Chapter 117

[Third Person's PoV] 

A Few Minutes Earlier…

Max slowly made his way towards the city, wearing a gray hoodie and sweatpants with his hood up and face down, while his hands were in the sweater. Invisible strings of electricity moved from the ground and lampposts to his shoeless blue feet.

"Such power," Max said, his voice crackling with electricity, giving him a powerful tone.

"Not far from here is an electrical power plant. Once I have siphoned all its power, I will reach my ultimate form. A form of pure, unbridled energy. An energy god... Then people will truly know who I am. They will remember the name Max... No... that's not who I am anymore."

Max looked at his glowing blue hands as he continued walking. "I'm different now. I am destined to be a god. And as a god, I'm going to need a new name."

Max accidentally bumped into a man in a business suit, who seemed to be in a hurry and was on his phone.

"Hey, watch it!"

Max put a hand on the man's chest. "Nobody talks that way to me anymore!" he yelled.

"Wha–"

"NOT TO ELECTRO!" Electro's voice crackled with power as he sent a bolt of electricity from his hand, hitting the man in the chest and sending him flying into a car, which created a large dent. The man slid down, lifeless, his chest burnt and his head dropping.

"AHHHHHHH!!" Some of the pedestrians screamed, witnessing the sight, and ran away.

Electro grabbed his hoodie and sweatpants, ripping them off to reveal his glowing blue figure. Slowly, he began to rise from the ground, blue electric arcs coming off him.

"Even if the power plant is close by, Times Square is closer. My patience runs thin; my thirst for power must be fulfilled," he muttered as he took to the skies.

Even in the middle of the day, Times Square was brimming with people, each going about their day. As Electro appeared, he floated down to the level of the electric billboards, each displaying advertisements.

"PEOPLE OF NEW YORK CITY!" Electro's voice boomed, causing everyone to slowly stop and look towards the source of the voice.

Seeing Electro's figure and appearance, people pointed and talked among themselves before taking out their phones to snap pictures and record videos.

Electro's fists started to glow brighter than the rest of his body. "KNEEL BEFORE YOUR NEW GOD! KNEEL BEFORE ELECTRO!"

Electro reached out towards the electric billboards. A large bolt of electricity shot out from one of them and came towards Electro. The billboard turned off as Electro let out a satisfied sigh. He opened a palm and charged electricity into it, then aimed it downwards. "I SAID KNEEL!" he shouted, sending a bolt of electricity towards a parked car.

The car exploded into flames, causing the crowd to scream and duck. More electricity charged towards his palm, and he sent it towards more parked cars, each causing an explosion. "If you don't kneel in the next second, prepare to face divine judgment!"

"Hey, Sparky!" someone called out.

Confused, Electro turned towards the sound of the voice but didn't see anyone. That was until Gwen undid her invisibility and punched Electro across the face, her knuckles covered in hardened ice.

"Take a chill pill!"

Electro was sent hurtling through the air, crashing into a black billboard sign. He growled in anger and grabbed the billboard, siphoning electricity from the entire building, which all happened in one second.

Gwen's Spidey-sense kicked in, and she shot a web, pulling herself to the side as a ray of electricity shot out from Electro, destroying other billboards. Gwen shot webs everywhere as she dodged all of Electro's attacks elegantly. She pulled herself towards Electro with her fist ready to punch him.

But Electro didn't let it happen. He sent out a punch of his own, causing both of their fists to meet. Electro grunted in pain as her punches were strong, but as he grunted, he smirked and sent a strong jolt of electricity through their connected fists, bypassing her suit and electrocuting her.

It was Gwen's turn to grunt in pain, but she gritted her teeth, disconnected the fists, and aimed another punch at Electro's face. Electro quickly moved his head, causing Gwen's fist to punch into the billboard and rip through it. Electro then punched Gwen in the stomach, sending her flying back and crashing into another billboard. Even with her Spidey-sense, the best she could do was block it with her palm.

"HAHAHA! THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T GO AGAINST A GOD!"

Gwen, sticking to the billboard with her feet, shook her hands in front of her. "Eww! You have a god complex, that's so disgusting!"

Electro gained an enraged expression as he blitzed towards her. Gwen's Spidey-sense warned her of the danger, and she twisted her body at an impossible angle, causing Electro to miss. As he missed, he siphoned more electricity. Gwen didn't miss her chance and kicked her leg towards Electro, hitting him in the stomach as she held on with her hands.

