Escape Alive?

"Are... are there still people... who haven't gotten out?"

Peter Parker's voice trembled, every word forced painfully from his lungs. His arms and back bore an unimaginable weight—a four- or five-hundred-ton section of elevated bridge pressed down on him. Even though not every support pillar had collapsed, it felt as though the whole world was trying to crush him.

Peter had never tested the limits of his strength, but now he felt he had reached them. At this point, even a pigeon landing on the bridge might make him collapse from the strain. Blood roared through his veins, and his eardrums swelled as though they were about to burst. His vision blurred into a haze, with only searing spots of light and darkness flashing in turns. He could not even hear his own heartbeat; only a deathly buzzing echoed inside his skull.

He did not know whether everyone had evacuated safely, because he could no longer sense anything. All he could do was issue the only warning he could.

"IS! THERE! ANYONE! STILL! HERE!"

Someone seemed to answer him, but he could not hear a thing. The rusty taste in his throat was the only thing he could feel. No—there was something else. His arms and back could feel violent, rapid vibrations. Even having lost his sight and hearing, Peter could still sense what it was—

The subway train was about to enter the station.

Some enormous sound seemed to erupt beside him. Spider-Man remained braced there, looking as though he might collapse at any moment. The crowd gathered beyond the elevated bridge, watching Spider-Man struggle to hold it up, then seemingly noticed something else and turned to look.

Peter Parker suddenly saw everything before him replaced by a wash of red, while the weight on his hands and back vanished completely. The abrupt relief made him lose consciousness, and he fell into that crimson expanse.

That was not blood. It was a gigantic red hand.

"I caught the kid. Tony, I need your MK38 here."

A giant Ant-Man, looking as though he had stepped out of an Ultraman set, held the unconscious Spider-Man in one hand and supported the broken bridge deck with the other. The subway train thundered past unharmed. The onlookers erupted into deafening cheers, celebrating the Avengers saving the city once again.

Then a blue streak tore through the smoke and dust, and a heavy Iron Armor crashed down. The MK38 armor, "Igor," took Spider-Man's place beneath the broken support pillar. Hydraulic jacks along its spine snapped open with a clang. As Ant-Man slowly lowered his hand, MK38 steadily held up the bridge.

After shrinking down with the unconscious Spider-Man still in his palm, Ant-Man carried the kid away on a flying ant. At last, he had time to continue communicating.

"I'm taking the kid back to Avengers Tower. Where's Herman, Tony?"

"Uh, Captain and Wasp are pursuing him. I'm keeping an eye on him from the air."

Dehydration, overheating, cooling-system failure—Scarecrow was in terrible shape as he fled. He staggered through the air, not even noticing how the shield defied the laws of physics and ricocheted toward him at a bizarre angle. It smashed viciously into his back, knocking him from the sky and sending him skidding across the ground in showers of sparks.

"It's over, Herman Schultz."

Captain America stopped his motorcycle in front of Herman. "You have no idea how dangerous your actions and weapons are. Disarm yourself. Now!"

"Yeah, surrender obediently before the Avengers." Wasp suddenly appeared and jabbed her bioelectric stinger at the back of his neck—but not even a spark flew.

"I don't know...?"

Herman, who had only intended to escape, was so angry that he laughed. His laughter was hoarse, like sandpaper grinding together. He did not even get up. He merely clenched his fist, and powerful shockwaves began spreading outward in wave after wave. The ground beneath him started collapsing inch by inch. The changing air density warped the view, while traffic lights, utility poles, and fire hydrants twisted grotesquely. Captain and Wasp began to sway as well.

Scarecrow kept unleashing vibration waves as he rose to his feet, then let out a roar.

"I know how powerful my invention is!" Herman roared as he stood. "Powerful enough to make the Avengers come after me!"

Just as Captain seized the chance to pounce, the ground collapsed again. Captain leaped and drove his shield into the concrete to keep himself from falling, while Scarecrow used the vibration waves to jump away once more.

"Where are you going, Herman? There's nowhere left to run!"

The seemingly inconspicuous Wasp had actually caught up to Scarecrow. She stayed not far behind him, continuously firing electric stings. They did little damage, but Herman could not flee with a tail on him. So after jumping again, he turned around and aimed at the tiny Wasp, barely visible in his sight.

