Manhattan, the world of Prototype.
"Help! Help!"
A woman's cries for help echoed through the city's ruins.
Fully armed and wearing a gas mask, Peter immediately aimed the HK416 in his hands toward the direction of the voice.
A young woman stumbled out of an alley.
Seeing the fully armed Peter, hope instantly welled up in her eyes, and she ran toward him.
"Thud!"
Exhausted, the woman flung herself straight into his arms.
"Save me! Please!"
Her face covered in tears, the woman said to Peter with a trembling voice.
"Roar!"
From the pitch-black alley came the growls of a horde of zombies.
More than a dozen ferocious-looking zombies rushed out of the alley, charging at Peter with angry roars.
Pushing the woman away, he pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The muzzle of the HK416 spat fire, and a storm of bullets instantly lashed out at the zombie pack.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The angry roar of metal bullets and the screams of the zombies formed a bloody symphony.
In a brief moment, the horde of zombies was completely annihilated.
Putting away his rifle, he used the radio on his left shoulder to report to his superior, "Infected individuals in Sector B have been cleared!"
"Confirm the target has been completely eliminated?"
His superior's inquiry came over the radio.
Silent for a moment, Peter drew his pistol and aimed it at the woman standing before him, who had cheated death in the zombie chase.
The woman's beautiful eyes welled with tears, and expressions of shock and fear surfaced on her face.
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out. The woman was shot in the forehead and, with a look of disbelief, collapsed into a pool of blood.
With a placid expression, Peter lowered his head, slowly returned the pistol to his holster, and replied to the radio, "Yes, target confirmed completely eliminated. There are... no survivors."
...
Clutching his throbbing forehead, Peter got down from the bed.
After returning from school, feeling somewhat exhausted, he had wanted to lie down on the bed to rest for a while, but he hadn't expected to fall asleep.
It was only a dozen minutes of sleep, yet he had dreamt a dream.
And he had dreamt of his past-life experiences in the world of Prototype.
What was this?
An inescapable nightmare?!
Unfortunately...
He wasn't the kind of person to be bound by the past.
Shaking his head, he threw on a jacket he didn't usually wear, pushed open the door, and went downstairs.
After greeting Aunt May, he stepped out into the night.
The streetlights of Queens cast his long shadow against the cold, stern night.
Relying on his special senses, he quickly found his target.
In an alley on Canal Street, Jimmy Cobbs was wrapped in a coat, walking hurriedly toward home.
His face was pale, and fine beads of sweat faintly seeped from his forehead.
Ever since he was taught a lesson by Peter's "throat-lock" earlier in the day, he had been feeling unwell.
Aside from a feverish body, there was, more than anything, an urge to devour food.
After gorging on several burgers and pizzas, he still couldn't resist this urge to devour.
He even had an impulse to consume raw flesh and blood!
Cursing Peter under his breath, his feet trod upon the hard pavement as he went deeper into the street.
Beneath the dim streetlights, he suddenly noticed a somewhat familiar figure standing there.
Suspiciously, Jimmy walked under the streetlight and discovered that the person standing there was none other than Peter Parker, the one he hated most!
"Peter Parker?"
Jimmy looked at him in surprise. "You... why are you here?"
Immediately afterward, a sense of guilt washed over him.
Could it be that this guy... had come to continue giving him trouble?
"To wait for you, Jimmy Cobbs!"
Peter slowly turned around and gazed at the other person.
"Whoosh!"
The next second, his body transformed into a bolt of black lightning, instantly moving in front of Jimmy.
Startled by the speed Peter displayed, Jimmy took a step back. Just as he wanted to speak, his mouth was covered.
"Mmph...!"
With his mouth covered, Jimmy had never seen Peter Parker wear a look like this.
Cold and indifferent to everything, like a machine devoid of any emotion.
In his eyes, Jimmy felt like an insignificant creature.
He finally experienced the taste of terror.
Death was infinitely close; he could even smell its decaying, foul stench.
"He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me!"
Deep inside, he arrived at a conjecture that made him tremble.
He wanted to beg for mercy from the classmate he had bullied for days, but his "mmph mmph" muffled sounds prevented any words from coming out.
"Hey! Man, can you calm down?"
Just as Peter was about to end the infected person's life, a voice suddenly came from behind.
Though the newcomer had intentionally altered her vocal cords, Peter could still recognize that this was Gwen Stacy's voice.
Jimmy, whose jaw was gripped so he couldn't make a sound, saw Gwen, and a renewed hope for survival welled up in his eyes.
He desperately made muffled sounds from his mouth, "Spider-Woman... help!"
"Uh-huh, it's me. I thought my reputation among New York City citizens wasn't all that great."
Hearing the muffled sounds from Jimmy's mouth, Gwen shrugged and said.
On the other side, Peter was somewhat speechless about this sudden spoiler who had appeared.
"Spider-Woman? I thought you were locked up in prison serving time."
Lowering his voice, Peter spoke to her.
"Quietly serving time isn't my style, and I'm no criminal either. Why don't we just let go of the guy and walk away?"
Gwen still attempted to persuade the person standing with his back to her not to harm her classmate.
She hadn't recognized that the guy standing with his back to her was actually Peter Parker.
She simply thought the other party was an ordinary mugger.
"I was just on my way to buy a burger when I ran into you guys, and I got accidentally interrupted. I don't want to get sticky and weird, and it might even piss my dad off, so... maybe we can resolve this peacefully."
Gwen had no plans to fight crime today; she had just happened to stumble upon this scene.
Not wanting web-fluid to get sticky all over the place, she was determined to act like a lady—using words instead of fists—to persuade the assailant.
Under normal circumstances, she certainly wouldn't have had such a good temper.
"Sorry, there is no peaceful way here."
Before his words faded, a crisp "snap" echoed out.
Jimmy was full of hope, waiting for Spider-Woman to make a move, but instead, his neck was snapped instantly.
"You...!"
Gwen was instantly stunned.
She hadn't expected this guy before her to be so decisive and cruel, wiping out her classmate in a split second.
Although she wasn't close to Jimmy Cobbs and couldn't stand his personality, that didn't mean she would tolerate seeing him murdered right before her eyes!
"Ass... asshole!"
Gwen gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.
The anger in her heart surged up instantly.
Throwing Jimmy—whose eyes were wide with disbelief—onto the ground, Peter kept a calm expression.
The next second, countless black, writhing tentacles sprouted within his body, extending toward his face.
Having absorbed some of Jimmy's infected flesh and blood, Peter's strength increased slightly.
Using active cells, those extended tendrils of flesh and blood covered his face, forming a thin black mask.
Since he had his back to Gwen, she hadn't noticed the movement of Peter's black tentacles.
Right now, she just wanted to beat the crap out of this asshole!
"Turn around, jerk! Or I'll hit you like a baseball!"
Gwen roared.
Peter did not refuse Gwen's request and slowly turned around.
Gwen saw a Spider Mask on the other person's face that was almost identical to the one she wore.
However, the Spider Mask she wore was white, while the other person's mask was dark black, with its surface surrounded by web patterns.
The black web patterns, paired with the white eye lenses, seemed even more stylish than her own Spider Mask.
"Who... who are you?"
Gwen swallowed hard, a very strange feeling rising in her heart.
"BlackWatcher!"
Peter said slowly.