Kenji narrowed his eyes, finally confirming which world he had arrived in.
This was the Marvel Universe.
As everyone knows, the Marvel Universe consists of a near-infinite number of multiverses.
The lifespan of these universes depends entirely on comic book sales and the wild imaginations of the writers.
They might endure ages of evolution, or they might be instantly rebooted with a single snap of a finger.
And New York City within the Marvel Universe is the epicenter of countless major events—a famously “peaceful” city known for its “simple and honest” locals.
Spider-Man confirmed dead?
That was indeed bad news.
Kenji wasn’t sure exactly how long the “brief stay” described by the “Black Box” actually was.
It seemed he needed to hurry and investigate the truth of the matter…
As he was thinking, a familiar red-and-blue figure flashed through his peripheral vision, coming to a halt on the glass curtain wall of a nearby office building.
Kenji: ???
He looked back up at the special news bulletin looping on the giant screen…
…
“What the hell?
I’m already dead?” Peter Parker stared blankly at the news broadcasting on the screen below, his mind momentarily thrown into chaos.
“Twenty-six years old?
But even if you add the time I lost during the Blip, I’m only twenty-one!
And a grad student?
Come on, I haven’t even started college yet!
So…
did Mr.
Strange’s spell glitch again?
God, what on earth happened…” “I was just about to ask you the exact same question, Mr.
Parker.” “Whoa!!” Peter Parker jolted in fright, the hairs under his suit standing on end.
He executed several consecutive backflips across the glass wall, pulling nearly ten meters away before he got a clear look at the speaker’s face.
‘Hey, how is this guy so tall?’ ‘That physique, those exaggerated muscles…
he’s practically as tall and muscular as Mr.
Thor’ “Wait…
why are you flying?
Oh my god, you can actually fly?
Are you a metahuman?
A hero, or a superpowered bad guy…” “Stop!
What nonsense are you babbling about?” The veins on Kenji’s forehead twitched as he interrupted the muttering little bug.
“My name is Kenji.
I’m a police officer by profession, and a part-time hero.” “A hero?
You mean, you’re a hero too?” Peter froze.
Perhaps his Spider-Sense detected no malice from Kenji.
“I get it, you haven’t joined the Avengers, right?
That’s why I don’t recognize you.” “What you’re saying…
is at least logically sound.” Kenji floated down to stand in front of the slightly calmer Peter.
With his hands in his pockets, he directly pointed out the current situation.
“The hero organization I belong to isn’t the Avengers, but the Hero Association.
And the world we are in right now isn’t either of our respective home universes.” Peter: !!!
Hiss…
An identical sting radiated from the back of both their heads.
The Spider-Sense between different individuals instinctively detected the presence of their own kind.
Before Peter could even process the massive amount of information Kenji had just dropped, he stared at him in shock: “This feeling is definitely real, you…
are just like me?” “Yes, I do possess a fraction of spider-based superpowers.” Kenji nodded.
“I see.” Peter Parker finally regained the composure a superhero ought to have, hesitantly pulling off his mask.
“Mr.
Kenji, I think we need to have a proper talk.” “Of course.” Seeing the handsome, Tom Holland-esque face beneath the mask, Kenji made an inviting gesture.
“I know just the place.” ….
“So Mr.
Kenji, why am I the one paying?” “Because my country doesn’t use US Dollars.” “…” Kenji and Peter sat in a burger joint, a mountain of food piled up in front of them.
Perhaps the distance of their space-time travel was too vast; Kenji was indeed quite hungry.
When Peter crossed over, he was only wearing the spider suit he had sewn himself.
Right now, he was bundled up in a beige trench coat kindly provided by Kenji.
Because the coat was tailored for Kenji’s massive frame, it looked rather bulky on Peter, who had to roll the sleeves up twice just to barely reveal his wrists.
Through their conversation, Kenji deduced from Peter’s experiences that the young man sitting across from him hailed from Earth-199999—better known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
At the time, Peter had been preparing to raid a confirmed criminal hideout.
Unexpectedly, the wall he landed on suddenly morphed into chaotic space-time matter, accompanied by a tremendous suction force.
After struggling to no avail, he was forcibly dragged into this universe.
Thinking about the recently confirmed death of Spider-Man in this world, Kenji fell into deep thought.
It sounded exactly like the plot of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but that animated movie hadn’t officially crossed over with the MCU.
Could it be that his own intrusion had caused the timeline to branch?
Given the unpredictable nature of the Marvel Multiverse, it wasn’t impossible…
no, it was highly likely!
This young Spider-Man had survived the Endgame, endured the death of Aunt May, and had his best friend and comrades forget his identity due to Doctor Strange’s spell.
Currently living entirely on his own in a shabby, cheap apartment, he could definitely be considered a fully mature Spider-hero.
As everyone knows, out of the countless Spider-Men across the multiverse—with the exception of a few outliers like Doctor Octopus (Superior Spider-Man)—the vast majority share one universal trait.
They are broke.
Because of this, Peter sat across from Kenji looking visibly aggrieved, muttering softly: “I checked out the situation at the cash register.
