The gunfire echoed like distant thunder, but Adrian didn't flinch.
Something deep within him had shifted. Something primal.
The bullets that had riddled his body moments ago still burned like fire—but instead of giving in, Adrian stood taller, breathing hard, shaking from the pain, and yet... smiling.
His skin began to ripple.
Not with blood or bruises, but with something new. A metallic sheen spread across his arms and torso, smooth and gray like living steel. His fingertips sharpened like serrated knives. His teeth followed suit—fang-like, glinting even under the flickering lights of the ruined amusement park. His eyes narrowed into two glowing slits, like crimson blades burning with purpose.
The gangster froze mid-reload, staring.
"What the hell are you?"
Adrian's head tilted, his voice a deep, hollow growl.
"I'm Red Nova... and I'll show you the true meaning of fear."
In a flash, Adrian vanished from his spot—propelled by 20% Full Cowl One For All, wrapped in ghostly sparks of green lightning and raw physical power.
He rocketed forward and punched a gangster clean through a support pillar, splintering steel and cracking the concrete wall behind it.
The second one screamed, too slow to raise his weapon. Adrian spun with a twisted, vicious grin, and brought down a serrated overhead kick, cracking the man's skull into the pavement.
The fight turned into a blur of chaos.
Adrian became a storm.
He moved between gangsters like a shadow in a lightning storm—using Warp Gate to reposition, Float to leap above enemy fire, and Smokescreen to blind the shooters as he dashed through their ranks.
Every punch dented bone.
Every step crushed asphalt.
Every gunshot bounced off his hardened body like pebbles off a tank.
The criminals screamed in confusion, unloading entire magazines at him. But even when the bullets hit—they did nothing. His Hardening Quirk, now evolved, absorbed each shot. Instead of rough rocky armor, his new form was smooth, streamlined, more like reinforced alloy than flesh.
And it was growing—hardening more with each hit, like a beast feeding off the fight.
Adrian looked inhuman now. No longer a boy in a suit, but something primal and terrifying—an avenging figure made of smoke, lightning, and steel.
Finally, with a brutal left hook, the last gangster fell, his jaw visibly broken. Silence fell over the ruins of the amusement park.
Adrian stood alone, breathing heavy, bloodied and smoking.
The people had been evacuated. The carnage was over. But the weight of his body—the strain of his Quirks and wounds—was finally too much.
His limbs trembled.
He staggered.
"Gotta… get out… Off here..."
Without another word, he activated Warp Gate, disappearing into the shadows.
Peter's POV
Sirens echoed in the distance. Police swarmed the entrance. Peter, now on the ground and disguised as just another worried teen, tried to hide how hard his heart was pounding.
Frank Castle stood nearby, shielding his shaken family. His wife was holding the kids tightly, but Frank's eyes were scanning the scene, like a soldier still expecting more ambushes.
Peter approached cautiously.
"Mr. Frank. Your family's safe. Thanks to… the guy in red."
Frank's gaze didn't leave the wreckage. "That wasn't just a guy. He protected my family like a soldier. Then he vanished... like a ghost."
Peter stayed silent.
Frank looked at him, sharp and perceptive.
"You know who that was, don't you?"
Peter gulped. "Well… kinda. But he's not the kind of guy who likes credit. He's, uh… mysterious."
Frank narrowed his eyes. "And where is he now?"
Peter looked at his phone, hiding the panic rising in his chest. Adrian's tracker showed he had warped back to an abandoned warehouse nearby.
He lied without thinking.
"Probably halfway to Jersey. He doesn't stick around."
Frank gave a slow, skeptical nod. "Well, tell him this—he's earned his stripes."
Adrian's POV
He collapsed.
The warehouse was dark, lit only by the fading green energy of his Warp Gate before it fizzled out.
Adrian stood for half a second—and then—
Splat.
Blood sprayed from his wounds like broken faucets. His vision blurred, coughing up a full mouthful of blood that splattered across the cracked floor. His legs gave out. He hit the concrete hard.
His skin began to shift back—hardening retreating like metal turning back to flesh—and smoke curled from his body, wisps rising from every bullet wound.
"Ugh… n-not again…"
Peter Arrives
Peter ran into the building, tracking Adrian's last signal with his suit's locator. The scene hit him like a punch to the gut.
Adrian was face-down in a pool of his own blood. His body was turning into smoke, slowly vanishing.
"ADRIAN!!"
Peter rushed to his side, falling to his knees, grabbing his shoulders. His hands were instantly soaked with blood.
"Wake up, man! Adrian!! You can't die! Not after all that! I—I can't lose anyone else!"
Tears streamed from Peter's eyes, mixing with the grime and blood on Adrian's ruined body.
"Please... you're my only friend left."
Inside Adrian's Mind
"So this is it...?"
Adrian stood in a void—alone, weightless.
The pain was gone. Just silence now.
"Even with all this power... even with Quirks... I still die. Just like before."
He clenched his fists.
"Maybe I should've taken the red pill. Maybe this wasn't worth it. I can't even remember my old life. My family. My name…"
He curled into himself.
"What's the point…?"
But then he heard it.
"Please Adrian... please don't die…"
Peter's voice echoed across the darkness.
"You're my only friend. I need you."
Adrian blinked.
Peter…
Peter needed him.
He remembered the kid who helped him build his first suit. The dumb ideas. The makeshift gadgets. The midnight rooftop talks.
He remembered why he fought.
His eyes opened—slowly, painfully.
Back in Reality
"Hey… I'm… not dead… yet, you nerd…"
Adrian croaked with a bloody smirk, raising a shaky hand to bonk Peter on the forehead.
Peter froze. Then exploded with joy.
"ADRIAN! YOU'RE ALIVE!!"
"If you hug me that hard, I will die…"
Peter laughed through tears, pulling back. "Sorry—sorry! Oh my god, you scared me."
Adrian's voice was thin. "I'm still bleeding out."
"Want me to call an ambulance?!"
"Fuck no," Adrian coughed again. "I'll die before they get here."
Peter looked desperate. "Then what do I do?!"
Adrian stared at the ceiling, barely able to breathe.
"I thought I'd never say this… but we need to call the X-Men."