"Surround this area and prevent any escaped mutants from fleeing."
Under Carter's command, a group of agents formed a perimeter around the site.
Before long, George arrived with a squad of police officers.
When he saw Carter, he instantly understood what was happening.
"Mr. George, could you assist us with this operation?" Carter wasn't planning to let George off the hook.
George glanced at Charlie, who was busy in the background, and nodded.
"No problem. I'll have my officers cooperate with your operation."
"But what did they do wrong? If I'm not mistaken, this is a Spider-Man impersonation contest." He asked curiously.
Carter had no intention of hiding it—after all, she planned to explain tonight's events to the public tomorrow.
"In order to prevent the mutated cells within them from mutating further, this was necessary."
"I understand." George nodded.
On the other side, the small spider was still leaping from one mutant to the next, extracting their mutated cells one by one until they completely lost their superpowers.
Magical energy swirled around the small spider's body, growing denser and revealing something like a spider totem.
No—it was a spider totem.
An incomplete spider totem!
Charlie followed the small spider, lost in thought.
The mutated spiders that bit these mutants had all escaped from Hydra's lab. The spider that had bitten Charlie himself was likely the same type.
The spider that bit him was the strongest among all the mutated spiders, which is why Charlie had an initial strength of one ton.
The other mutants, however, only had low-grade versions of superpowers, and the enhancement to their physical bodies was quite limited.
Now, as the small spider absorbed the power of these mutants, it managed to coalesce an incomplete spider totem.
This suggested that, whether for the mutants or Charlie, they all had remnants of the spider totem's power inside them.
But achieving a true transformation required more than just quantity—it seemed that even with all the mutants, the small spider was still far from forming a complete spider totem.
Between the recent underground fortress incident and this impersonation contest, Charlie had dealt with more than 80% of the Spider-mutants.
But based on the small spider's progress, even after absorbing all of these mutants, it would only be able to form about half of an incomplete spider totem.
From this, Charlie deduced that the spider totem in this world was inherently incomplete.
If Charlie had started out with an incomplete spider totem, he might not have ended up any better off than Lizard Parker.
Even if he had access to the revival matches, he might not have been able to keep his human form.
He had to admit that the spider totem's weakened power actually protected him in a way.
If Charlie hadn't mouthed off to Norman in the beginning, he might not have ended up getting killed.
Thinking about this, Charlie felt a twinge of regret.
As long as Spider-Man is weak and helpless enough, he can avoid the fate of isolation.
He turned his gaze to the small spider. Its two fangs were sparking, but it was still enthusiastically extracting mutated cells, working with maximum efficiency.
Charlie decided he would treat the little guy to something special tonight.
Then he remembered—he had never actually fed the small spider anything.
Before long, the small spider had finally finished its task. It jumped back into Charlie's palm and sank its fangs into his skin.
Suddenly, red and blue magical energy began to flicker, and the incomplete spider totem on the small spider's body quickly began to fade away, while an incomplete spider totem started to appear on Charlie's chest.
Buzz
The spider totem from Lizard Parker gradually extended, filling in the missing parts and eventually completing itself.
One by one, five spider totems appeared, overlapping with one another. They shone brilliantly for a moment before completely fading away.
Carter and the others watched this scene in awe, trying to guess what these totems represented.
"This must be the source of Spider-Man's power. I'm jealous!" Coulson said, his voice filled with envy.
Hearing this, Charlie gave him a sidelong glance.
"If you're jealous, I can give it to you."
Coulson's eyes lit up, "Really?"
"What do you think?"
Charlie rolled his eyes, shooting a web to pull the trophy from the stage into his hand.
"Heh heh, great—I'm first place."
"No, that's mine!!" Jonah shouted helplessly.
"Shut up."
Agent Hill stuffed a piece of cloth into Jonah's mouth, then jogged over to Charlie.
"Mr. Spider-Man, since you're done, can I take a picture with you?" she asked, full of anticipation.
Charlie scratched his head, "Uh, sure. You've been waiting for me?"
