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Chapter 495 - Chapter 495: Death of Quentin Beck

"Hahaha! It's all your own fault, you lying bastard!"

"You're the one asking for trouble by not listening to E.D.I.T.H.'s safety protocols!"

"Is this psychopath finally going to surrender?"

"Excellent work, Spider-Man!"

"Damn terrorist! Go straight to prison where you belong!"

Seeing that Quentin Beck appeared to accept his fate and defeat after being accidentally wounded by his own weapons, the viewing audience became increasingly excited and vindicated. They had finally waited to witness this moment of justice.

Although Quentin Beck concealed his true intentions masterfully, the perceptive Natasha Romanoff still sensed something fundamentally wrong with the scene, "No! There's something suspicious about the way he's holding those glasses. His grip and positioning are more consistent with someone holding a concealed weapon!"

Banner looked somewhat surprised by her assessment, "How could you possibly determine that from just watching?" He removed his own glasses from his jacket pocket and attempted to mimic Quentin Beck's hand position, which did indeed feel awkward and unnatural.

"I'm a trained intelligence agent! And I'm also a woman with finely tuned instincts. Never underestimate a woman's intuitive sixth sense!" Black Widow responded with a knowing snort.

[Spider-Man looked directly at the apparently defeated Quentin Beck, then suddenly reached out to his right side and grabbed something invisible, immediately followed by the sharp crack of a gunshot.]

[He turned his head and stared with cold determination at the previously invisible Quentin Beck, who was wearing his holographic disguise technology and gripping a concealed pistol. Under Spider-Man's enhanced strength, Beck quickly lost his grip on the weapon and it clattered uselessly to the ground.]

["I will never fall for your deceptive tricks again!" Spider-Man declared as he removed the E.D.I.T.H. glasses from Beck's face and placed them on his own, "E.D.I.T.H.! Initiate immediate shutdown of all drone operations!"]

["Preparing retinal and biometric identification scans... scans completed successfully! Do you want me to execute the complete cancellation protocol on all active drone units?"]

["Execute the shutdown immediately! Leave no drone operational!"]

["Command confirmed and acknowledged!" The vast swarm of drones suspended throughout London's airspace began their systematic return to orbital positions. Agent Hill smiled with satisfaction as she observed this scene through her surveillance equipment, knowing that Spider-Man had successfully defeated Quentin Beck.]

[Inside the treasury vault, the combat drones that had been moments away from beginning their massacre also departed the area. Happy peered through the large hole that had been cut in the vault door and immediately understood that the crisis was probably over.]

["Hand me that spear!" Happy called out. Betty obediently passed the medieval weapon to him.]

[Ned corrected from behind with inappropriate timing: "Actually, that's called a halberd!"]

[Both Betty and Happy stared at him with exasperation due to his poorly timed historical correction.]

["Welcome back, Peter!" Upon hearing E.D.I.T.H.'s familiar greeting, Spider-Man allowed himself a genuine smile of relief, "Thank you for everything!"]

[He turned around to observe Quentin Beck lying motionless on the ground, removed his mask to reveal his identity, and asked with genuine confusion, "How could you possibly do such terrible things to innocent people?"]

[At this point, Quentin Beck had become extremely weak due to significant blood loss from his wounds, but he managed to speak with his final breaths, "You will understand eventually, Peter! People always desperately want to believe in something greater than themselves. In this world... they will believe absolutely anything if you present it convincingly enough!"]

[He fell into permanent silence after delivering this cynical final statement.]

[Looking down at Beck's lifeless body, Spider-Man put the E.D.I.T.H. glasses back on and asked with uncertainty, "Is he... is this actually real?"]

["All holographic illusions have been completely deactivated, Peter!"]

[After receiving this definitive confirmation, Spider-Man was finally convinced that Quentin Beck was genuinely dead.]

[William, who had been hiding in his surveillance van throughout the entire operation, suddenly heard his cell phone notification sound. He picked up the device and discovered it was a pre-recorded message from Quentin Beck that had been automatically sent upon his death. William received the data transmission and hurriedly extracted the USB drive before shutting down his computer systems.]

[Happy and the other survivors carefully opened the damaged vault door and emerged cautiously. All the threatening drones had disappeared without leaving any trace.]

[The overwhelming feeling of narrowly escaping certain death made Ned unable to contain his excitement as he shouted: "Oh! Yeah! We're alive!"]

