Listening to Peter's cocky declaration, Gwen couldn't help but burst into tears and laugh out loud.
A wave of profound warmth washed over her heart. She knew full well that Peter was just saying all this on purpose to make her smile.
In this entire world, Peter was probably the only person who would spoil and pamper her like this at every single second.
With that thought, she lightly tapped his chest with her fist:
"Hmph, always teasing me!"
Yet in the very next second, she couldn't resist standing on tiptoes, taking the initiative to press her lips against his.
A long while passed before she leaned against his broad chest, catching her breath as she murmured softly:
"Peter... it's so good to have you here."
Feeling the deep, bone-weary fatigue lingering in her voice, Peter gently patted her back:
"Go to sleep. By the time you wake up, every single one of these problems will be completely solved."
He had assumed those words would allow Gwen to drop the heavy burden on her shoulders and get a solid night's rest. To his surprise, however, Gwen lightly slapped her own cheeks, shook her head, and pouted:
"Now that you've said that, there's no way I can sleep!"
She took his hand, scrunching up her nose with a cute, fierce expression:
"My boyfriend is about to go to bat for me! Naturally, I'm going to watch with my own eyes as you beat those bastards black and blue before I even think about sleeping!"
Seeing her adorable look, Peter reached out and lightly pinched the bridge of her button nose:
"In that case, I better handle those green-skinned freaks double time. I can't let a bunch of trash ruin my girlfriend's beauty sleep!"
Placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, he smiled:
"Stay here and rest up. Just sit back and watch how I make those green monsters regret ever messing with you!"
A short while later...
Sif and Mantis arrived at SHIELD headquarters. Here, all the remaining active superheroes who hadn't gone missing—aside from Gwen—had gathered together.
"Sister Sif, who is this?" Daisy couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
"This is Mantis. She's a companion Peter and I met out in deep space," Sif introduced her briefly before pivoting straight to the main point: "Peter has already gone to deal with the Skrull situation personally.
He said you guys have worked hard enough over this past stretch, so there's no need to strain yourselves anymore. Just sit back and enjoy the show."
Hearing this, the assembled heroes looked at each other in sheer disbelief.
Man... talk about arrogance that knows no bounds, yet paired with an absolute authority that no one can argue against!
Safe to say... that was classic Peter!
Just as everyone crossed their arms, preparing to watch the master at work, Peter—having left the Empire State University dorms—immediately made his move.
The very first thing he did was dial J. Jonah Jameson.
The phone didn't even ring twice before it was snatched up. On the other end, Jameson's voice was practically shaking with raw excitement:
"Mr. Parker! You're finally back! Oh sweet lord! Do you have any idea what kind of mess this world turned into while you were away?!"
"I know," Peter cut his frantic rambling short. "Jonah, set up a nationwide live broadcast for me."
"A nationwide broadcast?!" Jameson froze for a split second before realizing the implications, shouting into the mic: "Sir, give me ten minutes!"
Ten minutes later...
The main studio of The Daily Bugle was completely cleared out. JJJ personally presided over the director's booth, aiming twelve high-definition cameras straight at the center of the stage.
Authorized directly via presidential override, the broadcast signal was simultaneously beamed through satellite networks straight into 376 television channels across the nation, alongside every major online streaming platform.
At that exact moment, every broadcast program across the United States was abruptly interrupted.
"What the hell is going on?!" Baffled viewers across the country were just about to unleash a tirade of curses.
Yet in the very next second, every single one of them gasped in utter shock.
There on the screen, right beside Jameson's iconic, scowling face, a figure clad in a sleek black-and-gold suit casually stepped onto the stage—the Adjudicator!
"Long time no see, everyone."
"My bad. I had to step out on a long trip, sorry for making you all worry."
Just two simple sentences.
No grand, dramatic speeches. No righteous, fiery declarations.
His tone was as light and casual as someone who had just popped down to the corner store for a bottle of water and bumped into a neighbor on his way back.
Yet the impact was absolute dynamite!
The live chat and comment sections exploded instantaneously:
"THE Arbiter IS BACK!!!"
"WE'RE SAVED! I was literally losing my mind over here!"
While the audience was locked in wild celebration, the Adjudicator on screen spoke with an effortless calm:
"Recently, there have been numerous reports floating around regarding superheroes terrorizing citizens worldwide."
"As the leader of all superheroes in America, I will give you all a completely reasonable explanation within one hour! Please stay tuned."
The moment the final word left his mouth, the broadcast cut to black.
The whole thing lasted less than two minutes.
Yet those brief two minutes generated a media tidal wave that was ten times more powerful than everything the Skrulls had painstakingly orchestrated over an entire week!
Across American social media platforms, public sentiment flipped virtually overnight.
The anti-superhero hatred that the Skrulls had meticulously cultivated in the shadows crumbled into dust the second Peter showed his face.
The logic was simple: the Arbiter had already saved the nation twice before. Every citizen in America firmly believed that if Earth faced another apocalyptic threat, the man standing on the frontlines to protect them would always be him!
That level of absolute public trust wasn't built on slick PR or corporate packaging—it was forged in blood and action.
Of course, not everyone was willing to roll over quietly.
On a certain social media platform, a top influencer secretly controlled by the Skrulls tried to make a desperate last-ditch effort to sway the narrative:
"The other superheroes have already shown their true colors. How much better could the Arbiter possibly be? Who knows what dirty, unspeakable things he's been doing behind closed doors?"
Less than three minutes after the post went live, the comment section was completely overrun by furious netizens. Within ten minutes, the sheer surge of traffic crashed the platform's servers entirely.
Then, things took an even crazier turn.
Netizens living in the exact same city as the influencer mobilized on their own initiative, tracking down his physical location in real-time.
Twenty minutes later, a fresh video went viral across the entire internet—
In the clip, seven or eight burly American guys had cornered the "opinion leader" right outside a coffee shop, beating the living daylights out of him while roaring: "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO INSULT THE Arbiter?!"
Watching the video play out on the massive display inside Avengers Tower, Tony nearly choked on his Coke, spraying it out of his nose.
"Holy crap..." Tony wiped his mouth, staring at the screen with an utterly complex expression. "If I got jumped on the street, it'd make the local news at best. Meanwhile, someone says one bad word about Peter, and his fan club goes out and beats the guy up for him."
Standing nearby, Natasha couldn't help but let out a proud, amused smile, teasing Tony gently:
"In Peter's own words... 'The gap between two human beings is sometimes wider than the gap between a human and a dog.'"
Tony: "..."
I'm calling the refs—she's blatantly roasting me!