I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 20 The Avengers
Peter Parker had a very strange dream.

No, it wasn't so much a dream as it was an absurd fantasy—he dreamed that the spider that had bitten him, after being swatted away, didn't die, but instead crawled towards the necks of more people. Peter Parker after Peter Parker was bitten, their faces flickering in the darkness: Toby the Worm, the Super Worm, the MCU's Hollander the Worm... The shadows of countless Spider-Men intertwined in his mind. It seemed as if, starting from himself, a vast web spread out, with a different Spider-Man in each mesh.

"Spider-Man..."

A distant and vague voice was calling him.

"You must find—"

What did you find?
"Another spider."

It was a gentle female voice, strange yet strangely familiar, as if it were right next to him, yet also separated by a thick fog. Peter wanted to ask the other spider what it meant. Were there other spiders in this universe? Or was it a Spider-Man from some parallel universe? But he found himself unable to even lift his eyelids. He could only struggle, trying to break free from the darkness.

He groaned meaninglessly and opened his eyes reluctantly. A young woman with short brown hair came in with a plate of fruit. Seeing that Peter was awake, her smile was kind and warm and she looked at him with concern.

Is this the person who called me just now? He looks familiar.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly. "Don't worry, you need to rest now."

"I'm... horrified..."

Memories flooded back like a tide—the broken viaduct, the roar of the subway, my own body on the verge of collapse...

Where's Hermann? Is the battle over? Where is this?

Peter shot up from the bed, instinctively scrambling to the ceiling, where he hung upside down, keeping watch. Only then did he notice he was still wearing his tattered Spider-Man suit, the torn hood folded neatly beside his pillow. Outside the window, the Manhattan skyline shimmered in the sunlight. In the distance, the Empire State Building, a head shorter than his, was visible; he could vaguely discern its general location.

But from this angle, there was only one building out of sight.

Peter finally realized why the other person looked so familiar. His voice rose involuntarily.

"You are, you are Ms. Janet van Dyne? Where am I? Oh my god, am I in Avengers Tower? Is this true?"

Janet, or "Wasp," was amused by Peter's exaggerated reaction. "Relax, kid, this is of course Avengers Tower. Could you please get down from the ceiling first? This kind of chatter isn't good for my neck."

"Oh, uh, sure, sorry."

Peter finally realized his mistake and quickly rolled over to the ground, but his feet gave way and he nearly fell to his knees. Every muscle in his body protested, as if every inch of his bones had been crushed and then barely put together.

Janet picked up the transparent touch panel beside the bed and glanced at the diagnostic report. "Jarvis said you have severe tendon rupture, extensive internal bleeding caused by capillary rupture, extensive alveolar damage, and dozens of bone fractures... Normally, you should be admitted to the ICU and ignore any superhero-related matters. But your condition is better than any of us expected."

The mutant spider gave Peter an extraordinary self-healing ability. It was not as exaggerated as Wolverine's, but it was enough for him to recover from the fracture after sleeping for two or three days. Therefore, he was not worried about his body, but was more concerned about another thing.

"Where's Herman? The 'Thriller'? Did the Avengers catch him?"

Janet's expression froze subtly for a moment.

"I'd better let someone else tell you about this." She sighed softly. "I'm just a manager. I'm responsible for taking care of the Avengers' social affairs, press conferences, and apologies, but I don't include battle briefings."

Peter grabbed the hood and stood up. His intuition told him that things were not that simple and the Avengers had not caught Herman.

"I'm sorry, but can I...take a tour?"

At this moment, in the conference room of the Avengers Building, the holographic projection was playing the battle scenes between Spider-Man and Thriller in a loop.

Tony Stark leaned back in his chair, his feet propped up on the conference table. His tone was as relaxed as if he were commentating on a ball game. "Good news: Hermann Schultz is an egotistical, self-deprecating idiot. He'll never share his 'masterpiece' with anyone else—so all that remains is that unstable vibration armor." He snapped his fingers. "In his own words: 'The Terror is left outside.'"

