Miraculous Spider-Man: Future Imperfect

by THEEVILDOER

A brand new story, based on the Marvelous Universe, but set in the future. By the way, this is not the sequel I planned for Miraculous Spider-Man, it's yet another AU.

5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.- Alcoholism.

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Welcome for the fifth time to the Future Imperfect.

On this occasion we will see life from the already broken home of the Osborns, Stan, Harry and Liz, focusing on the shaky relationship of father and son, seeing how Harry's poor decisions in terms of avoiding being like his own father didn't have the expected effect.

As usual, expect foul language and sensitive topics, as well as mentions of violence and other adult topics.

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(STANLEY OSBORN)

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One day after Ryuko's betrayal, things had been pretty uneasy with Avengers going back and forth between Earth and the Beholder, whether to know more about Marinette and Micah's situation, or to give Adrien and Tomoko a word of support.

As for the New Avengers, the young heroes were in the training room, again facing the level one simulation, but unlike when only Serenity, Micah, and Lemy were there, they were now being vastly more effective.

"At your six, Lemy!" Said Serenity as she cast a shield spell behind Static to protect him.

"I got them!"The Goblin said as he activated and threw a couple of pumpkin bombs at the turret that fired at Static.

"Thanks, Goblin!" Static said as he dodged the blows of an LMD.

"You're not gonna tire that LMD, Lemuel!" Scarlet Spider snapped as she jumped on the LMD and ripped its head off. "You gotta attack!"

Static was about to reply, but he noticed something out of the corner of his eye that made him gasp and tackle the Wall-Crawler to the ground. Before the girl could yell at Static, the boy charged electrical energy into his hands and fired it at a pair of LMDs that had tried to take the Web-Slinger off guard, managing to destroy them.

"You really need a Spider-Sense in that suit, Felicity." Static said as he helped Scarlet Spider up.

"Shut up and get back to the fray..." The girl snapped as she blushed under her mask. "Besides, I already do..."

Meanwhile, around the group, a blur was running at full speed, destroying all the missile launchers, turrets and LMDs in its path with a vibranium katana, stopping only when the simulation end alarm sounded.

The girl with the vibranium katana stopped abruptly and sighed, then holstered her weapon and headed for the exit alongside her companions.

"Longg, clear sky." Said Tomoko as Longg flew out of her Miraculous.

"Are you okay, Tomoko?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"Yes, this helped clear my mind."Tomoko blurted out. "The Miraculous of the Dragon is really spectacular, now I understand why you are so obsessed with inheriting one of those that your parents have, Felicity."

"Okay." Felicity said as she raised one finger and deactivated her costume. "First: I'm not obsessed, I'm anxious which is different. And second: what will you call yourself now that you are a Miraculous holder?"

"Since my suit has not changed much, I think I will keep the name Ronin, I have used it for so long that I think changing it would be weird."

"At least you didn't start with things like 'regaining the honor of the name Ryuko.'" Lemy chuckled.

"No. The damage done to that name is irreparable and is cursed forever."

"Just remember not to overdo it when we're training." Said the Goblin as he deactivated his glider. "Micah needs you in good condition."

"I know, old friend, you do not have to remind me." Tomoko sighed as she fed Longg. "I would not forgive myself if I left Micah alone after what my mother did to him."

"You guys are not alone in this, remember."

"Good to see that you've made a lot of progress since the first time, although of course, it may have more to do with the fact that Stanley, Tomoko and my aunt are present, and that they did have formal training long before this." Said E.D.I.T.H. while she studied five graphics. "However, there is an improvement."

"How did we do?" Serenity asked.

"You take two hits before throwing one, your accuracy increased to 67.89% and you weren't knocked down by enemies even once. I have to admit that I'm impressed."

"The Avengers have always been more impressive together, the only thing I hate about this is that Lucky-Beetle won't be able to join us for a while." Stan sighed.

"Cheer up, at least he already woke up." Said E.D.I.T.H. while she sealed the room. "But before you go to overwhelm him, I ask you to be calm, take some time to take a shower while I talk to him and analyze his neural pattern, otherwise the damage in his mind could get worse if you stress him. Plus, you're all sweaty and stink."

"I will take care of making sure Micah does not get stressed, do not worry," Tomoko said.

"Thought so, well, now off to the showers, kids."

"Mischief managed." Said the Goblin, being enveloped in a flash of light.

As Stan detransformed, Serenity and Static deactivated their suits and returned to their civilian clothes, then they all nodded and walked to the showers while the AI dematerialized.

Half an hour later, the group followed Tomoko through the station to the infirmary area, where they could see E.D.I.T.H. still inspecting Micah with a floating graph next to her, through a window.

At the scene, where Micah looked confused and nervous, the teens sighed and looked at Tomoko, who only managed to look at her boyfriend with a sad and expectant look, hoping to receive good news.

After a few moments of waiting, E.D.I.T.H. dematerialized and projected herself next to the teens with a solemn look, which only made Tomoko feel even more nervous.

"I'm afraid my estimations were correct, Micah Couffaine is gone." E.D.I.T.H. sighed. "You can go in, and you can call him Micah, I already explained him the basics about himself, his name, age, where he was born, and all that. The rest is more private, so I leave it to you."

E.D.I.T.H. dematerialized and the New Avengers looked at each other, sharing glances of frustration and despair, as their worst fear had come true, and it was all because they were too naïve and weak to protect Micah and his mother.

He had died in life, as his memories were probably gone forever.

However, the teenage heroes knew perfectly well that Tomoko was much worse off, since it was her mother who caused said tragedy.

And to add salt to injury, she had finally taken the step to show him her feelings for him right before said tragedy.

So it was no surprise that she felt much more guilty than the rest of her friends.

"Do you want to go first, Tomoko?" Felicity asked.

Tomoko bit her lower lip and sighed heavily as she lowered her gaze to the ground.

"No." Tomoko admitted. "I could not stand it... I think... I need some time to digest the fact that I could not protect my boyfriend... I could not even keep him safe for just one day..."

"Tomoko, don't torture yourself, this ain't your fault, it ain't the fault of any of us." Stanley said. "The only culprit is Kagami Tsurugi."

"And we don't want to hear your self-pity, Tomoko." Lemy snapped. "Your mother was just evil, it's as if Stan's dad blamed himself for what his father did as the Green Goblin."

"Well... he actually did, it's written in Useless Facts About the Avengers, Volume III, page..." Serenity pointed out with a raised finger, earning annoyed looks from her friends. "Just sayin'..."

"The fact is that none of this is our fault, pal, all this is only that traitor's fault." Felicity said. "And I'm with the Shrimp, I don't wanna hear anything about that you are somewhat guilty or something like that. We already got our hands full with losing Micah to lose you too in a sea of self-pity."

Tomoko sighed and put a hand on the window of the medical room, giving the boy who used to be her boyfriend a sad look, while a tear ran down her cheek.

"I know you guys are right... But I can't help it... It just..." Tomoko choked out as her eyes teared up. "It hurts so much..."

"If you don't feel ready, I'll go in." Stan said as he put a hand on Tomoko's shoulder in support. "And don't worry, I know that delicacy ain't my forte, but I'll avoid being rough with him at all costs."

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Serenity asked as she raised an eyebrow. "We all remember why Felicity acted as a nurse for Lemy longer than she should've due to the peeping tom incident."

"Hey, that one was on Lemy, but trust me, the least I want is to hurt Micah any more."

"Fine, but we'll be watching you..."

"Whatever, Nity, wish me luck."

Stan shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed heavily, then headed into the medical room, drawing the attention of the bluish-black-haired young man, who looked at him with a confused but friendly smile.

"Hi." Micah said awkwardly.

"Hey." Stan said with an equally awkward smile.

For a few minutes, both teens just stayed stiff, not being really sure on how to proceed, until Micah gathered all the courage he could muster, and finally asked:

"Who are you?"

"My name is Stanley Osborn, you can call me Stan. And I'm uhh... one of your best friends..." Stan said awkwardly.

"Oh, nice... I guess..." Micah said with a smile.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well... it's weird. It's like I've been in a coma my whole life, I just know my name because that nice AI told me that."

"There's a lot you don't know, friend." Stan said as a solid-light chair materialized next to him. "16 years of life is a lot to learn."

"But as I see and according to that AI, I have friends who can help me with that." Micah said as he gestured at the other New Avengers behind the window. "Although... This is all so weird..."

"We Avengers never leave one of our own alone."

"Avengers? That doesn't sound very good."

"The Avengers are a team of heroes, Micah. We only have that name because we avenge the evils of the world."

"Ohh, I see. So... we're superheroes?"

"Yeah, though we're a bunch of rookies, which is actually one of the reasons why you lost your memory."

"I get it... At least I think so."

"Yeah. In fact, all our parents are Avengers too."

"Really? Wow..."

"And well... this is extremely weird, I mean, we've known each other practically since we were born, and now you don't remember anything..." Stan sighed as he looked down. "So many good memories we shared with the others..."

"I think I understand. It's all extremely confusing that everyone knows about me and I don't..." Micah admitted. "I'm scared about it... and kinda sad, especially for you guys. I mean, you lost the old me and... I don't think I can ever replace him..."

"Don't say that, you're still the same guy we knew and loved. Losing your memory only means... we get to make new memories with you all over again."

"That sounds more like you're trying to convince yourself rather than me."

"How about you ask me questions so that I can tell you a little about yourself?" Stan asked, wanting to change the subject immediately.

"If you say so." Micah grimaced. "The AI said I have a family, how many are they? Where are they? What are their names?"

"Slow down, I don't want you to get hurt."

"Sorry, it's just... I'm curious, y'know?"

"I get it... Well, your mom's name is Marinette, and unfortunately she also lost her memory."

"Why?"

"The villain who erased your memory also did the same to your mom."

"Is she the only family I have left?"

"No... but..."

"But...?"

"I don't think I should be telling you this..."

"Stan, please..."

At that moment, Stan glanced at Micah, who looked at him with pleading eyes, which made the boy sigh and put his hands into his pockets as he looked down.

"Your dad's in prison."

"I thought you said he was an Avenger too."

"And he was, but he betrayed the team and tried to kill you."

"Oh God..." Micah gulped as a headache started to pain him.

"Nice work being subtle, Stanley." Serenity said as she entered the room.

"Oh hello. Who are you?" Micah asked when he saw the bespectacled girl with the brown hair with purple and lilac streaks.

"I'm Serenity Pines, another one of your friends, you can call me Nity." Serenity answered politely.

"Well then... you're cute, Nity."

Serenity blushed slightly and coughed to clear her throat at the sudden dry feeling in her at Micah's words.

"Yeah, well... Thank you, it is appreciated that you think that of me..." Serenity said as she looked away and fixed her glasses, noticing that Tomoko was glaring daggers at her. "... B-but you already have a girlfriend..."

"Oh... seriously?" Micah asked somewhat surprised.

"Yes, just give her some time to get used to this whole situation, which to be honest, is also quite strange for us."

"I know, I already talked with Stan about that... And sorry for this whole situation..."

"It's not your fault..."

"Yeah, ok, um... do you want to know something else?" Stan asked.

"I think... I don't know. After what Stan said about my father being evil..."

"You have to forgive him, he can be a jerk sometimes." Serenity said, earning a non-amused glare from Stan.

"It's fine, at least he's honest about everything."

"There's a difference between being honest and being a jerk. Stan is the latter."

"Shut up, Ganymedes." Stan snapped.

"Don't call me that, Norman!" Serenity snapped back as she blushed.

"You started it, and don't call me Norman!"

"You called for it and you know it, Mr. I broke Lemy's leg because I'm too much of a goof to care about my friends, even when they're at the hospital!"

"Whatever you say, Mrs. I keep my nose so deep into books and other people's matters that I accidentally slam my face into every wall and object I can."

"I can feel some tension between you two…" Micah blurted out. "Out of curiosity, are you two…?"

"NO!" Serenity and Stan snapped as they blushed.

"I'm sorry, that little fight felt rather... intimate, y'know? Like something couples do."

"Shut up..." Serenity said as she blushed and crossed her arms.

"You're right about that, but believe me, those two are like oil and water." Lemy said as he and Felicity entered the room. "They don't tolerate each other and in fact, I don't know why they're friends."

"It has to do with us, Lemy, they're both our friends and they have to get along civilly because of us." Felicity said. "Or else I'll beat them up."

"Who are you?" Micah asked.

"I'm Lemy Loud, this is Felicity Parker." Lemy said.

"You can call him Lemuel or Shrimp, it's much funnier." Felicity chuckled.

"And you can call her Aurore." Lemy snapped back as he glared at Felicity.

At that moment, Felicity hit Lemy hard on the head and glared at Micah as the young rocker tried to rub away the pain on top of his head and held back his tears.

