New York — The Connors Laboratory — At the Same Time
While Spider-Man was facing Silver Sable on the other side of the city, calm had gradually returned to the area surrounding the Connors' laboratory.
The day was drawing to a close, and the sun, now hanging low in the sky, bathed the building facades in a warm orange glow. A few employees were quietly leaving the premises, while cars slowly pulled out of the parking lot.
Yet, despite the peaceful atmosphere, none of the four people gathered outside the building seemed able to enjoy the end of the day. The incident that had taken place earlier continued to weigh heavily on each of them.
Curtis and Martha stood facing Eddie, while Gwen remained slightly behind them, still lost in her thoughts. Ever since Peter had stormed out, no one had truly found the words to break the silence.
Their eyes occasionally met, only to drift away almost immediately, as though each of them was still trying to understand what had just happened inside the laboratory.
At last, Curtis took a slow breath before stepping toward Eddie.
— "Eddie... we still want to apologize for what happened."
Martha immediately nodded. Her face reflected genuine guilt.
— "Yes. You know, Peter... we've never seen him like that before. We have absolutely no idea what came over him."
As she spoke, her eyes naturally drifted down to the young man's jaw. The redness left by the punch was still clearly visible despite the time that had passed.
The impact had slightly swollen the skin, and the first signs of what would soon become a bruise were already beginning to appear. Martha winced subtly as she imagined how hard the blow must have been.
— "How's your jaw?"
Instinctively, Eddie gently raised a hand to the spot where Peter had struck him.
He lightly rubbed his cheek while letting out a small grimace, one that seemed more intended to illustrate the pain than to genuinely complain.
— "I-I'm fine... don't worry. I didn't think Peter was that strong. He's changed a lot."
He accompanied his answer with a light chuckle, clearly trying to ease the atmosphere. His smile seemed modest, almost embarrassed, as though he were trying to reassure the Connors by downplaying what had just happened.
Yet despite his efforts, no one managed to smile.
The uneasiness still lingered heavily between them, and the silence that followed his words spoke far louder than any response could have.
Curtis and Martha exchanged a brief glance before turning their attention to Gwen. Ever since Peter had left, the young woman had barely spoken. Her eyes remained fixed on nothing in particular, as though she were still replaying the scene over and over in her mind.
Martha gently approached her, making sure to soften her voice.
— "Gwen, do you think you'll be able to talk to Peter? About what he did..."
The young blonde slowly lifted her eyes.
Concern was still plainly written across her face.
— "Yeah, I know. That really isn't like him."
She lowered her gaze slightly before continuing in a calmer voice.
— "I'll talk to him, Professor."
Hearing that answer, Martha finally allowed a gentle smile to appear. Although she was still worried, she knew that, out of everyone present today, Gwen was probably the only person capable of approaching Peter without pushing him even further away.
After exchanging a few final words, Curtis and Martha warmly said goodbye to the two young adults before calmly walking toward their car, which was parked a little farther away.
A few moments later, the engine started, and the vehicle slowly pulled away from the laboratory, gradually disappearing at the end of the street.
Silence fell once again. Now, only Gwen and Eddie remained. For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Gwen still seemed lost in thought, while Eddie discreetly watched her face, as though trying to figure out the best way to start a conversation.
Eventually, he took a small breath before breaking the silence.
— "Hey... I'm really sorry about what happened with Peter. It's my first day here, and we barely meet before someone ends up in tears..."
Eddie sounded genuinely embarrassed.
He even forced a small awkward smile, lowering his eyes slightly as though he felt responsible for the heavy atmosphere that now hung between them.
Gwen immediately shook her head.
— "N-No, don't apologize! You didn't do anything! Peter was the one who..."
Her sentence trailed off, and the words refused to come. She instinctively searched for an explanation.
A reason.
Something that could justify what she had just witnessed. Ever since she had met Peter, she had never seen him lose control of himself like that.
Even in the most difficult situations, he had always managed to stay calm.
Yet today...It was as though someone else had taken his place. But the more she thought about it…
The fewer answers she found. Nothing could truly explain such behavior. Much less justify it.
After several long seconds of hesitation, she simply lowered her eyes slightly.
— "…I think he just had a really bad day."
Eddie silently studied her expression. Her eyes revealed a deep sadness, but also a confusion she seemed incapable of hiding.
He noticed the way she was still trying to defend Peter, even when she no longer had any real arguments left to do so.
A subtle smile almost formed on his face without him realizing it. He had just learned something valuable. And he understood that if he played his cards right...
This young woman could teach him much more about his dear little brother's life.
— "By the way... Peter never told me about you. How do you two know each other?"
