Chapter 9 Sugar Time (Revised)
Arthur put away his phone. Right now, to him, no matter how frantic those Middle East Terrorists might be, and no matter how big a splash Stark Industries would make in the news next, none of this mattered.
The little girlfriend at home, who was a bit anxious and apprehensive because of a small joke he made and was eagerly waiting for him to return, was his absolute top priority.
He took a deep breath and unhesitatingly summoned the Rabbit Talisman representing ultimate speed, along with the mid-air floating Rooster Talisman.
The moment the two powers intertwined, even the airflow around his body didn't have time to change before his entire body transformed into a residual shadow completely invisible to the naked eye, disappearing directly from the ruins of the Ten Rings Gang Base.
In the sky ahead, Tony was piloting that crude Mark I, carrying Dr. Yinsen to fly low over the desert, the flames at the tail spraying thick black smoke, and the hydraulic system emitting a harsh roaring sound.
Just when they felt they had finally escaped death and could breathe a sigh of relief, something happened that made these two science-advocating individuals feel their worldview completely collapse.
Right at the altitude parallel to them, a figure slowly—or rather, as Arthur himself felt, slowly—approached.
Arthur didn't even maintain a flying posture; his legs in mid-air were alternating steps at a strolling rhythm.
What he was stepping on was clearly empty air, yet he steadily maintained a completely synchronized speed with the fire-breathing steel armor.
Tony was sitting in the sweltering iron can, looking through the narrow observation slit at the young man "running" in the sky next to him, his eyes widened larger than copper bells.
All the knowledge about aerodynamics and anti-gravity theory in his mind turned into a mess at this moment, feeling like science was a joke in front of this person.
Dr. Yinsen, held in Tony's hand, was even more frightened by this supernatural scene to the point of speechlessness, only opening his mouth to emit a few vague syllables.
Looking at the two's dull expressions as if they had seen a ghost, Arthur found it somewhat amusing.
He turned his head, waved very casually at Tony and Dr. Yinsen, his lips moving as if saying "Goodbye".
Before Tony could react and try to ask something using the armor's loudspeaker, Arthur accelerated again.
With a "Swish", his entire body transformed into a stream of light, directly tearing through the air, disappearing without a trace in their shocked gazes, leaving behind only a rapidly dissipating tail shadow.
A few seconds, maybe even less than two seconds.
The distance spanning half of Earth was forcibly compressed by Arthur into the span of a few breaths.
When the surrounding scenery froze again, he was already steadily standing downstairs at his apartment building in Brooklyn, New York.
He immediately stopped the power of the talismans, his body re-experiencing Earth's true gravity and the slightly chilly morning air.
Looking at the familiar red brick wall in front of him, Arthursorted out his thoughts a bit.
As a boyfriend who was just an ordinary college student in Gwen's eyes, if he suddenly appeared at his doorstep without even panting, it would definitely arouse the girl's suspicion.
After all, he had just told her that he was "busy outside".
Thinking of this, Arthur raised his hand and deliberately tugged and messed up his originally neat collar a bit.
Then he ruffled his hair a bit more casually, and started running upstairs along the stairs.
He deliberately weighted his footsteps, breathed heavily, tried hard to adjust the rhythm of his lungs, and forcefully put on an appearance of being out of breath and sweating all over from rushing back hurriedly.
Just as he ran along the hallway to his floor, Arthur's footsteps slowly stopped, and the breathing that he was previously faking as hurried involuntarily lightened in an instant.
In the slightly dim light of the corridor, Gwen was quietly standing in front of his door.
Today she was wearing an extremely simply tailored tight outfit, the soft fabric clinging to her body, clearly outlining her slender lines full of athletic vitality maintained through years of exercise.
The roots of her light blonde short hair showed a faint pinkish tint, and with the breeze passing through the corridor from time to time, the strands of hair swayed gently beside her fair cheeks.
She wasn't leaning casually against the wall as usual, but standing properly with her hands in front of her, tightly holding a seemingly bulging cloth bag, unsure of what was inside.
Hearing the footsteps coming from the stairway, Gwenabruptly raised her head, her azure eyes as clear as the morning sky instantly lit up, and her gaze locked tightly onto Arthur.
Looking at her obedient and endearing appearance, a certain corner of Arthur's heart softened completely.
He strode over, stopped in front of Gwen, a smile of extreme tenderness curving the corners of his mouth, while pretending to calm his breathing, he spoke softly.
"Gwen, why are you just standing in the hallway waiting? Don't you have the key to my house, why didn't you go inside and sit while waiting for me."
Gwen looked up at his slightly messy collar and the sweat on his forehead, a trace of heartache and happiness flashing in her eyes.
She gently shook her head, then took a small step towards Arthur, leaning a bit closer to him, her soft and sweet voice carrying a hint of stubbornness and reliance.
"I don't want to go in by myself, I want to wait for you to come back." She slightly raised her face, looking at Arthurwith sparkling eyes, "I want to go in together with you."
Finished speaking, she just stood quietly beside Arthur, her shoulders brushing against his arm imperceptibly, as if using this tiny physical contact to confirm his existence, quietly waiting for him to bring her home.
Arthur only felt a warm sensation in his heart.
