Technical Difficulties

CIA agents arrived at the scene within a minute of the battle's conclusion. A female agent with red hair and sunglasses, wearing a tan leather jacket, walked in, followed closely by agents clad in black uniforms, guns held ready.

"CIA!" the woman declared, holding up her credentials, the badge reflecting a dim white light. "Nobody move!"

Peter ignored the guns pointed at him and strode directly in front of the red-haired agent.

"Is it you guys?" he demanded. "Did you hire that lunatic and let him clone so many of me?"

"Highly classified, you have no right to know, Mr. Parker," the red-haired agent replied, her voice cold and emotionless. "Now put your hands up and get on the ground. We have a few questions for you."

She seemed to have caught sight of Otto's body behind everyone, his chest pierced through, with a glance from the corner of her eye. She lowered her sunglasses and frowned slightly.

"You killed him?" she asked in a low voice. "Dr. Otto Octavius is a government employee. Now you're also suspected of murder. Don't make things more complicated with pointless resistance. You should honestly come with us..."

The Black Armor seemed to emerge slowly from the inconspicuous shadows of the room, stepping in front of the agent. She instinctively took a step back, and all the guns were aimed at the armor.

Perhaps because its outer shell was already black and the room was dimly lit, the agent didn't notice its presence at first. She sized up the figure in front of her, and her heart sank.

Black Armor, white stripes, and a V-shaped visor on the helmet. The red-haired agent held a significant position within the CIA and had access to many classified secrets. After S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded, the CIA took over its vast archives of classified documents. She clearly remembered that among them was this individual, whom Nick Fury had classified as "extremely high risk."

The Black Knight.

But why would such a dangerous individual get involved here?

Arresting a superpowered teenage student and his clones was one thing, but confronting a super-dangerous individual deemed "highly dangerous" by S.H.I.E.L.D. was another matter entirely. This was completely different from the original plan.

"Here's the situation," Michael said calmly. "Otto wasn't killed by them; I killed him. You're welcome to perform an autopsy and check the wounds. Also, I've erased all data Otto had on the 'Spider-Warrior' project for you, not a single bit left."

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

"Perfectly," Michael replied, stepping aside and gesturing to the four Spider-Men behind him. "Not only that, but I'm planning to walk out of here with these kids. You can try to stop us, but I don't think your few guns will be enough to prevent someone from getting hurt."

"You dare do that..."

"And what are you going to do? Issue a nationwide warrant for me?" Michael's tone was calm. "Then it's too late; I'm already on the list. So, either you step aside and go back to tell your superiors you're powerless, or you can let your corpse deliver the same message to your superiors. What do you think?"

The red-haired agent stared at him for a long moment, her eyes openly conveying her desire to pry off his helmet and shoot him in the head. But deep down, she knew she was powerless.

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

The clone incident, which had caused a minor stir, thus concluded. Fortunately, Michael intervened and contained the situation before further leakage of superpowered genes.

Michael never trusted governments, nor did he believe it was a good thing for the technology to mass-produce Spider-Men to fall into the hands of the U.S. government or any other government in the world today. Humanity was not ready to accept such a transformation. No party should possess such power, as it would only lead decision-makers to make wrong choices, potentially resulting in unimaginable consequences.

The incident was resolved, and ultimately, no severe consequences occurred. However, if one were to say who was most affected by it, it would be the individuals involved.

It wasn't easy for any sixteen-year-old high school student to accept all this, even if that sixteen-year-old could stop a bus with his bare hands. But Peter was a strong kid; he would recover and eventually don the suit again as Spider-Man, returning to the streets of New York.

Ben Reilly and Kaine both explicitly expressed their lack of interest in such a chaotic life. They unanimously agreed that they just wanted to find a place far from their original selves, leave everything related to Spider-Man behind, and seek their own peaceful lives. Perhaps for them, this was the best choice.

Finally, there was Gwen. As expected, she decided 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 high school student at Middle School 163. However, while maintaining her daily life, she would also need to dedicate her spare time to receiving systematic training at Sky Sword until she met the required standards to officially join the field team.

"I thought you'd want to recruit the cloned Spider-Woman immediately," Sherry said as Michael established Gwen's personal profile. "What made you change your mind?"

"Theoretically, she's only six months old, Sherry. And her mind is equivalent to that of a sixteen-year-old child," Michael said, filing her personal profile into the superpowered team candidate list and adding complex encryption. "She's different from the others. The Winter Soldier was already a top assassin, and Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver received rigorous training under Strucker, but she hasn't."

"You mean she's not mature yet."

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

"What about Dr. Octavius's cloning project?" Sherry continued. "All related data in the CIA database has been erased, and the last backup of this project is in our hands. Do you want to continue this project?"

Michael shook his head. "Otto made considerable progress, but this project is still far from being truly mature. He poured a massive amount of funds and conducted countless experiments just to produce these three clones. If you really want to use this technology to build an army of Spider-Men, selling the country wouldn't be enough for him to manage it."

"So you consider this project a failure?"

"The cost-effectiveness is too low, and there's no practical value. Besides, Octavius, the only one who understood the Oz formula, is now dead. So yes, it's a failure," Michael said. "However, let's keep the data archived; it might be useful in the future."

"Understood, sir."

"What about the simulation of Vibranium alloyed metal?" Michael changed the subject. "What's the progress?"

"As of now, 91% of known materials have been tested, and there are 342 potential solutions. However, all solutions share a common drawback that cannot be resolved for the time being."

"What problem?"

"Energy, sir. Using the above solutions to alloy Vibranium for armor will cause a significant decrease in energy transmission rates and an increase in loss rates. If we continue to use existing batteries to power the armor, the combat time will be reduced to one-sixth of the original."

"That is a problem, but I think I have a solution for that."

"What are your thoughts, sir?"

Michael swiped his finger, closing the superpowered team candidate list interface. He then selected another project from the project files on the left, indexed by the first letter of the name.

"Remember that 'Obelisk' that Daniel Whitehall was obsessively infatuated with?"

"I remember, sir. According to records, it's an ancient artifact with inexplicably powerful energy. 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 then kept in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody. However, after S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded not long ago, the artifact's whereabouts became unknown."

Michael waved his arm, opening all the files within the project simultaneously. A large 3D projection of an obelisk appeared on the virtual screen, surrounded by Whitehall's research findings accumulated over many years.

"In reality, it was stolen by Whitehall's men from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hazardous materials warehouse during the chaos," Michael continued. "So, we'll be paying Whitehall a surprise visit soon. I believe this 'Obelisk' is our solution to the technical problem."