"Peter?" Basel looked at Peter Parker, who was wearing a mask patterned with spiderwebs.
"Basel, listen to me. What you're doing right now is not right," Peter spoke first, attempting to reason with him.
Basel, however, cut him off coldly: "What I do is none of your business. I don't want to lay a hand on you, so don't meddle in things that don't concern you."
Peter shook his head. "I can't just watch you make an irreversible mistake."
"If you want to stop me, let's see if you have the skills to back it up," Basel said impatiently. He swung his leg, aiming a kick directly at the Big Horn Gang leader, who was slumped on the ground.
With an acrobatic flip, Peter leaped forward and hoisted the gang leader up, narrowly avoiding Basel's heavy-handed kick.
"This guy is a piece of scum who's committed every crime imaginable! He deserves to die! Why are you saving him?" Basel questioned, his voice thick with rage and frustration. He swung the iron hammer in his hand, slowly closing in on Peter.
Peter set the leader down and watched the approaching Basel warily. "I'm not trying to save him; I'm trying to save you."
Basel burst into laughter at those words. "Is this a joke? Can't you see who the weakling cowering on the floor is right now?"
"Haven't you noticed? That Gaia Memory might already be affecting your mind," Peter urged earnestly. "If you kill someone today, you'll sink deeper and deeper. Eventually, you might lose your mind entirely. Take my advice—give up the Gaia Memory before it's too late."
Hearing Peter tell him to give up the power once again, Basel suddenly flew into a rage. "Shut up!"
He hurled the iron hammer directly at Peter.
Peter nimbly dodged the hammer with a side-step and seized the chain connecting the weapon. Basel exerted his strength to pull the hammer back, but he discovered that Peter's strength was equally immense; for a moment, he couldn't reclaim it.
"How do you have such incredible strength? You're clearly not using a Gaia Memory!" Basel was in disbelief. Ever since obtaining the Violence Memory, he felt his strength had increased exponentially. Especially after transforming into a Dopant, he felt as if there was nothing in the world he couldn't lift.
This was the first time he had encountered an opponent who could hold their own against him in a contest of pure power.
"Impossible! I am the strongest!" Basel roared, unable to accept it. The muscles in both his arms suddenly surged in volume, and his wrist strength intensified. With a violent jerk, he sent Peter—who was still gripping the chain—flying.
Peter hadn't expected Basel's strength to spike again so suddenly. Caught off guard, he was flung through the air and slammed into the wall, leaving a massive crater in the masonry.
"I don't know how you got that strength, but with this Gaia Memory, I am the strongest. No one can stop me from doing what I want!" Basel said triumphantly, looking at the groaning Peter.
Peter stood up and stretched, feeling slightly lucky he hadn't been hit directly by the hammer. Basel's sudden surge in power was terrifying. Even with Peter's mutated physiology, he was at a complete disadvantage in terms of raw power. If that hammer had landed squarely, he likely would have ended up with a few broken bones.
"Save me!" the Big Horn Gang leader cried out in a panic as Basel turned his gaze back toward him.
Peter naturally had no love for gang members, but he still couldn't let Basel commit murder. He had a gut feeling that if Basel used the power of the Gaia Memory to take a life, he would drift further and further down a dark path until he became a monster with no regard for life.
Adjusting his breathing, Peter triggered the web-shooters on his wrists, firing a barrage of webbing to bind Basel.
"Damn it! Why do you insist on opposing me?!" Basel tore away the high-strength webbing sticking to his hands and threw the hammer at Peter without mercy.
Peter leaped up, crawling onto the ceiling to evade the attack.
"That was dangerous. You really aren't showing any mercy," Peter said, sounding a bit shaken as he looked at the bar counter that had been completely pulverized by the hammer.
"If you're scared, get lost and stay out of my way," Basel growled.
"I can't do that. I can't just watch a good kid go bad," Peter replied, his tone turning slightly flippant. Perhaps it was his nature, or perhaps it was a way to calm his nerves in a tense situation.
"Bastard, are you looking down on me?!" Basel was furious. He swung his arm to strike Peter.
However, while Basel was powerful, his mind was clouded by rage, making his attacks uncoordinated. Against a normal opponent, he could win through sheer suppression, but against Peter and his Spider-Sense, almost every attack missed. No matter how much power you have, it's useless if you can't hit your target.
Furthermore, while Peter's strength was inferior to Basel's, the gap wasn't insurmountable.
Peter circled Basel, using his agility and reflexes to dodge every strike while simultaneously wrapping Basel in webbing—much like a spider binding its prey.
Looking at Basel, who was now wrapped up like a cocoon, Peter spoke: "Finally, I've got you to quiet down. Now, how do I get that Gaia Memory out?"
"Curse you!" Basel writhed, trying to break free, but he found he couldn't exert his strength. Aside from the webbing's toughness, it was the way he was bound. As a top student, Peter knew Basel was strong, so he had wrapped him specifically to restrict his joints and leverage points.
"Can you calm down a bit now?" Peter asked, breathing a sigh of relief as he saw Basel seemingly trapped.
Basel caught sight of the gang leader creeping toward the back door, trying to sneak away. "You think this can hold me?"
Suddenly, Peter's Spider-Sense screamed a warning. He leaped backward, flipping several times to distance himself.
Basel's body began to shift, transforming his entire form into a massive sphere, with only the arm connected to the hammer protruding. In this new form, he easily tore through the webbing.
Using the protruding arm to pivot, the massive sphere lunged with the force of a thousand tons toward the escaping gang leader.
"Oh no!" Peter rushed forward, trying to push the sphere off course. If that massive ball hit the leader, he would be crushed into a pulp. But in a direct contest of strength, Peter couldn't match Basel in this state and couldn't bring him to a halt.
Suddenly, a Black man leaped out, joining Peter to help shove the Violence Dopant's spherical form aside.
The newcomer was Luke Cage. Although Jessica and Danny Rand hadn't arrived yet, Luke—who had been waiting at the street corner—saw the bar patrons fleeing as if they were running from a monster. He knew something was wrong. After questioning a bystander, he confirmed a monster had appeared.
The commotion was loud enough that Jessica and Danny would likely find the place on their own. Unable to wait any longer, he headed straight into the bar.