31: Chapter 31 Nemesis 2

"This." Susan Storm pulled up an image of the New York skyline. Peter squinted, seeing several glowing flying objects heading this way. The image suddenly zoomed in, and beneath the light was a group of robots wearing deep green cloaks.

It was the signature attire of everyone's favorite mad dictator.

"Victor von Doom. He's here." Peter's pupils constricted. "Damn it, he's coming for the portal!"

"Possibly." Reed had already started tapping at the portal's console. "I'm trying to shut it down from here, but the system doesn't recognize my authorization code! Susan Storm!"

"Working on it!" Susan Storm typed rapidly, attempting to regain server permissions. "No—damn it! He's already hacked the system and is preventing us from closing the portal!"

"Can't you just pull the plug?!" Peter asked.

"No, it requires too much energy to run, so I connected it to a fully digital, independent energy system." Reed cursed his own design.

"What can we do?" Ben Grimm asked.

"Simple." Johnny Storm stepped forward and grinned, flames suddenly engulfing his entire body. "Beat him into the ground!"

"Johnny Storm is right." Susan Storm nodded.

"He's right?" Ben Grimm and Peter asked in unison.

"I'm right?" Johnny Storm blinked.

"Ben Grimm, Peter, Johnny Storm, go outside and try to hold him off." Reed ordered. "Susan Storm and I will figure out how to stop this portal; if necessary, I'll take it apart by hand! Go!"

"Let's go!" Ben Grimm was the first to rush out of the lab.

Peter tore off his shirt and pants, revealing the suit underneath. He took out his mask and snapped it onto his face; the fabric instantly exploded outward, covering his entire face and clicking into a helmet. He put on his gauntlets, tapped the chest component, and black web patterns rapidly spread all over his body.

He rushed to the nearest window and jumped, firing a strand of Webbing to swing toward the other end of the street, charging head-on at the high-speed approaching formation of doom bots.

"Spider!" Johnny Storm flew to his side. "You spin the webs, I'll do the burning!"

"Deal!" Peter roared as he charged into the robot formation.

He swung into mid-air and fired two compressed Webbing projectiles, which detonated into a massive, all-encompassing web the moment they hit two doom bots. Johnny Storm immediately followed up by spraying two streams of flames, incinerating them.

Two down, forty-something left.

"Execute total extermination."

All the doom bots emitted a cold electronic voice simultaneously, and green lasers poured down toward them.

His Spider-Sense was screaming warnings. Peter kept changing direction in the air, weaving and dodging, before finally landing on the back of one of the robots.

"Yo, big guy!" Peter pressed one hand onto its head and the other against its chest. "Bye-bye, big guy!"

He pushed hard with his hands, activating the Repulsor Cannon in his palms, and two beams pierced straight through the robot's body.

He leaped away and landed on another robot, dismantling them one by one. Just then, two doom bots attacked from both sides, grabbing his arms and carrying him high into the air.

'Damn it!'

Peter reacted instantly; they wanted to throw him down from high altitude.

With no other choice, he pressed his palms against the chests of both robots. As the Repulsor Cannon beams tore them apart, he began to freefall himself.

Peter flipped his body in mid-air and landed on yet another Doom Bot. Those mechanical arms immediately tightened around his neck.

"These things are everywhere!" Johnny Storm roared from above, blasting another robot, completely failing to notice another one creeping up behind him.

Green light slammed into his back, and his flames were instantly extinguished. Johnny Storm plummeted downward like a kite with a broken string.

"Johnny Storm!"

Peter was furious. He punched through the chest of the Doom Bot beneath him, ripped out its energy core, and then leaped off the robot, swinging downward.

He rapidly spun a huge Webbing safety net between two buildings.

Johnny Storm crashed heavily into the web. Peter followed him down and crawled over to check his condition.

His heartbeat was still there, overall steady, just a little fast.

Peter looked up; the main force of doom bots was no longer ignoring them and was charging at full speed toward the Baxter Building.

He didn't want to leave Johnny Storm here alone, but he had no choice.

Peter jumped off the web, landed on the roof, fired a strand of Webbing, yanked down a Doom Bot, and smashed it hard onto the roof.

The Doom Bot slowly crawled up, completely unconcerned about the damaged parts on its body. It glanced at Peter and then turned and flew away, completely disregarding him.

Damn, this piece-of-junk robot is pretty arrogant!

Just as the robot was about to take off, Peter jumped onto it and grabbed its head, pulling backward with all his might.

Mechanical parts creaked and groaned, trying to stay intact. Suddenly, some unknown part snapped completely, and the entire head flew off.

Peter tossed the head aside and looked up at the sky.

The doom bots had surrounded the top floor of the Baxter Building. They were distributed equidistantly around the building, arms outstretched, and green energy pulses surged from their bodies, forming a massive energy shield that enveloped the entire building.

