#16 - Rhino
"Has Alexei located the target?"
"No," Alexei said, crashing another piece of equipment. "This area seems clear. I'm moving on to another location."
"Alright, take it easy and don't collapse any buildings. Remember, we only have one target," Adrian said, hidden in the crowd, his eyes fixed on a man in a suit who was anxiously speaking with the police.
"Harry Osborn!" Alexei enunciated.
"Exactly. If anyone gets in our way, eliminate them. Just keep Harry Osborn alive," Adrian said, hanging up the phone after confirming the target.
"Roar!" Alexei roared, restarting his armor and striding towards the next area. Anything in his path was smashed to pieces by his charge.
Shortly after Alexei left, a crack appeared in a corner behind a wall covered in art, and an eye peered out, observing the situation.
"He seems to be gone."
"Thank you for saving us," Peter said, looking at the handsome boy in the green jacket.
"Don't mention it. That rhino would never suspect there's a secret door in this wall," the boy said, closing the door and looking smugly at Peter and Mary Jane.
"How did you know there was a secret door here?" Peter asked, looking curiously at the smug boy. "Most people wouldn't know such a secret."
"That's because I'm the one that rhino's looking for. This is the exhibition area my father's company is in charge of," the boy said, pointing to himself.
"You're Harry Osborn? The young master of Osborn Industries?" Mary Jane asked, looking at the boy in surprise.
The shocked expressions of Mary Jane and Peter made Harry's nose almost point to the sky.
"Do you know who that rhino monster is? And why he's looking for you?"
"No idea," Harry said, seemingly unconcerned by Mary Jane's question. He casually took out his phone, ready to contact his father.
"Probably to kidnap me and threaten my dad for ransom. I'm used to it, I've been dealing with this since I was a kid, but this is the first time I've encountered such a large-scale operation."
"FK! No signal!" Harry grabbed his phone angrily, wanting to smash it on the ground, but he sighed and put it down, afraid of attracting the rhino.
"As for you guys, I'm really sorry for dragging you into this," Harry mumbled, fiddling with his phone. If it weren't for the lack of noise, Peter and Mary Jane might not have heard him.
"It's not your fault," Mary Jane said, shaking her head. "No one wants to go through this. You're just a victim. I hate this kind of blaming-the-victim mentality."
"Yeah, no one should blame you for this," Peter added.
"This is new," Harry said, scratching his head, looking surprised. "You're the first couple to be involved in a kidnapping and not hate me."
"Let's reintroduce ourselves. Harry Osborn," Harry said, extending his right hand.
"Peter Parker."
"Mary Jane Watson."
Peter and Mary Jane shook hands with Harry.
"Do either of your phones have a signal?" Harry asked, retracting his hand.
"No."
"Mine doesn't either. The rhino probably blocked the signal. I guess we can only hope the police find us."
Mary Jane and Peter took out their phones to check, and sure enough, there was no signal.
"No way, those cops are useless. Their little guns that can barely make streetwalkers laugh wouldn't even tickle that rhino monster," Harry said, shaking his head.
Mary Jane frowned at Harry's crude joke, while Peter pretended not to hear it.
"Instead of relying on them, we might as well escape ourselves," Harry said confidently. "I know the exhibition hall's employee通道, it's not far from here. We can sneak out of there."
"Would that be too dangerous?" Peter asked, disagreeing with Harry's suggestion. He didn't want Mary Jane to risk it. "You saw how fast that guy is. We can't outrun him. We'll be dead if he catches us."
"Come on, Peter, don't be so cowardly," Harry said, looking helplessly at Peter. "Just be careful. Besides, he's after me. What are you afraid of?"
"I'm just..."
"Peter's not a coward!"
Peter was about to explain, but Mary Jane cut him off, glaring at Harry.
"We appreciate you saving us, but please take back what you just said."
"Whatever," Harry shrugged, acting like he didn't care. "If you want to stay here and wait for the police, go ahead. I'm escaping by myself."
"Of course, I'll tell the police you're here after I escape," Harry said, slowly opening the secret door without looking back.
"If I remember."
He closed the secret door and left.
The secret room fell silent with Harry's departure. Peter looked at Mary Jane apologetically.
"I'm so sorry, Mary Jane," Peter said, sitting on the ground, curling up and lowering his head. "If it weren't for me, you could have left with him."
Mary Jane looked at the disappointed Peter and sat down next to him, comforting him.
"It's okay, Peter. We're friends," Mary Jane said, gently leaning on Peter's shoulder.
"Besides, I saw you sneaking a peek at me when Harry made that suggestion, right?" Mary Jane said, twirling her hair with her fingers.
"Are you worried about me?"
最⊥新⊥小⊥说⊥在⊥六⊥9⊥⊥书⊥⊥吧⊥⊥首⊥发！
"I'm just..." Peter stammered, then lowered his head in resignation.
"Yes, I'm worried about you. I don't want you to get involved in that kind of danger. Sorry, I might be overprotective."
Mary Jane looked at the sulking boy and found him adorable. She was about to say something when she heard a scream.
"Did you hear that?"
"Sounds like..." Peter frowned, confirming with certainty, "Sounds like Harry's calling for help."
"Help!"
Harry wished he had more legs. Who would have thought he'd run into that rhino monster so soon after sneaking out?
The monster reached out to grab him as soon as they met. Luckily, he was so scared that his legs went weak and he fell to the ground, then scrambled under the monster's legs to escape.
"Stop right there!" Alexei shouted angrily. If he wasn't afraid of killing Harry with his armor, he wouldn't have let Harry run so far.
But there's no escaping fate. Soon, the panicked Harry tripped over some debris on the ground and fell.
"Get away from me!" Harry screamed, throwing the debris on the ground at the rhino monster while trying to crawl away.
"Got you, little bug," the rhino monster said, ignoring the thrown debris and reaching for Harry.
"Bang!"
Just as the rhino monster was about to grab Harry, a can of paint hit him in the back.
The pungent smell infuriated Alexei. He let go of Harry and turned around to see a short, skinny boy with glasses, holding an iron pipe and looking at him with trembling legs.
"Run, Harry!" Peter shouted.
"Peter..." Blocked by the rhino monster, Harry could only hear the voice, but even though it was hoarse with fear, he could tell it was the voice of Peter, whom he had just looked down on.
"Crush you! Little bug!" The rhino monster, easily angered by the injected serum, couldn't stand Peter's provocation and charged at him.
"No! Peter!" Mary Jane, who had just arrived, watched in despair as the rhino monster charged at Peter.
Peter was so scared that he forgot to close his eyes, staring blankly at the rhino monster charging towards him.
"What's that?" Facing imminent death, Peter felt everything slow down. He seemed to see something red extending from beside him.
"Thud!" With a muffled sound, Peter stared in shock at the rhino horn just inches away from him.
"Hey! Cow, wanna have a bullfight?" Peter heard a voice from above him and looked up to see a red giant shielding him.
"I'm a bullfighting superstar, you know why?" Yang Le, transformed into Four Arms, said heroically. "Because I'm red hot."
