Adrian soared into the sky, his mind filled with a cacophony of different voices.
Some urged him to kill a man named Ethan. Some begged for mercy. Some told him to stop, while the loudest voice urged him to fly higher.
He burst through the dark room, and pierced the smoke and dust.
Flames trailed behind him, wind roared in his ears as he flew over noisy streets, through polluted air—
Adrian looked at the sun and the white clouds, a smile spread across his face.
At that moment, it was like a dream come true.
But soon, tall buildings loomed ahead of him, and he frowned.
"I want the open sky."
Whoosh!
With a flap of his wings, he shot straight toward the sky!
Norman was caught mid-air, the wind distorting his face:
"Ahhhhh!!!"
"It's Adrian!" Otto and Connors shouted simultaneously after seeing the photo Leo had sent.
Leo pulled up Adrian's information and asked, "Do you know him?"
"Of course," Otto quickly replied. "I used a chip he designed. The guy's a miser, but no one knows what he did with all the high fees he earned from his patents and designs. By my estimates, his assets must be worth millions!"
Connors added, "Well, now we know—look at that gear. It looks deadly. Is that a personal flying device?"
"Not sure, but I think he's up to no good. And that person hanging from his feet… is that Norman Osborn?"
Peter confirmed, "That's Mr. Osborn!"
"He's in for it," Leo clicked his tongue. "Adrian's actions will definitely kill him."
"We can't let him kill!" the trio in the lab shouted in unison through the communication link.
The conversation grew chaotic, but the point was clear.
Dr. Otto quickly said,
"Adrian might be stingy, but he's a responsible engineer. He wouldn't kill someone! His current state isn't normal. Please, Leo, we need to save him!"
Leo looked up at the Vulture, who circled in the sky, conflicted.
The appearance of the Vulture suit was probably connected to recent activities at the Osborn Corporation.
From a darker perspective, Leo would love nothing more than to see Norman Osborn suffer the consequences of his own actions—an entirely justified thought.
But what about the mad engineer?
A classic moral dilemma of the Marvel world was now right in front of him:
Let things play out, let the villain die, and everyone would rejoice.
But a good man, who never intended to harm anyone, would become a murderer and a criminal for life.
In the comics, Vulture was just like that—tricked into crime, imprisoned, angered into killing, his once-great reputation as an engineer tarnished. He ended up with nothing but the violent pleasure his suit gave him.
Stopping the Vulture meant that the worst man would live to face justice.
And trusting justice meant trusting others, trusting society—
Many people scoffed at the idea, maybe because everyone had a little outlaw in their hearts.
In his previous life, Leo would have decisively chosen the former, watching his enemies decay in the dirt.
That would have been the best ending.
As for the engineer? Leo didn't know him.
"Hmm?" Leo suddenly snapped out of his thoughts, unsure why he had even thought of that.
The system hadn't given him any instructions either.
Gwen landed beside him. "Hey, genius, that bird guy's mental state is clearly off. We need to stop him from killing."
Leo shook his head, dismissing the thoughts from earlier.
Yes, he needed to save Adrian—it was tied to future developments and battles.
More allies, more like-minded and capable friends were the key to long-term success.
If everything he'd done and aimed for so far was part of a great struggle—
Then more friends were a must.
"I'll handle it. You go to Oscorp. I've disabled all their network security protocols. They've crossed the line. Gather the evidence, and don't forget to bring Captain Stacy."
Of course, fewer enemies—fewer in every sense—was also key.
"You're going to handle that bird guy on your own? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. Adrian's condition is complex, and it needs to be handled on the spot. But Oscorp is wide open now. Peter will assist you with the technical side of things."
In the air, Vulture circled, heading toward Oscorp Tower—the tallest building in the area.
Cyber-psychosis came with strange obsessions. The high-tech devices on cyber-psychos unconsciously harmed anyone in their way as they stubbornly pursued their obsessions.
Leo had dealt with cyber-psychos multiple times. To save Adrian properly, it had to be him handling it.
This would also bring him out into the open—operating from the shadows wasn't the main rhythm of this world.
If the enemy chose to remain in the dark, then Leo would stay in the light—being discovered in the shadows had much less meaning.
"Okay... but you're gonna need a ride, right?"
Gwen pointed to the tall building not far away.
To catch up with the rapidly ascending Adrian, Leo indeed needed some help.
Gwen grabbed a web and, pulling Leo along, quickly ascended between the buildings, heading toward Oscorp Tower—
New Yorkers raised their phones, capturing the scene.
Two people swinging on webs, chasing the eagle in the sky.
Martin saw it too, immediately realizing what Leo intended. He made a call:
"Leo—come back, that's too dangerous! You'll—"
"Martin." Leo hesitated before speaking, "I know that person was you, the one in the mask."
