Chapter 3890

Peter left the gem and the blueprints with Harry, and while working in the lab, he kept thinking about what he had said. Why exactly do mutants run into trouble?

Of course, it's not that they shouldn't run into trouble. Actually, to be precise, since the fusion of Marvel's Earth-616 and DC's Earth-1, mutants have been the ones suffering the most incidents.

Mutants are the biggest unstable factor in the Marvel universe, but this universe's Superman and Wonder Woman won't put up with you. The X-Men side is somewhat better off, but the Mutant Brotherhood is truly being chased by the two of them with their heads in their arms, and in just a few days they were beaten into a disorganized mess.

Superman and Magneto have become sworn enemies, fighting in the solar system every few days—today I give you an uppercut, tomorrow I press you into the sun, and the fight is evenly matched.

Although Magneto is strong, he dares not go all out for fear of affecting Earth; Superman also possesses a bit of idealistic power, and with Wonder Woman providing support on the side, Superman's side can still suppress Magneto. This has made the Mutant Brotherhood much more honest, and they haven't caused any trouble in the past week.

I didn't expect that while the Mutant Brotherhood was quiet, the X-Men had an incident. Peter still has some understanding of the mutants at Xavier's Genius School; they shouldn't start fighting for no reason, and even if they lose control and have to destroy something, they wouldn't choose densely populated residential or industrial areas. Peter believes Professor X still has this bottom line.

This indicates that something must have happened beyond their control—destroying just a power plant might be the best outcome they could achieve.

Peter sighed in his heart. Unfortunately, to understand the situation in this strange universe, the Sorcerer Supreme and most of the Kamar-Taj sorcerers have chosen to wander the universe, leaving Earth with no one able to contact them, not even the members of the Illuminati. Otherwise, rebuilding the magical defense network would be Strange's inescapable duty.

But exploring the universe is equally important, and Peter clearly understands that although this universe has no evil gods, it still contains many mysterious and powerful beings. If we don't investigate, and one day Earth suffers disaster, we won't know who caused it.

Moreover, sorcerers who rely heavily on contracts must seek new contract objects; otherwise, they would have no power to protect Earth. The Sorcerer Supreme's departure was also an unavoidable measure.

After all, it's their Earth that has come to this place, meaning everything except Earth has been abandoned, and they must start from scratch. Now is precisely the most difficult period, and we cannot rely solely on the Sorcerer Supreme.

Peter thought this way, put down what he was holding, walked out of the lab, picked up his phone, and said to the other end: "Hello? Iron Man? It's me, Peter. I have something very important to tell the Avengers—can you notify Captain America and the others? Let's meet tonight?"

After absentmindedly finishing his afternoon work, Peter called the fast-food restaurant owner to ask for leave, then rushed to the Avengers Alliance base at top speed—because Manhattan had fallen into Metropolis, he had to take the intercity railway there. When he arrived, the Avengers Alliance had basically assembled.

"I'm here," Peter said, panting, pushing open the door, then added, "Sorry, my place is really far away..."

"Is that really far?" Iron Man said, flipping open his mask and unable to hold back, "S. H. I. E. L. D. and the Avengers members are all stationed in Metropolis, only you went to Gotham. How long has it been since we last gathered?"

"Did you forget me?" Banner snorted, saying, "I also work in Gotham. Oh, I forgot—now it's renamed Forward York City."

"What the hell kind of name is that?" Iron Man couldn't help complaining, "The keyword for New York is 'new,' not 'York'! Now this name sounds like some British city that ran away from home!"

"Could it be that York really is just some British city?" Natasha asked.

"Alright," Peter interrupted their chatter, saying, "I'm looking for you because I have real business! You guys put down the pizza and soda first..."

Everyone put away their food, Peter sighed and said: "I don't know if you've been paying attention to information from the multiverse—I mean, the multiverse on this side. The Batmen are beginning to gather energy in their respective universes, just to establish a magical defense network. I think we should do the same."

"We originally had that," Captain America said, "but possibly because the energy compatibility between the two universes is worse, the magical energy we originally had became unusable. The sorcerers had to leave the universe to seek new contract objects, so even if we now want to build a magical defense network, we have the will but not the power."

Coulson also nodded and said: "Indeed, that's the case. Stephen warned us before he left that now Earth lacks the protection of the magical defense network, it could be very dangerous. But it's also a coincidence—that Superman and Magneto are constantly fighting in the universe, each time causing heaven and earth to darken, deterring many petty criminals; otherwise, we would now have even fewer peaceful days."

"I have energy," Peter said.

Everyone turned to look at him, Peter cleared his throat and said: "You guys still remember that I once contracted a god?"

"Oh, right, I forgot you might be the first sorcerer among us," Iron Man said, "although you gave your spider abilities to a hopelessly clumsy kid, being a sorcerer can at least save your life."

