Silence.
Not the peaceful kind that comes after a long day, but the kind that follows something so unexpected, so shocking, that even war itself seems to pause in disbelief.
Smoke curled from the crushed skull of the Leviathan. Buildings groaned from the impact. Alien corpses littered the rubble like broken toys.
And at the center of it all, standing tall atop the smoldering remains of a creature that no one had ever seen fall like that—
Was him.
Spider-Man.
But not the one from the stories. Not the masked vigilante known for slinging webs and cracking jokes while saving people and swinging between rooftops.
No. This Spider-Man looked like something else entirely.
His black and red suit clung tightly to his form, reinforced with what seemed to be muscle-like fibers and armored veins glowing faintly beneath the scorched fabric. His presence was overwhelming—silent, yet thunderous. His movements were calculated, yet full of barely restrained power.
For a moment, Peter didn't move.
He just stood there, eyes behind the mask scanning the battlefield below. The Avengers watched him cautiously—none daring to speak first.
Tony's voice crackled through the comms. "…Alright. Whoever that is—remind me to never piss him off."
Captain America took a slow step forward, his shield at the ready. "You sure he's on our side?"
Bruce didn't answer. His eyes were still locked on Peter.
Peter tilted his head slightly, reading their expressions, then turned his gaze toward the next Leviathan circling overhead.
He finally stepped down from the Leviathan's corpse, landing silently on the cracked pavement. His presence pulled every eye toward him. Even the Chitauri paused for half a breath, confused by the sudden death of one of their greatest weapons.
His body then vanished again, now going into the air utilizing his new powers, soaring toward the sky like a missile—leaving behind only a gust of wind and a stunned silence in his wake.
The dust was still settling, but the figure standing atop the fallen Leviathan was already gone.
No words.
No dramatic declaration.
Only motion.
In a blur, he had leapt—vanishing from the ground like a bullet, launching himself back into the chaos above.
"Did… did anyone get a good look at him?" Clint asked, lowering his bow slowly, like he wasn't sure the danger had really passed.
Steve didn't answer at first. He was watching the rooftops, trying to track movement—any clue of where the red-and-black figure had gone. But whoever he was, he moved faster than anything Steve had seen. Even faster than Thor.
Bruce slowly stepped forward, eyes locked on the Leviathan's mangled head. "I've seen military-grade anti-air missiles do less damage."
"Yeah," Tony added, landing nearby with a grunt. "And this guy just punched it out of the sky."
He looked around at the group, his tone shifting from sarcastic to genuinely disturbed. "You know what's worse than a god with a superiority complex? A wildcard you don't understand."
Steve finally spoke. "He knew what he was doing. That wasn't luck."
Natasha looked at him. "Do you think he's one of ours?"
"No. But he's fighting on our side—for now."
Thor landed heavily beside them, lightning still flickering around his shoulders.
"I sensed no magic from his strike," the thunder god said grimly.
"But something in him... something ancient moves beneath that mask."
"Great," Clint muttered.
"Just what we need. Another ticking time bomb."
Tony looked back up at the sky, where more Leviathans loomed. "Whether he's a bomb or not, we need to focus. The invasion's still going, and I don't think he's here to chat."
Bruce nodded. "Agreed. Let's get to Selvig. If mystery-man wants to keep clearing a path for us—fine by me."
Steve looked toward Stark Tower in the distance, then back to the ruined Leviathan.
Whoever this new player was… they'd just changed the game.
And the Avengers weren't sure if they should be relieved—or worried.
The real battle was just beginning.
Peter hadn't come here to show off. He hadn't come here to be a hero.
He came here not only to test his newfound powers in a real fight—but also to gather some alien tech.
He was not here because this city was his home. No, he didn't even consider it to be his home anymore.
Even watching it burn brought a strange feeling to him…
But even as his body moved instinctively, leaping toward the next threat, Peter's mind fell back—just for a second—back to that night.
The night he took his first step on the path of power. A path that would place him above everything and everyone else.
---
Days Earlier, Hidden Abandoned Military Lab
The lab was cold. Dimly lit. A stolen sanctuary buried beneath earth and steel.
Monitors hummed. Vials glowed with unstable compounds. Machinery thrummed around him as if holding its breath.
Peter stood with only black boxers, shirtless at the center of the room, staring down at the tank resting on the concrete floor before him. Inside it: a green liquid where he would stay until his transformation finished.
A place where he would be taking a modified version of the super soldier serum.
But not the one used on Rogers. That formula was a relic, incomplete by today's standards.
His? This one was something different. Something new. A product of stolen data, Oscorp's darkest secrets, and Dr. Connors' life's work.
The modified super soldier serum—once based on Connors' failed Lizard experiment—had now been rebuilt around something far more potent.
The Heteropoda maxima.
The giant huntsman spider.
Not just any spider—this one had been genetically modified by Oscorp, its DNA enhanced to absurd levels. Strength. Speed. Durability. A predator in the truest sense of the word.
He had removed all traces of Lizard DNA, purged the instability, and reforged the serum into something singular. Something that could only work… on him.
A warning blinked on the console:
Cell destabilization predicted. Unknown long-term effects. Proceed?
He didn't hesitate.
He entered the glass container with an oxygen mask, and the transformation began.
What followed wasn't pain.
It was evolution—okay, maybe a little pain followed, but it wasn't something that would stop him from achieving his objectives.
His heart pounded like a drum. Every nerve screamed. His skin seared from the inside out, muscles spasming uncontrollably as his DNA shattered and reformed at once.
The burning spread through his veins like wildfire. His bones twisted, muscles tore and rebuilt themselves, skin hardened from the inside out.
His vision blurred.
He collapsed—convulsing, sweating, gasping for air.
Then came the silence.
He was knocked out by the gas he had previously prepared.
And in the silence, he lost all sense of time.
Was it minutes? Days? Years?
He was stuck inside his own mind, inside a completely dark void. Alone.
Until something started calling his name in that infinite unknown.
A voice.
Closer… louder… sharper…
Just before it reached him—
He woke up.
The green liquid he was once submerged in was now pitch black. Every nutrient inside it had been absorbed.
Floating there, he felt—
Sharper.
Stronger.
Even while immersed in liquid, he could hear the hum of electricity in the wires.
Touching the side of his oxygen mask, he watched as the pitch-black fluid drained out of the chamber.
He stepped out.
And everything was sharper. His senses were heightened—he could sense a fly behind the ventilation shaft before it even entered the room.
And then… there was the webbing.
Not mechanical. Not synthetic.
Organic.
He could feel it now—dormant inside his wrists like pressurized venom sacs, waiting to be released at will.
He clenched his fists.
For the first time since Ben, since May—since everything—he felt like something had finally clicked into place.
Not a cure.
An awakening.
---
Present
Peter landed atop another Leviathan, organic webbing firing from his wrists as he swung himself beneath the beast's throat.
His fingers dug into the armored plating, prying it open with inhuman strength.
Sparks flew.
The Leviathan howled.
Peter's eyes narrowed behind his mask.
"You don't get to fly above my head without my consent, you ugly-looking whale."
And then, with a roar, he ripped the control core out.
Another monster fell.
And the war raged on.