Chapter 5030

Shiler Andael Rodriguez sent Spider-Man in, and the agent closed the meeting room door. He hadn't taken two steps when he ran head-on into Bruce and Selina.

"Agent Mr." Bruce shouted, "I have some things I want to discuss with you."

The agent stopped and looked at him. Bruce looked left and right, then said, "This isn't the place to talk. Let's go outside."

The three of them left the Revival Alliance headquarters, exited through the side door, and came to under a tree in the courtyard. Bruce lowered his voice and said, "How's the situation inside?"

The agent gave him a "Why should I tell you?" look.

"I can guarantee I won't cause trouble at the wedding." Bruce said.

Bruce continued, "What I mean is, if there's any trouble at the wedding, I can help resolve it..."

The agent kept staring at him. Bruce hesitated, then said, "I can handle any unexpected situation at the wedding..."

The agent still didn't speak. Bruce sighed long and said: "Just tell me what you want me to do."

The agent walked over and whispered a few words in Bruce's ear. Bruce's eyes widened instantly: "What did you say? You want to..."

Then he seemed stunned by this plan, stammering for a long time unable to say a word. Selina kept turning her head; a plan that could shock Bruce like this must be astonishing.

Bruce's expression shifted for a while, then he finally gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, I agree."

"Luther and Stark are at each other's throats." The agent finally spoke, "Stark accuses Luther of kidnapping, and Luther refuses to admit it. Luther accuses Boz of intentional harm, and Boz refuses to admit it."

"Luther's defense is to push everything onto Wayne Enterprises, trying to use Wayne Enterprises' subsequent poaching actions to prove this was a premeditated conspiracy against Stark Enterprises. Meanwhile, Boz's defense is that he's just a victim and doesn't have that much power."

"Thomas was also present. To defend himself, he explained why he met with Pepper Boz—namely, that Boz wanted him to headhunt at Stark Enterprises, and he even produced a list as evidence. So Stark and Boz started arguing again..."

"You guys even put Spider-Man and Iron Man together—aren't you afraid they'll start fighting again?" Selina felt a headache coming on.

"Thor is also in there." The agent said, "But they all know this has nothing to do with Spider-Man; they just called him over as a formality."

"I doubt it." Bruce said, "If it's just a formality, Thomas alone would be enough. They must think Spider-Man is young and hot-headed, easily provoked into losing emotional control. If he does something irrational here, Wayne Enterprises would be at a loss."

Selina also nodded, knowing Bruce was right. In this situation, Luther Enterprises and Stark Enterprises will definitely suffer mutual losses, allowing Wayne Enterprises to move in—but obviously someone doesn't want them to grow strong and also wants Wayne Enterprises dragged down.

Or perhaps Luther Enterprises and Stark Enterprises both want Wayne Enterprises dragged down too; otherwise, once they weaken, Wayne Enterprises would sweep the board. Besides, Nick Fury wouldn't want to see one side dominate, so he agreed to call Spider-Man over.

Bruce and Selina are naturally on Wayne Enterprises' side, so they want to get Spider-Man out. Thus Bruce said: "If you want me to follow your plan, you still owe me a favor."

Advance York University, Peter was in his office grading student assignments. Today's submissions were surprisingly complete, but possibly because the questions were a bit difficult, the drawings were a mess—no standout among the mediocre, making viewers' heads hurt.

Peter took off his glasses and rubbed his brow, suddenly feeling a wave of weightlessness. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in an unfamiliar place, looking like a basement.

Peter was full of question marks: Had he not slept enough? Or had he suddenly started dreaming? Could grading too many assignments have driven him mad?

Suddenly a green figure appeared before him. Loki waved his hand and said: "It's me."

"Loki?" Peter said doubtfully, "What do you want?"

Loki, however, was surprised by his reaction and said: "Look closely—I'm Loki, aren't you afraid of me?"

"I've never feared you before, so why should I fear you now?" Peter said, referring to his time as Spider-Man when he also hadn't feared Loki.

Spider-Man actually has some resistance to mages. His spider-sense can help him anticipate all spells mages might cast on him, and his speed is sufficient to easily dodge. Once he gets close to a mage, the mage has no power to resist.

And what Peter said now naturally refers to him also being a mage. Though he took up the path late, magic values numbers—if the value is high enough, technique doesn't matter. Just as Peter can now teleport at will, he naturally doesn't fear Loki.

"Well, it seems I can't scare you anymore." Loki turned his head to look aside, and Selina walked out.

"Don't misunderstand, Peter—I'm not trying to kidnap you." Selina said, "Or rather, we're just pretending to kidnap you."

"What do you want?" Peter asked curiously. He didn't believe Selina would collude with Loki to harm him—it made no sense. He had no grudge against either of them; if Loki still had a chance for mischief, Selina certainly wouldn't do something so foolish.

