"Bugle Daily breaking news: Spider-Man swings back into New York!"
"What? Spider-Man?"
"No way, let me see!"
"Oh my gosh, it's really Spider-Man!"
"He's not dead!"
"Awesome, our friendly neighborhood hero is back!"
"My idol's back~~"
In the city, through J. Jonah Jameson's efforts, the old-school information network spread the news of Spider-Man's "resurrection" across every street and alley.
But the underground base of S.H.I.E.L.D. felt like a different world entirely.
At S.H.I.E.L.D., after Nick Fury reached a preliminary agreement with Professor Connors, he led the group into a high-tech laboratory.
Along the way, Charlie caught sight of vibrant totem energies floating in glass cases.
Professor Connors glanced at a green Hulk totem and gasped, "My God, a Hulk totem! How did you get it here?" he asked Natasha.
Natasha smiled faintly. "The S.H.I.E.L.D. totem can suppress these totem energies, but these are only a tiny fraction of their hosts' power. If it were the true master of the Hulk totem, it wouldn't be so easy to contain."
Her words left Professor Connors stunned.
Charlie's gaze, however, landed on a red Hulk totem next to the green one. "The red one's a Hulk totem too?" he asked.
Coulson, standing nearby with a blank expression, replied, "Yes, just a different color. Their powers are similar."
"Similar?"
"Yes, similar, not identical."
Natasha explained, "If you activate the green Hulk totem, its host temporarily loses control, entering a frenzied state and absorbing endless rage to grow stronger."
"And the red one?" Charlie asked, feigning ignorance.
As expected, Natasha continued, "The red Hulk totem works similarly to the green one, but the difference is it doesn't make its host lose their mind."
She glanced at Charlie. "You get it—sanity and rage don't mix. Without the anger, the power boost is weaker."
Charlie nodded thoughtfully. So that's the difference between the Red Hulk and the Green Hulk.
But something else piqued his curiosity.
"Sounds terrifying. How did you collect these totems?"
"That's classified," Natasha replied.
"And their hosts?"
"If we could capture their hosts, we'd have their specimens on display here," Nick Fury interjected.
He stopped at the entrance to a lab and turned to Professor Connors. "This is your personal lab. Let us know what you need, and we'll do our best to provide."
Professor Connors nodded. "I won't hold back. First request: move all the materials from my old lab here."
"Already done," Fury said.
He opened the door, revealing a lab identical to Connors' previous setup.
Behind them, Charlie was shocked by Fury's generosity.
He leaned toward Natasha and whispered, "You guys aren't short on funds anymore?"
Natasha gave him a sideways glance. "Where'd you hear we were short on funds?"
Charlie blinked. "Nowhere. Just a guess."
Coulson straightened up. "S.H.I.E.L.D. never lacks funds. Neither do I."
Charlie: "..."
Who asked you?
Weirdo.
Seeing Fury and Connors still discussing details, Charlie slipped out of the lab to continue inspecting the displayed totem energies.
Green Goblin totem, Daredevil totem, and a slew of animal totems—most numerous of all, including a Spider totem.
Staring at the Spider totem in its glass case, Charlie raised an eyebrow.
This Spider totem on display was fake.
At that moment, Natasha approached with a confidentiality agreement. "This is a photon-simulated Spider totem. The real one vanished with Spider-Man's death."
She explained briefly, then handed the agreement to Charlie. "Sign it."
"Sure."
Charlie didn't resist—it wasn't like this thing could bind him anyway.
He scribbled a few strokes on the agreement, then realized his mistake and blacked out the signature.
He'd instinctively signed as the Invincible Spider-Man.
Natasha's face darkened. "What are you doing?" She hadn't seen what he wrote.
Charlie re-signed his name and handed it back.
"Sorry, I accidentally used my stage name."
Natasha glanced at the scribbled mess on the paper and rolled her eyes.
"Fine, Charlie Parker. Now tell me about your background."
"You couldn't dig anything up?" Charlie feigned shock.
Natasha folded the agreement. "It'd save me a lot of time if you just told me."
"Then I guess you'll have to waste some time on me!"
