Chapter 74: Good Neighbors in New York

"It seems that Iron Man has contacted you. He may have his own plans, but the current situation can no longer be delayed. We need your help, Spider-Man."

"The story begins with a man named Spencer Smythe. He used to be a professor of robotics engineering at New York University. In order to cure his son's legs, he was ordered by the gang leader Jin Bing to build a killing machine..."

“Ding ding ding.”

The phone in Spider-Man's pocket suddenly rang, interrupting the SHIELD agent on the bridge.

"Wait, you see, I told you I'm really busy lately."

On the screen was a text message from Connor: Not solved yet? Soon Ned will suspect you were kidnapped by the delivery man.

He typed quickly: Almost there, I was stopped by a delivery man from SHIELD, please hold on a little longer.

Putting the phone back into his pocket, Moses said, "Can you be brief, sir?"

"This is very! Very important and dangerous!" the SHIELD agent emphasized, "You need to take it seriously!"

"But I've never met the man you're talking about, Spencer Smythe." Moses' phone rang again. This time, Aunt May asked him what kind of cheese he wanted to eat in the evening and how he played with his friends. He typed a bunch of words in reply. When he looked up, the other party's face was blue and on the verge of exploding with anger. "Be patient, sir. Take a deep breath now and tell me what happened to Smythe?"

"He's dead." Behind the agent, the door of a black jeep opened, and Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., stepped out and patted his subordinate on the shoulder. "It's okay. Let me tell you."

"…I'm sorry to hear that. And now?"

"Spencer Smythe died in a car accident. He encountered a bank robbery on his way to the laboratory. The robbers' truck was stuck with your spider silk. When they stepped on the accelerator to force their way out, the truck overturned and hit Smythe against the wall, killing him on the spot. His son Aristotle Smythe thought it was your fault. In order to get revenge, he followed in his father's footsteps and embarked on a criminal path. Today's 'Black Widow' robot is his achievement - but this criminal, who also named himself Spider Killer, is no longer the boss of Kingpin, but someone else."

"I don't know if you have heard of his name, Otto Gunther Octavius. Because the pronunciation of his last name is similar to Octopus, we also call him Doctor Octopus."

When Nick Fury was speaking, the projection device in his hand simultaneously showed the scene of Spencer Smythe's death in a car accident, and his eyes, which were not covered by the eye mask, stared at Spider-Man's face carefully. He was not sure what effect his words had achieved, but at least he could see that the boy listened very seriously.

However, after he finished speaking, he waited for half a minute but the other party didn't speak.

Spider-Man seemed in a trance.

"I don't mean to blame you." Fury began to wonder if his tone was too serious for an obviously underage superhero. He tried to curl his lips and continued in a relaxed tone, "For someone who has just been in this business for a short time, you are already quite good. Even Iron Man often made stupid mistakes when he first learned to fly. Did he mention this to you when you met? I guess not."

"But no matter what, your actions may bring danger to yourself. There are more and more enemies in this city who regard you as a thorn in their eyes."

"Not just enemies." Spider-Man shook his finger at him, "For example, Mr. Jameson, the owner of the Daily Bugle, has such a strong opinion of me that I suspect I'm in love with his daughter."

But considering that the old man himself offered a large reward for Spider-Man's photo, and most of the reward went into Spider-Man's pocket, Moses didn't say much about his attitude.

Fury was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "So you're really not in love with his daughter?"

"……I didn’t!"

"That's good. You'll get used to it in the future. People's hatred for superheroes always seems extreme and unreasonable, and it will never go away. But we are talking about another matter now." Fury raised his hand and swiped across the screen, showing the next photo. "You and Superboy were very popular in Oscorp."

It was an Osborne camera with an excellent angle, and it even gave a close-up of the moment when the helicopter crashed to the ground and the real hero never looked back to see the explosion.

"Uh." Moses never expected to see his beautiful photo in the hands of the Director of SHIELD. "This is an accident. We originally planned to go quietly and leave quietly, but the security money spent by this company is worth it."

"You are not careful enough." Fury said, "I use Captain America as an example. If it were him, neither the robber hitting passers-by nor the Osburn laboratory explosion would have happened."

Moses could not argue.

If his mask could reflect his facial expressions, his upper eyelids would have drooped long ago.

"SHIELD is investigating Doctor Octopus. He may be working with Hydra, but he was also employed by Oscorp. We need to determine if there is any connection between the two. However, your actions with Superboy have disrupted our plans and alerted Norman Osborn and Doctor Octopus. Instead of carrying out their own criminal plans, they decided to get rid of you first."

This is embarrassing.

