Restart, Spider-Man! [157]

Ten Minutes Later

Walter collapsed back onto the hospital bed, his newly youthful face aging back to its weakened, pale state. Underneath the bed, Felicia, who had been hiding in embarrassment, cautiously peeked out.

“Time’s up,” Carter said. “It only grants a ten-minute experience per use.”

Xia Luo glanced at the now-dimmed fossil in Walter’s hand, then picked it up again. His hand movements were still faster, but nothing compared to the initial boost. “It needs more energy from the Time Monolith to be fully effective.”

Hearing this, Felicia sighed, the hope in her expression fading. “So… it’s only a temporary converter. If we’re going to truly help my father, we’ll need the Time Monolith itself.”

With the pyramid destroyed and no known way to fully activate the Time Monolith, even the fossil’s effects seemed limited. Felicia was falling into despair when Xia Luo’s expression lit up.

“I heard the Hand is searching for something called a Dragonbone Fossil—supposedly capable of delaying aging. This spine might be one of those fossils.”

“The Hand?” Carter frowned. “An international assassins’ guild, as elusive as HYDRA.”

“They’re already in New York,” Xia Luo said.

Carter’s expression grew grim. “Their target must be the Time Monolith.”

“Exactly.” Xia Luo pocketed the spine fossil. “It seems the Time Monolith isn’t exactly safe with S.H.I.E.L.D. too many double agents over there.”

As if on cue, Carter’s phone beeped with a message.

“What’s going on?” Xia Luo asked, noticing her face shift into a strange expression.

“It’s the Time Monolith. The fake Time Monolith we placed in S.H.I.E.L.D. just got stolen.”

Carter covered her face with her hand. “You were right, S.H.I.E.L.D. is dangerous—too many moles. Luckily, I handed it over to Nick Fury, so the loss isn’t on me.”

“Speaking of which, what about that list of names I gave you?”

“You mean the potential infiltrators?” Carter shook her head. “They all seemed harmless, but Sitwell from your list was definitely HYDRA, so the rest are highly suspicious.”

With this news, Xia Luo glanced at Walter, lying unconscious in his bed.

“Looks like the safest place for the Time Monolith right now is here. Meanwhile, the fossil can keep Walter hanging on.”

Felicia nodded, determined. “Yes. My father can’t survive without the Time Monolith and the fossil.”

“Dragonbone Fossil, probably,” Xia Luo corrected her. “And if that’s the case, the Hand might be searching for more of it. There could be more pieces than just this one.”

“There might be.”

Just then, Professor Connors clicked on his computer. “I did some digging. The New York Museum reported a fossil theft a few months back. Supposedly it was also a Dragonbone Fossil, and the vertebra they described could match up with ours.”

Hearing this, Xia Luo turned to the screen, his brows furrowing. “It’s not… dinosaur bones?”

Professor Connors looked equally confused. “A winged dragon? The museum staff must’ve messed up the reconstruction.”

Carter chuckled, eyeing the dragon depiction on the screen. “Probably just a gimmick. Real dragon fossils wouldn’t look like that.”

“Well, not necessarily.”

There was a flicker of hesitation in Xia Luo’s voice. After all, in the Marvel Universe, anything was possible.

Dragons… it wasn’t even that bizarre when you considered realms like Asgard or the ancient Greek gods. The Sun God symbols from the pyramid had even turned out to be the key to unlocking the Time Monolith.

The more he thought about it, the more Xia Luo turned to Felicia with a plan.

“Use your family’s resources to look for any other pyramids. We might find a way to fully activate the Time Monolith. And as for this Dragonbone Fossil… it could be even more valuable than we thought. Looks like we’ll be butting heads with the Hand again.”

“Again?” Carter raised an eyebrow. “You’ve encountered them before?”

“Spider-Man ran into a few Hand ninjas last night,” Xia Luo said simply.

Carter nodded knowingly. “Their ninjas are no joke. As for the museum theft, I believe S.H.I.E.L.D. has records on it.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. has records?” Xia Luo’s eyes narrowed. “If that’s true, the info might’ve already leaked.”

“I’ll head over right away to check on it.”

With a determined look, Carter hurried out of the lab.

“I’m coming too.”

Xia Luo followed her outside.

Outside the Castle, Xia Luo hopped into Carter’s vintage car.

“This thing doesn’t exactly look like it’s built for speed,” he commented.

Carter’s foot hit the gas, and the car roared down the driveway. “It’s been modified. It’s as fast as any sports car.”

“Now I really want one.”

“I already gave you one.”

“I meant a four-wheeler.”

