Restart, Spider-Man!

Late Night - Inside a Ransacked Bar

"Cheers!"

Face flushed from too many rounds, Aleksei raised his glass and downed the whiskey in one go, only to let out a loud, drunken hiccup.

"Hic!"

Bottles clattered around him, rolling across the floor as he blinked blearily up at the red-and-blue blur in front of him.

"You… bug…" he mumbled, trying to keep his gaze focused. "Don't think I've forgiven you… Cap told me… I'll be called back soon... Next time I see you… I'll crush you for sure…"

As Aleksei's head wobbled, Xia Luo silently refilled his glass with another round of whiskey—no ice.

"Of course, next time you'll absolutely crush me," Xia Luo agreed smoothly, offering the glass. "But for now, here's another round."

Aleksei reached for it, but just as he was about to down it, a thought occurred to him.

"Strange… hic!... you seem fine… you don't look drunk at all… hic!"

Xia Luo stirred his drink with a straw. "That's because I'm drinking juice."

Aleksei's eyes widened. "You… cheating little bug... hic!"

He attempted to stand, but in the next moment, he toppled back over onto the floor.

Xia Luo shrugged. "Not my fault you didn't ask."

He tapped his earpiece. "Hey, Captain, how's it going on your end?"

On the other side of the comms, Carter's amused voice answered, "Nick Fury left the mess for me to handle—including Aleksei and the Thunder Agents program."

"Perfect. Send someone to pick up big guy here—he's wasted."

"He's drunk?"

"Yeah, couldn't catch me, so I treated him to some drinks, and he accepted."

"And you?"

"Oh, I just had a couple of glasses of juice."

"Of course. Alright, I'll have someone swing by for him. Thanks for the help tonight."

"Anytime. Oh, did Fury make you agree to anything extra?"

"Absolutely. I'm now responsible for the entire street's damages."

"Wow, guess old Fury really is broke."

"No doubt about it. Anyway, get going. My team should be there any minute."

"Alright, and don't forget to send my 'operating expenses' to my account."

"Understood."

Hanging up, Carter met up with Nick Fury, and the two officially signed the Thunder Agents transfer agreement.

As she beamed, her eyes glinting with satisfaction, Nick Fury couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. Just wait till you're neck-deep in this mess, Carter. Then there'll be an even bigger mess waiting for you.

Carter caught Fury's smirk, fully aware of his plan. Oh, just you wait. You'll soon see how a real leader handles this 'mess' of agents, she thought.

Minutes later, Fury's agents arrived with a transport truck to pick up Aleksei.

Upon seeing Aleksei slumped and inebriated, Fury's expression darkened further.

"Captain Carter, in the future, keep your agents in line. If something like this happens again, I'll be filing a formal report."

Carter just smirked. "Of course. I'll take full responsibility if anything happens."

She stepped up to the truck's cargo hold, tapping her shield against the metal frame.

"Aleksei, stand at attention!"

"Yessir!!"

Bleary-eyed but hearing her voice, Aleksei immediately straightened up, saluting as his head rammed through the ceiling of the truck.

"Thunder Agent Aleksei reporting for duty!"

Despite his drunken state, his voice rang out with an unyielding resolve, catching the agents off-guard.

After all, this guy had never exactly been "by the book."

Fury's face went from dark to downright stormy.

This guy…

Meanwhile, from a nearby rooftop, Xia Luo observed the entire scene and stifled a laugh.

"With that performance, maybe they'll give him extra rations."

With a flick of his wrist, he shot a web and swung away, disappearing into the night.

---

Empire State University

"Hey, Xia Luo, how's it going?"

Downstairs, Felicia waved at Xia Luo, her makeup light and fresh.

Xia Luo sighed, rolling his eyes as he saw her showing up to class. "Yeah, it has been a while, Felicia."

Parking his motorcycle and removing his helmet, Xia Luo entered the building, Felicia following close behind.

"People don't seem to be talking about your last… incident anymore," she teased. "Guess you can hold your head up again, huh?"

