Chapter 79: Ebony Maw, Defeated!

Several of Tony Stark's armored suits had already been dismantled—four or five of them, to be exact.

To Black Dwarf, those suits were little more than oversized action figures. Without Iron Man personally piloting them, their combat power was laughably inferior.

"Steve!" Iron Man shouted while launching a flurry of attacks. "Peter is in serious danger—I need to go support him!"

"Go ahead!" Captain America replied. "Leave this to me!"

"I'll hold the line," Iron Man said. "Reinforcements are on their way."

Before Captain America could even ask about the nature of these reinforcements, Iron Man had already soared toward Avengers Headquarters.

He couldn't shake his worry for Peter.

From their earlier clash, Tony had realized just how strange Ebony Maw's powers were—likely only someone like Doctor Strange, a master of the mystic arts, could counter him.

Spider-Man, despite being a hero with enhanced physical abilities, wasn't equipped to face such a mysterious and arcane foe.

Having developed quite a fondness for Peter, Tony didn't want anything to happen to him.

After all, he still intended to introduce Peter to his brilliant protégé, Peter Parker. He thought the young Parker could learn a lot from this Peter.

Tony's actions, however, had unintentionally turned Peter into a figure reminiscent of an old warrior from the stage, bristling with metaphorical flags.

Fortunately, Peter was tough. Even after taking a direct hit from Ebony Maw at close range, he managed to survive by sheer force of will.

When Iron Man arrived on the scene, Friday immediately issued a warning.

"Sir, unidentified flying objects are approaching rapidly."

"Unidentified? Are they military?" Tony asked.

"Unknown designation. Their structure doesn't match any entries in our database. However, they bear a high resemblance to Thanos's fleet—likely alien ships," Friday replied.

"Shoot them down!" Tony ordered without hesitation.

As his command echoed, the Avengers compound rumbled, and missiles were launched toward the small ships.

The ships quickly activated energy shields, blocking the incoming missile strikes.

But the brief delay gave their pursuers on the ground enough time to catch up.

War Machine and Falcon, both airborne combatants, arrived first and engaged one of the smaller ships using their unique tactics.

Iron Man chose another ship to target.

These vessels were unarmed, and once their shields were overwhelmed, they were swiftly destroyed.

Tony used his laser blade to cut open the hull of one of the ships, only to find it unmanned.

Clearly, they were autonomous drones.

Looking down, he spotted Peter, half of his body drenched in blood. Without wasting a second, Tony flew toward him.

"Your injuries look serious. You've lost a lot of blood. Do you need me to help you to a safer spot?" Doctor Strange asked as he secured Ebony Maw with several mystical bindings and then turned to Peter.

Earlier, Black Widow had caught Peter just as he fell, stepping through a portal in the nick of time.

Peter nodded weakly. "Thanks."

He did feel utterly drained.

The blood loss was taking its toll, leaving him lightheaded and weak.

Though his body was durable and his regenerative abilities impressive, he had only managed to perform an emergency self-bandage with quantum webbing.

Regenerating blood, however, took time.

During the battle, the surge of adrenaline had masked his condition. Now that the fight was over, the exhaustion hit him like a truck.

Doctor Strange helped Peter to a nearby area untouched by the battle's chaos.

As they sat down, Peter couldn't help but grumble, "You guys showed up way later than planned. I almost didn't make it."

Doctor Strange gave an apologetic smile. "Shortly after the fighting started here, Wakanda came under attack. The spatial pathways were blocked, so we were delayed."

"Space Blocked? Thanos's Doing?"

Peter was slightly startled and asked, "Thanos has the ability to block space?"

Doctor Strange nodded in confirmation.

Peter frowned.

He didn't recall Thanos having such an ability in the original story. Was this a butterfly effect caused by his presence as a transmigrator, or was it simply that the original narrative didn't adequately portray this power?

"There's a regeneration cradle in that building. Let's take him there," Iron Man said as he landed beside Peter. He explained briefly, "The regeneration cradle is a nanotechnology-based medical device that can quickly repair tissues, close wounds, and more."

"How's the battle over there? And Captain America?" Peter didn't decline Iron Man's offer but still asked about the situation on the other side.

"I sent reinforcements to help him. It should be fine. Plus, Rhodey and Sam are already there," Iron Man replied.

Peter nodded. He pulled the Eye of Agamotto, which was hanging around his neck, out of his suit and handed it to Doctor Strange before stepping into the portal that the sorcerer opened.

Iron Man followed him through.

However, he didn't operate the cradle himself but instructed Friday to handle it.

Under Friday's command, the regeneration cradle opened, revealing a pod-like structure.

Peter's primary wound was on his left side. From his armpit to his waist, a chunk of flesh about 30 centimeters long, 10 centimeters wide, and 2 centimeters thick had been sliced away, exposing bone.

Some of the bones closest to the flesh had also been shaved off in the process.

Due to the quantum webbing and flesh binding together from his earlier emergency patch-up, Peter's suit couldn't be removed, so he lay down in the cradle as he was.

"Friday, clean up Mr. Peter's blood and handle his suit," Tony ordered, retracting his nanotech armor.

As he examined Peter's injuries, Tony's brows furrowed deeply.

The scans from the regeneration cradle showed that at least three of Peter's ribs had been shaved down by half a centimeter in long, uneven strips.

The sheer pain of losing chunks of his body like that was hard to fathom. Yet Peter had not only endured it but also used his webs to bandage himself and continued fighting.

Tony couldn't help but feel a deep respect for such unyielding willpower.

Meanwhile, Peter wasn't feeling as reflective as Tony.

His injuries were indeed severe, but perhaps due to the quantum energy filling the gaps, the pain wasn't as intense as Tony imagined.

Instead, Peter was lamenting the damage to his Spider Suit.

He had barely owned this suit for a week before it was destroyed.

That telekinetic slash from Ebony Maw had not only taken out part of his body but also severely damaged the suit's internal circuits and the multiple layers of materials inside and out.

He wondered if it could be repaired using Tony Stark's or T'Challa's advanced equipment.

The cost of the materials for repairs would likely be steep. And Peter… was broke.

Would he have to mooch?

That didn't feel right.

Maybe he could "borrow" some cash from a few lucky street thugs?

If he did that, he might scrape together a few thousand or tens of thousands, but repairing high-tech Spider Suits would likely require far more.

Perhaps robbing the Kingpin himself, the rumored king of the underworld, would do the trick?

Or maybe hijack Thanos's spaceship and sell it to Tony Stark instead.

Lying there, Peter let his mind wander, all the while allowing the regeneration cradle to scan and treat him.

(End of Chapter)

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