The tension outside the New York bank was palpable.
Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus faced each other amid flashing police lights and the distant echo of sirens. Neither moved. Spider-Man hesitated, his gaze locked on the hostage tangled in one of the metallic arms. Doctor Octopus, meanwhile, was surrounded—cornered by law enforcement—but still radiated menace.
"Hey, squid-face," Spider-Man called out, crouching low on a nearby lamppost. "Those arms come with a seafood discount or what? You get bit by an octopus or something? Because that would explain a lot!"
His voice was bright and teasing, but his stance was coiled with tension. As usual, the humor masked his nerves.
"Enough!" Doctor Octopus snapped, his patience gone. "You're insufferable!"
One of his mechanical arms hurled the hostage aside. Spider-Man reacted instantly—firing a webline to catch the falling victim and swing them safely away. By the time he turned back, the villain was already scaling a wall, the metallic limbs propelling him upward with frightening speed.
"Hey! We're not done talking about your seafood fetish!" Spider-Man shouted, slinging another web and shooting after him.
Within seconds, both figures clashed in midair, steel meeting silk. Their fight sent shockwaves through the street—windows shattered, debris rained down, and frightened civilians scattered in every direction. The battle of the wall-crawler and the mad scientist had officially begun.
A few blocks away, at the same café as before, Kurogai Alexander Blackwood watched the chaos unfold, sipping calmly from his glass. Everyone else had already fled, leaving overturned chairs and half-spilled drinks. He remained seated, eyes glinting with quiet amusement.
"So this isn't how it went in the original timeline," he murmured. "Guess the butterfly effect is stronger than I thought."
From his understanding of how events were supposed to unfold, this confrontation should've happened much later. Yet here it was—New York's famous web-slinger and the notorious Doctor Octopus trading blows under the afternoon sun.
Before he could dwell on it further, a sharp voice pierced the air.
"Look out!"
Kurogai turned his head just in time to see a massive section of wall—dislodged during the fight—crumbling directly toward him.
Spider-Man saw it too. "Oh, come on! Not a civilian!" he yelled, launching a desperate webline, but Doctor Octopus yanked him back mid-swing. The distraction cost Spider-Man the precious second he needed to reach the man below.
Kurogai didn't move. Instead, he smiled faintly. "So trouble comes knocking on my door now."
There wasn't even a trace of fear in his expression. A crimson glow flickered to life in his eyes, focusing into a single point of energy.
Akame Laser.
A sharp beam of red light shot upward, slicing the falling wall clean in half. The debris exploded midair and crashed harmlessly to both sides, showering the ground with dust and fragments.
The sudden burst of light halted the battle. Both Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus froze, turning toward the source.
"What the—what was that?!" Spider-Man dropped down, landing in front of Kurogai. "That laser—are you one of us? A new hero or something?"
Doctor Octopus scowled, his mechanical limbs twitching. "Another pest," he hissed. "Just what I needed—another self-righteous fool in a costume."
Kurogai chuckled softly. "A hero?" He shook his head. "That's a first. If anyone who knows me heard you say that, they'd laugh themselves to death. I'm no hero, kid."
Spider-Man straightened, wary now. "So… villain, then?"
"I'm neither," Kurogai said, amusement in his tone. "Let's just say I'm passing through—and right now, I have something I need to take care of."
Spider-Man frowned beneath his mask but said nothing. His spider-sense prickled, warning him that this calm stranger wasn't someone to take lightly.
Before he could ask more, Kurogai vanished from sight. One blink—and he was gone.
"What the—"
Doctor Octopus's sensors whirred in confusion. Then, suddenly, Kurogai appeared right above him, descending silently like a shadow. His eyes glowed a pale, icy white.
Frost Domain.
A wave of freezing energy erupted from his body. In less than a heartbeat, the temperature plummeted. Ice crawled up the villain's limbs, locking each mechanical arm mid-motion.
Doctor Octopus barely had time to scream before the frost sealed over his body completely—encasing him in crystal-clear ice.
Spider-Man landed nearby, staring in stunned disbelief. "He just—he froze him solid. In one move."
Kurogai exhaled, letting the energy fade from his eyes. "Well, that was easy enough."
He looked down at the frozen figure of Otto Octavius, then glanced toward Spider-Man. "Don't worry, web-head. He'll live. Probably."
And with that, he turned and walked away, the sunlight reflecting off the shards of shattered ice behind him.
Spider-Man blinked, still processing everything. "...Okay, note to self," he muttered, "never tick off the guy with laser eyes and ice powers."
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