Miles froze, feeling his throat a bit dry, a voice in his head was telling him no, this wasn't right, but another voice was telling him, his words made sense.
If no one else was doing it, and he did, it meant he should be a hero, it wasn't stolen or snatched, he had faced danger on his own and earned it with his abilities, so why shouldn't he accept the praise?
"But, this seems a bit dishonorable," Miles said, "Can't you still be called a hero even if it's not for free?"
"Expecting heroes to contribute without compensation is the real evil," Peter said, "Noble persons are all pursuing to be gods, but if you want to be an ordinary person, that's not wrong either. The world always needs ordinary people."
Miles swallowed, then Peter continued, "Actually, material motivation is more stable than intrinsic motivation because, no matter what, there will always be people who admire you, like me, even if the reputation of The Third Generation Spider-Man isn't very good, I still have a group of loyal fans."
"But sadly, I'm not the kind of person who can derive great motivation from others' admiration; I prefer to follow my heart, and use my inner kindness to save more people. That's mainly why I gave up the identity of Spider-Man to become a researcher, because that way I can save more people."
"But the identity of Spider-Man is also important," Peter disclosed the words once said by the Amazing Spiderman to him, "Someone has to create a better tomorrow, but Spider-Man just wants people to see tomorrow."
Miles's eyes seemed a little moist as he said, "So it's not dishonorable, right?"
"As long as you truly do it, it is noble."
Miles took a deep breath, his fists clenched so tight that they almost lost their color, his black skin showing a layer of pallor.
"Can I really do it?"
"I said, as long as you want to, you can do it," Peter said, placing his hand on Miles's shoulder, "I was not able to be Spider-Man from the beginning, when I first started out I might have done much worse than you."
Suddenly, Miles had a spark of inspiration and asked, "How did you learn? Did someone teach you?"
"Of course, many people have taught me," Peter said with a smile showing some nostalgia, "If I told you their great names, it would certainly shock you."
"I bet Iron Man was one of them," Miles snapped his fingers, his butt starting to wiggle on the sofa, "The media says you have a special relationship, so the two of you..."
"They think too much, Tony and I are just friends, of course, he's also like a teacher and a father to me, he's always been helping me with Spider-Man's cause, but when he heard I didn't want to follow that path, he always supported me."
"Then he..."
"He probably doesn't have time to mentor you now," Peter shook his head, "His fiancée is pregnant, he's busy with the wedding lately. Of course, Captain America has also taught me, but he's quite busy lately too."
"So I..."
"So, you agreed?"
Miles was caught off guard and stammered, "Uh, I was just fantasizing, I didn't say I..."
"Then you've agreed," Peter stood up and said, "There's a reason I came to find you at this time. I heard the Space Station is going to fall, possibly destroying the entire American Continent. Right now, there's a bit of panic throughout New York, and the young heroes are short-handed, desperately needing a leader."
"A leader? But I don't know how to be Spider-Man yet."
"You'll learn by practicing," Peter pulled Miles up from the chair and said, "You're going to have to learn eventually, why not start today?"
Miles felt there was something wrong, but it seemed reasonable at first listen, so he was somewhat dazedly pulled by Peter to the headquarters of the Spider Legion. After asking Nick for permission, Nick successfully transferred his own Spider-Man superpowers to Miles using the Spider Totem.
Miles was shocked as he looked at his own hands, Peter already grabbed his hand, trying to fit the Spider Silk Launcher onto him, and Miles nervously pushed him away saying, "Hey, stop, I still haven't..."
Peter was sent flying.
When he got up holding his waist, he said somewhat helplessly, "Good thing I still have some Divine Power. Oh man, you can't put so much strength in it, you are a Superman now…"
Miles rushed over feeling very sorry, wanting to lend Peter a hand but not daring to touch him, so he stood there somewhat frantically rubbing his hands together.
"This ability isn't difficult to master, you just need to swing around the New York Sky a few times, now, let's go."
Peter took Miles to the rooftop of the Stark Building. On the way there, Peter had explained the use of the Spider Silk Launcher to Miles, and had Falcon watching by the side, in case Miles couldn't fly and would dive straight to the ground.
With things having reached this point, Miles was finally calming down and coming to terms with reality. He stood on the edge of the building and took a deep breath, but when he looked down, he still felt a bit dizzy.
