[While they were talking, Herman returned in a battered van. Brice, completely unaware of the grave mistake he had made, jumped out of the vehicle with a grin on his face.]
[Seeing his carefree and oblivious demeanor, Vulture's expression darkened with fury.]
[Brice, still unaware of the situation's severity, walked up with a smug smile. "That was insane! Too awesome!"]
[Vulture stepped forward, rubbing his forehead as he tried to suppress his anger. "How many times have I told you?! Don't fire those weapons in public!"]
[Brice shrugged nonchalantly. "You said you wanted to sell those goods, didn't you?"]
["Keep a low profile! Keep a low profile!!! That's the only way we survive! If you attract the Disaster Control Bureau or the Avengers, we're finished!" Vulture's frustration grew more evident.]
["You were out there with that stupid thing! Blowing up cars and shouting 'I'm the Shocker! I'm here to scare people!'" Vulture mocked, his voice dripping with exasperation. "What is that, a professional wrestler's catchphrase?"]
[As Vulture scolded him, Brice rolled his eyes and walked away, looking irritated. "Why do you care what I do? Old man, seriously, give it a rest!"]
[Seeing that Brice still didn't realize the gravity of his actions, Vulture approached him, his tone sharp. "Listen!! I know you don't give a damn about anything! But I do!"]
["I built this operation! Because there are people I need to protect!" Vulture tried to make Brice understand that his reckless actions jeopardized the entire team.]
[Brice waved him off dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."]
[Vulture's rage boiled over, but his face remained eerily calm. "You know what? I can't afford your reckless stupidity anymore. Get out."]
["What?" Brice looked at Vulture in disbelief.]
["You're done. You're not one of us anymore," Vulture repeated coldly.]
["Yeah? Okay!" Brice scoffed, blinking in mock surprise. "Haha! Fine! But you sure you can handle what I might do outside? I mean, I know a lot."]
[Vulture's expression darkened. "What did you just say?"]
["I mean… maybe your wife would be interested in knowing where all this money comes from." Brice smirked as he turned back toward Vulture, his voice laced with threat.]
[Vulture remained eerily calm. "Do you know what you're doing?"]
[Brice's grin faltered. "What?"]
["You're right," Vulture said, his eyes shifting toward a weapon on the table. He turned to Mason and asked, "Does that thing work?"]
[Mason instinctively shook his head. "I… I don't know."]
[Vulture picked up the weapon, turned back to Brice, and repeated, "I can't afford it." Then, without hesitation, he aimed it at Brice.]
["W-Wait—!" Mason instinctively tried to stop him, realizing too late what was about to happen.]
[Vulture pulled the trigger. A powerful particle beam shot out, striking Brice before he could even plead for his life.]
[His entire body disintegrated from the point of impact, turning into nothing but ash. His equipment, unaffected, fell to the ground with a dull clatter.]
"Wow! That was brutal!" Steve Rogers frowned. "He just kills anyone who poses a threat to him. We need to be extra cautious with this Toomes."
Wanda and Pietro, who had been silently watching, were visibly shaken. They had never seen someone disintegrate so suddenly, so completely.
Toomes himself looked horrified. He never expected his future self to be so ruthless—to execute Brice without a second thought.
His wife and daughter stared at him in fear. Doris instinctively pulled little Liz into her arms, holding her tightly. She had never imagined her husband capable of such a thing.
Nick Fury narrowed his eyes. He was already considering whether Toomes should be taken into custody immediately. Not to mention the mysterious black-market buyer who had been purchasing weapons from him—Aaron Davis.
Fury had already investigated Davis. The man had a criminal record, but after the Sky Curtain's revelations, he had turned himself in. His crimes weren't severe, and since none of these events had actually occurred yet, the authorities wouldn't hold him for long.
However, his nephew was devastated. Learning that his uncle had been buying illegal weapons was one thing—but knowing that his father, a police officer, had no idea about any of it made it all worse.
Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. had already set up a special task force dedicated to monitoring every person revealed in the Sky Curtain broadcasts. Toomes' entire crew was under surveillance. What Toomes himself didn't realize was that he had been on their radar from the moment he first appeared in the broadcasts.
Online discussions about Vulture were divided. Some people believed he had been forced into crime due to desperation, while others argued that he had willingly sold weapons to criminals and deserved to be brought to justice.
The revelation had drastically changed Toomes' life. He was constantly harassed, criticized, and his work was affected. His reputation was in ruins.
Worse yet, he was now labeled a "high-risk individual," meaning he was forbidden from leaving New York. Even if he wanted to run, there was nowhere to hide. Someone would recognize him no matter where he went.
With that in mind, Toomes decided there was no point in fleeing. As long as he could avoid getting caught in another alien invasion, he might still find a way out of this mess.
[The furious Vulture stood still, staring at the weapon in his hand. His expression was unreadable. Meanwhile, Hermann, who had witnessed Brice's gruesome fate, couldn't help but curse under his breath. "Damn!"]
[Vulture tilted his head and looked at Mason. "I thought this was the anti-gravity gun."]
[Mason was momentarily stunned. "What? No! That's the anti-gravity gun!" He pointed at another weapon lying nearby.]
[He had just assumed that Vulture had meant to kill Brice outright.]
[Vulture didn't dwell on it. He tossed the gun back onto the table and stepped forward, approaching the spot where Brice had perished.]
[He picked up the mechanical gauntlet Brice had been wearing, shook off the remaining ash inside, and then tossed it to Herman. "Here. You're the Shocker now. Go use the weapon he lost."]
[Hermann caught the gauntlet and responded in a steady voice, "Alright."]
"So it was an accident…" The second-generation Spider-Man, Peter Parker, looked stunned. "I thought he was just being ruthless, but… he actually grabbed the wrong weapon."
"When Brice threatened Toomes, he should've realized he wasn't going to get away unscathed," someone else commented. "But I bet he never expected Toomes to use the wrong weapon and kill him instantly."
Gwen Stacy sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Brice had a big mouth, but if he hadn't pushed his luck, maybe he'd still be alive."
The team silently agreed.
There were plenty of ways to keep Brice quiet—scaring him, exiling him, or just roughing him up a little. Killing him outright, even if by mistake, would only make the rest of the crew uneasy.
Brice had only threatened Toomes personally; he wasn't about to sell out the entire operation. All he had said was that he'd tell Toomes' wife where the money came from—not expose the whole group.
Vulture might have regretted it, but Brice was already gone. There was no undoing it now. All he could do was move forward and hand the title of "Shocker" to someone else.
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