Chapter 80: CHAPTER 79: Conclusion
In a nearby building…
Jean watched everything unfold, her eyes locked on the scene.
She clenched her teeth.
"Arthur… you're strangely calm for someone watching his girlfriend fight a nearly three-meter-tall lizard."
Arthur was sitting on the ledge, legs dangling outside, as if admiring the sunset.
"Jean, you should trust Gwen more," he said with a calm smile.
"She's stronger and more skilled than you think."
Jean looked at him. His tone was light, but the weight of his trust was real. She smiled, slightly moved.
Then, Ruby's voice echoed through their communicators:
[Arthur, Jean. The ten minutes are up.]
Arthur didn't answer immediately.
He simply brought two fingers to his mouth and let out a sharp whistle.
From atop a nearby antenna, something glinted. A feathered silhouette shot toward him, cutting through the rain like a frozen arrow.
It was a majestic falcon, with dark blue feathers and eyes sharp as glass.
Jean's eyes widened.
"Petshop? Since when has he been here?" she asked, confused.
"Since we got here. He's been watching everything nearby," Arthur said, calmly rising to his feet.
"Now that things have changed, he's going with you."
Jean nodded, feeling energy surge through her. A red aura had already begun to pulse beneath her skin.
As she moved toward the rooftop, Arthur turned, pulling from his backpack a sleek, metallic mask. He fitted it over his face, covering his eyes and nose.
"I'll be watching everything," he said, his voice now filtered and deeper.
"If you need me… I'll be there."
Jean leapt, propelled by a gust of psychic wind.
Petshop flew behind her, the air around the bird freezing as he soared through the sky.
From the rooftop across the street, Arthur's masked silhouette watched silently.
The moment Jean activated her powers…
Xavier Institute – Headmaster's Office
The room was utterly silent, broken only by the faint hum of an old monitor as confidential files scrolled across the screen.
Charles Xavier was deep in concentration. His fingers rested gently on his temples as his mind expanded across the world like ripples in a still lake.
But then… he stopped.
The serene expression on his face tightened for a brief instant. Not in pain—but in surprise.
"Jean's power… it's growing," he murmured to himself, astonished.
"And the most remarkable thing… it hasn't been corrupted."
The Phoenix's energy—always unstable, always ravenous—wasn't reacting as it used to.
He took a deep breath.
"Who is this mysterious friend of yours, Jean?"
In Xavier's mind, a new possibility took shape: Jean had reached a new level. And for the first time, the Phoenix… was quiet.
Controlled.
Not through suppression, but through balance.
Xavier slowly moved his wheelchair toward the large office window. All he could see was the nighttime horizon and a distant skyscraper under heavy rain.
Even so, he smiled.
"Keep guiding her, mysterious friend."
Freedom Tower Rooftop
"It doesn't matter," Gwen said, her voice hoarse, eyes crackling like lightning.
"I'll take you down again."
The Lizard smiled. A crooked, animalistic grin.
"It's too late, Spider-Woman…"
At that moment, the sound of the rain intensified. Thunder boomed in the distance.
Ruby's voice came urgently through Gwen's communicator:
[Gwen, it's raining. If Peter is still following the old plan—]
She froze.
Her expression changed—regret filled her eyes.
"That's it… the disperser. I should've… I hesitated…"
Connors yelled from the stairs:
"STOP PETER NOW! HE'S GOING TO RELEASE THE SERUM!"
George, having heard everything, took off running after him.
"RUBY! ADJUST THE WEB-SHOOTERS' OUTPUT MODE!"
Gwen raised both arms—her launchers synchronized. Dense, intertwined webs shot out in a single stream, wrapping around the Lizard like a living net.
At the same time, George raised the modified 12mm shotgun. A sonic blast erupted, hitting the monster square in the chest.
But it didn't stop him.
The Lizard laughed—a grotesque, triumphant sound.
"EVOLUTION IS NOW!!"
With a powerful gesture, he activated the device.
The disperser exploded with a muffled boom.
A shockwave knocked Gwen down and hurled George against a concrete wall.
Green smoke spread like a sea of poison, engulfing the entire rooftop.
Even dazed, Gwen reacted on instinct.
She fired a web, launched herself to the highest point she could find, and screamed:
"NO!!!"
The entire rooftop had become a chemical nightmare. She could already see the effects—or rather, the lack of them.
And then… something happened.
The smoke began to recede.
As if some invisible force were crushing the gas, compressing it.
Suddenly, a falcon's cry rang out, and the compressed gas sphere was frozen solid.
Gwen blinked, stunned.
"What the…?"
A voice echoed in her mind, steady like an anchor:
"Gwen… Petshop and I handled the serum. Now it's your turn." It was Jean.
The remaining green mist was drawn in and frozen, revealing unharmed officers and civilians, surrounded by a pulsing red aura.
[Gwen, isolation mode is active. You've got three minutes.]
Gwen didn't waste a second.
"Thanks, Jean."
She turned, spotting the Lizard unconscious near the explosion site.
Before he could stir, she reached him.
A flying kick straight to the head.
CRACK.
His cervical vertebra snapped with an audible pop—but even wounded, the monster laughed.
"Look… Look at them, Gwen… the world is changing!!"
But then… he stopped laughing.
His smile faded.
The people? Unharmed.
The gas? Ineffective.
"No… that's impossible…"
Gwen didn't answer.
With a cold, resolute motion, she pulled out another syringe of the antigenic serum.
"This ends here, Peter."
She plunged the needle straight into the monster's chest.
The scream was deafening.
"NOOOOO!!! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK! I DON'T WANT TO BE THE OLD PETER!!"
But his body shrank. The claws receded. His eyes became human once more.
It was over.
Gwen stood, chest heaving, staring at the disperser.
"Ruby, what do I do with this thing?"
[Inject the remaining serum into it. The lizard gene will be neutralized permanently.]
She did exactly that.
The disperser's contents glowed… and turned blue.
POOF.
A cloud of blue gas was released, finishing off the last trace of the lizard serum.
Jean extracted the gas frozen in the ice and mixed it with the blue mist, causing it to vanish into the air as if it had never existed.
Gwen ran to George.
After scanning him, Ruby confirmed he was alive—just unconscious.
Gwen exhaled in relief and handed him over to arriving agents.
Minutes later, Gwen was swinging across the city, gliding through the night sky on her webs.
The lights of New York still shone brightly.
And almost no one knew how close they had come to the end.
(End of Chapter)
Give me some power stones there you go~😉
On Saturday I was coming back from an event with my younger brother, and suddenly he told me there was something in my hair and I asked him to take it out. I felt a small sting of pain, so I thought it was a hair strand.Imagine my surprise when he showed me a WHITE HAIR, bro, I'm 20 years old, I've been so stressed lately that I even got a white hair on my head.