Hello, friends! I'm BACK!

Chapter Nineteen

Numbers ran through Peter's mind in split seconds, and he knew, as he watched Carol crash down upon him like a meteor, that there was no way he would survive whatever attack she had in store for him.

In spite of himself, he somewhat welcomed it. Part of him said he'd been through enough, that it was all too much for any one person to handle. He could just let go, let it end; Carol would believe she'd gotten her justice, calm down, and survive.

But then Peter's blood would be on her hands. And even if the others managed to stop Octavius, or capture him, he would have that victory.

Carol would have to live with what she'd done. And Peter refused to let that happen.

Octavius would have no victories today.

As Carol was about to swing, Peter leapt behind the rising Thor, hoping the thunder god's resilience would be enough to protect him from her onslaught. Her fist collided with the Uru metal of Thor's hammer, sending another shockwave blasting through the domed room. Steel showered down around them. The power in Carol's voice melded with the boom, her scream burning through the air like winds whipping wildfire. She stared past Thor, beyond what remained of his cape, her eyes flaring like the corona of a star. What Peter saw of her face before having to cover his eyes was hatred, an absolute loathing he found difficult to put into words.

Thor pulled the hammer back and struck Carol in the stomach, shooting her across the room, and allowing himself a moment, however short, to catch a breath. He dropped to a knee, a palm resting on his thigh, the other on Mjolnir's handle.

"Sorry, big guy," Peter said.

The god of thunder looked back, and Peter could swear he'd never seen Thor so ragged. His cape was burned and torn, smoking black edges slowly pushing toward one another, soon to leave nothing but ethereal wisps of red cloth. Sweat matted his golden hair together, holding the thick strands against his forehead. He spat once, a mixture of liquids, both red and clear. But his eyes, as he saw the Spider-Man to his side, were kind. "I have no qualms against being your shield, my friend," he said, resting his massive palm on Peter's shoulder. "Though, perhaps some warning next time?"

That massive palm tightened, however, squeezing hard the muscle in Peter's neck, and a spark flew from the god's blue eyes. "Assuming, of course," he said, pushing against Peter's shoulder to rise, "that you are my friend."

Peter was about to respond when shards of metal exploded from the other side of the room. Carol stepped out of what remained of the debris, the red skin of her stomach made all the brighter by the torn blue fibers surrounding it. She craned her head to the side, popping the bones in her neck; the sound echoed through what remained of the room. The warriors stood opposite one another. Thor gripped Mjolnir's handle tight, a spark jolting down his arm and arcing over the hammer. Peter was on one knee behind the thunder god, the adrenaline draining from what felt like his eighth wind, the pain of his many injuries reminding him of how very much lucky he'd been up to this point.

Carol, for her part, remained still. Her eyes smoldered, white steam rolling out and around the curves of her cheekbones. Stars birthed in her palms; her only movement an imperceptible tremor as power coalesced between her fingers.

Thor called out, his voice booming. "Carol, I know not what evil has possessed you, but I cannot allow you to continue harming our friends." More sparks flew up and down his arms, singing the air around them. "I will end this."

There was silence for a breath. The only movement Peter's heightened senses could perceive was that of a drop of his own sweat on his nose, shaking in the minute space between his mask and his month's growth of beard. He held that breath in, sure that if he never let it go, she would calm. That her mind would clear, and all would right itself again.

Instead, he exhaled, and the world became fire. Carol leapt forward with a force that nearly broke the sound barrier on its own. The thunder god's heels dug into the steel beneath his feet, and he held Mjolnir back with both hands upon the handle. Lightning wrapped its way down the thunderer's arm, arcing from the hammer's head to the ground. As Carol approached, Thor swung upward with all his strength, in a blow that meant to do exactly as he'd promised.

But Carol turned, and the hammer merely grazed the flames streaming from her head. Her right fist slammed into Thor's stomach. Blood and spittle flew from the thunder god's mouth, Mjolnir clanging into the floor as it slipped from his grasp.

Peter had leapt upward, attempting to flip over their heads and avoid the photon blast he was certain she'd prepared for him.

Which was exactly what she expected.

Almost without looking, Carol's left hand reached straight up, the power she'd prepared glowing brighter as she loosened her control.

Already airborne… nothing to bounce off of… no web-shooters to pull me away… Instinct crossed Peter's arms in front of his face, despite his knowing that the blast would leave nothing behind.

I'm sorry, Carol… I tried.

He heard the power erupt from her, saw Thor as he was thrown across the room as she unleashed the same energy upon him… but nothing happened. Until, a split second later, she was struck in the back by her own photon blast and sent hurtling to the other side of the wreckage.

Peter landed hard on his damaged shoulder, a few feet from where he and Thor had been only seconds before. From this vantage point, he could see two spinning circles of sparks: one in the air, just over where Carol had been standing; the other a few yards away, hovering directly before the sweat-drenched and haggard Doctor Strange.