[MJ suddenly thought of something urgent and immediately began running out of the treasury as quickly as possible.]

["Where are you going in such a hurry?"]

"Dead? That's the best possible outcome for that pathetic charlatan!" After witnessing Quentin Beck's demise, the genuine Mysterio tilted his head with obvious satisfaction and felt tremendously relieved.

The real Quentin Beck remained imprisoned in the adjacent interrogation room at that very moment.

By this time, numerous citizens had already learned about Quentin Beck's arrest through news reports, and angry crowds had gathered outside the detention center to voice their outrage and condemnation, but they remained unaware that Beck had already been transferred to a more secure facility.

All media reports concerning the genuine Mysterio were immediately suppressed and classified. Although many civilians at the scene had witnessed Mysterio's dramatic flight through the sky, Director Nick Fury immediately attributed this phenomenon to Quentin Beck's technology, dismissing it as the charlatan's final desperate illusion.

While this official explanation might deceive the general public, it certainly couldn't fool high-ranking government officials. General Ross conducted a classified meeting with Director Nick Fury and expressed considerable surprise when he learned about the existence of the genuine Mysterio. He subsequently issued direct orders to all news media organizations prohibiting any reporting on this interdimensional incident.

The primary concern was that Mysterio had traveled from the multiverse, which technically made him an undocumented resident in this reality. Additionally, government officials wanted to determine the sky curtain's motivations for sending Mysterio to their dimension.

Unfortunately, thanks to the fraudulent impostor's actions, the genuine Mysterio's public image and reputation were severely damaged. When most people encountered him, their immediate reaction would undoubtedly be identical to the hostile citizen who had blocked his path earlier.

However, this reputation problem could be relatively easily addressed. Tony Stark could simply hold a comprehensive press conference to clearly distinguish the genuine Mysterio from the deceptive charlatan.

Nevertheless, even with such official clarification, it would require considerable time for accurate information to reach the entire population. After all, regardless of how extensively news was broadcast, there would always be people who didn't watch conventional media. However, everyone observed the sky curtain broadcasts, and the speed of information dissemination through that medium was on a completely different level.

Within the S.W.O.R.D. facility, after delivering a thorough lesson to the imprisoned Quentin Beck, the genuine Mysterio chose not to join Director Nick Fury's S.W.O.R.D. organization, but instead became affiliated with the Avengers. Although the two groups were closely allied, there remained some important operational differences.

Mysterio preferred not to be subject to excessive bureaucratic restrictions, and the Avengers offered relatively greater freedom of action. Tony Stark generally didn't micromanage their activities, and team members were essentially autonomous unless specific missions required coordination.

Several individuals remained at Stark Tower simply because they had nowhere else to go: Captain America who was temporarily without specific duties, Banner who wanted to continue his scientific research, Scott Lang who was proceeding through divorce proceedings, and others who found the facility convenient for their needs.

[On the damaged Tower Bridge in London, Spider-Man was walking with a noticeable limp from his injuries. MJ spotted him from a considerable distance and immediately began running toward him with obvious concern.]

["MJ!"]

["Hey! Are you okay?" MJ discarded the medieval mace she had been carrying and embraced Spider-Man with relief.]

["I'm doing great! How about you? Are you injured?"]

["I'm perfectly fine!"]

["Are all the others safe and unharmed?"]

["Yes! Everyone made it through safely!"]

[Spider-Man felt overwhelming relief upon hearing this confirmation. He had been constantly worried that Quentin Beck would harm MJ and the other students, especially considering that Beck had even destroyed Happy's aircraft.]

["What exactly happened to you guys?" Now that he knew everyone had survived, Spider-Man finally wanted to understand what they had experienced during the crisis.]

["Several armed drones were pursuing us relentlessly! Then they suddenly stopped all movement and flew away! Did you manage to stop them?"]

["Yes, I did!"]

[The two separated from their embrace, and MJ examined Spider-Man's severely damaged suit and the visible injuries beneath, "Did you actually defeat him?"]

[When this topic arose, Spider-Man thought about Quentin Beck's death and responded with genuine heaviness in his voice: "Yeah, I did."]

[Observing his somber expression, MJ hesitated momentarily before saying, "Well! I also brought this weapon with me!" She glanced down at the discarded mace on the ground, "I was thinking that maybe you might need some help during the fight!"]

[After saying this, she couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing that an ordinary person like herself had actually intended to assist the superhuman Spider-Man in combat.]

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