“Way… Superman?!”
Peter’s voice cracked with pure excitement.
The second the name left his mouth every head in the factory snapped toward Wayne.
Wayne pressed his lips together.
This damn kid…
“You thick-browed, big-eyed Spider-Man, I really misjudged you.”
Peter stared at him, completely lost.
Had he screwed up?
Was Wayne trying to stay hidden and he’d just blown it?
The more he thought about it the more it felt true.
He opened his mouth to apologize, but Wayne’s voice cut him off first.
“I already know what you’re about to say and I don’t want to hear it.
You think you’re justified walking onto Loli Island like this?”
“Huh?”
Peter wasn’t the only one frozen.
Every gangster in the room looked equally blank.
This was their smuggling warehouse.
Which eye of yours sees “Loli Island”?
Even if it somehow was Loli Island… where the hell were the lolis?
The only “lolis” here were a bunch of thick-armed thugs built like refrigerators.
Realization hit them all at once.
Sweat beaded on their foreheads as they instinctively took two steps back.
Kingpin stepped forward, face cold.
“Superman.
I don’t want any trouble.”
Wayne looked him up and down.
“Yo.
They even brought a pimp?”
Kingpin’s expression went darker.
Nobody talked to him like that.
Still, common sense held him back.
Picking a fight with this Superman was suicide.
This wasn’t Clark.
If the guy didn’t have a no-kill rule, things would get messy fast.
He’d already paid people to analyze Superman’s threat level.
The answer came back useless: there were no enemies on Earth strong enough to make him serious.
What he’d shown so far was already enough to make most people give up hope.
“The factory’s yours.”
Kingpin decided to cut his losses and headed for the door, waving his men along.
“We’re leaving.”
“I’m afraid you can’t leave yet, Fisk.”
Peter dropped in front of him, landing light.
“You’re going to jail.”
Kingpin’s brow furrowed.
This bug really didn’t know when to quit.
He didn’t attack.
Instead he glanced back at Wayne.
Wayne crossed his arms and glared.
“Didn’t you hear my little bro?
You think you’re justified running a Loli Island?
Get your ass back to prison and pick up the soap, pimp.”
Kingpin’s forehead veins bulged.
He clasped his hands in front of him and stared at Peter, basically telling the kid to go ahead and arrest him.
With his money and connections, prison was just a short vacation.
He’d be out whenever he felt like it.
Peter shot Wayne a grateful look, then webbed Kingpin and the whole crew tight.
By the time he turned around to talk, both Superman and the Ghost-Spider from earlier were already gone.
Peter shrugged, pulled out his phone, and called the cops.
…
Rooftop of Gwen’s building.
Wayne was getting ready to leave when Gwen opened her mouth, then hesitated.
Wayne saw the tight frown on her face and asked on purpose.
“Headache?”
“No!”
Gwen snapped, then dropped her voice until it was almost inaudible.
“Do… do you like… lolis?”
That one line had been stuck in her head the whole time.
She glanced down at herself and couldn’t help frowning.
She was already past the loli stage.
“You mean this?”
Wayne looked like he’d just figured it out.
“Nah.
I just think they’re too weak, that’s all.”
A couple of his more special abilities actually let him stack buffs on himself in a loop.
“Enemy of Men” would juice the next critical from “Sassy Talk,” and that boosted “Sassy Talk” would then feed right back into “Enemy of Men.” The whole thing was completely subjective.
If Wayne decided someone counted as a man, they did.
If he decided a line was sassy enough, it was.
He could trigger both at once with something as simple as “You’re a man.”
He had zero interest in running that loop against enemies who couldn’t even touch his base form.
Weaklings like that only deserved to be called lolis.
They didn’t even qualify to activate “Enemy of Men.”
As for how the guys being called lolis felt about it… Wayne figured they were happy.
Because the second he actually acknowledged you as a man… things got serious.
“Oh… oh.”
Gwen nodded thoughtfully.
As long as he wasn’t a lolicon, she could live with it.
…
After a quick goodbye to Gwen, Wayne flew back to the Baxter Building.
As headquarters of the Fantastic Four, the place was also where they all lived, worked, and operated.
Wayne lived there too.
Luckily the building had more than enough rooms.
You could take over entire floors if you wanted.
Right now a small bedside lamp was on in Wayne’s room.
Susan sat half-reclined on the bed in a sheer nightgown, flipping through a book.
She heard the window open and her body gave a tiny jolt.
She forced herself to stay put and kept turning pages like she didn’t care, voice edged with annoyance.
“Why are you back so late?”
“Why are you in my room?”
“Don’t change the subject, Wayne.”
Susan closed the book.
“What were you doing?”
“…Patrol?”
The way she was looking at him like she’d caught him cheating made Wayne feel weirdly guilty.
“Heh.
You never used to care about that kind of thing.”
Susan waved a hand.
An invisible force field shoved him straight toward her.
Wayne could have broken free without even trying, but the woman who’d raised him since he was little didn’t get that treatment.
He let himself be pulled in.
Susan sat him down beside her.
Soft, warm curves pressed against him through the thin fabric as she studied his face up close.
No lipstick marks.
No signs anyone had been chewing on him.
She let out a quiet breath of relief, then put the serious face back on.
“Do you still remember what I told you?”
“That every girl out there is a liar?”
“Good.
At least you didn’t forget the words.
Your actions, though?
Not convincing at all.”
Susan crossed her arms and stared him down.
“Do you have any idea how many women out there want to steal you?
Looking the way you do right now, I could trick you eight times in one night.”
“But you didn’t.”
“You know I’ll never lie to you.”
Yeah, right.
The time just hadn’t come yet.
A day this important for her little Wayne wasn’t getting rushed.
Susan pushed him flat on the bed, leaned over him, and started drawing slow circles on his chest with one finger.
Her voice turned soft and expectant.
“Your birthday’s coming up, Wayne.
Looking forward to your present?”
“Why bring that up?”
“No reason.
I’m just looking forward to it.”
Why the hell was she the one looking forward to his birthday present?