He raised his hand and very naturally ruffled Gwen's soft light blonde short hair, his movement as gentle as stroking a kitten that had finally waited for its Master to come home.
Then, his hand slid down her shoulder, and very naturally held her hand that wasn't carrying the bag, tightly wrapping her slightly cool fingers in his palm.
"Let's go, home." Arthur said softly.
He pulled out the key and unlocked the door. The two walked into the house hand in hand, and the familiar atmosphere of daily life instantly enveloped them.
Entering the house, Arthur casually closed the door, squeezed Gwen's palm, and then let go.
"You go sit on the sofa and rest for a bit." Arthur pointed to the soft loveseat in the living room, then turned and walked toward the open-concept kitchen.
Gwen obediently nodded, walked over to the sofa and sat down, carefully placing the cloth bag she had been carrying all along onto the coffee table in front of her.
In a short while, Arthur walked back holding two glass cups of water.
He handed one of the cups of warm water to Gwen, watched her hold the cup with both hands and take a small sip, and only then took his own cup and sat down closely beside Gwen on the sofa.
After sitting down, Arthur felt the atmosphere was cozy and relaxed enough, so he habitually fished the smartphone out of his pocket, casually opened a commonly used community forum, and prepared to act like an ordinary otaku, browsing through some messy gossip and local news, resting while accompanying her.
Just at this moment, Gwen put down her water cup, extended her fingers to gently untie the drawstring of the cloth bag.
As the bag was opened, she magically pulled out stacked layers of bento boxes from inside.
The exterior of these boxes was exquisite, looking at a glance not like fast-food packaging bought casually from outside.
When Gwen gently lifted the lid of the topmost layer, an enticing aroma of food immediately permeated the living room.
Arthur shifted his gaze away from the phone screen and glanced at the bento on the coffee table.
In those layered compartments, the rice was shaped into cute forms, accompanied by neatly cut vegetables, perfectly pan-fried meats, and even garnished with small cherry tomatoes.
Every detail exuded full dedication; this was definitely the result of this girl bustling about in the kitchen with her own hands early in the morning.
Looking at this appetizing love bento complete with color, aroma, and taste, Arthur didn't think much of it at first, but now his stomach cooperated and growled, and he was indeed a bit hungry.
Gwen held the lunch box with both hands and handed it in front of Arthur with some anticipation and shyness.
"Thank you, babe." Arthur unceremoniously took the lunch box and picked up the chopsticks beside it.
He adjusted his sitting posture, propped his phone back on his legs to continue browsing the forum, held the chopsticks in his other hand, and began to eat the bento in large bites.
The taste was unexpectedly good, making him feel completely comfortable inside.
Having eaten just a few bites, Arthur's hand holding the chopsticks suddenly paused, his eyes staring at the phone screen, but his vision was unfocused.
A scene suddenly flashed in his mind—outside the Ten Rings Gang Base full of bullet shells and yellow sand, on an inconspicuous stone, a fast-food burger wrapped in tin foil was quietly lying there.
That was what he casually bought as breakfast in some city along the way when he flew across the ocean spanning half the Earth just now.
As a result, being too busy showing off, that burger was left so lonely in the Middle East desert.
"Holy crap, that burger I spent money on is still lying on the stone!"
Arthur muttered annoyedly in his heart, feeling a pang of financial regret.
But on second thought, what he was holding in his hand was Gwen's personally-made love bento, what was a fast-food burger compared to that.
Whatever, forget it, consider it treating the desert jerboas to dinner.
Shaking his head to shake off that bit of regretful emotion, Arthur picked up another piece of egg and put it in his mouth, continuing to eat his meal with gusto while browsing the posts on the forum from time to time.
And Gwen, sitting beside him, didn't take out her own phone to look, nor did she feel left out.
She just quietly moved a bit toward Arthur's side, and then gently leaned her head on his shoulder.
The soft blonde hair rubbed against Arthur's neck, bringing a slightly ticklish sensation.
Gwen's azure eyes stared without blinking at Arthur's profile as he ate, watching his jawline tense up slightly as he chewed, listening to the sound of his breathing and the slight movements of him eating.
No matter what villains or hero duties the outside Worldhad, at this moment they were all isolated outside this door by this door.
She slightly curved her eyes, deeply inhaled a breath carrying his scent, and greedily yet peacefully enjoyed this tranquil time belonging exclusively to the two of them at this moment, free of secrets and danger.
Chapter 10: Continuing the sweetness for a few more chapters before getting back to the main plot
The morning sunlight of Brooklyn slipped into the living room through the gap in the curtains that weren't drawn tightly, casting a bright patch of light on the floor, where tiny specks of dust slowly drifted in the beam of light.
After eating that heartfelt homemade bento, Arthurwashed the empty lunch box and put it away. When he walked back to the side of the sofa, Gwen had already occupied that most comfortable corner.
She had somehow taken off that slightly form-fitting light gray bodysuit and changed into a loose dark hoodie she had dug up from somewhere, printed with the logo of some niche rock band.
This hoodie was clearly Arthur's size; its wide hem directly covered her thighs, and her fair, firm calves rested casually on the edge of the sofa, her petite toes occasionally curling unconsciously.
