Marvel: Restart! Spiderman!

"They're coming! What do we do?" Mary Jane stepped back nervously.

Gwen clenched her fists, assuming a fighting stance.

"Go on without me. I'll hold them off," she said calmly.

"Are you sure?"

"I learned some fighting techniques from my dad."

But before she could act, Charlie shot forward like a bullet, using his web slingshot to launch himself straight at the men in black.

"What?"

Mary Jane and Gwen stared in shock as Charlie propelled himself into the shadowy figures. The wind howled, and soon a series of thuds echoed as the figures were flung into the walls by the impact.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

The once-quiet alleyway reverberated with the noise, metal arms glinting coldly in the dark as debris flew everywhere, like a relentless demolition machine.

Boom!

A torrent of rubble scattered from the alley onto the street, and a red-and-blue figure swung out, landing on a billboard.

"Hey, kids should be in bed by now, and so should you," he shouted at the crowd before a dozen enhanced soldiers burst from the alley, smashing streetlights and overturning cars as they charged towards Charlie.

"Ah! Run away!!"

"Spider-Man will save us..."

"Get a grip—that's not Spider-Man! The real Spider-Man wears the metal suit!"

"He's just a fake!"

Panicked screams filled the air as bystanders scattered, while Mary Jane and Gwen rushed to the scene.

Amid the chaos, Charlie swung between obstacles, narrowly avoiding the attacks of the enhanced soldiers, but always seeming a moment away from being overwhelmed.

Seeing this, Gwen suddenly remembered Charlie's earlier tactic.

Swish!

She shot webs with both hands, anchoring them to the ends of the alleyway, forming a makeshift slingshot.

"Grrr..."

Gwen backed up quickly, stretching the web strands.

Boom!!

A second later, she launched herself forward like a missile, crashing into the chest of one of the enhanced soldiers.

Bang!!

A nearby car shook violently from the impact as the enhanced soldier crumpled into its metal frame.

Beep beep beep~~

Car alarms blared as other soldiers turned their attention to Gwen, tearing off the car door and hurling it at her.

"Watch out!"

Mary Jane cried out, shooting a web to latch onto the soldier's metal arm.

"I saved you..."

Before she could finish, the soldier shook its arm, dragging Mary Jane towards it with overwhelming strength.

"Oh no, it's too strong! I can't hold on!" Mary Jane shouted.

Charlie flipped onto the car roof. "Just let go of the web."

"Oh, okay."

As soon as Mary Jane released her grip, the soldier stumbled for a moment, allowing Gwen to strike its head with a powerful punch, knocking it out cold.

"Their weak spot is the head!"

"Got it."

Mary Jane hurried to the alley's entrance, copying Charlie and Gwen's technique to create a web slingshot.

"Here I come!"

Whoosh~

The wind whistled as Mary Jane launched past Charlie.

"Wow, cool... kind of."

Bang!

A car rocked violently as Mary Jane crashed through its window, her legs flailing as she got stuck inside.

"Help!!" she screamed.

Charlie: "..."

He leapt down, shooting webs to intercept the incoming metal fists, and with a twist, ripped the metal arm clean off the soldier.

Tear!!

"Argh!"

Blood sprayed as the disarmed soldier groaned, but instead of screaming in agony, it exchanged a glance with its comrades, picked up the severed arm, and retreated.

Charlie didn't pursue. He knew these brainwashed soldiers wouldn't reveal anything.

Since the third resurrection trial, these Winter Soldier replicas were easy targets for him.

If Bucky were here, maybe he'd last a few more seconds against him.

But right now, he was playing the role of a fake Spider-Man, so he had to hold back and drag out the fight.

As he glanced at Gwen, he noted that while she moved skillfully and learned quickly, her strength was still under a ton, her web durability was limited, and she lacked spider-sense, making even two opponents a challenge.

Still, compared to the comical Mary Jane, she was doing pretty well.

With the enhanced soldiers retreating, Gwen leaned against the wall, panting heavily.

"Ha...huff..."

She looked up at Charlie, who seemed completely at ease, a hint of awe in her eyes.

"You're much stronger than us," she admitted.

Charlie shrugged. "Maybe the spider that bit me was just tougher."

Gwen said nothing more.

Before long, Mary Jane finally climbed out of the car wreck.

"Is it over?" She looked around at the wrecked scene, bewildered.

Charlie crossed his arms. "You're the most useless Spider-person I've ever seen."

"I'm just not used to it yet," Mary Jane huffed indignantly.

Before she could say more, a figure flashed overhead.

Thud!

An orange-clad Spider-person landed on a car roof. "Wow, you guys are amazing! Can I join your team?"

"Wait, are you the one who... uses that place to shoot webs?"

Looking at the chubby Spider-person, Charlie could feel the universe's disdain aimed right at him.

"My name is Ned. I just became Spider-Man!"

Ned had no shame whatsoever, even wiggling his backside proudly.

"I'm the most special one."

Charlie: "..."

Mary Jane: "..."

Gwen: "..."

The three exchanged puzzled looks, unsure of what to say.

"Why were they chasing you?" Charlie asked.

Ned shook his head. "I don't know. I was practicing shooting webs, and then they showed up and tried to capture me. It was terrifying." He shuddered.

Charlie rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

Why was HYDRA trying to capture these mutants? If they wanted, they could easily kidnap people secretly and use mutant spiders to build a mutant army. There was no need for this complicated process of releasing mutant spiders and then capturing the results one by one.

Such a baffling move.

"Can I join your trio?" Ned asked again.

Charlie shook his head without hesitation. "Sorry, a trio means three people only, right?" He turned to Mary Jane and Gwen.

They both nodded quickly.

"Yes, yes, a trio can't have a fourth member."

"Actually, we just met. We haven't even decided to team up yet."

Neither of them wanted to be friends with this embarrassing guy.

"Oh, that's a shame," Ned said, disappointed.

Soon, the sound of police sirens echoed from a nearby street, and Gwen shot out a web and swung away without hesitation.

She couldn't let her father find out about her changes.

"They're coming, we need to go now."

With that, Ned bent over, his stomach rising and falling.

Pfft!

A sound like a fart rang out as a web shot from an unexpected spot, latching onto a wall.

Charlie: "..."

Yup, definitely a butt-web.

Under their bemused stares, Ned pulled on the web and swung away, showing surprising strength.

Between buildings, Ned changed his stance with each web shot, performing awkward maneuvers yet still enjoying himself.

"Whoopee, I'm Spider-Man~"

Hearing Ned's joyful shouts, Charlie couldn't help but hold his head.

The Hidden Dragons of the Spider-Verse had already appeared, and now, all that was missing was the Phoenix.