"A bet?" Gwen blinked, caught off guard. "What are we betting on?"
"On them!"
Peter pointed a finger toward the three unconscious men on the rooftop and the Rhino, who had already passed out from the sheer agony of his injuries.
"I bet that the laws you believe in won't make them turn over a new leaf. I bet that except for the big guy over there, the other three will be broken out or escape prison within three months."
"And then," Peter continued, his voice cold, "they will return to their criminal careers, more vicious than before."
"To prove this to you, I won't kill them today. In fact, I'll even use my power to clear the mental instability caused by their 'enhancements.'"
Peter turned back to Gwen, locking eyes with her as he spoke each word with deliberate weight:
"If I lose, I'll follow your lead. I won't kill anyone. I'll leave every criminal to the courts and the system."
"But," he added, a sharp glint in his eye, "if I win, you can never stop me from killing whoever I deem necessary again. Furthermore... you have to unconditionally grant me one request."
After hearing the terms, Gwen nodded without a second thought. "Deal! I'll take that bet!"
In her mind, her odds were fantastic. She truly believed these men were mostly victims of their own equipment and the madness brought on by sudden power.
Once stripped of that power and faced with the weight of the law, they would surely realize the error of their ways.
"Excellent."
Seeing Gwen take the bait, Peter gave a satisfied nod. Some lessons can't be taught with words; you have to let reality do the talking.
He believed that when Gwen eventually saw these names back in the headlines for murder or robbery, she wouldn't need him to explain anything. She would change on her own.
With that settled, Peter stopped his hands from reaching for the Scorpion's neck. Instead, he reached down and unmasked the Slayer twins, the Scorpion, and the Rhino.
"Look at their faces," Peter said. "I promise you, it won't be long before you see them in the news again."
Then, he began "stripping" the merchandise.
[Detected Deep Green Sacrificable Item: Vulture's High-Tech Wings... Sacrificed!]
[Detected Deep Green Sacrificable Item: Scorpion's Multi-functional Suit... Sacrificed!]
[Detected Deep Green Sacrificable Item: Rhino's Polymer Suit... Sacrificed!]
[Detected Green Sacrificable Item: Spider-Slayer Exoskeleton Armor... Sacrificed!]
Hmm? Peter glanced at the Slayer brothers. So these were the "Spider-Slayers" that J. Jonah Jameson commissioned in other universes. Interesting.
He glanced at his system panel. +2,800 Sacrifice Points. A very handsome haul. He couldn't help but think that if the Sinister Six kept getting replaced by new members every few months, they'd be a fantastic source of recurring income.
After the sacrifice, he used the Horse Talisman to cleanse the residual chemical rage and radiation-induced mania from the four survivors.
Moments later, the villains groaned and stirred. When they saw Peter standing over them and realized their high-tech suits had vanished into thin air, they were terrified. They scrambled backward, huddling together like frightened children.
Seeing their cowering state, Gwen assumed they were feeling genuine remorse. She stepped forward, her voice stern:
"If you go downstairs right now, surrender to the NYPD, and promise never to commit another crime, we'll spare your lives."
The four men, having just looked death in the eye, didn't hesitate. They nodded frantically, swearing by every god they knew that they would reform and become model citizens.
Watching them scramble toward the exit, Gwen turned to Peter with a triumphant grin.
"Hmph~ start practicing your 'I lost' face, Peter!"
Peter just shook his head helplessly. Well, I'm the one who picked this naive girlfriend... I'll just have to deal with it.
"Alright, now that the mess here is handled, it's time to head back."
Peter naturally reached out his hand to Gwen. "Miss Ghost-Spider, may I offer you a lift?"
Gwen tilted her head and smiled, finding this side of Peter far more charming than the executioner. "Since someone is so eager to walk me home, I suppose I can give him a chance to show off!"
The two hopped onto the glider, laughing and chatting as they faded into the night sky.
Tony Stark, flying down while carrying Obadiah's corpse, looked at the wreckage of his rooftop and then at the retreating silhouettes of the two spiders. He felt incredibly grumpy.
Dammit, I can't stand this! You two go off on a date and leave me with the literal bodies and the cleanup?
He paused. Wait... they did come here to help me for free. Okay, never mind.
He looked down at Obadiah's body with a scowl. "All your fault, you old bastard."
While Tony was busy explaining the situation to the NYPD, the military, and SHIELD, Peter didn't go home to sleep. Instead, he made a beeline for Hell's Kitchen.
He hadn't forgotten the mastermind behind the Sinister Six. If someone was brave enough to set a trap for the Arbiter, they had to be prepared for the Arbiter to come knocking.
CRASH!
The glider smashed through the top-floor window of the Fisk Tower without slowing down.
Inside the penthouse office, Wilson Fisk—the Kingpin—was pacing anxiously, waiting for news from Bullseye.
When the glider shattered the massive floor-to-ceiling window, the impact sent shards of glass everywhere. Fisk's massive frame was caught in the periphery, staggering slightly from the force of the glider's entry.
Peter's eyes flickered. The glider had been moving at nearly 200 km/h. To hit a man and only make him "stagger" was absurd.
Fisk's physical durability is truly ridiculous, Peter thought. He's the absolute ceiling of human potential without any "super-soldier" tech.
If this guy ever got hit by Bruce Banner's gamma rays, he'd probably go toe-to-toe with Thanos.
Fisk quickly recovered from the shock. Seeing the iconic black-and-red suit of the Arbiter, his face contorted. He cursed Bullseye for a useless failure in his mind while simultaneously clicking a hidden mechanism on his cane.
A thick cloud of obscuring smoke sprayed toward Peter.
Using the smoke as cover, Kingpin lunged forward. He swung a fist the size of a ham hock with terrifying speed and power.
"Die, Arbiter!"
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed. Claim early access on Patreon: Patreon.com/kazama677
🔓 You hold the keys to bonus chapters:💬 10 reviews ignite 1 bonus chapter🔷 60 Power Stones summon another
🔥 Your power determines how fast the tale unfolds.