"What's happening outside?" Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, who were enjoying an opera in the theater, clearly felt vibrations from beneath their feet. This sudden situation made Gwen complain. At this moment, not only them, but everyone in the entire opera house felt the obvious tremor.
"Is it an earthquake?" Someone asked this question, and as their question spread to everyone, everyone began to feel uneasy. In this situation, there was naturally no longer a friendly atmosphere, and those performers no longer had the courage to continue.
Almost everyone stood up and instinctively walked towards the exit. They understood very clearly that they couldn't possibly die in an earthquake just to watch an opera performance, even if it was just a possibility.
And seeing that even the dancers who had just been performing on stage jumped down and mingled with the fleeing crowd, Gwen could only say to her boyfriend.
"Oh, damn it. Today is really unlucky!"
"Sorry, Gwen. Today is all my fault!" Regardless of the reason, Peter honestly took the blame. This move worked very well on Gwen. She held Peter's hand back, shaking her head and smiling. "Forget it, at least you haven't disappointed me today!"
Watching his girlfriend finally relent and completely forgive his mistake today, Peter finally let out a sigh of relief.
"You know, Gwen. You almost scared me to death."
"This is for your own good, Peter. If I didn't do this, how would you remember your girlfriend's existence?"
The two talked as they held hands and followed behind the crowd. Although the opera couldn't be watched, they still had many places to pass the time.
However, just as they were about to reach the main entrance, a sudden clamor erupted from the crowd in front. Many people began to scatter and flee, while more people crouched in safe corners, trembling. Peter was still wondering what had happened, and if it was an earthquake.
A Military jeep, like a meteor, crashed towards him. The jeep was still carrying sporadic flames, and the front of the car looked as if it had been hit by a heavy object, completely twisted into a concave shape. Peter could even see the Soldiers inside, who were beyond dead.
Seeing the jeep getting closer and closer, and Gwen beside him seemingly frozen in shock, Peter couldn't care about anything else.
He immediately embraced Gwen and leaped up. Then, he began to perform an almost graceful acrobatic display in mid-air.
He held Gwen, gently stretching his body in mid-air, using both arms to tightly embrace his girlfriend, while his two thighs rotated like helicopter rotors, propelling his body to narrowly brush past the flying jeep by a hair's breadth.
Gwen watched with wide eyes as the tiny flames streaked past her nose, the twisted car door almost within reach. She could even clearly see the face of the dead Soldiers inside. This was too incredible for her, like something happening in a dream, yet these things were unfolding right before her eyes.
Compared to what she saw, Peter's recent performance astonished her even more. As a former high school cheerleading Captain, Gwen understood exactly what Peter's actions implied. Frankly, even an Olympic-level gymnast couldn't achieve such a degree of evasion. This seemed to be beyond human capabilities. And now, this level of skill appeared in her boyfriend. How could Gwen not find this strange?
"Peter, what's going on with you?" Gwen looked at Peter in surprise, at this moment she really wanted to know how her usually meek boyfriend would explain this to her.
"Gwen, I... Be careful!" Peter opened his mouth, his mind racing, trying to come up with something to gloss over it. Just then, his Spider-Sense activated again. He quickly held Gwen, shielding her in his arms.
Gwen was still wondering what Peter was doing when an explosion suddenly erupted behind them. Surging flames, like a venomous Dragon emerging from its lair, shot towards them. Peter quickly used his coat to cover himself and Gwen, then they both ducked to the ground.
Fortunately, the flames came and went quickly. After the rolling blast of Qi and flames shot out through the main door, Peter no longer felt that scorching pain on his back. He stood up, tore off his coat, and, while frantically patting out the flames on it, asked Gwen.
"Are you alright, Gwen?"
"I'm fine, I'm okay. What about you, Peter?" Protected by him, Gwen didn't suffer even a tiny injury. She was just a little startled. And when she saw Peter's actions to extinguish the flames, she immediately asked worriedly. Peter's performance earlier had both moved and frightened her. She was moved because Peter's first thought was to save her. She was frightened because she worried Peter would perish in that explosion.