"That's thinking with portals, eh, Doc?" Peter said, pushing himself to his feet, only for his knees to wobble and collapse beneath him. An arm, sheathed in dented and cracked metal, caught him around the chest, holding him aloft.

"Whoa, there," Tony said. "Can't lose you, yet. We just found you." He pulled Peter up to a standing position. Peter noticed Tony's armor had been crushed around the left elbow, leaving him with only one movable arm. The arc reactor in his chest flickered, and his faceplate was shattered. "Now let's get you out of here, ok?"

Peter shrugged off Tony's other arm. "No," he replied. "I can't leave yet."

"Oh, for God's sake," Tony said. "Is this gonna be one of those 'I'm not leaving without her' things?" He pointed toward where Carol had landed. "She's ready to kill all of us, and I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure Thor just went down for the count. So can we avoid all this crap, take you home, rally the rest of the troops, and come back to deal with this problem?"

Somehow, even through his mask, Peter managed to lock eyes with Tony. "If we leave now, she dies."

Tony sighed. "Short version." He shook his head. "That blast was powerful, but I doubt we have time for the whole bio-pic."

"When Carol first obtained that… form," Peter said, "she called herself 'Binary,' remember? Because she was one part of a binary system. She had a bond with a white dwarf star."

Strange approached, clutching his arms to his torso, as though he felt ill. "She lost it reigniting our sun, if I recall."

Peter nodded. "Her body retained the ability to use that much power, but lost the star to draw power from."

Tony swore. "She's burning herself out, isn't she?"

"If we leave now," Peter said, "She will kill everyone that's left, and take herself with them. And Ock wins."

Strange rubbed his shaking fingers across his forehead, wiping away a sheen of sweat. "Do you have some sort of plan?" he asked.

"I do," Peter replied. "But I'm gonna need your help, Doc. And you, too, Tony. And, of course, if Thor isn't unconscious or dead, that'd be great. And I could really use-"

"These?" Tony reached into a small compartment in the left side of his suit and pulled out a pair of web-shooters. "I'm not stupid, Spidey. As many times as one of us has been kidnapped and had to fight our way out? I figured you'd probably need them."

Peter snapped the web shooters on, tested them. He'd nearly forgotten the weight, the subtleties of their pressure against his wrists. He'd missed them.

"Ok," he said, "I'm hoping that, if we remove whatever illusion Mysterio's gas is showing her, she'll power down." He pulled Tony and Strange in close. "So here's the plan…"

XXXXXX

The window cracked as Rhino slammed the side of his fist against it. "Do you see what your arrogance has brought us, Octavius?" he asked, his voice rough and fuming. "So sure you were of your plans. And we, foolish enough to trust you. Now our enemy has not only retrieved his weapons, but has been reunited with his comrades."

Octavius stared past the web threading its way through the tempered glass, his arms crossed before his chest. Beneath the mask, he smirked, craning his neck up toward the massive man beside him. "You give them too much credit, my friend," he said, gesturing toward the heroes. The cracks deepened as the room beyond the window shuddered. Octavius watched Carol rip free of the metal floor, her gloves burning away from her hands as she tore off the strips of fabric hanging from her arms and shoulders. His eyes followed as Peter leapt to the ceiling, web lines raining down.

"They are powerless," Octavius continued, "against the onslaught before them. And, should any somehow survive, they must face the combined might of the Superior Six!"

Rhino laughed. "Six? The Spider has already beaten one of us, and Mysterio hides amongst the wreckage as your corpse." He breathed in, heavy, then pushed it out through his nose. "Should the Avengers come for us, we will not have the strength—"

"Enough!" Octavius shouted. "I could defeat them on my own if I so chose! I merely deigned you gathered here worthy of participating in the fall of the Avengers, and our revenge against Spider-Man!"

Rhino turned his eyes back to the room beyond the window, as it became increasingly obscured by webs darting from wall, ceiling, and floor. "There will be no revenge today," he said. "Only regret."

XXXXXX

Peter leapt and twisted on another web line, like a gymnast on the bars, as Carol chased him through the strands he had spun throughout the room. She was fast, yes, but she couldn't turn on a dime like he could. The heat of her passage burned away his webs, but Peter was able to fire off more. Barely.

Repulsor blasts flew past from the floor on occasion, striking Carol and knocking her off course. Tony's words came back to Peter as he swung about the room:

"You realize this is insane, right? If she catches you, even for a second, you're a dead man."

Carol screamed, and fired a blast of her own at the ground. Tony dove out of the way, crashing into the sidewall as the beam melted the floor.

"I know what I'm doing… I think. Trust me, Tony."

