A heavy black line practically crossed Iron Man’s forehead.
“That’s not what I asked you to say either.” Peter took the hint and gave a polite little wave.
“Hi, everyone.” Iron Man: ‘Right, right, right.
Having fun, are we?’ The urge to murder someone with a glare is impossible to hide.
At this moment, Iron Man looked ready to vaporize Peter on the spot.
Peter simply pretended not to notice.
He wasn’t stupid.
Connecting his earlier talk with Iron Man to the standoff between the two teams right now, he had already pieced together the overall situation.
This wasn’t just about the Sokovia Accords anymore.
The reality was simple: Cap’s side had something urgent to do, but Iron Man’s side either didn’t believe them or didn’t care—they just wanted to bring them in first.
Cap’s side felt the matter was too critical to delay, insisting on resolving it immediately.
Hence, the clash.
At its core, this was a civil war.
Allies fighting allies.
Anyone who took it at face value would end up pleasing neither side and getting caught in the middle.
So he decided to relax his mindset entirely and treat this as a chance to make an appearance and introduce himself.
Besides, he hadn’t lied.
While he genuinely admired Iron Man, he was also a huge fan of Captain America.
After all, videos of Cap were shown constantly at school—like during physical education, when they’d play clips of Cap encouraging everyone to exercise; or during detention for making a mistake, when they’d play videos of Cap giving a stern, earnest lecture.
Cap was everywhere in daily life.
In a way, he had become a spiritual anchor for many people.
Especially for countless young people like Peter.
It was easy to understand why.
Since the turn of the century, super-powered individuals had emerged continuously, accompanied by non-stop crises.
First came the Hulk and Abomination, battling through streets and public squares, even exchanging fire with the military and sending the public into massive panic.
Then Thor descended, battling the Destroyer and laying waste to an entire town.
Next, Loki brought the Chitauri armada to New York—a full-scale war that involved nuclear weapons, leaving streets obliterated and countless lives lost.
After that was the fall of Sokovia caused by Ultron…
Every single one of these incidents kept wearing on the nerves of ordinary citizens.
Each disaster sent them a clear message: This world isn’t safe!
So they needed a pillar of hope.
And the Avengers as a group weren’t quite enough on their own.
Iron Man felt far too distant for regular folks; War Machine was active military, ill-suited for constant public spotlight; Black Widow and Hawkeye lacked high-profile power sets.
Taking everything into account, Captain America—the former war hero—became their ideal figurehead.
A clean image, a historical background, official ties, and yet isolated enough to be managed easily—the benefits of building Cap up were endless.
In short, compared to these “old friends” who had history together, a “newcomer” and “kid” like him was nothing more than an outsider.
Peter resolved to look at this as a test run.
Neither side was going to use lethal force anyway, so why not seize this chance to spar with these superheroes and gauge his own strength?
While Peter calculated in his head, Iron Man and Cap started bickering once more.
It was clear that Iron Man was furious.
He pointed a finger in accusation.
“Are you out of your mind?
Dragging Clint into this?
Bringing Wanda out of a place where she was completely safe?
I’ve been trying…
trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart!” Yet, facing Iron Man’s accusation, Cap merely replied in a flat voice, “You did that the second you signed that paper.” Cap’s stubbornness infuriated Iron Man, but he knew anger wouldn’t resolve anything right now.
Taking a deep breath to suppress the rising heat in his chest, he said, “Enough!
Hand over Barnes and come back with us now!
Otherwise, it’s going to be Special Forces coming for you next—and they won’t show you any courtesy.” As he spoke, his tone softened once again.
“Please…” Iron Man still didn’t want years of friendship to end like this.
He and Cap had known each other for eight years, ever since standing shoulder-to-shoulder during the Battle of New York against the Chitauri—a bond forged in life-and-death struggle.
In the years following, they had shared countless experiences.
He didn’t have many real friends; Cap was one of the few.
He truly didn’t want to lose a friend.
Even less did he want to see that friend walk down a destructive path.
At that moment, Falcon’s miniature reconnaissance drone located their true objective—the Quinjet.
Falcon immediately relayed the intelligence to Cap.
The corner of Cap’s mouth twitched upward slightly.
His back-and-forth with Iron Man had been a genuine attempt to persuade him on one hand, but on the other, it was also a way to buy time.
Now, with Iron Man unwilling to back down and the Quinjet located, there was no need to stall any longer!
Cap raised his web-bound hands high above his head.
*Whir—* An arrow shot in from the distance.
Hawkeye had made his move!
The arrow sliced cleanly between Cap’s wrists.
Driven by immense kinetic energy and a razor-sharp tip, it severed the webbing instantly.
Cap was free!
Right at that moment— Peter’s brows furrowed slightly as a strange sensation surged through his mind!
‘Where is it coming from?’ “The shield!” Peter snapped his head down, coming face-to-face with an ant-sized, human-shaped figure standing directly on the surface of the shield.
“What the f—” Ant-Man was completely bewildered.
He hadn’t expected Peter’s senses to be so ridiculously sharp that he’d be spotted the second he stepped onto the shield.
What he didn’t realize was that even Peter had only just noticed his senses growing sharper.
Perhaps this was another gain from his time merged with Spider-Man Noir.
In the past, his Spider-Sense failed nine times out of ten; now, it failed seven times out of ten.
Well, that was solid progress.
This Spider-Sense wasn’t the kind triggered by imminent, lethal danger, but rather the subtle awareness meant for “non-lethal situations” like this one.
“Hi!
Are you on Captain’s side too?” Peter even had the leisure to greet Ant-Man.
“I—I’m a bedbug!
Kid!” Ant-Man’s eyes darted around.
Gripping the edge of the shield with one hand, he expanded back to normal size in an instant.
Peter was indeed caught off guard by the move.
It was his first time seeing a person who could shrink and grow at will.
“W-w-what, that’s a bedbug?
What kind of ghost are you?” Peter clamped one hand down hard on the shield while using his other hand to catch the foot Ant-Man kicked toward him.
As a result, Ant-Man ended up in an incredibly awkward posture: one hand still braced against the shield, one foot held firmly in Peter’s grasp, hanging upside down in mid-air with his back facing the ground.
Cap: …
Iron Man: …
‘Are you two seriously here to do comedy?’ “Cough…
that was a mistake.
Ki—er, Underoos, mind setting me down?” Peter exerted a bit of force in his grip, giving a polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes under the mask.
“The name’s Spider-Man, not Underoos.” “Right, right, Spider-Man,” Ant-Man flailed his hands in the air.
“Mr.
Spider-Man, could you please put me down?
This is really embarrassing.” “Alright then, down you go,” Peter said, tossing Ant-Man aside.