CHAPTER 58

At this moment, Ethan and Peter witnessed the surrounding environment shift dramatically. In the blink of an eye, the decrepit factory around them transformed into a lush, vibrant rainforest complete with towering trees, dense foliage, and the thick humidity of untamed wilderness.

All around them, the sounds of snarling predators echoed low growls, high-pitched screeches, and the distant rumble of something massive approaching. Just as the two went on alert, a swarm of monstrous, bat-like creatures soared toward them at breakneck speed.

Reacting swiftly, Peter and Ethan leaped away in opposite directions. The flying beasts slammed into the ground where they had just been, but with no force or aftermath just vapor and fading light.

"It's an illusion," Peter declared, scanning the space while crouching. "Makes sense my spider-sense didn't even twitch."

Ethan, now landing nearby, agreed internally, but didn't lower his guard. "He's blending real and fake. That's the danger. The illusion's just a curtain for something real to strike behind it."

His instincts were right.

When the bat creatures returned again this time accompanied by a roaring Tyrannosaurus lunging from the forest edge Peter instinctively dodged the dinosaur. But as he twisted mid-air, one of the flying beasts, this one real, clipped him hard across the shoulder and sent him crashing backward.

"Ugh!" Peter grunted as he rolled across the grassy floor. His body slammed into a wall the very real perimeter of the factory, just well-camouflaged by illusion. "That one wasn't fake!"

Up above, Ethan reacted instantly. He fired a strand of web to the invisible ceiling still the actual structure of the warehouse and vaulted high, narrowly dodging both the diving beast and the dinosaur's swinging tail.

Landing beside Peter, Ethan helped him to his feet. "You okay?"

Peter coughed, brushing dirt off his suit. "Yeah, but these illusions are screwing with my spider-sense. It's like my brain's buffering."

Before they could regroup, the rainforest began to tremble. The ground quaked beneath their feet. A thunderous stampede erupted from the horizon.

Lions. Tigers. Raptors. Mammoths. Even WWII fighter planes and modern missiles buzzed through the air overhead.

"Great. Mysterio's throwing the entire History Channel at us," Peter muttered. "Pretty sure dinosaurs and fighter jets didn't share a timeline."

Ethan cracked a smirk. "Maybe he skipped history class. Or just likes spectacle."

"I'm gonna try something different," Ethan added, suddenly closing his eyes. "My vision's getting overloaded, but my instincts aren't. If I stop seeing, I can trust what I feel."

Peter nodded slowly, considering it. "Yeah. That… actually makes a lot of sense. My spider-sense is still working, but my eyes are jamming it up."

They both shut their eyes.

With vision turned off, they opened up their other senses. Venom guided Ethan with quiet growls of warning and awareness. Peter's spider-sense, now freed from visual distractions, kicked back in sharply.

"This plan needs nerves of steel, though," Peter whispered, cracking his neck and loosening his shoulders. "It's like walking blindfolded into a stampede."

"They're coming," Ethan said quietly. The ground thundered louder. Shadows loomed.

Then crashes. Whirring. Metallic creaks. Buzzes of short-circuiting circuits.

Though eyes shut, their movements were swift and precise. Using only their senses, they tore through the illusions to strike at what was real: robot constructs hidden within the projection. Ethan shattered one with a web-enhanced kick, while Peter twisted mid-flip and web-yanked a drone into the wall.

Over and over, metal clattered to the ground, the floor littered with broken limbs, exposed wiring, and cracked lenses.

The illusions still shimmered around them, but the trick was no longer effective. The beasts were smoke. The danger was hardware. And they were dismantling it all, one machine at a time.

By the time the final robot collapsed into sparks, Peter exhaled deeply. "Man… I'm starting to hate special effects."

Ethan looked around at the shattered drones and mechanical limbs. "Same. But at least we've cleared the stage."

For now.

After all perceived dangers vanished, Ethan didn't relax for even a second. With Venom's enhanced awareness tracking subtle air shifts and bio-signatures during the past few minutes of chaos, he had already pinpointed Quentin Beck's exact location.

