A taxi with flashing lights weaved through the streets and stopped in front of a fast-food restaurant. A figure in a blue hoodie burst out of the car, rushing through the door right at six o’clock.
"Sorry! Sorry! I’m late!" said the young man in the hoodie, repeatedly apologizing. The chubby store owner waved his hand, shoving him into the kitchen by the back of his head, and said, "Hurry up, Little Parker. If we weren’t so short on staff recently, I wouldn’t have called you in! Now get to work!"
"Got it, boss!" he replied, "But, um, I haven’t had dinner..."
"Then make yourself a hot dog! Don’t ask about everything!"
With a bang, the kitchen door closed. The young man shook his head and said, "Alright, ti to get to work. You’re just like SpongeBob, aren’t you?"
Having said that, he humd a tune, grabbed a hot dog bun from the shelf, fried a sausage and tucked it in, then piled on loads of ketchup and mustard, followed by a heap of pickles. He took a big bite and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Hey! A double beef cheeseburger combo! For our dear Spider-Man!" the cashier boss chuckled. The young man glanced outside through the serving window and saw a burly figure in a tight outfit paying at the counter.
"Peter! It’s !" the figure ran to the serving window, poking his head in and said, "I knew you were working here, ca specifically! More cheese on the beef burger!"
"No problem." The young man called Peter gave an "OK" sign, took the pre-minced beef, shaped it into a ball, then flattened it on the grill with a spatula. The sizzle and aroma rose together.
The radio beside them was turned on, with the host’s slightly excited voice coming through: "The results of the New City na referendum are in! ’Forward York City (Goyork)’ has won by a landslide! This na combines Gotham and New York, and also has a connotation of striving forward, making it the best city na! Now let’s hear what the new Mayor Oswald Cobblepot thinks..."
"Oh, I knew it would be that na," said the person leaning outside the serving window, "Though I personally prefer Darklight City. It perfectly captures the essence of both Gotham and New York. But most ordinary people think the na is too pretentious. Alas."
"I quite like the current na," Peter said, adding three slices of cheese on the beef patty, and checking that the boss wasn’t turning back, he threw a generous heap of cheese on top until the whole patty was subrged in cheese.
He pressed down the two layers of beef, added a big handful of lettuce, covered it with a freshly grilled bun, then scooped the fries out of the oil and into a box, packed everything together into a al box, and passed it through the serving window, lowering his voice to say, "Hey Bruce, go eat outside. I put a ton of cheese in there for you!"
"How many tis do I have to tell you, call Spider-Man!" the youth in the tight outfit, referred to as Bruce, also whispered, "You have no idea how hard it is staying with all those Batn! Why can’t Battleworld let switch over to Spider-Man’s side?"
"Co on, then you’d complain it’s too noisy." Peter said as he fried another batch of fries for himself, "Besides, Spider-Man’s base is usually empty. They’re all out in the Multiverse on missions..."
"Speaking of which, I just rembered," Bruce said, "Joker told that lately, those Spider-n seem to be doing so energy-related stuff in their universe, they even toppled Mount Olympus."
"Energy-related stuff?" Peter furrowed his brow and said, "What do they need energy for?"
"Seems like they’re trying to build so sort of Magical Defense Network. I’m not too sure, Joker didn’t get much out of them."
"Isn’t the Magical Defense Network sothing from our side?"
"Oh, yeah, a while ago so Batn went over to one of your magical schools to study, but I wasn’t interested in stuff like that so I didn’t go. I guess after going, they found the Magical Defense Network useful and decided to gather so energy to build one for themselves."
"That thing is pretty aweso," Peter said, "Especially in the Central Universe, they use the Magical Defense Network like masters, and a lot of Spider-n envy it."
"Do you think we should get one too?" Bruce asked with interest.
"Can you flip Mount Olympus?"
Bruce seed like he was doused with cold water, wilting imdiately. He said, "Definitely not, I can’t even find the gate to Mount Olympus. If it wasn’t for you giving the Spider Power, I wouldn’t even be able to be a superhero now."
"Not everyone can make use of the Spider Power effectively. Alright, I think I heard soone calling for help across the street? Go check it out!"
Bruce imdiately turned to look, then saw soone snatching a bag in the alley across the street. He shouted "Stop," grabbed his burger and dashed out of the store.
Watching his back, Peter sighed and continued busying himself with his work. As the peak dinner hour hit, orders beca increasingly nurous. He worked non-stop until eleven at night before finally getting a break.
Taking off his greasy apron and packing two burgers for himself, Peter slung his shoulder bag and walked out of the fast-food restaurant, calculating his inco and rent in his mind, and quietly sighed.
Ever since the fusion of New York and Gotham, the rent has beco exorbitantly high. Previously, although New York’s rent was expensive, staying in more remote areas or places with poor law and order still made the rent bearable. However, the arrival of Gotham perfectly filled the gap of cheaper suburban rents. Now, in the entire Forward York City, rent has skyrocketed, and besides the researchers at Oscorp, Peter had to take on an additional job just to maintain his livelihood.