Peter kept going, launching himself in various directions at random, waiting for his opportunity. With Tony out of action, he knew it was only a matter of moments. "Carol, I know you won't believe this, but—"

"No!" she shouted, a burst of energy lancing out in circles around her body. The heat seared Peter's back, and as he tried to grip another webline, he instead found himself grabbing nothing but air. He raised his wrist to fire another, but Carol caught his arm and slammed him into the sidewall. Her other hand gripped tight about his chin and pulled, ripping free the lower half of his mask. "You will not use his mouth, his voice, to speak to me like he would have, to say words he would have said! You will not!"

He could feel her fingers tightening around the edges of his jawline, her thumb pressing further and further into his cheekbone. They'd all been broken often enough for him to remember the sensation, and they were definitely on the brink. A final repulsor blast from Tony shifted Carol's position enough that Peter's sweat and struggle managed to wrest his mouth free of her grip.

Peter breathed in a rasp, and spoke what would be, he was certain, his last words.

"I love you, Lady."

Carol's whole body froze. Her fingers loosened around Peter's face, and he saw the bright and smoke fade from her eyes, replaced again by the blue he'd missed for so long. The blue he'd nearly died for, that he was willing to die for now. Those blue eyes stared at him, steam rising from her cheeks where the tears fell on her skin. Her other hand rose, and she cupped both sides of his face, desperate. She bowed her chin into her chest, weeping, and for a brief moment Peter believed he may have gotten through her fury.

Until he felt the heat and pressure on either side of his head, and Carol's eyes lifted to show him the heart of the sun. He screamed, then, a sound drowned out by his own blood rushing through his body.

It was then that another ring of sparks appeared behind her, and Dr. Strange launched himself through, his glowing green hands clasping Carol's burning temples. The sorcerer spoke words, but Peter did not hear them. His vision tunneled, and he felt his consciousness slipping backwards, pulling away from himself.

Power exploded, its force throwing Strange into the wall; Peter's hands, of their own volition, fired webs into the ceiling, leaving him twisting, a wind chime in a hurricane.

As his vision reformed, however, Peter saw Carol falling to the ground, though slower than gravity would demand. She alighted next to the Spider-Man corpse, her body heaving and covered in sweat; her hands fell motionless in her lap, and she stared around the room before her eyes stopped on Peter, following him as he lowered himself to the floor. Their glow faded as he approached; the fire died atop her head, and the red drained from her skin, leaving her almost pale. "I saw… I thought you…"

He dropped to a knee before her, breathing thick and tired. "I'm okay, Carol. It's me."

Her eyes grew fierce again, and she swallowed. "Can you prove it to me?"

Peter turned to the body behind him. "I can't prove I'm me," he said, "But I can certainly prove that this Spider-Man isn't."

The corpse snapped a hand upward, but Peter caught it before the imposter could extend his fingers. "Hello, Quentin," he said, his voice carrying over the popping and cracking of bone. He lifted the body to its feet, palmed the damaged face underneath the scorched mask, and pulled. Technology and makeup tore away, stuck to Peter's hand, and the man beneath screamed. "I don't know that you've been formally introduced," he said, tossing the body to the ground near Carol. "Mysterio, this is Captain Marvel. She'd like to have a word with you."

"Hi." Carol knocked him out before he had a chance to move, but even that small effort dropped her to the floor. Or it would have, if Peter hadn't caught her. "I think I may have overdone it a bit," she said.

"Nah," he said. "How many times have we nearly died for each other at this point? This is a drop in a really, really big pond."

Carol smiled, a short breath escaping her nose. "Did you mean it?" she asked.

Peter buried his bearded chin into her golden hair.

"Always."

XXXXXX

Octavius clenched his fists, his whole body trembling.

"You see?" Electro shouted, energy and searing heat crackling about the room. "All this bull$#&% just to service your stupid ego! We're screwed!"

"They're weakened! Damaged! All we need to do is—"

"No!" Electro stormed toward the exit, the ferocity of the lightning swarming around him blinding the other men in the room. "You arrogant #$%&! Your stupid plan is gonna get us all caught, or killed, and I'm not sticking around for it! That crazy bitch already drained my power once, and I—"

The door opened as he approached it, and Electro slammed headfirst…

Into Captain America's shield.

Steve lunged forward, hitting Electro in the stomach and throwing him back toward the rest of the villains. Octavius turned to face him while Sandman helped Electro to his feet. "Impossible!" Octavius said, "The Avengers cannot be here! I calculated everything perfectly, there's no way a Quinjet could had flown here so quickly from the other side of the country!"

"Oh, they're on their way," Steve said.

"Then how?"

"I called in a favor from a friend," Steve replied. The water from the pool leading down to the river began to rumble and shudder, the foam boiling over. "A very old friend."

And Namor, the Sub-Mariner, burst from the water, his piercing eyes fixed on the form of the Superior Spider-Man. "Imperius Rex!" he shouted. "Octopus."