After the Dust Settles

"Hey, what does it matter, Peter? Judging by your voice, you're not very old, are you?" Ant-Man continued to probe Peter for information.

Peter ignored him.

With his heightened senses, he noticed what seemed to be an explosion in the distance.

A black dot was falling diagonally from the sky towards the ground.

There were only four participants in the aerial battle.

One was the Quinjet piloted by Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

The second was Iron Man, the third was War Machine, and the fourth was Falcon.

Who had been hit?

Falling from that height, he...

Peter stared blankly at the scene.

After Ant-Man finished speaking, he realized Peter wasn't responding.

He followed Peter's gaze into the distance, but as a normal person without equipment, he couldn't see that far.

"What's wrong, Peter?"

Peter said, "Someone was hit."

Ant-Man was startled, his expression turning serious. "Something big happened..."

A short while later, Peter received a call from Iron Man.

On the phone, Iron Man told him that Rhodey's Iron Man Armor had been hit in the energy core and had fallen from a thousand meters up, and that they were taking Rhodey to the hospital for emergency treatment.

As for Peter's arrangements, he told Peter to go back to the hotel to find Happy, and after everything was over, he and Happy would take him back to Queens.

In the meantime, he could also explore Berlin.

Of course, Ant-Man wasn't so lucky.

As a "war criminal," he would be extradited to the US along with Falcon to face trial.

Peter felt a bit of goodwill towards this talkative guy, who was like him, and expressed concern for his future situation.

Ant-Man himself, on the other hand, was indifferent.

He said that he had been a criminal before anyway, and now that he could participate in the battle of superheroes, he accepted being put on trial.

At least the reason for this trial was much more noble than before.

Alright, this guy was a natural optimist.

Peter returned to the hotel first, took a shower, changed his clothes, and then greeted Happy.

Happy then took him to the hospital where Iron Man and the others were.

When they arrived, Rhodey had already been taken into the emergency room. Peter only saw Iron Man and Black Widow.

They seemed to have just had an argument.

As Black Widow passed them, Happy greeted her, but she only glanced at him before leaving without looking back.

"Mr. Stark, your hand..." Peter asked, walking up to Iron Man.

Happy had been sent by Iron Man to buy something, clearly indicating that he might want to speak with Peter privately.

Iron Man gestured. "It's nothing, just a slight sprain. It'll heal soon."

"And Colonel Rhodey..."

Iron Man looked at him, forcing a smile that looked like a bitter gourd. "The doctors say he has comminuted fractures in his lumbar and sacral vertebrae and severe spinal cord tearing. He'll likely be paralyzed in the future."

Peter's expression darkened.

"Becoming the superhero people talk about might come with a price like this. Are you scared?" Iron Man asked, looking at Peter.

Peter shook his head. "This world has light and darkness. For people to live in the light, someone has to move in the shadows."

Iron Man was slightly taken aback, his gaze towards Peter changed.

Then, he burst into laughter, reaching out and messing up Peter's hair. "You kid, you're not old, where did you get such a strong sense of responsibility?"

Peter shook his head vigorously, escaping Iron Man's grasp. "I'm serious!"

"Ha~" Iron Man withdrew his hand, leaning on the railing, his gaze fixed on the distance. "It's good that you think that way, but remember, don't let the darkness consume you."

Peter nodded, remaining silent.

Beep beep.

A message popped up on Iron Man's smart watch, a video sent by the Berlin police.

He only glanced at it before covering the information on his watch, preventing Peter's curiosity.

"Mr. Stark, is there anything I can do?"

Iron Man shook his head. "No, you've done enough. You can go explore Berlin. I'll take you back with me after I've dealt with all this."

"Okay," Peter said, lowering his head slightly in disappointment.

Iron Man clapped him on the shoulder. "Alright, get back and get some rest."

After Peter turned to leave, Iron Man watched his retreating back and murmured, "With us old guys around, it's not your turn to be the Dark Knight."

With that, he glanced at the information on his watch again and said to Friday, "Get me a helicopter. I need to go to Raft Prison."

"Yes, sir."

When Happy returned after buying things, Peter went back to the hotel with him.

However, he didn't go sightseeing around Berlin as Iron Man had suggested. Instead, he reviewed the recent battle, drawing lessons from it.

Although this wasn't a real fight in the strictest sense, apart from the accident that caused War Machine to fall at the end, neither side sustained significant damage.

Still, he gained quite a bit of combat experience.

Fighting against superheroes had a considerable impact on him.

He had learned a lot.

And his performance was decent, barely justifying the expensive super-suit Iron Man had given him.

He felt there were still some areas that could be improved on this suit, or rather, some aspects he hadn't discovered yet.

He hadn't had the time to study it properly in the rush before, but now that he had time, he planned to do a thorough examination.

Soon, he found a switch on the suit.

"Hi, Peter, are you starting today's training?" a voice suddenly said.

"Ah," Peter looked around. "Who are you?"

"I am the AI butler for your Spider-suit. I don't have a name yet. Perhaps you can help me choose one," the voice said.

"AI butler! You mean, like Mr. Stark's J.A.R.V.I.S.?" Peter asked excitedly.

"You can think of me that way," the AI butler replied.

"Okay, okay. Hmm, for a name... how about Karen?" Peter suggested.

"Sure, you can call me Karen. Whatever makes you happy," Karen said.

Peter said, "Hey Karen, does this suit have any other functions?"

Karen replied, "The suit has a training protocol. You can set up a reasonable training plan for yourself, which will help you master all the functions of this suit sooner."

"Training protocol? Uh, actually, I'm more curious about what all the functions are," Peter said.

"You can learn about them gradually during your training," Karen said.

"Alright, alright. Then I want to learn how to shoot webs first."

"Okay, I've switched to the web-shooting combination function. There are 576 scientific web-shooting combination modes. Which one do you want to learn first?"

"Huh???"