"Are you flirting with me?" Natasha's eyes shifted suddenly.
Charlie: "..."
Drop dead, you old vulture!
He cursed inwardly but kept a grin on his face. "I'm not worthy of you."
"I know," Natasha replied, her smile widening. "Kid, come to my room tonight. We're colleagues now—might as well get to know each other better."
"I'm gay," Charlie said with a straight face.
Natasha froze, then glanced at a certain part of him. "Kid, I don't mind."
Charlie: "..."
What the hell?
Was she that desperate to munch on fresh grass?
"Ma'am, please respect my preferences," he said.
Charlie glanced at a black Spider totem in a glass case and changed the subject. "There's more than one Spider-Man here?"
Natasha didn't press further and answered seriously, "That's the Black Widow totem. It's mine."
"Yours?"
"You're a Spider-Man too?" Charlie's expression turned odd. He hadn't sensed any Spider totem in her at all.
"Surprised?"
Natasha shrugged, and with a thought, a faint black totem glimmered at her chest.
Buzz~
In an instant, the Spider totem inside Charlie stirred restlessly.
Thankfully, after its evolution, he could fully control his totem energy, avoiding the uncontrollable reaction he'd had when meeting Gwen-Spider.
Still, it caught him off guard, and Natasha picked up on it.
"Hm?"
The sudden "spark" made Natasha question herself for a moment.
She studied Charlie suspiciously, her eyes narrowing.
"Kid, do you believe in love at first sight?" she asked.
Charlie rolled his eyes. "You're just horny."
With that, he turned and walked back into the lab.
Fury had already left, leaving Professor Connors alone, checking his equipment.
Natasha waved goodbye at the door and left.
Charlie let out a relieved sigh.
"Looks like that woman's got her eye on you," Connors said with a sudden chuckle.
Charlie threw up his hands. "Can't help it. Spider-Man's the most eligible guy in this world. But I swear, I'm the one man she'll never get."
"She's charming, beautiful, and has a great figure—I'm not saying I'm into her, just stating facts," Connors added quickly.
Charlie mentally scoffed, Men, then said, "I'm already taken."
The words slipped out, and Charlie froze.
Wait, what?
Was it too late to play the pure-hearted hero?
Yeah, way too late.
He shook his head. "Professor, does the underground civilization really exist?"
Back to business, Connors' face grew serious.
"Of course it does, Charlie. I need your help with something."
"What?"
"I hid some experimental materials after I realized I was being watched."
"What materials?"
"An arm."
"No way, Professor, that's messed up!"
...
That night, Charlie stared at the grotesque arm dug up from Empire University's park.
"No way, Professor, that's messed up," he muttered again, picking up the arm to examine it.
Covered in green scales with sharp claws, it clearly wasn't human.
So, Professor Connors had extracted the Lizard totem's power from this arm.
To think he'd obtained totem energy through experiments alone—classic Curt Connors.
Sure, luck played a part, but it was like stepping in cosmic dog crap.
As he stuffed the arm into his backpack, a faint rustle reached his ears.
"Whoa, we've got company."
He tilted his head, smirking. "Come out! I see you!"
Whoosh~
A breeze stirred the treetops, leaves rustling, but the figures in the dark stayed hidden.
Charlie didn't hesitate, pulling a golden handgun from his waist.
Bang bang bang!
Thud thud.
"Agh!!"
Bullets hit their marks in the darkness, followed by screams as several shadows collapsed, groaning.
Charlie blew the smoke from the barrel and grinned. "Worthy of Deadpool's gun—can't kill a soul."
He twirled the gun and approached the figures.
Before he could question them, the injured men in black convulsed and went still.
"Well, damn. Proper assassins," Charlie remarked.
He tore the clothes off one, finding a distinctive tattoo.
"Hydra?"
He twitched his lip. "My bad—you're not proper assassins."
Who tattoos their secret hitmen like that?
Even the Ten Rings wouldn't pull that stunt.
He gave the body a casual kick, confirming this world's S.H.I.E.L.D. was still S.H.I.E.L.D.
No surprise there.
