Chapter 82: Good Neighbors in New York
The second person to be approached was Shazan. When Iron Man landed on the rooftop of Philadelphia in his armor, the man who was eating a hamburger and playing games after his transformation was shocked and fell backwards. He chewed a few times to swallow the food in his mouth before asking, "What happened? I didn't receive any message from the Alliance. Or is today a special day, a Christmas dinner? Are the Justice League and the Avengers finally planning to organize a joint team building?"
"...No." The Avengers consultant's voice sounded dry through the mask, and the background sound was the sparse electronic sound of game special effects. "I want to ask you about Peter Parker."
The bright red 'Game Over' flashed on the handheld device.
Shazan coughed, put down the game console, and said seriously, "I have nothing to say."
Quite loyal.
Tony slowly landed on the ground and said, "I know you are Billy Batson."
He glanced at the man in red uniform and clenched his fists.
"You probably also know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Even if you don't, Superman and Batman definitely know."
"But I guess it never occurred to you that Spider-Man is related to the male elders of the New York family that adopted him?"
After saying this, Shazan really lost his guard and showed a confused expression: "Is this true?"
really.
"What did he tell you before?"
Shazan summarized several key pieces of information.
First of all, strictly speaking, it was Billy who knew Peter. They were just online friends at first, and most of the topics they talked about were related to superheroes, and more about the Justice League than the Avengers. After getting to know each other and planning to meet in person, Billy took the initiative to admit that he knew Shazan - his brother and Shazan had appeared on TV together, and he couldn't hide it. Moreover, the Philadelphia hero's style of doing things has always been down-to-earth, and it is not surprising that he makes friends with ordinary children.
Peter Parker then takes the opportunity to introduce himself and ask for help.
"He's an orphan. His parents and elders all died in the war. How did he get to New York?"
"I don't know." Shazan shrugged, "Peter is not a bad guy, and Spider-Man is even less so. I'm not interested in finding out. But since you said his family lives in New York but doesn't recognize him, is there some hidden secret here?"
"Maybe." Iron Man said ambiguously, "You also said that he talked to you mostly about the Justice League?"
In fact, through analysis of the existing intelligence, he is temporarily inclined to conclude that Peter Parker comes from a parallel universe.
Although it is not yet explained why his body does not suffer from incompatibility collapse like Miles Morales', it is also unknown how he got here.
But if the speculation is correct, why was Shazan the first superhero Peter came into contact with?
Assuming that there is also a Justice League in the parallel universe, and he knows its members very well, shouldn't the easiest way be to ask Superman or Wonder Woman for help?
It's not that Shazan is not strong, he is mainly specialized in his profession. Superman and Supergirl have super vision and super hearing, and the other has a lasso of truth, so they are obviously better at distinguishing between enemies and friends. Batman can also be ranked above them, but he is too suspicious and it is not easy to trust him in a short time.
Unfortunately, none of these three people have ever had direct contact with Spider-Man.
Even the last time Superman took Connor away, they only met briefly and couldn't even say they knew each other, let alone were familiar with each other.
Frankly speaking, Tony felt that Peter would never join the Justice League, and he was even more afraid to do so. If he hadn't minded running to the Avengers Building, Iron Man would have suspected that he had some concerns about working with superheroes.
Shazan said, "Yes, but we are talking about things that veteran fans in the forum will understand. It's nothing too outrageous. After all, I still have to hide my true identity. What do you think of it? Tell me."
Tony thought, "How come all seven of you are magic-loving superheroes and you still have to hide your identities?" Other cities have villains beating up superheroes, but only your family can beat up villains in groups, which makes people shed tears of sympathy for the criminals in Philadelphia.
He ignored the other party's question and continued to immerse himself in thinking.
Maybe we can change our thinking.
In Miles' world, there is no Justice League, no Superman, but there is Spider-Man.
What if Peter's knowledge of the Justice League was only acquired after he arrived here? Is it possible that he came from a universe similar to Miles's world, where there are only the Avengers?
Tony put himself in his shoes. If he were to end up in a parallel universe and meet a group of superheroes he had never seen before, his first reaction would definitely be to collect intelligence - and he would postpone investigating and contacting those he knew, such as the Avengers.
This just happens to fit in with how Spider-Man moves.
He showed his understanding of the Justice League in front of Shazan, but avoided the Big Three who were bound to dig out the truth, and later only came into contact with two minors, Connor and Damian.
"Thank you." The metal arm pressed on Shazan's shoulder. Tony was still a little absent-minded. He had too many things to consider. "That's all I need to know. There is no conclusion yet. If there is any additional information, please inform me."
Judging from the time, Peter should have already boarded the return flight from Texas?
"Iron Man!" Before leaving, Shazan flew up to look him in the eye, "Spider-Man is a good man."
"Of course, I never doubted that."
Energy flowed from the arc-shaped reactor on his chest to his feet, and the golden and red superhero disappeared at the edge of the city and flew towards the New York airport.
"Sir, I noticed a piece of breaking news. Maybe you should change your route."
AI, which is becoming increasingly intelligent, suddenly made a statement.
"A bridge collapsed outside Houston, and a high school bus was in danger. Fortunately, no one was killed, but 15 people were slightly injured and one person was missing."
"The missing person's name is Peter Parker."
