"Honestly, Gwen, you really should reconsider my suggestion about us sharing one account. Nick wouldn't be able to tell us apart. He doesn't have a daughter and would definitely be unable to distinguish between girls of our age."
Spideman Gwen was pulling this world's Gwen into the exhibition entrance. They had met earlier at the car inspection area.
Of course, this wasn't their first encounter. They'd met previously in the laboratory, and Gwen Spiderman had been trying to convince her parallel universe counterpart to cover shifts for her.
"Oh God, Miss Stacy, quit your nonsense! Even if we both could do research, I've never been bitten by a spider. How could I possibly swing between those tall buildings?" Gwen spread out her hands and looked helplessly at her alternate self.
"Honestly, haven't you ever dreamed of soaring through the city like Peter?" Gwen Spiderman seemed more vibrant, perhaps due to the excessive energy brought about by her spider mutation, which made her more active as she spoke faster.
"No interest at all," Gwen shook her head and sighed, "I was fortunate enough to have been flown around a few times by him. The wind is too strong up there. Besides, after returning home each time, I had to explain to my dad that Peter isn't the type of guy who becomes corrupt with money. He didn't buy a sports car or take me speeding."
"Come on!" Gwen Spiderman grabbed Gwen's arm and whined with a drawn-out tone, "Swinging around by yourself is completely different from being held by someone else. That feeling is really cool."
"But I didn't mutate, how can I fly?"
"Isn't it simple? The current Spider-Man suits are getting more advanced, with magic attached. I can get the familiar faces from The Sanctum to use a different enchantment when performing the magic binding. This will definitely make it hard to distinguish between a mutated spider and the real one."
Gwen sighed helplessly. She raised her hand and put Gwen Spiderman's hoodie on, then, while walking, she said, "Don't think I don't know, for the two weeks being Nick's assistant, you must have learnt a lot of macroeconomics knowledge from him and Doctor Shiller. You want to use my identity to open another account and get two basic salaries."
"Absolutely not!" Gwen Spiderman denied without thinking.
Gwen Spiderman went forward and held Gwen's arm, constantly persuading her, while Gwen helplessly dragged her in like a deadweight. After they entered the exhibition hall, they were both attracted by the gigantic machinery.
"Oh my God, is that the engine of a sky train? It's so huge!" Gwen exclaimed in awe "I didn't feel it when I was on the train."
Gwen Spiderman also looked around at the exhibits with interest. She was more interested in the train's shell and walked to the material display stand.
Suddenly, she spotted a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. Gwen's hair stood on end, but she soon relaxed. She let out a breath, put her hands on her hips, and said to the girl next to her, "Spider Silk? How can you walk so quietly? You scared me to death."
Spider Silk also looked at the introduction of the materials in the display cabinet with great interest. She turned her head, showing an apologetic smile, and said, "It seems, the Spider Silk from your world has made you tense."
"Of course, she is totally a psycho!" Gwen said grumpily, "In any case of trouble, she's the one to blame."
Spider Silk let out a soft sigh as if she remembered something. She looked at Gwen and said, "There are so many Peter Parkers in this universe. Don't you see anything of him at all in anyone?"
Gwen Spiderman silently turned her head back around, crossed her arms, and said, "Just take care of yourself. Rest assured, I'm not interested in the Amazing Spiderman."
"I broke up with him already." Spider Silk tapped her chin, saying: "That day, Spider-Girl's bag was left at his place. He saw the letter that Spider-Girl wrote to her mother, the one meant for Mary Jane."
"After seeing that letter, he was saddened for a long time. In another universe, he even had a child with Mary Jane, but they still couldn't live together in peace. He started to feel depressed."
"I guess, it's not just because of this." Gwen's tone also sank. She blinked and said, "He heard about the heavily injured Spider-Man's story, he felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility. When one disaster after another befell the Earth, he felt that he had no choice but to confront them, no need to drag another person into it."
"He only saw me as emotional comfort during his depression." Spider Silk's tone was very calm. She continued, "But I wish he could face his feelings for Mary Jane. They're always entwining, never really understanding themselves."
"I have more reason to hate Mary Jane more than you do." Gwen said with furrowed brows. "Most Peters have forgotten about me."
"But that's not what you really think. What upsets you isn't that Peter has a new relationship, but that he and Mary Jane aren't that compatible, always depleting their love and emotions for each other."
Gwen Spider-Man gently lowered her head, without rebuttal. Spider Silk spoke again, "But in this world, like you and Peter, couples who truly understand each other to the extreme are always few. Most people are rubbing against each other, understanding each other through pain, allowing their blood to mingle from the wounds."
"Does it really make sense?" Gwen Spider-Man murmured to herself.
"Why don't you try it?" Spider Silk turned her head to look at Gwen Spider-Man, saying: "I've been an assistant at the convalescent home for a while. All I can tell you is that your psychological assessment results are not optimistic, and your personal consciousness is disintegrating."
"Your desire to strive for a certain goal is strong, but you are gradually losing yourself. You are also human, needing a personal career and an emotional life, rather than rushing to sacrifice your life for your universe."