"Yes, I didn't want to bother you while you were busy."
"Wow, a fan who actually respects my space—that's new."
Charlie continued, "Alright then. I'll throw in a signed autograph for you too."
"Awesome! Can we start now?"
"Sure."
"Great, look here. Three, two, one, yay!"
"One more."
"Okay, but you're standing too close to me. Wait, why are you pouting like that..."
Not far away, Carter watched Agent Hill—normally so serious—suddenly reveal such a crazy side. It took her a while to react.
"Coulson, do you have an idol?" she asked.
Coulson nodded, "Of course I do. It's you, Captain."
"Me?" Carter's expression turned strange.
Coulson nodded seriously. "Yes."
A substitute is still a substitute.
...
An hour later, the agents had taken away all the ranting, raving mutants, and this farce of a night finally ended.
The site was left empty and in disarray.
Before long, a green figure slowly climbed up to the corner of the wall.
"It hurts, it hurts so much. Where are the Spider-Men? Why aren't there any here..."
Professor Connors' body shook as he struggled against the bone-deep agony, trying to find Spider-Man.
He knew there would be plenty of Spider-Men here tonight.
But upon arrival, he couldn't find a single one to ease his pain.
"ARGH!! Damn it, why is this happening!!"
Connors clutched his head, wailing in agony.
...
Meanwhile, on an apartment rooftop.
Charlie lay on a spider-web hammock, gently swaying. He was waiting for someone.
Whizz
Suddenly, a steel grappling hook latched onto the low wall of the roof, and a dark figure swung down.
The landing move, reminiscent of Black Widow's, made Charlie quietly roll his eyes.
"Spider-Man, we finally meet." Felicia said with a smile as she stood up.
Charlie nodded, "I heard you wanted to see me. I tried contacting you—you know that."
Felicia nodded, coming over to sit casually on the web hammock.
"Nice hammock," Felicia complimented, then started examining the suspended web.
"Is someone holding this up on the other end?" she asked.
Charlie shook his head, "I don't know."
He shifted a bit, "You stole something from Kingpin."
Hearing this, Felicia furrowed her brow.
"You want to help him get it back?"
"Something like that."
"You think you can do it?"
"What's with that look? Relax, I won't fight you. First, tell me why you wanted to see me."
"I want your help with something."
Felicia leaped onto the water tank, graceful as a black cat.
"It's about what I stole from Kingpin."
Charlie raised an eyebrow, "Interesting. Go on."
Felicia smiled, "Help me with this, and I'll give you what you want."
Charlie nodded, "Sounds good. Deal."
"Follow me."
"Alright."
Whizz
The next moment, webs and grappling hooks flew as the two figures swung between skyscrapers.
Before long, they entered a hidden underground facility.
In the quiet hallway, they passed by several empty rooms.
"Is this a hospital?" Charlie asked curiously.
Felicia explained, "It's an underground hospital, meant for patients with sensitive backgrounds."
"Oh, I get it. A hospital for the underworld. Cops won't find you here."
"Exactly. I rented the whole place."
"Wow, you're rich."
"Not really."
With that, Felicia stopped at the door of the last room in the hallway.
Through the round window on the door, they could see an elderly man, his face wrinkled, lying quietly on the bed with numerous life-support tubes connected to his body.
"Is that..." Charlie found the man looked somewhat familiar.
"He's my father—Walter Hardy." A hint of sadness flickered in Felicia's eyes.
"Your father?"
Charlie's mind turned. He had met Walter not long ago—the man was no older than his forties.
The Walter here, though, looked at least seventy or eighty years old.
What could have made someone age so drastically in such a short period?
"Yes. My father was exposed to some strange artifact, and it caused him to end up like this," Felicia explained.
Charlie's expression turned curious, "You couldn't tell you had a dying father."
"Are you mocking me?"
Felicia didn't seem angry. She looked at Walter in the hospital bed, smiling faintly.
