Marvel: Shadow Monarch

The first lizard didn't even see him coming.

Lucien's speed carried him past the SHIELD perimeter in a blur of motion, his Red Fang daggers finding their mark before the creature could react. The blade sliced through scaled hide and bone with surgical precision, dropping the eight-foot reptilian guard in a single strike.

[LEVEL UP!]

The second and third lizards turned toward the commotion just in time to meet the same fate. Lucien moved between them like a force of nature, each movement economical and lethal.

These weren't the slow, shambling zombies from his first dungeon—these creatures were fast, strong, and vicious. But they were still nothing compared to his current capabilities.

[LEVEL UP!]

More lizards emerged from the cave entrance, drawn by the sounds of battle. Lucien counted at least six more, their yellow eyes gleaming with predatory intelligence as they recognized the threat he represented. They moved to surround him, claws extended and jaws snapping.

It didn't matter.

[LEVEL UP!]

The massacre was over in less than two minutes. Lizard corpses littered the ground around the cave entrance, their green blood pooling on the concrete. Lucien barely had a scratch on him, his breathing steady and controlled as he wiped his daggers clean.

Behind him, he could hear the SHIELD agents advancing cautiously, their voices filled with a mixture of awe and concern. Someone was calling for a medic, though whether for the dead agents or from shock at what they'd just witnessed wasn't clear.

Lucien ignored them all. Peter Parker was inside that cave, trapped in a dying body with time running out. Everything else could wait.

As he moved deeper, more lizard creatures were roaming around, but they seemed hesitant to approach after witnessing the fate of their fellows outside. 

But Lucien had no intention of letting them go as he attacked first, which led to a complete wipeout and several level-ups.

The cave entrance opened into a laboratory complex carved into the rock face. Emergency lighting cast everything in harsh red shadows, and the air carried the sharp smell of chemicals.

Otto had been using this place for some time. Scientific equipment lined the walls, much of it jury-rigged and modified. Tanks filled with murky fluid held partially formed specimens.

The main laboratory lay at the heart of the complex, a vast chamber dominated by banks of computers and monitoring equipment. And there, in the center of it all, was exactly what Lucien had expected to find.

Otto's real body, the one with Spider-Man's consciousness, was strapped to a chair, his head covered by a helmet connected to dozens of cables and monitoring leads.

But something was wrong.

Lucien's enhanced perception screamed a warning just as he stepped into the chamber.

Without thinking, he threw himself sideways, rolling behind a bank of equipment as something whistled through the air where his head had been.

"You dodged it, huh?" The voice carried Otto's distinctive arrogance, but filtered through Peter Parker's vocal cords, it sounded wrong. Twisted. "Don't worry, this time you will die. There's too much strength in this body that Spider-Man never even used, and it's perfect to put you down."

Spider-Man—or rather, Otto Octavius wearing Spider-Man's face—dropped from the ceiling where he'd been waiting in perfect silence.

His costume was different now, darker, with additional mechanical components that hadn't been there during their previous encounter.

He seemed stronger than before.

The desperate, off-balance scientist from yesterday had been replaced by something more dangerous—a genius intellect that had had time to fully integrate with Spider-Man's enhanced abilities.

Lucien stored his daggers in his inventory and stepped out from behind cover.

Otto looked at him with disdain, "Still not gonna use your weapons against me?"

"Weapons are for people I consider threats."

Otto's borrowed face twisted into a snarl. "Your arrogance will be your downfall."

The attack came faster than their previous encounter, but Lucien was ready for it.

Otto had learned to work with Spider-Man's enhanced reflexes, using them to their full potential rather than fighting against them.

Web lines shot out in complex patterns, not to bind but to limit movement options while Otto closed the distance for a killing blow.

Lucien simply wasn't there when the attack arrived.

His agility carried him up and over the web pattern, landing behind Otto with casual grace.

A backhand strike caught the false Spider-Man across the jaw, sending him spinning across the laboratory to crash into a bank of computers.

"Impossible," Otto snarled, wiping blood from his mouth as he rose to his feet. "I have Spider-Man's full capabilities now. His strength, his speed, his reflexes—"

"And I have mine," Lucien interrupted. "The difference is, I am stronger than Spider-Man."

Otto launched himself forward with everything Spider-Man's body could give him.

His movements were a blur of punches, kicks, and web lines, each attack precisely calculated to exploit perceived openings in Lucien's defense.

But there were no openings.

Lucien moved through Otto's assault like he was dancing, each dodge and counter-attack flowing seamlessly into the next. He didn't just avoid the attacks—he made them look clumsy.

When Otto threw a punch with enough force to shatter concrete, Lucien caught his wrist and used the momentum to send him flying into the opposite wall.

When Otto tried to web him up, Lucien moved through the strands like they were standing still.

When Otto attempted to use his spider-sense to predict and counter Lucien's movements, he found himself hitting empty air while Lucien's fist found its mark with surgical precision.

"You don't understand," Otto gasped, blood streaming from his nose as he struggled to rise from the crater his body had made in the laboratory wall. "I am superior. I have transcended human limitations. I am—"

"Pathetic," Lucien finished, appearing in front of Otto before the scientist could react. His hand shot out, fingers closing around Otto's throat. "You stole someone else's body because you were too weak to improve your own. You call that superior?"

Otto clawed at Lucien's grip, his enhanced strength useless against the hold. His spider-sense was screaming warnings, but there was nowhere to go.

"Spider-Man earned his powers through sacrifice and responsibility," Lucien continued. "You? You're just a parasite wearing his face."

He lifted Otto off the ground one-handed, holding the struggling figure in the air. "Let me show you what real power looks like."

Lucien's free hand moved in a blur, striking non-lethal areas.

Each impact was intended to cause maximum pain while avoiding permanent damage.

The false Spider-Man's struggles grew weaker with each strike, his durability meaningless against an opponent who knew exactly where and how to hit.

"This is impossible," Otto whispered. "You were not this strong last time!?"

Lucien leaned closer. "Well, I just had to add some points."

"Points? What—"

"Don't worry about it, all you need to do is go back into that dumpy body of yours."

The final strike was almost gentle—a precise tap to the base of Otto's skull that sent him into unconsciousness instantly. The false Spider-Man went limp in Lucien's grip, his body shutting down like someone had flipped a switch.

Lucien let him drop to the floor without ceremony, then turned his attention to the equipment holding Peter Parker in Otto's body. 

Lucien tried to figure out a way to swap the consciousness of the two back to their original bodies, but ultimately decided to leave it to SHIELD. 

Soon, through the path Lucien had cleared, Bucky arrived with a bunch of SHIELD agents.

This time, Lucien stood there as he watched over the entire process, so that no problems occurred again.

Everything went smoothly as Peter was back in his body, which Lucien confirmed by looking at his Status, and even if he did not take a look at it, he would still be sure of it by looking at the now despairing Otto, who did not want to be in his body.

By the end of it all, the unconscious Spider-Man and the grieving Otto were both taken back by SHIELD.

Lucien was also about to leave, but Bucky said someone wanted to meet him, and Lucien seemed to have a pretty good idea about who that might be.

.....

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