Watching Arthur walk over, she very naturally moved aside a bit and patted the empty seat next to her.
Arthur sat down accordingly. As soon as he was seated, Gwen, like a kitten that had found a heat source, naturally snuggled up against him.
The two of them stuck together just like that, starting a long, idle morning.
They didn't go out, nor did they find anything particularly meaningful to do.
For Gwen, after experiencing that alarming and anxious phone call in the morning, just being able to solidly lean against this person, listen to his steady heartbeat, and feel the temperature of his body was already the best psychotherapy in the World.
As for Arthur, having just sped back from a supersonic long-distance run in the Middle East desert, although his body was fine, mentally he also wanted to completely relax; right now, his mind was filled with nothing except wanting to be a completely lazy slacker.
The television was turned on, and a mindless local soap opera was playing on the screen.
Arthur held the remote control and occasionally pressed the channel-changing button, but most of his attention was focused on the smartphone in his hand.
Gwen's head rested comfortably on Arthur's shoulder, her light golden short hair on one side slightly mussed from being pressed, but she didn't care at all.
One of her hands circled one of Arthur's arms, while the other hand wandered over the back of his hand, tracing circles along his distinct, bony fingers with her fingertips, occasionally pinching his ring finger gently when he wasn't paying attention.
Sometimes, when Arthur scrolled across funny short videos on his phone, such as a chubby orange cat that slipped and fell flat on its back because it wanted to jump onto the wardrobe, or some hilarious GIFs that made people lose it, he would tilt his phone slightly and bring it before Gwen's eyes.
Looking at the funny picture, Gwen would giggle along, her shoulders shaking with laughter, and her warm breath blowing all over Arthur's neck.
After laughing, she curled back into her original position, continuing to play with Arthur's fingers with both boredom and contentment.
The entire morning quietly slipped away in this sticky, pink-bubble-filled atmosphere.
As the light and shadow shifted across the wall, the program on TV had changed from a soap opera to a boring midday adventure show rerun by some unknown TV station.
Arthur slightly adjusted his sitting posture, feeling his shoulder a bit sore, but not wanting to disturb the person leaning on it.
He looked at the wall clock; the hands were almost pointing to twelve o'clock.
He lowered his head slightly, looking at that furry head close at hand, and asked with some confusion: "Speaking of which, don't you have training today?"
In his impression, Gwen had always been a very busy person.
She had to deal with the heavy academic workload of senior year of high school, and also carve out time to play the drums in her band's rehearsal room.
Her daily schedule was packed full, and spending a weekday morning completely lazing around at home without any arrangement like today really didn't look much like her usual non-stop style.
Hearing this, Gwen abruptly stopped the action of tracing circles around Arthur's finger.
Her body stiffened imperceptibly, thinking that Arthur found her too clingy and wanted to drive her away to do serious business.
She raised her face, looking at Arthur with azure eyes carrying a hint of observation, and only breathed a sigh of relief inwardly when she found that he really was just asking casually.
She rested her head back down and rubbed her cheek against Arthur's shoulder with a hint of spoiled affection.
"No rush." Gwen's voice came out muffled from the collar, exuding a righteous and cute coquettishness.
"Training can be done anytime, it's just hitting the drums a few times to sweat it out. But as for the matter of accompanying you..."
She deliberately dragged out her ending tone, her fingers weaving one by one through Arthur's finger gaps, interlocking her fingers tightly with his, before mumbling softly yet firmly, "One less day means one day of loss."
Hearing this simple yet extremely straightforward remark, Arthur couldn't help laughing softly.
For a girl who had once witnessed loss with her own eyes and had long been tortured by those terrible memories, treating every day of being able to peacefully accompany her lover as a "profit" that must be tightly clutched in her hands carried a heartache-inducing stubbornness in itself.
He didn't continue asking along this topic, but just gently put his free arm around Gwen's slender waist, pulling her tighter into his arms. Gwen seemed to very much enjoy this gesture, humming twice like she had received comfort.
Arthur freed that hand to continue boredly scrolling through his phone, his fingertips quickly swiping through gossip posts on various community forums.
Not long after, his movements paused. A major push notification with a bolded red highlighted title popped right out, filling up more than half of the screen.
This was a live streaming video of a breaking news press conference. And the protagonist of the press conference was none other than the head of Stark Industries, who had previously been kidnapped by Terrorists in Afghanistanand had tugged at the nerves of countless onlookers—Tony Stark had finally returned!
"Look at this." Arthur clicked into it, shifted the phone screen a bit towards the exact center between the two of them, and conveniently turned up the speaker volume a bit.
The video footage shook slightly, obviously because reporters holding cameras were desperately squeezing forward.
The flashlights at the scene flashed frantically as if they didn't need electricity, illuminating the entire podium with a dazzling white light.
Soon, the figure of Tony Stark appeared in the center of the screen. He had changed into an expensive suit with an extremely well-fitted cut, but the traces of exhaustion left from the period of disappearance could still be seen.
The reporters off stage were like sharks smelling blood; as soon as they saw the principal person, they immediately broke out into a flurry of chaotic questions.