"If you want to keep your balls on your groin, you better ignore the Shrimp." Felicity warned.

"I won't, don't worry." Micah said as he cold sweat.

"A wise choice." The platinum-blonde praised as she nodded.

"Ok, that's it! All of you, get out! You really are a bunch of twits!" Tomoko snapped as she stormed into the room to push her friends out. "Seriously, I don't like to insult or speak without propriety, but you've made me mad."

"Hi." Micah said with a friendly smile. "Who are you?"

"I'll introduce myself later, I gotta talk to them first." Tomoko said as she pushed her friends out of the room.

Once out of the room, Tomoko sighed heavily and glared at all of her friends.

"I'll only ask once..." Tomoko said furiously. "Just what the hell do you all have in your fucking brains?! I hadn't seen such a display of ineptitude and idiosyncracy since Felicity dared Lemy to brand himself with that red-hot iron, you imbeciles!"

"Hey, calm down." Serenity asked.

"Yeah, we just wanna help." Lemy snapped before rubbing his butt. "And don't remind me of the mark of the Spider-Psycho... it still hurts when I remember it."

"You were the one who accepted the challenge, Lemy, so I ain't the psycho here." Felicity said.

"Whatever!" Tomoko snapped.

"Chillax, kids." Snapped E.D.I.T.H.'s voice in an attempt to call Tomoko back to reason. "Everything is fine, Micah is confused but happy to have such good friends, he says that he's really glad to know that he can count on the five of you. His neural waves are in order, there's no saturation, and he doesn't appear to have any permanent damage. He is completely able to create new memories, so not everything is lost."

"At least that worked out." Stan blurted out.

"Do not push your luck, Norman, you could have literally worsened Micah's condition." Tomoko hissed and pointed a threatening finger at him.

"I said I'd be careful, didn't I? And don't call me Norman, Gabrielle."

Tomoko didn't answer anything, she just rolled her eyes, frowned and walked to the window, nudging Stanley with her shoulder on the way.

Then, once Tomoko's eyes set on the boy inside the medical room, her anger dissipated for sadness and depression to take over her face, with a tear running down her cheek.

For their part, the rest of the New Avengers sighed deeply, mentally deciding that Tomoko would need some calm and solitude to deal with her inner demons.

Therefore, Nity, Stan, Felicity and Lemy walked away from the medical room, but not before murmuring "Everything will be fine" to Tomoko, who was still too engrossed in her thoughts to pay attention to her friends' words.

Meanwhile, right in the window of the room next to Micah's, Adrien watched the interaction between the teens, noticing a certain tension around his daughter.

And one single look at her face was enough for him to notice the tear running down her cheek, which confirmed his suspicions that his daughter was blaming herself for what had happened to her boyfriend, which was heartbreaking and hurtful for him too.

"I hate this..." Adrien sighed. "How much more shit do we have to go through?"

"Being frank, probably much more, there are more bad decisions that have not yet taken their toll." Peter sighed as he checked a Stark-Tablet with information about Marinette's condition.

"It's amazing how much a single bad decision could screw up our world..."

"At least Marinette's condition is the same as Micah's, according to the scans, she lost her memory but will be able to create new ones."

"And all because of me... if only I had been a better husband with Kagami..."

"Adrien, maybe you're right, but Kagami's actions are unjustifiable. No matter how bad you could've been to her, Marinette and Micah weren't to blame, so Kagami attacking them was pretty much gratuitous."

"Even so..."

In that moment, Peter couldn't help but grunt in annoyance, snapping Adrien out of his cloud of self-pity and depression momentarily.

"Adrien, enough. I ask you in the most attentive and kind way that I can: If you're gonna drown in self-pity, please do it in silence." Peter said in a frustrated tone. "I'm trying to think of a way to find a cure for your little girlfriend and your daughter's boyfriend, and that's not even half of the problems I have to solve. I'm still having trouble powering the Three Sisters' Defense Fleet's magic shields with the reactors of the ships, I have to find a new supplier of electronic components for OsCorp and Stark Industries before Pepper and Harry kill me, and I have to attend a meeting at Midtown High because my daughter has been absent for two days in a row after fleeing from school, so please don't stress me out anymore..."

Adrien grumbled and glared at Peter, then turned around and looked at Marinette, who was still lying in a bacta tank, recovering from the injuries caused by Kagami and Luka.

"You've become a total asshole, you know?" Adrien snapped.

"I'm just trying to fix the consequences of the shitty decisions that you and everyone else have taken in these last years." Peter replied with a growl.

"You're no saint either, Peter. The Great Massacre was your fault for not going after Ignobilia at the moment she fled when we discovered what she did to Lincoln..."

"And even so, I'm still the only one who took responsibility for his own actions."

"And what the fuck do you think I'm doing here but take responsibility for my stupidities?" Adrien spat back as he turned to glare at Peter.

"Shut up already, this discussion won't go anywhere... besides, it's just the stress talking." Peter sighed as he ignored Adrien's glare.

"Rather bringing the truth to light..."

"I'm warning you, Agreste..."

"What? Don't like to hear the truth?""

"Just shut up, please..."

"Why don't you make me like you did to Whirl...?"

At that time, Peter snapped the Stark-Tablet in his hands with terrifying ease as he emitted a guttural growl, which made Adrien realize he had fucked up. Badly.

However, as Peter grabbed Adrien by the shirt and looked at him with murderous intentions, the leader of the Avengers panted in anger and with whatever little consciousness over his actions he still had, he threw Adrien inside the medical room where Marinette was, managing to make his head slam against the wall and end up unconscious.

Then E.D.I.T.H. sealed the door and Peter remained still for a moment, with trembling hands and anger still flowing through his veins, while Leopardon and E.D.I.T.H. appeared next to him.

"Grandpa, are you...?" E.D.I.T.H. tried to ask.

"Shut it!" Peter roared as he pointed at E.D.I.T.H. with a threatening finger. "Lock that imbecile there until he calms the fuck down or I swear I'll kill him for being so goddamn impertinent!"

"Peter, for the love of God, you have to calm down." Leopardon pleaded.

With that said, Peter simply sighed and recomposed, fixing his business suit and picking the remains of the Stark-Tablet up.

"No, what I have to do is go talk to Principal Fernández about Felicity's absences. Keep running the simulations on the possible memory restoration processes for Micah and Marinette, E.D.I.T.H., if there's any of them that could work, let me know all the details." Peter said nonchalantly as he tossed the broken device into a hole that appeared on a wall. "I'll also go see Phineas' solution for Tsurugi Electronics' replacement, so I'll be busy for most of the day."

E.D.I.T.H. sighed and created a solid-light barrier around Peter, who narrowly avoided it, in turn causing E.D.I.T.H. growl and try again to capture her grandfather with another solid-light barrier.

After escaping from the second light barrier, Peter began to run through the station, using all of his knowledge of the station, his gymnastic skills developed over the years, and his artificial web-shooters to elude all the attempts from E.D.I.T.H. to capture him.

After several minutes of infructuous attempts, the AI got frustrated and accessed the data from the Halo Emergency Plan to predict her grandfather's next moves and run him into a corner to finally catch him, stopping him dead in his tracks by making him crash face-first into a solid-light barrier and causing the leader of the Avengers to moan in pain and get up with a jump as he clenched his jaw and fists.

"Get me the fuck outta here already!" Peter yelled.

"No, I'm sick of seeing how you guys are still trying to get closer, just to end up bringing up the faults of the multiple shitty decisions you all have taken in the last 21 years and split apart even further!" E.D.I.T.H. yelled back.

"I'm the only one who has tried to keep the fucking world safe!"

"Because you have the damn habit of putting all the weight of the world on your shoulders since you were 15, grandpa!"

"The point of the Avengers was dealing with threats that none of you could handle on their own and you're still with that stupid idea of being the one who takes all the hits life gives and not asking for help when one can easily see that you need it!" Leopardon yelled.

"And don't you even think about saying that it's not like that!" E.D.I.T.H. snapped as she saw Peter trying to reply. "I've monitored your vital signs for the last 10 years and you would have died 9 years ago, hadn't I started helping you with everything!"

"Anullation code: CTN 0452..." Peter tried to say.

"Say one more character and I swear I'll use the Spider Bite against you at this very moment..." Leopardon threatened right in front of his chosen's face.

With his kwami and AI glaring at him, Peter Parker roared and punched the energy shield around him, then he glared back at them.

"What do you want from me?! You want me to say sorry for trying to help my friends?! To ask for forgiveness for trying to prevent any of them to end up getting hurt like Lincoln?! To hate the fact that I failed each and every one of them for the last 21 years, and despite all my efforts, I'm still doing so?!" Peter yelled as his eyes filled with tears. "Well, I've got news for you! Each fucking day of my goddamned life since we discovered Loan's secret, is martyrdom for me due to having to deal with the guilt of not having protected Lincoln, of not stopping Ignobilia when I should've, of indirectly causing the Great Massacre of Superheroes and for having to kill Ignobilia in cold blood because I literally couldn't do anything else to avoid more deaths!"

At that moment, Peter burst into tears and fell to his knees as E.D.I.T.H. turned off the solid-light field and both she and Leopardon approached the man, with empathic looks at the fragile state in which the aptly named Greatest Hero of All Time was.

And seeing himself vulnerable, Peter looked up, still tearful but glaring determinedly.

"You can't tell anyone what I just admitted..." Peter said between sobs.

"Grandpa, you can't keep torturing yourself like this."E.D.I.T.H. said. "The others have to know, they can help you..."

"You have to stop carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, Peter, and above all forgive yourself for what you think was your fault." Leopardon said while he wiped away the tears of his chosen one. "Your heart is in the right place but your mind isn't, you still think that everything bad around you is linked to you in some way, but you forget that you can't control everything, you can't be everywhere. It's just the illusion of control."

Something inside Peter shook at his kwami's words, causing him to clench his fists and frown decisively at the ground.

"You're wrong... I couldn't before but now I can, now I have everything I need... All the power, influence, resources and reach I need..." Peter said firmly as he stood up and wiped his last tears. "I swear to God this will be the last time I fail. No one else will get hurt..."

At that moment, Peter pulled himself together, sighing deeply and frowning even more, causing Leopardon and E.D.I.T.H. to sigh heavily.

"Peter, you know that's not what I mean and none of this is your fault..." Leopardon said.

"E.D.I.T.H., double the security around the Avengers, call a meeting with the Directors of the Three Sisters, and I want to speak with the Illuminati." Peter said, ignoring Leopardon masterfully. "I also want you to start with the construction of the Avengers Academy, the new MAC of the Damocles Base and in the next training session of the New Avengers, I want them to start with level 2.0."

"Grandpa, please reconsider it..." E.D.I.T.H. begged. "All this is excessive and the kids ain't ready..."

"That's precisely one of the problems to solve, E.D.I.T.H., they are not ready." Peter snapped. "I don't want my daughter to go through everything I went through. I have to make sure she's ready for when I'm gone."

"Grandpa..."

"No more buts, that's an order. And the not saying anything to anyone thing, too."

After saying that, Peter adjusted his suit, sighed and began to walk away with his footsteps echoing in the area, while Leopardon and E.D.I.T.H. looked at him with disappointment.

"You've become a monster." Leopardon said.

At Leopardon's words, Peter simply stopped and, without looking at his kwami and his AI, said:

"You're right... I did... In a world full of monsters, I had to become the worst to make sure that only I could hurt others. Let's go, Leo."

The kwami sighed and got into Peter's formal jacket, while he snapped his fingers and opened a portal to his office at the Stark Tower.

As soon as the portal closed, E.D.I.T.H. couldn't help but sigh and look at the floor as she went back to the medical wing, remembering how everything had gone to hell.

How her beloved grandpa had had to become a tyrant.

"I really hate it when he gets like that... I hate seeing grandpa acting like this... like the monster he actually is..." Muttered E.D.I.T.H. before hissing under her breath. "And it's all because of you, Lorraine..."

---

(In the meantime)

---

Back in New York, in an alley in the borough of Manhattan, Stanley Osborn appeared from a dimensional portal as he put a pair of purple and green dimensional scissors in his pocket.

And as he turned his gaze, Stan chuckled and smirked as he found a white-haired girl absently fiddling with what appeared to be a will-o'-the-wisp.

"I thought my father had forbid you to be near here." Stan said.

"As if that could stop me." The girl chuckled as she extinguished the flame in her hand. "A couple of invisibility and cloaking spells were enough to avoid your father's radars. Plus, since when do you care about your daddy's prohibitions?"

"Since never. And I should be impressed but considering that it was your aunt Lisa who built and designed the entire defense system of my house, I suppose you are one of the exceptions in it."

