Showdown Time

The fight with the spider-swarm ended so early that no one took the day off. Even Peter Parker, who had been electrocuted to a crisp, only felt like his hair was a bit dry. After all, for Spider-Man, high-voltage electricity was nothing serious.

The most direct impact of the entire battle was that at lunchtime in the Midtown High School cafeteria, a show-off in a cheap Spider-Man cosplay costume was enthusiastically bragging to everyone around him about his experience.

"Listen up, guys, I met Spider-Man today! And I even helped him out a lot!"

Peter sat not far away, silently shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth and sighing. Actually, even without "Flash" Thompson's speeding car, it wouldn't have mattered. He had a contingency plan specifically for the possibility of a fire hydrant being empty. For that situation, The Punisher had already prepared plastic explosives capable of blowing up water tanks on roadside buildings, causing water to rain down and conduct electricity.

So Thompson wasn't needed at all. But since the guy had already shown up, if he wasn't allowed to do something, who knew what kind of trouble he might cause.

"Hey, guys, I saw something amazing."

Amadeus, rarely excited, walked over in his lab coat and a completely mismatched green t-shirt. "You absolutely won't believe what happened!"

"Did the Hulk attack?"

Harry's joke didn't get a response from Amadeus. The latter was incredibly excited, almost to the point of being speechless, because he was so thrilled he could barely speak.

"An internship at the Baxter Building! Our school got three spots!" Amadeus finally revealed the truly earth-shattering news. "Can you believe it? A chance to do research with Reed Richards! No matter what you guys think, I'm definitely signing up!"

Just as Peter was about to speak, a slender hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. He looked up and, as expected, saw Gwen's expressionless face.

"Sorry, guys, I'm borrowing him. Are you done eating?"

"Uh, yes, sorry, guys."

Peter awkwardly nodded to his friends and was pulled away by Gwen. Amadeus and Harry exchanged a look, and then Harry suddenly asked, "Are you going to the homecoming dance this year, Amadeus?"

"I can't find a dance partner at all. How about you, Harry?"

"I think there's a really pretty girl, but I'm too afraid to ask her."

The two looked at each other again and sighed in unison.

Peter was led by Gwen to a small room filled with various musical instruments. After Gwen let go of his hand, she sat down on the drum stool and stared directly at him. "So, are you ready to explain what happened this morning?"

"Uh... what happened?"

"Okay, let's take this one by one. First, the first time I met Spider-Man, he was wearing the same shoes as you. You happened to have just run out then, and he only came back after Spider-Man had resolved everything."

Gwen just looked at Peter Parker, and Peter stared back at her without a word.

"...Second, I went to bring my dad his food yesterday and saw a note left by Spider-Man for him. The handwriting was exactly the same as yours on your left hand."

"Why would you remember the handwriting on my left hand?" Peter blinked, genuinely surprised that Gwen had noticed and remembered such a thing. Gwen also blinked, then recalled.

"Because it's cool. The first time I saw it, and actually still the only time I've seen someone who can write with both hands, with such different handwriting. So I remembered it. Anyway, never mind that." Gwen waved her hand and stated the third reason: "Then, last night, I was planning to ask you to explain why you didn't come home all night!"

"You didn't sleep all night, did you?"

Peter asked, looking at Gwen. Gwen looked back at him matter-of-factly, and Peter sighed helplessly. Sometimes, having a childhood friend was indeed a very troublesome thing. He scratched his head, thought for a good while, and then nodded.

"Okay, remember the Osborn Tech Expo half a year ago? We walked over to the spider exhibit, and the display case suddenly shattered. Then Carl captured the radioactive spider that escaped and put it on my neck—"

"And you became Spider-Man?"

For the first time, Gwen felt that becoming a superhero could be so casual. What if Osborn Industries had been researching mutated cockroaches or mosquitoes? What would Peter Parker be now?

However, Gwen decided to skip that issue for now.

"Okay, does Uncle Ben know?"

Peter nodded.

"Aunt May... Aunt May definitely doesn't know. You're afraid she'll worry. Then what about me? Why didn't you tell me?"

Peter was silent for about two seconds, then shot back a string of questions.

"If I told you, could you promise not to come help me, not to ask me to fly you around New York, or ask if I could hang upside down from the ceiling and drink coffee?"

"Dream on. Wait, you really can—"

Before Peter could finish saying, "That's why I didn't tell you," the room door opened, and Mary Jane walked in. She looked quite surprised to see Peter there. "Hey, Peter, what are you doing here?"

"I found something fun that I didn't tell Gwen about, so she called me over for an interrogation. I have to go; I have something important to do after school."

Peter said, sidestepping Mary Jane. Before leaving, he saw Gwen's "I'm not done yet" look and nodded, closing the door.

He wasn't making an excuse to avoid Gwen after school; he genuinely had urgent matters to attend to. His web-shooters were damaged by the spider-swarm during his fight with Carl. This wasn't something that could be fixed with a screwdriver and a wrench. After some thought, he decided to be decisive and ditch the old web-shooters, using the Avengers' resources to create a new, more efficient pair.

Moreover, he needed to verify if the other one was indeed Carl. Although the possibility was slim, if it was, it would be troublesome.

And so, the subway passengers that day witnessed a bizarre scene: Spider-Man politely swiped his card to enter the station, squeezed onto the train with the crowd, and even courteously offered his seat to an elderly lady. Twenty minutes later, he jogged into Avengers Tower, heading straight for the top floor button as if he were just an ordinary employee coming in for overtime.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., prepare the lab for me."

As the elevator doors opened, Peter walked into the Avengers' office area before J.A.R.V.I.S. could reply. The moment he entered, he sensed something was wrong—his Spider-Sense wasn't reacting, but he just felt something was off behind him. He leaned back, dodging a kick aimed at his head, then continued to lean back, bracing himself with his hands on the ground, and kicked out at his attacker's legs. After confirming he hadn't hit the enemy, he pushed off with his arms, doing a backflip while simultaneously throwing a stool at the assailant.

"Whoa, not very gentlemanly towards the ladies, kid."

Peter, who had thrown the stool, stopped and turned to look at the owner of the taunting voice. A black, one-eyed egg appeared before him. Nick Fury, wearing a black trench coat, held a glass of the same liquor the Punisher had drunk yesterday and poured himself another.

"Before Tony Stark and his Avengers went missing, they told me some things about the multiverse and something called Madame Web. I've brought the person you're looking for, kid." Fury raised his glass and gestured behind Peter. "Come meet our Level 4 agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Silk, Cindy Moon."

Peter turned. Standing behind him was a girl about his age. Her face wasn't covered. Her uniform was made of some unknown material. The torso of the uniform was white with a web pattern. The webs extended from the chest, changing from red to black, forming a red "S" in the center. The limbs were pure black with no visible web structure, and only the index and middle finger coverings on the gloves were red.

As if noticing Peter's gaze, the girl pulled up the red scarf around her neck, covering the lower half of her face.