"."
Martin froze, then spoke quietly, "Blood for blood. He killed my parents. He has to die."
"He'll go to prison. We'll deal with him ourselves."
"Screw the law! I want him dead!!! All I'm asking is that you don't save that scum!"
"I'm asking you too—we're not saving that scum. We're saving an old engineer trapped by evil technology."
The web was stretched like a slingshot, its energy building up in the tension. Gwen pulled Leo, stepping back step by step.
Leo discarded his backup battery, tossed aside the armor-piercing launcher, and pulled out his data knife, gripping it tightly.
Martin's voice trembled with anger, even through the phone, "No, no, no—"
"Martin—I promise you, Norman will go to prison. We'll dismantle Oscorp, expose every crime they've ever committed, and leave no place for them in society. He'll pay for what he's done.
"But Adrian—he's worked hard for decades, designing countless machines for agriculture and workers. He only charges large corporations for patents and designs, sometimes even improving faulty machines for free.
"He has a son, a son who's married, and a granddaughter who just turned one.
"If punishing a bad man always means sacrificing a good one, then that's a failure."
"You want everything to work out perfectly—but maybe there's no such thing in this world!"
"We can try."
The call ended, and the web was now full of energy, ready to snap.
Gwen tightened her grip on Leo. "Ready? Tomorrow's headline man?"
Perhaps the tension had made Leo's body restless, and the arms clinging to his limbs began to glow red.
It was as if they were restless too.
"Let's go—"
Snap!
The web released, and Leo shot into the sky like a rocket!
Martin watched Leo soar into the sky, lowering his phone.
The black-and-white suit that covered him had faded. Though his expression remained grim, the anger had subsided.
He couldn't stop Leo—no matter how fast he was, he couldn't be faster than Leo.
He had only planned to weaken Oscorp, but the chance to kill Osborn had come so soon.
Yet his partner had stopped him.
Martin was a truly complex and conflicted character. The good in him was genuine, and the bad was also genuinely set on killing Osborn and anyone in his way.
But now there was a new problem in his logic: If he killed Leo, who would help him deal with Osborn?
Superpowers were impressive, but Martin couldn't single-handedly take down those tech corporations, the mob, and government-linked groups.
Besides... deep down, Martin was actually a good person.
"Damn it!" Martin suppressed his impulses and called his team, "Prepare to dismantle Oscorp!"
The wind howled!
Leo felt the wind cutting across his cheeks like blades. Despite the immense tension inside him, he kept his mouth shut tight, eyes fixed on the Osborn Tower—
How fast was this?
Even with the activation of Sandevistan, the moment he shot out, Leo felt like he was on a roller coaster! He quickly reached the same altitude as, or even surpassed, the Vulture!
Luckily, due to gravity, the upward momentum didn't last long, and soon enough, he began to slow down—
Four octopus-like arms shot out, landing on the wall before his body!
Boom!
Dust and debris scattered as the octopus arms gripped the wall, and Leo rapidly started scaling upward! The flexibility of the octopus arms was astonishing: in their shortened state, each arm was only as long as a normal human arm, but when fully extended, they stretched up to nearly 168 cm.
Equipped with 127 micro-motors and a mechanical structure far more flexible than traditional systems, they were controlled directly by Leo's brain via a neural interface—
This was why Dr. Otto designed an AI to manage the control of the arms, and even that AI had the potential to corrupt human minds! Under this direct control, Leo felt his brain burning!
The speed was awe-inspiring to ordinary people, but to Otto, it seemed miraculous!
How could the human brain endure such a strain?
Snap!
The Vulture, holding Norman, swooped beneath Leo and then shot upwards. Leo seized the opportunity, leaping off the wall to pounce on the Vulture! The octopus arms grabbed the Vulture!
The flight speed dropped dramatically, and the Vulture looked down at Leo, who was climbing up his leg and clutching his talons. He tilted his head.
Leo didn't meet his gaze; instead, he drove a data knife viciously into the gap between the Vulture's blade wings!
Ssssss!
Electricity surged, and the Vulture suddenly spun in pain. The drastic speed change caused Leo's blood to momentarily stop flowing to his brain, causing him to lose consciousness for a second.
Boom!
The loud sound jolted Leo back to awareness—
He realized he was still at the top of the Oscorp Tower!
The servers, antennas, and cables were all severed by something sharp, scattered everywhere! Meanwhile, Leo's octopus arms were still tightly gripping the Vulture, and they had even caught the unconscious Norman Osborn!
"Arghhhhhh!"
The pain made Adrian scream, and his missile pods opened instantly!
The octopus arms moved as if they had a mind of their own, quickly adjusting positions to avoid the missile pods and repositioning Leo!
