Shiller turned into a mist, while Venom instantly armed himself, and the two dashed through the streets of Brooklyn Area. When they finally saw that familiar figure, he was the only one on the street.
Shiller landed, and Eddie also heavily crashed to the ground. Peter turned his head, looked at them and said, "Oh, you're here."
"What happened?" Shiller asked.
This was actually very odd, Shiller thought. On Earth, there were very few who could beat Peter in a fight, and none who could outrun Barry. So, when they encountered an enemy, shouldn't it have been Peter knocking him down first before Barry came back with them? Why did Barry come back alone to call them?
"I ran into an invisible guy", Peter said. "I couldn't see him, but he could still hit me. It was too weird, so I called you guys to check it out."
Eddie frowned slightly, but Shiller walked over to Peter's side, looked around and asked, "Are you wearing the Battlesuit's goggles? Even thermal imaging didn't work?"
Peter shook his head and said, "All the visual methods I master are useless against him."
"Have you tried Spirit Vision?"
Peter was stunned and said, "No, I didn't remember that I could use magic."
This Peter from the Shiller Universe could wield magic, or more precisely, he possessed energy within him due to a past incident of electricity theft. Although he had never learned to cast spells, he could activate Spirit Vision.
"Give me your goggles", Shiller said, extending his hand.
Peter took off his mask and handed it to Shiller. Initially, it was technology from Stark Group, but Peter had added some functions of his own. Although it looked just like a thin superhero mask, it was actually a comprehensive multifunctional monitoring and analysis tool.
After taking the mask, Shiller transferred a bit of Magic Energy into it, allowing it to cloak around the eye area so that Peter could have Spirit Vision and observe the flow of Magic Energy.
"He got away", Barry said. "I couldn't see him either. There's no trace of him in the Divine Speed. I just searched this entire urban area and found nothing."
"His targeting you wasn't an accident", Shiller speculated. "If that's the case, he will definitely come after you again. Did you get in a fight with him?"
"No, it was pretty much just me taking hits. However, I also showed that I can run faster and jump higher. Will that make him cautious?"
"No, a smart person wouldn't choose to strike here, and if he were a fool, he would never guess that you are Spider-Man. Let's head back for now, and come out for a round later tonight."
Carrying the barbeque they'd purchased along with beer, Shiller and the others headed back. When they turned the corner, Shiller saw the street sign named Vite Street, the very street mentioned in the newspapers earlier as frequented by mobsters.
"Invisible mobsters?" Shiller muttered to himself.
He was actually scrolling through potential names in his mind; such a unique attribute should not belong to a nameless nobody. As long as the character had appeared in the comics, Shiller could retrieve his data from memory.
Before he had finished looking through, the group had already reached the newspaper base. It was getting dark. Eddie pulled down the shutter door, turned on the light inside the house, and put the fragrant grilled skewers on the table, with beer at the side of the coffee table. He fetched a bottle of orange juice from the fridge for Barry.
Glasses clinked together, splashing droplets that gleamed brightly under the lights, while the TV played a sports game nearby. They began to feast heartily.
American barbecue is more about grilling than burning. Apart from some colored pepper skewers, there's no place for vegetables here. Each iron skewer was threaded with chunks of meat the size of a fist, dripping with juices, rich and creamy.
Besides, there were chickens strung up on two metal wires, a large pile of grilled chicken wings and legs. The meat was cooked perfectly, the golden crispy skin oozing clear oil, topped with a layer of the restaurant's secret spicy sauce.
The specialty of the shop was pepper-grilled cowboy bones. Holes were made in the bone part of the cowboy bones, which were flatly and densely strung on the skewers, making them look like maces from afar.
Peter bit into one fiercely, the freshness was extraordinary, followed by the rich meaty aroma and finally the hot black pepper scent that made one's nose run. When paired with a swig of refreshing home-brewed beer, it felt like a divine encounter that outshone countless experiences in the world.
"You seem a bit angry", Eddie said with a smile. "It's really unpleasant to be hit on one side, right?"
"I'm not angry about not being able to beat him, but that I didn't think of using my magic", Peter's voice was muffled as he continued to bite into his skewers and said, "Other Spider-Men seem to be very good at fighting, their minds get exceptionally sharp in a fight. But I always seem to fall a bit short, lacking a natural talent for combat."
"It's not about talent. You're not considering how much time the other Spider Men spent fighting on the streets before you, and how much time you did", Shiller comforted. "You hardly ever fought when you were young, so how could you possibly have a combat instinct that surpasses the average person?"
Peter nodded, then said, "When I was training with Batman, I realized I didn't like to improvise and preferred things orderly and logical. Deriving the next step from one, that's how the world operates."
"Like a spider weaving a web."
Peter's eyes lit up as he looked at Shiller and said, "Is that what you think? Doctor, even if I'm not good at fighting, I can still be called Spider-Man, right?"
