Capture

"Maria has disappeared?"

In Chinatown, San Francisco, a disheveled, bearded Eddie asked a bald homeless man whose clothes were equally messy. Maria was a homeless woman who collected public newspapers every day and sold them to others.

"Not just Maria. A lot of homeless people have disappeared."

The homeless man said, "Some people say the government thinks we’re an eyesore, so they secretly sent soldiers to capture us and ship us off to alien planets to mine.

"Damn government. If they hadn’t kept developing all that high technology, how would we have become homeless? I used to be a programmer!"

"Probably not the government. Could it be some evil scientist running experiments?"

As Eddie pondered the matter, he casually asked, "Doesn’t Osborn Corporation and Stark Industries offer reemployment training? Didn’t you attend?"

"I did," the homeless man said. "I couldn’t keep up with it, and I don’t want to go to some alien planet either. I just want to be a programmer again, like before."

"You can’t always have things your way. You have to adapt to the times."

Eddie shook his head and turned to leave. On the road, he ran into Dr. Dora from the Life Foundation.

Dr. Dora was responsible for researching symbiotes. She was kind by nature and simply could not accept Dr. Drake’s use of homeless people as test subjects, so she came to Eddie, hoping he would help expose the Life Foundation.

Eddie hesitated for a moment, then decided to work with Dr. Dora—he still had a little sense of justice left, and this matter concerned his homeless friends.

Eddie and Dora’s plan was simple—sneak into the Life Foundation, find evidence, then report it to S.W.O.R.D. Problem solved.

Although Eddie had lost his job because of Blood God and the others, he still trusted S.W.O.R.D.

Leaving Eddie and the others aside for now, on the rooftop of a building in New York, a potbellied Spider-Man sighed as he ate a hamburger someone had given him.

Compared to the other Spider-Men, this Spider-Man’s life had been especially miserable—failed investments, a divorce, middle-aged weight gain, hiding in a bathroom to cry alone, and finally, inexplicably crossing over into another world.

That would have been bad enough, but Spider-Man in this world was doing incredibly well. His suit alone was worth over a hundred million dollars, and all kinds of merchandise and movies were wildly successful, making the middle-aged Spider-Man jealous beyond measure.

"I want a suit worth over a hundred million dollars too. I want to make movies too."

The middle-aged Spider-Man sighed. At that moment, a voice mocked, "A Spider-Man whose belly is so big he has to wear sweatpants? That’s a first for me."

The middle-aged Spider-Man hurriedly pulled down his mask. Then he turned and saw a bald white man and a familiar man with a sinister face emerging from the doorway.

"Norman!"

The middle-aged Spider-Man recognized his old nemesis and asked in shock, "Didn’t you die already?"

"In your world, I died. In this world, I died too. But in my world, I didn’t."

Norman snorted, his body rapidly transforming. In the blink of an eye, he had become a green demon.

At the same time, the bald white man’s lower body transformed into four metallic scorpion legs. His hands became pincers, and a tail extended from his back.

The middle-aged Spider-Man complained, "Isn’t Green Goblin supposed to be a title? How did you become an actual green goblin?"

"Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

Norman snorted and lunged fiercely at the middle-aged Spider-Man. The latter leaped high into the air, flipped midair, and kicked hard at Norman with his right foot.

"How clumsy."

Norman sneered. His body suddenly turned transparent, and the middle-aged Spider-Man passed straight through him in shock.

Immediately afterward, Norman’s body returned to normal, and he grabbed the middle-aged Spider-Man tightly from behind. Just as the latter was about to resist, a scorpion tail flew in from the side and smashed heavily into his head. He was sent flying, crashing onto the rooftop with a bang, his mind reeling.

"You’re the worst Spider-Man I’ve ever seen."

Norman sneered contemptuously and walked over, preparing to knock the middle-aged Spider-Man unconscious. At that moment, a strand of web shot down from above and stuck to Norman’s wing. Then Spider-Man yanked hard, flinging Norman away. He slammed heavily into the rooftop’s iron door, bending it on impact.

After Norman was flung away, two Spider-Men landed at the same time. Then the taller Spider-Man on the left asked excitedly, "We finally found you. Norman, Scorpion, where is Kingpin?"

"Looks like you’re Spider-Man from our world."

Norman snorted and climbed to his feet, charging viciously at Blonde Spider-Man. Deep footprints were left one after another in the concrete.

"Norman, this time, I won’t hold back."

Blonde Spider-Man rushed forward and engaged his old opponent in a fierce battle.

