Chapter 93: Little Spiders Great Wisdom (2)
Entering Stark Tower, Connors still walked quickly with Peter following behind him. He said, "Alright, Doctor, I have safely delivered you to Stark Tower, there shouldn't be any danger here. I have to go now, I have things to do..."
"You have things to do? Of course, you do! What, are you going to put on that weird tight suit and go wandering around again?"
"I'm not wandering around, that monster is causing destruction in the city, I have to go stop him..."
"But didn't Stark already go there? Do you think he can't handle the monster?"
"Well, not exactly, but he could use some help, right?"
"I also need help. Put down your backpack, put on the full lab coat, and let's go into the laboratory. We need to solve this problem, and it all starts with the serum."
"But I need to join the fight. I can't just be a deserter, can I?"
Dr. Connors stopped and turned to Peter, placing his hand on his shoulder and looking into his eyes. "The battlefield isn't always where you think it is," he said.
He pointed his finger outside the window and continued, "The most important lesson I learned during my military career is that not only places with gunfire are battlefields. Sometimes, right here..." Dr. Connors pointed to the ground beneath them, "is a more important battlefield than over there."
"You have to understand that throwing a punch is not necessarily nobler than using your brain. You have to realize that even if you beat up that monster, he won't turn into a do-gooder. The military won't stop their evil experiments. To solve everything fundamentally, strength alone is not enough, you must use your brain.""But how do I do that? I don't understand..."
Peter took the initiative to follow behind Connors and continued walking forward, saying, "I've always done this, stopping those bad guys from committing crimes. What's wrong with that?"
"It's not wrong, but I think you can always do better."
"Peter, maybe your mutation, the sudden acquisition of strong power, makes you feel like you've gone from weak to strong, and that you can change the world with this change."
"But in reality, even without this mutation, you can still do it."
"Haven't you realized it yet? You're a genius. Even if you don't have these powerful abilities or physical strength, even if you just go to college and graduate school step by step, you can change the world someday."
"Your mutation just speeds up this process, but it's not everything. You have to break free from that inflated emotion and think about who you really are."
"Who am I? I'm Spider-Man..."
"That's right, but you're also Peter Parker."
Dr. Connors walked in and pointed to the experimental table, "Look, this is also your battlefield. Here, you can do better than Spider-Man. You can also change the world here."
Peter stood at the door, tiptoed and rubbed his hands, saying, "Really? But no one has ever said this to me. They all think I have poor physical strength, am not good at sports, and always stay alone. I'm a weirdo who doesn't fit in."
"Do the people who gave you these evaluations have three Doctor degrees?"
"Uh, they're just some high school students, of course not."
"Then who do you think you should believe?"
Peter hesitated.
After a while, he said, "Okay."
Connor's affirmation gave him a lot of courage. He rubbed his wrists and said, "Then I'll give it a try. Today, I won't be Spider-Man, let Spider-Man take a day off. We'll stay here... and do it like this..."
Connor sorted out the materials while saying, "That's right. In the future, he'll have more days off. New York doesn't lack a superhero flying around in the sky, but this world always lacks a Nobel Prize candidate."
"I think Peter Parker deserves a break too. I really enjoy swinging around over New York." Peter shrugged, feeling relieved.
It was the first time someone had told him that Peter Parker was more important than Spider-Man.
Originally, all the confidence he had came from being Spider-Man with strong powers. After all, he had faced a lot of discrimination in school before, and being Spider-Man, who could help others with his strong powers, helped him find the meaning of his life.
But he thought Dr. Connors made a lot of sense. The people who didn't believe in him or excluded him were just a group of high school students who hadn't gone to college yet, but the people who affirmed him with the title of Doctor, adding up to seven or eight in total, and Peter wasn't stupid. When compared, of course, the testimony of these few people was more credible.
He originally knew that his brain was very capable and he didn't need to study hard to achieve good grades.
But he had never thought about what changes he could bring to this world with his brain.
That's also why he was so excited after gaining the spider mutation powers. He thought he had changed from a weakling to a strong person, without realizing that he wasn't a weakling to begin with.
In fact, Peter had more strengths. Even if he didn't have such a smart brain and powerful abilities, his kindness and determination were enough for him to achieve a decent achievement in the ordinary world.
Children at this age are always full of fantasies about the future, but also hesitant. However, when someone gives them a very affirmative answer, and the person giving them the answer has achieved top achievements in their respective fields, Peter still believed.
On the other side, Stark, who had already arrived at the battlefield, also encountered some trouble. This red-maned lizard, whom Stark called "Redmane," was even more troublesome than Lizard Man.
Firstly, he was larger than Lizard Man, with a size of more than 10 meters, already as tall as a building.
Secondly, he was incredibly strong, able to easily knock down a building with just one punch. What's more terrifying is that he seemed to be in a state of rage, almost without any sense, only charging straight ahead.
Originally, Stark liked to deal with brainless enemies like this because J.A.R.V.I.S's intelligent calculation could win in tactics, making it easier for Stark to win.
However, this red-maned lizard, although irrational, due to his massive size and immense strength, was still deadly, even with just a single charge or punch.
