After-School Time

Spider-Man, clad in his suit, clung to the glass exterior of a skyscraper with one hand, his feet planted firmly on the vertical wall. He looked down at New York at four in the afternoon—the sun still high in the sky, the city bustling with traffic at the end of August. The ruins had long since been cleared, leaving no trace of the battle between the Avengers and the Chitauri army, as if the great New York battle had never happened.

This was also the day the Spider-Man of this universe officially donned his suit and went out for the first time. The little spider shuttled back and forth through alien-infested New York, saving people, though no one saw him.

"A wonderful first day of school," Spider-Man muttered to himself as he swung through the air. "Met new friends—well, sort of new friends, found a club to join, and—"

"I'm sure many of you already know about the bank robbery in Queens this morning. A group of robbers armed with high-tech weapons not only damaged the bank's load-bearing structure but also nearly blew up the vault! Fortunately, the Avengers arrived in time to prevent a greater disaster."

J. Jonah Jameson's furious face, resembling that of an almighty hero, suddenly dominated the giant screen of the Daily Bugle building. He waved a newspaper and roared, "—But that's not the point! The point is, multiple witnesses confirmed that the menace of New York, Spider-Man, was also on the scene! Without a doubt, this is another crime orchestrated by Spider-Man and his masked accomplices!"

"I can't believe I considered my part-time job maintaining the Daily Bugle's website as part of a good day..." Spider-Man rolled his eyes as he swung past the screen. "Maybe I should leave a 'little surprise' in the code, like, 'Hey, Jonah, your hairline has receded another centimeter.'"

Swinging past J. Jonah Jameson's giant face, Peter swung with one hand while scrolling through his phone with the other. He didn't just want this part-time job for the money—though upgrading his suit did require funds. More importantly, Peter was developing a program that could monitor keywords on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in real-time, such as fires, robberies, or murders, to help him quickly detect emergencies across New York so that Spider-Man could arrive at the scene promptly.

And with this job, he could legitimately spend long hours in front of the computer without worrying about Aunt May or Gwen nagging him.

Besides, the $900 monthly pay was enough to make three new suits or upgrade his existing gear, giving the thugs he dealt with a little surprise.

"Hey! Spider-Man! Over here!"

Spider-Man, who was scrolling through his phone, looked to the side and quickly put his phone away before swinging over. The person calling him was a child who looked no older than four or five. Spider-Man landed beside him and crouched down to talk to him at eye level.

"Hey, kiddo, what's up?"

"My bike fell down there, can you help me get it back?"

Beside them was the open-air section of the New York subway, and a child's bicycle with training wheels lay on the tracks. If left unattended, it would be crushed by a subway train in a matter of minutes.

So the little boy watched as Spider-Man leaped over the concrete barrier, which was taller than himself, and a moment later, he jumped back up with the bicycle and placed it on the ground. "Alright, kid, remember not to play in places like this... But how did you get your bike down there? That barrier is taller than the bike?"

"Someone threw it down," the child replied honestly. "He said you would help me get it back."

Spider-Man's eyebrows furrowed under his mask. "Who would do something like that? Do you remember what he looked like?"

"Dark skin, hair in lots of little braids, carrying a bag..."

It was a vague and unhelpful description, but a child clearly couldn't provide more information. He could only give a few safety reminders before leaving, though he did note this strange incident in his mind.

"Even Carl wouldn't do something so classless. Wait, would Carl do it? I'm not so sure. But he's not black, after all. Oh! Hello? Uncle Ben?"

A sudden phone call interrupted his thoughts. Peter, crouching on the side of the building, looked at the caller ID and answered. "What's up, Uncle Ben?"

"Peter, can you..."

The piercing siren in the background made Benjamin Parker pause. "Can you... pick up a cake for May? From Metino's bakery, the one we always go to. If you're not busy, I can drive over now—"

"No problem, it's on my way!" Peter interjected. "It's on my way, just give May's name, right?"

After hanging up, he let out a light chuckle, unsure who he was mocking. "Expecting New York to be peaceful is indeed a luxury. Alright, it's time for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to make an appearance!"

The red figure leaped from high above, chasing after the speeding police cars in the distance.

"The suspect is fleeing south on Third Avenue and has now turned onto 95th Street! Repeat, the target has turned onto 95th Street!"