Electro grunted in pain but grabbed her leg and transferred electricity to her, causing her to scream in pain. He grabbed her leg with both hands and flung her towards the ground. As she fell, Gwen twisted her body just right to soften her landing. She quickly rolled and went into the iconic Spider-Man pose, further lessening the damage.

Her Spidey-sense once again activated, and she jumped and flipped back just as Electro appeared from above, landing with his fist through the floor and a knee on the ground.

As they both landed, Gwen propelled herself towards him and kicked him in the chin, sending him flying up and back. Gwen then shot her webs, pulled herself forward, and punched him across the face with her momentum before landing another punch.

Seeing Gwen winning and gaining the upper hand, the crowd cheered, "Woah! Go Ghost-Spider!"

Multiple police cars then arrived, surrounding the area. All the cops exited and pointed their guns at Electro.

Electro let Gwen's last punch carry him out of her range and shouted, "Don't cheer for her! Cheer for me! Cheer for your new god, dammit!"

Electro's electricity then reached out, took hold of the cop cars, and levitated them off the ground before tossing them towards the crowd.

Gwen jumped up and shot her web towards the two cop cars, stopping them from hitting anyone.

All the cops then began shooting at Electro, but the bullets disintegrated against his skin. "Mortal weapons are useless against a being such as I," he declared.

Electro lifted the vents from the ground with his electricity arcs and went to stick his hands inside. But Gwen shot her webs towards him to pull him away. As the web clung to him, Electro took hold of them and sent static electricity towards her, which sent her flying off and crashing against the cop cars, denting them.

Electro then stuck his hands in and started pulling electricity from the underground wires. He let out satisfied sighs as his skin glowed bluer by the minute.

Seeing this, people started getting scared and began to worry. The cops screamed at everyone to get away.

But it was too late as Electro discharged a powerful electric surge that spread everywhere. As the electrical arcs spread, Gwen's world started to slow down. She let out a breath, which came out as a white mist. She did a handstand and propelled herself towards the sky.

Once in the sky, she started to shoot webs everywhere. She was upside down with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. Her Spidey-sense, ability to sense heat, and agility worked in tandem. She pulled people out of the way, lifted them over the electrical arcs running along the ground, and moved empty cars in front of the arcs, protecting groups of people at the same time.

She landed back on the ground in the iconic Spider-Man pose, and everything returned to normal. Cars exploded, people fell back down, and everyone dodged the electricity that was discharged.

Eddie Brock had his camera in shutter mode and managed to take action-by-action pictures of everything. 'Woah… she's amazing…' he thought.

Electro was on the ground on one knee, gasping for air as he had expelled too much electricity at once. But the aftereffects weren't over. Gwen noticed sparks coming from the billboards and saw them swaying.

Her Spidey-sense slowed down time for her once more. She pulled herself towards the closest billboard and threw a web grenade. She then jumped and flew over the next, throwing a trap mine towards the wall as it was tipping over. The trip mine shot a web and held the billboard in place. She landed on the next one over and put her hands by the metal bars that were coming undone, freezing them with her ice.

As she jumped towards the next, she twisted her body and threw a web grenade across in the opposite direction. It exploded and held the billboard in place as everyone started running away. She shot webs from her wrist and from her web shooter at the same time to fortify some of them.

Her Spidey-sense then rang, but as her head slowly moved towards where the danger was coming from, she saw a blue lightning arc slowly turn into Electro, who tackled her. She went through the windows of a building, past clothing, and through a wall before being pushed out through another window.

Gwen's mechanical limbs extended from her back and took hold of Electro's limbs. She began to punch Electro with great force as they both fell towards the ground.

Electro kept drifting in and out of consciousness. With all his willpower, he pulled his head back and headbutted Gwen. They both landed on the ground with a thud and bounced up slightly.

They slowly stood up, taking a moment to catch their breath before resuming their attack.

Meanwhile, Eddie Brock, instead of running away, tried to keep up with them, camera in hand. "This is it," he muttered excitedly. "This is why I love this job—the thrill is amazing."

Gwen slowly brought her hands together while Electro held his hands out.

Gwen formed a staff out of ice, while Electro conjured two whips made purely of electricity upon seeing Gwen create a weapon.

Gwen charged towards Electro, her mechanical limbs extended and her ice staff to the side in her hands.

Electro cracked his whips, causing the ground to become charred with electricity.