Gwen seemed slightly surprised by the question.
She took a few seconds to think before answering, a small nostalgic smile naturally appearing on her face as childhood memories came flooding back.
— "Oh... um... we've been friends for a very long time. We've known each other since we were kids, and my father knew his family. We've pretty much always been inseparable."
As she spoke, her gaze seemed to drift into the distance.
Images of their childhood naturally resurfaced in her mind: the days they spent together, the laughter, the mischief, all those moments when they grew up side by side, never really leaving each other's side.
Despite everything that had happened only a few minutes earlier, all of those memories still held an enormous place in her heart.
— "Oh, I see. So you two are really close... aren't you?"
— "Yeah... exactly."
— "Hmm... I see."
Silence settled between them once again.
Gwen absentmindedly stared across the laboratory parking lot, but her thoughts kept returning to the scene she had just witnessed.
The more she thought about it, the less she understood Peter's behavior.
That anger...That violence...That look of pure hatred...None of it resembled the boy she had known all her life. Finally, unable to keep her questions to herself any longer, she turned her attention back to Eddie.
— "And you... could you explain something you said earlier? When Peter was... angry."
Eddie slowly looked up at her. For a fraction of a second, he knew exactly where this conversation was heading. Yet his face betrayed absolutely nothing.
Instead, he adopted a slightly puzzled expression, as though he were genuinely trying to understand what she meant.
— "What are you talking about?"
Gwen hesitated briefly before continuing.
— "When you talked about his 'anger issues.' You said... he'd always been like that."
Her voice had become softer. She lowered her eyes slightly, almost embarrassed to ask such a personal question.
— "But I've... never seen him like that. Not even once. So... would you mind explaining it to me?"
Bingo.
Without showing the slightest hint of satisfaction, he gently scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile.
Everything about his demeanor gave the impression of a man who already regretted speaking a little too quickly a few minutes earlier.
— "Y-Yeah... about that... I really should've thought before opening my mouth. I don't think it'd be a good idea for me to tell you. Peter would be REALLY mad at me..."
Hearing that answer, Gwen felt the small hope she'd had of understanding what had happened collapse almost instantly.
Her gaze dropped to the ground, and her shoulders slumped ever so slightly.
She respected Eddie's decision, but his refusal to answer only fueled the questions that had already been circling endlessly in her mind.
— "Oh... I see..."
As she lowered her head, Eddie quietly watched her. A very faint smile briefly curled at the corner of his lips. A smile Gwen couldn't possibly see.
A cold…
Almost sinister smile that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. He had planted the seed of doubt in her mind, but he knew he couldn't push things too far.
Not yet. If he manipulated her too aggressively, she would become suspicious immediately.
He had to move slowly...Slowly enough that she would walk the rest of the path herself.
He then gently placed a hand on her shoulder, immediately returning to the calm, kind expression he had worn throughout their conversation.
— "Listen... before talking to me about it, I think it'd be better if you talked to Peter directly. Those are things that should come from him."
Those words genuinely touched Gwen. She slowly looked back up at him before giving him a small smile filled with gratitude.
From her perspective, Eddie had simply shown Peter respect by refusing to talk about his past behind his back.
The two young adults exchanged one final look, followed by a subtle friendly nod.
Without saying another word, Gwen finally turned around and quietly walked away from the laboratory.
Eddie remained standing there, his hands in his pockets, watching her silhouette gradually disappear into the distance.
Then...His expression slowly changed. He looked Gwen up and down without looking away even once. A smile slowly reappeared on his face.
A subtle smile...
But one that was deeply sinister.
New York — Burning Building
Deep inside the building, now completely ravaged by flames, the battle between Spider-Man and Silver Sable was in full swing. All around them, the fire continued to devour the walls and ceilings with an unrelenting roar.
The heat had become almost unbearable, and thick smoke was steadily filling the floors, reducing visibility with every passing second.
The steel beams groaned under the extreme temperatures, while chunks of the ceiling regularly collapsed around the two fighters.
Yet neither of them seemed to pay the slightest attention to it. Their eyes remained locked entirely on one another. Silver Sable opened fire once again.
The gunshots echoed throughout the entire floor as the bullets tore through the air at blinding speed.
Spider-Man immediately leaped to the side, pushed off a wall, then performed a spectacular aerial spin between several incoming rounds.
His body almost seemed to float through the air, every movement fluid and precise. Taking advantage of the opening, he immediately raised both wrists.
Two thick strands of web shot out simultaneously. Before Silver Sable could even react, they wrapped themselves around both of her pistols. Spider-Man gave a sharp tug.