“Xia Luo, get real. Even if I gave you one, you couldn’t afford the gas.”

Xia Luo groaned, falling silent.

—

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters

Xia Luo suited up in his Spider-Man gear and followed Carter down the hall to the records room.

“Whoa, it’s Spider-Man!”

“He really is friends with the captain.”

“I want his autograph!”

“Agent Hill, don’t you already have a signed photo?”

“I think it might be fake.”

Ignoring her coworkers, Agent Hill hurried over to greet Carter.

“Captain, I wanted to ask—”

“We need files on the Dragonbone Fossil,” Xia Luo interrupted.

Agent Hill nodded immediately. “Right away. Please follow me; I was the one who compiled those files.”

“Thank you.”

“No trouble at all.”

Inside the records room, Agent Hill quickly located the relevant files in under two minutes. Carter took the file from her to review, and Agent Hill elaborated.

“When the Dragonbone Fossil was stolen years ago, the thief didn’t manage to take the entire fossil. To prevent another break-in, the museum’s management decided to relocate the remaining fossils to a secure basement. The replica left on display is just for public viewing.”

Xia Luo didn’t seem surprised.

This was exactly what he’d expected; it was why they hadn’t headed straight for the museum.

“Where exactly is the real Dragonbone Fossil kept?” he asked.

Agent Hill was about to answer, but Carter handed the file back to her.

“It’s in the museum’s basement.”

Carter then turned to Hill with a question.

“Has anyone else accessed this file recently?”

Hill thought for a moment. “No one has asked for information on the Dragonbone Fossil aside from you.”

Carter frowned. “Has anyone entered the records room lately?”

“The key stays with me. No one—oh, wait, Brock did come by to get something for me.”

“Brock?” Xia Luo’s face tightened as he realized.

Crossbones. Real name: Brock Rumlow, one of HYDRA’s own.

“He’s on the list. Didn’t you notice?” Xia Luo murmured to Carter.

Carter sighed. “I knew, but he hadn’t shown any signs of being compromised.”

“He has now.”

Xia Luo shrugged. “I’ll head over right away. There’s still a chance we’re not too late.”

Carter nodded, her expression resolute. “I’ll bring backup as soon as I can.”

“Justice may be late, but Spider-Man won’t be.”

With that, Xia Luo turned and vaulted out of the records room, leaping down from the hallway with practiced ease.

Whoosh!

The rush of air whistled past as Xia Luo glided high above the streets in his signature red-and-blue suit, launching himself forward with a burst from his web-slinging “slingshot.”

Boom!

As evening settled in, passersby craned their necks to watch Spider-Man streak through the sky, calling out in excitement.

“What’s there to be surprised about? We’ve been seeing him almost every day lately.”

“Yeah, guess he’s done disappearing on us like he used to.”

—

New York Museum

Basement

“Zzz—”

In the darkened basement, a flash of red sparks illuminated the thick steel door as a jagged line glowed along the edges. With a final push, the door gave way, kicked open as Brock, fully armored and flanked by a team of agents in black, marched into the room.

Click!

The lights flicked on, revealing a fossilized dragon skeleton stretching out across the room—a giant relic nearly fifteen meters long.

Only half the dragon’s skeleton remained; its wings and tail were conspicuously missing.

The moment the fossil came into view, the ninja at Brock’s side began to chatter in an excited language he couldn’t understand.

“Enough talking! We don’t have much time,” Brock growled. “I’m probably exposed by now, so let’s hurry up.”

One of the ninja nodded. “Thank you, Brock-san. Rest assured, Madame will honor her promise to you.”

Wasting no more words, the ninja team sprang into action. They closed in on the dragon fossil, hastily extracting vertebrae and other spinal bones, leaving the rest of the skeleton untouched. Only the spine held the secret to their anti-aging properties.

As the minutes ticked by, the ninja worked quickly, but Xia Luo was quicker.

“Zzz—”

A streak of electricity flashed through the broken doorway, charging into the basement with blinding speed.

“What the—?”

Before Brock could react, Xia Luo was already darting through the ninja ranks, a fast-moving bolt of electric energy.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Aghhh!”

As agonized cries echoed through the room, Xia Luo braked to a halt, a cloth bag now firmly in his grasp. He gave it a casual toss, grinning.

“Thanks for collecting all the fossil pieces for me.”

“Spider-Man!”

With the ninja scattered and groaning in pain, Brock’s face contorted in anger as he instinctively stepped back.

“Damn bug—you again? Always ruining everything!”

Xia Luo slung the bag of fossils over his shoulder. “Sorry, but I’m here to ruin more than just your day…”

He glanced at Brock.