The most core questions all revolved around that mystery that made the World curious: "Mr. Stark, how on earth did you escape from those heinous Terrorists?"
Facing these questions from people who wished they could shove microphones into his mouth, Tony in the video appeared exceptionally calm.
At the press conference, as long as the question was related to "how you got out," he blocked them all back with the exact same word.
"Regarding this question, there is only one reason—classified."
"Mr. Stark, but..."
"This is top secret. Next question." Tony interrupted cleanly and neatly, that impervious attitude leaving the reporters below looking at each other in dismay.
Watching this group of reporters who felt like they were punching cotton, Arthur couldn't help curling his lips inward outside the phone screen.
He knew far too well what was going on in his heart. Having seen things crystal clear in the Middle East desert, how could Tony possibly confess to the World that a crude, hand-crafted mecha had shown its might on the battlefield, and furthermore that someone of unknown origin had treated Terrorists like bowling pins?
Shrugging everything off as classified was undoubtedly the excuse that best preserved the interests of all parties.
Seeing that they truly couldn't extract enough intelligence from Stark's mouth and getting a rebuff, the reporters could only helplessly abandon this topic, and the question-and-answer session at the scene thus quickly came to a hasty end.
Just as the conference reached its final stage and everyone thought it was about to break up like this, Tony in the video straightened his expression and announced two truly blockbuster pieces of news.
For the first piece of news, Tony sidestepped to make space and grandly introduced Dr. Yinsen to all the media and the public.
He directly announced publicly that from now on, Dr. Yinsen would be the senior consultant of Stark Industriesand would participate in the most core projects.
As for the second piece of news, it was even more like throwing a bomb into a crowd. Tony stated facing the camera that for a recent period of time, Stark Industrieswould indefinitely close all sales channels for weapons.
As for the reason? He said in a slightly fanatical, understated tone that he was going to work on a little gadget together with Dr. Yinsen, so he didn't have the energy to take care of those flammable and explosive firecrackers anymore.
Along with the unbelievable uproar erupting from the audience, the press conference completely ended and was dismissed, and the video footage stopped accordingly.
Arthur knew it like a mirror in his heart; he knew that the so-called "little gadget" was that iron battle suit that could fly in the sky.
That kid Tony really still had the true colors of an arms dealer who wouldn't do anything without profit.
Gwen and Arthur finished watching this video, which could be called earthquake-level in the business and military fields, together.
She raised her head, blinked those clear eyes, and asked softly: "Yu, why have you become interested in these things lately?"
To her, military conflicts and the movements of large conglomerates were really too boring.
Usually Arthur didn't even pay much attention to entertainment news, so how come today he stared at these iron lumps and suit-wearing men for so long?
Hearing this question, Arthur rested his head against the back of the sofa.
Of course he couldn't explain that he had just gone to the scene to eat melons, and a flash of inspiration in his mind made him decide to tease his cute little girlfriend.
He put on a look of deep thought, paused for a moment, and then turned his head with a serious expression to look at Gwen, slowly speaking.
"That's a good question. I think... maybe it's because I'm interested in these things, so that's why I'm interested in them?"
The air turned weirdly quiet for two seconds at this moment.
Gwen looked at him blankly, several huge question marks seemingly materializing above her head, her face full of doubt and confusion.
She ran this sentence back and forth through her mind three times, only to sadly discover that this sentence sounded very reasonable, but in reality had zero practical meaning.
"Uh..." Gwen opened her mouth, looked at Arthur's straight-faced expression, and suddenly felt that continuing to obsess over this question was truly a torture to her brain cells.
She decisively chose to give up and stopped bothering with these convoluted twists and turns.
"Forget it," Gwen rested her head back onto his shoulder, rubbing against a comfortable spot, "if you can't figure it out, don't think about it anymore. As long as you're happy."
Amused by her appearance of directly giving up thinking and choosing unconditional tolerance, the corners of Arthur's mouth raised into a smile, while his hands didn't stop, continuing to absentmindedly scroll through his phone screen.
But beneath the quiet surface, Arthur couldn't help letting out a gentle sigh in his heart.
In this World, internet culture was still quite different from his past life; the meme elements were really too low.
He had painstakingly thrown out a textbook-level piece of "nonsense literature," thinking it could exchange for a retort from the other person, but in the end he only received his girlfriend's unreserved favoritism and indulgence.
This feeling of throwing out nonsense without being talked back to and exposed face-to-face was really a bit hard to get used to.
However, the feeling of being unconditionally favored by his girlfriend was truly amazing.
Chapter 11 Spider-Man and Spider-Woman
The boring news on the TV was still chattering endlessly, Arthur sat on the sofa, and couldn't help letting out a huge yawn, squeezing out a few physiological tears from the corners of his eyes.
He patted his clothes and stood up, originally just wanting to walk to the window to stretch and take a look at the weather outside.
As soon as he pulled open a few slats of the blinds, a hurried and sharp screech of brakes came up from the street below, followed by a few unmasked gunshots of "Bang, bang, bang".
Arthur raised an eyebrow. This was very "Peaceful U.S.". Street gunfights could be said to be a local specialty morning tea of New York, especially in this area.
