The headless body lay before her, and Peggy Carter was momentarily stunned.
"You…"
"Don't look at me like that. The last time I saw him, he did the same thing to me," Charlie said as he glanced at the notification.
[Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has successfully avenged America's star-spangled butt. Respawn count +8.]
"But..." Peggy started to say something.
"Okay, fine. I guess I was a little harsher than him."
"No, what I wanted to say is that he hadn't finished speaking. He might have had something to say about you," Peggy said gravely. "I don't know what Steve's connection to your parents was, but the mutated spiders he mentioned sound like they could be trouble. You acted too impulsively."
Charlie waved dismissively. "It's fine. Villains always say the same things before they die—either threats or riddles. They never just give us the information we need. The more we listen, the more it confuses us."
The fact that the mutated spider experiments were connected to Hydra was something Charlie hadn't anticipated.
Judging from Steve's last words, there were many more of those mutated spiders, though they were defective. These would no doubt cause problems in the future.
This was Steve's final act of revenge.
Peggy blinked, clearly puzzled. "I don't quite understand what you mean."
"Watch more movies, and you'll get it," Charlie replied.
With that, he picked up the blackened spine from the ground and scanned the crowd.
"Do you want to come with me, or wait here for S.H.I.E.L.D. to pick you up?" he asked.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Peggy looked confused.
Charlie explained, "It's what your Strategic Scientific Reserve evolved into. You should be familiar with it."
"Oh, I see. Now I understand."
Peggy nodded, realizing what he meant, then said, "Steve's situation needs an explanation. You killed him, and that's going to cause you a lot of trouble. I need to stay here and clarify things."
"Also, Hydra's remnants are still active. I need to help eliminate them. That's my mission."
Charlie thought for a moment. "Alright, I'll leave it to you then. Here's my phone number, so feel free to contact me anytime. Oh, and don't reveal my identity."
He gave her his number and, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, shot webs to a streetlamp. A few leaps later, he climbed a nearby building and disappeared from sight.
As she watched Charlie leave, Peggy's expression grew serious.
The world had changed, and she wasn't sure how many of her old resources she could still rely on.
She wasn't worried about becoming a test subject because of her "resurrection." After all, if Steve could wake up from being frozen, she could use the same reason.
"Hey, miss, do you need help?"
At that moment, George Stacy mustered his courage and approached.
Peggy shook her head slightly but then reconsidered and nodded. "I need a pair of boots—leather boots. And I need to make a phone call."
"Alright, I'll arrange that," George said, pausing before asking, "Do you know Spider-Man?"
"Yes, he's a new friend," Peggy answered truthfully.
"Do you know who he really is?" George asked again.
No one had been close enough to hear their conversation earlier.
Peggy glanced at his police uniform. "Sorry, that's classified."
1:00 AM, 117 Black Street.
The lights in the house were already off. Ben Parker and Aunt May were asleep, and Charlie didn't want to disturb them.
Quietly, he opened the door and left the gifts he had brought outside their bedroom.
Yes, he'd been on "another trip."
Who knew how many more times he could use that excuse? He really needed to find somewhere else to live soon.
Charlie returned to his room and took his hidden phone from the closet.
Beep beep
As soon as the phone turned on, a series of notifications flashed across the screen.
Harry, Mary Jane, Professor Connors, and Aunt May had all tried to contact him.
Scanning through the messages, none of them seemed urgent, so Charlie decided to deal with them the next day.
At his desk, he turned on his lamp and opened his toolbox to repair his damaged web-shooters.
The web-shooters were independent devices, meaning his nano-suit couldn't fix them automatically. It was something Charlie had to do himself.
Thankfully, the mechanism of the web-shooters wasn't overly complicated. In less than half an hour, Charlie had them working again.
As for synthesizing more artificial spider silk proteins, he'd need to borrow equipment from Professor Connors' lab to handle that.
Soon after, Charlie stored the web-shooters in the spider emblem on his chest. Stretching, he decided to get some sleep.
Just then, the faint sound of rustling from outside caught his attention.
"F*ck, be careful. Don't let them notice us."
"Relax, we're fine here. It's safe."
The streetlights flickered as Charlie peeked out of his window. He spotted two men in black-and-white-striped prison uniforms lurking by the wall, seemingly trying to find a way to break into the house.
Charlie frowned.
The nearest prison was at least thirty kilometers from Queens. How had two escapees ended up here?
What a coincidence.
Yes, it was an absurd coincidence.
If he hadn't come home tonight, would Uncle Ben and Aunt May have been...
Wait, no. They appeared because he came home!
Charlie suddenly realized that possibility.
Having absorbed half of Lizard Parker's Spider-Totem, along with winning the latest resurrection trial, Charlie now possessed three and a half Spider-Totems.
A normal Spider-Man could lose everything with just one Totem. How much worse could it be for someone like him with multiple Totems?
The wheels of fate were beginning to turn.
He needed to take action.
Immediately, he tapped the spider emblem on his chest, and his red-and-blue suit enveloped his body. He jumped out of the window.
"Who's there?!"
"Spider-Man."
"Who's Spider-Man?"
"Looks like you guys have been locked up for a while. You've completely missed the friendly neighborhood stories."
Thwip!
Charlie fired a web, pulling down their pants, and then hung them upside down from the streetlamp. He also webbed their mouths to prevent them from disturbing the neighbors.
The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man never disturbs his neighbors.
Instead of returning to his room, Charlie swung off into the night.
Staying at home wasn't an option anymore.
As long as Uncle Ben and Aunt May were near him, they could lose their lives due to the Spider-Totem curse.
Until he found a solution, he would have to live elsewhere.
Right, Harry!
Charlie suddenly remembered.
He landed on a billboard and pulled out his phone.
Beep beep~
"Hey, Harry, where are you?"
...
City Central Hospital.
Room 166.
When Charlie arrived, he saw the doctor placing his stethoscope back on his chest, shaking his head at the figure on the bed wrapped in bandages.
"Sigh... inform his family," the doctor said to the nurse.
"What?!"
Hearing those words, Charlie's eyes widened, and he rushed to the bed, throwing himself onto the patient and wailing loudly.
"Harry! Oh no! No! No! No! (Insert 10,000 words of mourning here)."
Clint Barton, who had been awakened by the noise, opened his eyes. Seeing something strange sprawled on top of him, yelling loudly, his mouth twitched, and he pointed to the bed next to him.
"Buddy, Harry's over there."
Charlie: "..."
On the adjacent bed, Harry, wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, turned away, not wanting to look at Charlie.
"Actually, I don't know him that well," Harry muttered.
Charlie: "..."
Charlie got up silently and glared at the doctor, his eyes full of frustration.
The doctor shrugged. "Sorry, I just wanted his family to come and pay the hospital bill."
Charlie: "..."
Damn it!