I Woke Up in the Marvel Universe, But All the Heroes Are Women?-Chapter 89: Wizard

The Wizard's cackling bounces off Manhattan's skyscrapers like a deranged pinball as she hovers outside the Baxter Building. Her ridiculous helmet gleams in the winter sunlight, making her look like a rejected villain from a B-movie sci-fi flick.
"I WILL DETONATE THIS NUCLEAR DEVICE!" she screams, brandishing a metallic briefcase in one hand while purple energy crackles around the other. "SURRENDER NOW, RICHARDS!"
Rita stretches her arm impossibly long, dodging a blast that melts a satellite dish on the roof. Susan's force fields shimmer around her, deflecting energy.
"Her suit's emitting some kind of radiation," Rita shouts over the chaos, her body contorting around another blast. "It's interfering with my equipment!"
The Wizard fires again, this blast connecting with Susan's shield. The impact sends ripples through the transparent barrier, and I watch Susan's face contort with strain.
"She's never been this powerful before," Susan grits out, reinforcing her shield as sweat beads on her forehead.
Venom crouches beside me, her mighty form tensed like a predator ready to pounce. Those blank white eyes narrow as she studies the battle unfolding around us.
"Shane," she rumbles, her dual-layered voice vibrating through my chest. "You don't have to fight. There's no need to hurt yourself."
I watch as Rita barely dodges another blast, her stretchy body twisting in ways that would break a normal person. Susan's shields flicker dangerously as the Wizard hammers them with increasing ferocity.
"Nah," I say, decision crystallizing inside me. "I want to."
I take a deep breath, centering myself as I focus on that darker power lurking beneath my skin. The familiar golden energy comes easily, flowing through my veins like liquid sunshine, but I need more. I push deeper, reaching for that hellish force I've been practicing with.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I scream, channeling my inner Goku as white-hot pain explodes in my temples.
My skull feels like it's splitting open as the horns push through, twin spears of agony erupting from my head. Blood trickles down my face, but I keep pushing, forcing more power through my system until my arms light up with golden energy so intense it's almost blinding.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I continue screaming, the pain fueling my power as golden light engulfs my entire body.
"What the hell are you doing?" Susan shouts, her force field wavering as she divides her attention between the Wizard and me.
I don't answer. Can't answer. Every cell in my body is on fire, burning with power that threatens to consume me if I don't release it soon.
"LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOO!" I roar as I lock eyes on the Wizard through the shimmering barrier of Susan's force field.
I focus on a spot directly behind the floating villain, letting the golden energy envelop me completely. Reality bends, dissolves, reforms in an instant leaving a brief golden afterimage behind.
One moment I'm on the roof of the Baxter Building, the next I'm midair behind the Wizard, my glowing fist already in motion. She barely has time to register my presence before my punch connects with her stupid helmet, the impact sending a shockwave through the air.
The blow catches her completely off-guard, sending her careening toward the Baxter Building at terrifying speed. For one heart-stopping moment, I think she's going to crash through the windows and into the labs beyond.
Instead, she slams into an invisible wall, Susan's force field, extended outward just in time to prevent structural damage. The Wizard bounces off it like a bug hitting a windshield, her armored body momentarily stunned as she floats there, disoriented.
I'm suddenly free-falling, gravity reclaiming me after my teleport attack. Wind rushes past my face, my stomach lurching as Manhattan's streets race up to meet me. I should be terrified, but adrenaline and demon energy have me operating on pure instinct.
"Fuck!" I yell, focusing on another spot higher in the air. The golden energy swallows me, and I reappear twenty feet higher, momentarily suspended before gravity pulls me down again.
Above me, Susan Storm glides through the air on what looks like an invisible surfboard, her blonde hair whipping in the wind as she soars toward the still-disoriented Wizard. She extends a transparent field around the metallic suitcase nuke, yanking it from the villain's grasp.
"Got it!" Susan shouts, the nuclear device now safely encased in her protective bubble.
I teleport upward again, materializing just as the Wizard recovers. She spins toward me, those purple energy gauntlets blazing with renewed fury.
"YOU!" she screams, her voice distorted by her ridiculous helmet. "MEDDLING INSECT!"
I don't have time to teleport away. The blast hits me point-blank, purple energy engulfing my vision as white-hot pain explodes through every nerve ending in my body. It feels like being dipped in liquid lightning while someone drives railroad spikes into my joints.
My scream tears through the air as I'm blasted backward, limbs flailing uselessly. Despite the haze of agony, I see a massive black shape launching from the Baxter Building's roof.
Venom.