Peter shook his head and said: "Actually, I haven't been in touch with him for a long time, but fortunately, when I had this idea, I went to find him, and he agreed to lend me power. Does anyone here have a way to summon the sorcerers back?"

Everyone looked at each other, then shook their heads together. Iron Man hesitated a bit before saying: "Let's not even talk about the difficulty of interuniversal communication—these sorcerers always prefer to go to those remote corners, possibly not even in the same dimension, or possibly in some obscure spatial crevice, making contact utterly impossible."

"Then we can only do it ourselves," Peter said, "I obtained a detailed blueprint from a friend in the Battle Realm—before, the Batmen went to that magical academy which taught this, it's not exactly a secret. We can follow the blueprint to start building, and when the sorcerers return, we can make revisions."

"Is it really that urgent?" Captain America couldn't help asking, "Looking at the situation now, Earth hasn't reached a life-or-death point, has it?"

"No, I think Peter is right," Iron Man said, "The key isn't how the magical defense network protects Earth, but that since the Batmen have moved, we must move too."

"Does that make sense?" Natasha asked.

"Our universe's Batman... never mind, not worth discussing," Iron Man shook his head and said, "In other words, we've already lost one city. If we don't keep up, this universe will surely fall behind. If a multiversal-level disaster occurs in the future, we might have to rely on others for support, in which case we'd have no say at all, only getting weaker and weaker."

Everyone fell silent. Peter continued: "The Batmen chose to act at this time—there must be a reason. Perhaps a multiversal-level disaster has already occurred, and they're acting this urgently precisely to respond to it."

This statement startled everyone. Captain America stood up, looked at Peter, and said: "Do you have a premonition?"

"Why do you all rely on my premonitions?" Peter said helplessly, "I've already said I'm not Spider-Man anymore."

"No, no, no, Peter—I'm not talking about spider-sense, but about why the spider totem chooses you—it's because you yourself are someone with a sharp sense of danger. If you feel something is wrong, then something likely has indeed happened."

Just as Captain America finished speaking, Coulson's phone rang, and everyone's hearts skipped a beat.

Coulson picked up his phone and walked outside, but before he even stepped out the door, his face turned grim. A few minutes later he returned and said: "An explosion occurred at the chemical industrial park on Northern Island, suspected to be the work of superpowered individuals."

Captain America no longer hesitated, he tapped his shield and shouted: "Avengers, assemble!"

Although Peter now has no superpowers, he has become an amateur sorcerer, and he also secretly provides technical support to the current Spider-Man—namely, Bruce Wayne of the original Earth-1—so he also came to the explosion site.

"Good heavens," Iron Man sighed while hovering in midair, "This isn't just an explosion—what kind of bomb could cleanly cut a chemical plant in half?!"

Standing on the rooftop, Captain American's expression also looked grim, he said: "This is a terrorist attack—just what in the world happened?!"

Natasha retracted her grappling hook, slowly shook her head, and said: "No black box—I mean, the cameras captured nothing, the attacker might have acted from outside the industrial park."

Soon, Spider-Man Bruce also arrived, he stood on the rooftop staring at that building, his expression worse than anyone else's.

Since becoming Spider-Man, he has always operated alone and cannot be considered a member of the Avengers, though his relationship with the others isn't bad either. Aside from Iron Man thinking he's too inept to be a superhero, everyone else admires his persistence.

"Something major has happened," Bruce Wayne's voice was low. The others looked at him, and he stared at the building and said: "That's Penguin's property—he's probably going to..."

"Jesus Christ! What the hell is this?! James Gordon!!! You better bring your damn cops to my face within three minutes, then explain to me how my new industrial park turned out like this!!!"

Penguin's roar was even louder than the noise from a helicopter's rotor blades, showing just how furious he was. Bruce took two steps back and stood with the Avengers members.

When Penguin stepped off the plane and saw a neat line of superheroes standing opposite him, he froze for a moment, didn't dare to move forward, and just stood there awkwardly.

Fortunately, soon another figure rushed onto the rooftop and walked briskly toward him—Penguin thought it was Gordon, so he went to meet him, but the person who came was celebrity detective Harvey Bullock, followed by a reporter.

"Mr. Mayor!" Bullock enthusiastically approached and shook Penguin's hand, then said: "I heard your invested chemical industrial park suffered a terrorist attack? This is absolutely shocking! But don't worry, I will definitely find the culprit and bring them to justice!"

"Who is that guy?" Iron Man quietly asked Bruce.

"Harvey Bullock, a... celebrity detective."

"'Celebrity'? 'Detective'? English can actually be arranged like that?"

"Yes, no matter how you say it, he's very famous—supposedly he's uncovered many major case killers who had been hidden for years..." Bruce's face darkened, then he added: "Except for my parents' case."