**Chapter 40: Tony: ???**

Difficulties aren't scary; they just need to be tackled with perseverance.

If Atreus can't create the ultimate weapon to defeat the enemy, Tony or Bruce can.

As for his "bat dad," there's no hope—Bruce has his own agenda. Atreus only needs to hold Tony in place.

The real fear is always the unknown!

Just as Atreus prepared an insulated suit, he saw the TV broadcast.

"Now, here's a report from our special correspondent XXX. Just moments ago, an extraordinary and d4ngerous individual was discovered in the city center. He's capable of unleashing lightning strikes. Currently, two Spider-Men are engaged in battle with him."

The camera work was a mess—shaky and flickering nonstop.

But it wasn't the cameraman's fault. The Spider-Men were moving so fast that the camera couldn't keep up.

In a flash, one of the Spider-Men was hit by a terrifying bolt of lightning, crashing into the giant screen in the plaza.

Sparks flew everywhere, debris rained down like a deadly shower, covering innocent civilians. Screams echoed through the area.

The Electro villain had drained a massive amount of electricity from a high-voltage wire on a sign. His body was glowing like an incandescent bulb, with his skin turning transparent, revealing no muscles or organs—just flickering lightning coursing through him.

At this point, he looked like he could easily be mistaken for a disciple of Zeus, the Greek god of thunder.

"Spider-Man! I used to be your fan! How could you treat me like this?" Max, now Electro, shouted in rage. Once a grateful citizen saved by Peter, his transformation into Electro was nothing like Peter's.

Max's transformation was agonizing—electrocuted, then consumed by dozens of mutated electric eels. It was like an American version of being executed by a thousand cuts. In his extreme pain, Spider-Man was still trying to stop him.

This led the once kind-hearted Max to believe that Spider-Man was in league with the evil Osborn Corporation.

But unlike in the original timeline, this time, there were two Spider-Men.

After momentarily fending off Peter, there was still Gwen to deal with.

Gwen wasn't as merciful as Peter. She quickly bound Electro with her webbing, and a giant sign fell like a flyswatter, smacking Electro out of the air.

Electro hadn't yet fully turned into a non-corporeal lightning being, so physical damage still worked on him.

He was slammed to the ground.

And that wasn't all—Peter called in the fire department, and they sprayed Electro with a high-pressure water hose.

In a sense, water from a high-pressure hose is an elemental attack!

In the Western elemental tradition, lightning is associated with the wind element, so Peter using water to fight wind made perfect sense.

Electro was caught and taken into custody by a special police investigation team.

The live broadcast ended there.

Recently, under the guidance of New York City Police Commissioner George Stacy, public opinion had shifted increasingly in favor of the two Spider-Men, who had gained the approval of both citizens and the police department through their continued acts of justice.

Where there's praise, there's also criticism!

Less than half an hour after Electro was captured, a series of revelations appeared online, quickly exposing Electro's real identity as Max, an employee of Osborn Corporation. His work ID and other information were posted for all to see.

All the evidence pointed in one direction—Osborn Corporation!

'Illegal human gene experiments,' 'turning unwitting employees into test subjects,' 'inhumane practices,' 'the earlier incident with Dr. Connors, aka The Lizard, at the Golden Gate Bridge, attempting to turn all of New York into lizard people'...

A slew of dirt surfaced like mushrooms after rain.

Osborn Corporation's shareholders and executives were soon in panic mode, scrambling for an emergency meeting:

"Start the crisis management PR right now!"

"Hurry up!"

"If we don't, our stock will plummet when the market opens tomorrow!"

"Can we even clear this up?"

"It's going to be tough!"

While they were dealing with this PR disaster, back on Atreus's side, Dana asked, "Shouldn't we do something more?"

Atreus shook his head. "No need. We've been the ones leading the charge against Osborn Corporation from the start!"

Wall Street is a ruthless battlefield, filled with thousands of predatory beasts. Even though Osborn Corporation is a giant crocodile in this financial jungle, what happens when another giant crocodile publicly attacks it when it shows weakness?

