"JARVIS, can you find them?"
JARVIS replied, "Yes, sir. Miss Gwen has just placed a tracker on one of the lizardmen. The target is moving rapidly. The signal is weak, suggesting they are within the subway lines."
"Thanks. Give me a location once he stops moving."
Jack brushed the dust off his clothes, preparing to head back.
Jack waited for JARVIS's drones to arrive. Two drones carried the lizardmen, with Jack and the others each hanging onto a drone. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the Stark Weapons Factory in New York.
This place used to be a weapons storage facility, but it was now idle and had been converted into Tony Stark's private armory.
Jack found several thick steel bars and secured the lizardman to a cross made of size-50 rebar. He wrapped the arms and legs with size-20 rebar, especially the wrists, winding them several times.
Spider-Man stepped forward and asked, "Why not use a cage?"
Jack: (Buddha‸Buddha)
Spider-Man was puzzled. "Why are you looking at me like that? Shouldn't they normally be kept in a cage?"
Gwen watched from the side without speaking, but her eyes carried the same confusion.
Jack tossed a piece of size-20 rebar to Spider-Man and Gwen.
"You two try bending this."
Spider-Man didn't understand why, but he did it anyway. Using a lot of strength, he managed to bend it and showed it to Jack.
Jack tossed him two more.
Spider-Man tried again and found it interesting. He used all his strength but only managed to slightly bend all three steel bars.
Gwen's head was full of question marks. "Is this really that hard to bend? Did you skip a meal?"
Spider-Man handed the three rebars to Gwen. "You try."
However, Gwen failed immediately because her small hands couldn't properly grip the third bar.
Her little hands struggling with the rebar looked pretty and ridiculous at the same time. Maybe not funny to strangers, but for acquaintances, it hit some inexplicable comedy point.
Jack: (*￣m￣) Biting his hand to hold back laughter JPG
Spider-Man: (˃᷄ ж ˂᷅ ‧̣̥̇) Barely holding it in
Gwen gave up on the third bar and strained to bend the two rebars. Her face turned red from exertion, and her arm muscles visibly trembled.
Jack casually picked up the thicker size-50 rebar and wrapped it around his arm, turning it into a rebar bracelet.
"These lizards aren't as strong as you. They won't break free. If we used cages, we'd have to weld them shut, and they'd all break out at once. This way is better—if they want to be rescued, they have to be freed one by one."
Spider-Man picked up a size-50 rebar and tried several times, but couldn't bend it at all.
(Just treat this as a joke. The data I found is messy—some sources say bending 25mm rebar takes hundreds of kilograms, others say tons. Snapping rebar takes dozens of tons. I'll just write whatever. Mwah~!)
"Jack, what are you doing in my warehouse in the middle of the night? And with two kids?"
A projection of Tony Stark's upper body suddenly appeared, startling both of them.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Stark. So this helmet really was made by you?" Spider-Man said excitedly, even taking out the helmet he had just worn.
Tony glanced at it. "Yeah. It's designed for biochemical protection. You three actually used it as a gas mask. Tsk~"
Gwen quickly apologized. "Sorry, Mr. Stark, we—"
She glanced at Jack and immediately shifted the blame. "It's all his fault. He even killed three people."
Tony chuckled and waved it off. "It's fine. Consider it a gift. Just a useless little toy."
Tony deliberately ignored the topic of the three deaths.
When the camera turned toward Jack's activity, Tony frowned.
Tony: (￢～￢) "Are you seriously staring at that?"
Jack turned the camera toward the lizardman's weapon.
"Aren't you curious? I checked—it's pretty big. Look."
Jack shoved the camera closer.
Tony didn't want to look, but after accidentally glimpsing it, his expression froze.
Tony: (￢﹏￢٥) "This… this technically counts as evolution."
Spider-Man also curiously stepped over—and instantly froze.
(｡ﾟﾛﾟ)!
Gwen hesitated. As a scientist, she wanted to see.
As a young lady, she absolutely didn't.
Then Jack shouted, "Gwen, wanna take a look? Think of it as studying a new species."
Gwen: (ﾉ)﹏(ヾ) "Who would look at that?! No girl would!"
Jack grinned evilly. "I sent the video to your email. If curiosity kills you, that's on you."
"Sir, we need to find Dr. Connors and the others quickly," Spider-Man said seriously. "They're turning more people into lizardmen."
Jack scoffed. "Your vision's too small."
He gestured mockingly. "Oscorp has a device—the Connors device. Ring any bells?"
"Oh my god." Gwen panicked. "We need to destroy it immediately!"
Spider-Man nodded. "If we don't hurry, all of New York could turn into lizards."
Tony smirked. "A few wouldn't be so bad. Mine's already impressive, but if it evolved like that, magazine covers wouldn't let me go."
Jack slapped the projection, cutting the connection.
"JARVIS, where are the lizards?"
"They're underground at the red marker. They haven't moved for ten minutes."
Seeing the distance, Gwen relaxed slightly.
"JARVIS, take them to Oscorp Tower and retrieve the Connors device."
The two were once again hung from drones and flown back to Oscorp Tower.
Landing on the rooftop, JARVIS controlled surveillance and access systems. They entered Dr. Connors's lab as easily as walking into their own home.
Jack considered destroying the device, but his hoarder instincts kicked in. It might be useful later.
The Connors device was hooked onto a drone and sent to the warehouse.
Wanda opened her eyes and slipped out of the warm bed. With a soft "mwah," she kissed Jack's forehead and left his arms.
Supporting her sore waist, she went out to bring breakfast, patted her belly, and sighed.
"I ate too much last night… I can't eat anymore."
She weakly walked to the guest room to rest, determined not to suffer another "blissful strike" this morning. She really needed to start exercising.
Jack woke up feeling empty. Reaching to the side, he wasn't surprised it was cold.
Everyone from last night was gone. Mei had left in a daze earlier.
Jack ate some of Wanda's unfinished breakfast, tucked her in, then went downstairs to play games.
At dusk, the phone rang.
Jack saw Gwen's name and patted Wanda, who was sitting in his lap playing games.
Wanda muted both the game and herself.
Gwen sounded urgent. "Jack, we need help. Dozens of lizardmen are moving toward Oscorp Tower in formation."
Jack replied casually, "I'll come after I finish this round."
Gwen snapped. "You're still gaming?! People are getting hurt!"
Jack said calmly, "If America withdraws its troops worldwide, I'll go right now."
"That's not the same!"
"Isn't it?" Jack scoffed. "If you agree to join my harem afterward, I'll stop worrying about whether Wanda's enjoying herself and head over immediately."
Gwen: (ꐦᵒ̌dishᵒ̌) "Go to hell!"
She hung up, slightly deforming the brick-like Nokia in her hand.
Spider-Man sighed. "I told you—act cute. Green-tea tactics."
Gwen spat coldly, "Scram."
Spider-Man: "Roger."
Their spider-senses screamed.
They barely dodged a surprise attack.
Dr. Curt Connors watched from above and ordered coldly, "Eat them."
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