With his mind lingering on the conversation with Bruce during the day, Peter quietly walked back to his rented apartnt. After taking a shower, he tossed himself onto the bed, but quickly got up again.
He tried to communicate with the black sun in his mind but got no response. It had been like this for a while now, but Peter wasn’t surprised. The deity he worshipped was offline eighty percent of the ti, and didn’t respond often. Luckily, God was offline one hundred percent of the ti.
With these thoughts, Peter dozed off. But in the middle of the night, he was awakened by a light. Turning his head, he realized he forgot to draw the curtains before sleeping, and outside was as bright as day for so unknown reason.
Peter jolted awake, quickly sitting up, and upon checking, he saw it was only 2:00 am, far from ti to go to work. He let out a sigh of relief, slowly walked to the window, yawned, and prepared to draw the curtains.
Suddenly, there was another flash of light. Peter squinted his eyes, looking out the window, and saw a bright moon. The moonlight rippled like white silk before him, and then turned into actual fabric. A white cloak brushed against Peter’s cheek, and following this force, he turned his head to see a figure in a white robe, wearing a winter hat and holding a long staff, standing on the balcony railing.
Peter jumped back in shock. The figure, however, reached out a hand, and soon, the moonlight ford mysterious patterns. At first, Peter didn’t recognize it, but his exceptional mory soon identified it as patterns from the black sun.
"Are you an envoy of Him?" Peter asked.
The figure nodded. Peter sighed in relief, saying, "You scared . I thought it was the Sinister Six coming for . What brings you here? Does He have a task for ?"
There was a clinking sound as sothing was thrown at Peter’s feet. He walked over, picked it up, and found it was a gemstone shining with a radiant light.
"Wait a minute, is this an Infinity Gem?"
Peter examined the gemstone, looking it over but couldn’t figure out anything. Then he saw the figure shake their head, lightly tapping the staff on the ground, causing the gemstone to ripple with magical waves.
"Oh my God," Peter exclaid, "Is there magic energy inside? Where did you get this? You didn’t go and turn Mount Olympus upside down, did you?"
The figure shook their head again and pointed to the sky with the staff. Though not sure why, Peter imdiately understood. He said, "You want to use the energy to build a magic defense network? But I’ve never built one of those before..."
Gentle moonlight carried over a stack of blueprints. Peter took them and upon looking, realized they were blueprints for a magic defense network. He imdiately started going through them, and after a while said, "Fortunately, it’s not very complicated. I’ll consult with Spider-Man about it tomorrow."
A flash of bright moonlight and when Peter awoke again, the alarm clock on the bedside was ringing incessantly. He turned it off and sat up, thinking he just had a crazy dream.
Just as he got up, he felt the gemstone on the nightstand, and the stack of blueprints was neatly placed in the drawer. Unable to resist, Peter took out the blueprints and looked at them, hesitated for a mont at the incredibly complex patterns, and then stuffed them into his bag.
"Hey! Harry! There’s sothing I want you to take a look at." Peter knocked on the door, entering Harry Osborn’s office. He took the blueprints out of his bag and said, "Have you heard of a magic defense network? That’s right, the one we used to have on Earth, but seem to lack now. Do you think we should rebuild it?"
Harry accepted the blueprints. Initially thinking Peter was joking, but upon seeing the detailed blueprints, he raised an eyebrow and said, "You’re serious? But neither of us knows magic..."
"Of course, and I also got enough magic energy." Peter took out the gemstone and said, "You know, the god I’m devoted to gave it to , and he’s quite generous. I heard that throughout the multiverse, even Batman is working on this. Since we’ve rged with Gotham, we ought to do sothing too."
Little Osborn slightly furrowed his brows and said, "Did you sense sothing?"
"Co on, I don’t even have spider-sense anymore." Peter shook his head and said.
"It’s different, Peter. Even without the spider powers, your intuition is remarkably accurate. I’m afraid I have to tell you so bad news: recently, so unusual incidents have occurred on the mutant side, they’ve destroyed one of my thermal power plants, and I’m investigating this matter."
"Why is there trouble again?" Peter frowned tightly, "Just recently, Magneto had a fight with Superman, if not for Professor X stepping in to diate, they almost destroyed the sun. It hasn’t even been a week, has it?"
"Yes, which is why I said these are unusual incidents. Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters inford that it’s neither a mutant abilities outbreak nor so sudden loss of control, but that two mutants developed so conflict."
"Conflict? You an two mutants had a fight and destroyed your thermal power plant? But before the X-n and the Mutant Brotherhood go to war, they issue a notice. Why was there no word this ti..."
"Of course, because this ti, the two conflicting mutants are both from the X-n." Harry shook his head and said, "Professor X didn’t say much to , although it might just be a regular incident, I always feel a bit uneasy. You coming to see today only heightens my suspicion that this might be the prelude to so disaster."
User Comments
0 comments from readers