Episode 48: The Coming of Wintersol!

From White Wolf's PDB appeared a bipedal jackal-like creature that had black fur, though its left arm was covered in silver fur with a red star-shaped symbol on its shoulder. Its paws had knife-like spikes sticking out of it, and its eyes were a sickly green.

Peter quickly consulted his MarGuide and said, "Normally, the Wintersol's eyes are dark-blue. But its eyes look similar to the eyes of the Marémon who were Brainwashed by Ar-I during our battle with the Svartelm and Kurseed."

"How very observant you are," Ar-I said tauntingly. "Then you should also know Wintersol are known as the Assassin Marémon for their efficient killing style."

"Indeed," White Wolf said, pointing at Peter and Thor. "Eliminate them, Wintersol!"

Baring its sharp teeth, the Wintersol's knife-like spikes popped out and it threw them at Thor and Peter. In response, Peter's PDB glowed and Spidermin emerged. He caught the knives in a Web Shot and flung them back at Wintersol. Undeterred, Wintersol's silver arm suddenly became metallic and swung it in Spidermin's direction. With his Spidey Sense, Spidermin was able to dodge Wintersol's arm.

"Whew, that was close," Peter murmured. "I've read that Wintersol's Bionic Arm Swipe Attack can be lethal."

"I'm just surprised Spidermin was able to get out of your PDB without needing to be called by you," Thor remarked.

"He must have seen what was going on from inside the PDB, and decided to act," Peter guessed.

"You're probably right. Now if Wintersol is being controlled, then there must be a way to snap him out of it." Thor then reached for a PDB on his belt and pressed it. "Valrie, Battle Cry!"

From Thor's PDB emerged the brunette-haired Valrie that was given to him by Brunnhilde. Without hesitation, she let out a high-pitched cry that stunned Wintersol. This allowed Spidermin to use his Stingers to pierce Wintersol's neck causing him to collapse.

"I'm impressed by your Marémon's teamwork," Ar-I remarked. "But this Wintersol has been trained to endure a lot of things, including poison and high frequency sounds. Therefore, it won't be out of commission for long. Right, White Wolf?"

"Right," White Wolf said, and took out a syringe of Healing Factor Juice. He then threw the syringe at Wintersol, which made it get up.

But when it did, its eyes were no longer green. Instead, they were dark-blue.

"That's what I thought," Thor said. "Assuming Wintersol was under Ar-I's Brainwash attack, I figured Valrie's Battle Cry might be strong enough to break the hypnosis."

"Looks like it worked," Peter observed then he addressed the Wintersol. "You need to stop your owner. He might be suffering from Ar-I's Brainwash, just like you were."

Confused, the Wintersol looked at White Wolf and then at Ar-I. The Wintersol growled and leaped toward Ar-I with its Bionic Arm Swipe prepared. As it swung the arm, White Wolf locked Wintersol in a full nelson hold. Wintersol flung its paws wildly, though White Wolf's grip was stronger as Ar-I used Brainwash on Wintersol.

"Not again!" Thor reacted. "We need to stop Ar-I from completely brainwashing Wintersol."

"Spidermin, Stun Web Ar-I!" Peter ordered.

Nodding in response, Spidermin produced an electrified web that latched onto Ar-I and made him stop floating. This caused White Wolf to suddenly let go of Wintersol as he gripped his head. Wintersol seemed concerned, unsure of what to do.

"They both seem to be incapacitated for now," Thor said, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder. "We should keep moving to stop Crossbones from reaching the engine room."

"But we can't leave these two," Peter said, glancing at White Wolf and Wintersol. "It's clear they were being controlled by Ar-I to do Team HYDRA's work against their will."

"Even if you're right, MJ and that red-haired girl's lives are in danger," Thor reminded Peter. "The longer we take to reach Crossbones, the higher the risk of him potentially killing them. So we can either come back for White Wolf and Wintersol later, or bring them along — even though they might slow us down."

While Wintersol was circling White Wolf nervously, Peter wanted to bring them. But he knew what Thor said was right, and walked past them to get to the other car as Thor followed. He suddenly felt a tight grip, and looked down to see White Wolf holding his arm tightly.

"If you ever meet Steve Rogers, tell him that Bucky…is still alive," White Wolf murmured.

"Sure, I will," Peter agreed, though he had no idea who Bucky was.


After passing multiple train cars full of terrified passengers, Peter and Thor finally reached the engine room. With Spidermin and Valrie at their sides, the two opened the door ready to command their Marémon to attack. To their surprise, Crossbones was lying on the floor unconscious next to a pair of terrified train engineers while MJ and the red-haired girl were looking down on him. Standing over Crossbones body in a triumphant manner was a bipedal salamander with black skin and red markings similar to the Black Widow spider.

"That's a Salidow!" Peter realized. "But let me check to make sure."

Peter immediately took out the MarGuide and pulled up the entry on Salidow.

"Salidow, the Widower Marémon," EDITH's voice said from the MarGuide device. "It is a Normal/Tech type that has no male counterpart, making them one of the few female-only species of Marémon. To reproduce, they will interbreed with other species of Marémon but may kill their mate if they aren't satisfied."

"Are you two okay?" Thor asked the red-haired girl and MJ.

"We're fine," MJ said calmly. "I assume you guys were trying to rescue us."

"Yeah, in spite of Crossbones' threat that he would kill you if anyone interfered," Peter admitted.

"That was not very smart of you," the red-haired girl said. "But luckily, I was here to protect your friend."

"So the Salidow is yours?" Thor assumed.

"Yes," the red-haired girl nodded. "My name is Natasha Romanoff, and I'm a SHIELD agent who was sent by Nick Fury to keep an eye on you three."

To be continued…