Seeing The Spot's predicament—half buried in the ceiling, half stuck in his own portal—the tense atmosphere evaporated.
"What... exactly is that thing?"
Harry asked, still shaken.
Before anyone could answer, The Spot exploded in anger. He banged his hands against the edges of the portal.
"I'm not a thing! Wait, no! I'm The Spot! I am..."
As he pounded the portal in rage, the surrounding space began to vibrate violently. Ink spots started popping up everywhere like bubbles in boiling water.
Harry, realizing he had angered the villain, took a step back in fear.
But Luca saw things spiraling out of control. He didn't hesitate. He reached for his belt and pressed a button.
POP.
A tiny, thumb-sized black-and-white soccer ball shot out.
It inflated instantly in mid-air, becoming a regulation-sized soccer ball right in front of him.
Sparks of rainbow electricity crackled around Luca's right sneaker.
He swung his leg in a blur, smashing his foot into the falling ball.
BOOM!
A deafening crack echoed through the room.
To the horror of the others, the soccer ball deformed under the impact, the air around it exploding from the sheer force.
Like a rainbow meteor, it shot straight toward The Spot's faceless head.
But just as the ball was about to make contact, a black portal appeared in front of The Spot's face.
ZWOOP.
The high-velocity ball vanished into the hole.
"Useless~ Now come help me get unstuck~" The Spot mocked.
Everyone thought Luca's shot had missed.
"Let it fly for a bit," Luca murmured.
Out of a random black spot on the wall behind The Spot, the ball—now glowing red from air friction—shot out again.
Like a guided missile, it slammed into... a metal ceiling beam.
CLANG!
The steel beam dented.
The ball ricocheted off the beam at an impossible angle, slamming directly into the back of The Spot's head.
THWACK!
The Spot, who had just been gloating, went limp instantly. His head lolled to the side. Out cold.
The moment he lost consciousness, all the black portals in the room vanished.
Even the spots on his body disappeared, leaving him pure white.
Without the portal holding him up, he plummeted from the ceiling.
CRASH.
He smashed into a pile of desks and chairs.
Heh. Do you understand the concept of "100% Accuracy" now?
Luca had tested this before. When combined with the system-generated [Soccer Ball Belt], the [Power-Enhancing Shoes]'s homing effect was amplified.
As long as the ball had kinetic energy and didn't burst, it would bounce off any surface to hit the target eventually.
With a "Level 3" kick, that ball could have flown for kilometers. Bouncing off a beam was child's play.
Watching this familiar scene, Spider-Gwen rubbed the back of her head, feeling phantom pain.
"What do we do with him? Did you kick him to death..."
Spider-Gwen looked at the unconscious white figure with disdain.
Before she finished her sentence...
Black spots started erupting from The Spot's unconscious body again. The four teens jumped back.
But this time, he wasn't controlling them. They were regurgitating.
BLECH. SPLASH.
Items started spewing out of the holes.
In seconds, half the practice room was filled with junk.
The chalkboard he swallowed earlier... desks... chairs... and even two dazed students in school uniforms stumbled out of the pile.
"This..."
Luca sighed and pulled out his phone.
"Hey, Tony? I have a little situation here. I need you to come over."
---
10 Minutes Later.
Dalton School was on lockdown.
NYPD secured the perimeter, while SHIELD agents swarmed the music wing with strange scanning devices.
Luca, the two Gwens, and Harry weren't kicked out like the other students. They sat on a bench nearby, watching the agents work.
Gwen Stacy, still shaken, leaned close to Luca and whispered.
"Luca, you brought a gun to school? Won't they arrest you?"
Her dad was the Police Commissioner, so she knew about the Arbiter (Dominator) pistol. She knew it was an Aurantius Industries product.
Recently, the NYPD had started equipping officers with Arbiters. Commissioner Stacy raved about them at home—how they gave cops a fighting chance against super-criminals, and how the public surprisingly loved them.
Apparently, some thrill-seeking civilians even tried to get close to shootouts just to see what getting hit by an electromagnetic stun round felt like.
People are weird.
But a gun is a gun. Bringing one to a high school was a major felony. Gwen was worried about Luca's reputation and legal trouble.
Spider-Gwen and Harry Osborn looked at her like she was crazy.
Girl... is the GUN really the point right now? This guy just kicked a soccer ball so hard it broke a steel beam. Everything about him is dangerous!
Seeing their expressions, Gwen realized she asked a dumb question.
She turned and hugged Spider-Gwen instead.
"Potts! You never told me you were Spider-Woman! That's so cool~~"