It was the calm before the storm. A trail of smoke billowed across the tense battlefield, shrouding the scene in an ominous haze. On one side, there loomed a colossal mechanical suit, its joints emitting a barely audible hum with each calculated movement. On the opposing side, a hateful, vengeful figure stood cloaked in darkness, the only contrasting features being the chilling white eyes and spider insignia adorning his slimy suit.
“I always knew it would end with me and you,” the mechanical figure snarled.
The man encased in the symbiotic suit remained silent. He was too far gone. Sarcasm and banter had long lost their hold on him, now just distant memories of a more peaceful past. His consciousness had now been consumed by a far more primal focus: kill. Kill, that was all that mattered now. His gaze changed into an unyielding glare, and the edges of his sludgy eyes sprouted wickedly sharp points.
“So it’s going to be like that, huh? The once great Spider-Man all out of quips? Pathetic, that’s all you are and that’s all you’ll ever be. Without that suit, you’re nothing. You’re weak.” the mechanical figure continued to taunt.
Memories flashed in the Spider’s head. Grief, loss– so much loss. He remembered the tears he wept as he cradled his girlfriend’s dead body, gently rubbing her bright red hair as his tears fell upon her face. He then recalled the anger he felt as he lost his Aunt, she was the last family he had. All this loss because of the man in the suit who now dared to belittle him and call him weak. The man who did nothing but sit on his golden throne while the people he deemed lesser than him did all his dirty work. The Spider had become so broken that he eventually sought refuge in an old companion: the symbiote. It was all he had left, his last tether to life. It was the source of power that allowed him to transcend his limitations. At last he finally found the strength to say:
“All you are is a HYPOCRITE!”
He lunged forward, consumed by nothing but pure rage. Every muscle tense with power just waiting to get out and fingers curled into unwavering fists. This time, there would be no holding back. He would tear that suit off piece by piece and make the figure of evil inside feel just as scared and small as he felt.
He struck the suit with overwhelming force, forcing an audible grunt from the man within. But despite the assault, the armor stood firm. A metal hand with the strength of a giant grabbed the Spider and the suit’s propulsion system roared to life as it was flung forward at sonic speeds. In a heartbeat the Spider was smashed into the ground. Over and over, blow after merciless blow, he started to taste the bitterness of his blood. But this could not be his downfall, this will not be how it ended. Not so swiftly and ingloriously.
As soon as he thought it, the viscous ooze that covered his arm underwent a transformation, coalescing into a lethal blade. With a surge of otherworldly might, he drove the makeshift weapon into the ground, an act that mirrored the declaration of his unyielding spirit. At once the suit stuttered, its strength shattered like glass before the might of the Spider’s unbridled power. Unleashing the dormant reservoir of his might, the Spider flipped his ensnared arm with an explosive motion, hurtling the suit toward the earth. Momentum transformed into raw force, and the colossal armor careened across the terrain, a destructive trajectory that culminated in a bone-rattling collision against a boulder.
An eruption of sparks and a cacophony of alarms erupted from the battered suit, like a symphony of defeat, yet it still managed to haul itself from the wreckage. However, its resurgence came too late. The Spider returned with a torrent of rapid-fire blows, each strike leaving its indelible mark upon the unyielding metal exterior. With a swiftness that transcended the superhuman, he danced around the suit’s defenses. In this intense ballet of combat, the suit’s attempts to keep pace proved futile, its mechanisms strained beyond their limits. But then, a lucky blow struck the Spider, flinging him back. Wearily, he forced himself back up. It was now the mech’s turn to charge. Engines roaring to life once again, it took off. Without even processing what was going on, the Spider put his hands out in front of him and braced himself for the impact.
The impact nearly knocked him off his feet, black, inky tendrils erupted from his legs and shot themselves into the ground, anchoring him into the earth. With a desperate heave, the Spider tore off a chunk of the chest of the suit. The mechanized monstrosity staggered back, the wiring and circuitry underneath now partially exposed.
They stood there once again. Just waiting for the other to make a move.
“Take off your helmet,” The Spider commanded.
“That’s going to be a no from me,” The suit’s occupant boomed.
“I don’t think you understand, you take it off, or I’ll rip it off your skull,” The Spider retorted.
In a flash the Spider shot his hand forward. The amorphous alien substance erupted from his palm, surging across the mech’s helmet with a fluid grace. With an almost casual motion, the Spider yanked, and the faceplate yielded, providing just a glimpse of the symbiotes unstoppable power. What lay beneath the metal exterior was a face marked by bruises, a vivid testament to the relentless force the Spider embodied. Not even the formidable armor had shielded its wearer from the Spider’s unyielding might. Another alarm went off in the suit and a holographic shield came down over the man’s face.