"What a way to tell your girlfriend that she sucks at sorcery..."

"Meh, magic is stupid anyway."

"I heard you, you jerk!" Snapped a shrill voice.

In that moment, a green-skinned goblin-like kwami with a hooked nose and pointy ears with a scar over his left eye, which was completely blank, contrasting quite a bit with his healthy yellow eye with a black pupil, who wore a purple hat on his head, came out of Stan's fanny pack, glaring at his chosen one.

"Hey, flying rat." Lupa said as she stroked the kwami's head with a finger.

"Hey, abomination." Coffee said as he glared at his owner.

"You know I'm kidding, little fairy." Stan said nonchalantly as he softly flicked the kwami in the nose. "And what did I tell you about calling her or any of her siblings abominations?"

"You know I mean no harm, plus the girl doesn't mind." The kwami huffed as he rubbed his tiny nose.

"The flying rat's right, it's not like I'm not used to it." Lupa said as she grabbed the kwami in her hands carefully to feed him a lemon drop.

"If you say so. And what brings you to New York, Lupa? Is Lyra still bugging you about believing in her imaginary friend? Is Liby still trying to get you to join her in her investigations? Lacy won't let go of you until you play any game with her?"

"Nah, I just wanted to come to see how my boy is doing, I know from a good source that you and the gang of sanctimonious idiots you call friends have had very hard days." Lupa said nonchalantly.

At that moment, Stan sighed and looked at the ground, which Lupa noticed and made her feel a little guilty.

"Sorry." Said the white-haired girl with total sincerity.

"Don't worry, it's just that it's hard... God, we've only had two missions and we've failed miserably on both of them."

"You're a bunch of kids getting into the role of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Stan. Just by staying on the warpath longer than the actual Avengers against Viperion, you've already shown that, despite being a bunch of sanctimonious idiots who feel morally superior to me, you guys aren't complete failures."

"Tell that to Micah... Oh, wait, you can't because he wouldn't understand and he wouldn't even recognize you."

"Stan, that's not your fault..." The kwami, Coffee, said.

"And what does that matter? We couldn't protect our friend... I couldn't do anything..."

After saying that, Stan kicked over a nearby trash can, causing it to spill out into the alley, while Coffee and Lupa looked at him sympathetically.

"It's so fucking unfair..." Stan said. "Out of all of us, the one who least deserved that was him, literally the only bad thing he does is smoke weed with us. Even Tomoko has done much worse things than him."

"I thought Limpy was Micah's best friend and that he'd be the one who would be affected the most by that, aside from the Ice Queen, of course."

"And he is, but Micah's also my friend, and there's the fact that we were totally useless to help him and his mother with his asshole of a father. And aside from everything, there's also the fact that Tomoko lost her boyfriend after just one day of relationship. Reality hit us hard with all that shit: We're just a bunch of stupid hormonal teenagers who think more with their hearts and genitals than with their heads..."

"I honestly don't know what to say, except this..." Lupa sighed as she took a deep breath. "Belittling yourself and lamenting like a stupid edgy teenager ain't gonna help stoner rocker, it ain't gonna give him back his memory, it ain't gonna help his hot wife of a mother, it ain't gonna make the Ice Queen stop being so puritanical and sanctimonious, and above all, it ain't gonna turn you and your idiot friends into good superheroes. The only thing you all can do is learn from your stupidities and move on, stoner's gonna need you guys."

"Again, you know what to say at the wrong time..."

"It's my gift and my curse."

Stanley sighed and simply motioned for Lupa to follow him.

"Come on, I could use some fresh air." Stan said.

"I hope that includes something to eat, Aunt Leni is anything but a good cook and both Liena and aunt Luan ain't home yet."

"Delmar's is near here."

"Do I look like Lacy to you? Who ever told you I like subs?" Lupa snapped with a raised eyebrow.

"Do I look like I care?" Stan shot back with a grin. "I could use something cheap, quick and greasy, and Delmar's sells the greasiest chili cheese fries in Manhattan."

"You're a jerk."

"A jerk you love because he gets you cigarettes."

"And you just made me remember that I love you." Lupa grinned.

Stan chuckled and rolled his eyes as he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket, followed by the albino girl, who despite not showing it, was a bit worried about her boyfriend.

"Stan, I'm not the best at this, but I think rather than air, you need to talk." Lupa let out.

"I appreciate your concern, Lupa, but I have no interest in talking right now..." Stan said. "Besides, since when do you care so much about my feelings?"

"Hey, I may not show it but I do love you, you asshole." Lupa snapped as she slapped his arm. "Besides, you're the only other idiot who tolerates me, besides Limpy, I guess I just don't wanna be totally alone."

"And what do you expect me to say? How frustrated I am by the fact that my own father considers me nothing more than a delinquent? How upset I am that all my training with and without the Miraculous hasn't paid off in the slightest? How hard it is to know that I'm a total failure as a hero, as a friend, as your boyfriend and as a person altogether...?"

"You just have a bad streak."

"Or I'm simply cursed for having the name of the most evil man that has ever set foot on the Earth and even worse, because his blood runs through my veins, and for all the evil he did, everyone around me also pays for it because I'm just as guilty of his crimes as he is..."

"You don't believe in curses."

"I'm starting to change my point of view about them..."

"Stan, like I said, you're just a kid..."

"Yeah, just a kid with a magic jewel and a flying rat, who can pick up a bus with one arm."

"It doesn't matter what you can do, you just started as an Avenger, you're barely older than Doctor Parker when he started all this."

"And he didn't fail until the Goblin Nation."

"So it seems that even I know Spider-Man's story better than you."

"What does that mean?"

"That actually, the reason Doctor Parker is where he is, is that his first action was a resounding failure."

"The Uncle Ben thing doesn't count..."

"Of course, it does, and it's much worse because Ben Parker couldn't even defend himself, stoner rocker and his mom at least could fight back."

"Whatever... A failure will always be a failure..."

"Nice words for your friends, Stanley... You truly are a source of inspiration."

"It's the truth and we all know it. We're just a bunch of idiots who think they can be even half as good heroes as their parents."

"Stan, enough already..."

"You're the one who wants to stay on topic, I just want a damn meatball sub, some chili cheese fries and be able to drown in self-pity in peace..."

At Stan's words, Lupa simply rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, it was at times like this that she hated being the way she was and that Stan was so similar to her.

Being an edgy teen that hated everything had its disadvantages, and Lupa hated to admit it.

Some time later, after ordering two meatball subs and a large order of chili cheese fries, and bribing the clerk to pay for Lupa's cigarettes, Stan and Lupa used Stan's dimensional scissors to open a portal to a lonely part of Central Park, where the bushy foliage of the surrounding trees could block the view of the skyscrapers and keep the couple alone in the rather noisy city, then both sat under a tree.

Once they were seating, both unwrapped their sandwiches and the fries, with Stan grabbing a good portion of fries, not caring that he got his hand covered in grease, cheese and chili, stuffed the fries into the sub and took a bite from it, moaning in delight.

On the other hand, Lupa just rolled her eyes at Stan's foodgasm and put her sub on her leg, to then pull out her lighter and fiddle with it, as she put a cigarette on her lips.

"God, yes, I needed this..." Stan moaned again as he grabbed a couple more fries and chewed them down. "Delmar's never disappoints."

"I'll never get what you enjoy so much about this things." Lupa said as she rolled her eyes and lit her cigarette.

"Felicity discovered it after she got lost on her first day at Midtown High." Stan said as he took another bite of his sub. "It holds good memories. Besides, like I said, Delmar's fries are to die for... Quite literally, actually."

"Whatever you say, Stan..." Lupa sighed as she took a drag of her cigarette.

"That ain't healthy."

"That cholesterol bomb you're eating isn't either."

"You're a dwarf already, doing this at 13 ain't gonna help with your height issue."

"Guess that'll be a good thing for you when all that fat turns you into a tiny-dicked blob, otherwise, how am I gonna feel anything?"

"Even if I were fat and you weren't a dwarf, I assure you I'd still break you in half."

"Those are some big words, hope you really have the package to back it up or I'll be very disappointed."

"Oh, trust me, you're not gonna be disappointed in the least..."

At that moment, the white-haired girl chuckled while the brown-haired boy did the same, then the girl took a long drag of her cigarette and held the smoke in for a few seconds before releasing it in a big puff.

"This is all very confusing." Lupa let out.

"Are you still talking about Micah?" Stan said as he muched a couple of fries.

"No, I've already decided it's a waste of time."

"Good for you."

"Still, it worries me, especially since I'm not good at talking about feelings and I don't want my idiot of a brother Limpy to end up doing something stupid out of the same frustration you have."

"You wanna help him? Let him get hurt, that'll teach him."

"You're an asshole."

"You know I'm right." Stan said before taking another bite of his sub. "Besides, you know that Felicity'll bust him out of trouble if it's too much for him. She always does. And I mean ALWAYS."

"Yeah, the almighty daughter of the Amazing Spider-Man, who has to stop Limpy from doing stupid things that could end up with him six feet under."

"Truth to be told, Felicity ain't very smart either, to be the daughter of the fifth most intelligent human on the planet, she's quite headstrong and she takes as many stupid risks as Lemy."

"It terrifies me how similar Limpy and Felicity are."

"Guess they wouldn't be such good friends otherwise."

Lupa sighed deeply and took the last drag of her cigarette, making it as a long and slow as possible. Then, the girl her sandwich with her other hand and took a bite, not caring that the flavor of tobacco was mixing with her sandwich.

"It's a pretty nice day." Stan blurted out.

"I guess." Lupa said before swallowing.

"But it's been a very eventful week."

"It has been a combination of several factors that created bombs and set them off, such as Micah's father being an ass who undoubtedly cheated on his wife, Tomoko's mother wanting to project her daughter's achievements on herself for the uselessness she felt, and Adrien Agreste and Marinette Couffaine cucking their spouses for a long time."

"Why is it that all adults, except Dr. Parker, are so fucking stupid?"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Aunt Lynn, Mom and Aunt Lola speak very badly about Spider-Man." Lupa said nonchalantly as she grabbed the last fries on the tray to eat them one by one.

"They have their reasons to hate him, but still, he defeated Ignobilia and he's the only one who actively continues to help S.H.I.E.L.D. protect the world." Stan said. "Also, I thought you didn't want any fries."

"Everyone hides what they are ashamed of, and as much as you idolize him, Peter Parker is no different. And for the fries, I'm a woman, I can change my mind whenever I feel like it."

"I don't idolize Dr. Parker, I just admire him, even you do it yourself."

"Only because I like to piss off my incestuous old man and my mom."

"If you say so..." Stanley sighed before he munched the last bit of his sub, to then crumple the envelope and toss it away. "Look, as much as I would love to stop feeling like shit and stop belittling myself, it's hard knowing that no matter how hard I try, I can't be a good hero... hell, I can't even match my father."

"You're talking about the guy who became the Green Goblin on two non-consecutive occasions."

"I'm talking about the guy that when he wasn't being a jerk with his friends, he was a hero of the stature of Iron Man."

"Stan, stop comparing yourself to your father. You are not him."

"Obviously. I'm just a failure that..."

At that moment, Stan didn't finish his sentence due to a slap on his nape, then the Osborn heir turned and saw an annoyed Lupa Loud looking at him as if she wanted to set him on fire, which could actually be true, since he felt a burning sensation all over his skin.

"Enough, I'm tired of your self-pity and your self-hatred, Norman." Lupa snapped.

"Don't call me Norman..."

"I'll call you whatever I want, Norman. Besides, that's your name, Norman."

"Do. Not. Call. Me. Norman..."

"Or what, Norman? Are you going to attack me, Norman? Are you going to turn into the Green Goblin to shut me up, Norman?"

"DON'T! FUCKING! CALL ME! NORMAN...!"

"Or what, Norman?..."

Stan just grunted and pulled out his dimensional scissors, opening a dimensional portal right into the living room of his family's mansion and going through it, only for Lupa to jump in after him just before the portal closed, knocking over the Osborn heir and causing both Lupa's cigarettes and Stan's scissors to end up sliding across the polished marble floor as the two teenagers wrestled on a rug.

"Let go of me!" Stan ordered Lupa.

"Make me, Norman!" Lupa snapped.

"What the hell is going on here?!" A male voice yelled.

At that moment, both teenagers gasped and turned their eyes in the direction of the entrance of the main hall of the Osborn mansion, managing to see a lanky man with brown hair and some grey areas and about 50 years of age in appearance, who had a glass of cognac in his hand and glared at Lupa.

"I thought I had forbidden your presence and that of your siblings in my home, Loud..."The man snapped.

"Well, too bad I allowed her in since we're fucking dating, father..." Stan snapped as he took advantage of Lupa's distraction to get her off him.

