Shocking Finale (Part 2)

"Curtain call? No! Scarecrow never ends!"

Herman's roar was like a sharp knife, piercing Peter's eardrums. He struggled frantically, trying to clench his fists, his knuckles turning white from the effort. Peter had to release the hand pinning him, instead gripping the sides of Scarecrow's arm gauntlets. Metal groaned under his grip, deforming, but it was still a step too late. With a "boom," a shockwave erupted, sending Peter flying back like a kite with a broken string, his back slamming into a pile of scrap metal.

"No! No! No! Herman!"

Peter sprang to his feet with a powerful surge. The reason for his urgent shout wasn't that Scarecrow was planning to escape or anything else; it was that the arm gauntlets were going haywire. Sparks flew from the seams, like the final breaths of a dying beast.

There were three possibilities: First, the Scarecrow launcher itself had reached its limit and was about to explode. Second, the Scarecrow launcher was simply broken by Spider-Man, reaching its end of life. Third, the Scarecrow launcher was broken and was about to explode.

The wobbly Scarecrow didn't realize this. He raised his fist at Spider-Man, but he stumbled, punching the air instead, while more sparks shot from the arm gauntlet.

"Good! Second option is directly ruled out!"

Two streams of web fluid shot out, sticking to the ground behind Scarecrow, pulling Spider-Man in front of him. Peter immediately began trying to forcibly dismantle the Scarecrow launcher. He grabbed Herman's arm with one hand and began to rip with the other, tearing off the golden titanium alloy casing of the arm gauntlet and tossing it aside, exposing the wiring within.

"It's the same principle as your previous launcher, right? Just shrunk down and put into your arm. Okay, I remember the structure, let me see."

"Get out of my way!"

Scarecrow's other arm swung in with a concussive punch. If Peter hadn't ducked in time, it would have hit his head. He looked at Scarecrow in shock, "Hey, man, I'm saving you! Your equipment is malfunctioning, don't you know?"

"I..."

Dazed from being hit by the billboard, Scarecrow looked at his sparking arm gauntlet, clearing his head slightly. He then headbutted Spider-Man directly, his golden titanium alloy helmet making intimate contact with Peter's skull. With a "thud," Peter was sent reeling back several meters, stars dancing before his eyes.

"I can handle all of this, I just need, I just need to handle you first."

"What?"

Spider-Man was speechless. He simply spread his hands and asked, "Buddy? You've already lost, it's that obvious. What are you still doing?!"

"So many cameras... so many screens... I can't lose... I don't want to lose..."

Great, this guy was impossible to communicate with.

Peter sighed. He had only thought of using the media's spotlight to draw Herman out, never expecting the spotlight to drive Herman completely insane. This guy probably had some kind of exposure syndrome; he was truly beyond saving.

But the problem was, his launcher could explode at any moment! He didn't know when it would explode!

"Let me think, let me think."

While backflipping to dodge a concussive wave Herman sent his way, Peter thought. The problem now was that even though Herman had lost the fight, dismantling his arm gauntlet would take time, and he didn't know when it would explode, only that it was soon. What if it exploded on the way down after being removed?

For the first time, he felt how convenient a countdown timer was in movies.

"No, no, wait, I can manually overload the launcher, causing it to detonate prematurely." Dodging another concussive wave aimed at his head with a simple tilt, Peter began to recall his first encounter with Herman. He had picked up an old-fashioned Scarecrow launcher then and carefully examined its structure. He should be able to remember if he thought hard enough...

Herman's initial launcher could cut through an entire building, but subsequent ones didn't have that much power. This indicated that Herman himself knew not to let the launcher reach maximum power. Furthermore, old Scarecrow launchers had a fatal flaw: the safety system didn't work properly, causing it to malfunction regardless of the launcher's power. If he could replicate these two points, first use maximum power to propel himself high into the air, then disengage the safety to overload the launcher?

Was this flaw still present?

"Let me see, let me see!"

The filming helicopters, confused, watched as Spider-Man ripped off the casing of Herman's other arm gauntlet, while Herman punched and kicked at Spider-Man, only to have his attacks easily dodged. Peter, meanwhile, was examining Herman's equipment and searching his memory for the arm gauntlet's safety mechanism.

He discovered that Herman controlled the launcher's power by the degree to which he clenched his fist, and the safety mechanism was always stuck. This meant Herman hadn't resolved the safety flaw at all, merely controlling himself during combat to avoid using excessively high frequencies that would break the stuck safety.

"Alright, Herman, considering this is downtown New York, I'll have to improvise."

He found the part securing the arm gauntlet to the elbow, forcibly removed it, and then yanked Herman's arm gauntlet clean off. He then awkwardly installed it onto his own arm.

At this moment, Herman hadn't even reacted, still muttering to himself in a daze. Peter tied him up with web fluid and tossed him aside, then clenched his fist with all his might.

"I'm going to—take off!"

Spider-Man took off, literally. A massive shockwave created a huge crater in the ground, and Spider-Man was blasted upwards by the immense force, climbing higher and higher. During his ascent, he disengaged the arm gauntlet's safety and ensured his fist was clenched as tightly as possible. Facing the ground, he wasn't sure how high he could go, but he could see the entire island of Manhattan, and then almost all of New York.

His back to the ground, he clenched his fists.

The immense force instantly dissipated the clouds over all of New York. Spider-Man was slammed towards the earth, but because of the powerful force, the arm gauntlet separated from him in mid-air, instead being flung higher into the sky by the recoil, emitting a blinding white light.

"There's only one question now."

Spider-Man, in freefall, asked.

"Am I a kilometer away from that thing?"

The shockwave from the explosion accelerated his descent. Peter squinted, watching Manhattan rapidly approach. At this height, even if he used web fluid to stick to buildings, the acceleration would rip his arms off.

Well, he had envisioned similar scenarios countless times in his mind: rescue techniques for high-altitude falls, all to perfectly save Gwen. Who would have thought the first time would be to save himself?

His web-shooters activated at full capacity, layer upon layer of webbing being laid down, stacked between the skyscrapers. Spider-Man crashed into them, using the elasticity of the webs for cushioning. Layer after layer of webbing snapped after completing their cushioning task. After dozens of layers of cushioning, Spider-Man finally stuck himself to a web on a certain floor. He watched the media, who had rushed into the scene now that the fight was over, and couldn't help but sigh.

He landed on the ground, gasping for breath, waving to signal the media surrounding Herman to move aside. He finally squeezed his way to Herman's side.

"So... did you see? That thing almost turned you into fireworks."

Herman remained silent. He turned to look at Spider-Man, who looked back at him and finally understood. Peter then removed Herman's helmet, revealing Herman Schultz's face to all the media. In that instant, all the spotlights flashed onto Herman's face. He squinted, a look of satisfaction on his face.

"I don't really want to say it, but you're truly insane."

Peter said, patting Herman's shoulder.

"But regardless, Scarecrow's spectacular curtain call has arrived."

It felt a bit rushed... I feel like this is the worst chapter I've written.