"Good news number two," Tony continued, "He's improved his weapon system, so the equipment is going haywire slower than expected. We still have time to catch this 'Yellow Mario'."

As always, Tony Stark was unapologetically affectionate with his nicknames.

Tony unceremoniously nicknamed the hopping, sewer-diving creature, but Steve Rogers didn't laugh. His brow furrowed, his gaze fixed on the thrilling battle on the projection. The problem wasn't Herman's arrogance, but his complete lack of understanding of the danger of his weapon—a core overload explosion could destroy everything within a one-kilometer radius, and this was New York, one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Just then, the conference room door slid open.

Everyone's eyes turned to the door—Janet was walking in with the staggering Peter. Tony immediately whistled and spread his arms exaggeratedly: "Great! Our Sleeping Beauty is finally awake! How's it going, kid? How does it feel to fight a super villain for the first time?"

"Not very well, Mr. Stark. I feel like I've never been so tired in my life."

"Considering you've practically held up an entire section of the viaduct, I don't think tired is the right word to describe your current state." Bruce Banner smiled gently, looking completely different from the Hulk. As for Ant-Man Hank Pym, for some reason he wasn't here.

"Um, where's Mr. Hank? I heard from Miss Janet that he saved me, and I want to say thank you to him."

"Don't worry, that guy won't go anywhere except the lab. Just let Wasp pass on the message." Tony waved his hand and pushed Peter onto the chair next to him. "Listen, kid, you just completed a heroic feat and saved countless lives. Now, how do you feel?"

"Did I?"

Tony Stark was confused by the boy's question: "Why do you ask that?"

"Um... I completely lost consciousness in the end. I don't know if I saved those people, so... did I do it?"

The room suddenly became quiet.

"Yes, you did." Banner nodded. "You held on for about twenty more seconds. In fact, everyone had already evacuated and shouted to you that they were safe, but you couldn't hear them at the time."

Peter's shoulders finally relaxed.

"Great, no one was hurt. If I..."

"Okay, kid, you've done a great job!" Tony interrupted his self-blame, patted him on the back, and said in a deliberately light tone, "Stopping super villains, getting beaten, saving people - you've completed a set of standard superhero procedures. Now, your mission is to go home and rest, do your homework, and don't let your family worry. The rest is left to us."

What does it mean to leave the rest to us?
Peter sensed a bad feeling from this.

"So Herman is still out there?"

"Okay, Tony, let me talk to this kid."

The captain sighed, seized control, and continued, "Hank has analyzed that the energy supply of Herman Schultz's equipment is extremely unstable, posing a risk of explosion. Every time it is used, the possibility of a catastrophic explosion increases. Therefore, the Avengers have decided to take full control of this case. We hope Spider-Man can withdraw from the next operation."

"But..." Peter opened his mouth to say something. "I understand, Captain. But if I encountered what Herman was doing, would I be able to stop him?"

"Of course, kid, you can do this until the Avengers take over the battle." The captain did not completely reject Spider-Man's participation in the action against Terror. He just drew a line: "But you must realize that the upcoming battle with Terror will be extremely dangerous. Every battle may cause his weapon to explode. Pay attention to your own safety."

"Okay. I, I should go. If I go back too late, my uncle and aunt will be worried."

"Let Banner or Janet take you there."

After sending Peter Parker away, who was obviously feeling lost, Tony asked Captain the question he wanted to ask most.

"Now, Captain, what do you think of this kid?"

Steve Rogers stared at the ceiling for a long moment, then let out a long sigh.

"He's a good kid," Steve said softly, finally. "He has a pure sense of justice and empathy... so pure it's painful. Did you notice what he's focused on? It's not even about how many people he saved, but how much he'd blame himself if he didn't."

"Isn't that good?"

"I've seen soldiers like this on the battlefield. They attributed their comrades' sacrifices to themselves. If they had done better, if they had just thrown their weight, it might have been someone else who died."

Steve Rogers looked at the projection of Spider-Man fighting continuously: "Soldiers like this, they strive to be the first to sacrifice on the battlefield, they are on the road to self-destruction."

(End of this chapter)