[Third Person Pov]
Nightwing and Firestar rushed in without hesitation to assist Wolverine, even as Juggernaut's monstrous healing factor kicked into overdrive, muscle and bone knitting themselves back together as if the damage had never existed. Torn flesh sealed, shattered fingers reformed, and within seconds the behemoth stood whole once more, radiating brute force and barely restrained fury.
Nightwing struck first, vanishing into a blur of motion. He unleashed a relentless barrage of kicks and punches at superhuman speed, striking pressure points, joints, and exposed seams in Juggernaut's armor-like flesh. Each blow landed with surgical precision, yet the sheer mass of his opponent absorbed the impacts like a wall of living stone. At the same time, Firestar took to the air, spiraling around Juggernaut in wide arcs as she unleashed explosive waves of fire. The flames roared and flared, detonating against his body in blinding flashes of heat and light as she tried to overwhelm him from every angle.
Empowered by rage rather than slowed by the assault, Juggernaut snarled and swung his arm with brutal force. The backhand caught Harry mid-motion, sending him flying across the battlefield and forcing him to twist in midair and land in a graceful but strained leap to avoid crashing outright. Without even sparing Firestar a glance, Juggernaut shrugged off Lizzy's burning assault as though it were little more than an inconvenience. His attention locked fully onto Logan.
With terrifying speed, Juggernaut grabbed Wolverine by the head, his massive fingers closing like a vice. He twisted sharply, violently, as one might snap the head off a doll, then hurled Logan aside like a discarded toy. Wolverine's body skidded and tumbled across the shifting ground of the mirror dimension before finally coming to a halt in a broken heap.
"God, that is gruesome…" Harry grimaced as he sprinted over to help, trying not to stare too long at the unnatural angle of Logan's head. He doubted that someone who could survive being reduced to nothing but a skeleton would bat an eye at having his head twisted nearly backward. "Talk about having eyes in the back of your head…"
"If you've got time to joke," Logan growled through clenched teeth, his voice rough but steady, "help me get my head back on right…"
"Dude, you're so gross," Harry muttered, grabbing hold of Logan's head, "but in such a cool way." With a strained grunt, he twisted the adamantium-laced skull back into place. An audible, sickening snap echoed as everything realigned.
Logan rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, soft popping noises traveling down his spine as bone and muscle settled back into their proper positions. He exhaled sharply, eyes narrowing as he refocused on the fight.
Around them, the mirror dimension continued to shift and warp. Gwen appeared swinging in from above, landing hard and immediately casting a spell that sent frost racing across the ground beneath Juggernaut's feet. Ice spread outward in jagged patterns, freezing the surface solid in an instant.
Juggernaut slipped, his massive bulk betraying him as he tumbled forward across the ice-covered floor. His momentum carried him onward, rolling heavily along the slick surface before he managed to gather himself. With an enraged roar, he stomped down hard, shattering the ice and sending long fractures spiderwebbing outward.
Lizzy flew overhead, her hands glowing as she activated her matter-transmutation spell. Geometric helixes of light spiraled around her fingers as she aimed downward, transforming the ice into thick, sticky black tar. She didn't stop there—continuing past the frozen ground, she reshaped the terrain itself, creating a long, viscous pit directly in Juggernaut's path.
Juggernaut sank into the tar, snarling as his feet struggled against the adhesive mass clinging to him. Each step became a battle, his legs dragging as the tar fought to hold him in place. Still, his immense momentum forced him forward, the black substance parting sluggishly around his legs despite his increasingly dire situation.
Ahead of him, the mirror dimension shifted once more. A brick building warped and stretched, opening into a wide archway that revealed a lineup of heroes waiting beyond it.
Cyclops stood at the center, visor gleaming. Beside him were Peter and Harry, the latter bouncing slightly as he flicked his hands, energy crackling around his fingers. They stood firmly on the ground, while above them hovered Aria, Jean, Storm, and Lizzy, who had flown in at the last second after hearing the plan.