"Of course, I should've assumed that you'd like the company of a delinquent like her." Harry said. "Where did I go wrong with you, Stanley...?"

"Hmm, I don't know... maybe on the fact that you put your damn job before my mother and me, or that you left the Avengers and always badmouth my friends, or the fact that I literally never see you without a fucking drink in your hand..."

Harry made a contemptuous sound with his mouth and took a sip of cognac and sighed.

"You really don't know anything... You're so naive and you really think everything is fine..." Harry said as she had another sip. "Do you really think I left the Avengers because I wanted to? Or that I don't care about your mother and you?"

"You never show it, and knowing how you've acted for years towards Doctor Parker and almost anyone who's by his side..."

"Peter Parker is a monster! And the sooner you and your friends realize it, the better!"

"Perhaps, but still he is the only one who maintains peace in the world."

"What a childish response..."

"No more than simply drowning yourself in alcohol on a daily basis to escape your own reality and the fact that you're no better father to me than Grandpa Norman was to you..."

"Don't you dare compare me to him again!"

"Then stop being as stupid as him!"

"And I thought my family had problems..." Lupa blurted out.

"Stay out of this, abomination...!"

At that moment, Stan growled and punched his father, who stumbled a little until he fell backwards to the floor, his fall and that of his cup of cognac being cushioned by the soft living room carpet. while Stan glared at his father.

"I'm gonna say it just once..." Stan warned staring down at his father in anger. "Don't ever refer to Lupa or any of her siblings like that again. You can say what you want about me, insult me, hit me, even want to kill me, but you will respect my girlfriend, understood?"

"You insolent brat!" Harry said as he stood up. "Always wasting everything I've given you to hang out with criminals!"

"At least these criminals are there when I fucking need them!" Stan snapped back.

"Because you're so stupid that you don't even realize they're all using you!"

Stan growled again and tried to take another hit at his father, but Harry was no longer off guard and simply dodged the blow to trip his son, who fell face first to the ground.

"You didn't even take advantage of the Krav Maga lessons you asked for so much..." Harry said.

"Because I'm not fighting seriously!" Stan said as he stood up.

Stan got up with the intention of continuing to attack his father, but he simply blocked and dodged every punch and kick the boy threw, with a mastery that Stan couldn't believe was possible in someone so drunk.

And in a sudden move to end the fight, Harry managed to trip Stan after he missed a knee hit and put his foot over his chest to pin him down.

"Stop it, Stan." Harry sighed bored. "I don't wanna hurt you."

"As if you could do anything other than hurt your family!"

"And what do you think you do with your arrogant and delinquent attitude?" Harry asked. "I tried to exhaustion so that you wouldn't go through the same thing as me with my father..."

"Do you mean before or after imitating him and having become the Green Goblin, in addition to your mania for being such a good father as Norman Osborn?"

"I thought the Green Goblin thing didn't count..." Lupa blurted out.

"Shut up, Lupa..."

"I just want you to stop pouring your future down the drain, Stan!" Harry said.

"And I guess you want me to become a distant and arrogant drunktard who thinks he's better than Doctor Parker for 'no longer being part of an oppressive and fascist group like the Avengers,' or am I wrong?"

"Peter uses you and your friends as attack dogs!"

"The thing with the Couffaines and the Agrestes was on us! Doctor Parker told us absolutely nothing about it! We just wanted to help our friends...!"

At that moment, before the argument could continue, there was a nearby explosion and the building shook a little, causing the Osborns and the albino girl to look out a window and see a column of smoke rising among the buildings.

And seizing the fact that he was distracted, Stan managed to slip out of his father's foot and looked at the column of smoke.

"That's not good..." Lupa said.

"Definitely, only someone either very stupid or very powerful would dare to launch an attack in the middle of New York." Stan said.

"And what are you waiting for? Aren't you an Avenger?"

Stan sighed and looked at the Goblin Cufflinks he wore on the wrist of his fingerless gloves, then opened his vest a little and looked at his kwami, who was looking at him with a slight smile that tried to make him feel him some confidence.

Stan heaved a sigh, deigning a glance at his father, who shook his head and made a scowling face.

"It's not your problem." Harry snapped.

"Of course, it is. With great power comes great responsibility, did you forget?" Stan said as he frowned decisively. "Coffee, aura of malice, surround me!"

At that moment, Coffee was absorbed by the right cuff and Stanley was enveloped by a flash of light that transformed his civilian clothes into his green armored aviator suit with purple details, his green helmet with purple lenses and his brown backpack, turning him into the Goblin.

Then the boy made a small jump and his boots generated a bat-shaped glider made out of solid-light, after which the Goblin turned towards Lupa, who now had a white suit with the same symbol as her jacket on the chest, a black cape with the inside in yellow, white boots and gloves with yellow and black details, and a white mask that covered her entire head and with lenses that moved in sync with her eyes.

"I thought I'd have to beg you." Said the Goblin smiling in surprise.

"I've had enough of you dragging yourself around like a maggot." Lupa said as she shrugged as she used a spell to recover her cigarettes and Stan's dimensional scissors. "Besides, I owe you one for the cigarettes."

"Come on, Spectre." The Goblin said as Spectre threw the scissors at him.

"You won't..." Harry tried to say.

"Try to stop us if you can..."

After saying that, the Goblin's glider fired up its thruster and Spectre cast the Seal of Agamotto under her, then they both flew out the window towards the source of the commotion, while Harry looked at both with a look of disappointment.

"I thought you'd never stop arguing." A voice behind Harry blurted out.

"Not now, Liz." Harry groaned annoyed as he pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You know Stan is a hero..."

"No, Stan is a fool." The man corrected her. "He has no idea what he's getting himself into."

With that, Harry turned and faced his wife, Liz Osborn, who was looking at him with a sad expression, a gesture that made Harry sigh.

"He just wants to be like you when you were his age." Liz said.

"When I was his age, a totemic vampire tore my arm off and I had to inject myself with a version of EXTREMIS that I myself had to develop in record time in order not to die..." Harry explained ironically. "Neither you nor he understand what is happening, nor do you have any idea of what it is to be a superhero in reality..."

"Well, have you tried to teach him how to avoid such incidents?"

"That's the point, it's inevitable."

"And wouldn't it be better if he had his father to help him with things that get out of hand?"

Harry tried to reply, however he couldn't. He opened his mouth and raised a finger to keep arguing, but nothing came to his mind.

As such, the current owner of OsCorp glanced at a picture frame on the wall, one showing a much less turbulent and happier time, with the Defenders of old posing together, while he was wearing one of his old armors.

Saying nothing else, Harry leaned down to pick up the glass of cognac and headed into his study, calmly closing the door as Liz watched him with a puzzled look.

For their part, once they got to the place, Spectre and the Goblin frowned at the sight of five people causing chaos.

A woman in a red suit that covered her entire body and two metal gauntlets firing shock blasts at buildings.

Then, a blast punched a hole through a wall and an imposing armor that reminded a bit to that of the Crimson Dynamo but with two red energy whips coming from the arms, appeared though the smoke.

As the newcomer used the energy whips to split a car, grab the halves and toss them around, a guy with a green suit, purple cape, golden gauntlets and a helmet shaped like a crystal ball that shot green rays that changed everything they touched into a jungle.

And as this happened, a guy inside an anthropomorphic rhinoceros suit appeared from an alleyway, then he roared and started running, wrecking all the streetlights and cars in his path.

Finally, a woman wearing black goggles in a green skintight suit with four solid-light tentacles coming out of her back, looking around her with a mischievous smile came down from a nearby building, using the tentacles to create as much damage to it as she could.

After seeing them, the Goblin grabbed several of his bombs and threw them in front of each of the villains, managing to stop their advance and knock them down, drawing their attention.

"I'm not an expert in villains, but I think you must be the new Sinister Six, right?" Asked the Goblin. "Though you guys're missing a sixth dork."

"Would you look at that, that's ironic." Said a female voice through the loudspeakers of the armor. "The Green Goblin now plays the hero."

"Ugh, how many times do I have to tell this to imbeciles? I'm a goblin and I dress in green, but I am not the Green Goblin."

"Then don't interfere, dwarf... Or we will crush you and your magical girlfriend..." Said the anthropomorphic rhinoceros.

"Ugh, that guy's size matches that of his idiocy... or probably not, he seems very much stupider." Spectre let out as she rolled her eyes under her mask.

The new Rhino didn't seem to take the sorceress's comment very well, so he grabbed a nearby car and threw it at her, only for the sorceress to sigh in exasperation, open a portal with her sling ring, and cause the car to end up crashing into the villain's back, knocking him down and leaving him slightly dazed.

"See? Told ya he's an idiot..." Spectre said somewhat annoyed.

"You have chosen to die then!" Said the guy with the purple cape.

"You must be the new Mysterio... I wonder if you're also a magical fraud or an actual sorcerer..."

Without Spectre being able to do anything about it, Mysterio fired two golden bolts into her chest, knocking her down but being caught by the Goblin just before she slammed into the ground, after which the pair of junior heroes were captured by Doctor Octopus' successor's solid-light arms and were brought closer to the woman, who was grinning mischievously.

"You two are very persistent and apparently you know what you're doing, that's why I offer you to join us..." Doctor Octopus said as she adjusted her goggles.

"Thanks, but we both prefer to live outside the Hydro-Base." Spectre said.

Doctor Octopus grimaced in that moment, then she sighed and said:

"As you wish... Whip!"

After saying that, Doctor Octopus threw the teens at the woman in armor, who used her whips to tie them both up and make them scream in pain as several thousand volts ran through her bodies.

Thinking fast, Spectre made a quick wave of her hands and conjured the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to restrict the armored woman's body, at the same time the Goblin created another solid-light glider and sent it crashing into the immobilized villain, managing to distract her long enough for both of them to free themselves and begin their counterattack.

Mysterio quickly lashed out at Spectre, who conjured the Shield of the Seraphim to stop him, followed by a pair of Bolts of Balthaak to send Mysterio crashing into a wall.

Meanwhile, the Goblin created another solid-light glider and pulled out several pumpkin blades from his bag, then he threw them at the woman in the armor.

The blades dug into the woman's suit and detonated, but the woman merely laughed and readied her energy whips to attack again.

"You fools! No one can stop the Crimson Whip!" The woman roared.

Before the now-named Crimson Whip could attack the Goblin, a repulsor ray slammed into her chest, knocking her off her feet.

Right after that, the new Sinister Six and the pair of teenage heroes to look in the direction the repulsor ray had come from and spot someone with an armor similar to that of Iron Man but colored blue, red and white.

"They may not, but I do!" Said the man in armor.

"Stark! I can finally have my revenge on you!" Crimson Whip said.

"See, Svetlana? This is exactly why I broke up with you!" Iron Man snapped in an annoyed tone. "You keep holding onto the past. For God's sake, it's been 5 years! Just get over it already!"

Right after the new Iron Man finished his taunt, the Crimson Whip screamed in fury and raised her right arm, firing three missiles from her forearm at Stark, knocking him down.

Then, the villainess grabbed him with her whips and slammed the hero against several cars and the ground, at which Spectre couldn't help but roll her eyes at.

"Well done, Stark, piss off the woman whose heart you broke and who also has a battle suit that can give you a beating, even with your own armor." Spectre said as she blocked a beam from Mysterio. "Simply brilliant."

"Take care of Fishbowl Head, I'll take care of the crazy woman with the tentacles."Said the Goblin through his earpiece. "Let Stark solve his relationship problems alone..."

"That still leaves three idiots left..."

"Focus on Mysterio but stay alert."

Spectre couldn't help but roll her eyes again and open a portal below her, falling through it as Mysterio tried to lunge at her with a powerful spell in an attempt to destroy her Shield of the Seraphim.

While Spectre reappeared and created another shield to block a shockwave from the woman in the red suit, Mysterio crashed into the pavement and ended up somewhat dazed from the impact.

For his part, the Goblin dodged a piece of debris thrown by the new Rhino, then deactivated his glider and dropped several meters toward a wall, where he activated the blades of his left forearm and used them to slow his fall to a stop by nailing them to it.

Then he reached into his bag and threw a couple of knives at Doctor Octopus, causing her to cover herself with her tentacles to avoid being harmed, and in the meantime, he grabbed several bombs to throw at Rhino, who in a fit of bravery, tried to withstand the explosions but ended up being sent backwards by them.

Afterwards, Mysterio and Rhino got back to their feet and snarled in rage, after which they both charged back at the young heroes, who were already expecting such an attack.

Meanwhile, Iron Man managed to create a force field around his armor and expand it enough to free himself from Crimson Whip's weapons, then he modified his repulsor generators with his armor's nanobots to turn them into repulsor cannons.