Looks like Hydra was after Connors' Lizard totem experiments too. Things were getting interesting.
As he turned to leave, another sound came from the dark.
This time, the figure didn't hide.
Clank~
A man clad in armor blocked Charlie's path, his twisted skull mask revealing his identity.
Hydra's Crossbones!
"Kid, hand it over," Crossbones demanded, his tone icy.
Charlie shrugged. "And you'll let me go?"
"No."
"Oh my gosh, you're an honest guy."
Charlie gave him a thumbs-up and bolted.
"Honest guys die hard—don't chase me~~"
His shout echoed through the park as Crossbones coldly watched his retreating figure, then launched after him like a missile.
BOOM!!
A tree shattered under Crossbones' force. Charlie screeched to a halt to avoid crashing into him.
Clank~
Crossbones closed in again. "Last chance—hand it over."
"You haven't been on a mission in a while, huh?" Charlie asked suddenly.
Crossbones frowned. "What?"
Charlie grinned. "I mean, you could just take it."
With that, he flung the backpack into the air.
Crossbones' eyes followed it upward.
Before he could react, a fierce wind hit, followed by searing pain in his chest.
Splat!
Urgh~
Blood sprayed as Crossbones coughed up a mouthful, his armor crumpling like paper under a fist.
The speed was so fast, no metal crunch was even heard.
"You—"
He stared at the kid in disbelief, blood seeping from his mask.
Charlie slowly withdrew his fist, shaking off the gore with disgust.
"Ew, gross. Sorry, couldn't hold back..."
Mid-sentence, Crossbones trembled, a strange crimson power spreading across his body.
Charlie recognized it instantly.
"Hydra force?"
He knew that power all too well.
Was it a kind of totem energy?
As he pondered, Crossbones roared, his armor bursting as blood-red tendrils erupted. A crimson Hydra totem bloomed behind him, merging into his body and amplifying his strength.
"Kid, you're dead!!"
BOOM!!
Transformed, Crossbones' arms became ten-meter-long grotesque tendrils, lashing out. Charlie vanished in a flash, dodging the "killing blow."
CRASH!!
The ground quaked, the tendrils leaving a deep crater before striking again.
Charlie, done wasting time, grabbed the tendril as it came.
"Here you go, squidward!"
BOOM!!
In the park, Charlie swung Crossbones, smashing him into the ground repeatedly.
In seconds, Crossbones was pulp.
The Hydra force rapidly healed him.
Charlie, unfazed, flipped him over and clawed into his spine.
Splat!
"Agh!!"
With a scream, Charlie ripped out a blood-red spine.
The energy within was familiar.
It reminded him of the main world's Hydra.
Hydra's power showing up here wasn't a coincidence—he was sure of it.
But in this world, the Hydra force seemed to mesh perfectly with the totem energies.
Charlie tapped his wrist device, and his nanotech suit enveloped the spine, absorbing its power.
The suit hadn't been upgraded in a while, and the Hydra mode had been long forgotten.
If he could absorb more Hydra force, maybe it'd level up again.
Finished, Charlie didn't bother hiding the body and returned to S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the lab, Connors took the backpack from Charlie. "Natasha just left for a mission at Empire University. What happened?" he asked casually.
Charlie shook his head. "Nothing much. Just took out a random goon."
"Looks like that Nick Fury doesn't fully trust us," Connors said, clearly mistaking the enemy.
Charlie didn't clarify.
With Hydra moles everywhere, explaining was pointless.
They couldn't trust Fury, and Fury wouldn't trust them.
As Connors carefully extracted the arm, Charlie asked, "So this came from the underground civilization?"
"Yes, the subterranean Lizardfolk. It's my hope for revenge."
Connors cleaned the arm and, in front of Charlie, grafted it onto his stump.
The process was seamless.
Charlie: "..."
Marvel has its own Bu Jingyun[1].
[1] a main character from the Hong Kong manhua "Feng Yun" (The Storm Riders). After losing his arm, he famously grafts the powerful "Qilin Arm" from another warrior onto his own body, a plot point mirrored here by Dr. Connors.