Peter waved his hands at super speed, moving so fast it looked as though he had eight arms, as he conjured an intricate magic circle around himself. Harry planted his hands near his hips, forming a dense sphere of kinetic chi that hummed with contained force. Cyclops reached up and adjusted his visor, the ruby lenses brightening until they burned with an intense crimson glow.
Above them, the others prepared their own devastating attacks. Jean pressed her fingers to her temples as psychic energy gathered, thick and oppressive in the air. Aria's gem flared with a brilliant purple sheen. Wind howled as Storm raised her hands, a forward-facing tornado forming and growing more violent by the second. Lizzy began charging a massive construct with her star chest, light pulsing rhythmically from its core.
Lightning crackled violently around Peter's magic circle as it discharged a roaring plasma beam that tore into the ground, overturning earth and debris in its wake.
It was the signal.
Juggernaut's eyes widened as the collective energies converged, Storm's wind funnel drawing everything together into a single, colossal beam of destruction.
"AAAARGHHH!!" Juggernaut roared as he braced himself, thrusting his arms forward and planting his feet as best he could within the tar. He pushed back with sheer force of will and muscle—but the energy rushing toward him was unnatural, unstable, and utterly overwhelming.
He could feel it—his hands burning as the overwhelming force pressed against him, heat and raw power gnawing at his flesh as though it wanted to consume him entirely. The tar around his legs quivered, his massive frame threatening to be pushed back inch by inch despite his unimaginable strength.
They were locked in a brutal stalemate, power and momentum crashing against each other like colliding worlds. The mirror dimension itself trembled violently, its fractured skyline warping and bending as spiderweb cracks began to crawl through the air, threatening to shatter reality under the strain.
Wild arcs of energy erupted everywhere from the point of impact, streaks of lightning and unstable force blasting outward in every direction. Buildings twisted, debris vaporized, and space itself screamed under the pressure. If it had been anyone else—any lesser being—they would have been obliterated instantly, crushed beneath the sheer magnitude of the energies colliding.
But this wasn't just anyone.
This was the Juggernaut.
The Avatar of Cyttorak.
Juggernaut's veins bulged grotesquely beneath his skin, thick cords pulsing as crimson energy surged through his body. His eyes became bloodshot, veins bursting as his aura flared outward in violent, chaotic waves of red power. The energy surrounding him grew unstable, lashing out like living flame.
"NO ONE!!" he bellowed, his voice shaking the very foundations of the mirror dimension.
"STOPS!!"
With a thunderous roar, he took a single step forward—just one—pushing through the tar. The energy beam buckled, forced backward as Juggernaut leaned into it with unstoppable force.
"THE JUGGERNAUT!!"
"You're kidding… right?" Harry muttered with an awkward, disbelieving laugh, staring at the impossible sight unfolding before them.
Peter opened his mouth to reply, but froze. At the same moment, he and the other spider-heroes stiffened as their spider-senses exploded into frantic warning. A sharp, piercing sense of danger shot straight through their spines.
"Everyone disperse!!" Peter shouted.
Before Juggernaut could unleash another deafening roar, portals snapped open around the heroes. One by one, they dove through without hesitation.
Juggernaut braced one massive hand against the still-raging energy beam. With the other, he cocked his arm back, muscles coiling impossibly tight. He swung.
The instant his fist collided with the energy, the impact detonated into a blinding flash of white and crimson light.
Everyone made it through the portals just in time.
An earthquake ripped through the mirror dimension as the resulting shockwave tore outward, uprooting everything in its path. The blast surged forward like a tsunami of debris, raw power, and annihilation. For a brief, horrifying moment, the devastation was visible through the open portal—before it snapped shut, Aria barely making it through as she stumbled forward and Peter caught her mid-fall.
From a safe distance, they watched the aftermath in stunned silence.