**
Moses didn't know that someone was copying his past, and he didn't have the extra energy to pay attention to this matter.
He and everyone else swam into the sewer pipe. When his feet landed on the ground, he couldn't help but groan in pain because of the crisis caused by the surrounding radiation: "This is a hundred times worse than crawling down the sewer every time. The environmental protection organization should check whether the heavy metal content here exceeds the standard. And I have no feeling in my waist anymore."
Instead, his abdomen was churning and he seemed to be about to vomit blood.
In order not to scare others, Moses suppressed the urge to vomit.
"Is it really okay?" Miles reached out and helped him up.
"I think it's OK. You don't need your waist to shoot spider webs anyway."
"You have to take care of your lumbar spine." Adult Peter was the first to walk in front. The Green Goblin was one step ahead of them and now he was washed to an unknown position by the water. "This is still the advice for adults. The health of the waist is closely related to future happiness to some extent."
Spider-Man was squeezing the water out of his hat and said, "Everyone here is underage except the two of us."
Moses suddenly felt his head being rubbed.
He was startled by surprise: "Hey! When did you ..."
“Pay attention to the movements of your hands.”
The other Peter Parker took back his hand, opened and closed his fingers, as if savoring the feel of his hand: "Underage, indeed. So you don't need to be too nervous, right? Are there many crises in this world?"
He lowered his head and looked into the eyes of his still young self.
"It doesn't matter if there are a lot of them. We're going to take care of one today, and another tomorrow. Sometimes supervillains are like the to-do items in a memo, which look a lot and are particularly annoying, but in fact they are no big deal."
Miles: "Spider-Man always stands up?"
"That's what other people said," said the adult Peter, "but it's good to comfort yourself."
His voice created a reverberation in the empty pipe.
No one spoke for a long time afterwards, but the atmosphere around us was very comfortable, like the quiet moments after sitting at home and chatting with brothers and sisters.
"...We may have to face Green Goblin and Kingpin's men in a while." But the topic always comes back to the heavy part, "Who will stay behind to cover the retreat?"
"I."
"I can."
"I'll do it."
"Why not give it to me?"
Everyone talked at once.
Moses raised his hand. “Wait, that’s not what we agreed on!”
"Oh, do you want to fight them all by yourself? It's very courageous, but impractical."
"As long as I can send Green Goblin back first, I only need to deal with Kingpin."
"Norman Osborn from this world might be here too," Miles said. "Penny can't stay. And you all, your world needs Spider-Man, and I have experience in shutting down colliders." The little black spider looked around at his companions, "Remember, I did it once before."
"I was wondering," Moses said, "Does Kingpin have kryptonite?"
It's probably too late for other superheroes to get here now, except for Superman and the Flash.
However, it seems that every time a super villain does something, he is fully prepared to guard against Kryptonians. The Flash has to go to work, and the Central City where he is is not a peaceful place.
The Spider-Men looked at him and asked in unison: "What is that?"
"...Okay, let's skip this part. I agree with Miles' proposal that he stay and help me to send you away first." Moses said before others could question him, "But I need to discuss a plan."
He pulled Miles back a few steps to distance himself from the main group. The black boy immediately became alert: "Don't think you can convince me to leave you alone."
"I may not be the only one. There are many superheroes in our world, who knows?"
Myers dropped his shoulders and whispered, "It's as unlikely as me suddenly becoming very popular at school."
They all understand that they can only rely on themselves at critical moments.
Moses now felt that his body was extremely heavy. The pain and fatigue made it impossible for him to calm down and think carefully. He didn't know how to explain the complicated situation related to him to his companions, but he must not let them stay and take risks. If they could not escape this time, the world might not be able to find a third super collider in a short time, and Miles would die of genetic collapse in a short time.
The system said: "If it really doesn't work, try to fool him and make him believe that you can solve it independently."
"…How can this be done?"
System: "For example, make up a trump card that doesn't actually exist?"
Moses felt like laughing for a moment.
Because he suddenly felt as if he had taken on the responsibility of arranging the Spider-Man script, even though he had agreed at the beginning not to take the initiative to take charge.
But anyway, even if the people present discovered his logical loopholes later, they would not have the opportunity to cross the parallel universe to question him after returning to their own world.
He was now in sync with Tony Stark's thoughts, remembering what Miles said, "Peter Parker in parallel universes looks different."
"I still think I can handle Kingpin and Green Goblin - don't argue, just listen to me." Moses noticed that the people walking in front of him had their ears perked up, but he pretended not to notice it and followed the tactic of taking the initiative. "If you have a chance to learn more, you will find that the Parkers in this world don't have any children at all."
Adult Peter: “…”
He turned around without caring about exposing his eavesdropping behavior and said, "What did you say? Wait, how was 'I' born? And how did I get adopted by Aunt Mei?"
"In fact, Aunt Mei has only known me for less than two months."
Moses calmly said, "She doesn't know that Uncle Ben and I are related because we look nothing alike."
Even the piglet understood: "I think it's hinting at something, but what does it have to do with the current situation?"
"I have faced opponents more dangerous than Kingpin and Green Goblin combined." Moses said carefully. He still didn't want to tell a story that was too outrageous. It would be easy to be exposed, and it would make him feel guilty, even if it was a white lie. "But I'm still alive now, so you can trust me a little more."