Bab 66: Restart, Spider-Man! [66]
"You—"
"Don't look at me like that. He did the same thing to me last time," Xia Luo said, glancing at the notification that had popped up.
[Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man successfully avenged America's Ass. +8 reset chances.]
"But..." Carter started, still wanting to say something.
"Alright, alright. To be fair, I was probably worse than he was."
"No, that's not what I meant. He didn't finish what he was saying. There might've been something important about you," Carter said, her expression growing serious. "I don't know what connection Steve had to your parents, but those mutated spiders he mentioned sound like trouble. You might've acted too rashly."
Xia Luo waved her off. "Don't worry about it. Villains always say the same things before they die. Either they make threats or talk in riddles. They're never going to tell us what we actually need to know. Listening to them just makes things more confusing."
The fact that the mutated spider research project was tied to Hydra was unexpected for him. From what Steve said before dying, it seemed that there were still a lot of those mutated spiders left, though most were defective. It would probably cause some trouble down the road.
This was Steve's final act of revenge.
Carter blinked, puzzled. "I don't really get what you mean."
"You should watch more movies. Then you'll understand."
With that, Xia Luo picked up the blackened spine from the ground and glanced at the surrounding crowd.
"Are you coming with me, or are you going to wait for SHIELD to pick you up?" he asked.
"SHIELD?" Carter looked confused.
Xia Luo explained, "It's basically the modern version of the Strategic Scientific Reserve from your time. You should be familiar with it."
"Oh, I see." Carter nodded in realization, then said, "There needs to be an explanation for what happened with Steve. You killed him, and that's going to cause a lot of problems for you. I need to stay and clear things up. Plus, Hydra's remnants haven't been completely eradicated yet. It's my mission to help them finish off those guys."
Xia Luo thought for a moment. "Alright, that makes sense. I'll leave the rest to you. Here's my phone number. Contact me whenever you need to. Oh, and don't expose my identity."
He gave her his number and, under the gaze of the crowd, fired a web, leaped onto a lamppost, and swung up onto a nearby building, disappearing from sight.
Watching Xia Luo leave, Carter's face grew serious.
The times had changed, and she wasn't sure how much of her old connections she could still rely on.
She wasn't worried about becoming a test subject just because she had "come back to life." After all, if Steve could wake up from being frozen, she could use the same excuse.
"Hey, ma'am, do you need any help?"
At that moment, George, gathering his courage, stepped forward to ask.
Carter shook her head slightly but then seemed to think of something and nodded.
"I could use a pair of boots—leather boots—and I need to make a phone call."
"Alright, I'll arrange that," George replied, pausing briefly. "Do you know Spider-Man?"
"Yes, he's a new friend," Carter said truthfully.
"Do you know who he really is?" George asked again.
Since they'd been too far away earlier, no one had overheard the conversation between Xia Luo and Carter.
Carter glanced at George's police uniform and replied, "Sorry, that's classified."
1:00 AM, 117 Blake Street.
The house was dark. Ben Parker and Aunt May were already asleep, and Xia Luo made sure not to disturb them.
He quietly opened the door and placed the gifts he had brought back outside their bedroom.
Yes, he had "gone on another trip."
He wasn't sure how long he could keep using that excuse. He'd need to find a way to move out eventually.
Xia Luo then returned to his room and retrieved his phone from the cabinet.
Beep, beep
The moment he turned it on, a flood of messages appeared on the screen.
Harry, Mary Jane, Professor Connors, and even Aunt May had all been trying to reach him.
Skimming through the messages, Xia Luo saw nothing urgent. He decided to deal with them tomorrow.
Sitting at his desk, he turned on the lamp and took out his toolbox to fix the web-shooters Steve had broken.
The web-shooters were standalone devices, and his nanotech suit couldn't repair them automatically. Xia Luo would have to fix them manually.
Fortunately, the mechanics of the web-shooters weren't overly complicated, and within half an hour, they were back in working order.
As for synthesizing more artificial spider silk, he'd need to borrow some equipment from Professor Connors' lab.
Just as he finished, faint voices outside caught his attention.
"Fick, be careful. Don't let them see us."
"Relax. We're fine. This place is safe."
Xia Luo looked out the window and spotted two men in black-and-white-striped prison uniforms lurking near the corner of the house, apparently deciding where to break in.
His brows furrowed.
The nearest prison was at least thirty kilometers from Queens. How had two escaped convicts ended up here?
What a coincidence.
Yes, it was an absurd coincidence.
If he hadn't come back tonight, Uncle Ben and Aunt May might have…
Wait, no. It was because he had come back that they appeared!
Xia Luo suddenly realized the connection.
With half of the Lizard Parker's spider totem now absorbed into him, along with the new totem from the resurrection tournament, Xia Luo now had three and a half spider totems.
One spider totem was enough to ruin the life of any ordinary Spider-Man, let alone the number he had.
The gears of fate were starting to turn.
He needed to take action.
Immediately, Xia Luo tapped the spider emblem on his chest, and his red-and-blue suit enveloped his body. He then vaulted out the window, quietly landing below.
"Who's there!?"
"Spider-Man."
"Who's Spider-Man?"
"Looks like you've been locked up for a while. Haven't heard the story of your friendly neighborhood hero?"
Whizz!
Xia Luo shot webs, yanking down their pants, then hoisted the two convicts upside-down from the nearest lamppost.
For good measure, he webbed their mouths shut to avoid disturbing the neighbors.
A friendly neighborhood Spider-Man never disturbs his neighbors.
Instead of returning home, Xia Luo swung off into the night toward the city.
Home was no longer a safe place for him to stay.
As long as Uncle Ben and Aunt May were around, they were at constant risk because of the spider totems.
Until he found a solution, he'd have to live elsewhere.
Oh, right—Harry!
Xia Luo suddenly remembered.
He landed on a billboard and pulled out his phone.
Beep, beep
"Hey, Harry, where are you?"
City Hospital.
Room 166.
When Xia Luo arrived, he saw the doctor hang his stethoscope around his neck, shaking his head as he spoke to the nurse.
"Notify his family."
"What?"
Xia Luo's eyes widened in shock. He rushed to the bedside and threw himself onto the patient, wailing loudly.
"Harry! Oh no! No! No! No! (insert ten thousand words of sorrow)"
Barton, who had been woken up by all the noise, opened his eyes and saw a strange figure lying on top of him, screaming hysterically. His lips twitched, and he pointed to the bed next to his.
"Buddy, Harry's over there."
Xia Luo froze.
On the adjacent bed, Harry, wrapped head to toe in bandages, awkwardly turned his head, clearly trying not to look at Xia Luo.
"Actually, we're not that close."
Xia Luo: "..."
He stood up silently and shot the doctor an accusatory look.
The doctor shrugged. "Sorry, I just wanted to call his family so they could pay the bill."
Xia Luo: "..."
Damn it!
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