The Avengers

Peter Parker had a very strange dream.

No, rather than a dream, it was a bizarre fantasy—he dreamt that the spider that had bitten him, after he'd swatted it away, hadn't died. Instead, it crawled towards more people's necks. One by one, Peter Parkers were bitten, their faces flickering in the darkness: Tobey-Spider, Amazing-Spider, MCU Holland-Spider… countless Spider-Man shadows intertwined in his mind. It seemed to have started with him, spreading out into a giant web, with a different Spider-Man in each square.

"Spider-Man..."

A distant, vague voice called to him.

"You must find—"

Find what?

"Another spider."

It was a gentle female voice, unfamiliar yet strangely familiar, as if it were right beside him, yet also separated by a thick fog. Peter wanted to ask what she meant by another spider, if there were other spiders in this universe? Or perhaps a Spider-Man from a parallel universe? But he found he didn't even have the strength to lift his eyelids, only able to struggle and try to break free from the darkness.

He let out a meaningless groan and reluctantly opened his eyes. A young woman with short brown hair was pushing the door open, holding a plate of fruit. Seeing Peter awake, she smiled kindly and warmly, looking at him with concern.

Was this the person who called me just now? She looks a little familiar?

"Are you alright?" she asked softly. "Don't worry, you need to rest now."

"I... Scarecrow..."

Memories surged back like a tide—the broken overpass, the roar of the subway, his own body on the verge of collapse...

What about Herman? Is the fight over? Where is this?

Peter jolted up from the bed, instinctively flipping onto the ceiling and hanging upside down, scanning his surroundings vigilantly. It was only then that he noticed he was still wearing his damaged Spider-suit, the torn cowl neatly folded on the pillow beside him. Outside the window, the Manhattan skyline glittered in the sunlight. In the distance, he could see the shorter Empire State Building, allowing him to vaguely discern his approximate location.

But from this angle, one building was out of sight.

Peter finally realized why she looked so familiar. His voice involuntarily rose in pitch.

"Are you, are you Ms. Janet van Dyne? Where am I? Oh my god, am I in Avengers Tower? Is this real?"

Janet, or rather, "Wasp," was amused by Peter's exaggerated reaction. "Relax, kid, of course, this is Avengers Tower. Could you please get down from the ceiling first? It's not good for my neck to chat like this."

"Oh, uh, of course, sorry."

Peter realized his gaffe and quickly flipped to the ground, only to have his legs go weak, nearly collapsing. Every muscle in his body protested, every bone felt as if it had been crushed and then barely pieced back together.

Janet picked up the transparent touch panel by the bed and glanced at the diagnostic report. "J.A.R.V.I.S. says you have severe tendon ruptures, extensive internal bleeding from capillary rupture, widespread alveolar damage, and dozens of bone fractures... Under normal circumstances, you should be in the ICU, not dealing with any superhero matters. But your condition is better than any of us expected."

That mutated spider had granted Peter superhuman healing abilities, not as exaggerated as Wolverine's, but enough for him to make initial recovery from fractures after sleeping for two or three days. Therefore, he wasn't worried about his body, but was more concerned about something else.

"What about Herman? That 'Scarecrow'? Did the Avengers catch him?"

Janet's expression froze subtly for a moment.

"This... is something others should tell you," she sighed. "I'm just a liaison, responsible for the Avengers' social affairs, press conferences, or apologies, but not for combat reports."

Peter grabbed his cowl and forced himself to stand up. His intuition told him that things weren't that simple; the Avengers hadn't caught Herman.

"Sorry, but can I... have a look around?"

Meanwhile, in the Avengers Tower conference room, a holographic projection was continuously playing footage of the battle between Spider-Man and Scarecrow.

Tony Stark had his feet up on the conference table, leaning back in his chair, his tone as casual as if he were commenting on a ball game. "Good news one: Herman Schultz is an insecure and arrogant idiot. He'll never share his 'masterpiece' with anyone—so there's only that one unstable Vibranium Suit in the world." He snapped his fingers. "In his own words: 'Scarecrow is staying outside.'"