A buzzing ran out. The Spider sank to his knees as he clutched his head and screamed in pain.
“I’m a planner, Peter. I was trying to help you. What you just did caused a frequency just loud enough for your spider-sense to be rendered useless. Good work, you screwed yourself,” Tony himself now snarled.
But finding his courage and strength once again, he picked himself back up. Furiously, the Spider took one step forward, then another.
“I don’t need my spider-sense to kill you, all I need is my rage!” He roared furiously, his pent-up anger just oozing out.
His pace intensified and evolved into a relentless sprint. Muscles coiled with tension, he leapt forward and curled his fingers into a fist once again. WIth everything he had in him, he flung his fist up into an uppercut and made contact with the man’s now exposed head. As he hit the ground again he swiftly rolled out of the way to avoid the oncoming fist’s counterstrike. Seizing his opportunity, he ducked behind the suit and grabbed its right arm. With a display of incredible strength, he wrenched it free as if it were mere paper, severing the limb from the rest of the suit.
The force of the tear jolted the suit forward, momentarily unbalancing it before it rapidly regained its footing and swung with its remaining arm. The Spider put his hands up to protect himself, but the force of the punch still put him on the ground. Taking his opportunity, the suit picked the Spider back up and flung him in the air. The mechanized hand quickly underwent a transformation and converted itself into a gun. Without hesitation, it shot a blast with the force of a missile at the now helpless, airborne Spider.
BOOM!!!
The missile hit the Spider and he was sent spiraling towards the Earth in a ball of fire. He eventually hit the ground with a sickening thud. Was he beaten? No, he couldn’t be. He needed to win. He needed to win. It wasn’t just his goal now, it was his obligation, his responsibility. However as he picked himself back up once again, he was met with a kick that just sent him skidding back across the ground further. But the Spider was prepared this time, he extended his symbiotic suit to the ground, the tendrils pulling him down and locking his footing. With mere moments to react to the furious mechanical juggernaut coming straight for him, he again put his hands up in a final attempt to stop it in its tracks. This time, his gambit paid off and he completely maintained his footing. Wasting no time, he tossed the suit to the side and sent a punch directly into the exposed wiring.
More sparks, more alarms. The suit was forced into a kneeling position. Steam came out of every exhaust it could find. The man inside coughed up blood. He knew he had been beaten, but as long as he still breathed, he wouldn’t stop fighting.
“First…” The Spider said calmly.
With a quick thwip thwip he shot webs out of the top of his fists and destroyed the machines echoing the frequency that was disrupting his spider-sense.
“You’re beaten, admit it. Your suit is nearly destroyed and on the fritz. That’s all you have to defend yourself. Me? My power goes with me. I don’t rely on anything for it. So how do you feel now? Scared? Hopeless? Cornered? Maybe a fraction of what you made me feel?!” The Spider taunted.
“YAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH” Tony screamed as he lunged forward for one final attack.
Time once again slowed down as danger approached the Spider. Sensing what was happening, he quickly flipped over the sparking and sputtering suit. With pinpoint accuracy, he then shot a web at its hulking, mechanical back. Using his godlike strength he hurled himself towards it, clamped both his hands together, and smashed down on the spine of the suit. The machinery inside snapped and broke under the overwhelming pressure. The Spider jumped off the suit and let it careen into the ground.
With a thought he once again formed oozing blades at the top of his hands. As Tony was picking himself back up, trying desperately to keep his suit together, the Spider jammed a blade through the remaining arm. The other blade was jammed into the wrecked chestplate. With all his might he methodically dragged the blades through the machinery, the visceral sounds of snapping wires and popping circuits were music to his ears. The suit reeled once more, pushed to the brink. It staggered back weakly, and in a final effort, detonated a sonic bomb that sent powerful sound waves throughout the battlefield.
The oozing symbiote screamed and fled the Spider’s body, but the man still remained. Tony looked on in fear.
“You thought the symbiote was corrupting me as I did this?? That’s funny. I wanted this. It just gave me the power I needed to know for certain I could beat you. Who’s the planner now?” Peter now explained methodically.
He lunged forward and struck the suit with the force of a small bomb. Without wasting a second he pushed himself back off of it and used his webs to slingshot himself back to strike a deafening blow with his knee against Tony’s head. With a final show of his strength, he plunged his hand through the metal into the suit’s chest and wrapped his hands around the concealed arc reactor.
“Don’t,” Tony said sternly.
With one quick tear, Peter wrenched the heart of the suit out. The last remaining lights on it went dark, the holographic shield faded, and Tony Stark was now left alone with the person who wanted nothing more than to kill him, and had all the power in the world to do so.
