"The kids are having fun, huh?" the old gatekeeper said, gazing at the stadium.
"Fun? That looks like actual war," the younger gatekeeper muttered, wide-eyed.
"You're still young, what do you know? Back in my day, I fought in real wars. I even killed my own squadmates for shooting innocent civilians. Compared to that, this is adorable."
"…that's fucking dark."
The two sat on their chairs and kept watching the chaos.
A moment later, a police officer walked up, looked around, then spoke in a low voice.
"Excuse me, mind if I ask you something? This is serious, so please keep it quiet."
"Hm? What is it, officer?" the younger guard asked, scratching his head.
"This is… hard to say. There's been a string of murders linked to the same perpetrator. Extremely brutal." He showed them photos.
Both guards grimaced the moment they saw them.
"What the hell… Hannibal Lecter?"
"The killer appears to be a cannibal. The victims are random. Danger level on par with the Night Stalker."
"Great… I hope the human-rights people don't try to protect a cannibal just because cops shoot him," the old guard said bluntly.
"Don't worry, they only talk big. Even PETA does more than them."
"So… why ask us?" the younger one said.
"…There was another murder just now. Very close by. Same perpetrator. We suspect the cannibal is inside the school right now."
"…Wow, that's really bad."
"Relax. I'm going undercover to investigate suspicious individuals. First I'll change clothes." The young guard handed him a spare security uniform. The officer took it, went into the changing room, and came back out.
He thanked them, glanced at the old guard for a long second, then walked into the school grounds.
"Man, that's scary. If this happened near my house I'd move tomorrow," the younger guard said, then turned to the old one.
But the old man's face had gone dead serious.
"…We're screwed."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Didn't you find it weird? A case this big, and only one cop shows up to ask us questions—even though he just said it happened right next to the school?"
"…Huh?"
"And I smelled something way too familiar. A smell I got way too used to during the war."
"Y-You're overthinking it, there's no way—"
"I wish I was overthinking… but I'm not." The old man stood up, walked to the changing room door, and pointed at the handle.
"Look closely. It looks normal, but it's dented in one spot."
The handle was indeed slightly crushed in a hard-to-see place—meaning the "officer" had been holding back his strength as much as possible.
"N-No way…?"
"Remember the photos he showed us? They looked normal at first, but if you look closely, every victim was killed in an inhumanly brutal way."
"D-Didn't he already say that?"
"Yeah… but most of those wounds were made by a single person. A normal human couldn't do that. But after seeing this dented handle… it makes a lot more sense."
"W-We just… let him in?"
"Yep. And those eyes…" The old man wiped sweat from his brow and sat back down.
"…No doubt about it. That guy was a fake cop. A murderer. Worse—a cannibalistic murderer. We just let the wolf into the henhouse."
"Let's hope Tony Stark inside notices him."
"Then we need to warn Tony!" the younger guard shouted.
"I would if I could. Look around the room."
"Huh?"
He looked—every communication device was destroyed without them noticing. The door was jammed. They were trapped.
"W-When did that happen?!"
"While he was staring at us." The old guard lowered his cap, accepting their fate.
"Staring at us…?"
The younger guard glanced out the window. There stood a shadowy figure with glowing red eyes and hair that reached the ground, staring straight at them.
It wasn't a he… it was a she.
"…" Sweat pouring, the young guard collapsed, unable to move.
The figure watched for a moment longer, then vanished, leaving pure terror behind.
"God, please save everyone from that demon…" the old guard prayed.
…Too bad there's no god in this world. Just a chaotic outer entity chilling next to the young man.
[Cool shit you got there!] Nya said excitedly as I fought Tetos.
"Teto word of the day!"
"Bread!"
The two swung their baguettes at me. I blocked with Gwen.
"Uwah?!" Their hits were so strong Harry almost fell. I kept my balance by stabbing Gwen into the ground.
The battlefield was total chaos… The Weeb School was trying to redraw the world map, the Rainbow Flag School was in all-out war with them, and every other school was targeting us.
One Teto used her baguette like a javelin and hurled it at me.
I blocked with Gwen—the baguette flew straight into her mouth and she happily ate it.
"Umm, so gud and tasty!"
"Take this!"
I swung hard, knocking both Tetos off their horses.
"Oh! That young man just took out two Chimeras with incredible strength! Unbelievable!!"
Suddenly the fat trio charged in, hands moving furiously under their pants.
"Cummuda Triangle Trio!!"
"Protein Barrage!!"
They fired streams of suspicious white liquid at us. I was about to block when Gwen panicked.
"PETER!! I DON'T WANNA GET HIT BY THAT STUFF! GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!"
"Oh right, you're still a girl deep down."
So I planted Gwen into the ground, clamped Harry's neck between my thighs, and leaped straight up.
"!?"
Everyone froze as the three of us turned into a pole.
"Use your ultimate, Gwen!"
"Yosh! Tornado!!!"
Gwen grabbed my head and spun like crazy.
"AGHHH!!"
Everyone who got close got launched into orbit.
Then she let me and Harry down and turned back into my weapon.
"…I feel like I'm in a fever dream."
"Peter! Look!" Harry pointed.
I looked—Xavier's team was still just standing there?!
Pietro, Bobby, and Lee were calmly observing the chaos.
"It's almost time, Lee!" Bobby said.
"Yeah." Lee pulled out several test tubes filled with different liquids.
"Pietro! Speed time!"
Our Quicksilver grinned, slid his goggles down from his forehead.
His eyes were locked on one thing—the Weeb School.
"You didn't see that coming."
"Dude, wrong timing—you're supposed to say that after we—"
The three vanished in a flash.
Next instant—from inside the Weeb formation:
"Hail Hetlir!"
Every human gun started firing wildly.
The remaining Rainbow Flag students were helplessly mowed down by the Weebs' overwhelming firepower.
"Haha! I'll kill all of you, just like Hetler burned the—"
BOOM.
A massive explosion erupted from inside their own ranks, scattering all 30 members like bowling pins.
Nearby schools got caught in the blast too—especially the already-weakened Rainbow Flag team. In one go, both schools were completely wiped out!
The mutant trio stopped in a cool pose, the explosion blooming behind them like a movie poster.
Then they turned and looked straight at us.
"…Did they just aura farm?" Harry muttered, sweating.
I glared back. Looks like we're next.
"Bring it! My Gwen is harder than you think!"
Harry charged forward with me on his back. The three mutants blitzed toward us at blinding speed.
[I'm really looking forward to who wins this. Hope it's Peter ♡] Nya said, munching popcorn and relaxing like none of this concerned it except Peter.