I Owe Enough Anyway

"Stop! Stop!"

Spider-Man had almost completely lost control of his body. No matter how desperately he struggled, he could only seize control for a few seconds at a time.

He watched helplessly as his body wreaked havoc on the overpass, as it darted between skyscrapers with a suitcase full of cash like a madman, as it smashed through a window and scattered all the drug money meant for a deal across Aunt May's room, as it swung and climbed its way to the private penthouse atop Stark Tower...

"Why do you want me to stop? Wasn't everything I did for your sake?"

Just as the Symbiote Spider-Man smashed through the penthouse's glass doors and prepared to rush in and kill and devour Tony Stark, Spider-Man's desperate resistance from deep within his consciousness halted his steps.

Alarms blared throughout the penthouse. Tony, who had been busy in the lab setting up a new element fabrication room, frowned and waved a hand, having the AI Jarvis display the cause of the alarm on a projection screen—the figure on-screen wore a black-and-white Spider Suit, but strangely, the suit occasionally rippled with grotesque movements.

His behavior was even more bizarre. The shattered glass all over the floor clearly proved that he was the culprit who had tried to break into the penthouse and trigger the alarm, yet what made no sense was that this suspected Spider-Man would sometimes lift his leg and step forward, then pull it back and retreat. If every movement had not been slightly different, Tony might have suspected the surveillance feed was lagging.

"I recommend proceeding to the platform and equipping the Mark armor, sir."

Jarvis's voice suddenly sounded. "According to data analysis, this individual's frequency of stepping forward is gradually increasing, while his retreating movements are steadily decreasing. I have accelerated the elevator carrying Mr. Yuri, but to ensure your personal safety beyond all doubt, it would be best to put on the armor, sir."

Tony waved off the holographic projection and sprinted toward the platform holding the Mark armor. The black Spider-Man on the monitor had completely stopped taking Backsteps; only the repeated stutters in his forward strides showed that something inside him was still fighting tirelessly.

"Rumble!"

"Tony Stark, I'm going to kill you!"

Before the Symbiote Spider-Man's overwhelming strength, the penthouse built from specialized construction materials was like paper. Walls were smashed apart by fists, kicked to pieces, and rammed through headfirst. Meanwhile, Tony looked exactly like a rat being chased through the streets, fleeing blindly under Jarvis's guidance until he finally charged into the platform where the Mark armor waited to be equipped.

Tony rushed toward the armor, but because he failed to notice the terrain beneath his feet, he tripped hard over the sharply angled stairs. The noise behind him was drawing closer and closer. Ignoring the piercing pain in his body, he struggled back to his feet and staggered toward the Mark 4 waiting silently for him.

He turned around and spread his arms. The chestplate, arm guards, and leg armor rapidly closed and sealed around him, but in those few seconds, the Symbiote Spider-Man causing all that destruction had already arrived.

Tony's faceplate had yet to lower, and he could clearly see the wildly flailing massive arms of non-Newtonian fluid. Walls, doorframes, floors... everything was so utterly fragile. He saw the other man throw a punch from more than ten meters away. Before he could wonder why, streams of black slime rapidly proliferated and gathered in blatant defiance of the law of conservation of matter, forming a sharp cone.

And the tip of that cone pointed directly at Tony Stark as his faceplate finally lowered.

"Duang~!"

Although Tony reacted the instant the armor finished equipping, how could an ordinary human's reaction speed possibly compare to that of a fusion between a mutated young man and an alien visitor?

The red-and-gold Mark 4 smashed through the mechanical support arms behind it, shattered the reinforced tempered glass that had only just been repaired, but before it could fly out, it was yanked back by webbing transformed from the pointed cone.

"Sir, the abdominal armor has sustained seventy percent damage and has undergone irreversible compressive deformation."

Jarvis's voice rang inside the Mark 4's helmet, but Tony's face had turned purple-red. He merely coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with unknown fragments, unable to say a single word.

"Peter, as long as we kill him together, no one will ever know Spider-Man's true identity again!"

A bloodthirsty, crazed voice sounded from within the black-and-white Spider Suit. A pointed cone wrapped around its fist, about to pierce the Mark armor bound tightly by layers of black slime.

But at that moment, an ill-timed set of footsteps sounded behind the Symbiote Spider-Man. Yuri strolled forward without the slightest hurry and said, "Do you remember me, Spider-Man? Not only do I know who you are, I also know who you like~"

"Who! Are! You!"

The Symbiote Spider-Man flung Tony aside, rose to his feet, and looked down at the man before him with dark golden pupils. His sharp biological senses told him that beneath this man's sunny, handsome appearance lay an immense threat.

"Who am I?"

Yuri chuckled. As he approached, strands of jet-black, gleaming non-Newtonian fluid rapidly covered his entire body. His somewhat slender frame before the Symbiote Spider-Man swiftly grew taller and expanded, while an overwhelming aura erupted in an instant.

Five eyes snapped open, flashes of seemingly tangible light glinting across them. Yuri split his mouth into a wide smile. "You'll know once you're dead!"

"Boom!"

The mere collision of their fists sent out a shockwave that kicked up a massive cloud of dust. The Symbiote Spider-Man was blasted away like a cannonball, only to be seized and dragged back by the gigantic black hand Yuri flung out.

Gripped by Yuri, the Symbiote Spider-Man took a solid uppercut. The back of his head smashed through the shoulder blade behind him, but in less than the blink of an eye, the horrific, fatal wound had completely healed. It pulled itself free from the ceiling, leaped far away, and roared at Yuri, "Impossible! Why are you stronger than me?!"

"You say that as if you're invincible."

Yuri mocked him, then used his spatial ability to appear directly behind the Symbiote Spider-Man. A massive cone formed around his raised fist, and in the next instant, it pierced through the Symbiote Spider-Man's spine and brutally ruptured his heart.

The cone tip that emerged through his body separated into several ropes, binding the fleeing Symbiote layer upon layer. Facing the Mark 4 lying motionless in the corner, Yuri approached and asked, "Are you dead? If not, hit him with a sonic cannon."

"Mr. Yuri."

Jarvis's voice came from beneath the faceplate. "Tony's ribs are all broken and have pierced his internal organs. He has now fallen unconscious. For the sake of his life, I cannot control Mark 4 to perform any actions."

"You owe me another one, Tony."

Golden Life Energy passed through the severely deformed armor and seeped into Tony's body, where he lay sprawled on the ground. Within a single breath, all his injuries were fully healed, and Tony's voice came from beneath the armor. "I know. I already owe you plenty anyway. Can you help me open the abdominal armor? It's about to squeeze my stomach flat like a sheet of paper. Just count it as another favor I owe you, okay?"

Yuri curled his lip. A jet-black non-Newtonian fluid slipped into the gaps in the armor and, under its master's control, effortlessly tore apart the red-and-gold abdominal armor that could withstand missiles.

Watching Tony spring up from the floor, he said indifferently, "Like you said, you already owe me plenty."

Now that we've gotten this far, I admit my writing is terrible, but by the twenty-third, I'll have hit "thirty consecutive days of updates exceeding 3,000 words." Could a few more people invest? Spend ten minutes and 10 coins to get 32 coins—absolutely not a loss, everyone.