Peter faced Scorpion instead. He raised a hand and sprayed a web at him, then complained, "Where did you get that metal body? The quality is terrible. Look, your left foot is obviously a size bigger than your right."

"Shut up! Why are all you Spider-Men such chatterboxes?"

Scorpion was furious. He smashed the web away with one pincer, then rushed before Peter amid a gust of wind, swinging his pincer viciously at Peter’s head.

Peter dodged nimbly and swept a kick at Scorpion’s waist. The middle-aged Spider-Man had just regained consciousness and hurriedly shouted, "Careful, they can phase!"

Before he could finish speaking, Scorpion’s body became a phantom, and Peter’s right leg swept through his waist. Scorpion grinned viciously, his spiked tail stabbing hard toward the back of Peter’s head.

Peter sensed the danger and immediately fell backward, then kicked hard at Scorpion’s metal feet with both legs. Seeing this, Scorpion immediately turned into a phantom again.

Once Peter’s feet had passed through him, Scorpion returned to solid form and smashed both pincers down at Peter. Peter rolled away awkwardly, only for the sinister scorpion tail to stab hard into his chest.

"Haha, Spider-Man, you’re nothing special after all."

Scorpion laughed triumphantly. At that moment, Peter punched the ground, unleashing a burst of energy. Scorpion was sent flying straight into the air and slammed into the wall, punching a large hole through it.

Scorpion fell from the wall and asked in disbelief, "You’re actually fine?"

"Sorry, but my suit is made of Vibranium. You can’t break it."

Peter shrugged. He had refused this suit at first because it was simply too expensive, but after putting it on, he had only one thought—this is amazing! The middle-aged Spider-Man, who had climbed to his feet, looked at Peter enviously. Then, in a world-weary tone, he said, "Spider-Man shouldn’t wear such expensive clothes. If you have money, you should donate it to charity and help people."

Peter said a little embarrassedly, "All my merchandise profits are donated. This suit counts as company-issued workwear. Otherwise, how would I dare accept it?"

"Workwear? Is your company hiring?" the middle-aged Spider-Man asked excitedly.

"Don’t bully the kid. And hurry up and catch those two. They’re the key to whether we can return to our own worlds."

Blonde Spider-Man spoke irritably. He simply could not understand why there was such an awful Spider-Man. "Return to our own world?"

The middle-aged Spider-Man’s eyes lit up. He immediately joined Peter in dealing with Scorpion. Although Scorpion could turn into energy, two fists could not beat four hands—especially when those hands belonged to two Spider-Men.

"Norman, retreat."

Scorpion gritted his teeth and jumped down below. Norman cursed unwillingly and beat his wings, flying into the sky.

Blonde Spider-Man immediately fired webbing at Norman. Norman turned into a phantom and easily dodged it.

"Chase them."

Blonde Spider-Man cursed, splitting up with Peter and the others to pursue Norman and Scorpion. But they quickly lost both targets—Norman and Scorpion fled into the sewers one after another. They could phase through walls, making them impossible to catch.

"What a waste."

The three Spider-Men sighed at the same time, deeply frustrated. They had finally found a lead, only to lose it.

Peter spoke through his earpiece, "Jarvis, help us locate Scorpion and Norman."

"Peter, you should know there are no cameras in the sewers," Jarvis said helplessly. "How about this? I’ll send some drones down there and see if they get lucky."

"Thanks," Peter said.

At the same time, Blonde Spider-Man removed his mask and said to the middle-aged Spider-Man, "Hello, I’m Peter Parker."

"Hello, I’m Peter Parker too."

The middle-aged Spider-Man also removed his mask. Although their hair colors differed, their faces were identical. Blonde Spider-Man was rendered speechless. Am I going to end up like that someday?

Blonde Spider-Man briefly explained the situation, then said, "I hope you’ll come with us to S.W.O.R.D. Norman and the others attacked you, so they may have some reason for it."

"No problem."

The middle-aged Spider-Man agreed readily. As always, Spider-Man was no bad guy. He said, "By the way, does S.W.O.R.D. provide meals? I didn’t bring any money to this world, and Spider-Man can’t exactly rob people."

Though the middle-aged Spider-Man was down-and-out and greasy, he was still Spider-Man at heart.

"S.W.O.R.D.’s food is great. But sir, shouldn’t you lose some weight?"

Peter complained. He felt as if he were looking at another Thor.

"At my age, what weight is there left to lose? I’ll just let nature take its course."