In fact, according to Moses' consistent experience, it is inevitable that super villains will focus on super heroes. Just like Clown chasing Batman every day, he will be unhappy if someone interferes with their confrontation, and when he is unhappy, he will hurt innocent people; Luther spent billions on Superman, and the last dedicated rich man in the United States lost his original intention; Flash Thompson tried to block Peter Parker in the toilet every day... The last one is wrong, start over.

It was Aristotle who eventually became the Spider-Killer, and Doctor Octopus and Osborn also turned their attention to Spider-Man. As long as one of them is trying to save people and the other is trying to harm others for their own benefit, these two lines will sooner or later intersect.

If he had it to do over again, Moses would still stop the armed robber and would still try to figure out what conspiracy Professor Lizard was hiding.

But maybe, as Fury says, Spider-Man could have done better?

He suddenly felt uncertain again.

"We need your help." Fury said again, "Professor Octopus has already set his sights on you, and the Spider Killer's first move was just a test. In this case, perhaps you can lead to a bigger conspiracy behind them."

"You want me to cooperate with SHIELD?" Spider-Man's voice was a little muffled. "I thought you came here just to criticize me."

"I didn't say that." Fury shook his head. "Those are just objective facts."

This spy chief can be too cunning sometimes.

"Every screw is in its proper place, Spider-Man, and I'm standing here because I believe you can do it."

**

On the way back, Moses said to the system, "Why do I feel like he has tricked me?"

"You are," the system said, "but it's okay, just relax, you are not even sixteen years old yet."

"But he didn't lie. A lot of people don't like Spider-Man, except for the boss of the Daily Bugle who's particularly obsessed. There's also Aunt May - she doesn't like Spider-Man either, but she thinks young people like superheroes, so she never brings up the topic in front of me."

System: "If she knew you were Spider-Man, she would love you even more."

“These are two different things.”

"Those who hate you will still hate you even if you save everyone without fail. You know, the point is not that you are Spider-Man, but that you have super powers and you are wearing a mask. Even if you lose your special powers, but you are smarter and stronger than them, these people may still hate you. No one can make themselves liked by everyone, and those who love you will never give up that love, they are just blinded temporarily."

"Wow." Moses paused in his attempt to throw the spider silk. "I never thought you could say that. Thank you."

"I didn't expect it myself." The system said, "Maybe it's because the hero loves people, so I gradually become more like a human being."

**

When Moses returned to the room, he contacted Connor in advance, and Superboy said that Ned was in the bathroom.

So taking this opportunity, he jumped in skillfully holding the window frame, and used spider silk to stick the glass to close the window. Then he immediately changed out of his uniform and briefly told Connor about S.H.I.E.L.D.

Connor's first reaction was: "So Iron Man knows?!"

"...I don't think so." Moses slowed down his undressing and said hesitantly, "I asked the director of SHIELD, and he said he has no plans to notify the Avengers yet. Iron Man has other things to do, so maybe he forgot about it."

Even he couldn't help but feel lucky sometimes.

Connor felt sympathetic: "I hope so. Doesn't that mean you can get sponsorship?"

"Yeah." Moses pulled out a box from under the bed and stuffed the uniform into it, sighing, "SHIELD said that I provided the design drawings and they were responsible for making the finished products, including new armor, spider web jets, complete drones, impact nets, bombs, mines... and so on. This is also for my own safety. It is said that Doctor Octopus is a very scary opponent. If he cooperates with Hydra, it will be doubly scary."

"It's possible that they will hold each other back." Connor said, "What about the future of pharmaceuticals?"

"It's not clear yet." Moses took out Professor Lizard's notes from Osborne's laboratory and flipped through them. "SHIELD didn't mention them. Maybe they haven't discovered them yet. I talked to Mr. Stark about it, but he may not have remembered to mention it yet. But in the future, pharmaceuticals will definitely be one of the key points to pay attention to."

As a company that cooperates with Arkham's pharmacists, Moses can use Xiao Chou's life as a guarantee, and the future of the pharmaceutical industry will never be spotless.

"I'll ask Damian for you. He has comprehensive intelligence." Connor pressed the controller in his hand, and Superman on the computer screen jumped up and punched the air with great momentum. "I didn't expect that there would be more and more opponents, but we can still solve it, right?"

"Of course, we have to solve it." Moses put down his notebook and said to him seriously, "Before you asked me why I wanted to become Spider-Man. I haven't thought about it carefully. But you see, there is no shortage of people in New York who oppose Spider-Man. However, even if everyone around me stops me and I can't get paid, there are still things that must be done and people who need help, so I have to do it - it's that simple."

"Luther wants you to replace Superman, and Superman wants you to stick with what you want to do in the face of denial."

“That’s the difference.”

Like a lesson, like an agreement.

Peter Parker was once guided in this way, and later he taught young people a profound lesson with his death.

Thus, the inherited belief was engraved deep in the soul and was never broken until the very end.