"Damn it!"

Too late.

Peter swung to the outer wall of the building and tried to climb past the energy shield, but the shield was too solid; even the Repulsor Cannon couldn't make a dent in it.

He tried to pass through it from the inside, but the shield used some unknown technology that could pass directly through solid walls without cutting through the building's structure.

Just then, the screech of a jet engine tore through the night sky.

Peter looked up; a black single-seater fighter jet was heading straight for the Baxter Building.

He squinted, locking onto the cockpit. The person inside was wearing a green cloak and metal armor.

'Doctor Doom!'

Peter growled.

But before he could react, the fighter jet glided into the green force field and landed safely on the roof of the building.

'Damn it! Doctor Doom is inside, I have to get in too!'

Peter looked around.

Brute force wouldn't work, so he had to use his brain.

Just then, Ben Grimm's roar echoed throughout the entire building.

Peter's heart tightened.

What could have hurt Ben Grimm this badly?!

He had to get inside!

Peter looked around, and a thought suddenly struck him.

The building itself.

The shield didn't block the building structure, why?

Could it be that Doctor Doom calibrated the shield to ignore concrete structures?

This... this is fucking brilliant!

Peter climbed to a corner pillar of the Baxter Building and punched it over and over until the concrete surface began to crack.

The fallen concrete block was huge. Peter picked it up, tied it firmly to his back with Webbing, and then climbed toward the shield.

He slowly approached the energy shield and threw the concrete block behind him through it.

The concrete passed through the shield safely, without any obstruction.

Peter grinned.

He hid himself behind the concrete block and slowly crawled through the thick wall of light. Once on the other side, Peter threw off the concrete and rushed into a broken window.

The room was littered with the wreckage of doom bots lying everywhere.

It looked like Ben Grimm had indeed taken out quite a few.

Peter stepped over the wreckage and rushed into Reed's lab.

Ben Grimm was embedded in the wall and had lost consciousness.

"Ben Grimm!"

Peter rushed over and leaned down to check on him.

His breathing was shallow, but he was still alive.

He turned and rushed into the main hall of the lab. The scene inside made his heart sink.

The entire room was devastated, and the dimensional portal was constantly sparking.

"You cannot stop Doctor Doom, Richards. Doctor Doom will surely obtain the spoils that belong to him!"

Doctor Doom stood between Reed and Susan Storm, with the portal right behind him.

"Not necessarily, Victor von Doom." Reed growled, enlarging his fist.

"Foolish! You think you can stop Doctor Doom?!"

Doctor Doom snapped his fingers, and several doom bots crashed through the ceiling, pouring in one after another.

"Tear him apart!"

Reed and Susan Storm were about to engage, but Peter had already leaped into the fray, firing a Repulsor Cannon blast that hit the chest of the robot in the front.

He landed between Doctor Doom and his friends.

"Leave the robots to me! You guys take care of that brainless, heartless tin can!"

"It's you again." Doctor Doom's voice was incredibly raspy. "I will skin you alive, boy!"

"Tsk, such a glass heart?"

Peter dodged a laser, landed on the wall, launched himself again, pounced on another robot, and smashed it to pieces with speed too fast to see.

"Don't do this, Victor von Doom, you don't know what's on the other side of the portal!" Susan Storm shouted, raising an energy shield in front of her.

"No, Susan Storm, that is exactly where you are wrong. Doctor Doom knows full well what is on the other side—it is power!"

Doctor Doom shook his arms, and a bolt of lightning struck Susan Storm's shield, with spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spreading across it.

"Holy shit!"

Peter blurted out.

He had completely forgotten that this guy had this kind of ability!

Peter dodged a mechanical iron fist again and landed on the distant wall. Two doom bots charged straight at him; he waited until the very last moment to leap away, and the two guys couldn't stop in time, crashing straight through the wall.

They slowly turned around, attempting to re-acquire their target, but were met head-on by the glowing Repulsor Cannon in Peter's palm.

"Go to hell."

Peter roared and blasted their heads off.

"Ah!"

Susan Storm let out a scream. Doctor Doom's attack pierced through her shield, sending her flying, and she crashed heavily to the ground, unconscious.

"Susan Storm!"

Reed's eyes were bloodshot, glaring fiercely at Doctor Doom.

"You bastard!"

He swung his fists and charged forward like a rainstorm.

Doctor Doom just lightly raised a hand, and a green force field enveloped his entire body, blocking all of Reed's attacks.

"Among the five of us lucky ones who were granted power, Richards, your ability is the least impressive."

Doctor Doom laughed loudly, and with another bolt of lightning, blasted Reed back onto the lab table.

"I won't give up, Victor von Doom! Not unless I stop you!"

Reed roared and charged again to grapple with him.

Peter returned to his own battlefield.

Two doom bots rushed over. He dodged, fired Webbing, swung them around like a ball and chain, and smashed them hard into another group of robots.