"I've got to admit, I didn't expect you to keep up this long," Beck sneered from a high platform, his voice distorted and dramatic. "Let's see if you can find the real me now!"

With a theatrical flourish of his hand, hundreds of identical Mysterios suddenly materialized across the factory floor. All were clad in the signature green scale armor, purple cape, and the iconic globe-shaped helmet every one of them armed and raising their tech-based weapons toward Peter and Ethan. The sight was impressively intimidating.

"You've only got one shot, heroes!" Beck laughed from somewhere in the illusionary crowd. "Guess wrong… and "

Before he could finish his sentence, Ethan darted forward, moving faster than Beck anticipated. With one brutal strike, Ethan smashed the fishbowl helmet off the real Mysterio's shoulders and clamped his hand around the man's throat.

The real Quentin Beck gasped, choking mid-sentence. All around them, the illusionary clones flickered violently and began to glitch out of existence.

"Your trickery doesn't work on me," Ethan growled in a low, gravelly tone Venom's voice layering over his own. "We've been locked onto you from the beginning."

As Beck flailed in his grip, the remaining illusions vanished, leaving only the reality of failure behind. Venom's bio-senses had cut through the holographic deception with ease.

Peter's eyes widened behind his lenses. He had been scanning the clones just moments earlier, trying to determine which one was real watching for breathing, blinking, or even subtle muscle tension. But he'd found nothing. No flaws. Nothing his spider-sense could single out in that sea of fakes.

And yet Ethan had found the real Mysterio in seconds.

Peter shot a tight webline at Beck, coating his arms and torso with thick strands. Within seconds, Beck was wrapped from neck to boots, squirming uselessly. "Whoa! Easy, big guy. I'll take it from here," Peter said, concerned that Ethan might finish the job.

"He's caused a lot of trouble, but he hasn't actually killed anyone," Peter continued, cautious. "So let's just hand him over to the NYPD, yeah?"

Ethan released his grip without protest, letting Beck drop to the floor with a thud. The illusionist coughed and struggled under the weight of the webbing.

"I'm not a killer," Ethan said flatly. "Just effective."

Peter: "…"

Ethan brushed past him, turning to leave. "I've done my part. You can handle the wrap-up."

Peter nodded, calling out to him, "Thanks, seriously."

As Ethan's silhouette vanished into the shadows of the ruined warehouse, Peter watched him go with a smile tugging under the mask. "It's nice having someone who doesn't flake out when it matters."

Though Venom's methods were aggressive and often harsh, Peter couldn't deny that Ethan had been fighting on the right side. He'd helped uncover the deception, stop Beck's scheme, and clear Peter's name. In a way, they made a good team.

Turning back to the squirming villain, Peter hoisted Beck effortlessly. "Alright, Mr. Beck, let's go visit your friends at Rikers. Try not to project anything weird on the way."

With Quentin Beck exposed as a fraud, Spider-Man's reputation across New York saw a dramatic turnaround. The public, now aware that the chaos had all been part of Mysterio's elaborate hoax, rallied behind the web-slinger.

Media outlets across the city corrected their previous narratives some apologetically, some reluctantly. Everyone from The Daily Globe to NY1 aired segments vindicating Spider-Man. But one voice remained stubbornly unchanged.

J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle, couldn't admit he was wrong. While he stopped short of declaring Mysterio innocent, he redirected his anger into an editorial dissecting Spider-Man's "reckless decisions" during the incident.

Though many fans lambasted Jameson online, the Bugle's circulation shot up sharply. Controversy, after all, sold papers and Jameson knew how to stir a crowd.

Ethan, meanwhile, ignored all of it.

In a world so saturated with spin, distortion, and misinformation, he had no interest in the public's approval. Headlines changed by the hour. Truth required more than just what people read it demanded discernment.

With Mysterio neutralized, Ethan's life returned to relative calm. By day, he quietly continued his studies, spending long hours reading and researching. Venom, too, remained content no longer driven by hunger, but by curiosity about this world.

Every now and then, Ethan would spot Spider-Man swinging by outside, webbing between rooftops or chasing down another petty criminal.

And although he wouldn't admit it out loud Ethan didn't mind the view.