The destruction was absolute. It looked as though a nuclear bomb had detonated in the heart of the city—everything within a mile-wide radius erased, flattened, or reduced to drifting ash.
"How the hell do we even stop that thing?" Betty asked quietly, her voice thick with disbelief as she stared at the devastation.
"With a really, really good plan," Peter replied, turning to look at everyone gathered around him.
"Do you have one?" Scott asked, eyeing Peter with cautious curiosity.
Peter's posture relaxed slightly, and a grin spread beneath his mask. "I'm really glad you're the one who asked—because you're the key to it."
"I am?" Scott blinked, pointing at himself.
"Yes," Peter nodded. "Our first plan—combining all that energy—didn't take him down, but it did exactly what I hoped. It weakened the force field around him just enough for my second plan to work."
Peter's tone sharpened. "But I'll need everyone to keep him busy while I deal with him charging straight at us. This next part requires total cooperation."
As he spoke, his thoughts flowed outward through their psychic link, laying out the details of his plan—step by step—while the echoes of Juggernaut's roar still reverberated through the fractured reality behind them.
…
A portal open directly around the Juggernaut. In the very next instant, heroes came pouring through from every direction. Hulk, Colossus, and countless others burst onto the battlefield, slamming into the ground or launching themselves midair toward the crimson titan.
The only ones absent from the chaos were Peter, Cyclops, and Aria, who remained behind, watching as the plan moved into its most dangerous phase.
The strategy itself was simple in concept, if not in execution: overwhelm the Juggernaut, keep his attention locked on the brawl, and give Peter the precious seconds he needed to prepare a way to bypass—the force field surrounding the Avatar of Cyttorak.
What followed could only be described as an all-out brawl, albeit one centered entirely on a single, unstoppable target.
Fists flew from every angle. Energy blasts erupted in rapid succession—waves of freezing cold collided with searing heat, lightning cracked against stone-like flesh, and concussive force hammered into Juggernaut's body again and again. Claws of every shape and size raked across his armor-like skin, sparks flying where adamantium and steel scraped against crimson energy. Spider-legs stabbed and pinned, Gamma-empowered punches detonated on impact, and Colossus slammed into him with bone-crushing force.
Juggernaut retaliated in kind.
His military training, honed long before he ever became a living engine of destruction, showed itself clearly. He pivoted, redirected momentum, and used the sheer weight of his body like a weapon. Every swing carried devastating force, every charge threatened to level entire structures. He exploited openings ruthlessly, countering attacks with brutal efficiency.
Yet for all his power, even Juggernaut was being overwhelmed.
The sheer number of coordinated attacks forced him onto the defensive, denying him the chance to build up any more of the unstoppable momentum he thrived on.
Behind the front lines, Peter glanced toward Scott.
"Okay," he asked calmly, "are you ready?"
"No," Scott answered flatly, without hesitation.
"Perfect," Peter grinned beneath his mask. "Don't worry—you're going to be safe. I detected dimensional energy coming from your eyes, which Arachnid just confirmed is linked to a psionic field in your brain, concentrated right around your optic nerves."
Scott grimaced. "Which I already knew."
"Right, right," Peter waved it off.
"Anyway—with my chi boosting your body, and Aria stabilizing and tempering the psionic field, you should be capable of generating a blast strong enough to punch straight through Juggernaut's force-field."
Scott groaned. "Ugh… I already think my powers are hazardous. Do we really need to make them more dangerous?"
"Yes," Peter said immediately. Then, with a grin, he added, "Now pucker up, butterscotch."
"Wha—Arghh!" Scott grunted as Peter placed both hands firmly against his back.
Rotating magic circles flared to life around Peter's wrists, intricate symbols spinning rapidly, while a much larger circle ignited across Scott's broad back. Light pulsed in rhythmic waves as energy began to flow between them.
Scott gasped.
He could feel it—Peter's life force surging into him like a tidal wave. His muscles swelled as power flooded his body, veins glowing faintly beneath his skin. Static crackled across him, snapping in the air as his brown hair lifted slightly, standing on end.