Moreover, Lizard Man had only recently appeared, and upgrading Stark's suit would take time. He had just come up with some ideas to deal with large monsters, but before he could put them into practice, another behemoth had appeared. This made Stark a little frustrated since his current lightweight Mech armor was not very useful against this type of enemy.
While Stark was thinking about tactics, a shiny shield flew in and hit the monster's forehead, causing it to stumble.
When Stark saw Steve, his face turned black. He had not forgotten when Steve used the pretext of expelling Venom to beat him up, and afterward, he still refused to admit it, insisting it was for his own good.
Stark hated it when someone talked to him like an elder, hated it even more when someone beat him up and then talked to him like that, and hated it even more when someone could beat up a tougher enemy after beating him up, making him look useless.
Steve took back his shield, jumped onto the monster's neck, and gave it two hard punches. The brain is an important organ of any creature. After being hit twice like that, the monster was stunned for a moment. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Steve threw his shield at the monster's right leg, causing it to scream in pain and temporarily pull back its leg. Then Steve hit it from the side, making the monster fall to the ground.
"Thank you, Tony. I haven't dealt with such a big creature like this before. You've given me a lot of experience," said Steve.
J.A.R.V.I.S. in Stark's Mech armor said, "I have detected an increased heart rate and high blood pressure. Please calm down and take deep breaths."
Stark said, "Activate the hive plan, now! Immediately!"
"Are you sure you want to remove all safety locks and..." J.A.R.V.I.S. asked.
"I'm sure! Activate it now!!"
In the midst of the fight, Steve looked up and saw Stark raising his arm in the air. He waved his hand, and suddenly, countless sonic booms could be heard. Dozens, even hundreds, of Mech armors appeared in the sky and descended onto the battlefield.
"Get out of the way, old-timer!" said Stark.
Instantly, a Mech armor swooped down and exploded, causing the Red Lizard to stumble back. Steve, holding his shield, was thrown back as well. He waved his fist and said, "Stop firing at allies. You must have done it on purpose!"
Stark smiled and said, "You've misunderstood. I'm only doing this for your own good."
Stark waved his hand again, and more than a dozen Mech armors flew over and surrounded the monster, creating an electric grid between them. After a burst of intense flashing, the monster let out a terrible scream and collapsed to the ground.
Stark said, "This move is indeed impressive, but I think there's still room for improvement. By the way, don't record where the inspiration for this move came from. That yellow-haired rodent called Pikachu electrocuted my Mech armor, and I haven't made him pay compensation yet."
Although the monster fell temporarily, it soon got up again. Stark said with a headache, "He must be related to that big lizard. What's with their supernatural healing abilities?"
Indeed, the burn scars caused by the electric shock had fully healed within a few minutes, and the monster's stamina seemed to be recovering quickly as well. Just after being beaten up by Captain America, it quickly jumped up and started causing more damage.
Although the two of them had enough attack power, without Spider-Man, they lacked a means of control. Spider-Man's spider web could easily make these giant monsters lose their balance or trip over. Just as Stark was about to make a call, he received a message from J.A.R.V.I.S, saying that Peter was currently conducting an experiment with Dr. Connors.
He hung up without saying anything.
As the battle became more and more intense, a red and blue figure suddenly appeared in the sky above the city. Peter quickly flew over and kicked the monster in the back, knocking it down.
He was holding a box, and he threw it to Stark, saying, "This is the antidote. Inject all five doses, and the world will be at peace."
Stark threw the box to a nearby Mech armor and said as he flew, "Is this your research achievement?"
"No, it's mainly Dr. Connors' work. I'm just helping out."
"Then it's your research achievement."
As he spoke, the Mech armor opened the box and took out a syringe, distributing the medicine to the other Mech armors while Steve kept the monster distracted. They launched a surprise attack from behind and injected the medicine.
The monster began to scream uncontrollably and thrashed its arms around, but after a while, its body began to shrink, quickly returning to the size of an ordinary human.
Stark saw the person lying on the ground without arms and sighed. He said to J.A.R.V.I.S., "Send a Mech armor to take him away. If anyone asks, say he was blown to pieces."
He flew over to Spider-Man standing on the rooftop, and stood beside him. He asked, "How does it feel to save the world, Peter Parker?"
"Feels great, I mean... amazing!" Peter took a deep breath, as if he had suddenly released a burden.
For the first time, he had confidence in his true identity, a confidence that did not come from the strong powers granted to him by the spider mutation, but from Peter Parker's personality.
He had wondered before, what if his spider mutation was just a dream, and if his powers disappeared the next day, what would he do?
In fact, he had many days when he lived in doubt and fear, afraid of losing this identity, feeling that the world could not be without Spider-Man.
But today, for the first time, Peter felt that perhaps the world not only needed Spider-Man, but also needed Peter Parker, needed him, needed the ordinary him without special powers.
"Wisdom is the greatest wealth of humanity." Stark didn't look at him, but looked ahead and said, "Don't set your goal as just being a street hero, the path of wisdom is endless."
Peter smiled, took off his mask, as if breaking free from shackles.
His hair danced in the breeze, and he saw the magnificent clouds at the end of the sky, and the fading brilliance of the setting sun disappearing below the horizon.
He saw, a door to a new world.