“Look! It’s Spider-Man!”
“He’s dead.”
“Spider-Man jumped off a building…”
“No, that’s just pajamas. He’s not the real Spider-Man.”
“He must’ve been a crazed fan of Spider-Man.”
As a crowd gathered around, Carter knelt beside the body, inspecting it closely.
“There’s residue of webbing on his wrist. He was bitten by a mutated spider,” she said, turning to Xia Luo.
Xia Luo shook his head. “He thought he’d turned into Spider-Man. He was desperate to imitate him.”
Carter sighed. “He shouldn’t have been so reckless.”
“The mutation process in those who’ve been bitten is fast. How long did it take for you to get your powers?” she asked, eyeing Xia Luo curiously.
Xia Luo began walking away, and Carter quickly followed him.
In the distance, the wail of sirens was growing louder.
“One night,” Xia Luo replied.
Carter pondered his answer, then pressed on. “How long did it take you to get the hang of it? I mean… how long did it take before you were confident enough to leap off buildings?”
“One night,” he repeated.
“So fast?” Carter looked astonished. “Did you ever fail?”
“Of course.”
“Peter mentioned you’ve gone through two revival matches. Did you die from falling too?”
Xia Luo rolled his eyes. “Only an idiot would practice from such a height at the start. I began with jumps from three stories—high enough to hurt but not enough to kill.”
Carter’s curiosity only grew.
“How did you even think to use webs for swinging? Weren’t you worried they wouldn’t hold your weight?
What about your arm strength—doesn’t it feel like your muscles are going to tear?
With so many billboards in the city, did you ever crash into one?
What if you ran out of webbing mid-swing and—”
Carter’s questions flowed endlessly, and Xia Luo rubbed his temples in frustration.
“Another time, okay? Right now, you need to get back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and make a public statement. Tell those bitten by spiders not to test their abilities recklessly.”
Realizing he was right, Carter’s expression shifted. “Yes, you’re right. I need to hurry back. Goodbye, Xiao Xia Luo.”
“See you.”
She started to walk away, then paused and turned around, holding out her hand.
“My bike keys.”
“You already gave them to me.”
Xia Luo waved, smiling widely as he hailed a cab for Carter.
“Such a gentleman, right?” he said with a grin.
Carter shook her head, amused. “You’ve really got a way about you.”
“Don’t forget to return my helmet.”
“Bastard.”
As she got into the cab, Xia Luo tossed the keys playfully. A gift from an elder—pretty nice.
With a smirk, he put on the helmet, revved up the bike, and sped off down the street.
Meanwhile, Carter returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
In her office, she summoned Agent Hill.
“Inform Nick Fury to call off the surveillance on Xia Luo Parker.”
“Are you sure?” Agent Hill hesitated.
Carter’s face remained stern. “I have the authority, don’t I?”
“Yes, but Xia Luo might be—”
“I just met him. He’s not the real Spider-Man, but he’s connected to him. It’s very likely that Spider-Man gave us a decoy to mislead us.”
Agent Hill considered this. “So, they dangled a very obvious target to draw our attention away, throwing us off track.
Which is why Xia Luo disappears whenever Spider-Man does… It was all part of the plan.”
“Exactly.”
“But why cancel the surveillance?”
“It’s pointless now. With more mutated Spider-Men appearing, we’re facing a bigger threat. We need Spider-Man’s cooperation. Calling off the surveillance shows our respect.”
“I see… Understood.”
Agent Hill left the office and relayed the message to Nick Fury.
Back in his hospital room, Fury’s brow furrowed. “Got it. Follow her orders.”
“Pair of twos, Commander. Your turn,” came Harry’s impatient voice.
“Agent Hill, I’m a bit busy here. Carter will handle the rest,” Fury said before hanging up.
“Four of a kind!” Harry laughed.
“I fold.”
“Ha! Pay up.”
Hearing the disconnect tone, Agent Hill sighed and rubbed her forehead.
“These guys are so lucky… they finally get a break.”
Sitting down at her desk, she began to handle Carter’s directives. On her workspace sat a small, wallet-sized poster of Spider-Man.
“Even if Xia Luo Parker isn’t Spider-Man, he definitely knows him. Shame I don’t get a day off, or I’d track that guy down myself.”
With a longing gaze at the Spider-Man poster, she slumped over her desk and sighed.
“Could the black-suited Spider-Man who defeated Steve also be him? I’d kill for his autograph…”
“Agent Hill! There’s been another call—another Spider-Man has died.”
“Oh, got it.”
Quickly, she hid the poster under a stack of files and rushed out.
Time flew by, and night soon blanketed the city.
For Spider-Man, nighttime was his domain.
“Agent Hill, a fifth Spider-Man has surfaced.”
“I’m on it.”
By eleven that night, the phrase “Spider-Man” had become Agent Hill’s least favorite words.
Meanwhile, in Banner’s lab, he was gathering his third “Spider-Man” corpse.
He looked like he was losing his mind.
“What the hell is happening in this world?! Someone tell me!!”
His anguished yell echoed throughout the lab.
At the same time, in Stark Tower.
In the top-floor penthouse, Tony Stark watched the endless reports on Spider-Man play out on the TV, the coffee cup in his hand remaining untouched.
“Tony, what’s going on?” Pepper asked, stepping up behind him to gently massage his shoulders.
Tony snapped back to reality. “Spider-Man’s dead. Three of them.”
“They were probably just crazed fans. It’s tragic,” Pepper said sympathetically.
Tony shook his head. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think the real Spider-Man’s in trouble.”
He put down his coffee and headed to his lab.
“Back to tinkering with your cold metal toys?” Pepper asked, a hint of frustration in her voice.
Without turning back, Tony replied, “They’re not toys. They’re my purpose.
I have to figure this out, fast. Maybe it’ll be a way to repay Spider-Man… he did save my life.”
“But you don’t even know who he is. Didn’t you say he’s always wearing tight pajamas?”
“It’s not pajamas. It’s a suit. And mine’s called armor.”
Moments later, the lab echoed with rhythmic hammering.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
The story of Iron Man was about to begin.
In the neon-lit city night, a massive screen displayed J. Jonah Jameson’s animated rant about the recent Spider-Man deaths.
It had been a long time since Jameson looked this excited.
On camera, he spewed his usual venom about Spider-Man, but the moment he got home, he quickly drew the curtains shut.
Then he pulled out his own homemade Spider-Man costume.
Biubiubiu~
Jumping onto his coffee table, cigar still in his mouth, he shot white webbing everywhere, leaving his living room in chaos.
“Hahaha! This is incredible! Now I’m Spider-Man too!”
He whooped with joy, failing to notice the flash of red and blue passing by his window outside.
—
T/N: Oh right, Xiao means Little by the way.
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