The weapons were instantly ripped from her hands before crashing several meters away into the flames.
A satisfied smile appeared beneath his mask.
— "There we go... no more guns. Come fight me hand-to-hand now!"
Silver Sable's expression didn't change. Not the slightest hint of frustration. Quite the opposite. A faint glimmer seemed to pass through her eyes.
— "With pleasure."
In one incredibly fluid motion, her hands immediately slid to her hips. Two long blades instantly gleamed beneath the orange reflections of the flames.
Spider-Man stood motionless for a second before letting out a deep sigh.
— "Of course..."
Without wasting another moment, he immediately fired two more webs, this time hoping to disarm the mercenary for good.
But Silver Sable reacted with remarkable speed. Her arms moved in two almost imperceptible motions. The blades whistled through the air.
Both webs were cleanly sliced apart before they could even reach her. Spider-Man immediately tried again. He fired web after web.
The strands shot across the hallway from every direction, sometimes aiming to bind her arms, other times to trap her legs or restrict her movements.
Yet Silver Sable continued advancing without ever slowing down. Her body seemed to dance between every projectile.
She dodged some webs with nothing more than a subtle movement of her torso, leaped over others, or sliced them apart with almost surgical precision whenever avoiding them was no longer possible.
The distance between them closed dangerously. A few seconds later, she finally reached striking range. Without hesitation, she unleashed a flurry of attacks at astonishing speed.
Her twin daggers carved glowing arcs through the air, one after another targeting Spider-Man's hips, forearms, chest, and shoulders.
Every strike seemed perfectly calculated to gradually limit his movements and create an opening.
But Peter kept up. His spider-sense screamed with every attack. He pivoted, stepped back, leaned aside, jumped, and spun with almost unreal agility.
The blades did nothing more than graze his suit, missing their target by mere inches. For several long seconds, neither of them managed to gain the upper hand.
Then...Silver Sable suddenly changed her strategy. She abruptly lowered herself, and Spider-Man immediately saw the movement. His brain analyzed the situation almost instantly.
She was going for a leg sweep. Instinctively, he raised one leg to jump. But that was exactly what she wanted. Her attack had only been a feint.
Instead of following through with the sweeping motion, Silver Sable suddenly planted both hands on the floor and transformed the fake sweep into an acrobatic spinning kick of incredible speed.
Her legs shot upward like a spring. The kick came straight up vertically. Peter's spider-sense exploded...But it was too late.
He didn't even have time to react. Silver Sable's foot slammed violently beneath his chin. The impact snapped his head backward as his entire body was lifted slightly off the ground by the force of the blow.
For a fraction of a second, the world seemed to stop. Silver Sable, meanwhile, landed gracefully back on her feet. Her daggers were already raised in front of her once again.
Her breathing remained perfectly steady. As though that strike had merely been another step in the fight. She was already prepared to attack again. But before either of them could make the slightest move...
A sinister cracking sound echoed throughout the entire building. Then another. Then several more. Both opponents instinctively stopped fighting.
Around them, the walls began to vibrate dangerously. Under the relentless heat of the flames, the building's steel framework was slowly beginning to give way.
Twisted beams bent with unbearable groans, while entire sections of the ceiling collapsed into the neighboring hallways.
A few seconds later, several explosions erupted on different floors, shaking the entire building as though it were on the verge of collapsing.
The building was no longer just a battlefield.
It had become a deadly trap.
But despite all of that... neither of the two fighters seemed willing to give up even a single inch of ground.
Spider-Man kept his guard up, carefully watching Silver Sable's every movement. The longer the fight went on, the more one question kept returning to his mind.
Why?
Why was she so determined to come after him?
Why risk her own life inside a building that was on the verge of collapsing just to kill him?
Unable to understand, he finally broke the silence.
— "Hey! Why are you doing this? We don't even know each other! Do you really want to risk dying in here?!"
Silver Sable didn't seem to hesitate for even a second. Her face remained just as cold as it had been the first time they met.
— "Who said I was going to die?"
The moment she finished speaking, she immediately charged again. She didn't give him the slightest chance to respond.
Spider-Man reacted instantly. His wrists rose in a movement that had become almost instinctive. Two thick webs shot toward the mercenary, immediately wrapping around her arms, torso, and legs.
Peter increased the pressure, firing more and more webbing until it completely enveloped her. The webbing slowly climbed over her body, immobilizing every inch of her a little more.
For a brief moment, he thought he had finally managed to bring the fight to an end.
But that feeling didn't last.
Before her arms were even completely restrained, Silver Sable's twin blades flashed once again. The blades slipped with surgical precision between the different layers of webbing.