After that, he fired a double blast to knock back his enemy through a building, then turned his repulsor generators back to normal and used them to create a solid-light cube around the armored woman, who pounded on her makeshift prison to try and break free.

"We could've been a good couple, Svetlana, but you're crazy and too possessive."

Crimson Whip roared and fired her own repulsors and punched the solid-light shield around her with all her might, while from the outside she looked like a toddler having a fit in timeout, while Iron Man sighed heavily and shook his head.

"Hate to say this, but mom was right. Dodged a bullet there..." Iron Man thought aloud as he returned to the fray.

For her part, Spectre was summoning the Seals of Agamotto and creating portals with her sling ring around the battlefield, dodging Mysterio's beams and trying to fight back while Shocker kept trying to corner the sorceress so that Mysterio could take her down.

Still, despite the girl's ability to use her powers creatively, she was getting tired to having to make so many seals and portals was draining her and she knew she just had to counterattack before they could get her.

Tired of the girl in the white suit, Mysterio made a small gesture with one hand, activating a drone, which he used to target Spectre while he and Shocker continued to distract her.

Seconds before the drone could fire, a yellow beam hit the machine, destroying it on the spot and causing everyone to turn in the direction the beam had come from, seeing how a brown-haired girl with tanned skin, wearing a blue cape and having a staff with an owl ornament on the top, landed a few meters away from Mysterio.

"Dishonorable..." Said the newcomer. "Not satisfied with attacking children en masse, you also try to do it from behind."

"Don't worry, Luz, we have it under control." Iron Man said as he landed next to her and aimed his repulsors against Mysterio and Shocker.

"Doesn't seem so, kid."

"Oh please! I've been doing this for 7 years and you still call me kid?"

"You're 20, you're still a child. You can't even rent a car yet." Luz snapped with a challenging grin.

"Whatever, it's 4 vs 4, let's finish this once and for all." Iron Man rolled his eyes as he charged up his repulsors.

At that moment, Crimson Whip couldn't help but let out a mocking laugh at Iron Man's comment, causing the new Armored Avenger to narrow his eyes and look at his ex.

"What's so funny?" Iron Man asked.

"You, thinking it's a 4 vs 4..." Said Crimson Whip. "You've always been arrogant and you always underestimate the problems you get into, Stark..."

"Or maybe you finally went insane, Svetlana. Shouldn't be a surprise given all those times you attacked me when you thought I was cheating on you..."

"You really think so, Andy...?" Asked the villainess in a venomous yet mocking tone.

The Goblin and Spectre narrowed their eyes as they watched the interaction between Luz and Iron Man with the Crimson Whip, then they were knocked down by a streetlamp that hit them in the back, causing them to fall on Iron Man and Luz.

Then the heroes stood up and soon they found themselves surrounded by a group of people who were chuckling, revealing new versions of the old villains, these being a new Electro, a guy dressed in an emerald green Ranger suit, a girl with the abilities of the Sandman, a man dressed in a black and more stylized version of the Vulture suit, the new holders of the Mantis, Bull and Wolf Miraculouses, as well as the Hybrid symbiote, a new Beetle, and a woman in a white suit who materialized out of nowhere.

But worst of all, floating right in front of the makeshift group of heroes, was an old enemy who was thought to be dead since the Great Massacre.

A young woman with light-blue curly hair named Cozy Glow, who carried a black book in her hands, which emitted some kind of red bolts and created a dark purple aura around it and its holder.

A book that Twilight Sparkle's protegé immediately recognized as the heroes got back on their feet.

"The Darkhold..." Growled Luz through clenched teeth.

"That's impossible... I thought the Sorceress Supreme had destroyed it." Spectre said incredulously.

"Twilight has always been gullible." Cozy said suddenly with a spectral voice. "But not even she knows about all the copies of the Darkhold that exist in other dimensions. One more sign that she and Peter thought they could finish off the Ignobilia's Witnesses, but now we are stronger than ever..."

"Great... Cozy Glow was already dangerous without powers..." The Goblin let out. "Also, are you seriously a member of the Witnesses? Because if so, then you lost your mind even more than everyone had thought."

"Oh, poor deluded child... But it is to be expected, you are an Avenger. You know nothing but the lies that Parker has created..."

"I wouldn't be so sure that they are lies, I mean, after all, Ignobilia was a monster and he did try to kill me..." Spectre blurted out.

"Ah, so you're one of the Abominations..." Doctor Octopus said. "Great, we have a chance to do more than just follow our savior's mission."

"Ugh, hearing you talk about that lunatic as a savior makes me sick..." Iron Man blurted out. "And even more so the fact that you want to continue with the ideals of that crazy woman."

"And under no circumstances are we going to allow you to do so..." Luz said.

"Cute, you haven't changed a bit, Noceda..." Cozy Glow said. "You're still the same stupid little girl who ended up on the Boiling Isles..."

"You have no idea how much I've changed, Glow..." Luz growled as her palms glowed an intense red.

"Keep it together, we're in a bind, Noceda." Said the Goblin as he jumped to recreate his glider and deployed a series of blades from his arm.

"Ugh, the Avengers have always overestimated the useless people." Cozy Glow let out as she fired a beam at Crimson Whip's solid-light prison, freeing her from it. "You four are nothing compared to my Sinister Sixteen."

"Regardless of the black magic you use now, we're going to beat you, Cozy." Luz said. "And even if you beat us, you won't beat Twilight. Ever."

"Like I said, Twilight is useless, always believing that she can control everything related to magic... So obtuse and gullible, holding onto that illusion of control."

"Well, she has her reasons to do it. She is the Sorceress Supreme after all." Said the voice of a woman behind the villains.

The Sinister Sixteen soon turned around, noticing that Scarlet Spider, Static, Serenity, Ronin, and Trixie Lulamoon were behind the villains, all ready to fight.

And as she saw them, Cozy Glow could not help but let out a laugh full of evil, being accompanied by the rest of the Sinister Sixteen not much later.

"I'm glad you find it funny to be beaten up by the Great and Powerful Trixie, Luz Noceda, Iron Man and the New Avengers, Cozy Glow." Trixie let out with a smirk. "Laughing will help you lessen the pain."

"No, on the contrary." Cozy said. "It's your outfit, it's ridiculous. You're more of a threat to good taste and fashion rather than to me."

"Don't underestimate Trixie, she has managed to beat me without using magic." Luz said.

"That's because you're even more pathetic than Trixie, dear. And how did she beat you? By making you faint after seeing one of her hideous outfits?" Cozy grinned. "But don't worry, I'll make your deaths relatively painless and quick..."

"I'm just warning you something, Cozy Glow..." Scarlet Spider growled. "Any group of Sinisters that has faced a Spider-Man, ends up losing. It always happens."

"Oh, I see the reason behind those horrible pajamas. You must be Spider-Man's daughter... I wonder what he'll think when she finds you squashed on the ground like a filthy insect..."

"And there we go... Another idiotic villain who thinks spiders are insects..." Scarlet Spider snapped annoyed. "Seriously, this always happens..."

"So aside from defying the direct orders of Twilight Sparkle, who by the way is the most powerful Sorcerer Supreme in history, you want to piss off the guy who killed the two biggest threats to existence till the date?" Static asked ironically, ignoring his teammate's comment. "God, I had heard that you were a lunatic, but I had never thought you were that suicidal..."

At Static's statement, Cozy Glow just smirked and waved, signaling the Sinister Sixteen to attack.

The villains let out a roar and split into groups, with one led by Cozy attacking the Goblin, Spectre, Luz, and Iron Man, while the rest were led by Hybrid and attacked the rest of the New Avengers and Trixie.

At the start of the fight, Luz lunged at Cozy Glow, unleashing a powerful beam of energy from the tip of her staff, which Cozy stopped with a simple wave of her hand, causing Luz to break out in a cold sweat and groan in frustration, realizing that she definitely couldn't beat Cozy without help, but still, she'd be able to hold her back until one of the Champion-level Avengers could arrive.

For his part, the Goblin activated a pair of missiles and fired at Rhino, knocking him down, then jumped out of his glider and kicked the Green Ranger in the face, knocking him backwards, but the villain got up again and lunged at the hero.

The Goblin gritted his teeth and dodged the Green Ranger's lunge, managing to knee him in the stomach hard and use both of his hands on his back to send him to the ground, but before he could throw another attack, one of the Crimson Whip's whips wrapped him, electrocuting him again and drawing him towards the villain.

Before the Goblin could fall into her clutches, a machine came flying into the area, knocking the villain down and freeing the New Avenger in its path, before firing some sort of amorphous mass of metallic color at Iron Man.

At the moment it touched the armor, the mass seemed to merge with it, immediately increasing its size and turning it into its Hulkbuster version, but to his misfortune, Rhino had recovered from the Goblin's attack and lunged at the young Stark.

With Iron Man still distracted, Rhino's horn pierced the armor rather easily, making Andy gasp as he could feel the tip making a considerable injury near his ribs, as well as the air being driven out of his lungs by the impact.

"Alert: Armor pierced. Severe injury to the user detected." Reported the suit's AI. "Initiating life support systems."

"Shut up and hurry up before I die, A.N.T.I.S..." Iron Man gasped.

In that moment, Rhino grinned and hurled Iron Man at a building, where the Crimson Whip grabbed him with her trademark weapons and slammed him several times against the ground.

For her part, Doctor Octopus grabbed the still dazed Goblin with one of her tentacles and squeezed him, making him grunt in pain.

Thinking quickly, the Goblin recreated a solid-light glider to send it crashing against the villain, but she already knew that move well and caught the construction with one of her tentacles to smash it to the ground, destroying it.

However, the Goblin smirked as she had done what he expected while he seized the moment to activate a device on his wrist to hack the harness that Doctor Octopus used to create her tentacles, causing the solid-light generators to sizzle for a few seconds and fade long enough for the Goblin to break free.

But unfortunately, the wielder of the Wolf Miraculous was already waiting for him and tackled him, slamming him into a wall as soon as he was free of the tentacles, then he grabbed him into a bone crushing hug that threatened to split him in half.

On the other hand, Spectre was fighting Mantis, the Sandgirl and Mysterio, with the Miraculous wielder managing to dodge her spells and hit her in the face as soon as she was close, the latter forcing her to keep dodging and distracted her enough so the former could slip past her and attack her, and the sorcerer trying to catch her with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, with the white-haired girl being cunning and elusive enough to escape each time.

As she grew tired of getting attacked, Spectre decided to use a small artifact that she kept on her belt, this being an solid-light generator that created an ace of spades card, which shone in blue.

Then, as she evaded another capture attempt from Mysterio and threw a car back at him with a portal, Spectre lunged at the bearer of the Mantis and managed to stick the card to her chest in an exchange of blows that ended up sending both back, with the villain falling on her back and Spectre being finally caught by the Sandgirl but smirking under her mask.

Mantis growled and stood up, pulling a knife from one of her tonfas and tried to stab Spectre with it, but the girl just chuckled as she watched the card on the villain's chest light up and cause 2,000 volts of electricity to run through her body, knocking her out.

However, Spectre's good mood faded soon as she was slammed into the wall by the Sandgirl's arm, which reformed and took hold of all of her limbs, beginning to pull at them and make her scream in pain.

On other side of the battlefield, Trixie smirked at the attacks of the new Beetle, who despite having a fairly powerful armor, was not able to give the illusionist a single blow, who disappeared and used holograms to take her up to the top of a building.

Then, after evading more of the Beetle's beams thanks to her holograms, the illusionist created a portal behind the armored woman and fired a couple of repulsors rays at her from the solid-light repulsor generators on her gloves, managing to knock the villain off her feet after hitting the thrusters on her back and making her crash into the ground, rendering her unconscious.

Once her opponent was down she turned her attention to her husband, Rory, who was having a hard time fighting Hybrid, because despite his regeneration and vampiric abilities, the symbiote was much more powerful, and it was giving him a beating.

So, using her dimensional scissors, Trixie opened two portals, one where she used some energy fields created by her gauntlets to pick up and toss the unconscious Beetle into one, hitting Hybrid in the back.

Then she jumped into the other as her boots charged up some energy to kick Hybrid in the face and send him crashing into a lamppost as the illusionist helped the vampire to get up.

However, before Rory could even thank his wife, a pair of reddish tentacles wrapped around them and slammed them into the ground as Hybrid closed in on them with murderous intent.

Meanwhile, Scarlet Spider and Static were fighting Electro, the Green Ranger, and the Vulture together, with Scarlet Spider delivering a double slingshot kick to the Vulture's face while Static redirected Electro's blast at the recently recovered Green Ranger.

"Couldn't you think of something better than attacking someone who handles electricity with electricity, Electro?!" Static snapped as the Green Ranger was crashed into a car by the discharge.