Selina briefly explained the situation in the Revival Alliance meeting room, then said: "For dealing with a teenager like Spider-Man, if you advise him not to get angry, he might still act impulsively. So at this point, you need to find a more urgent event to distract him, so he doesn't give anyone in the Revival Alliance a handle."

"Ah, that's how it is." Peter said, "So you kidnapped me to lure Spider-Man to come save me. But how are you getting the message in there? That place is full of their people."

"We have our own people." Selina crossed her arms and smiled.

"But I still have a few questions." Selina said, "Just humor my curiosity—during the civil war, where were you?"

"Right here." Peter said, "I'm a local—where else could I go?"

"Then you didn't try to stop them?"

"I tried, but couldn't stop them." Peter spread his hands.

"I doubt it's that simple you couldn't stop them?" Selina scrutinized him and said, "You didn't participate in the civil war?"

"I did." Peter nodded and said, "I even brought back the World Tree sapling."

"Just that?" Selina pressed on, "Given your personality, you wouldn't wait until the last moment to make a decision—you must have done something else too."

"I injured Doctor Strange." Peter finally admitted, "He's still recovering, so he hasn't come out."

Selina wore an expression of "As I suspected." Loki, standing nearby, had just learned this and was somewhat surprised. But he thought: Doctor Strange is also an old troublemaker—claiming to transcend worldly affairs, when in fact it's the opposite of being detached from secular life. Not to mention what early light exposure would do, and in later major events he's participated plenty; closing himself off from worldly affairs is impossible.

Now it seems he might not be unwilling to come out, but unable to. Marvel mages rely on borrowing to get by; injury is dangerous because if a creditor shows up, trouble can become huge.

"I didn't want to either." Peter said, "I was trying to mediate both sides, but he insisted on fanning the flames while attacking me, and I got a bit heated. But in terms of effect, it actually worked out well."

"How so?" Selina asked.

"Actually, before this, they didn't know I could use magic. To be precise, they thought I was just an ordinary person without my spider abilities. So I kept advising, but no one listened. Then I accidentally injured Doctor Strange, and they calmed down."

Selina wore an expression of sudden understanding. This Peter Parker looks very mature—more mature than Bruce—he should have already passed the age of showing off his powers everywhere.

Without his spider abilities, he returned to ordinary life, teaching at school and living peacefully. When the civil war broke out, he rushed to mediate. But indeed, having been detached from the superhero system for too long, neither side listened to him. Doctor Strange provoked him first, and only then did Peter reveal a little, which immediately subdued everyone.

Otherwise, how could one say true ability doesn't show? If others had known in advance Peter could use magic, the effect wouldn't have been this good. It's precisely because no one expected him to injure Doctor Strange in one blow that they were all startled. Otherwise, Peter might not have had the chance to go get the World Tree sapling.

"Let's not talk about that anymore—it's not exactly glorious." Peter waved his hand, "How's the Revival Alliance side?"

The meeting room door of the Revival Alliance was suddenly pushed open. The agent walked in, and everyone stopped arguing to look at him.

"Peter Parker has been kidnapped."

He just said that and then left. Iron Man's raised hand grabbed nothing. Nick Fury changed expression, and Thor looked bewildered.

Spider-Man jumped up from his seat: "Wait! What do you mean Peter was kidnapped?!"

His voice was a bit hoarse—he had clearly just been shouting. Actually, he wasn't unwilling to argue, but there are too many experts here, from Pepper to Luther—who isn't troublesome? In this situation where everyone is escalating conflict, he also couldn't disengage, like a fish caught in a vortex, only able to go with the flow.

But the agent's sentence woke him up. This universe's Bruce Wayne has one advantage: he is the opposite of profit-driven, completely unlike these old foxes present.

Logically, to protect Wayne Enterprises' interests, he should stay until he pushes all responsibility onto others. The kidnapping case will also be resolved by the Revival Alliance. Moreover, Spider-Man knows Peter's strength well—he clearly wouldn't be that easily hurt.

But he didn't care about all that. Whatever this group or that group, he ignored them all; he had to go save his friend.

Peter wasn't just his friend, not only the teacher who gave him superpowers, but also the benefactor who had saved his life several times, and now he had become his university professor. The moment he heard Peter had been kidnapped, Spider-Man sprang up in a flash.

He swept through the venue like a gust of wind, chasing after the agent and running out. Nick sighed; it seemed this farce could not continue. He was just about to say something when a person walked in wearing a face identical to Spider-Man's.

Those blue eyes scanned the room, an eyebrow arched, a mocking contempt showing in his eyes: "No rush. Didn't you say I'm connected to this case? Then let's have a good hash-out."

Thomas sat down; everyone else stood up.