I Am the Spider-Man from Earth-42

The night was torn apart by screams.

Downtown ignited with red and violet pulses as Scorpia's army descended not silently, not strategically… but violently.

Civilian towers buckled under the thunder of plasma rounds. Roads split open. Drones swooped down like vultures made of steel and rage. Each drone carried a payload small spider-shaped bombs and one by one, they dropped into the streets.

Boom. Boom. BOOM.

A park turned into a crater.

A hospital's lights flickered then vanished in a storm of broken glass and fire.

On the screen in Nick Fury's command room, red alerts burst to life.

"District 4 breached."

"Civilian casualties—high."

"Unknown hostiles—detected."

Nick Fury's fist slammed the console.

"What the hell is happening!?"

A rebel operator spun in his seat, pale, sweating.

"Sir, it's Scorpia. It's… it's not just robots. It's her. She's on the field herself."

Nick's eye narrowed.

"…Get me Castle. Get Spider-Man. All of them. Now."

The base went red. Sirens screamed.

…

Meanwhile, outside the city, civilians were fleeing through alleyways and old evacuation tunnels.

But nothing escaped the drones.

A mother pulled her daughter behind her, blood on her face. A young boy cried over his injured brother. Everywhere—panic, smoke, and ash.

Then came the voice.

Crackling through city speakers, drones, even broken radios.

A voice wrapped in static and venom:

"This city had its chance."

"But since it chose spiders…"

"Now it will burn."

—

At the rebel base, Peter was already strapping on his half-repaired Mark I suit. Smoke was visible on the horizon.

"She's here," he muttered.

Gwen ran up beside him. "You saw the feed?"

Peter nodded.

"No. I felt it."

His hands trembled but not from fear. From rage.

(So this is what my spider-sense was screaming about… and I ignored it.)

Harry entered the room, gear on, face pale.

"Civilians are dying, Pete. We've never seen an attack this fast."

Nick entered right behind him.

"Spider-Man—get to Sector 12. Scorpia is leading a charge near the Wall Market."

Peter turned, mask in hand.

"I'll handle her."

Nick snapped, "You don't handle her. You survive her. We lost half our elite team to her bots last year."

Peter looked him dead in the eye.

"Not this time."

He pulled on the mask. The white lenses narrowed.

Spider-Man took off into the smoke-choked night.

…

[Minutes later]

Scorpia — atop a ruined tower.

Her armor hissed as the injection took effect her veins glowing faint green beneath her skin. Her body was trembling not from pain but from power.

Her face, half-covered in a cracked chrome mask, twisted in fury as she watched the chaos below.

"Come on then, Spider-Man," she growled, claws flexing.

"Let's finish what your comrade started… two years ago."

Below her, amidst the rubble, a small figure stumbled—a girl, maybe 8 or 9 years old, alone. Dirt on her cheeks. Eyes red from smoke. Crying, calling out for her parents.

Scorpia's mechanical eye zoomed in.

(So young… so fragile…)

Her thoughts twisted like the cables running through her armor.

(Should I kill this kid? Would that lure him in faster?)

Her fingers flexed again.

(Yes. Yes, I decided. Let's see Spider-Man save this one.)

She leapt from the tower, landing with a metallic clang that shattered nearby glass. The child screamed and fell backward.

Scorpia approached slowly, boots crunching over concrete.

"You shouldn't be here, little one."

She raised one claw, the needle tips glinting.

The girl trembled, her back against the wall.

"P-please…"

"Don't beg." Scorpia's voice was cold. Mechanical.

"You're just a message. A trigger. A target."

She reared back to strike—

FWIP.

A web line snapped around her arm yanked it back.

Scorpia snarled.

"Took you long enough, Spider-Man."

From the shadows above, smoke parting—

Peter landed.

Mark I suit scorched and cracked. Blood on his lip. Breathing hard.

But his eyes were burning behind the mask.

"Touch her…" he said darkly,

"…and I'll show you what real rage looks like."

The girl crawled away, just as Peter stepped forward.

Scorpia laughed—metallic and sharp, like broken glass dragging across steel.

"You're always so dramatic. Just like your little spider-woman. But let's see what happens when I fight the real you."

Peter's brow furrowed beneath the mask.

"Spider-Woman? What nonsense are you talking about?"

He genuinely didn't know.

(What the hell is she talking about?.)

Scorpia's eyes burned red.

"Still pretending not to know!!"

Her claws lashed forward, and in an instant—she lunged.

KRRAAANG!

Peter barely ducked as a claw sliced through a streetlamp like paper, sparks flying into the night.

He flipped backward, landing on the side of a tilted wall. His hands shot out—

FWIP! FWIP!

Webs launched toward Scorpia's shoulder and thigh.