"The Sinisters have never been one of the brightest groups!" Scarlet Spider said as she spun the Vulture in the air with two weblines to crash him into a lamppost.

"You're a bunch of kids who don't know what they're getting into!" The Vulture roared as he fired several solid-light feathers at Scarlet Spider.

"And soon not even your brave father will be able to stop us, little spider! Not with Cozy Glow having the Darkhold in his hands!" Said the Green Ranger as he lunged at Static. "Soon, the quest that Ignobilia started will be complete! And Cozy will take our savior's empty throne!"

"So that's what this' all about?!" Scarlet Spider roared as she and Static dodged the attacks of the Vulture and the Green Ranger. "You guys are just more of that lunatic's crazy fans?!"

"And I thought you were brave for challenging S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers!" Static said while he narrowly dodged the attacks of the Green Ranger's sword. "You guys are just a bunch of idiots!"

After saying that, Static gave the Green Ranger a powerful elbow hit to the stomach and gave him a backflip kick to the chin to avoid the Vulture's solid-light feathers.

After managing to evade the Vulture's solid-light feathers, Scarlet Spider shot a web at the flying villain and pulled on it to propel herself at him and punch him in the chin.

Then she used another webline to move to his back and hit the thruster of his flying harness with all her might, feeling a couple of her bones breaking but managing to punch through the metal to rip out a couple of wires and circuits to disable the harness.

Once he began to plummet, Scarlet Spider directed said fall with a webline at Electro and jumped off the villain's back just before he slammed into his teammate, to then spin a web into Electro's eyes, distracting him long enough for Static to wrap his grappling hook around him and slam him to the ground, whereupon both young heroes jumped up and landed hard on the abdomens of Electro and the Ranger, suffocating them and momentarily knocked them out.

And finally, they both heard the Vulture manage to reactivate his harness to take flight, immediately latching on to him with the grappling hook and a webline, and propelled themselves to kick with both legs and all their strength the villain in the face, rendering him unconscious.

After that, Static and Scarlet Spider sighed and looked at each other, sighing in annoyance, just before Scarlet Spider started to resent the injury she got trying to disable the Vulture's harness, prompting her to use some webbing to improvise a wristband

"Are you ok?" Static asked.

"Yes, my hand just hurts a little." Scarlet Spider lied. "Hitting metal is not a good idea, not even with a suit like mine."

"If you say so... I never thought the Ignobilia Witnesses would go this far."

"Neither did I, I just thought of them as a bunch of crazy people, I didn't think they were actual terrorists... Luckily, the Avengers still exist."

"Oh, my dear girl... Your imbecilic father has definitely clouded your judgment..." Said a reverberating voice. "The Avengers are the world's problem..."

At that moment, the artificial Spider-Sense of Scarlet Spider's suit activated, prompting her to jump towards a wall, grabbing Static by the cloak of his suit and managing to dodge a capture spell from Cozy Glow.

However, both teens gasped as they saw she had trapped all of the other Avengers, snatching them from their minions and causing them all to start screaming in pain as they were squeezed by the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak that Cozy Glow conjured.

"The Avengers are nothing but a drag on the world... Protecting ruthless killers and criminals. And how could they not? If their leader is the greatest criminal in history." Cozy said.

"My father is not a criminal! He is the greatest hero of all time! And everyone knows it!" Scarlet Spider snapped.

"Your beloved father is the worst of all! Do you think that the lack of supervillains for 10 years is normal? He took our savior from us and began an unopposed reign of terror! Or at least that's how it was until I found the Darkhold..."

With that said, Cozy chuckled and tightened the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak around the heroes, causing them to groan in pain.

"Release them... Now!" Static and Scarlet Spider demanded.

"As if I were going to listen to you, Avengers..." Cozy Glow laughed. "This is the end..."

After saying that, Cozy Glow cast a magical blast at Scarlet Spider and Static, who managed to dodge it thanks to a webline that the young woman in the spider suit spun just in time, then Scarlet Spider released Static and he used his grappling hook to swing in the opposite direction of Scarlet Spider.

After jumping again and doing some maneuvers, Static created a pair of explosive solid-light cards with his belt and threw them at the Bands that held Ryuko and Spectre, managing to destroy them and free them.

For her part, Scarlet Spider changed the configuration of her web-shooters to spin a special web that the heroine's father had created at her suggestion, which emitted a powerful anti-spell, then fired several webballs at the Bands. Crimson that restrained the Goblin and Serenity, ending the spell and freeing their teammates.

After that, the teens dodged a few more attacks and capture attempts from Cozy Glow, then, the New Avengers and Spectre formed a half circle in front of her, glaring at her and taking an attack stance, to which the villain smirked.

"As long as at least one of us is still standing..." Scarlet Spider said.

"... You won't be able to claim victory..." Said the Goblin. "Avengers Assemble!"

With that said, the Goblin grabbed Static's arm and used it to spin him around on his axis, throwing him against Cozy Glow, as the young hero covered himself in lightnings and swung his arms out in front to punch Cozy with both fists.

Then, Static hit a shield that the villain created around her, however, Static simply smiled defiantly when he saw that his goal of distracting Cozy had been accomplished. At this, the young woman turned around and stopped a Bolt of Balthaak from Spectre.

However, Cozy felt even more frustrated and alarmed to see the same smirk that Static had given her under the sorceress's mask, as the real attack came from Serenity, who had charged another powerful Bolt of Balthaak, sending Cozy back, knocked out after crashing into a building while her Crimson Bands of Cyttorak disappeared.

Almost instantly after that, the webslinging heroine spun a pair of weblines at Doctor Octopus and charged towards her, double-kicking her and using another webline to propel herself to punch her in the face to knock her out, letting her fall to the ground unconscious.

"Alright, Avengers, the Vulture, the Ranger, the Beetle, Electro, Mantis and Doc Ock are out!" Scarlet Spider snapped as she swung back into action. "We've got ten left to go!"

Meanwhile, the Goblin re-created his Goblin-Glider to fire a pair of solid-light missiles at Rhino, hitting him directly and sending the villain several meters back, followed by a pumpkin bomb that detonated and realeased a foam-like substance that trapped Rhino and restrained his movements as the villain growled and roared.

"Rhino's down! Nine dorks left!" The Goblin reported.

For his part, Iron Man's Hulkbuster repaired the damage Rhino had done to it and the young hero pounced on the Crimson Whip, grabbing the bulky-armored woman by the left arm with astonishing ease to lift her up and slam her back into the pavement.

After this, the villain tried to counterattack by turning her right arm into some kind of repulsor-ray heavy machine gun, but Iron Man beat her to it and created a solid-light blade in his arm to cut the weapon.

Then he shot her right in the abdomen with the repulsor cannon in his left palm, burying her ten meters under the pavement and destroying her armor's reactor, rendering it useless.

"I think I made my point clear to Svetlana!" Iron Man chuckled. "Eight more to go!"

At the same time, Trixie and Rory charged against Hybrid, with Trixie using her gauntlets to fire two specially calibrated repulsor beams to deliver a powerful sonic blast to the symbiotic villain, causing him to scream in pain.

Then, Rory grabbed him around the waist and used a supplex against him, crashing him headfirst into the pavement.

With this, Trixie snapped her fingers, creating two fireballs with her gauntlets, which she linked to fire a torrent of flames at the symbiote, just after Rory moved away from him, causing him intense pain and considerably weakening the symbiote.

Finally, the vampire lunged again at Hybrid and knocked the weakened symbiotic villain out with a powerful punch.

"Hybrid is out of combat!" Trixie yelled. "Just seven left!"

For their part, Spectre and the Goblin joined forces against Shocker and Mysterio, with the sorceress throwing more trap cards accompanied by pumpkin bombs from the Goblin, which caused a powerful shock wave that sent the villains crashing into a wall in a bad way.

Before they could get to their feet to counterattack, the Goblin flung a pair of pumpkin blades to destroy Shocker's gauntlets and pin her by the suit to the wall.

"That makes ten!" The Goblin snapped. "Only six left!"

Meanwhile, Spectre hurled an electric card at Mysterio to stun him and seize the chance to trap him in the Mirror Dimension, but not before snatching the sling ring that he had in his hand.

"You mean five, 'cuz Mysterio's locked and gone!" Spectre chuckled loudly as she toyed with Mysterio's sling ring.

"You may have beaten them but you can't beat the Sandgirl!" Sandgirl roared as she increased her size.

"You really think so?!" Yelled the New Avengers in unison.

At that moment, the Goblin came flying by in his glider, drawing the Sandgirl's attention to him as she reached out to try and capture him in her gigantic hands.

However, her arm was soon smelted as Static gathered energy from a nearby powerline and fired a powerful lightning at it, managing to turn it into glass, which Ronin shattered with a couple of explosive kunai almost instantly, then the Sandgirl roared and casted a murderous glare at the Dragon Miraculous holder.

To her misfortune, the attacks had been nothing but a distraction for the most powerful member of the New Avengers to cast the Seal of Twilight over her hands and cojure up her mother's signature spell, the Fierce Fire of Friendship, by gathering some of her friends' energy.

However, the young sorceress forgot the Sandgirl wasn't the only villain left, so the Wolf Miraculous holder charged up his special power, the Sonic Howl, to knock the oblivious sorceress out.

Fortunately, the Sorceress Supreme's assistant, Luz, saw what the villain was trying and twirled her staff around herself, charging up a magic blast and firing it at him, knocking him out and making Serenity gasp as she realized what had almost happened.

"Didn't I tell you to never leave your back open like that, Serenity?" Luz nagged the young sorceress. "Four to go."

"Sorry! But to make up for my mistake, make that four a three!" Serenity shouted as she casted the spell. "Feel the power of friendship, you foul villainess!"

With that said, the Seal of Twilight appeared under the Sandgirl, then a powerful torrent of flames was fired underneath the gigantic villainess, making her scream in agony as nearly all her body was turned to glass, save for a small part of her that remained right in the core of the glass figure that Serenity's spell had created with the villainess' body.

And to keep her from escaping, Luz conjured the Shield of the Seraphim around the remaining sand and chuckled at the Sandgirl's attempts to break free.

Meanwhile, two of the last villains just watched in despair as their teammates were taken out one by one, being the Bull Miraculous holder and the girl with the white jumpsuit.

And as both shared a glance and a nod of agreement, showing their decision to abandon the Sinister Sixteen to their luck, someone tapped on their shoulders and made them gasp in fear as they turned their backs, only to end up receiving two repulsor beams to the stomach, sending them crashing into the glass figure that Serenity had created, rendering them unconscious.

"Two more down, only one Sinister left." A voice said, drawing everyone's attention. "Though I remember Llorona being more cunning and intangible..."

"Father?" The Goblin said as he looked at the newcomer American Son.

"You and your friends were taking too long, but now I see that it's more because both Twilight and Peter are slacking off on their training sessions with the Avengers."

"Oh, shut up, Harold, as if you had done better with ONE villain just yesterday." Trixie huffed.

"We're just a little rusty, that's all." Iron Man snapped.

"AND SOON YOU ALL WILL BE DEAD!!!" An unearthly voice roared as the ground shook violently.

At that moment, the last member of the Sinister Sixteen began to float as the sky turned red and the whole city felt a powerful earthquake that cracked the street in which the fight was taking place.

Then several cars, lampposts and pieces of debris started floating around the figure of Cozy Glow, whose hair had spiked up as the aura and rays emmitted by her body became more visible and violent, then she charged up more magic energy in her hands and released a feral roar, which shattered all of the nearby glass.

After that, the villainess threw the objects she was lifting with her magic at the heroes as well as firing magic beam after magic beam, in an attempt to kill them.

American Son, Luz, Spectre, Serenity and Iron Man quickly jumped to the front of the heroes, creating barriers to protect them, doing so barely on time.

Then, the Goblin seized the smoke and the dust clouds created by Cozy Glow's attack, to fly on his Goblin-Glider in an attempt to grab the Darkhold and put an end to the Sinister Sixteen, much to American Son's dismay.

Since Cozy had expected such a move from any of the younger heroes, she grinned evilly as she fired a beam at the Goblin, one she knew he couldn't dodge in time.

The Goblin gasped as he was blinded by the light emitted from Cozy's attack, prompting him to shield his eyes with his arms, and hoping he could withstand the powerful blast.

However, the blast never reached him as the boy was pushed away from it by American Son, making him scream in pain as his legs were caught by the attack.

"DAD!!!" The Goblin yelled as he turned to see his father.

As American Son began to plummet due to the lack of the repulsors in his boots, Spectre used her sling ring to open a portal right underneath him, which made him fall next to her and gasp as the impact drove the air out of him.