Even though the people here use US Dollars, the bills look completely different from the ones in my world.
That means the money I have on me is probably useless here!” “Oh.” “Oh…
is that it?” Peter facepalmed.
The tall man across from him, who looked barely a few years older, was calmly eating fries, completely unconcerned about the incoming bill.
Knowing he couldn’t pay, Peter felt too anxious to eat a single bite.
In stark contrast, Kenji was in an excellent mood.
On their way to the burger joint, his ‘Element Extraction’ ability had successfully hijacked a spider superpower right from Peter.
[Fantasy Card: Spider Strength] [Card Type: Ability Card] [Rarity: SR] [Description: A spider superpower.
Provides the proportional strength of a super-spider magnified to human scale.
[Effect 1: Super Strength] Superhuman-level physical strength, capable of easily lifting heavy objects over a hundred times the user’s own body weight.
[Effect 2: Overdrive] Under specific emotional states such as anger, determination, or extreme focus, the user can unleash power several times greater than their base state.] Thanks to the continuous enhancement of his Stand abilities, Kenji’s raw strength was already on par with a Spider-hero.
However, a superpower that directly boosted his base attributes was naturally a case of “the more, the merrier.” Upon equipping it, the genetic-level enhancement further optimized his physical structure.
His strength increased by nearly a third, and that wasn’t even factoring in the massive multiplier from activating Effect 2.
Over the course of the meal, Kenji slowly digested the effects of his growing strength.
He now possessed two different spider-series superpowers.
‘Hmm, I’m only two web-shooters away from becoming a Spider-Man myself.’ “Let’s put that aside for now, Peter,” Kenji said, polishing off his last fry and picking up his cheeseburger.
“We both know that no matter which universe a Spider-Man is from, there’s no way he simply dies in a natural earthquake.” “Yeah, how could he?
So there’s definitely someone pulling the strings behind the scenes.” Getting down to business, Peter’s expression turned serious.
“Someone wants the public to accept this narrative to cover up some unspeakable secret.” “Exactly, which is why we need to start investigating this based on two keywords.” Kenji took a bite of his burger.
“Brooklyn.” “The massive earthquake!” Peter instinctively finished the thought, then realization dawned on him.
“You mean the Brooklyn earthquake was man-made!” “Highly probable.” Kenji devoured the rest of his burger in a few bites, wiped his hands, and stood up.
“We don’t have much time, so from here on out, we split up.” Peter sat up straight, at attention.
“Alright Mr.
Kenji, what’s the plan?” “I’ll go investigate the source of the earthquake, and you…” Peter suddenly felt that familiar, thrilling sensation of fighting side-by-side with Cap and Mr.
Stark, his face lighting up with anticipation.
“…will stay behind and wash dishes to pay the bill.” Peter: “…” …
The next morning.
The sun rose, and the city that never sleeps gradually revived after a brief period of quiet.
Roadside shops began to open, avenues filled with bustling traffic, and pedestrians hurried along the streets.
New York, Brooklyn.
Kenji sat inside a coffee shop named “Melody,” looking out at the street through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Unlike the highly principled Spidey, Kenji was indeed a registered professional hero with the Hero Association, but his moral bottom line was remarkably flexible.
In fact, he had already paid a visit to Brooklyn the night before.
“Hey bro, first time in Brooklyn?” “Look at him, you think he’s lost?” Seeing Kenji all by himself, a gang of street punks who had been partying until dawn surrounded him with “friendly” smiles.
An handsome face, tall, well-dressed, and completely alone.
Meanwhile, there were five of them, and their boss had a piece tucked into his waistband.
If they had known that the man standing in front of them had just flown across the East River and casually dropped into the neighborhood around the corner, they would have run for the hills.
Too bad there are no “ifs.” “What a coincidence, you’re exactly the kind of people I was looking for!” Seeing their surrounded prey actually take the initiative to step forward and fist-bump them, the wild street punks were collectively bewildered.
“What’s going on?
Is this guy a gangster from our own crew?
We haven’t heard anything about a new recruit lately!” Walking shoulder-to-shoulder into a secluded, unmonitored alleyway, the thugs exchanged glances.
The laughter gradually faded, and their “friendly” eyes slowly turned cold.
Seeing that the atmosphere was just right, Kenji stopped pretending and struck first: “Hey, Negro.” ???
×5 “Huh?
Did you just say ‘Negro’?” “Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?” One of them even whipped out a pocket knife.
“If you don’t explain yourself right now, you’re not walking out of here in one piece!” “I didn’t mean anything by it,” Kenji cracked his neck, his joints popping with a crisp sound.
“I just wanted to say that everyone here is free cash.” The punks’ eyes went red with fury.
Just as they were about to attack, they heard Kenji ask, “You guys were planning to rob me, right?” “…So what if we are?” “Because if you are, I can claim self-defense.” The group looked at each other in dismay.
“Is this guy an idiot?” “Cut the crap.” The boss pulled the handgun from his waistband—a scratched, battle-worn Glock 17—and leveled the dark muzzle right at Kenji.
“Hand over all your cash, right now!” One minute later.