Restart, Spider-Man! [29]
Bruce Banner stared at the pile of charred remains and strange metal fragments that Coulson had brought, looking troubled.
"Coulson, it's eleven at night. This is well past my working hours," the mild-mannered Banner complained, looking exasperated.
Coulson, ever the professional, remained expressionless. "Dr. Banner, this is by the director's order."
"You can't keep pushing me around like this. I have my own experiments to conduct," Banner said, scratching his head, clearly feeling conflicted.
Before Coulson could respond, Natasha Romanoff stepped forward with a smile. "Dr. Banner, this is really important. Please help us out. I'll talk to Nick about securing more funding for your gamma radiation research."
Hearing that there could be more funding, Bruce Banner forced a reluctant smile.
"Alright, Natasha, I'll do it for you this time. But this can't keep happening."
"I promise," Natasha said, sincerity filling her eyes.
Banner nodded. "So, what exactly is this?" he asked, gesturing to the charred remains and metal fragments on the table.
Natasha explained, "This is Spider-Man's body. We had a hard time finding it."
"Spider-Man?" Banner recalled, "The superhuman that's been really popular recently. I've heard of him. He's dead?"
"Yes, he was killed by a missile just last week."
"A missile?"
Banner looked skeptical. "If a missile was involved, there shouldn't be anything left of his body."
"And using an expensive missile to blow up a bug? That's absurd," he added, his expression odd.
Natasha sighed, rubbing her temples. "Yes, we agree it sounds absurd. But if you knew who the suspect was, it would make more sense."
"Who?" Banner asked, intrigued.
"Stark Industries," Coulson replied, still with no expression.
He continued, "We discovered that the missile used to blow up that area was a Stark Industries MI1 formula missile. If Tony Stark is the culprit, then the cost of a missile wouldn't matter to him."
Banner stroked his chin, pondering. "Does Tony Stark have any grudges against Spider-Man?"
"We haven't heard of any connection between them," Coulson shook his head.
Banner thought for a moment. "I met Tony recently. He didn't seem like the type. Maybe Spider-Man wandered into a restricted area by accident and got caught in a weapons test?"
Natasha shook her head. "The area where it happened was a residential zone—no weapons testing allowed. And it's highly suspicious that Spider-Man happened to be killed there by a missile."
"That's why we suspect the missile strike was targeted specifically at Spider-Man, but we're not sure if Tony Stark was directly responsible," Coulson said.
With their investigation still lacking key details, Banner didn't want to waste any more time.
"Alright, this is your investigation. What's my role in this?" he asked.
Natasha smiled. "Dr. Banner, your task is to extract Spider-Man's DNA from this pile of ashes."
"From this pile of charcoal? Are you serious?" Banner looked exasperated.
"I know it's almost impossible, but you might find something else in these remains," Natasha pointed to the metallic fragments on the table.
Seeing no other option, Banner nodded, then asked, "What are these metal pieces?"
"They're fragments of Spider-Man's suit, melted by the high temperatures. It was thanks to these that we were able to confirm this is Spider-Man."
"I really don't understand why you're so interested in this wreckage," Banner muttered under his breath, approaching the table. He used tweezers to pick up a small piece of ash and placed it into the analyzer.
"Due to the high temperatures and damage, the DNA has likely degraded completely. I won't—wait. There are intact cells? How is this possible?"
Banner was startled and continued his examination.
"Oh my God, the intact cells are rapidly self-replicating. They're more active than normal cells! No, this tissue is regenerating. It's alive.
This is impossible! This isn't scientifically possible! Biology doesn't work like this!!"
Banner let out a shocked scream, stumbling back and collapsing to the floor, sweat beading on his forehead.
Beside him, Natasha and Coulson were just as stunned.
Right before their eyes, the pile of ashes began to move, growing tendrils of flesh. The chunks of metal started to "melt" and reform rapidly.
In front of the terrified onlookers, the flesh tendrils grew at a visible rate, converging like living organisms to form bones, nerves, and muscle tissue.
As the writhing nano-metal climbed over the body, a red-and-blue figure stood up and stretched.
"Hey, good evening, everyone!"
Revived, Xia Luo casually greeted the stunned group, then launched himself towards the exit.
With a single punch, he shattered the lab's reinforced glass, dashing into the hallway at lightning speed.
"To think I was 'born' in S.H.I.E.L.D. ... What a joke."
"Beep, beep, beep!"
"Warning! Warning!"
In an instant, the alarms inside S.H.I.E.L.D. blared. Natasha and Coulson, snapping out of their shock, immediately ran after him.
"Nick, we've got a problem. Spider-Man has escaped!" Natasha said urgently, contacting Nick Fury.
In his office, Nick Fury frowned deeply. "Spider-Man is dead. What are you talking about?"
"No, he's not dead. He's just come back to life."
"What?"
Nick Fury was stunned and couldn't react immediately.
The next second, gunfire erupted outside his office. Fury's expression shifted as he rushed out to see what was going on.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Under a barrage of gunfire from a squad of agents, a red-and-blue figure flipped and leaped acrobatically down the corridor. Even though sparks flew from his suit as bullets struck it, Xia Luo pressed on.
Sure, he didn't dodge all the bullets—but he looked good doing it.
In the blink of an eye, Xia Luo flicked his wrist, unleashing a torrent of webs from his wrist device.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
In an instant, the agents in front of him were enveloped in the thick webbing. With a sudden burst of strength, Xia Luo yanked them all forward, causing them to crash to the ground.
"My teeth!" one agent groaned.
"Holy crap, that's some serious strength," another muttered.
"We're a dozen people, and he just yanked us all down with one hand!"
"How does he have that much webbing?"
Amid the stunned gasps of the agents, Xia Luo dusted off his hands, turned, and smashed through a floor-to-ceiling window, leaping out of the high-rise building.
"Whoosh!"
The wind howled as Nick Fury stood in the cold breeze, watching Spider-Man disappear into the neon-lit cityscape below.
His eyes narrowed, lost in thought.
Natasha soon arrived at the scene, surveying the aftermath with a grave expression.
"I've never seen him use moves like that before, and his strength seems to have increased significantly."
Nick Fury turned to her. "No matter what, we need to know how he came back. Send Harry after him. This will be his first mission with us."
"Understood."
——
Meanwhile, Xia Luo swung through the bustling city streets.
"Look, it's Spider-Man!" a bystander yelled.
"He hasn't shown up in ages!" another cried.
Amid the crowd's cheers, Xia Luo landed atop a rooftop.
Leaning against a bright neon billboard, he clenched his fist, feeling the power surging within him.
Eleven Resurrection Matches had earned him a total strength increase of 2.2 tons.
Add to that the 10-ton bonus from winning the match, along with his original 12-ton strength.
A total of 24.2 tons!
That was the standard strength level of an ordinary Spider-Man.
And even better was his new nano-suit—an upgraded Venom version, perfectly suited to his tastes.
As for the issue of exhausting his restart attempts, it'll be resolved. When he's facing an overwhelming situation, there won't be any need to use them up.
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