Then, as Spectre was about to use the Healing of Teresing to heal him and while the Goblin and the rest of the Avengers began the fight to get rid of Cozy once and for all, she gasped as she realized that the affected area had been nothing but machinery.

"I'll be fine!" American Son stated as he turned around.

"No, sitting there like a fish in a barrel, you won't!" The Goblin said as he fired a solid-light missile at Cozy.

"A.N.T.I.S., get Miranda to help the old man!" Iron Man ordered his AI while he tried to punch the sorceress.

"Already on it, sir." The AI replied.

While Iron Man's massive fist impacted a shield around Cozy Glow, which the sorceress responded with a blast that punched Iron Man out of the Hulkbuster and made him crash into a building, the machine that had fired the nanomachines that created the Hulkbuster hovered over American Son and Spectre, firing a smaller viscous mass at the older armored hero that quickly melded into his armor and repaired all the damage, even rebuilding his legs, and once he was ready, he flew into combat being followed by Spectre.

Meanwhile, Cozy Glow was roaring angrily as she cast spell after spell, flinging rubble, cars and pretty much everything around her in an attempt to kill the heroes that had stood in her way and ruined her plans.

Seizing the fact that Cozy was too focused on trying to harm their teammates to notice them, Luz and Serenity secretly conjured the Seal of Twilight under Cozy Glow, managing to use the Fierce Fire of Friendship against her, making her scream in pain as the spell burned her inside out.

Before her opponents could put a stop to her once and for all, Cozy made a gesture with her hands and created a shield around her, which she soon expanded, destroying the Seal under her and turning to glare daggers at the sorceresses.

However, Scarlet Spider and Ronin and keep her inside the seal with a coordinated attack based on Scarlet Spider flinging Ronin against the evil sorceress so that she could kick her in the face.

Then Luz also conjured the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind the supervillain, but Cozy managed to evade the spell, but she didn't realize that both American Son and the Goblin had thought ahead of her and were waiting for her with a pumpkin bomb that the New Avenger flung at Cozy and was quickly detonated by a repulsor beam from American Son.

Meanwhile, Luz's former mentor's palisman, Owlbert, took the Darkhold and threw it at her current master's feet, where Cozy attempted to retrieve it with a spell, before Scarlet Spider spun a web at the book, drawing it to her, moving it out of reach, followed by a lightning bolt and a Bolt of Balthaak from Static and Spectre, which sent her backwards, right into a solid-light prison that Iron Man had created.

Once she found herself stripped of her power, the New Avengers landed in front of her with half-smiles as the villainess screamed in frustration.

"Cozy Glow's Sweet Sinister Sixteen... all defeated." Scarlet Spider said as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Way to go, New Avengers."

"The only thing I feel bad about is that Lucky-Beetle is not part of this victory." Ronin sighed as she sheathed her sword.

"What a better way to welcome him back into the team than into a winner team." The Goblin stated as he hopped off and deactivated his glider.

"So, you guys finally feeling better about your recent failures?" Spectre asked. "Good, I was tired of Goblin's depression."

"See, Serenity? Told you that you and your friends were good heroes." Trixie smiled as she patted Serenity in the back.

"Thanks, Trix, at least you had faith in me and my friends." Serenity smiled.

"You've done well, Nity." Luz praised. "You truly are a powerful witch. And one day, you will be a much more powerful Sorceress Supreme than your mother."

"Yeah, yeah, Nity is the most powerful hero among us." Static chuckled. "Enough with the praising or else she'll get a big head from it."

"Indeed, but considering this is nothing but a cover for something bigger... I would not have lowered my guard yet." A woman's voice snapped.

At the sudden response from a voice that none of the children recognized, the Avengers turned around and gasped as they were quickly trapped by the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, while the owner of the mysterious voice erupted into laughter.

"Well, well, picture me impressed, I had not thought my minions would get thwarted this soon." A woman dressed in red said as she strolled between the trapped heroes. "But this just shows that, despite the age and your own insecurities, you are an actual threat."

"Wanda Maximoff?" Serenity asked incredulously.

"Call me Scarlet Witch, honey... actually, never mind, it's not like you guys are gonna live."

"What the fuck are you doing, Wanda?! I thought we were allies!" Trixie said as Scarlet Witch erased her mouth to shut her up.

"Allies? Did you really think that? After you all left my brother to die alone against Ignobilia?!"

"Quicksilver sacrificed himself!" American Son snapped. "Pietro just wanted us to keep you and his daughter safe!"

"Lies! Pietro died because all of you were too cowardly to face Ignobilia up front!"

"No, he's telling the truth, but you don't know it because you went to fight her, thinking that just because you're the Scarlet Witch, you could beat her and she knocked you out literally with just a flick of her fingers!" Iron Man stated.

"Never mind that... my main objective was fulfilled." Wanda said as she pried the Darkhold from Scarlet Spider's grasp. "I must thank you, Cozy, you and your little friends were such good puppets to bring me the Darkhold."

"What?! No! I am nobody's puppet!" Cozy stated.

"Oh, darling, you are, you've always been but you've never realized it." Wanda said, her tone full of venom.

In that moment, Scarlet Witch snapped her fingers and as Cozy was freed from her mind controlling spell, making the curly-haired woman begin to realize all the odd things she had been doing since a couple months ago, all the times she suddenly stopped thinking, all the times she ended up somewhere without knowing how she had gotten there.

She couldn't even remember how she had gotten the Darkhold in the first place.

And while Cozy started having a breakdown for not realizing she had been but a piece in a chessboard, Scarlet Witch walked up to her, dragging the woman out of her stupor and making her gasp in terror as she saw the most fake and coldest smile she had ever seen in Wanda's face.

Something that made her feel the bone-chilling embrace of death upon her very soul.

"Anyway, I think you've spent your utility to me and since I need to cut any lose ends..." Scarlet Witch grinned in a way that terrified Cozy even more.

With that said, Scarlet Witch snapped her fingers once more and Cozy Glow screamed in agony as a powerful beam was shot from under her and quickly destroyed the spells that detained her, and charred her into ashes, right in front of everyone's eyes, while Scarlet Witch just grinned innocently, like a kid who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"How could you do that?!" Luz asked in disbelief.

"Oh, please, the little bitch has been nothing but a nuisance ever since we met her, even you wanted to do that, and don't lie to me, Noceda, I can see it in you..." Scarlet Witch said as she opened the Darkhold and was immediately surrounded by a dark aura. "But don't worry, soon you will all meet her and the other fuckers in hell... am I not a darling? I'm even reuniting the whole team back together!"

"You know, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that from a villain, I would be the world's richest man... or well, I'd still be but have double the fortune I own right now." A deep voice snapped behind Scarlet Witch.

At the newcomer's snarky response, Scarlet Witch couldn't help but chuckle and turn around, finding herself face to face with Peter Parker, who was glaring daggers at her but keeping a calm temper as he slowly walked up to the place.

"Ah, Peter, I was wondering if you'd show up. Glad to see you made it. Now you can watch me kill your daughter and your Avengers." Scarlet Witch giggled evilly.

"I'm not gonna ask why because it's obvious that you've gone insane, however I do wanna offer you some... mercy. Surrender now and I promise I won't hurt you... too much, that is."

"You don't have that fancy power you used against Ignobilia, Peter, you are nothing but an ant to me."

"You'd be surprised. The Ultra Instinct is something that roots deep inside those who attain it." Peter said as he shrugged. "Well, I warned you."

"Come and face me, then... show me what the Amazing Spider-Man is truly capable of..."

"I would but I didn't come here to kill you. Just to distract you." The leader of the Avengers said as he pointed at someone behind Wanda. "However... She did."

At that moment, a chill ran down Scarlet Witch's spine, prompting her to freeze as she knew just who Peter was talking about.

Still, not willing to lose, she prepared her last ace up her sleeve and turned around as fast as she could to yell:

"DEATH!"

All of a sudden, a powerful wave was produced from the Scarlet Witch's body, quickly incinerating the Sorceress Supreme's body from existence.

Right after this, Serenity screamed in horror as Scarlet Witch had just killed her mother, making her cry in agony as she futilely struggled with her binds and tried to free herself to avenge her while she saw the burning remains of her Cloak of Levitation fall to the ground.

"NOT EVEN THE SORCERESS SUPREME CAN BEAT ME! I AM UNSTOPPABLE NOW!" Scarlet Witch laughed evilly as she brought the crying girl close to her. "And now let's proceed by erasing Twilight Sparkle's spawn for good..."

"Set me free to show you what a true sorceress is capable of!" Serenity snapped as her tearful eyes emitted a purple and green glow.

"Serenity, stay calm." Peter asked in a serene tone. "This isn't over yet."

"Oh really? Why do you think so, Petey?" Wanda giggled as she constricted Serenity tighter with the Bands.

"You just made the biggest mistake when facing an Avenger: You didn't make sure Twilight was really dead."

Another chill ran down Scarlet Witch's spine in that second, then the Darkhold caught flames right in her hands, causing them to turn to ashes along with the book as she fell to her knees, clutching her injured extremities.

While Wanda looked at the still-burning stumps she now had instead of hands, she caught a glimpse of Twilight's cloak moving and regenerating, then she heard her voice say:

"Life."

Once more, the area was shaken by a powerful wave and a blinding light that quickly reintegrated Twilight's body, and once she was fully reconstructed by her spell, the Sorceress Supreme glared at Wanda as she started levitating, emanating a glowing purple aura that just made her look much more menacing and that made Wanda cower in fear.

Wanda tried to escape flying, but she was quickly brought down to earth with a webline from Peter that slammed her face first into the ground, which prompted her to turn around and display a look of total despair while her heart rate became more frantic as Twilight closed in on her.

"Wanda Maximoff, also known as the Scarlet Witch..." Twilight said in an unearthly voice. "You have gone against the laws of the Sorceress Supreme and Director of W.A.N.D., you caused a massive attack in this city, you comitted murder against a defenseless woman, you dared to destroy my body, and what is worse, you dared to attack my daughter, my friends, my protègès and my daughter's teammates... and for all your crimes, you will pay with your life."

In that moment, Scarlet Witch tried to attack Twilight in a desperate last resort for escaping, but without her hands, the beam that she fired was pitiful and didn't even graze the Sorceress Supreme's clothes.

And as she was tired of Wanda's attempts, Twilight simply conjured her seal under the Scarlet Witch, making her pupils shrink to pinpricks as she tried to run out of the Seal of Twilight, only to crash into a barrier.

Wanda's terror increased as the Seal glowed more and more intensely until it produced a beam identical to the one that incinerated Cozy, but much more powerful as Wanda couldn't even scream before being completely erased from existence, leaving not even ashes behind.

Right after that, the Bands that held the heroes down disappeared, along with the spell that had sealed Trixie's mouth, as a couple of transports, both from the Department of Damage Control and S.H.I.E.L.D. descended to begin the reconstruction of the city and take the rest of the Sinister Sixteen into custody.

And still displaying her power, Twilight flew down to Serenity, who looked down and toyed with her hands nervously.

"Serenity Pines Sparkle..." Twilight said as her unearthly voice began to fade. "Haven't we discussed already about your escapades with those... delinquents?.

"I've seen people die for making much lighter insults to Peter's daughter, Twilight, so I'd hold my tongue while he's here." American Son snapped.

"Whatever, Harry... and you two." Twilight snapped as she directed her attention to Luz and Trixie. "I thought I had told you to keep Serenity safe."

"In our defense, Serenity is quite skilled and she was safe thanks to her friends, Master." Luz stated. "You should already know, that's why you gave her the Eye."

"And also, they might be delinquents, but so were we when we were their age, 'Master'." Trixie said with a sarcastic tone in the last word. "Or have you forgotten why your superhero name is 'Midnight'?"

"Enough. I'm not in the mood for any arguments, right now." Peter said calmly, interrupting Twilight as she was about to reply. "Thank you all, you did a great job. Especially you, New Avengers, your progress is outstanding."

"It's nothing you and your friends didn't do back in the day, Dr. Parker." The Goblin said.

"I'd differ, it took me about seven encounters with super people to get my first victory and other three to start being a team player." Peter said.

"I told you to stop this madness, Peter, and you still defy me." Twilight snapped as she forced Peter to look at her.

"Because these teenage idiots are just like us back in the day." American Son sighed, putting himself between Peter and Twilight. "As much as I hate it, they are the next generation of heroes."

"Wait, what?" The Goblin said.

"What you heard, Goblin. Just don't make me say it again."

"But I thought..."

"So did I. However, forbidding you to do this will only get you to do it behind my back and increase your chances of getting killed." American Son admitted. "I don't want to lose the only other person that gives my life any sort of sense and purpose."

