While Raj battled Embercore in a whirlwind of golden light and hellfire, Peter Parker found himself facing an entirely different kind of nightmare.
The corridor outside the lab was pitch black, thick with smoke and half-melted wiring. The sudden inferno had tripped emergency circuits, plunging half the base into darkness. Red emergency lights blinked uselessly from wall mounts, casting the hallway in a strobe-like haze.
Somewhere in that haze, Phaze was waiting.
Peter spun as a gust of air rushed past him—no footsteps, no shadow, just a sudden nothing. His lenses adjusted to infrared, sweeping for signs of life.
Nothing. Cold spots. Just... silence.
He whispered under his breath, "I hate sneaky guys."
A sudden crack—a noise from behind.
Peter spun again, shooting webs toward the sound.
But they passed through empty air.
"Nope!" Peter blurted, ducking instinctively just before a translucent figure lunged from the wall beside him.
Phaze—tall, lean, dressed in a black Hydra assault suit modified with shifting plates—swung a glowing baton. Peter flipped backward, landing on the wall, eyes wide behind his mask.
"Okay, you're creepy," Peter muttered, launching two webs that splattered across Phaze's chest.
But as soon as they hit, Phaze's body blurred and phased—the webs dropped to the floor with a sad splut.
Peter narrowed his eyes. "Great. Intangibility. Love that for me."
Phaze didn't speak. Just smirked, disappeared again—literally sinking into the wall like a ghost into fog.
Peter rolled his shoulders. "Alright, gotta think. Can't punch what you can't touch…"
Suddenly, Phaze emerged again—this time from the ceiling. He dropped down like a shadow, solid just long enough to land a blow with the baton. It cracked against Peter's side.
"Agh!"
Peter flipped away, the pain numbing through his ribs.
"Okay, that hurt," he groaned. "So you phase in and out… only when attacking. Good to know."
He fired a rapid spray of webs in every direction. Most hit walls, but one splatted onto Phaze's arm just as he tried to phase through the floor.
Phaze snarled and vanished again, leaving only a faint distortion in the air.
Peter stood still, breathing hard, brain working overtime.
He can't stay phased all the time. Needs to go solid to hit me. Probably can't breathe while intangible... There's a limit.
Peter scanned the area, searching for advantage.
Then he spotted it.
A half-destroyed control room nearby. Its door hung crooked. Inside, sparks flickered from an overloaded circuit board. Exposed wiring. Loose panels. And just behind the room—an industrial power conduit, humming softly.
Peter's eyes widened. "Ohhh. That's nasty."
He moved quickly, pretending to stumble back into the control room, muttering loudly, "Gotta hide, gotta regroup, he's too fast."
It was bait.
Sure enough, just as Peter hoped, the air behind him shimmered.
Phaze lunged again, this time with both batons, crackling with energy.
Peter dove into a roll and launched a web straight at the electrical box he'd spotted earlier.
With a thwip and a yank, the exposed panel cracked open.
Wires flared to life with a wild pop-hiss—a burst of raw voltage zapped the area.
And Phaze, mid-phase, passed right through the electrical system.
The scream he let out was inhuman.
His body flickered like a glitching hologram. For a split second, Peter saw his skeletal frame underneath the shimmer. Sparks flew off his armor as Phaze slammed into the floor, spasming.
Peter didn't hesitate.
"Sorry, ghost boy. But Ned really outdid himself."
He pulled from his belt a silver-and-red canister, clicked a button, and sprayed a web laced with Ned's insulator fluid—a sticky, high-resistance polymer designed to harden on contact and resist electrical feedback.
The fluid-coated webbing slapped onto Phaze's chest and locked him down.
Phaze tried to phase again—his form shimmered—but the insulation held.
He twitched, eyes wild.
Peter stepped closer, panting, ribs still throbbing. "Told you. Shouldn't phase through high-voltage tech. It's, like, Rule Number One of being a glitchy mutant."
Phaze growled, barely audible. "You think… you've won?"
Peter cocked his head. "I webbed you to the floor with anti-phase glue and short-circuited your system with a DIY lightning trap. Pretty sure I get at least a gold star."
He turned to grab his comm. "Raj, update—Phaze is down. Embercore—status?"
No response.
Peter's brow furrowed, but before he could repeat himself, Phaze coughed out a low laugh. "You're… too late."
Peter froze. "What?"
"You think this was about a base? About a few freaks in tanks?" Phaze smiled. His teeth were red. "You're just scratching the surface."
Peter tightened his fists. "Why do you creeps always talk in riddles?"
Phaze's eyes rolled back slightly—his body convulsed, just a flicker—and then the room started humming.
Peter's spider-sense screamed.
He turned.
Behind the smashed electrical panel, the control center's monitors sparked to life again. A countdown—00:01:03… 00:01:02…
A timed detonation.
Phaze whispered, "Long live Hydra."
Peter's blood went cold. "Oh no you don't."
He webbed Phaze's mouth shut and turned toward the device.
Quickly he scanned it—older tech. Stark-era remote failsafe, modified with Hydra's jagged circuitry. It was wired into the base's power lines, likely synced to bring the whole substructure down.
And they were underground.
He grabbed his communicator. "Raj! We have sixty seconds! They're blowing the base!"
Still no answer.
Peter gritted his teeth, webbed the countdown display, and leapt across the room.
Wires. Cables. Too many connections.
He needed to stall it.
He pulled two more canisters from his belt—one EMP puck, one coolant sealant. From Ned's gift box.
"I swear, if these don't work…"
He placed both on the core node of the countdown device. The EMP first, then the coolant over it. The puck pulsed, flickered, then went dark.
The countdown froze at 00:00:12.
Peter sighed in relief—then yelped as a ceiling panel collapsed nearby.
"Raj! Please tell me you're still glowing!"
Finally, Raj's voice crackled through the comms, rough but alive. "Still standing. Embercore's down."
"You good to go?" Peter asked.
"Room's unstable. What about you?"
"Phaze is toast. And I just paused a bomb with Ned's science fair leftovers."
There was a pause.
"…Nice."
Peter grabbed Phaze's limp form and webbed him to a pipe. "You stay here and reflect on your life choices."
Then he leapt out of the control room, racing back toward the lab.
Outside the chaos, as the Hydra base shook with quiet alarms and klaxons, Peter reunited with Raj, who looked battered but alive. Embercore was unconscious nearby, wrapped in melted railing.
Peter looked at him. "So. We still finishing this?"
Raj nodded. "Let's bring it down."
Together, they turned toward the restricted door deeper into the lab.
Behind it, whatever Hydra was really after—whatever project they'd truly been guarding—was waiting.
And this time, neither of them was going to wait for another explosion.
They were going to end it first.