Her roar of fury echoes between skyscrapers as she hurls herself toward the Wizard. The sound that erupts from her isn't just anger, it's primal, protective rage that makes my heart stutter even through my pain.
The Wizard turns too late. Venom's clawed hand transforms mid-leap, elongating into a jagged spear of living darkness. With terrifying precision, she drives it through the visor’s opening of the Wizard's helmet.
The sound is sickening, metal crumpling, something wet giving way, a gargled scream cut horrifically short. Purple energy discharges wildly from the Wizard's suit as her body goes limp.
Her helmet shatters outward, fragments of metal and gore spraying across the sky like a bloody firework. What remains of her face slips away in chunks, a grotesque waterfall of tissue and bone cascading from the ruined helmet.
I'm still falling, my body tumbling through open air. The pain from her blast pulses through me in waves so intense I can barely form thoughts.
Through pained eyes, I see Venom twist mid-air, her body pivoting toward me with single-minded purpose. Her eyes lock onto mine as she launches herself downward, arms outstretched, cutting through the air like a living missile.
"SHANE!" Her dual-layered voice screams.
She collides with me at breathtaking speed, those powerful arms wrapping around my body like living restraints. The impact knocks what little air remains from my lungs as she tucks me against her chest, curling her massive form around mine protectively.
Venom rotates us mid-air, positioning herself to take the brunt of the impact. I feel the symbiote shifting around us, creating a cocoon of living darkness to cushion the blow.
We hit the street with bone-jarring force, asphalt cracking beneath us as we roll across the pavement. Venom's body absorbs all of the shock. Glass shatters, metal bends, and car alarms blare as we plow through parked vehicles.
When we finally stop rolling, I'm cradled in Venom's arms, her tall shape curled around me like living armor. Her blank white eyes stare down at me, narrowing with concern as the symbiote pulses and flows across her body, adjusting to protect both of us.
"Shane," she says, her voice gentler now despite its alien timbre. "Are you okay?"
I can barely manage a nod, my entire body throbbing with pain from the Wizard's blast. "Yeah," I rasp. "Just hurts like hell."
As I speak, I feel a strange loosening sensation at my temples. The horns that had erupted through my skin begin to detach, the connection between them and my body severing as my demonic power fades. With two soft thuds, they fall onto the cracked pavement beside us.
I watch in fascination as the once-solid horns crumble upon impact, disintegrating into fine ash that scatters in the winter breeze. It's weirdly beautiful, like watching dark snowflakes dance away from us.
"I'm fine," I tell Venom, testing my limbs with careful movements. "I just didn't expect that blast to hurt that bad."
I stretch experimentally, surprised to find the searing pain already subsiding. My body seems to recover faster now. The golden energy still pulses faintly beneath my skin, but it's calmer now, retreating to that quiet place inside me where it waits until needed.
"Thank God," Venom breathes, the symbiote pulling back slightly from her face to reveal Ellie's worried blue eyes. Her grip on me loosens, but she doesn't let go completely, as if afraid I might shatter if she's not holding me together.
As we're talking, I spot Susan and Rita approaching across the debris-strewn street. They pick their way through the wreckage with practiced ease, like people who've seen their share of urban destruction. Both of them look concerned, their gazes flicking between us and the smoking remains of the Wizard still tumbling from the sky in gruesome chunks.
Rita reaches us first, her stretchy form contracting back to normal human proportions as she stops a few feet away. Her expression is unreadable, clinical in its assessment.
"You killed the Wizard," she states. Not an accusation, not a question, just a simple acknowledgment of fact.
Venom straightens up, her massive form towering over Rita as the symbiote flows back over Ellie's face. "She had a nuke," she growls, her dual-layered voice defensive despite Rita's neutral tone. "She was going to destroy the city."
Susan steps in front of Rita, her blonde hair whipping in the cold wind. "No," she says firmly, her eyes fixed on Venom. "You killed the Wizard because she attacked Skip Step."
I notice Susan's hands trembling slightly as she glances at me, her expression tense with barely concealed fear. She's looking at me like I'm made of glass, like Venom might crush me if provoked.
Rita clears her throat, stretching her arm to grasp the suitcase still encased in Susan's force field. "Let's take this all back inside," she says, her scientific detachment returning as she examines the case. "I want to contain whatever is in that suitcase as soon as possible."
Susan's gaze darts between Venom's imposing form and my battered body, lingering on the ash where my horns had disintegrated. Her force field flickers with her anxiety as she hesitates, clearly weighing her options.
"Yeah," she finally says, her decision made. "That would be best."