"Mr. Stark looks like he needs help," Peter said, turning to Silas.
Silas rolled his eyes, annoyed. "We have to catch up first."
Although their speed couldn't match Stark's, they could certainly catch up to Norman's car; it just required a little time.
Tony caught up behind Norman's car again and asked, "J.A.R.V.I.S., where is he headed?"
"Yes, Sir. This road currently leads to the suburbs," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied after quickly infiltrating the navigation system.
"The suburbs? Why is he going there?" Tony slowed down upon hearing Norman was heading to the outskirts. Regardless of Norman's intentions, the suburbs were a much more advantageous terrain for them. There were fewer people, minimizing the risk of further casualties. Tony decided to stick close behind the car without speeding up to intercept.
"Here comes another one, Mwah!" Norman pulled out his last Pumpkin bomb from his belt, kissed it, pressed the switch, and threw it out of the car.
Tony, following the car, saw the Pumpkin bomb fly out as if time had stopped. He had three choices: One, dodge, which would mean disaster for the people behind him. Two, fire a pulse to detonate the Pumpkin bomb, which would destroy the car and kill the mother and daughter inside. The last option was to take the full force of the Pumpkin bomb himself.
"F*ck!" Tony couldn't help but curse.
"Need help?" Silas had already arrived, leaping into the air in front of Tony. The sun shone directly on Silas, casting a shadow that perfectly covered the Pumpkin bomb.
Now!
A Shadowkhan emerged from Silas's shadow, caught the Pumpkin bomb in its hands, and slipped back into the Shadow Realm. Silas landed smoothly on Norman's car, shrugging toward Tony—a perfect callback to Tony's own earlier line.
"Nice work!" Peter shouted, catching up.
Tony huffed proudly. "I could have handled that myself, right, J.A.R.V.I.S."
"Certainly, Sir. Based on the calculated destructive power of that bomb, if you chose to take the hit, even with the Mark 4's defensive capabilities, you would sustain damage, but you would be paralyzed from the waist down. However, I would take care of you for the rest of your life, Sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. gave Tony no quarter.
"You're no fun, J.A.R.V.I.S." Tony ignored his AI.
Norman, in the driver's seat, felt the movement on the roof. He immediately turned to the woman. "Your daughter is going to be a very good actress."
The woman held her daughter tight, trembling at the sight of the demonic mask, yet she managed to say, "If you dare hurt my daughter, I will fight you!"
"Oh~ Don't worry, I just need her help for a moment." Norman reached out, trying to forcibly snatch the infant from the woman's arms. The woman was no match for Norman's strength.
The woman watched helplessly, crying as her daughter was taken from her. She tried to fight back but was knocked unconscious by a single slap from Norman. The baby girl looked at Norman's face and immediately began to wail.
On the car roof, Silas crouched down, punched through the rear window, and peeked inside, seeing the unconscious woman in the back.
Norman heard the glass shatter. He turned around, driving with one hand while holding up the crying baby with the other. "Were you looking for her?"
Silas's heart sank. Norman had taken the baby. He decided to rescue the woman first.
Norman put the baby back into his arm, then steered the car to scrape violently against the wall alongside the road. Silas had to stop, quickly lifting his head to avoid the wall.
Scratch, scratch, scratch!
The car scraped past the wall and then suddenly accelerated. Peter missed his landing and had to continue pursuing.
Tony had already flown to a higher altitude, using J.A.R.V.I.S. to analyze Norman's likely route.
Norman kept steering the car from side to side, trying to shake Silas off the roof, but it was impossible.
Silas leaned in again, punched through the window, and yanked the car door open. Peter, right behind him, shot a web and pulled the woman out.
Peter gently landed with the woman in his arms, then set her down. "It's alright now."
The woman slowly woke up, mumbling, "My daughter... Jenny..."
"Jenny? That's a beautiful name. She's going to be fine," Peter said, leaning the woman against the wall before resuming the chase.
Seeing the situation from above, Tony immediately had J.A.R.V.I.S. contact an ambulance to check on the woman at that location.
"Get him out of the city!" Tony yelled, otherwise, there would be even greater casualties.
Silas and Peter heard this and stopped their efforts to attack the car.
Silas felt helpless. The baby girl was in Norman's arms. If Norman simply squeezed, the baby would surely die.
"Waaah!" The baby continued to cry loudly.
The baby's crying only excited Norman further. "We'll be there soon!"
As time passed, traffic ahead of Norman voluntarily pulled over to the side. This was because Tony had used J.A.R.V.I.S. to hack into every vehicle's radio and warn them.
Without incident, Norman successfully drove out of the city limits.
"Alright, this is where we make our move." Tony accelerated and flew in front of Norman's car, landing in the middle of the road to forcibly stop him. This was the main road leading to the suburbs, and thanks to Tony's warning, there was no other traffic.
"Time to stop." Tony braced himself to catch the car.
But Norman couldn't stop yet; he hadn't reached his destination. He held the baby girl up through the car window with one hand, signaling that if Tony didn't move, he would hurt her.
Peter, running behind, saw this and was about to shoot a web to save the baby, but Norman saw him in the rearview mirror and immediately pulled his hand back inside.
"No!" Peter groaned. It had been such a perfect opportunity, lost because he was spotted.
The terrain wasn't suitable for Spider-Man anymore. It was open and empty without any tall buildings, forcing him to run on foot.
"Where's Silas?" Peter was about to ask Silas if he was tired when he realized Silas was gone.
Vroom~ Vroom~~
"Get in!" Silas said, riding a motorcycle as he pulled up beside Peter.
"Where did you get that motorcycle?!" Peter asked in disbelief.
Silas explained, "I commandeered it temporarily. Don't worry, I asked the owner. He immediately lent it to me when he heard it was for a rescue."
"Cool!" Peter thought the motorcycle was awesome and jumped onto the seat.
Peter suddenly remembered something and asked, "Wait! Do you even know how to ride a motorcycle?"
"Of course! I'm a race car driver!" Silas said confidently. He had ridden one in his previous life, and as for being a race car driver... with his talent, he would be one eventually.
"Let's go!" Silas twisted the throttle. The motorcycle roared and shot forward instantly!
Tony, blocking the road ahead, reluctantly moved aside, watching Norman speed past him. To make things worse, Norman flipped him off through the car window.
"F*ck!" Tony cursed.
Then, he saw a black and red figure flash past him, accompanied by a shout of surprise.
"You're going too fast!" Peter yelled.
"..." Tony was silent for a moment, then asked, "Where did they get a motorcycle?"
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