Police Chief George Stacy led his team in setting up a roadblock at the intersection of Second Avenue and 95th Street. The seemingly excessive display was quickly explained—a familiar blue energy beam shot out from the window of a red sedan, instantly flipping the lead police car.

"The suspect has high-tech heavy firepower! Return fire!" Chief Stacy decisively ordered.

The police returned fire with their handguns as much as possible. The small sedan seemed to jolt, and a sudden blue energy shield blocked all the bullets. Then, a second police car was sent flying by the energy beam, and the police instinctively dodged the explosion, seeking cover.

"Aha!" A masked robber poked his head out of the car window, holding a firearm that looked technologically advanced beyond normal levels. He excitedly aimed at the police cars and fired in bursts. After destroying two police cars in succession, essentially clearing the road, he spotted the middle-aged police officer giving orders and immediately aimed and fired at him. He believed he didn't need to aim precisely; the gun's power was enough to send the officer to meet his maker.

The blue beam shot towards them, hitting the police car Chief Stacy was using for cover. As smoke billowed, the robber let out a hearty laugh until he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"What's so funny, man?"

At the critical moment, Spider-Man yanked Chief Stacy to safety with a web line. He then passed through the smoke and spun a giant web across the street. The speeding car slammed into it, its tires spinning uselessly in the sticky web, the entire vehicle stuck fast.

With a dull thud, Spider-Man landed on the roof of the car.

"Complimentary convertible service!" Peter punched through the car roof and then ripped the entire roof off. Holding the roof, he looked at the three terrified robbers and the bulging bag of jewels revealed inside. "Oh, it seems the guests are not satisfied? Remember to leave a five-star review."

"Shoot him!"

As Spider-Man backflipped to dodge the energy gun's shot, he tried to seal the muzzle with his webs, but it was futile—the blue beam pierced the webs, and he dodged it with a sideways movement. Then, he shot a web from his right wrist to hook the passenger door. The moment the passenger door was ripped off by the web, the robber who was preparing to open it stumbled out, and his weapon was also snatched away.

Peter picked up the high-tech weapon, which he had never seen before, and examined it closely. He recognized some familiar components—Chitauri technology he had seen a lot of in the past few months.

"Wait, this power source... it's a Chitauri-tech modified rifle? Someone cracked it in just a few months?"

The robber in the back seat hadn't gotten out yet, but the gunman in the passenger seat and the driver had. The driver was a standard burly man, wearing a pair of blue-glowing power gauntlets. The robber in the passenger seat, after his gun was taken, had come down with an energy shield embedded in his arm.

"You know, you guys are pretty unoriginal. This morning I dealt with a guy who named himself Scarecrow after his weapon. You guys should come up with catchy nicknames too," Spider-Man said, walking backward casually, dodging punches, and couldn't help but tease. "How about 'Boxer'? And the guy behind him, 'Shield Man'? Oh, and this one should be called 'Trumpet' now!"

"Shut up!"

"Why does everyone tell me to shut up?!"

As the energy shield robber charged at him, covered in blue light, Peter easily dodged him with a flip and returned to face the boxer, focusing on dodging. "Left hook, right hook... nice straight punch! Are you done?"

The boxer looked at his gauntlets in disbelief, seemingly confused as to why he hadn't landed a single hit despite his boxing skills and power gauntlets.

Little Spider nodded in understanding.

"Then it's my turn."

"Aaaargh—!"

With a standard Wilhelm scream, the boxer was sent flying with a punch, stuck to the web that blocked the road, unable to move. The shield-wielding robber turned and saw this, but then saw the guy in the back seat aiming a rocket launcher at Spider-Man—and himself, in the same line.

"No, no, no, no!"

"Activate your shield!"

Captain America tapped his shield twice, but the energy shield seemed to have run out of power. After flickering twice, it died. Unfortunately, the rocket launcher had already fired, leaving him no choice but to scream in despair.

"It's out of power!"

Peter even turned his head to look back repeatedly, confirming that this rocket would hit his teammate no matter what, and then chose the simplest and most straightforward solution.

"This just goes to show, kids, always remember to bring a power bank when you go out."

Peter wrapped webbing around the rocket and flung it directly into the sky, then fired a web to detonate it mid-air. The explosion illuminated everyone present, leaving the guy with the rocket launcher dumbfounded.

Spider-Man shrugged casually.

"Guys, you wanna keep going?"