As Crossbones, Brock wasn’t your usual grunt, but to avoid sending him to the revival gauntlet, Xia Luo decided he’d be better off… neutralized.

A vegetable!

Yes, that would do.

Just as he moved to strike, Brock hurled something small and round in his direction.

Xia Luo: “????”

Wait… a gene disruptor disguised as a pumpkin bomb?!

BOOM!

A burst of white light exploded, but a bright arc of electricity cut straight through it, and Xia Luo’s silhouette emerged, sweeping past Brock in a blur.

“What—?”

Brock’s eyes widened in shock as his limbs began to lock up, his body stiffening as if frozen in time.

“H-How…”

Behind him, Xia Luo gave him a light shove, tipping Brock over.

“I keep telling you guys—a gene disruptor can’t kill the Invincible Spider-Man.”

With those words, Brock crumpled to the ground, twitching, frothing at the mouth, his eyes rolling back.

“Mission accomplished. Time to go!”

Dusting his hands, Xia Luo left the basement, dragonbone bag in tow.

It wasn’t long before Carter and her team finally arrived on the scene.

“Captain, looks like this was Spider-Man’s work,” Coulson noted, gesturing at a graffiti scrawl on the wall.

[Are you OK? —Spidey]

“I figured as much.” Carter shook her head with a hint of exasperation. This guy was so childish.

“Take everyone in. We’re wrapping up here.”

“Captain, what about the museum’s damages?”

“That’s on Nick Fury. He’s the one responsible.”

As Carter turned to leave, Coulson couldn’t help but sigh.

“Still haven’t found the Time Monolith,” he muttered.

Felicia’s Castle

In the castle’s underground lab, the Time Monolith was recharging the dragonbone fossils.

Only eight fragments held any power. Once fully charged, Xia Luo secured two pieces to each leg.

Zzzap!

Instantly, he shot off like a rocket, zooming around the castle’s perimeter in seconds.

“Not bad. The speed might not match Quicksilver’s, but at least it’ll give me the edge against other speedsters.

And with my full electric charge…” he grinned, “the Invincible Spider-Man just got even more Invincible.”

Removing the fossils, Xia Luo prepped them for installation in his suit.

Felicia watched with a strained smile.

“With this, it seems like no one will ever be able to kill you.”

“Yep, such a tragedy,” Xia Luo sighed, dramatically placing a hand over his heart.

“Being Invincible is so, so lonely~”

“That’s… terrible singing.”

Just then, Carter entered the room, her gaze fixed on Xia Luo.

“There are still ways to kill you, actually. Try this out.”

She tossed him a short knife.

Catching it, Xia Luo brushed his finger along the blade, wincing as it easily sliced through his suit’s nanofiber and drew blood.

“What is this?”

“Remember those gene disruptors?” Carter explained. “I extracted a bit of vibranium from them to enhance this blade’s edge.”

Xia Luo chuckled, handing her the knife back as his finger quickly healed.

“A bit of vibranium? Not enough to kill me.”

Carter pocketed the knife. “Let’s keep it that way.”

She then added, “Brock’s condition has been confirmed. He’s in a vegetative state… I’m guessing that was intentional?”

Xia Luo shrugged. “Not every day goes that smoothly. This one was pure luck.”

“Yes, luck favored Spider-Man,” Carter said, her smile fading.

“But with Brock exposed, HYDRA’s other operatives will be on guard. It’ll be harder to catch them from here on out.”

Xia Luo pondered this. “Most of the other suspects hold positions higher than yours; you might not get another chance to test them.”

“So?”

“So I’ll be stepping in. Time to bring them down. I have a feeling they’re planning something catastrophic.”

“Your ‘super-sense’ again?”

“More or less.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“No worries,” Xia Luo grinned. “With Dr. Otto’s neural scanner, I won’t miss a beat—as long as you can tell me where to find them.”

“That, I can manage.” Carter pulled out her phone, preparing to call in her contacts.

While she made arrangements, Xia Luo resumed honing his new super speed.

Meanwhile, atop the Empire State Building, a clandestine meeting unfolds.

“We’re close to being exposed.”

“Impossible. They don’t have proof.”

“Spider-Man doesn’t need it. He has our names; Steve’s death led to all this.”

“Putting Steve in charge of HYDRA was the biggest mistake we ever made.”

“After Steve’s death, someone erased all the Spider-Man files. Now we’re vulnerable.”

“Then we’ll proceed with our plans.”

“Agreed. If we can’t control the world, we’ll destroy it—and rebuild in our own image.”

“Hail HYDRA!”

“Hail HYDRA!”