"Of course you can. If you said you weren't Spider-Man now, that would cause a sensation", Shiller said. "It doesn't matter how strong you became after being bitten by the spider, nor that you dress just like the other Spider Men. You've earned that title with your own actions; it's rightfully yours."
"I'm preparing to have a wedding with Gwen," Peter suddenly switched topics.
But Shiller sharply caught the relationship between these two topics and said, "Has the identity of Spider-Man affected the progress of your private life development, or is it the other way around?"
"It seems I can't hide anything from you, Doctor," Peter said with a bitter smile. "If we get married, we must have a stable family life. A responsible husband can't just run out in the middle of the night, especially not night after night."
"George also doesn't want his daughter's husband to be Spider-Man because we're going to get married, have children, and raise them together. The profession of Spider-Man is too unstable and too dangerous for a family."
"Even though I think it's not much different from professions such as firefighting, I know you can't force others to start a family with a firefighter or have their relatives do so. At least firefighters get a pension if they sacrifice themselves, but there's no such thing for Spider-Man. We already have precedents for that."
It was then that Shiller remembered that Peter was the second Spider-Man. Although the first two were actually himself, from what the public understood, the outcomes for the previous generations weren't good, so it's no wonder George still couldn't let go of this concern.
"When do you and Gwen plan to have children? Within a few years or so?"
"Thinking about this now is too early," Peter muttered. "I feel like we're both not ready."
"I think you should understand the significance of childbirth for women. George believes that if one day you die because of the identity of Spider-Man, the things Gwen contributed and gained during the process of childbirth wouldn't become a piece of good news for this family, but rather a burden for the latter half of her life. I think that's what he's trying to express."
After thinking it over, Peter said, "I've seen many single mothers; their lives are too difficult, like living in hell. I don't want Gwen to go through that kind of life."
"So, apart from you not being Spider-Man, there's another way, and that's for you two to delay childbirth," Shiller suggested.
"But ultimately we'll still want a child, and by that time I still may not be able to give up my superhero career. Yet Gwen's risk of childbirth would be higher. I can't do that."
Peter lowered his eyelids, his gentle expression like the wind blowing through the window in spring, and one could see many traces of the years around his eyes and brows. The edginess of his youth was maturing into the Dionysium that only comes from a mature man having weathered many experiences.
"Being a superhero was my dream, and besides me, no one else should pay the price or take on additional risks for it. I am even less willing to have Gwen or George do so for me."
"Gwen is willing to support you in chasing your dreams."
"That's because she loves me, but a person's love is a gift, not capital. It should be carefully cherished and stored, not spent like money to get something for oneself. It's an extremely selfish act; those who do so don't deserve love."
Shiller sighed. He had wanted to talk to Peter and help him resolve his inner conflict, but now, he wondered how he could discuss this when he simply couldn't find the words.
"You've raised the average level of mental health for the entire human race. Come on, take my place as the psychologist here."
"Before, I couldn't be sure whether I truly lacked the capability to stand up and maintain order like the other Spider-Men because I kept thinking, why can they do it and not me."
"But now it seems maybe it's just the case; from the beginning, I never chose this path. I didn't receive the proper education in this direction, didn't practice enough, nor did I achieve any results. Naturally, I found it hard to be adept."
"It's just that the spider mutation gave me such great strength which I could potentially use, but I haven't, and if someone else had this power, I could be a scientist. Yet that person could use the power, like Spider-Man, to help others. Wouldn't that be better for the world?"
"Then you can give it to me. I like Spider-Man's strength the best!" Venom approached with his mouth wide open. "Just let me eat a third of your brain and…"
Eddie pushed Venom back.
"Venom's appearance broke the heavy atmosphere," Peter said irritably. "You just like Spider-Man! There have already been complaints from more than one Spider-Man in the group about you harassing them! How could you do such a thing?"
"What do you mean by 'harassing'?!! I just happened to meet them while they were swinging around!!"
"I mean, your current host is Eddie. It would hurt Eddie if you keep doing this. Don't extraterrestrial beings understand what loyalty and fidelity are?! You big philanderer!"
"I…" Venom was choked up before muttering softly, "I didn't want to leave Eddie, but Spider-Man's brain really smells so good…"
"I can testify," Gray mist said. "Much more fragrant than the barbecued meat in your hands. The whole person smells incredible. Oh, heavens, there are thousands of fragrant steaks swinging through the New York sky!"
Shiller had just caught some key points from Peter's words when their argument interrupted him; now, his mind was full of images of steak swinging through the skies of New York.
Shiller cleared his throat and pulled his thoughts back, looking at Peter and saying, "So, what do you want to do?"
"I'm thinking about whether I could transfer Spider-Man's mutation abilities to someone else," Peter said. "With great power comes great responsibility, but now I'm holding this power and can't make the most of it. Scientific research and family life are taking up too much of my time, preventing me from shouldering Spider-Man's responsibilities. Maybe it would be better with another person?"
"So, you don't want to be a superhero anymore?"
"I don't care whether I am the hero or not. I care about whether there will be one more hero in the world."