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

Chapter 48 Showdown Time
Because the battle with the spider swarm ended very early, no one took leave today. Even Peter Parker, who was electrocuted and burned, only felt that his hair was a little dry. After all, for Spider-Man, high voltage electricity is nothing.

The most direct impact of the entire battle was that at lunchtime, a conspicuous figure wearing a cheap Spider-Man cosplay outfit appeared in the cafeteria of Midtown Middle School, gesturing wildly and showing off his experience to those around him.

"Listen up, guys, I ran into Spider-Man today! And I really helped him out!"

Peter sat not far away, silently stuffing a mouthful of mashed potatoes into his mouth and sighing. Actually, even without "Lightning's" sudden acceleration, it wouldn't have mattered, because his contingency plan specifically addressed the possibility that the fire hydrants would be dry. And for that situation, the Punisher had already prepared plastic bombs that could blast water tanks on roadside buildings, causing the water to spill down and conduct electricity.

So there's no need for Thompson at all. But since he's already on the scene, if we don't let him do something, who knows what kind of trouble he might cause.

"Hey guys, I've seen something amazing."

Amadeus, unusually agitated, walked over in a white lab coat and a completely mismatched green T-shirt: "You absolutely won't believe what happened!"

"The Hulk is attacking?"

Harry's joke went unanswered by Amadeus, who responded with almost unparalleled excitement, but couldn't utter a sound; he was so excited he was nearly speechless.

"An internship at Baxter Building! Our school got three spots!" Amadeus delivered the truly shocking news: "Can you believe it? An opportunity to do research with Reed Richards—no matter what you think, I'm definitely applying!"

Just as Peter was about to speak, a slender hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. He looked up and, unsurprisingly, saw Gwen's expressionless face.

"Excuse me, guys, I need to borrow someone. Have you finished eating?"

"Uh, yes, sorry guys."

Peter nodded awkwardly to his friends and was pulled away by Gwen. Amadeus and Harry exchanged glances, and then Harry suddenly asked, "Are you planning to go to the homecoming ball this year, Amadeus?"

"I can't find a dance partner at all, what about you, Harry?"

"I think there's a very pretty girl, but I don't dare to ask her out."

The two looked at each other again and sighed in unison.

Peter was led by Gwen to a small room filled with various musical instruments. After Gwen let go of his hand, she sat down in the drum chair and stared straight at him: "So, are you ready to explain what happened this morning?"

"Um... what's up?"

“Okay, let’s go through it one by one. First, the first time I met Spider-Man, he was wearing the same shoes as you. You had just run out at that time and only came back after Spider-Man had solved everything.”

Gwen just stared at Peter Parker, who stared back at her without saying a word.

"...Secondly, I went to deliver food to my dad yesterday and saw the note Spider-Man left for him, and the handwriting on your left hand is exactly the same."

"Why do you remember the handwriting on my left hand?" Peter was taken aback. He really didn't know that Gwen had memorized such things. Gwen was also taken aback for a moment, and then she recalled.

“Because it’s so cool. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone who can write with both hands, and the difference in their handwriting is so huge. So I made a note of it. But let’s not get into that.” Gwen waved her hand and gave her third reason: “And then, I was planning to hear your explanation last night, since you didn’t come home all night!”

"You didn't sleep at all last night, did you?"

After Peter finished speaking, he looked at Gwen, who looked back at him matter-of-factly. Peter sighed helplessly. Sometimes, having a childhood friend like that is indeed a very troublesome thing. He scratched his head, thought for a while, and then nodded. "Okay, remember the Osborn Science Show six months ago? We walked up to the spider exhibit, and the exhibit suddenly shattered. Then Cal King grabbed the radioactive spider that escaped and put it on my neck—"

"So you became Spider-Man?"

For the first time, Gwen felt that becoming a superhero could be such a hasty thing. What if Osborn Technologies was researching some kind of mutant cockroach or mutant mosquito? And now, what is Peter Parker?

However, Gwen decided to skip this question for now.

"Okay, does Uncle Ben know?"

Peter nodded.

"Aunt Mei...Aunt Mei definitely doesn't know, you're afraid she'll worry. But what about me? Why didn't you tell me?"

Peter was silent for about two seconds, then asked a series of questions.

"If I tell you, can you guarantee you won't come to help me, won't ask me to take you flying around New York, or ask me if I can drink coffee upside down on the ceiling?"

"Dream on! Wait, you really are—"

Before Peter could say, "That's why I didn't tell you," the door opened and Mary Jane walked in. She seemed quite surprised to see Peter there: "Hey, Peter, what brings you here?"

“I found something interesting but didn’t tell Gwen, so she called me over for questioning. I have to go, I have something important to do after school.”

As Peter spoke, he walked past Mary Jane, and before leaving, he saw Gwen's "I'm not done yet" look in her eyes, nodded, and closed the door.

He wasn't making excuses to avoid Gwen after school; he genuinely had some urgent business to attend to: his web-shooter had been damaged by a swarm of spiders during his fight with Kal-King, and it wasn't something that could be fixed with a screwdriver and wrench. After some thought, he decided to simply abandon the old web-shooter and use the Avengers' resources to create a new, more efficient one.

Moreover, he also had to verify whether the other one was actually Karl King. Although the possibility was slim, if it was, it would be troublesome.

So, the subway passengers witnessed a bizarre scene that day: Spider-Man obediently swiped his card to enter the station, squeezed into the crowd to board the train, and even politely gave up his seat to an elderly woman. Twenty minutes later, he jogged into Avengers Tower, pressed the button for the top floor as if he were just an ordinary employee coming to work overtime.

"Jarvis, get the lab ready for me."

The elevator doors opened, and Peter, without waiting for Jarvis's reply, stepped into the Avengers' office area. Almost instantly, he sensed something was wrong—his spider-sense hadn't registered anything, but he definitely felt something amiss behind him. He leaned back, dodging a kick aimed at his head, then continued leaning back, bracing himself with his hands on the ground, and kicked out at the attacker's legs. After confirming he hadn't hit the enemy, he used his arms to perform a backflip, simultaneously throwing a chair away.

"Wow, those ladies aren't very gentlemanly, kid."

Peter, who had thrown the chair away, stopped and turned to look at the owner of the mocking voice. A black, one-eyed hard-boiled egg came into view. Nick Fury was wearing a black trench coat and was holding the same kind of liquor that the Punisher had drunk yesterday, pouring it for himself.

“Before Tony Stark and his Avengers disappeared, they told me something about the multiverse and something about Lady Spider. I’ve brought you the person you’re looking for, kid.” Fury picked up his glass and beckoned to the people behind Peter: “Come and meet our S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 4 Agent, Silk, Cindy Moon.”

Peter turned around, and standing behind him was a girl about his age. She didn't cover her face and was wearing a uniform made of an unknown material. The torso of the uniform was white with a spiderweb pattern, and the spiderweb extended from the chest, turning from red to black, with a red "S" woven in the center. The limbs were pure black, without any spiderweb structure, and only the index and middle finger cots of the gloves were red.

Seemingly noticing Peter's gaze, the girl lifted the red scarf around her neck, covering the lower half of her face.

(End of this chapter)