Peter Parker returned to his room and collapsed face-first onto his bed. He let the sweat and dust on his body dirty his bedding, without the slightest desire to get up and take a shower.
He had been utterly exhausted lately. In fact, it wasn't just Peter Parker-the other superheroes weren't doing much better.
After dealing with Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D. was already desperately short-staffed, yet all sorts of supervillains kept popping up every few days.
That alone would have been manageable, but a brother and sister had recently appeared out of nowhere. They had gathered the surviving enhanced people whom Hydra had experimented on, formed a group called the Mutant Brotherhood, and started opposing S.H.I.E.L.D. at every turn.
The siblings' abilities were so troublesome that both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers had suffered considerable losses at their hands.
This led some supervillains who had mutated through accidents and were being hunted by the authorities to join the siblings.
Fortunately, the siblings seemed to target only the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., and wouldn't readily attack civilians. That had weeded out some genuine villains; otherwise, the Mutant Brotherhood would probably have grown even stronger.
I wonder if Mr. Stark and the others can actually find a way to deal with those two.
Lying on his bed, Peter Parker muttered to himself. He had fought both siblings... and lost badly.
If the Rider Belt's Energy Shield Module hadn't been fully unlocked, Peter Parker might not merely have lost badly-he might have lost his life.
If only Kraft could upgrade my belt again...
At that thought, Peter suddenly recalled the miserable three days he and Harry had spent waiting to change back, and hurriedly pushed that terrifying idea out of his head.
*No! I don't need any upgrades! Counting on Mr. Stark and the others is much