With that said, American Son stepped out of his armor, wearing a rather casual outfit instead of his common bathrobe, which quickly folded into a briefcase and put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"You have my permission to do this. Just promise me you won't bite more than you can chew, and that you'll train always."

At that moment, the Goblin detransformed and shoved his father's hand away as he turned his back and put his hands in his pockets.

"Fine, whatever..." Stanley said dismissively. "But don't think this changes anything between us, I'm just doing it because I owe you one for saving me from Cozy and because it's the first time in ten years you've shown any sort of care towards me."

"Didn't think of it, but I'm glad you understand."

"As for me, mother." Serenity snapped as she deactivated her unstable nanoparticle armor. "I-I am a good sorceress, I can handle these things and I'm not letting my friends down. U-unlike you, I'll never let friendship down."

With that said, everyone around the two sorceresses gasped, even Twilight herself, then, as she was about to reply, she was interrupted once more by Peter.

"She's right and you know it." Peter said. "We've all let friendship down and the only time I've seen us work together was with Marinette's memory loss, and even that was short lived because of all the friction among us. We could learn a thing or two from these... what did you call them, again? Ah, yes, delinquents."

"Dad..." Scarlet Spider said as she sighed. "Not now, ok? No more fighting, we managed to stop Cozy's Sinister Sixteen because we worked together. Let's just leave it like that."

"And you're also right, Felicity..." Peter sighed, stopping any other attempts at more snarky responses. "Twi, we gotta talk with Lisa, the Fleet's nearly done but we need your help with the magical add-ons."

Still feeling shaken, both from her daughter's response and the things that just happened, Twilight sighed and simply walked past Peter, heading to a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport.

"Take me to the Helicarrier, then. Then we'll talk about this, young lady." Twilight said as she turned to look at her daughter sternly before hopping into one of the transports.

"Very well, New Avengers." Peter said proudly. "Go to the Beholder and then go straight home, I'm tired of having to make up excuses for you all to be absent at your schools."

"It's what heroes do, dad. And I know for a fact that you used to do it even for things that didn't have to do with heroics back in the day." Scarlet Spider grinned under her mask.

"Ah, a snarky response... I should ground you for that but you're lucky you made your old man proud today, little spider."

With that said, Peter just chuckled and kissed her daughter's head, gesture which the young heroine replied with a hug while her teammates couldn't help but deign a look of envy at their healthy family interaction.

After breaking the embrace with his daughter, Peter gave a thumbs up to the rest of the New Avengers and walked into the transport that was holding the still unconscious remaining members of the Sinister Sixteen.

"I thought you said we needed to talk to Lisa." Twilight said over her earpiece.

"E.D.I.T.H. will take my place while I deal with something at the 42. I won't take long." Peter replied as the transports began the takeoff sequence.

Once the S.H.I.E.L.D. transports took off, the New Avengers, accompanied by Spectre, entered a portal than Serenity conjured with her sling ring, one that led straight into the Beholder.

And while Spectre looked around, Felicity and Tomoko took off their respective masks sighing in relief.

"I love being Scarlet Spider, but now I get why dad never wore a complete mask after the Mystic War." Felicity sighed.

"So this is what Dr. Parker has spent all that taxpayer money in." Spectre said as her costume began to fade. "Cool."

"The Beholder is the epitome of technology, Lupa. The culmination of my father's dream of a safer world." Felicity said as she deactivated her own costume.

"Yeah, nothing like a fucking space gun capable of erasing a city without any effort to keep peace. And I'm not being sarcastic, I do think that's the right way." The white-haired girl chuckled.

"Whatever, dwarf. I'm gonna go shower. C'mon, Lemuel." Felicity said as she walked away while she rubbed her aching hand.

"Oh, so Limpy's not a virgin loser like I thought? Way to go, Limpy!" Lupa grinned.

"I love you too, sis..." Static snapped as he rolled his eyes and took off his eye mask to walk after Felicity.

"Watch your envy, Lupa, your hair might turn green instead of white!" Felicity chuckled as Lemy caught up with her.

"Don't give her more reasons to make fun of us, Felicity..."

"I had forgotten why I don't like you..." Ronin said as she rolled her eyes and took off her mask. "Do us a favor, Stan, keep your bitch's leash as short as possible."

"Oh, the ever-so-puritanical Ice Queen has insulted me. I feel honored." Lupa grinned, truly humored by the situation.

"Enough, you two." Stan said. "You know how much of a troll she is, so stop fueling her, Tomoko."

"Thanks for the compliment, honey." Lupa chuckled.

Stan just rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's actions and just carried her over his shoulder, still with that stupid grin plastered in her face, leaving Serenity and Tomoko alone while the former grimaced and the latter clicked her tongue in contempt at the white-haired girl's expression.

"I don't know what Stan sees in her." Serenity stated with a grimace.

"Bet she cursed him or something. I also can not understand it." Tomoko sighed. "Let's go. I want to tell Micah all about our victory."

"That oughta cheer him up, but are you sure you're ready to do this?"

"No, so let's hurry before I change my mind."

In that moment, Serenity put a hand on Tomoko's shoulder and gave her a comforting smile, gesture which the green-eyed girl replied with a smile of her own.

---

(Later, at the 42)

---

The Negative Zone.

Discovered by the late Reed Richards about 30 years ago, the alternate dimension was a box full of surprises.

One that was calmed about 10 years ago thanks to the Avengers making a deal with Annihilus, allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to reopen the 42 and refit it as one of the ten prisons at the disposal of the Three Sisters, being the one specialized in containment of mutates.

However, that day, the 42 had received a transport that carried all sorts of villains, being the remaining members of Cozy Glow's Sinister Sixteen, all of them wearing numerous devices and suppressor's that prevented them from using their abilities to try and escape.

Not that they would've gone too far, since one of the deals with Annihilus had been that any escapee would become sustainment to the Swarm.

And now, the Sinister Sixteen were once more awake, being held to a table and its chairs by multiple chains, shackles and handcuffs, waiting to be interrogated and then split into the other nine prisons accordingly to their respective powers.

However, the looks on their faces said that, despite their crude situation, they could only feel contempt and boredom.

"Yo, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents? Think you guys're gonna finish your bureaucracy bullshit today? My ass' getting sore from your cheap seats." The new Llorona said.

"Oh, sorry for the wait, your group is so varied and you comitted so many crimes that paperwork was complete madness." Peter said as he walked into the room. "So, you guys comfy? Need a beverage?"

"Enough with your nonsense." Dr. Octopus said. "Where are you gonna send you and when? Waste not any more of our time."

"Well, you see. As I said before, your crimes are numerous and one of them is being members of the Witnesses, so I'll be blunt. You guys are pretty much fucked right now."

"Oh, I'm so scared." Rhino chuckled.

"You should be. At this point, I've got two options for you: Either you work for S.H.I.E.L.D., which would come with a full pardon, a good pay and quite a few other perks, such as being part of the Secret Avengers..."

"Beat it, twerp! I ain't gonna work for no S.H.I.E.L.D. mother fuckers!" Rhino snapped as he slammed his fists against the table.

"It's because you haven't heard the perks and the other option."

"I ain't listening to any of your shit!"

"I seriously recommend you to do it, because otherwise you'll be choosing the other choice automatically..."

"Whatever it is, I bet's better than talking to a little bitch like you."

"I'm trying to be nice to you, I seriously try. But you're being really rude and I'm not gonna tolerate it."

"Aww, is the little bitch gonna cry?"

"I'm warning you."

"Oh, I'm so..."

In that moment, Rhino was silenced all of a sudden, his voice being replaced by a splat sound and a scream of horror.

Right in the middle of Rhino's sentence, Peter had had enough of the villain's retorts, and much quicker than any normal being, he had sighed and thrown a punch at Rhino's face, shutting his mouth so quickly that he had made him bite a piece of his tongue off.

And not just that, since Peter had struck with such force that he didn't just punch a hole through his face, he had made his head blow to bits, causing the splat sound as rests of brain matter, blood and fragments of his skull stained the wall behind him.

And while Rhino's headless body fell to the table with a thud, Dr. Octopus screamed in horror as she had also gotten a few blood drops on her face, while the rest of the Sinister Sixteen tried to back away from their partner's blood, which was quickly spreading over the table.

"W-what the fuck did you just do?" A stunned Green Ranger stuttered.

"I told him that he was being very rude and that if he didn't listen to me, he would automatically be accepting the other choice." Peter said as he got a little handkerchief to clean his hand and glasses. "Anyway, I can guess that you know what the other option is."

"So you're gonna kill us...?" Asked a terrified Mysterio.

"What? No! Well, I mean, you will die if you choose it but I'm not gonna kill you. I just did it with him because he made me mad and I needed to make a statement."

"How could you do that...?" Asked a frightened Crimson Whip.

"Oh, Svetlana, did you already forget about me? That actually hurts, especially after everything I helped you and Andy to hide from Tony and Pepper while you guys were dating." Peter chuckled in a tone that made the villains gulp hard. "Oh, well, since your options are getting out of this room wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform or a body bag, I can refresh your memory and introduce myself to your little friends... My name is Peter Parker, but you guys may know me better as... the Amazing Spider-Man, current leader of the Avengers, scientist extraordinaire and in your particular case, the one man who gets to decide how long you will live..."

A collective gasp was heard in that second, then the villains looked at Peter in terror, knowing full well the kind of a man he was and how he had managed to actually wipe out crime and supervillains off the face of earth, not to mention the sort of opponents he had defeated.

And knowing that they were nothing but ants compared to them, especially since their trump card had been nothing but a puppet to someone who was killed off by one of his friends without even hesitating, they felt a shiver run down their spines as Peter just grinned in a rather deranged way.

"I'm joining S.H.I.E.L.D!" The remaining members of the Sinister Sixteen said in unison.

"Really? Oh, terrific!" Peter grinned innocently like a kid on Christmas morning. "I'm gonna get the documents you need to sign, your uniforms and your IDs. Or well, I'll send an agent to do that, 'cause it's gonna take a while and I gotta go somewhere else to check on something quite more important than scolding bratty kids. Have a good day and welcome to the Avengers."

With the grin still in his face, Peter simply exited the room as if nothing had happened while a couple of agents entered to drag Rhino's corpse out of the room, leaving a trail of blood behind them as some more agents entered the room carrying some piles of documents, giving a good bunch to each of the still shaken villains, who were just wondering if this deal, which felt more like a pact with the devil, was really a better choice than the cold embrace of death.

Meanwhile, Leopardon got out of Peter's formal jacket and looked at him sternly as the man just looked at him nonchalantly.

"I know, I know, I didn't have to kill him, but you know the rules. The sole existence of the Witnesses is forbidden." Peter said.

"Rules you made." The spider kwami said.

"Rules I had to make to keep the world safe."

"Keep the world safe? Are you listening to yourself?! You just killed a man in cold blood and made snarky comments about it!"

"I am just doing what I should've done in the first place to prevent this."

"Peter, please, you can still stop this madness."

"Madness? No, my dear old kwami..." Peter chuckled sarcastically. "Madness was kicking villains' asses every single goddamn week, put them into prison so that they could bust out, wreak havoc once more and repeat the process all over again until either side died."

"You can't be serious... please, Peter, I beg of you, you can still go back to the man you were before we heard about Lincoln... the one your aunt May was proud of..."

At that moment, Peter stopped dead in his tracks and clenched his fists, making Leopardon flinch a bit, fearing the worst reaction from his chosen.

And he was right as his Spider-Sense flared up but way too slow to evade Peter's hand, which brought him to his face as the leader of the Avengers forced a smile on his face.

"Leo... I ask you in the most attentive way..." Peter said with a kind tone so fake that made his skin crawl. "Do not... FUCKING DARE TO MENTION MY AUNT MAY EVER AGAIN!"

With that said, Peter freed his kwami, who was still shaking from his actions while Peter sighed again and fixed his glasses.

"Sorry for that..." Peter said truthfully. "And just like with that outburst, believe me when I say that no one is more sickened by my actions than myself. Unfortunately, like I said back at the Beholder, I had to become the worst monster in the world to make sure only I could hurt others. Plus, Svetlana Vanko and her friends are not evil, just quite stupid, this will set them straight in the right way and they'll use their abilities for good."

"Don't justify your actions, please." Leopardon snapped as he felt sickened by Peter's words.

"I don't, I'm just seeing the good side of being a fucking monster like myself. Now, let's go, we gotta do something at the Damocles Base."

As he heard the pained tone in his chosen's voice, Leopardon let a tear run down his cheek, feeling both sad and disappointed of what Peter had become out of fear of another failure like the ones in the past, then he flew back into Peter's jacket as the leader of the Avengers snapped his fingers and created a portal to the Damocles Base, the headquarters of S.W.O.R.D.