He looked down intently and saw several guys wearing black hoods and holding assault rifles forcing an armored security truck to a stop at the intersection.
The surrounding pedestrians and vehicles had long been scared into scattering and fleeing, and the screams mixed with the robbers' rude roars merged into a cacophony.
Arthur didn't care much. Having experienced the grand battle of stubbornly enduring machine-gun strafing in the desert early in the morning and tearing apart a TerroristsBase with his bare hands, these petty thieves robbing an armored car in front of him were, in his view, at about the same level as children playing house.
With one hand in his pocket, he stood by the window, completely maintaining the spectator mindset of someone watching the fun without making it too big.
However, Gwen sitting on the sofa was completely different.
As a part-time superhero of New York, Spider-Womanwas too sensitive to this kind of criminal commotion.
That string of gunshots just now was like an air raid siren sounding in her ears. She immediately jumped off the sofa barefoot, the hem of her loose hoodie swaying along, and ran in a few steps to the other side of the window, looking out following Arthur's line of sight.
After seeing the situation downstairs clearly, Gwen's brows instantly knitted together.
Several armed robbers were frantically smashing the bulletproof glass of the armored car, and the security personnel inside were obviously terrified and dared not come out at all.
One of her hands subconsciously gripped the edge of the curtain tightly, her knuckles turning somewhat pale.
At this moment, the superhero radar in her head was ringing frantically, and a strong sense of responsibility drove her to change into her battle suit now, immediately, right away, and jump out of the window to hang those bastards upside down on the streetlight.
However, the other half of her brain was desperately holding her back — Arthur was right beside her!
She had just been comforted by him last night, and this morning they finally had a sweet time completely belonging to the two of them without needing to cover anything up.
What was even more fatal was that she simply couldn't find any excuse to leave right now to "change clothes".
Say she was going to the bathroom? It was impossible to disappear inexplicably for five minutes and then have a Spider-Woman pop up on the street, right?
Say she was hungry and wanted to go downstairs to buy a sandwich? This excuse was too lame; what girl would go downstairs to buy food under a hail of bullets!
Gwen was so anxious that her palms were sweating. She moved closer to Arthur, and the hand that had originally grasped the curtain unconsciously grabbed Arthur's sleeve, clutching it tightly.
She bit her lower lip tightly, her gaze wandering back and forth between the outside of the window and Arthur's profile, frantically rehearsing all kinds of departure excuses that sounded reasonable in her mind, only to quickly shoot down every single one of them herself.
Looking at the young girl beside him who was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan yet desperately pretending to be calm, Arthur found it extremely funny in his heart.
How could he not know what Gwen was plotting in her heart.
This rock-and-roll girl who appeared aloof and rebellious on the surface had a sense of justice in her bones that was more black-and-white than anyone else's.
Right now, she was probably so anxious in her heart that she wanted to scratch the wall, but because she was afraid of exposing her identity, she could only forcibly hold it in.
Therefore, Arthur intentionally turned his head sideways, and spoke slowly in a conversational tone of chatting about everyday matters,
"Speaking of which, normally when encountering this kind of thing, isn't it usually that... 'friendly neighborhood Spider-Woman' who appears to solve it? With such a big commotion downstairs today, how come not even a shadow of a person has been seen until now?"
This lightweight sentence, falling into Gwen's ears, was no less than a bombshell.
Gwen's body stiffened abruptly, and her fingers grasping Arthur's sleeve tightened instantly, with so much force that she almost tore the fabric.
She swallowed guiltily, gave a dry laugh twice, and forced herself to put on an indifferent expression as if she were also just eating melons and watching the show,
"Ah? Ha, ha-ha... Yeah, who knows! Maybe she's... on vacation today? Or... too full from eating to fly or something. Besides, you can't count on her for everything; the Police will be here soon, right?"
As she spoke, she guiltily averted her gaze, not daring to look into Arthur's eyes at all, and even the end of her speech carried a slight tremor.
That tsundere remark was as forced as it could possibly be; in fact, in her heart she had already cursed those robbers ten thousand times, wishing she could use Web-slingingto sew their mouths shut right now.
Just when Gwen was desperately searching for reasons to prevaricate and was so anxious she was about to explode on the spot, matters suddenly took a turn.
A sound of breaking through the air suddenly came from high up in the street outside the window. Although it was far apart, the sharp-eyed Arthur still saw it clearly.
A white, sticky thing fell from the sky, landing extremely precisely on the assault rifle of one of the robbers who was smashing the window, directly sticking the gun barrel to the fire hydrant beside it.
Following closely, a red-and-blue figure swung down from mid-air along a transparent thread.
Arthur narrowed his eyes, examining carefully that uninvited guest who had crashed the party halfway through. This outfit... rather than being a battle suit, it was more like a cheap cosplay costume randomly pieced together at home by some fanatical fan.
It was a red sleeveless hooded sweatshirt, with a bright blue tight-fitting long-sleeve layered underneath, and even a pair of ordinary sneakers on his feet.
The most funny thing was the mask on his head; it was completely just a red hood with two holes cut out, and a pair of goggles of the kind usually worn when riding a motorcycle sewn onto it.
That extremely crude-looking "New Spider-Man" was obviously not very skilled in his business yet; he staggered when landing and almost failed to stand steady.
