With the firebrand Peter Porker leading the charge, the pre-battle atmosphere heated up in an instant.
Gwen Stacy glanced around at everyone, geared up and ready to go, and immediately spotted something.
"Hey, Josen, where's your suit?" She nimbly circled him.
"You're not planning to fight in that trench coat, are you?"
Everyone turned their attention to him. Josen pointed into the crowd. "I'm not the only one wearing a coat, am I?"
"My world isn't as colorful as this one. Black and gloom are its main colors, and a black coat makes it easiest to hide," Spider-Man Noir explained with a shrug. "So this is my suit."
MCU Peter, who had met Josen first, rested a hand on his chin as he thought back. "Come to think of it, I still haven't seen your suit, Josen."
"No way, no way. Don't tell me you don't have one?"
"Heh..."
Josen narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers.
"Who do you think you're looking down on?"
Absolute Domain deployed!
Force Field King activated!
Amid a dazzling display of light and shadow, a red-and-gold suit of Spider Armor unfolded from beneath Josen's feet, spreading upward to cover his entire body.
The thrusters on his back, beneath his feet, and in his palms blasted out brilliant jets of flame, sending a wave of heat into the onlookers' faces.
"Nanotechnology?"
At the sight of that spectacular yet familiar display, MCU Peter's eyes widened. He finally understood what it meant to only appreciate something after losing it.
It hurt! It hurt so much!
The others didn't share his complicated feelings, but most were stunned all the same.
They all had cheap, hand-sewn suits, while he casually whipped out a suit of high-tech armor that looked expensive at a glance...
Aside from Peni Parker, who had her own mech, everyone present looked on his flashy transformation with disdain.
Jokes and horsing around aside, none of them forgot what they were there to do.
Under cover of night, one figure shot into the sky, followed closely by seven agile silhouettes as they raced toward Brooklyn across the water.
Beneath Fisk Tower.
Kingpin stood before the control room's glass wall. An inexplicable dread gripped him, and he instinctively glanced at the ceiling of the underground chamber.
An ominous premonition welled up inside him. New York's underworld king remained expressionless as he abruptly issued an order.
"Start the machine. Right now. Immediately."
The researchers around him all looked up, seeing only their boss's immensely broad back.
"But Dr. Octavius isn't here yet. Should we-"
"I don't want to repeat myself."
His cold words and Tombstone's silent stare were like two sharp knives. The researcher who had worked up the courage to raise his hand immediately buried his head like an ostrich. "Yes, boss!"
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
Amid the roar of engines, the enormous Particle Collider slowly started up like an awakening beast.
Energy began to build in the massive muzzle. Multicolored particle streams shone on Kingpin's broad, expressionless face, revealing a faint trace of urgency.
"Sorry, am I late?" Doctor Octopus's voice rang out. He took a white lab coat from the wardrobe by the entrance, slipped it on deftly, and strode over. "Raise the alpha particle energy parameters. Increase the rotational speed... Never mind, move aside. I'll take over from here."
Seeing Doctor Octopus slip into work mode with consummate professionalism, Kingpin withdrew his sideways glance and continued to wait.
"I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
Gwen narrowed her eyes at Josen, who had suddenly dropped down to fly beside them. She raised a hand and shot out a web, swinging forward as she snapped, "At a time like this, you're keeping us in suspense? Spit it out!"
The other Spider-Men nodded in agreement. Easy for him to talk while flying; they had to keep raising their arms, firing webs, and swinging.
"All right, then." Josen opened his faceplate and shrugged. "Bad news first. Kingpin started the collider ahead of schedule. The experiment's about to begin."
Peni Parker blew a bubble with her gum as she sat inside her round spider mech. "What's the good news?"
"The good news is that I can take one person with me and speed ahead. We should be able to stop them before the experiment starts."
"Take me!" ×7
MCU Peter challenged him. "Hey, why only one? With that armor's performance, carrying a few more people shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"Because that would violate the New York Personal Aircraft Passenger-Carrying Regulations," Josen made up on the spot, grabbing Gwen, who was closest to him. "Ladies first. We'll head on ahead."
Boom-
A violent sonic boom erupted without warning. The blast of air left the Spider-Men disheveled, and once they finally steadied themselves in midair, they all spat curses at the rapidly receding figure.
"Wait," said MCU Peter, the only one still hung up on it. "Is that actually a regulation?"
In the sky.
Held in Josen's arms, Gwen anticipated the sudden acceleration and instinctively shut her eyes, gripping his shoulders. Yet although the wind howled around them, the air flowing past her was as gentle and steady as if she were strolling down the street.
She opened her eyes and saw a barrier of polygonal force fields surrounding them. The high-speed airflow was completely blocked out, unable to affect either of them as they flew.
"Peter actually had a point." Reassured, Gwen pulled off her mask. "Why not bring a few more people? Kingpin has more than one superhuman enforcer!"
"It's fine. The two of us are enough." Looking at Fisk Tower as it came into view, Josen assured her, "We'll charge straight into the basement and laugh our way through a slaughter."
"You're sure?"
"Of course. You handle the laughing. I'll handle the slaughter."
"..." Speechless, Gwen then frowned. "What did you just say? How are we getting in? Aren't we supposed to sneak in?"
"Sneak in? You got it!" Josen glanced at the ground and adjusted his course. "This flight is about to land. Hold on tight!"
Gwen's lips parted as she watched the ground rush closer and closer.
On the ground.
A Kingpin Gang thug working security stared in bewilderment at the meteor plunging toward him from above, even taking off his security cap. "What's tha... Run!!"
Boom-
One corner of the tower exploded on impact. Rubble, glass, steel alloy, and heaps of wreckage blasted into the sky before raining back down!
Piercing screams vanished beneath the deafening explosion. Starting at the third floor's glass curtain wall, the impact punched through five consecutive floors of the tower, all the way underground!
At that moment, the tower's aboveground floors were deserted except for the unfortunate Kingpin Gang guards on duty, many of whom were buried beneath the falling building materials.
The drill formed from the AT force field was astonishingly strong, while supersonic flight gave it tremendous kinetic energy.
Josen was now like a high-density, carbon-core armor-piercing round. Any obstacle in his path was trash.
One hit, and it punched straight through!
Before you continue