Peter's voice was low and hoarse,
as if he were enduring immense pain
or suppressing a furious accusation.
It echoed through the abandoned building.
Alex Reed slowly pushed his wheelchair past a crumbling brick wall.
Two figures standing by the window suddenly came into view.
Peter had already pummeled Danny several times, leaving him dazed and seeing stars.
Suddenly—
Peter shoved Danny out the open window.
"No!"
"Please, give me another chance!"
"I didn't know that woman was connected to you!"
"I have a wife and kids at home—please, please!"
Danny dangled from the window ledge by one hand.
Like a drowning man clutching at driftwood, he desperately gripped Peter's arms.
He cried out in terror, begging for his life.
Peter's masked eyes locked onto Danny.
His chest heaved rapidly as he gasped for air,
as though fighting an inner battle.
Seeing Danny's pathetic state, the raw anger in Peter's eyes began to fade.
For the first time, looking at the man who had shot Uncle Ben and hurt Aunt May, Peter hesitated.
In the end,
he couldn't let go.
Peter hauled Danny back inside, slammed him to the floor, and loomed over him with clenched fists.
"I've memorized your face."
"If you haven't turned yourself in by tomorrow, I'll come back for you."
Peter repeated the exact threat Danny had made to Aunt May.
Fear flickered in Danny's eyes as he stared into Peter's cold gaze.
He cursed inwardly—*What kind of freak is this guy? He deserves to die!*—but didn't dare show it.
He nodded submissively, lowered his head, and stopped resisting.
"Alex? What are you doing here?"
Peter noticed Alex watching and turned to ask.
He had clearly told Alex to wait outside.
"I was just a little worried about you... Watch out behind you!"
Alex pushed his silver wheelchair out of the shadows.
His warning came too late.
Even in the dim light, Peter's enhanced senses picked up the danger.
Alex's pupils constricted instantly. Every hair on his body stood on end, as though he had glimpsed something horrifying.
At the same moment,
Peter's spider-sense screamed!
Bang—!
At such close range, the violent sound hit first.
Then came the blinding muzzle flash in the darkness.
Finally, the heavy stench of gunpowder filled the air.
To Danny's astonishment, Peter twisted his body sideways in an unnatural, almost impossible posture—
dodging the bullet completely.
Peter, having instinctively evaded death, froze for a split second. Then rage surged through him like wildfire.
He gritted his teeth, eyes fixed on Danny, ready to lunge forward—
but his brow furrowed, and he halted.
"Uh..."
A choked sound came from behind him.
Peter spun around.
What he saw nearly shattered him.
A spreading red stain bloomed across Alex's chest.
Blood soaked through his white shirt, turning it crimson.
"Peter... I'm sorry."
Alex's face was deathly pale, but his whispered words instantly echoed Uncle Ben's final voicemail in Peter's mind.
"No!!!"
Red veins flooded Peter's eyes.
Under the mask, his mind went blank.
Everything happened in an instant.
Without even turning his head, Peter sensed the threat.
With his back to Danny, he raised one hand and fired a strand of white webbing.
A gentle tug—
the gun flew from Danny's hand, smashed against the wall, and clattered to the floor in pieces.
Sizzle—!
The webbing had also latched onto Danny's skin unnoticed.
Peter's pull didn't just disarm him—
it tore away a large strip of flesh.
Pfft—
Only when blood sprayed from Danny's mouth
did he realize a pair of inhuman hands had punched straight through his chest.
Danny looked up in disbelief, meeting Peter's murderous, almost alien gaze.
"You... what... what kind of monster are you..."
Danny struggled to choke out his final words.
Before he could finish,
Peter exploded with strength and ripped Danny in half.
In an instant,
blood poured down like a torrential rain,
drenching Peter from head to toe and soaking his clothes crimson.
The thick, metallic stench of blood was unmistakable even from ten meters away.
Only after tearing Danny apart did a flicker of clarity return to Peter's eyes.
He turned back to see Alex clutching his wound and rushed to his side.
"Oh my god, oh my god!"
"Alex!"
Kneeling beside him, Peter looked at Alex with desperate, pleading eyes.
"Take deep breaths—you'll be okay."
"I'll get you to the hospital right now!"
Danny's blood stained Peter's hands red.
And now Peter's hands, supporting Alex, soaked Alex's already-bloodied shirt even darker.
Using webbing to staunch the bleeding as best he could, Peter carried Alex toward the nearest hospital at full speed.
"Hey."
"Just drop me off somewhere safe."
"Go back and clean up the wheelchair... and all the traces."
Alex, his breathing shallow and weak, used his last strength to whisper in Peter's ear.
"But you—"
The Peter of today was not yet the Spider-Man he would become.
Alex's injury had thrown him into complete chaos.
But one sentence Alex whispered stopped Peter dead in his tracks.
"You killed someone, Peter."
"If you don't want to bring trouble down on me and May, go back now."
"Trust me... I'll be fine. *Cough cough cough...*"
Alex coughed violently again.
But he wasn't lying.
Alex Reed—who was determined to survive in the Marvel Universe—had no intention of dying here.
He had carefully calculated the shot's trajectory.
It looked catastrophic, but with prompt treatment, it posed no real mortal danger.
Alex's first words struck Peter like a hammer to the chest.
Only after hearing the rest did Peter fully grasp what he had done.
"I'll leave you in a safe neighborhood near the hospital."
"Alex, promise me—you can't die!"
"I... I promise."
Alex silently vowed to himself: he would survive by any means necessary.
He would never allow himself to be schemed against again.
He would rather scheme against the entire world than let the world scheme against him.
His consciousness began to fade.
He didn't know how much time passed before his body went limp and touched the cold ground.
Footsteps receded.
Then came a crisp knocking sound.
A woman's scream pierced the night.
And then...
nothing.
Alex had lost too much blood and slipped into complete unconsciousness.