A gold-and-red figure came hurtling in at supersonic speed. Iron Man slammed him back into the street, then landed stylishly and primed armor-piercing rounds from his arm armor. "Surrender, Herman. I don't know where you got that titanium alloy, but I know your equipment can't withstand my firepower."

Herman, having been attacked one after another, began to laugh.

He suddenly realized that, aside from killing Spider-Man, there was another way better suited for making a name for himself—one where even the Avengers would have to leave empty-handed when they came to arrest him.

He raised both hands, pretending to surrender, but as Iron Man approached, he smiled.

"Goodbye, Iron Man."

The armor-piercing rounds fired the moment he spoke, but the ground beneath Scarecrow's feet had already collapsed. Scarecrow fled into the sewers and, in one breath, used his vibrations to collapse more than ten meters of roadway, burying the entire sewer system and preventing anyone from following. Captain, arriving on his motorcycle, could only watch Iron Man and Wasp stare at the collapsed street in dismay.

As for Scarecrow, there was only one place he could go now.

Wearing his armor and using his last bit of strength along with the momentum from battle, Herman reached Otto's hideout. This time, the hideout did not need his key. The door opened in advance. Before Scarecrow could enter on his own, a mechanical claw grabbed him and dragged him inside. Then several tentacled robots slipped out to clean up the traces and shut the hideout's door.

"I saw your performance." An electronically synthesized voice came from the shadows. "You could have killed Spider-Man. Why did you hold back?"

Herman took off the helmet nearly filled with his own sweat and accepted a bottle of mineral water handed to him by a mechanical claw.

"I don't know. Maybe because I've never killed anyone. Maybe because I believed Spider-Man could hold up that bridge. But if I deliberately killed someone... everything would be different."

Leaning against the wall, Herman rested for a long time before saying that. Otto remained silent for a while, then turned on lights that had never been used in the hideout.

As soft white light filled the room, Herman finally saw the mysterious "Otto."

He was a middle-aged man who appeared incapable of any movement, his limbs paralyzed. He had encased himself in a bulky mechanical life-support apparatus, and it seemed difficult for him even to turn his neck. Some mechanical devices pierced directly through his throat, fusing his vocal cords with an electronic generator. He wore goggles over his eyes, seemingly unable to adapt to bright light, while four nimble mechanical tentacles served as his limbs.

"A little light. Perhaps it will make you more comfortable, my friend."

"I... I really didn't expect you to be like this."

Otto did not care in the slightest. He merely turned toward several old computers and resumed his calculations. "If you have an 'old friend' like Norman Osborn, then ending up like this is already fortunate."

Herman instinctively felt that Doctor Otto was hiding many things from him, but he did not want to ask. After pouring the rest of the water over his head, he made his request.

"Can you help me contact that 'big boss'? I believe he won't refuse someone who can open any lock working for him."

Otto adjusted the glasses on his face with a mechanical claw.

"Is that what you want to do? Get famous, then work for someone? Find yourself a good job?"

"The next step is dealing with the Avengers—Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, Wasp..." Herman wisely did not mention Hulk or Thor. "I'm going to tell them that my equipment, Herman Schultz's equipment, can surpass Tony Stark, Hank Pym, or anyone else by far. I'm a real genius!"

What Herman truly wanted was fame—great fame. That was why the Avengers were his target. To achieve that goal, he needed more money to upgrade his armor, especially its cooling capacity, so he could avoid dehydration like today.

So he needed money, lots and lots of money. He had no savings left. Robbing banks directly would make it easy for the Avengers to catch him before he completed his plan. That was why Herman thought of Kingpin. Since Kingpin had been willing to fund his armor, then after seeing what he could do, Kingpin would surely be willing to let him work for him.

Otto had no intention of refusing his new friend Herman. He also needed someone important enough to investigate the Avengers and the other superheroes' capabilities, so he could adjust his weapon-manufacturing plans. But he had another question.

"What about Spider-Man? You haven't completely beaten him. Are you just ending it like this?"

"He'll come looking for me. And once I upgrade my armor, he won't be a match for me."