Meanwhile, police secretly positioned themselves on higher ground. They set up a sniper and aimed at Electro.

The sniper put a hand to his ear and said, "I'm in position, over."

He heard someone say, "Shoot when you have a clear visual of the target."

A helicopter was then heard, circling Gwen and Electro as they rushed towards each other.

As Electro started swinging his whips, Gwen's mechanical limbs stopped them. When Electro punched, Gwen deflected with her staff, swinging it across his face.

She kicked, swung her staff, and kneed him while elegantly dodging, showing off her flexibility.

She did the splits as Electro swung both whips towards her head. While in the splits, she pointed her staff up and thrust it towards his chin, causing him to stagger backward.

Electro pretended to be more stunned than he was, staggering more than needed. As he did, a bullet was shot.

"Look out!" Gwen warned Electro, but he still got hit in the head by the sniper's bullet. Like the others, it disintegrated on contact.

The real reason for his staggering back was revealed as he stood atop another vent. He looked towards the sniper before turning to Gwen.

"Why did you warn me just now?" he asked, secretly powering up.

"Because I don't want you to die, obviously. Yes, you've done horrible things, and I want to take you down, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve a chance for redemption. You have to face justice like everyone else," Gwen replied.

"I see," Electro muttered before scoffing, "You're naive." He turned and sent a beam of pure electrical energy towards the sniper.

Gwen tackled him, causing his aim to swerve. Instead of hitting the sniper, the beam passed through the foundations of buildings on both sides of the street, causing them to start collapsing.

"There are people inside those buildings and some outside. If they fall, there will be many casualties," Aria warned.

Hearing this, Gwen punched Electro in the face with enough force to shatter the ground before jumping up and throwing a few web grenades over him.

She swung towards the collapsing buildings, took a deep breath, and started spamming webs everywhere. Standing in the middle of both buildings, she pulled on the webs she had shot.

"AAAAAAHHHH!!" she screamed, flexing her muscles to hold both buildings in place.

"Get everyone away from here! I don't know how long I can hold these two buildings!" Gwen yelled to the cops.

Eddie Brock watched in awe, slowly raising his camera to take pictures of Gwen amidst the webs.

Gwen couldn't pull too hard, or else the buildings would tumble towards her, ending in disaster. But she couldn't lose her grip, or they would collapse completely. She had to maintain a constant hold, a difficult task even for her strength.

Additionally, she was fighting against gravity, adding to the weight of the buildings.

Gwen occasionally screamed in pain, wanting more than anything to release her hold, but didn't knowing it would result in countless deaths.

"The pain I'm feeling right now is only temporary. The guilt I'd feel would last a lifetime," Gwen repeated like a mantra to reinforce her will.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she held on, taking deep breaths and grunting in pain, but she stayed strong.

Gwen saw firefighters arrive, setting up ladders to help people climb down from their apartments.

A couple of long minutes soon passed as Gwen still held on. 

Her head was down and arms spread out like a crucifixion, seeing this, Eddie Brock took another picture.

A news helicopter flew close to Gwen.

"Ghost-Spider, you can let go now. Everyone has been evacuated to safety," a newswoman said as the cameraman recorded her.

Gwen didn't respond.

"Ghost-Spider?"

Still no response.

"This is unbelievable… she's unconscious…"

They all stared in awe at what they were seeing.

"That's crazy…" the reporter said. "She is still holding up both buildings with nothing but her willpower alone… We have to help her."

"Give me the camera. We'll lower ourselves enough for you to grab her and pull her in," the reporter said to the cameraman, who nodded.

He handed her the camera, held onto the helicopter handle, and extended his hand towards Gwen.

He took hold of her arm and slowly pulled her up, causing the webs to slip off her hands.

Both buildings collapsed as the helicopter floated up and away from the dust storm created by the collapse.

The cameraman struggled to pull her in, "Help me, she's too heavy."

The reporter put the camera aside and helped get her inside the helicopter.

The helicopter flew a bit further away before landing. As it landed, Gwen started to regain consciousness.

"Ms. Ghost-Spider, tell us, how are you feeling currently?" the reporter asked as Gwen stood up, thanking them for helping her.

Seeing as they helped her, Gwen decided to answer, "I'll tell you what I'm not feeling. My arms," she said, slowly trying to lift them but unable to.

Gwen then started to turn invisible as she walked away from them…