"Did Doctor Shiller send you to persuade me?" Gwen turned her head to look at her and asked.
Spider Silk shook her head and said: "This was entirely my own idea. Among all universes, you are also a unique Spider-Man. You are the scars of all Peters, but also their hope."
"Whether you feel it or not, each Peter is more or less paying attention to you. They know you're not their Gwen, just as you know they're not your Peter."
"But they hope you'll do better, just like you hope they'll do better, right?"
Gwen was silent, standing there. Through the mask, Spider Silk didn't know whether there was a hint of sadness on the girl's face, but soon, a commotion interrupted their conversation.
Spider Silk and Gwen Spider-Man both turned around to see sparks coming from the giant engine located in the center of the exhibition hall.
Gwen was stunned for a moment, then reacted and said: "Someone has sabotaged the ignition system. The engine might turn into a bomb... Stop them quickly!"
After saying this, Gwen swung away at high speed, but before she could rush over, several young men of similar shape and appearance sprang out of the crowd. One of them raised his hand and said: "Short circuit triggered, prepare for emergency repair!"
All at once, the young men hopped onto the colossal engine like nimble spiders. With swift and dizzying movements, hardly visible to the eye, they removed the engine's outer shell and crawled inside.
Just as Gwen rushed to the front of the engine, she heard a series of cracking noises. Instinctively, she shielded her face with her arm. After a "boom", a small section of the engine casing exploded and rolled far away along the floor.
Peter Parker, dirt-streaked from the tip of his feat to his face, crawled out with a wrench in his hand, saying, "Minor glitch, fixed it!"
"Oh, Gwen, you're here. Um, wait, which Gwen are you?" The Peter that crawled out was a bit confused.
Just as Gwen was about to respond, a group of people rushed in through the side door carrying a hodgepodge of long and short guns, and tripods.
The reporters who charged in looked at the situation in the venue and were all stunned.
Where were the promised explosions? The large machine accidents at the important expo? Why was there no smoke or fire? Why were the spectators standing still and safe?
Gwen Spiderman took a closer look at the Peter Parker in front of her, assuming him to be in about the same period as the Amazing Spiderman, possibly a researcher at an institute in New York.
As expected, this Peter looked a bit shy when he saw Gwen, scratching his head and saying, "Ah, it's nothing really, I've just come back from the repair group at Mercury Base. I'm pretty good at repairs. That piece that flew out just now didn't hit you, did it?"
"I'm okay." Gwen shook her head, she didn't look at this Peter again, instead, she looked behind the crowd.
The reporters who charged in started interviewing the spectators. A female reporter raised her microphone towards an old couple who had come to watch the exhibition, yelling: "Did you witness the horrifying accident just now? Are you injured? Did you sprain your ankles?"
"No, we didn't ..."
"Oh, thank heavens! You didn't sprain your ankles! Luckily those horrible accidents didn't take your lives. You must have been scared to death, right?"
"We actually didn't ..."
"Well then, you should take a break... Excuse me, ma'am, could I take up two minutes of your time? How do you feel about the engine of the Sky Train exploding at the exhibition?"
"Explosion? Where was an explosion?"
"Oh my God, this horrifying accident has caused great panic among the people and left them at a loss! Let's go interview this sir!"
Just as Gwen was about to step forward to stop the reporters from spouting nonsense, a Peter Parker in the distance winked at her. Gwen immediately understood, this wasn't over yet.
As expected, a man dressed as an exhibition staff member quietly approached the crowd of reporters and people being interviewed. Gwen squinted her eyes, stepped back two steps, and intentionally moved out of the way.
She stood still, raised her eyes slightly, and saw several shadows had already jumped onto the dragon bone structure of the exhibition ceiling.
In the shadow of the skylight, more and more spider eyes were lighting up. Soon, hundreds of eyes were fixed on the figures gathering maliciously in the middle of the exhibition hall.
"Bang!"
The moment the gunshot sounded, the staff member holding the gun and wearing blue overalls felt a huge force hit his arm. With a "boom", his world spun.
When he landed on the ground, all he saw was the Spider Legion descending directly amongst the crossing and forming spider silks.
"Ding!"
Gwen Spiderman knocked the aggressive staff member unconscious with a punch and took out her ringing cell phone. After unlocking it, she saw a new task had been posted on the Spider App-
"Chase after the hidden culprit behind the exhibition!
No maximum limit:
Hitman (3 credits)
Gunman (5 credits)
Technician (7 credits)
Additional tasks:
Regular clues (10 credits)
Important intel (20 credits)
Small thugs (30 credits)
The hidden culprit (100 credits)"
Gwen Spiderman, holding her phone, swallowed hard. When she turned her head to look around, all she saw were hundreds of spider eyes shining brighter than lightbulbs.
Inside a S.H.I.E.L.D office, Shiller put away his phone. Grant Ward asked somewhat puzzled: "So, the exhibition security operation is canceled?"
"Yes, you don't need to go. Use that time to do something else and transfer the funds for this operation into my account."