But his reaction was very fast. Relying on his own incredible agility, he directly did a forward roll to avoid another robber's strafing while raising his wrist.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two streams of Web-slinging accurately stuck to the robber's face and chest, and this immense pulling force directly dragged the person flying out, sticking them firmly to the red brick wall nearby.
Because the distance was too far, it was impossible to hear what was being said below through the glass, but Arthursaw that red-and-blue guy below gesticulating while fighting, with his head shaking back and forth, obviously a chatterbox who liked to ramble while fighting.
The battle ended very quickly. In less than a minute, these arrogant armored car robbers were all packaged up into Web-slinging dumplings.
That novice Spider-Man didn't even wait for the Police cars to drive over before hurriedly shooting Web-slingingtoward the streetlight overhead, swinging hard, and flying away like an uncoordinated pendulum.
Arthur, having witnessed the whole process, leaned against the window and clicked his tongue in a meaningful tone.
"Interesting... Another Spider-Man?" Arthur touched his chin, as if talking to himself, or as if intentionally saying it for Gwen next to him to hear.
He quickly calculated in his heart. This matched up.
Last night outside the apartment, that honest and excessively dull-looking counterpart Peter Parker had just made an appearance. If he guessed correctly, this purely handmade, crudely made red-and-blue clothing was the classic skin from the early awakening period of that old-version original Spider-Man.
That being said, the main plot of Marvel in this World was finally starting to unfold comprehensively? Then that old fellow's mutation stage right now should be just not long after being bitten.
On the other side, Gwen, who was standing side by side with Arthur, had completely lost her linguistic ability at this moment.
She maintained the action of grasping Arthur's sleeve, her azure-blue eyes wide open, staring fixedly at the direction where the red-and-blue figure flew away, as if countless drum kits were frantically beating simultaneously in her head, a rumbling chaos.
As the legitimate Spider-Woman who was more than familiar with this set of abilities, an outsider might only see a funnily dressed person doing a good deed, but what Gwen saw was completely different.
The action of that person shooting Web-slinging just now, the agility to evade bullets in mid-air, and the monstrous strength to easily drag an adult man flying away — these definitely could not be achieved by relying on technological equipment or ordinary exercise; that was pure superpower. Spider superpowers exactly identical to her own!
Doubts grew wildly like weeds in her heart: How could this be? Except for me, how could there possibly be another person in this World possessing the same ability?
Suddenly, the boy with an honest and dull face from yesterday surfaced in her mind. That classmate who claimed he came to talk to her after watching her play the drum kit — Peter Parker.
Thinking of this name, Gwen felt as if her heart had been fiercely gripped by an invisible hand, her breathing instantly becoming heavy, and an uncontrollable fear surged straight from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
In her native Universe, she originally also had a best friend named Peter Parker.
That Peter was also a nerd; because of an extreme desire to possess the power to protect others like Spider-Woman, he secretly conducted illegal experiments and ultimately turned himself into an ugly, berserk Lizard Men.
That battle on the rainy night had always been a nightmare she could never shake off; the scene of Peter taking his last breath in her arms was still tormenting her to this day.
This was the biggest reason why she had always dared not confess her identity to Arthur — she was afraid. She was too afraid that because of her own specialness, the person she cared about most around her would take that tragic old path.
But now, this Peter Parker of the new World, this boy who yesterday still greeted her like an ordinary otaku, actually put on a strange suit today and fought robbers on the street with Web-slinging!
"Could it be... he was also bitten by that spider?" Gwenscreamed in her heart, feeling a wave of dizziness.
If this was really the case, then things were completely out of her control. This new Peter had gained power; what did he want to do?
Would he head toward losing control like the Peter she knew? What should she do if his appearance broke the current balance, and even involved Arthur who knew nothing about it?
At the thought of this possibility, the breath of relief that Gwen had just let out a moment ago because she didn't need to find an excuse to go downstairs was instantly replaced by a huge panic.
She almost instinctively leaned closer to Arthur's side, burying her face in the shadow, not only to conceal her pale complexion, but even more to seek a shred of illusory security from her only emotional anchor in this World.
Chapter 12 Stark, I'm Here to Play With You
Outside, the sirens finally wailed "whoop-whoop", growing closer from afar.
Looking down at the robbers downstairs who had been wrapped up into white cocoons and could no longer struggle, Arthur stretched lazily, turned around leisurely, and walked back to sit by the sofa.
He casually picked up the remote control, turned up the TV volume slightly, and pretended not to care at all about the street battle outside the window just now.
But Gwen couldn't remain calm at all on her end.
She stood barefoot on the living room rug, her hands nervously twisted together, her fingertips trembling slightly.
Arthur's breezy, casual remark just now, "Interesting... Another Spider-Man?", was spinning frantically in her head like an electric drill.
At this moment, her mind was completely filled with a tangled ball of yarn.
Wasn't he just an honest, ordinary classmate Peter Parkeryesterday?
How did he end up wearing a mask and shooting webs on the street today!
That web-shooting technique, that abnormal sense of strength, could definitely not be done by any acrobat; he must have been bitten by that damned spider too!