But seeing Peter patting out the flames with a pained expression, she knew things weren't as bad as she imagined. Still, she wasn't reassured and wanted to check Peter's condition herself.
"Let me see, Peter. Let's see if you're hurt."
"I'm fine, Gwen. I'm perfectly alright, not a scratch." Peter wanted to decline Gwen's kind offer, but under her insistence, he honestly obeyed her command and spun around in place.
"Good, you don't seem to be badly hurt!" Seeing that Peter's clothes showed no signs of serious damage, Gwen breathed a slight sigh of relief. But soon she noticed something was amiss. "What's this?"
She reached out and touched Peter's shirt on his back, where the flames had burned a large hole. Through this hole, Gwen saw a somewhat strange red and blue fabric. She pinched the red and blue fabric and looked up at Peter.
"Peter, what's going on?"
"Gwen, I—" Before he could say anything, Gwen pulled open his collar. From there, she could clearly see the distinct Spider symbol on the tight suit Peter wore underneath.
If she had only seen this, Gwen might have thought he was just a Spider-Man fan, perhaps a bit overly enthusiastic. But connecting it to everything that had just happened, and Peter's frequent disappearances, she was 100% certain of Peter's other identity.
"You're Spider-Man?" She looked at Peter, her eyes filled with disbelief. Peter, meanwhile, seemed much more flustered.
"Gwen, I didn't mean to keep it from you. You know I've always been very..."
"Cool!" Again, before he could finish speaking, Gwen blurted out her truest feelings. "My boyfriend is Spider-Man, that's awesome! I'm going to post this on Facebook. Come on, Peter. Give me a smile!" "Gwen, no, no, no. What I mean is, you can't tell anyone about this!" Seeing Gwen actually pull out her phone, Peter quickly held her hand. "Why?" Gwen was very curious, and Peter immediately gave the answer.
"First, because the Police are still after me. Although I consider myself a vigilante, your father doesn't seem to agree with that. Second, besides rich people with a hole in their head like Tony Stark, have you ever seen a Superhero reveal their identity? Keeping one's true identity a secret is part of a Superhero's life. Third, even if you did post it on Facebook, they wouldn't believe I'm the real Spider-Man. They'd just think you're a liar, and you know there are a lot of people like that nowadays. For clicks, they'll do anything."
"Are you sure?" Hearing these reasons, Gwen asked somewhat uncertainly. Peter immediately nodded. "I'm sure, and I guarantee everything I said is true." "Alright, too bad. But Peter, every time we missed a date, you were lying to me, right? You were going to be Spider-Man, weren't you!"
"Sometimes yes, sometimes no. You know, Spider-Man isn't always needed." Peter shrugged, putting on a helpless expression. This made Gwen angry, and she twisted his arm hard.
"Listen, forget about the past. But from now on, you have to tell me the truth!"
"No problem, I promise." This was a good thing; Peter wished things would turn out this way. Just then, a roar like thunder came from outside the main door. More violent explosions were mixed with the roar, accompanied by many people's cries for help and screams.
"Looks like it's time for me to spring into action, Gwen. Our date seems to be postponed again. You'd better hide far away; that guy outside sounds like trouble!"
Hearing the sounds from outside, Peter smiled and said to his girlfriend. He pushed Gwen to a safe spot, then rushed to a corner where no one could see him. Moments later, a Spider-Man in a red and blue suit appeared in Gwen's line of sight. He saluted Gwen, then, with several agile leaps, he rushed out of the opera house's main door.
And as soon as he stepped out, the little web-headed Spider-Man saw a conspicuous figure.
Hulk was walking step by step down the street with Betty in his arms. All around were Military vehicles and Police cars maintaining order. Densely packed Soldiers and Police officers crouched beside these vehicles, holding weapons that could even wage a localized war in the Middle East.
However, Hulk paid no attention to this seemingly very intimidating combination of Military and Police. He acted as if these guys didn't exist, just forging ahead. And comically, as Hulk advanced, the Police and the army began to retreat little by little. Clearly, they were already intimidated by Hulk's presence.
"Alright, alright. It's time to show some real skill. Come on, little bug!" Silently cheering himself on, Spider-Man Peter Parker was ready to enter the fray.