"Do I really have to jump down? It's kind of too high," Miles said, gasping for air, "Have I ever told you I'm afraid of heights? I feel like I'll smash into a pulp if I fall, are you sure this gadget you gave me works…"
Miles was still mumbling, completely oblivious to Peter having moved behind him.
Bang!
"Aaaaah!"
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"Ohoho——!!!"
Watching Miles swing away, Peter clapped his hands and said, "Doctor Schiller was right, sometimes physical therapy is the best approach."
There were still 7 minutes left until the Power Engine bomb explosion.
Mysterio stumbled into the room where the Power Engine was located, and upon seeing the row of bombs, his heart leaped. He carefully walked over and felt the upper part of a bomb with his palm.
To be honest, he couldn't make heads or tails of the bomb.
First off, he was a software engineer. His main field of study was computers, with no background in mechanical engineering or explosives. Plus, it wasn't as simple as the movies with a bomb and three wires to choose from. The technology of this thing was clearly more advanced.
Suddenly, a door on the other side clicked open, and Mysterio turned to see Parker.
Mysterio was about to ask him a question when he remembered that to keep his identity secret, he couldn't let on that he knew Parker.
"Who are you?" Mysterio asked in a low voice, altered by specialized equipment to sound especially deep.
"I'm Ben Parker, an electrical engineer at the Space Station. I thought no one else would come."
Mysterio felt insulted. He raised his voice and said, "Then what are you doing here? How did you get here?"
He felt anger again. Why should Ben Parker be here of all places? This was his stage, where he was to make his debut as a world-famous hero. What right did this cowardly, foolish, goody-goody have to share the stage with him?
But Ben Parker seemed oblivious to his feelings and explained calmly, "I took the staff corridor, managed to pry open the locks, and took the nearest maintenance tunnel here."
Mysterio felt like a joke.
Right, the maintenance corridor. Then what was the point of all his efforts that had left him battered and bruised?
It seemed as if Parker's presence was meant to highlight his own stupidity. Mysterio's rage flared again, and he was unable to control his emotions as he roared at Parker, "You are not needed here!"
But Parker appeared to misunderstand him completely, saying, "Yes, I know you're a superpower user, and I'm just a normal person. You're worried about my safety, but please believe that I have my own plan."
Parker looked at the bomb. "Do you have a way to defuse it?"
Mysterio was speechless, his bravado diminished. He genuinely had no idea how to.
"To be honest, I don't think I can either. After all, I'm just an electrician, not a bomb disposal expert. But I do have an idea..."
Only 5 minutes were left on the countdown. Mysterio, watching Parker circle the bomb, shouted, "Then spit it out, quick!"
"But it might be a bit difficult." Parker purposely drew out his response before saying, "Remember the Photovoltaic Integrated Device that was destroyed?"
Mysterio paused, then felt a pang of guilt. He had no idea why Parker brought this up, but Parker didn't leave him hanging this time and went straight to the point, "I don't know what that solar creature is all about, but its flames seem quite useful, capable of burning right through Molten Steel Alloy."
Parker bent down to look underneath the bomb. "No matter how sturdy this thing is, it's certainly fixed to the floor. That means if we can sever its connection to the Space Station, we can throw it out the window, and then it wouldn't matter if it explodes or not."
It made sense to Mysterio. At this moment, he remembered his role and said, "I know all about those creatures. They're known as 'Elementals', trapped in Elemental Space since the Ancient Egyptian period. Now that a crack has appeared in Elemental Space, they've escaped into the real world."
"The power I wield is elemental, summoned from Elemental Space. You can call me 'Mysterio'."
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Mysterio," Parker said. "So, you can use that kind of flame that can burn through Molten Steel Alloy?"
"Yes, I can," Mysterio replied briskly since he really could. The lasers in the drones he had designed were specifically made to cut through Molten Steel Alloy.
His mind cleared, he said, "Right, I can cut through the floor below, then throw the floor panel and this damned bomb out, flinging it far away."
"Exactly," Parker agreed. "But..."
"But what?!!" Mysterio snapped impatiently. There were only 3 minutes left now—why was this fool still playing coy?!
"My nephew is Peter Parker; he's quite the impressive scientist. Though he's not exactly a mechanical engineer, he still works at Stark Group. You know Stark..."
"Just get to the point!!!"
"Stark is a master in mechanical engineering. Peter occasionally talks about related topics. Based on my experience, the bomb's outer casing might not withstand high temperatures; a careless move could easily trigger an explosion on the spot."
Mysterio swallowed hard. The countdown had reached 02:49.
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