Missiles rained down on the Oscorp building, and violent explosions echoed across the district! People watched as the top of the Oscorp Tower was bombarded!
Leo, regaining consciousness, dove into the Vulture's prosthetic system.
He saw familiar neural anomalies: he had hacked into the systems of many cyber-psychos before and had logged their bodily conditions when their systems malfunctioned.
Now, he confirmed that Adrian was also in a state of cyber-psychosis.
In an instant, a surge of electricity burned through Adrian's hyper-excited nerves, cutting off his control over the equipment and even knocking him unconscious.
Burn the nerves, then inject the right mixture of adrenaline, painkillers, and other meds.
It was no exaggeration to say that in this world, only an experienced netrunner and ripper doc like Leo could stop Adrian's rampage and bring him down as safely as possible.
But right now, they were 200 meters above the Oscorp Tower.
With the turbine and jet engines stopped, the lift disappeared, and they were plummeting toward the ground.
So, the second task—Leo had to reboot the Vulture's suit.
Using his own nerves to replace Adrian's, he had to make a crash landing with the remaining control lines.
Emergency modeling, emergency adjustments, temporary neural interface setup, and Leo's brainpower was being further taxed by his octopus arms—
His brain cells were genuinely starting to burn out and die, and the Lizard Serum in his secondary heart pumped faster!
Whoosh!
The vector jet system hidden within the wings activated, and the bio-mechanical wings locked in place, turning their plummeting descent into a glide—
Adrian regained consciousness, groggily.
All the voices in his head were gone.
He opened his eyes and saw the scene he had longed for his entire life—
A gentle breeze brushed his cheeks, sunlight bathed him, and he soared lightly through the sky like a bird.
Whoosh!
The octopus arms acted as brakes and landing gear, and the three of them touched down on top of the Osborn building!
Crack, crack, crack.
Concrete shattered bit by bit under the force, and the octopus arms began to deform and collapse under the pressure, sending massive surges of electricity into Leo's brain—
But they still managed to land safely.
Boom.
"Ugh."
Leo's nose started bleeding like a stream, his head buzzing, and his vision darkened.
Saving people is always harder than killing them.
The view from the top of the Oscorp Tower was indeed beautiful. Leo glanced into the distance, feeling a sense of relaxation, like something had ended, and he collapsed onto the ground.
He tossed Norman aside and removed the octopus arms, sitting down with a sense of loneliness that comes from having no one to share victory with.
He picked up his data knife—the blade had gone through intense combat and yet remained unscathed, a true testament to Marvel's materials science.
This thing was definitely handy, and Leo thought someone would definitely like it. He put the knife away.
At that moment, he noticed Adrian staring straight at the sun.
The old man was awake.
"Did… I kill anyone?"
"Almost," Leo kicked the unconscious Norman on the ground. "As for before you arrived, I'm not sure."
"I… I blew up my own house."
"Your family wasn't inside, right?"
"No, just me… and those agents and soldiers. Oh, right, there was a young guy too. Osborn wanted to use him for an experiment."
"Did you stop him?"
"Yes."
"And now Osborn is at your feet."
"Yes… is he dead?"
Leo glanced at Norman on the ground—pale, eyes rolled back, not dead, but whether there would be lasting damage was uncertain.
"No, not dead."
"Good." Adrian, still gazing at the sun, suddenly smiled weakly.
"When I was young, we were poor. During the economic crisis, my useless father lost his job, drank himself silly, and would go on drunken rampages. My mother raised me alone.
"After each beating, she'd secretly take me kite flying, saying it was a gift from my father when he was younger.
"She would smile happily in front of me, but she always cried afterward.
"She said when they were young, he promised to take her flying, to soar like birds and go wherever they wanted—Rome, Milan, Paris...
"But why does life always turn for the worse?"
"It didn't this time."
"Yeah, this time it didn't. What's your name?"
"Leo."
"Thank you, Leo."
With that, Adrian drifted into a deep sleep.
Both of them had been saved now.
Leo glanced over at Norman—
A sudden loss of gravity, combined with the extreme tension, can cause all sorts of problems in the human body.
Like what he just experienced: rapid ascension, blood failing to reach the brain, leading to unconsciousness.
That's why pilots wear anti-gravity suits.
Adrian's original design wasn't this extreme, but Norman had insisted on adding a turbine boost system.
The double strain on a man over fifty like Norman had nearly fatal consequences, potentially inducing brain hemorrhage and other issues.
Norman's current symptoms suggested something similar.
"Too bad I only have one dose of medicine."
Leo calculated the time and realized he had used the last emergency meds on Adrian.
As for Norman on the ground, well, he probably wouldn't die, but how much of his brain would remain intact...
That would be up to fate, Osborn.
He had called for emergency services, but traffic was jammed.
ctOS was down for maintenance today.
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