Peter used the hardest Webbing to paste them all together, then turned to look at Reed.

He was being electrocuted into a daze!

He had to help!

"You asshole, Doctor Doom!" Peter shouted.

"Who dares—"

Doctor Doom's words were cut off by a fist smashing into his face, and he staggered back two steps.

"Reed, are you okay?!" Peter rushed to Reed's side.

"I, I'm fine." Reed panted heavily.

"Good. Can you shut down the machine?"

"Yes, give me a moment."

Reed turned and lunged for the console.

Peter turned back to face Doctor Doom.

"You despicable worm!"

Doctor Doom wobbled and stood back up.

"You dare challenge Doctor Doom?!" "Die, you ignorant fool!"

Doctor Doom roared and blasted a bolt of lightning.

Peter could have dodged.

But he couldn't.

Reed was right behind him, and Reed was the only one who could handle this situation.

So Peter stood his ground.

The lightning hit him head-on like a heavy truck.

Peter felt his fingers and toes curl up from the electric shock. He stayed firmly planted in place, and soon felt the current surging into his body being absorbed by something.

Doctor Doom stopped his attack.

Peter was still standing there, gasping for air.

"How can you still be standing?!" Doctor Doom roared.

Peter smiled under his helmet.

"It's simple, I'm just stronger than you."

He straightened his body, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Now, taste this!"

Peter suddenly spread his arms, and the chest beam cannon roared to life.

Doctor Doom's eyes widened as he was hit head-on by the full power of the Arc Reactor.

The web-like Parker Blood energy-conducting circuits covering his suit poured all the current he had just absorbed into the Arc Reactor.

The electricity you just charged me with, now I'm giving it all back to you, asshole!

Finally, Peter lowered his hands, his strength almost completely exhausted.

"How is this possible?!"

Doctor Doom struggled to stand, roaring in anger.

"How could you possess such technology?!"

"Stole it from your doom bots." Peter smiled brightly.

"Ignorant fool! No matter, Doctor Doom will never be stopped!"

Doctor Doom snapped his fingers.

The team of doom bots that Peter had pasted into the corner with Webbing suddenly restarted. They tore through the web, swarmed out, and pinned Peter firmly against the wall.

Peter struggled frantically, punching his way out of the robot encirclement, tearing them apart one by one.

"Don't move, Richards."

Doctor Doom fired an energy beam that hit Reed in the back.

Reed screamed and fell to the ground.

Doctor Doom stepped over his body and went to the control terminal to start operating it. A few seconds later, the purple light curtain on the portal disappeared.

"From the very beginning, resisting Doctor Doom was futile, Richards."

Doctor Doom walked toward the portal triumphantly.

"Such powerful strength, such profound knowledge, yet you want to hide it away like an illegitimate child? You are truly the ultimate among fools, Richards."

"No, I'm not the ultimate one."

Reed grinned, extended a finger, and pressed a button.

The machine suddenly let out a dull roar and then began to frantically suck in everything in the room.

"What did you do?!"

Doctor Doom tried desperately to break free from the portal's suction.

"Sending you to where you belong!"

Reed roared and shoved Doctor Doom backward with a punch.

But it was still not enough.

He hadn't fallen into the portal yet.

"Leave it to me!"

Peter shouted, and the chest beam cannon roared out again, tearing all the doom bots surrounding him to pieces.

He broke free, rushed toward Doctor Doom, leaped up, and kicked him hard in the stomach with both feet.

Doctor Doom went flying backward.

"Bye-bye!"

Peter fired a strand of Webbing, stuck it to the wall, and held onto his body firmly.

Doctor Doom screamed as he passed through the portal.

"No!!!"

Just as he slid into the portal, Reed pressed another button.

The machine stopped running, and the terrifying suction disappeared along with it.

Peter released the Webbing, collapsed to the floor, and gasped for air.

He turned to look at Reed.

"Did you plan this all along?"

Reed nodded.

"Victor von Doom's arrogance determined that he had to find someone to witness his victory with their own eyes. And since he hates me to the bone, that person was almost destined to be me."

"So you turned the portal into a trap."

Peter let out a long breath and lay back on the ground.

"Nice. I never doubted you from start to finish, big leader. I just... ah, I just want to lie here for a while. Is that okay?"

Reed smiled and also lay down beside him.

"I think I can join in too."

After his body recovered a bit, Peter went out to help Reed dismantle the energy barrier that Doctor Doom had set up around the building.

He also swung down the building and retrieved Johnny Storm, who was still unconscious on the web.

Everyone worked together to wake up Johnny Storm, Susan Storm, and Ben Grimm.

The three teammates were very angry about being knocked down so easily, but they breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that Doctor Doom had finally been stopped.

Only Susan Storm was feeling a bit down. To stop Doctor Doom, the price they had paid was simply too high.