"Good news two," Tony continued, "he improved his weapon system, so the equipment going haywire took longer than expected. We still have time to catch this 'Yellow Mario.'"

As always, Tony Stark unceremoniously gave nicknames.

Tony unceremoniously gave this guy who jumped around and went into sewers a nickname, but Steve Rogers didn't laugh. His brow was furrowed, his gaze fixed on Scarecrow in the projection. The problem wasn't Herman's arrogance, but the fact that he had no idea how dangerous his weapon was—once the core overloaded and exploded, it could destroy everything within a one-kilometer radius, and this was New York, one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

Just then, the conference room door slid open.

All eyes turned to the doorway—Janet was accompanying a staggering Peter as he walked in. Tony immediately whistled and spread his arms wide in exaggeration. "Fantastic! Our Sleeping Beauty is finally awake! How is it, kid? How was your first time fighting for your life against a supervillain?"

"Not great, Mr. Stark. I feel like I've never been this tired in my life."

"Considering you almost held up an entire overpass, I think 'tired' doesn't quite describe your current state," Bruce Banner said with a gentle smile, showing no sign of being the "Hulk." As for Ant-Man, Hank Pym, he wasn't here for some reason.

"Uh, where's Mr. Hank? I heard Miss Janet say he saved me, and I wanted to thank him."

"Don't bother, that guy never goes anywhere except his lab. Just have Wasp pass on the message," Tony waved his hand and pushed Peter into a chair next to him. "Listen, kid, you just pulled off a heroic feat, saving countless lives. Now, how does that feel?"

"Did I?"

Tony Stark was baffled by the boy's question. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh... I completely lost consciousness at the end, I don't know if I managed to save those people, so... did I do it?"

The room suddenly fell silent.

"Yes, you did," Banner nodded. "You held on for about twenty more seconds. Everyone had actually evacuated, and they were shouting to you that they were safe, but you couldn't hear them then."

Peter's shoulders finally relaxed.

"That's great, no one was hurt. If only I..."

"Alright, kid, you did well enough!" Tony interrupted his self-recrimination, patting him firmly on the back, deliberately using a light tone. "Stop a supervillain, get beaten up, save people—you've completed the standard superhero checklist. Now, your mission is to go home, rest, do your homework, don't worry your family, and leave the rest to us."

What did he mean by 'leave the rest to us'?

Peter sensed a hint of something ominous in his words.

"So Herman is still out there?"

"Alright, Tony, let me talk to the kid."

Captain sighed and took charge, picking up the conversation. "Hank analyzed Herman Schultz's equipment and found the energy supply to be extremely unstable, with a risk of explosion. Each use increases the possibility of a catastrophic detonation. Therefore, the Avengers have decided to take over this case entirely. We hope Spider-Man can withdraw from the upcoming operation."

"But..." Peter opened his mouth, wanting to say something. "I understand, Captain. But if I encounter Herman doing something, can I stop him?"

"Of course, kid, you can do that until the Avengers take over the fight." Captain didn't completely deny Spider-Man's involvement in the operation against Scarecrow, merely drawing a line. "But you need to realize that the upcoming battle with Scarecrow will be incredibly dangerous. Every fight could trigger his weapon to explode. Be mindful of your own safety."

"Okay. I, I should go. If I'm back too late, my aunt and uncle will worry."

"Let Banner or Janet give you a ride."

After seeing off Peter Parker, who was clearly feeling dejected, Tony turned to Captain and asked the question he most wanted to ask.

"Now, Captain, what do you think of the kid?"

Steve Rogers stared at the ceiling for a long while before letting out a deep sigh.

"He's a good kid," Steve finally said softly. "He has a pure sense of justice and empathy... so pure it's heartbreaking. Did you notice his focus? He's not even concerned with how many people he's saved, but rather how much he'd blame himself if he hadn't saved them."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I've seen soldiers like that on the battlefield. They blame themselves for the sacrifices of their comrades, thinking that if they had done enough, if they had just lunged forward, someone else might have died instead."

Steve Rogers observed Spider-Man fighting on the projection. "Soldiers like that, they strive to be the first to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield. They are on a path of self-destruction."