Xia Luo scoffed. "That's a good thing."

"Of course it is."

She quickened her pace, catching up. "By the way, Adrian's flight suit is almost fixed."

"Really?"

Xia Luo glanced at the nearby students before veering off toward the lake in the campus park.

Sitting down on a bench by the lake, Felicia pulled out her phone and opened up a surveillance feed.

Xia Luo leaned in, seeing Adrian on screen, his face alight with excitement as he tried on the freshly repaired flight suit.

"Looks like he's got his speed back to normal."

Watching Adrian hover slightly above the ground, flapping his newly restored wings, Xia Luo's gaze grew thoughtful.

"He's probably desperate to get his hands on the Time Monolith now."

Felicia smirked. "Well, I'm all set."

On the feed, a maid in Adrian's castle carried the Time Monolith into his lab. Adrian practically pounced on it, his face lighting up.

Just as he was about to start, his expression shifted to hesitation, scanning the lab with a suspicious, almost nervous look.

Clearly, he didn't want Felicia to find out his secret. But he had no choice.

Boom!

Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside the lab. Peering through the door, Adrian spotted several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents flooding in.

"Damn it! This is no coincidence," Adrian muttered, teeth clenched as he glared at the Time Monolith. He knew it had to be a trap, but time was running out. Even if it was a trap, he had no choice—anything to avoid a lifetime in prison.

So, with a tense flick of his green wings, he encased the Time Monolith in a radiant green glow.

"Huh?"

Xia Luo frowned. "He can activate the Time Monolith without any external device?"

"Not exactly—check his spine," Felicia pointed out.

Looking closer, Xia Luo noticed a faint golden glow emanating from Adrian's spine, right where his wings attached.

"His spine?" Xia Luo mused. Could it be HYDRA?

No… This was external tech; it had nothing to do with HYDRA's implants.

"He's almost succeeded."

Felicia's smile grew as she tapped her phone screen, and one of Adrian's wings suddenly sparked, failing in mid-air.

"What?!"

With one wing damaged, Adrian was trapped.

Boom!

Seconds later, the agents stormed into the lab, taking Adrian into custody—and the Time Monolith with him.

"It's over."

Felicia let out a relieved sigh, glancing over at Xia Luo.

"Every piece of material he used to fix that suit came from me," she said, a little smug. "If he hadn't been so paranoid and eager to finish it, or if S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't shown up just then, we never would've pulled this off."

Xia Luo shrugged. "If it were me, I'd choose prison. You know villains get plenty of chances to break out in this world."

Felicia raised an eyebrow. "Not sure what you're talking about," she said, then rose to her feet, visibly relaxed. "Either way, now we know what we need to. Adrian's flight suit holds the key. It's time to finally heal my father."

Xia Luo looked back at the main building. "I'll go with you."

He grabbed his helmet and headed back toward his motorcycle. "Need a ride?"

She jingled her car keys. "Nah, I brought my own."

Xia Luo paused, then dropped his helmet. "Actually… how about I ride with you?"

"No problem."

Moments later, Felicia's red sports car zoomed out of campus.

At the curb, Gwen happened to catch sight of Xia Luo in the car beside her.

Frowning, she muttered, "Figures he'd be into someone with money… Guess that's why he's never been interested in Mary Jane."

---

Xia Luo followed Felicia into the vast, elegant castle, where priceless antiques lined the halls, displayed openly as mere decorations.

"Not worried about these getting stolen?" he asked, glancing around.

Felicia didn't look back. "Don't forget, I'm the Black Cat, and my father was the master thief, Phantom Cat. No one can take anything from under our noses…"

Before she could finish, Xia Luo casually took a medieval sword off a wooden rack. "Well, looks like I just did," he said, grinning.

Felicia rolled her eyes. "Childish. And annoying."

Before long, they reached the underground lab.

"You're here," Carter and Professor Connors greeted them, already waiting.

"Carter, I swear you're everywhere these days. Don't you have, like, a job?" Xia Luo teased.