The middle-aged Spider-Man tugged at his sweatpants and spoke unconcernedly. Blonde Spider-Man was speechless as he led him and Peter away from the sewers and back to S.W.O.R.D.

"Wow, there are three Spider-Men now. Huh, why is one of them wearing sweatpants?"

The citizens had another topic to discuss.

"Damn it, I hate Spider-Man."

In the sewers, Norman smashed his fist against the wall resentfully. Scorpion said, "So do I, especially that rich Spider-Man. How can Spider-Man have money? He’s tarnished Spider-Man’s honor!"

"Don’t tell me you’re a Spider-Man fan."

Norman looked at Scorpion speechlessly. At that moment, a voice suddenly came from the darkness ahead. "Who are you? I don’t remember knowing you."

Along with the voice, a black-and-white figure wearing a hat, his trench coat fluttering, emerged from the darkness—yes, although this was a sewer with no wind, his trench coat still fluttered.

Style is like the wind, forever at my side!

"You’re Spider-Man?"

Norman and Scorpion exchanged a glance, both delighted. They had not expected such an unexpected gain—from the man’s visual style, he was definitely not from this world.

"Yes, I’m Spider-Man."

Black and White Spider-Man nodded. After arriving in this world, his unique visual style had caused some confusion, so he had hidden in the sewers.

Honestly, Black and White Spider-Man could not understand why people were so surprised to see him. Everyone obviously looked the same, didn’t they?

"Then this is easy."

Norman and Scorpion grinned and attacked together. Although Black and White Spider-Man was fairly strong, faced with two opponents capable of turning into energy, he was quickly subdued.

Then Norman contacted Kingpin and told him what had happened.

"Black and White Spider-Man?"

Kingpin was rather speechless. He said, "Send him to the Life Foundation’s New York branch. You two stay in New York."

"No problem."

Norman had no objections. Together with Scorpion, he moved Black and White Spider-Man out through the sewers.

"Kingpin is capturing Spider-Men?"

In the large back garden of Blood God Manor, Wang Bert heard the news and asked in surprise, "Why would he do that?"

"Maybe he wants to obtain the ability Spider-Men have to sense each other," Tony guessed. "That blonde Spider-Man said Kingpin wants to find his wife and son. That sensing ability could be very useful."

"Is that so?"

Wang Bert said, "Maybe you can send a Spider-Man out as bait."

Tony’s eyes lit up. "That could work. I’ll discuss it with Steve."

"Handle it however you want."

As usual, Wang Bert left everything to others. At that moment, the drop of blood he had placed on Eddie sent back information—Eddie was preparing to infiltrate the Life Foundation.

Eddie was the protagonist of "Venom." When they had met last time, Wang Bert had casually given him a drop of blood and set its activation conditions.

"Let Eddie handle it himself first. If he can deal with Riot, then everything will be fine. If he can’t, I’ll step in and eliminate Rocket."

Wang Bert did not take the matter seriously. Enemies on Venom and Riot’s level could be easily crushed even by S.W.O.R.D.

The only reason he had done something to Eddie was caution.

Tony said speechlessly, "Why do I feel like you’re getting lazier and lazier?"

Wang Bert smiled. "Laziness is part of human nature too. It proves I’ve recovered quite well over the past year or so."

"Recovering your humanity? That’s the most absurd excuse I’ve ever heard. Only that silly girl Wanda would believe it."

Tony complained, "If I used that excuse to go pick up girls, Pepper would chop me into a hundred pieces."

Wang Bert looked at him contemptuously. "That’s because you’re weak. Pepper beats you so often you have to call the police."

"I let her win."

Tony snorted, though inwardly he was speechless. Pepper’s talent for martial arts was truly terrifying. After gaining the Dragon Soul, she could even trade moves with him while he wore his armor.

"Forget that. Why did you call us here? Surely it wasn’t just for a barbecue?"

Tony asked, "Future Tony and I are exchanging technology. We’re very busy."

That was right, it was a barbecue. Besides Wang Bert and Tony, many Super Heroes, Spider-Man, and future Super Heroes were present.

"I invited you to watch a movie, ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ It was rushed out over the past seven days."

Wang Bert smiled. Showing "Avengers: Endgame" in front of the Avengers was sure to be fun.

Tony complained, "’Avengers: Endgame’? Why jump straight to number four? Where are the first three? And can a movie made in seven days even be watchable?"

"The first three have already happened, so there’s no need to make them," Wang Bert said.

Tony’s eyes lit up. "You mean ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is about things that haven’t happened yet?"

Wang Bert kept him in suspense. "You’ll know after you watch it."