"Today is truly my lucky day!"
Maxwell Dillon thought to himself secretly.
Even though his mother, who was paralyzed in bed and consumed over eighty percent of his monthly salary, still cursed him for being a waste.
Even though he was still ignored at Oscorp and even suffered through the difficulties and cold shoulders of others, Max couldn't help but hum a little tune at the thought of his idol, Ghost-Spider, personally encouraging him.
And then... he was tragically electrocuted due to forced overtime and the negligence of his colleagues, falling into the genetically modified eel observation tank where he was violently charged by countless eels.
In the final moment before losing consciousness, Maxwell's thought was:
Os☇corp,☇ how☇ are☇ you☇ go☇ing☇ to☇ pay☇ me☇ back☇ for☇ what☇ you☇ owe☇ me? (Electronic voice)
...On the other side, "Sandman" William Baker turned into a wisp of fine sand and quietly arrived at the bedside of his daughter, who suffered from congenital heart disease.
Although he stubbornly maintained the appearance he had when they parted so his daughter could recognize him, he didn't dare to meet her at this moment.
He was afraid—afraid his presence would hold back his wife and daughter, and even more afraid that his daughter would lose her chance for treatment because of it.
In America, where even a case of appendicitis can quickly push a middle-class person into the 'execution zone,' William's daughter's congenital heart disease was a bottomless pit for money.
Although there was no shortage of hearts available for transplant, the money and time required to complete the surgery remained astronomical.
Currently, his daughter's life was barely hanging on by donations from a charitable organization's fund.
Once it was discovered that his daughter was associated with a prison escapee like him, the charity would likely cancel her aid immediately.
Looking at his daughter, whose brow remained furrowed even in her sleep, the once-hesitant Sandman finally made up his mind.
His wife and daughter were his everything; as long as he could cure his daughter and let them live healthy, happy lives, he was willing to give everything... including his own life!
With that thought, William Baker quietly left his trailer home and turned toward a nearby jewelry store... Unfortunately, he had just transformed his quicksand arm into the shape of a mace and smashed through the jewelry store's bulletproof glass.
The next second, Ghost-Spider, wearing her black-and-white striped suit, descended from the sky along with the NYPD:
"Buddy, I don't think this is a good idea. You don't want to spend the rest of your life in Rikers Island, do you?"
...Five days later, Dubai, Burj Al Arab.
Looking at the surveillance footage, the scrawny Dr. Ethan was panting as he tried to weld those steel plates onto Tony.
Peter knew it was about time for his hero's entrance.
Stepping onto his flying skateboard, he immediately set off toward the Ten Rings Gang's base.
At the same time Peter was heading to the base, the Ten Rings Gang Terrorists discovered Tony and Ethan's little operation, and a large number of armed lackeys began charging toward the laboratory.
To help Tony stall for time while the program loaded, Ethan gritted his teeth, picked up a submachine gun, and chose to sacrifice himself by using his body to buy Tony time.
Tony's Iron Man Suit was a success!
Though it was clunky and ugly, it was sturdy enough to completely withstand the impact of bullets.
With this armor, Tony was able to wreak havoc in the narrow cave until... a weirdo in a black-and-red suit appeared before him.
Although the other's outfit was clearly different from the Ten Rings Gang Terrorists, Tony, who was already seeing red because Ethan had been shot, didn't care about any of that.
He controlled the clumsy mech to "walk" toward Peter, swinging a fist and slamming it right into Peter's chest.
He thought this punch would send Peter flying just like it did the Terrorists, but what happened next was completely beyond Tony's expectations.
A hand.
A well-proportioned, slender, and fair hand that clearly hadn't done any heavy labor, actually caught Tony's "armored iron fist" with ease.
Even though Tony had pushed the armor's power to the maximum, that force strangely vanished the moment it touched the other's palm, like a clay ox entering the sea.
No, it didn't vanish!
Looking at the clear, visible fingerprints on the knuckle armor, an absurd and terrifying thought emerged in Tony's mind:
It wasn't that his armor had a mechanical failure; this weirdo in front of him... had actually fucking caught his attack with his bare hands!
Rat-tat-tat... Just as the two were locked in a stalemate, the bald leader of the Ten Rings Gang in Afghanistan felt he had caught a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He first ordered his underlings to fire wildly at the two, then he himself simply hoisted an RPG and shouted arrogantly at Peter and Tony:
"Two monsters, go to hell, both of you!"
Sshhh—
As he spoke, the bald leader pulled the trigger, and the grenade trailed a long plume of fire as it rapidly streaked toward the two.
"Fuck!"
At this moment, Tony was completely stunned.
He couldn't understand how things had developed to this point.
At the critical moment, he only had time to maneuver his armored body in front of the already dying Ethan.
Although as a physics genius he knew very well that this steel armor couldn't possibly absorb all the impact of the grenade, and that the already severely injured Ethan would most likely still die.
But he still acted almost instinctively.
He was willing to swear on the name Stark that if Ethan could live, he would do anything!
Just as Tony was "praying" like this in his heart, he found that he actually saw a "miracle"!
He saw that the weirdo who had been blocking him earlier hadn't been turned into a sieve by the dense hail of bullets.
At the same time, this guy performed a god-tier move that almost made Tony's eyes pop out of his sockets.
That guy... actually reached out his hand as fast as lightning the moment the grenade flew in.
And then, he actually intercepted the grenade!
He even threw it back with a flick of his wrist, back, back, back... Boom!
The grenade exploded right in front of the dumbfounded Ten Rings Gang Terrorists.
These people didn't even dare to believe that everything that had just happened was real until the moment they died... Meanwhile, Peter finally spoke:
"Still want to continue testing your armor's performance? Mr. Tony Stark?"
Hearing Peter speak English, Tony was first stunned, then asked somewhat excitedly:
"Are you with the Military?"
"No, I don't belong to any organization," Peter responded coolly,
"I'm just an Anti-hero passing by."
Saying this, he tilted his head to look at the dying Ethan and spoke out of the blue:
"By the way, do you need me to save that bald guy over there? My fee is very cheap; just handing over this suit of armor you're wearing will be enough."
Bald guy?
Tony blanked for a second, then suddenly snapped out of it.
Holy shit, Ethan is still lying on the ground!