She shot him a look. "Yeah, well, we're on the same team, aren't we?"

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Fair point."

His gaze drifted to the green suit on the lab table—the disassembled Vulture suit, taken off Adrian. Among the scattered pieces, the most notable was a pale golden vertebrae that seemed almost fossilized.

"Looks like HYDRA's Black Spine," he remarked.

Carter shook her head. "Not quite—it's more like a fossil."

"Right." Professor Connors adjusted his glasses. "Though I'm no paleontologist, I can confirm it's fossilized. I've examined Adrian's suit before, but he concealed this part well. I thought it was simply a structural piece for his wings. It wasn't until I saw him activate the Time Monolith that I realized this was something extraordinary."

Connors slipped on a pair of gloves, placing the spine piece onto the Time Monolith.

Buzz

Instantly, a faint glow emanated from the golden spine, and the Time Monolith radiated a soft, mysterious energy. Within half a minute, the glow faded from the monolith, but the spine retained a faint luminescence. Professor Connors reached for it cautiously.

Whoosh!

In a blur, Connors hand zipped across the lab, cleaning the entire table at lightning speed.

"Uh… What just happened?" Carter blinked.

Xia Luo tilted his head thoughtfully. "Professor's hand speed just went off the charts."

Felicia frowned. "It's like the acceleration effect Adrian had—but how does this help us heal my father?"

Connors exhaled. "This spine accelerated my hand movements, almost like time sped up for them, but it didn't affect my thoughts."

"Adrian placed it between his wings," Xia Luo mused, "which must be how he achieved that insane speed."

"What if someone wore it on their head?" Carter wondered.

"That'd be dangerous," Connors warned. "Overclocking the mind would kill brain cells at an alarming rate. Even Spider-Man couldn't withstand that."

Xia Luo chuckled, then tied the spine around his right leg.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind stirred the room as his leg lashed out in hundreds of rapid kicks in mere seconds, causing the lab's equipment to rattle.

He unwrapped it, massaging his leg with a smirk. "Interesting."

"Well?" Carter asked, intrigued.

"Not bad. You should give it a shot."

"Gladly."

Carter wrapped the spine around her arm, and in a flash, tiny components of the Vulture suit stacked up in the shape of a "K" with her accelerated hand movements.

"Nice hand speed," Xia Luo grinned. "I approve."

"If someone wore it around their waist…"

He snickered at the thought. "Nope. Way too evil. Nobody would survive that."

After each of them took a turn testing the spine, the four of them fell into silence.

"So how is this supposed to heal Walter?" Carter asked, frowning.

Xia Luo wrapped the spine in a cloth. "Let's go check on him."

"Agreed."

In the Castle's Infirmary

Walter lay unconscious on the bed, looking frail and aged.

"His waking hours are getting shorter," Felicia said, concerned. She gently placed the spine into her father's hand.

Buzz

The moment he touched it, Walter's body jolted, releasing a massive wave of energy.

"Watch out!"

Xia Luo pulled Carter and Connors back, while Felicia grimaced, her face contorted under the force of the energy surge.

"Agh!" She collapsed to the floor, weakened.

Walter, however, opened his eyes, his aged face fading to a much younger version of himself.

"It's… I'm… restored!" he cried with joy.

Felicia, meanwhile, let out a pained scream, her voice strained and raspy.

"No! My face…"

"Felicia!" Walter tried to get up to comfort her, but she pushed him away.

"No! Don't look at me… Please!" she sobbed, covering her face.

Xia Luo and the others exchanged glances.

"She sacrificed herself to save her father," Connors said, visibly moved. "A truly devoted daughter."

Xia Luo gave Carter a mischievous grin. "If this happened to you, Carter, I'd probably get your inheritance pretty soon."

Carter shot him a deadpan look. "…You'd have a better option than waiting for my inheritance."

"What's that?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Marry Felicia as she is now. Inheriting her fortune would be a breeze."

Xia Luo was speechless.

---

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