At the thought of this, fear gripped Gwen's heart like an icy hand.
She was too terrified.
In her Universe, the tragic scene where Peter, who was originally a good friend, mutated and ultimately died in her arms as an ugly Lizard Men, instantly replayed clearly before her eyes.
What if Peter of this World also walked down that old path due to losing control of his power?
What if the destruction he caused affected Arthur?
Gwen bit her lower lip hard, and in those short tens of seconds, she even thought extremely seriously about a plan:
Should she discuss with Arthur tonight about giving up the apartment here in Brooklyn.
They should move!
Moving to a remote town without Spider-Man and without messy villains, even eating vegetarian every day would be better than living in constant anxiety here!
But escape could not solve the problem; she must immediately figure out what was going on with Peter Parker.
Gwen took a deep breath, forcing her stiff facial muscles to relax.
She edged closer to the sofa, lowered her head slightly, stole a glance at Arthur from the corner of her eye, and spoke in an extremely cautious tone full of concealment and probing:
"Um, Yu... I remembered the band suddenly has an urgent tune to go over... I have something to take care of, can I leave for a bit?"
She didn't even dare to look straight into Arthur's eyes, and her voice was so soft as if she was afraid of shattering something.
She felt she was simply terrible; she had agreed to stay home and accompany him all morning, but because of this damn lousy matter, she had to find a lame excuse to abandon him again.
Watching his little girlfriend's preoccupied look while desperately pretending nothing was wrong, Arthur found it immensely funny.
How could he not know that this girl was getting ready to change clothes and go "handle private business".
He had no intention of exposing her at all, just nodded gently, putting on a very reasonable look: "Go ahead, urgent matters come first. Remember to come back early, huh, I'll wait for you at home."
"Okay!"
Gwen, granted permission, felt like she had been granted amnesty, but following closely was a deeper sense of guilt.
She couldn't help leaning forward abruptly, pressing hard against Arthur's lips.
This was a hurried yet dependency-filled kiss.
Then she turned around immediately, without even taking the coat hanging on the rack, and trotted quickly toward the front door, slamming it shut with a "bang".
Listening to the hurried sound of footsteps fading away downstairs outside the door, Arthur leaned against the sofa cushion and sighed softly: "Sigh, my girl is still too kind-hearted. Clearly the other party is already a superhero Spider-Man, yet she's still worrying blindly there."
The apartment suddenly quieted down at this moment.
The TV was still rebroadcasting the big news of Stark's return to the country.
Arthur stood up, exercising his neck which made a cracking sound.
Since he was the only one left at home, staying here staring blankly had nothing to do, so he might as well go out for a stroll and stretch his muscles.
He casually grabbed a jacket, threw it over his shoulders, and went out just like that.
Wandering aimlessly on the streets was actually a very boring thing.
Arthur walked and stopped along Brooklyn's not-so-clean streets with his hands in his pockets.
Looking at the discounted ripped jeans in the roadside window, he spent some change at a crossroads cart to buy a hot dog drenched in a thick layer of yellow mustard, nibbling on it while watching a homeless person and a street performer argue.
This go-with-the-flow casual mode was quite free at first, but after more than an hour, it just became tedious.
"Where on Earth can I go to kill time..." Cramming the hot dog into his mouth in a few bites, Arthur patted the breadcrumbs off his hands, and a candidate popped up in his mind abruptly.
Tony Stark.
Right!
This playboy was just pulled out of the desert by himself this morning, and immediately upon returning to the country made the super big news of shutting down Stark's weapons division; right now was the stage where he was overwhelmed and re-planning his life.
Since he was bored to the point of growing mushrooms, why not go to Stark Tower to hang out with this interesting old slicker?
By the way, he could also see how that lucky Dr. Yinsenwas adapting.
"That's settled." Arthur's lips curved into an amused arc.
He was too lazy to squeeze into the subway or take a taxi.
At this deserted street corner, Arthur exercised his ankles slightly, his thoughts stirring.
The Rabbit Talisman engraved deep in his mind, representing ultimate speed, was instantly awakened and activated.
A light yet violent power instantly coursed through his legs.
"Hum—"
Hearing only a faint sonic boom in the air, Arthur's entire body instantly turned into an afterimage that was completely invisible to the naked eye, disappearing right on the spot.
A strong whirlwind spread out centering on the spot where he had just stood, rolling several nearby soda cans all over the ground.
Passersby only felt a strong wind blow past, rubbed their eyes, saw nothing, and thought New York's terrible wicked wind was acting up again.
With Arthur's current speed of activating the Rabbit Talisman, shuttling between city buildings was just a matter of blinking a few eyes.
Almost in an instant, accompanied by a faint shockwave kicked up by a sudden stop, Arthur had steadily stopped downstairs at Stark Tower located in the center of Manhattan.
The hundreds of meters tall Stark Tower stood in this area like an overlord.
Arthur leisurely tidied his collar which had been blown messy by the wind just now, lifted his foot, and walked toward the main entrance.
Unexpectedly, the magnificent lobby on the first floor was empty at this moment, without even seeing a security guard in uniform.
Perhaps because the big boss returned to the country today and pulled off a big stunt, all these security personnel were transferred to deal with various troubles that might happen upstairs.
