Where there was crime, there were always going to be casualties. Peter had always believed that.
It was precisely because he kept that cold detachment in his heart that he had never walked the path of a traditional superhero.
And it was also because he still had a sense of justice that, after gaining power, he had not lost himself and become a super-criminal.
That was how the antihero, standing between the two, came into being.
Peter watched everything with indifference.
For masked bank robbers like these, getting taken out was honestly the best possible outcome.
If he had been the one making a move, he probably would have used a miniature electromagnetic pulse blast to blow their heads off. Any super-criminal willing to rob a bank with a shotgun probably had more than a few lives on his conscience already.
So having a mutant show up to stop them was something Peter fully supported, with both hands and both feet.
In fact, he had already slipped into full spectator mode, casually picking up food with his chopsticks while watching the chaos across the street with great interest.
It was a strange feeling.
There was only a layer of glass between them, yet it felt completely different from watching a blockbuster in a movie theater. This was real. It was happening right in front of them, and that made it far more immersive.
Honestly, it was kind of fascinating.
"Harry, Peter, let's get Gwen and go. This place is way too dangerous..."
Just looking at Fangtooth's hideous appearance made MJ feel sick. It was not that she was afraid of mutants, but Queens really had been getting more dangerous lately, and personal safety had to come first.
"It's fine. We're far enough away that nothing's going to reach us. Might as well sit down and watch. You don't get a show like this every day."
Peter casually poured himself a cup of barley tea, took a sip, and nodded in satisfaction.
"Exactly. I've got to record this. If I post it online, it's going to blow up! No, wait, I should probably pay for some extra likes too, just to make sure it takes off!"
Harry, equally excited, had already pulled out his phone and was getting ready to film.
"You seriously have too much money and nowhere to waste it. I could just make you a cheat tool and solve that problem instantly. Why spend money on it?"
Peter rolled his eyes at Harry, clearly annoyed by his friend's rich-kid nonsense.
Seeing that neither of those two reckless idiots had any intention of moving, MJ found herself stuck.
Leave or stay?
In the end, she gritted her teeth and sat back down beside Harry, deciding to stay and watch the show with the two lunatics.
...
Across the street, the Black robber in the flesh-colored stocking was already starting to roll his eyes back.
In his dreams, he never would have imagined that after hitting this guy once with a gun butt, the freak would instantly transform and start beating him senseless, then drag him all the way out of the bank by the throat.
At this point, his vision was fading. He could barely breathe, and his body was trembling on instinct.
With what little air he had left, he managed to rasp, "I can't breathe... please..."
Crack.
The next sound was horrifyingly clean.
The robber's neck snapped.
His struggling hands slowly dropped, and his legs twitched a few last times on reflex.
Bang!
Fangtooth casually threw the corpse away.
The body spun through the air in a clean arc, made a full turn, and slammed into the windshield of a car parked in front of the bank.
The impact was so strong that the glass shattered into a spiderweb pattern.
The whole scene looked miserable.
"That was a pretty interesting way to do it..."
"Yeah. That throwing style looks weirdly familiar..."
"Now that you mention it, it really does..."
MJ was reaching the limit of what she could tolerate from the two psychopaths beside her.
Imagine it.
A murder scene was unfolding right in front of them, and those two maniacs were calmly giving commentary and nodding in approval.
Dear God.
If her mindset were not strong enough, she probably would have gone insane from spending so much time around them already.
As they kept watching, another robber went down.
This time, one died after a brutal attack to the torso. Another got crushed by a car. Another one, after panicking and trying to run, tripped over himself and died in the worst possible way.
"So careless..."
"A hard life, a stupid death."
"He definitely deserves a place on the all-time list of unluckiest bank robbers."
"Absolutely."
"Oh my God, could you two insane idiots at least try to think about my feelings? Watching is one thing. Commentating is another!"
Even as she said that, the hand MJ had raised to cover her eyes quietly opened a small gap so she could keep peeking through it.
When the last robber got his head blown off by Fangtooth using the gang's own shotgun, the whole scene finally seemed to settle back into silence.
"Amazing! If I upload this video, it's definitely going viral!"
"New York's a grand stage. If you've got issues, come on down! And seriously, don't waste money buying fake likes. I'll code you a little cheat program in ten minutes!!"
"I am begging you two to act normal for once! Oh my God! Spider-Woman..."
MJ jumped to her feet, ready to stop the two idiots from saying anything stupider, but the next moment her mouth fell open in shock.
A white blur flashed past and slammed a kick into Fangtooth, who had been standing there in a haze of confusion and rage while smashing cars.
That white figure was, of course, Gwen, who had quietly slipped out through the restroom window.
And as it happened, MJ was a devoted Ghost-Spider fan.
Devoted to the point of obsession.
Ghost-Spider had not even been in the public eye for a full month, and MJ had already made posters of her and hung them up in her room. She had even sculpted a cute little Ghost-Spider figure out of clay.
Click.
The camera shutter sounded.
MJ pulled a real camera from her shoulder bag, adjusted the angle, and snapped what was almost certainly a perfect shot.
Gwen's appearance immediately shifted the situation.
In truth, she had reached the bank quite a while ago. But after seeing the bullet marks on the ground, the bodies lying everywhere, and then seeing the mutated figure strangling the leader of the robbers, she had chosen not to intervene right away.
Maybe Benjamin had been right.
Being too merciful to your enemies was just being cruel to yourself.
These scum had deserved what they got.
But an out-of-control Fangtooth wrecking the city was something she could not ignore.
Fangtooth, now running purely on animal instinct, charged at Gwen wildly.
Gwen used the chance to leap lightly, step off his head, swing behind him, and fire two strands of webbing with a sharp pull.
Fangtooth crashed to the ground.
Seizing the opening, she fired several more shots and wrapped him up.
But then the saliva running from Fangtooth's mouth slid onto the webbing, and several wisps of white smoke rose at once.
The webbing around him was corroded away almost instantly.
"Great. His saliva's corrosive. I really do not want that thing biting me."
That was Gwen's honest thought.
And as the fight dragged on, she gradually began losing ground.
The reason was simple.
Fangtooth seemed a little stronger than she was, and his streamlined body reduced air resistance, making him even faster.
He really was a troublesome opponent.
"This mutant looks pretty strong. Peter, do you think Spider-Woman can beat him?!"
Harry swallowed hard and turned toward Peter's seat.
But the spot where Peter had been sitting only moments ago was now empty.
Harry blinked, then looked over at MJ.
"Did you see where Peter went?"
"He said he had to pee. Went to the restroom."
Harry was speechless.
Out of all possible times, why would he go to the bathroom now? He was missing the best part of the fight.
"Damn it, is this guy on drugs or something?! Why does it feel like he has endless strength?!"
On the other side of the street, Gwen was now deep in a hard fight, and her stamina was beginning to wear down. She could not help cursing under her breath.
"Looks like you could use some help, Spider-Woman~"
The sudden voice made both Gwen and Fangtooth freeze for a second.
At the same time, they both looked up toward the source of the sound.
A red-and-black Spider-Man was crouching on top of a streetlamp, waving down at them with a grin.
"Hello there. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has logged in~"
"Now it's time for a two-on-one. Spider-Man and Spider-Woman beating up an out-of-control mutant. That sounds like a headline with real sales potential~"
(End of Chapter)
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