Technical Difficulties

CIA agents arrived at the scene within a minute of the battle's end. A red-haired female agent in sunglasses and a brown leather coat strode in, followed closely by agents wrapped head to toe in black uniforms with their guns raised.

"CIA!" The woman held up her credentials, the badge reflecting a dim white gleam. "Nobody move!"

Peter ignored the guns filling the room and strode straight up to the red-haired agent.

"It was you?" he demanded. "You hired that lunatic and let him clone so many copies of me?"

"Classified. You have no right to know, Mr. Parker." The red-haired agent's voice was cold and merciless. "Now raise your hands and get on the ground. We have some questions for you."

She seemed to catch sight of Otto's corpse behind them, his heart burned through, from the corner of her eye. She lowered her sunglasses and frowned slightly.

"You killed him?" she said grimly. "Dr. Otto Octavius is now a government employee, which means you are also suspected of murder. Don't make things more complicated with pointless resistance. You should come with us obediently—"

Black Armor seemed to emerge slowly from an inconspicuous shadow in the room and stepped in front of the agent. She instinctively took a step back, and every gun barrel swung toward the armor.

Perhaps because its shell was painted black and the room was dimly lit, the agent had failed to notice its presence at first. She looked him up and down, and her heart sank.

Black Armor, white stripes, and the V-shaped lenses on the helmet—the red-haired agent had considerable authority within the CIA and access to plenty of classified information. After S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded, the CIA had taken over a vast number of its sealed files. She clearly remembered this man among them, listed by Nick Fury as "extremely high risk."

Black Knight.

But what was someone this dangerous doing here?

Arresting a superpowered high schooler and several of his clones was one thing, but going up against a super-dangerous individual deemed "highly dangerous" by S.H.I.E.L.D. was another matter entirely. This was nothing like the plan.

"Here's the situation," Michael said evenly. "Otto wasn't killed by them. I killed him—you're welcome to examine the body and inspect the wounds. Also, I erased every last bit of data Otto created for you on the 'Spider-Warrior' project."

The red-haired agent frowned. "Do you understand what you've done?"

"Perfectly." Michael stepped aside and pointed at the four Spider-Men behind him. "And now I intend to take these kids out of here. You can try to stop us, but I don't think those few guns of yours can hurt anyone."

"You dare—"

"And what will you do? Put out a nationwide warrant for me?" Michael's tone remained calm. "You're too late. I've been on that list for a long time. So either step aside, take your people back, and tell your superiors there was nothing you could do—or let your corpse convey the same message to them. What do you think?"

The red-haired agent glared at him for a long while, her eyes making no effort to hide her desire to pry open his helmet and put a bullet through his head. But deep down, she knew perfectly well—there was nothing she could do.

She gently closed her eyes and waved a hand. The agents lowered their weapons and voluntarily cleared the exit.

***

The clone incident, which had caused a minor stir, came to an end. Fortunately, Michael had intervened and brought the situation under control before the superhuman genes could spread any further.

Michael had never trusted the government, nor did he believe it was a good thing for technology capable of mass-producing Spider-Men to fall into the hands of the United States government—or any government in the world today. Humanity was not yet ready for this kind of change. No one should possess that power; it would only lead decision-makers into making the wrong choices, with consequences that might be unimaginable.

The matter was resolved, and in the end, it did not lead to any serious consequences. But if anyone had been affected the most, it was undoubtedly those directly involved.

For any sixteen-year-old high school student, accepting all of this would not be easy, even one who could stop a bus with his bare hands. But Peter was a strong kid. He would recover, and one day he would don his suit again and return to the streets and alleys of New York as Spider-Man.

Ben Reilly and Kaine both made it clear that they had no interest in this chaotic life anymore. They agreed that they only wanted to find somewhere far from their original self, leave behind everything connected to Spider-Man, and seek their own peaceful lives. Perhaps that was the best choice for them.

Lastly, there was Gwen. As expected, she chose to accept Michael's invitation. She was given a new identity and a new residence. Her new name was Gwen Grovene, a sixteen-year-old student at 163 Middle School. However, while maintaining her ordinary life, she would also have to set aside her free time for systematic training at S.W.O.R.D. She could not officially join the field team until she met the requirements.

"I thought you would want to recruit the cloned Spider-Woman into the team immediately," Sherry said as Michael created Gwen's personal file. "What changed your mind?"

"Theoretically, she was only born six months ago, Sherry. And mentally, she is only equivalent to a sixteen-year-old." Michael filed her profile under the superpowered team candidate list and added a complex encryption program. "She's different from the others. The Winter Soldier was already a top assassin, while the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver both underwent harsh training under Strucker. But she didn't."

"You mean she is not mature enough."

"Yes, so she needs training, and she also needs to experience life." Michael said, "When she's ready, I'll recruit her into the team."

"What about Doctor Octavius's cloning plan?" Sherry asked. "All related data in the CIA database has been erased. The final backup related to the project is in our hands. Do you wish to continue it?"

Michael shook his head. "Otto made considerable progress, but the project is still far from truly mature. He poured in enormous amounts of money and conducted countless experiments, yet only managed to produce three clones. If he really wanted to use this technology to build an army of Spider-Men, selling the entire country still wouldn't be enough to fund it."

"So you consider this project a failure?"

"The cost-performance ratio is too low for it to have practical value, and Octavius, the only person who understood the Oz Formula, is dead now. So yes, it counts as a failure." Michael said, "But archive the data for now. It may be useful someday."

"Yes, sir."

"What about the simulated modeling of the Vibranium alloy?" Michael abruptly changed the subject. "How is the progress?"

"As of now, 91% of known materials have been tested. There are 342 possible alternatives, but all of them share a common flaw that cannot currently be resolved."

"What problem?"

"Energy, sir. Using the above options to combine Vibranium into armor would greatly reduce energy transmission speed and increase energy loss. If the armor continues to be powered by the current batteries, its average combat duration would be reduced to one-sixth of the original."

"That is a problem. But I think I may have a solution."

"What do you have in mind, sir?"

With a swipe of his finger, Michael closed the superpowered team candidate list and selected another project from the files on the left according to alphabetical order.

"Remember that so-called 'Obelisk' that Daniel Whitehall was obsessed with to the point of madness?"

"Yes, sir. According to the records, it is an ancient object with inexplicably immense power. In 1945, Agent Carter, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders, led the Howling Commandos to seize it from Hydra. It was kept in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody ever since, but after S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded not long ago, the object's whereabouts became unknown."

Michael waved an arm, and every file in the project opened at once. A huge holographic projection of an Obelisk appeared on the virtual screen, surrounded by Whitehall's findings from years of research.

"In fact, Whitehall's people took it from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hazardous materials warehouse amid the chaos," Michael continued. "So soon, we'll be paying Whitehall a surprise visit. I believe this 'Obelisk' is the solution to our technical difficulties."