In just a few perfectly controlled movements...Everything was cut apart. The restraints gave way one after another, falling around her in shredded strips.
Continuing the exact same motion, she spun on herself before hurling both blades straight at Spider-Man. The blades whistled through the air, and Peter immediately felt his spider-sense explode.
He violently leaned his upper body to the side. The first blade passed only inches from his mask. The second grazed his shoulder before violently embedding itself in the wall behind him.
He wanted to retrieve them with a web...But it was already too late. That single evasive movement had created the opening Silver Sable had been waiting for.
Without slowing down, she lunged at him, and the two opponents collided head-on. The impact was so violent that they crashed together through the massive glass wall behind Spider-Man.
The glass exploded with a deafening crash. Thousands of shards were hurled in every direction as both of their bodies were thrown into open air.
And for several long seconds...They fell. The wind lashed against their faces at dizzying speed. All around them, the shattered glass continued falling, glittering beneath the last rays of the setting sun.
Even in free fall, Silver Sable continued her assault. Taking advantage of the complete lack of footing, she threw a series of punches, elbows, and knee strikes, trying to throw Spider-Man off balance before he could recover.
But Peter was gradually regaining his bearings. His spider-sense guided every one of his movements despite the speed of their descent.
He avoided the first attack by twisting in midair, the second by allowing himself to drop slightly lower, and the third by performing a complete aerial rotation.
But the ground was rushing toward them. He had to act. In one incredibly swift motion, Spider-Man fired a web at the façade of the neighboring building.
The strand instantly went taut, violently changing his trajectory. He slammed against the concrete, sticking to it with both hands and feet, bringing his fall to an abrupt stop with a sharp impact.
Without wasting a second, he immediately raised his other wrist. Another web shot toward Silver Sable. And this time...She couldn't avoid it.
The web wrapped itself around her entire body before anchoring her firmly to the side of the building. A few moments later, the mercenary was left hanging several dozen meters above the ground, completely immobilized.
Her arms were pinned tightly against her torso. Her legs couldn't move. She was trapped. Like an insect caught in a spider's web.
Spider-Man took a deep breath before slowly lowering himself down to her. Every trace of humor had disappeared, and there was nothing playful left in his eyes.
The exhaustion, the anger that had been building inside him since that morning, and his growing confusion had given his expression a far darker look than usual.
— "Alright... enough of this bullshit!"
He came to a stop only a few inches from her face.
His eyes never left hers.
— "Who the hell are you?"
Her gaze remained just as cold as it had been from the very beginning. No emotion...No fear. Not even the slightest hint of annoyance. As if this situation was exactly what she had planned.
Spider-Man slowly raised his hands, letting out a deep sigh.
— "This is seriously starting to piss me—"
A searing pain suddenly shot through his back, making his entire body jolt violently. Then another. A third. In the space of a split second, a barrage of tiny darts pierced through his suit.
Each one contained a miniature syringe that instantly injected a clear liquid into his body. Peter immediately frowned. Something was wrong.
A strange sensation was already spreading throughout his body, like an icy chill flowing through every one of his veins. His muscles began to stiffen against his will.
His fingers tightened against the side of the building as his breathing grew heavier and heavier. His heart was still pounding just as fast...
But his body...His body was slowly refusing to obey him. His vision suddenly blurred. The buildings seemed to sway before his eyes, as though all of Manhattan had suddenly begun rocking back and forth.
The sounds around him became distant, muffled...Almost unreal. With tremendous effort, he slowly turned his head toward Silver Sable. Their eyes met.
And the moment he saw the absolute calm on her face...Everything clicked into place. From the very beginning...This fight had never been the real objective.
Every attack. Every exchange of blows. Every second spent inside that burning building...Had served only one purpose: To keep him in the same place long enough for the real attackers to make their move.
He had walked right into a trap. His body was growing heavier by the second. His arms barely responded anymore.
His legs felt as though all their strength had vanished, as if they no longer belonged to him. He tried to tighten his fingers to stay attached to the wall...
But they slowly slid across the concrete, unable to find the slightest grip. The strength that made him Spider-Man seemed to disappear second after second, consumed by the substance now coursing through his body.
His hands finally gave out completely...And his body tipped into open air. For several long seconds, he fell between the buildings, unable to fire a web...
Unable to move even a single muscle to slow his descent. The wind screamed violently around him as his vision grew darker and darker.
Then...His body slammed brutally into the pavement with a thunderous crash. The impact echoed throughout the entire street.
Around him...Nothing moved. A few moments later, Spider-Man remained completely motionless.
The hero had lost consciousness.
TO BE CONTINUED.