"The facade is so big, yet not afraid of passing petty thieves coming in to purloin a vase or something, rich people are truly broad-minded." Arthur complained casually while walking leisurely.
He swaggered into the interior of the tower, crossing his arms over his chest, his head scanning left and right like a radar.
Soon, his gaze locked onto a surveillance camera flashing a faint red light in a hidden recess of the lobby's clean ceiling.
Arthur stopped walking, stood facing the camera, with a very relaxed expression on his face. He even reached out his right hand to wave gently at the camera, saying in a casual tone as if greeting an old friend on the roadside: "Hey, buddy, I'm here to play with you."
After dropping these words, Arthur completely ignored whether Tony Stark far upstairs was just staring at the screen and saw it, or was busy with other things and didn't notice.
He turned around directly, strolling and pushing open the fire exit door leading to the upper floors.
Since being idle was also being idle, he planned not to use the elevator, walking up layer by layer from the stairwell just like that, treating it as a large hide-and-seek game to search for Stark's figure.
Meanwhile, in the secret workshop on the top floor of Stark Tower.
The decoration of the entire work area had a strong futuristic feel, with various holographic projection data panels floating in mid-air.
Tony Stark was wearing a gray tight tank top stained with motor oil, wearing goggles, holding an advanced soldering iron in his hand, sweating profusely as he carried out precise adjustments and welding on a ring-shaped metal device.
Not far from him by the console, Dr. Yinsen was holding a steaming cup of coffee, frowning in thought as he stared at a set of constantly beating energy wavelength data.
"Sir, I'm very sorry to interrupt your test."
The smart induction speaker at the top of the room suddenly sounded with AI butler Jarvis's flat yet extremely standard British accent, "The tower's security network just captured an unfiltered, unauthorized visitor entering the first-floor lobby."
Tony didn't even raise his head, the soldering iron in his hand still steady as an old dog: "Is it that annoying board old man Obadiah? Or that group of reporters wishing they could smash my head with microphones? Don't take calls, don't see them, Jarvis, adjust the security system to level three, drive them all out."
"Neither, sir." Jarvis responded dutifully,
"To be precise, one second ago, this visitor's movement trajectory completely exceeded the physical capture limit of surrounding municipal surveillance cameras. He... suddenly appeared at the door of the building's first floor. I think you need to watch this footage yourself."
Hearing this, Dr. Yinsen who was drinking coffee beside him froze, and Tony finally stopped the work in his hand.
He pulled off his goggles, rubbed a face stained with some dust: "What's going on? Could there be someone who can fly? Switch to the main screen."
As soon as his voice fell, a huge holographic glass panel in front of the two lit up instantly.
In the picture, the HD camera of the lobby faithfully recorded everything that had happened just now.
In the video, a handsome young man wearing a casual hoodie walked in.
This person had no awareness of avoiding surveillance at all, instead, as if he could accurately predict the camera's position, directly waved his hand at the lens.
"Hey, buddy, I'm here to play with you." That casual voice, as if calling someone to go to a tavern for a drink, was clearly transmitted throughout the workshop after sound card parsing.
The moment he saw that face in the surveillance footage, Tony Stark sprang up from his swivel chair like a cat whose tail was stepped on.
"How is this possible?!"
Dr. Yinsen beside him also slammed the coffee cup onto the desk, his gentle eyes wide open at the moment.
This face, this seemingly casual yet unfathomable temperament, was so familiar they couldn't be more familiar with it!
Just this early morning, right under that hopeless yellow sand underground in Afghanistan.
When Tony was ready to sacrifice everything to fight, when Dr. Yinsen had even prepared to block bullets and die for him.
It was this young man in the surveillance video, like a deity descending from heaven, ignoring all heavy machine guns and tank gunfire, purely relying on his physical body with that scalp-numbing power, tearing apart the entire Ten Rings Gang Base like dismantling toys, and dragging them out of hell alive!
"Good god, why is he in New York? And how on Earth did he cross more than half the Earth to find his way to the door?!" Tony couldn't help swearing a foul word, his eyes staring fixedly at the figure of Arthur disappearing into the stairwell door on the screen.
"Jarvis, what is he doing?"
"Sir, he is moving upward through the B12 security stairwell at an extremely leisurely walking speed. He has currently reached the third floor. It is estimated to take about... to reach the top floor."
"No need to estimate!" Tony suddenly burst out laughing, the depression from the previously accumulated press conference swept away.
He walked quickly to the smart mini bar nearby, casually grabbed an unopened bottle of Bourbon whiskey, and opened it with deft movements.
"Since this savior likes playing old-fashioned games like climbing stairs, then let's satisfy him."
Tony turned his head, looked at Dr. Yinsen, who also showed joy at reuniting with their savior, and raised the wine bottle in his hand,
"Jarvis, immediately lift all access controls and defense locks on the route to the top floor. Go, dispatch a few guidance robots into the hallway to lead the way for him."
Tony tilted his head back and took a gulp of the strong liquor, his eyes flashing with excitement: "Playing heartbeat in the desert early in the morning, and running over to my place to play with me by noon. This kind of friend, I, Stark, am definitely making."