As Xia Luo pulled out Bucky’s spine, his Spider-Sense screamed in warning.
But it was too late.
Shunk!
The black barbs on the surface of the spine effortlessly pierced through the nanometal’s defense, stabbing into his fingers. Instantly, Xia Luo’s fingers went numb, and the black spine dropped to the ground.
He looked down. The nanometal retracted from his palm, revealing his fingertips rapidly rotting away. The decay spread across his entire hand.
Xia Luo frowned, then sighed.
“Care to tell me what this is?” he asked, staring at the weakened Bucky.
Seeing Xia Luo’s rapidly decaying hand, but noting that the infection didn’t extend to the rest of his body, Bucky’s smirk faded, yet he didn’t lose hope.
“Your powers come from a mutated spider,” Bucky said with a hint of satisfaction. “But it looks like the Genetic Destroyer isn’t as deadly to you as I thought.”
“Genetic Destroyer?” Xia Luo’s brow furrowed.
Bucky nodded. “Yes. In the days I vanished, I did a lot of preparation—just to kill you once and for all.”
“But I’m not going to die,” Xia Luo said calmly, though his heart sank.
His enhanced Titan physique seemed to provide some resistance to the spider-targeting Genetic Destroyer, but he could feel it weakening his powers, threatening to strip them away. There was only one way to halt the damage.
Xia Luo’s confidence only solidified Bucky’s conviction. “You will die. The Genetic Destroyer will completely eradicate your mutated regenerative cells.”
“For Steve’s sake, you think it’s worth sacrificing yourself?” Xia Luo asked, genuinely puzzled.
Bucky laughed, his voice tinged with sorrow. “You have friends too, but I doubt you could ever understand.”
His thoughts drifted to the past.
The first time he met Steve, he was just a clueless rookie—naive and eager. Besides Carter, it was Bucky who taught Steve how to be a good soldier.
Steve was weak, physically frail, but he was sincere, kind, and possessed a fierce sense of justice.
Bucky admired that about Steve, and Steve respected Bucky in return. They became close friends.
Before Steve underwent the Super Soldier experiment, Bucky had tried to talk him out of it.
But Steve insisted.
In the end, Steve succeeded—only to have misfortune follow close behind.
Steve became a mascot, a symbol that eclipsed his true potential as a soldier. In the midst of war, it was a crushing blow to someone who deserved better.
Bucky fought tooth and nail, using every tactic to reverse the decision, but nothing changed.
He watched as the idealistic hero was slowly consumed by ambition, until the day he uncovered the truth during a mission—a horrifying revelation that shattered everything.
Steve was aiding HYDRA’s escape.
They fought, and Bucky tumbled off a cliff. But he didn’t die.
During the long hours waiting for rescue, hope turned to rage, then to despair. He was abandoned by everyone he trusted—the officers he revered, the comrades he called brothers.
Except for Steve.
Just when he was about to end it all, Steve appeared.
In the frozen wilderness, Steve carried his injured body for what felt like an eternity. Bucky lost count of how many times Steve stumbled and fell.
But one sentence remained burned in his memory:
“Bucky, I won’t give up on you.”
It was that single phrase that made Bucky realize—Steve was the only true friend he’d ever had.
When his friend was unjustly punished, it was his duty to help.
Yet he hesitated.
His upbringing couldn’t allow him to join the evil forces of HYDRA. It felt wrong.
But then the war ended, and Steve chose to step away from the world.
Bucky believed peace had finally come.
But he was wrong—war had never truly ended. It never would.
The brave knight who once fought dragons had become one.
No, he realized. They had always been dragons, merely cloaked in heroism.
For the first time, he saw things clearly.
It didn’t matter if his choice was right or wrong. He only knew one thing:
Only a dragon could slay another dragon.
Then Spider-Man appeared, and everything fell apart.
Steve died, leaving Bucky with only revenge.
The unfinished Genetic Destroyer became his last hope.
It would take his life, but he wasn’t afraid. He’d already died in the freezing abyss seventy years ago. Back then, he still had dreams of what a post-war world might look like.
Memories surged, then ebbed away like waves.
Bucky slowly closed his eyes.
“Do it now, while you still have strength.”
Xia Luo studied him for a moment, coming to a decision of his own.
“Alright. I understand.”
He raised his other hand, mustering every ounce of strength.
BOOM!
His fist crashed down, splattering blood across his black suit.
As Bucky’s life faded, the bomb inside his body detonated.
He had endured until this moment—until the very end.
BOOOOM!!
In a blinding flash, his body disintegrated. The blast’s force, laced with the Genetic Destroyer’s deadly energy, swept outward.
The nanometal surrounding Xia Luo disintegrated at point-blank range, and the power of the explosion tore his body apart.
As consciousness faded, his mind drifted to a thought of Norman’s infamous pumpkin bombs.
Seconds later, a battered Spider emblem fell to the ground, the surviving nanometal retreating into it.
From the shadows, a severely injured Aleksei watched. Forcing himself up, he stumbled over to the emblem and picked it up, laughing hysterically.
“Hahahaha! Spider-Man is dead at last!!”
“Ahh! I’m dying too!”
He convulsed, pieces of his monstrous form shedding in black clumps. His body began to dissolve.
The side effects of consuming the mutated spider, worsened by the blood mist, were proving fatal.
Desperation driving him, Aleksei staggered towards the city.
Only Kingpin could save him now.
Minutes later, the sound of rotor blades filled the air as another helicopter arrived.
“Captain, there’s evidence of a battle here,” Coulson reported, surveying the scene.
Carter scanned the area, her expression darkening. “Looks like it’s over.”
“Look! The black spine!” Coulson exclaimed.
“Bring it back.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Then came a report from Agent Hill over the radio.
“Captain, we couldn’t rescue the mutated individuals. Their defenses were too strong, we couldn’t break through.”
“What?” Carter’s frown deepened. “Kingpin… he’s more troublesome than I thought.”
Coulson nodded grimly. “He controls the largest underground network in New York, and he’s incredibly dangerous. We’ve tried to infiltrate his organization multiple times, but none of our agents survived.”
“Even military force couldn’t do it?” Carter asked.
Coulson shook his head. “His reach goes far beyond what we can see.”
Carter pondered for a moment. “This is turning out to be a serious problem.”
“Should we keep looking for Spider-Man?” Coulson asked.
Carter sighed, shaking her head. “No. We’re heading back.”
If that guy were still alive, he wouldn’t have left the black spine behind.
As expected, he only seemed good at playing the resurrection game.
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