Spider-Man, too weak

The starlight of the Beyonder faded away, disappearing into space.

Madame Web sat alone on the Spider Web Throne, not immediately following the Beyonder away.

The white eye pierced through the barrier of dimensional space and landed at the entrance of the fast food restaurant in Queens.

Spider-Man swung down from the rooftop, landed on the sidewalk, retracted his Silk, dusted himself off, and then pushed open the glass door of the fast-food restaurant.

"Strive to become stronger, Spider-Man."

Madame Web spoke in a low voice, which echoed in the empty dimensional space.

"The days of comfort are numbered."

She stood up, her red Cloak fluttering slightly in the air, the spiderweb patterns embroidered on Cloak emitting a faint light for the last time.

Then she turned around and followed the direction in which the Beyonder had disappeared, leaving Earth.

The dimensional space returned to silence.

In the fast food restaurant, Spider-Man pushes open the door and the first person he sees is Russell.

The man sat at a table by the window, his hands in his pockets, looking as casual as if he were waiting for an old friend.

"Hello, Russell." Spider-Man walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "Someone called Madame Web asked me to come find you."

She said that in two days, Earth would be destroyed by the Galactus.

Russell nodded slightly.

"That's true."

Spider-Man blinked, and the white eye patch on his mask contracted slightly.

"Is that really so?" he repeated. "You make it sound so easy? The Earth is going to be eaten, and you just say 'that's really so'?"

"Yes." Russell looked at Spider-Man, "Now the Earth needs your friendly neighbor to save it."

Spider-Man spread his hands, making an extremely exaggerated gesture unique to Spider-Man.

"Russell, you must be joking. Right now, the most I can do is rescue cats."

Do you know what I did today? I rescued a cat. A cat was stuck in a tree, too scared to come down, and was meowing.

I picked it up and handed it to the old lady, who thanked me.

"He also helped a child take a balloon down from a tree, and he gave me a piece of candy."

He took the candy out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

"This is the result of my work today: a piece of candy."

You want me to deal with Galactus? One of the five Creator God? That cosmic being who has devoured countless planets and Galaxy?

Russell smiled, a casual smile that was always unfathomable.

"Spider-Man, dealing with Galactus is easy. I'll show you how when the time comes."

Spider-Man looked at him, somewhat skeptical.

"It's very simple," he repeated. "Didn't you just say that was true, that the Earth was going to be eaten? And now you're saying it's very simple?"

"Russell, can you ever be more reliable with your words?"

Russell didn't answer; he simply tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over the other people in the fast-food restaurant.

"Spider-Man, don't worry. Before that, you need to get to know some people."

He pointed to Thanos sitting next to him.

"This is Thanos, son of Titan, former ruler of the universe. Now he is our ally."

Spider-Man turned his head and looked at Thanos.

In a past dream, he remembered this burly man in purple as someone who had once given the entire Avengers a major headache.

He was sitting on a plastic chair in a fast food restaurant, with an untouched glass of cola in front of him.

"Thanos, wow." Spider-Man's voice was laced with amusement.

"Let me think... I seem to have heard of you. You fought against the Avengers and gave Mr. Stark quite a fright. You also..."

"I've done many things," Thanos interrupted him, his voice deep and steady, "Some were right, some were wrong, and right now I'm doing the right thing."

Spider-Man curled his lip.

"Okay, you do seem much kinder than the one I know, at least you're not the Snap."

He turned his head to face the Silver Surfer.

"This is Silver Surfer," Russell introduced. "Norin Ryder, the Herald of Galactus, served Galactus for countless years, but now, after my persuasion, he has other ideas."

Silver Surfer looked at Spider-Man, his eyes gleaming with a slow, swirling starlight.

"Spider-Man," Silver Surfer said, "I've gathered information about you and know you're a well-regarded neighbor."

Spider-Man looked at him and scratched the back of his head.

"Thank you very much. You are also a... good envoy? Or a former envoy? A resigned envoy? That title is a bit long. Have you considered changing it to a shorter one?"

Silver Surfer wasn't impressed by Spider-Man's humor at all; he was only concerned with whether Spider-Man was still hiding his true strength.

Spider-Man, feeling awkward, turned his head and looked at the Black Order.

"These five are the Black Order," Russell introduced again, "Thanos's henchmen, and now our allies."

Spider-Man looked at these five cold-faced figures and felt the oppressive aura of cosmic conquerors emanating from them up close.

"Hi." He waved. "I'm Spider-Man. You can call me Spider-Man, or Spider, Spider-Man, or even 'Friendly Neighbor,' or..."

"Enough," Ebony Maw said coldly.

"Wow, man, you scared me."

Spider-Man did a somersault backward.

"Okay, you don't seem to enjoy chatting much, that's okay, I'm used to it."

I have a friend who doesn't like chatting either; she's a cat, but at least she meows.

Ebony Maw's lips twitched slightly.

Russell leaned back in his chair, watching the scene quietly.

Silver Surfer stepped forward and said to Russell:

"I want to test whether this Spider-Man truly has the strength to challenge Galactus."

Spider-Man looked up at him.

"Try?" he repeated. "What do you mean? You want to fight me? Here? In a fast food restaurant? In front of all these people eating hamburgers?"

The Silver Surfer ignored Spider-Man's words and stretched out his hand, where Cosmic Energy began to gather.

Spider-Man's Spider-Sense suddenly kicked in.

Silver Surfer Shadow swiftly unleashed a beam of light, powerful enough to pierce through a building.

Spider-Man's body flipped to the side before the beam arrived; his Spider-Sense was faster than his consciousness, telling him where to hide the instant the beam shot out.

"Wow!" Spider-Man landed on the ground, rolled over, and then bounced up.

"You started without even saying anything? Isn't that a bit impolite?"

Silver Surfer did not answer. He raised his palm again, and this time the Cosmic Energy spread from his body in all directions, forming an all-round energy field without any blind spots.

These energy fields are like countless invisible hands, reaching out to Spider-Man simultaneously from every direction.

Spider-Man tried to dodge, but the energy fields covered all possible escape routes, and even his Spider-Sense was useless.

His body was gripped by those unseen hands, bound in mid-air, his limbs outstretched, unable to move.

"Alright," Spider-Man's voice was filled with helplessness, "I really can't avoid this."

Silver Surfer looked at him, her starlight pupils devoid of any emotion.

Then he withdrew his hand, and the energy field that had spread throughout the fast food restaurant dissipated, causing Spider-Man to fall from mid-air and crash to the ground.

"No." Silver Surfer's voice was cold and calm. "He's too weak."

Spider-Man got up from the ground and dusted himself off.

"Weak?" he repeated. "Well, I am indeed weak. After all, how much power can a Spider-Man possibly have?"

Spider-Man turned his gaze to Russell and spread his hands.

"See? I'm too weak. I can't even handle the Herald of Galactus. Are you sure I can handle Galactus?"

Russell's expression remained unusually calm.

"It's time."

"When is it?" Spider-Man tilted his head.