Peter didn't know exactly what Otto had done, but he was certain of one thing: Otto had succeeded.
Venom, symbiotically bonded with him, erupted in unprecedented agony, surging and seething. Peter could feel Venom gradually being forced out of his body. This separation was nearly impossible to resist, to the point where he felt a sensation akin to a "purge"—it was as if every cell was systematically expelling the symbiote, physically severing the bond between Peter and Venom.
Otto didn't waste any more words. He leapt directly out of the helicopter, watching as the vehicle entered a free-fall before crashing and exploding. No one else on board could have survived, but what about Spider-Man?
Peter crawled out with great difficulty. The symbiote was roiling around him; at this moment, Venom seemed to have truly become nothing more than a suit of clothes, unable to maintain the symbiotic connection. He staggered out of the inferno, only to see Otto descending from the sky.
"Argh! Damn it! You miserable bug! What did you do!"
Otto let out a roar as he slammed heavily into the ground. He had originally jumped from the aircraft intending to witness Spider-Man falling to his death, only to find his own body failing him. He had dropped like a stone, and as Peter emerged from the flames, he told Otto exactly what had happened.
"A little gift for you, Doctor. Do you like it?" Peter looked at Otto. Venom was temporarily unable to bond with him, so it had merged with his Velocity Suit instead, providing Peter with no physical enhancement. However, Otto wasn't faring any better.
"It's a contact-based electronic virus. The moment your mechanical limbs attacked me, the virus attempted to infect and paralyze the electronic neural system of your harness. Originally, this was meant to be non-lethal—if you hadn't chosen to attack me while on a helicopter."
As Peter spoke, he lunged toward Otto. "You've completely lost it! You don't care at all about how many people you'll kill!"
"They don't matter!" Otto babbled incoherently as he lay on the ground. "I've seen the truth! None of them matter! Rhino!"
Before Peter could ponder what Otto's mad ramblings meant, the real Rhino charged out from one of the buildings. If the old Rhino's metal skin and exoskeleton made him look like a humanoid armored car, he now looked like a humanoid armored train.
There was less visible metal skin; he was largely covered by a thick layer of exoskeleton driven by an unknown source. He charged directly at Peter, who dodged with a backflip. Peter then stuck a web to Rhino's back, driving his body's bio-electricity through it in an attempt to paralyze the armor while questioning him.
"Stop, Aleksei! Stop! You're not the same kind of person as Otto and Scorpion!"
"I can't stop!" Rhino barreled toward the street, tossing aside numerous cars that had lost power due to Electro's electromagnetic storm. "Octavius treated my wife! I can't stop!"
"Do you think your wife wants to see you like this?!"
"At least she'll be alive!"
Rhino grabbed the Spider-Man on his back and hurled him away. After re-attaching a web to Rhino in mid-air, Peter released a powerful surge of current through the conductive webbing. He then grabbed two cars whose drivers had already fled and slammed them violently against Rhino's body.
Rhino tried to brush them off, but found the cars were completely stuck to him. Then came more. The current Peter had just released was part of a restraint device specifically designed for Rhino—as long as his metal skin wasn't removed, Peter could use a scheme developed from samples of Oscorp technology to temporarily turn Rhino's body into an electromagnet, using the surrounding metal to bind his movements.
Two down, four to go. He thought this as he looked up at Electro in the sky. Electro was currently the most hazardous enemy; his electronic storm had paralyzed nearly all equipment in New York, especially government departments and hospitals that required massive amounts of power to function.
Fortunately, the Velocity Suit was still on him. Peter took a deep breath, using his own bio-electricity to temporarily power the suit. He ran up a wall at supersonic speeds and lunged at the airborne Electro.
Electro vanished in an instant. The next second, Peter was sent crashing into an office building by a massive impact.
"Hello, Spider-Man. You didn't really think I was slow, did you?" Electro reconstituted himself in front of Peter and laughed loudly. "That was only because I hadn't eaten my fill! You and that damn hamster were fighting me when I wasn't even close to full power! Now, I have everything I need! Doc Ock and Rhino couldn't handle you, but I will take your life!"
"You're right. But is it possible that I actually knew you weren't at full strength last time?"
Peter sat up as he spoke. "And I knew you'd definitely stick around to gloat. Look behind you, Max."
Confused, Electro looked back. A web had been spun behind him when Spider-Man was knocked into the room. As he turned his head, Peter quickly retracted the web. Electro smiled wickedly and transformed into a current, intending to pass through the gaps in the webbing, only to slam hard against the net. He was firmly ensnared and let out a wail of agony.
"What is this?!"
"Anti-Electro webbing? Just kidding. I consulted Magneto specifically to find a way to deal with you. Now you can't interfere with New York's power grid anymore." Peter placed his hand on the trapped Electro. "Now, be a pal and give me a recharge."
"Stay away from me!"
Tries later, Spider-Man emerged from the hole at full strength, counting the remaining enemies.
"Three left. Mysterio and Scorpion have been upgraded, but at least I know the direction of their upgrades—I have a rough idea of how to counter them. Sandman was modified by Belasco... strange, Belasco theoretically shouldn't be able to enter Earth-616. How did he modify Sandman? Oh..."
A discrepancy appeared between the sonar display and what Peter saw. Peter knew Mysterio's illusions were back.
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