[You have been eliminated. Resurrection ticket not obtained. Reward: Strength +0.1 ton.][You have 9 restart attempts remaining. Restart?]
Suspended once more on the vast cosmic web, Charlotte exhaled and tapped [Restart].
Restarting the Resurrection Match was his true cheat.
Each restart gave a small bonus. Small gains add up. One day he would catch up to the other Spider-Men.
A strange power flooded his body. Bones crackled. Breath flowed easier. His muscle density ticked upward.
He had barely one ton of strength before. Another 0.1 ton meant little to most Spider-Men, but for him, a ten percent boost was nothing to sneeze at.
More strength meant every physical stat rose passively. That reassured him. No risk of one stat spiking so fast that his body lost balance and collapsed.
If he won this round, the +10 tons would be enough to shake off the Green Goblin's threat.
From the last attempt he had learned that the participant named Peter Parker was the Lizard. The creature's power was terrifying, easily over twenty tons, and his durability was monstrous.
His speed was a touch slower, but if Charlotte's spider-sense failed to trigger in time, there would be no dodging those blows.
The Chitauri, meanwhile, hit hard. Charlotte could scrape by against one or two, but not against ten.
And Tony…
"Iron Man with a nanotech suit. Is this Tony from the Infinity War era?" Charlotte frowned.
That would be a problem.
With that firepower, Iron Man was the favorite for MVP of the match.
If this were the Endgame version after the Snap, even Thanos would be getting a serious wake-up call.
Charlotte's win rate would be near zero.
By the time Tony cleared this match, we might as well be at Avengers 6.
He would have to keep testing.
The thought barely formed before the void swallowed him and dropped him into the New York of The Amazing Spider-Man.
[Scenario: The Amazing Spider-Man Universe][Mission: Reach the clock tower and save the falling Gwen Stacy.]
Second match. Same system prompt.
Charlotte touched down on the glass facade of a high-rise. Since the match had not started, he could not move from the spawn point.
Thinking back to the previous run, he guessed Tony and the Chitauri were farther from the clock tower, despite being faster flyers.
Lizard Parker was slower on foot, yet he and Charlotte reached the tower almost simultaneously. That meant his spawn point was the closest of all.
They all arrived nearly together. So it was not random.
Thirty seconds later, the countdown ended.
Charlotte vaulted from the high-rise. Wind howled past. He snapped his wrists and swung, dropping into a shadowed alley below.
This time he would not rush in first.
He had barely landed when a half-dressed couple cowering behind a trash bin spotted him and started shouting at the silhouetted figure in the dark.
"Hey, you creep. Stop watching us."
"Get lost or I will break your little toy."
Charlotte stared.
Seriously? We are doing this now?
A beat later, streaks of fire thundered overhead.
In the alley, Charlotte glanced at the still-cursing couple and flicked a web that yanked their trash bin away.
"You jerk, what are you doing?"
"You filthy perv, I am going to flush your eyes down the drain."
Thwip.
Another web-line snapped. Their scattered clothes vanished.
With an easy whistle, Charlotte bundled the clothes in sticky silk and hung the parcel ten meters up on an outer wall.
"Bye now, you two shy little lovebirds. Masks on next time."
He vaulted the wall and swung away.
He raced toward the clock tower, eyes tracking the flashes ahead.
In the sky, Chitauri soldiers peppered Tony with energy bolts. He slipped through them as if they were nothing.
Trailing them, Charlotte quickly fell behind.
"Oh, Spider-Man!"
"Wait, Spider-Man is still at the power plant."
Amid the crowd's cries, Charlotte eased onto the rooftop of a residential building near the clock tower.
The tower was already a war zone.
"Peter, we are best friends. Even so, you would not spare me a single drop of blood."
On the rooftop, Harry Osborn, twisted into something monstrous, sneered at Peter Parker. He hurled Gwen straight off the roof.
"No."
Peter plunged after her without a second's hesitation.
Web-lines snapped out. Gwen's falling body caught in the silk.
Boom.
Before Peter could pull her in, a pumpkin bomb detonated. Heat roared like a living thing. The webbing liquefied under the blast and Gwen dropped again with the hot wind.
"Despair, Peter." Harry laughed.
"No."
Peter's eyes went wide. He tried to break through the fireball, but Harry cut him off. He could not reach her in time.
A green reptilian shape skittered up the tower and leaped toward the falling girl.
"Professor Connors?" Peter gasped.
Professor Connors had already been…
Just before Lizard Parker could catch Gwen, a blaze tore across the night. A salvo hammered him out of the air and smashed him through the tower wall.
Crash.
The clock tower erupted. A hail of tiny gears spun through the air. Gwen fell past the hole, vanishing from the Lizard's sightline.
"No."
Tony streaked in, nanotech drones fanning behind him like silver wings. They dove, and in the blink of an eye one braced under Gwen, lifting her from freefall.
"Was that a lizard?" Tony blinked.
"Searching now, sir. Lizards are reptiles belonging to the suborder Lacertilia within the order Squamata…"
"Friday, you are being funny again."
"Thank you."
Seeing the red-gold comet drop toward the tower, Harry snarled and flung a bouquet of pumpkin bombs.
"You weirdos cannot save her."
"Do not," Peter shouted.
He snatched two bombs with a pair of web-lines, but that was all he could manage.
Boom boom boom.
The clock tower bucked with multiple blasts. A tidal wave of heat hurled Peter away. The massive clock face tilted and fell toward Tony.
"What a headache."
"JARVIS. No. Friday."
"On it, sir."
Nanometal rippled across his shoulder. Micro-missiles streaked out and hammered the falling clock.
Boom.
Shards rained down. Tony started to raise an arm to shield Gwen from a curtain of razor glass, but the Chitauri dove again. Energy blades carved the air. He had to juke and counter, unleashing a storm of fire.
Cleaning up mooks was not hard for him.
Gwen did not have that kind of time.
Bang.
A thunderous crash shook the tower. Lizard Parker punched a hole through the wall and hurled himself out again.
This time he caught Gwen.
He smiled.
"I will not let you die."
In his arms, Gwen stared up at the snarling monster. Fear rippled through her, but she still saw the sorrow flicker in his eyes.
It was a strange look, almost like…
Thud.
The floor beneath them gave way. The impact carved a spiderweb crater. In the center, blood ran from Gwen's nose and ears. The Lizard's body had not bled off enough of the momentum.
"No."
He stared at the girl convulsing and coughing blood. Lizard Parker threw his head back and howled, clutching at his skull.
On a balcony of the tower, a moment too late, Charlotte stood in silence.
Great. Everyone rushed to save her, and she died even harder.
Forget it. Restart.