facing the television.
"Alright, May… but remember, the doctor said you shouldn't watch too much," Jonah replied, sitting beside her and pulling her close.
The moment the TV turned on, the first thing they saw was a man literally holding Spider-Man's heart in his grasp.
Jonah was at a loss for words. When he turned to May to take the remote and shut it off, he found her trembling uncontrollably, her face deathly pale.
"My Peter… my little Peter… please… not again… I can't lose you…" Tears streamed down the old woman's face as she spoke.
Suddenly, she collapsed. Jonah quickly scooped her up and rushed her out of the house toward the hospital. He had long suspected that Spider-Man was her beloved nephew, Peter Parker. He even felt a little guilty for always criticizing his alter ego without knowing. But right now, none of that mattered—the only thing that did was getting May to the hospital before things got even worse.