But with a savage swipe—

CLANG!

She shattered the webs mid-air, her new-enhanced armor pulsing green from the injection.

(She's stronger, way stronger.)

She rushed him again, faster now. Her feet crushed concrete, claws aimed to impale.

Peter rolled under, grabbing a metal rod from the wreckage and hurling it toward her—

Scorpia caught it.

Crushed it.

"You think I forgot? Two years ago, Spider-Woman destroyed everything—left me for dead! And you—YOU DARE PRETEND YOU DON'T KNOW HER!?"

Peter's mind spun.

(Two years ago? Another spider?)

(Wait… is she talking about some Spider- Wait… maybe another spider-man appeared here from the multiverse? Fuck IDK from what I seen in Peter memories there is no spider guy like me)

But he didn't have time to process.

BOOM!

Scorpia's tail slammed down narrowly missing Peter's head.

He kicked off the wall vaulting over her shoulders

webbing her visor, blinding her for just a second.

"You've got the wrong guy, lady!" he shouted.

But Scorpia was raging now. Pure adrenaline. Pure mutation.

"ALL OF YOU SPIDERS ARE THE SAME!"

"LIARS! DESTROYERS!"

She tore off the webbing and roared her body releasing a shockwave of green bio-energy that threw Peter across the street.

CRASH!

He smashed through a parked car.

Peter coughed, pain spiking through his ribs.

(Okay. This is bad. This is really bad.)

He pulled himself up, watching her silhouette stalk toward him through smoke and fire.

Scorpia's voice echoed:

"This city will drown in spider blood. And you will be the first to bleed."

Peter's eyes narrowed behind the shattered lens.

"...Then you better hit harder."

He sprinted forward.

And Round 2 began.

Peter's feet slammed into the concrete as he launched forward, pain still buzzing in his ribs but adrenaline overriding it.

(Okay. Focus. Gwen said she enhanced the Mark I after the Skorpion-X fight… so if she's right—those flaws should be fixed.)

His fingers tightened, activating the new features.

FZZZT—

The black plating on his gauntlets glowed faintly blue.

"Power routing engaged."

A HUD blinked to life across his cracked lens. Targeting systems locked onto Scorpia's silhouette.

"Let's test this upgrade."

He vaulted off a flipped truck and aimed his reinforced arm toward Scorpia's midsection—

FWASHH!

A high-density concussive web blast fired straight into her gut, slamming her backward into a wrecked storefront.

BOOM!

Dust and metal exploded outward. Scorpia grunted in pain—her armor cracked at the impact site.

Peter didn't stop.

(Gwen's right. These blasters hit harder. Web coils are faster, too.)

He swung forward again, this time spiraling mid-air

WHAM!

A flying kick connected with her faceplate, sending her reeling across the street.

But Scorpia caught herself.

Scorpia growled, clawing the pavement.

"Did your little spider-bitch upgrade you? Cute. It won't save you."

Peter landed in a crouch, breathing steady.

"Nah, I upgraded myself."

Scorpia lunged.

Her tail lashed out—slicing through lamp posts. Her claws dug into the asphalt like cleats, launching her forward with unnatural speed.

But Peter faster now sidestepped and slid under her charge.

As he passed beneath her—

FWIP! FWIP!

He planted magnetic trip-webs on her lower spine.

Scorpia halted.

"Wha—"

ZRRRNNNN!

The trip-webs exploded with a shock pulse, short-circuiting part of her tail and stunning her limbs.

Peter spun behind her.

(Now or never!)

He launched himself upward rising high above the battlefield—

Then dove, heels first.

CRACK—!

His boots slammed into her shoulder.

Her armor dented.

She screeched.

But not down yet.

Scorpia turned her head slowly. A twisted smile.

"Fine. Let's see what your new toy can do against THIS!"

She stabbed her claws into her own torso injecting herself with another vial of glowing green serum.

Peter's eyes widened.

"No—wait—what are you doing?!"

Her body twitched. Veins glowing. Limbs shaking. Energy building—

Then—

BOOM!!!

A green energy pulse erupted around her like a grenade sending Peter flying through a bus windshield.

(Okay… enhancement serum. Definitely cheating. Totally cheating.)

He groaned, crawling out of the glass.

Smoke hissed from his shoulder.

"Okay, Gwen… you did fix the flaws. I just hope you also made this thing bomb-proof."

Across the battlefield, Scorpia emerged larger now. Her back cracked open to reveal extra appendages whip-like, glowing with plasma.

She hissed, voice deeper now.

"I'm not just evolution… I'm correction. You rebels should have never existed."

Peter rose again.

Suit torn. Chest heaving. But his eyes sharp.

"Yeah?" he said, wiping blood from his lip.

"Then let me correct you."

To be continue