Atreus had mortgaged Stark Corporation's shares to short Osborn Corporation's stock. If successful, the money he'd make would be nothing short of blood money.

Soon, a wealthy group secretly pushed a reporter to track down Tony in the Middle East.

It was another young and beautiful female reporter.

"Mr. Stark, what are your thoughts on the recent actions of a mysterious second shareholder of Stark Industries, who has mortgaged all of the company's stock to short Osborn Corporation?"

Tony was instantly at a loss—he had no idea what Atreus was up to and couldn't throw him under the bus. With no choice, he replied, "I have no comment."

"If this mysterious shareholder fails in their short, and the bank seizes their mortgaged stock, will this lead to a ch4nge in Stark Industries' ownership?"

Tony sighed, "If it's all legal financial activity, I have nothing to say."

Despite Tony's neutral stance, if anything went wrong, he'd still be in trouble if he didn't buy back the stock.

In fact, his neutrality was a signal to other financial giants that it was open season.

Osborn Corporation had been plagued with problems lately, and now, with Tony leading the charge, a group of financial predators followed.

The dirt being exposed wasn't fabricated either. Both generations of the Green Goblin had stopped at nothing to stay alive.

The Lizard, Electro, and even Spider-Man—all were products of Osborn Corporation.

This gave Osborn Corporation's disgruntled executives all the more reason to conspire with shareholders to throw Harry under the bus!

Soon after, late at night, a flood of leaks surfaced online, detailing illegal human gene experiments conducted by the Osborn father and son, complete with unauthorized human trials.

Though much of the information had been redacted for confidentiality, most of the evidence pointed to Norman Osborn.

While not court-admissible, it was damning enough in public opinion.

The shareholders' plan was simple—sacrifice a pawn to protect the king.

And that pawn was Harry!

The next morning, when the stock market opened, Osborn Corporation's stock price plummeted.

Harry was blindsided when he was summoned to a shareholder meeting and cruelly informed, "Harry, you're finished. We have all the evidence of you and your father's illegal genetic experiments. Either sell your shares to us, or go to prison!"

They were far more ruthless in their actions than their words. They planned to bankrupt Harry before having him take the fall.

This pushed Harry over the edge.

Just like in the original timeline, he decided to take a desperate gamble. He released a furious Electro from the company's secret lab to battle Spider-Man. After using Electro to eliminate the company's guards and taking a high-ranking executive hostage, Harry injected himself with the same type of spider venom that turned Peter into Spider-Man.

However, at that moment, a mysterious figure appeared in the company's secret chamber, wearing an identical Green Goblin suit.

"Who are you?"

"I am... another you!"

"Impossible!" Harry, already driven mad by the venom, couldn't believe it.

The stranger's deep voice had an eerie, hypnotic quality, but what he said was even more shocking: "The venom you injected is garbage. The real deal is in your childhood friend Peter Parker because… he is Spider-Man!"

"What?" The venom coursing through Harry's body triggered monstrous changes, causing his veins to bulge grotesquely around his temples and face, transforming him into something horrific.

"Peter had the safe **Paragon Spider** venom but refused to share his blood with you, claiming it was unsafe. He is guilty! He's the reason for all your suffering!"

"No! Wait, wasn't it Ghost-Spider who rejected me? And isn't it Tony Stark who's conspiring to take my company?"

"Ghost-Spider? What's that? Never mind, it's irrelevant! Peter Parker is guilty! And not just him—all of those around him are guilty!"

"Peter is guilty! That traitor! He betrayed our friendship and snuffed out my last hope. He must pay for all my pain!" Almost as if brainwashed, Harry's gaze turned vacant before his eyes burned with crazed fury.

"Not only Peter, but his girlfriend and family must die too," the sinister voice from the shadows whispered with hellish cruelty.

"Yes! Mary! Michelle! Liz! His aunt and uncle. And that damned Tony Stark! They all have to die—" Harry's teeth ground together as he seethed...

(End of Chapter)