"H—Holy crap…" Scott breathed. "What… what is this power?! I feel practically invincible! Is this how you feel every day!? How have you not gotten drunk off this?!"
"I'll tell you the quote later," Peter snapped, focusing, "but for now—focus."
"Right—sorry," Scott muttered, still awestruck. "It's just so… incredible."
He clenched his fists, eyes wide. He had never felt so…alive… before.
"Alright," Peter said, finally stepping back. "That should last you until you're done."
He nodded toward Aria.
Aria stepped up behind Scott, placing her hands gently but firmly against his temples. Her gem flared with controlled light as she closed her eyes.
"Get ready," she warned quietly. "They're almost here…"
Peter weaved his arms in a sharp, precise motion.
The mirror dimension shifted violently.
With a thunderous roar, the Hulk slammed a Gamma-charged punch directly into Juggernaut's chest—payback for Mary Jane. Twisted and turned his body around.
Concrete exploded outward as the structure collapsed around him, and his massive form tore through the rubble—
—straight into Scott's line of sight.
Every hero reacted instantly. Portals snapped open as they leapt away, no one foolish enough to remain anywhere near what was about to happen.
"Do it now!!" Peter shouted, seeing Scott hesitate.
"Darn it!" Scott exclaimed. With a sharp motion, he swiped the visor from his face.
Red static crackled at the corners of his eyes, energy leaking out in violent sparks. Then he opened them fully.
His ruby-like eyes blazed with blinding, otherworldly brilliance—raw power barely contained—as the world seemed to hold its breath.
Sound vanished first, as if someone had pressed mute on reality. Then color followed, draining away until everything existed in sharp contrasts and trembling outlines. The mirror dimension answered him—fractured skylines folding like broken glass, reflections stretching and bowing toward the pressure building behind his eyes.
The static became a scream.
Scott planted his feet, boots cracking the ground beneath him as energy coiled through his spine and up his neck. Veins of red light spider-webbed across his temples, the psionic field Aria was stabilizing roaring into coherence.
Juggernaut hauled himself upright from the rubble, boots grinding into molten glass. His helmet was scorched, armor glowing red-hot in places, steam hissing off his massive frame as he rolled his shoulders and laughed—a deep, thunderous sound.
"Is that all you—"
The optic blast didn't fire—it erupted.
A super-charged optic beam tore free from his eyes, not a simple ray but an incandescent crimson column of condensed force—red-white at the core, reality warping around it as the mirror dimension fractured outward in concentric rings. The ground between Scott and Juggernaut didn't just shatter; it was erased, glassing over into molten reflection under the sheer kinetic output.
The beam struck Juggernaut dead-on.
For a split second, the unstoppable force met an immovable object—
—and then the immovable object failed.
The shattering of his force-field echoed like glass.
Juggernaut was driven backward as if struck by a god's hammer. His helmet cracked, spiderweb fractures racing across it before the upper half detonated away in a storm of blazing fragments. The blast chewed through his head and torso alike, armor and flesh vanishing under the relentless pressure. When the beam finally punched through, it left a widening tunnel of scorched air and shattered mirrors in its wake.
Silence crashed back into existence.
The optic blast cut off.
Scott staggered, nearly collapsing as Peter caught him by the shoulders, the residual energy still crackling across Scott's skin like dying lightning.
Across the battlefield, Juggernaut remained standing.
In a scorched and burned crater that appeared to stretch for miles.
Despite him remaining standing, half of his torso was gone from his body, a hole was punched clean through his side. Crimson blood dripping down with visible viscera.
The mirror dimension trembled, fractures racing across the sky like spreading cracks in a shattered lens.
Hulk stared.
Even he was silent.
Peter, along with everyone else gazed with their mouths agape, "Scott…" He said in acknowledgement after a moment of silence, "I think I have just become your number fan…"
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