Outside the glass curtain wall, Charlotte narrowed his eyes and fixed on the countdown.
Among the participants in this Resurrection Match, the Chitauri might be Thanos's cannon fodder, but their flight craft and alien weapons were nothing to scoff at, and they had the numbers. There was also Peter Parker, which meant there might be another Spider-Man on the board. As for Tony Stark, Iron Man's air superiority completely outclassed the Chitauri skiffs. He was the biggest threat in this match.
First time entering a Resurrection Match and he had to face opponents like these. For Charlotte, it felt like queuing straight into ranked mode at the highest tier.
Not being able to beat them did not mean he could not win.
Tap tap.
As the countdown on the glass reached zero, Charlotte flipped off the ledge and fired a web. He swung down toward the street.
Whoosh.
He fired twin webs to the streetlamps on either side. Pulling hard, he let the webbing's tensile strength load like a slingshot. His body snapped forward, launching him like a shell into the night.
弹射起飞.
Wind screamed past. Charlotte weaved between the towers as neon color bled into streaks at the edge of his vision.
When he had first become Spider-Man, this sensation had been a strange mix of thrill and dread. Training always came with the fear of a fatal fall, yet nothing matched the rush of skimming the edge of danger.
Now, his movements were practiced and smooth.
"Whoa, Spider-Man!"
"So cool!"
Just as his momentum began to fade, Charlotte timed another web-line and shot across the steel canyon. Wherever he passed, the crowd below burst into excited shouts.
"Wait, no. Spider-Man just finished fighting Electro. How is he here?"
Someone in the crowd spoke up, and phones came out all at once. Live footage showed the city's power grid fried after Electro's rampage, which made everyone more confused.
"This is District C. How could Spider-Man be here?"
They were baffled.
Boom.
A streak of fire roared overhead, blasting a wave of heat down on the street.
"Oh my God, what is that?"
"A sick-looking suit!"
Several more trails of fire cut across the sky. Panic rippled through the bystanders.
"What is going on? What are those things?"
"Aliens. We are being invaded."
They caught a glimpse of humanoid figures riding skiffs, brandishing blade-guns. Terror widened every pair of eyes.
Up above, a red-gold shell tore between buildings at high speed. Inside the bleeding-edge nanotech, Tony Stark was just as puzzled.
"JARVIS, ever heard of a 'Resurrection Match'?"
"Sir, I am Friday."
Tony caught himself. "Right. Sorry. Habit."
JARVIS was gone, and it was his fault. The guilt still sat heavy on his chest.
"It is all right, sir. This is not a game. Please treat this match seriously," Friday advised.
"I get it. Lock onto the clock tower."
As he spoke, Tony remembered the briefing panel he had seen and felt a pang of complicated emotion.
Peter Parker's name was on the roster.
He had already snapped his fingers. Thanos's army had vanished. So how did Peter die?
And there was a Spider-Man in this world too.
Was this a dying hallucination?
The red-and-blue silhouette skimmed over a bustling avenue.
Whoosh.
Moments later, Charlotte landed on the roof of a residential block, well away from the commercial core.
Not far off, a hundred-meter clock tower stood under bright searchlights.
This was where the Green Goblin fought the second Amazing Spider-Man. This was where Gwen Stacy died.
There was no sound of battle yet, which meant Harry had not arrived.
There was still time.
Click. Click.
A faint rustling crept across the rooftop. A chill climbed Charlotte's back, like a predator's stare pinning him in place.
His unreliable spider-sense finally decided to work.
It had not twitched at all when Norman attacked him.
Thwip.
Charlotte yielded to instinct and swung up just as a monstrous shape lunged from the shadows and tore past beneath him.
Crash.
A green humanoid lizard smashed onto the rooftop. Raw power cratered the concrete and sent chips spraying.
Clinging to the side of a nearby building, Charlotte turned and saw the hulking, fanged reptile. The danger in the air made the hairs on his arms stand.
"The Lizard?" His brow furrowed.
"No. Not Curt Connors."
He pieced it together at once. In this world, Dr. Connors had already been defeated by Spider-Man.
He thought of another name on the roster. Peter Parker.
In one branch of the multiverse, Peter Parker was not Spider-Man. He was the villain known as the Lizard.
Across from him, the scale-plated creature straightened slowly. Madness burned in his eyes.
"Spider-Man?"
The lizard's voice was rough but human. The green scales across his face seemed to ripple. The mania in his eyes faded a little, replaced by something more complicated.
"Why is Spider-Man a man?" His razor nails rasped against each other. He was not calm at all.
Charlotte glanced up as the Green Goblin's silhouette knifed past the clouds, then tried to talk the reptile down.
"Hey. I am Charlotte. Charlotte Parker. The Spider-Man you know is not me. But I swear on my friendly neighborhood honor, I do not judge scales and claws. They are some of my favorite aesthetics. By the way, have you seen Godzilla? Big guy, goes 'raaah,' spits beams. You should pitch Sony or Legendary for a crossover."
The oddball in the mask would not shut up, but Lizard Parker's mind had already drifted to another Spider-Man.
A beautiful girl who loved her drum kit. She was Spider-Man, the idol everyone adored.
Everyone liked her.
He was no exception.
He dreamed that one day he could be her friend.
But he was a cripple, born without his right hand. He had no right to stand beside her.
Until the day he met Dr. Curt Connors, who had also lost an arm. Connors had developed a "Lizard Serum" that granted a reptile's regenerative ability. It could regrow a limb and gift inhuman strength.
To earn the right to be her friend, he took the risk and injected the serum.
He became a monster.
He would never forget the way she looked at him.
Shock. Pity. Fear. Disappointment.
He nearly went insane. This was not the ending he wanted, yet there was no turning back.
No. There was still one thing he could do.
At the end of his life, he chose to trade his death for her chance to live.
He died at the hands of Curt Connors, who had turned into a lizard monster as well.
It did not matter. She was safe.
He had proved with his life that he was worthy to be her friend.
She would live.
She had to, just like Gwen in this world.
With that thought, Lizard Parker's eyes hardened.
He looked back at Charlotte, who was still rambling, and a savage gleam flashed in his gaze.
"Gwen must live. But you, Charlotte Parker, are not the Spider-Man I believe in. You ruined everything I held beautiful about Spider-Man. I am going to tear you apart."
Boom.
His words barely faded when the rooftop shuddered. Cracks raced across the concrete. The lizard exploded forward like a cannon shot and cleared the gap between buildings in an instant.
"I will tear you apart!"
He was furious, but the fury sounded like a mask for the sickness and helplessness of becoming a monster.
Charlotte shut up at once. He had been ready for this.
As the lizard lunged, Charlotte leaped away and fired webs in rapid succession, angling toward the clock tower.
Inside the tower, Harry and Peter Parker had already begun to fight. What came next would decide the match.
Boom.
Fire roared past.
In midair, Charlotte crossed paths with Tony.
"Peter!"
Tony had just called out when Chitauri skiffs screamed in from behind, their blade-guns vomiting lines of searing light at both of them.
"Great."
Boom.
The sky bloomed with explosions. Tony swung a nanotech shield into place to absorb the blasts. Charlotte took a hit, spun out, and slammed across the roofline in a painful arc.
"Got you, impostor!"
The night shook with Lizard Parker's pounding charge. The raging monster scooped Charlotte up and vanished into the dark.