"My father always told me to do whatever makes me happy. But seeing him like this, it's hard to be myself. As long as he thinks I'm happy, that's enough."
After she finished speaking, Walter's eyes slowly opened, and seeing this, Felicia smiled brightly.
But within seconds, Walter fell back asleep.
"He's dying."
Felicia turned to face Charlie. "Due to the aging, he's caught all sorts of terrible illnesses. He's barely holding on.
I went to S.H.I.E.L.D. and found out about your secret—that you have immortality. I need your regenerative cells." She was direct.
"Sorry, but that's a rumor. I don't have regenerative cells." Charlie refused without hesitation.
Felicia frowned, "At the contest, I saw that strange totem on your chest. That must be how you obtained immortality."
"So you were spying on me."
Charlie shrugged. "But seriously, I don't have regenerative cells."
Felicia didn't believe him. "I'll give you what I stole from Kingpin. Just give me a bit of your blood—is that too much to ask?"
"Of course not, but doing that could kill your father."
Charlie spoke seriously, "Because I really don't have regenerative cells."
He continued, "If I'm right, your father ended up like this because of what you stole from Kingpin."
Felicia's expression changed slightly, "You're right."
"I knew it. So if you want to save your father, you need to start with that artifact." Charlie turned and looked at Walter in the hospital bed.
"You have two choices now.
First, you give me the artifact, and I give you my blood. If anything happens to Walter because of my blood, you can't blame me.
Second, we work together. You give me the artifact, and I find a professional scientist to figure out a cure for your father."
Felicia rejected without hesitation, "No, the second option would take too long.
Kingpin had it for a while, and with his wealth and status, he could find plenty of scientists to study it.
I think going to Kingpin directly might be the best way to find a cure."
Hearing this, Charlie rolled his eyes.
"You already had a plan, so why come to me?"
"Because that's my worst-case scenario."
Felicia sighed. "If your blood could save Walter, I wouldn't need to risk going to Kingpin.
But now it seems you're certain your blood won't work. This messes up my plan—I can't take that risk."
Charlie crossed his arms, eyeing her closely.
"I think there's another reason."
Felicia: "..."
"Alright, you got me."
She sighed helplessly. "Actually, my backup plan was to have you help me take on Kingpin. But it seems like he approached you first, and I doubt someone like him would ask nicely—instead, he'd use threats.
So our cooperation still stands."
Charlie sat down on a chair in the hallway.
"Alright, if that's the case, show me what you got."
"No problem. Follow me."
Felicia opened the door to the next room and casually lifted the blanket, revealing a trapezoidal stone slate covered in strange runes.
"Just like that?" Charlie's mouth twitched.
Felicia nodded, "Yeah. My father used to say that the most dangerous place is the safest."
"Haha, your dad must love reading books."
"He does."
Felicia tapped the surface of the slate, "It's called the Time slate. It has the ability to reverse aging.
My father heard about it, and after a lot of effort, he stole it. But he accidentally triggered its power, aging several decades in an instant."
Charlie shook his head. "So this is basically karma?"
"You're saying this is God's punishment?"
"More or less."
"No, let me explain."
Felicia stared at Charlie. "Everything we've stolen, we've given to the poor. We're righteous thieves."
Charlie chuckled, "All of it?"
"Some of it."
"Okay, I get it. It's like a charitable fund's management fee."
Charlie wasn't interested in the details.
He gazed at the Time Slate on the hospital bed, rubbing his chin.
He remembered this thing. It could indeed reverse aging, but if misused, it would backfire on the user.
He wasn't particularly interested in the slate, but plenty of people were.
He told Felicia, "Once I take this thing, Kingpin will let me know where the deal will take place.
My goal is to get rid of Kingpin. Your goal is to save your father. We don't have a conflict of interest.
Just make sure you keep your little tricks in check, or if your father dies, it won't be my fault."
Hearing this, Felicia trembled slightly.
"Alright, I understand."
She did indeed have her own plans, but after being easily seen through by Spider-Man, she had to reconsider.