081. Spider No, Gwen of the Web

Su Ye spoke lightly, but that coil was by no means an ordinary one. It was a semi-finished product created by Dr. Fox, who had reverse-engineered it from the arc reactor Su Ye had confiscated from Ivan Vanko. Su Ye had repurposed it as a small nuclear bomb.

There were many similar semi-finished and defective products, but Su Ye hadn’t let Dr. Fox destroy them; instead, he’d turned them into bombs. And this, he felt, was the quickest way to deal with the Destroyer—arc reactor bombs: enormous destructive power, minimal contamination. Los Angeles had survived the detonation of a reactor that size, and no one complained about radiation or anything of the sort.

No need to take everything so seriously...

Of course, if Su Ye could lift Thor’s hammer, that would be ideal; he could just grab the hammer and take the fight directly to his foes. Unfortunately, he was not Captain America, and both the timeline and his values wouldn’t allow him to develop a bond with Thor, leading Thor to utter words like, “Let the hammer protect Su Ye…”

In “Thor: Love and Thunder,” Jane lifts Mjolnir precisely because of Thor’s instructions to the hammer. But if being able to wield Mjolnir depended on such a reason, Su Ye would be utterly disgusted. With so many girls around, who would give up the whole forest for a single hammer? You’d have to be mad!

“A coil, you say?” Spider-Man murmured, but didn’t press the issue any further. He also lost interest in continuing his conversation with Batman, instead turning his head to scan his surroundings, as if waiting for someone to arrive.

Meanwhile, Su Ye had already, based on the voice and physique, more or less confirmed that the female Spider-Man opposite him was none other than Gwen. This realization filled Su Ye with a sense of wonder—nature, or rather, this world, truly was astonishing.

During a previous fight, when Gwen had once tried to surrender, she’d let slip that she wanted to find a way to enhance her physique so she wouldn’t be defeated so miserably every time. At the time, Su Ye had thought it was just her empty boasting. Without Dr. Parker’s decay rate formula, Dr. Connors was still a one-armed man; how could Gwen, as an intern, possibly achieve enhanced abilities through cross-species genetics?

But now, Gwen had truly become Spider-Gwen. So, how did she get stronger? Was it cross-species genetics? Or… was she bitten by something?

If it was cross-species genetics, then had Dr. Connors’ experiment succeeded? Had the lizard gene been perfected? Would there be another crisis of a city overrun by lizards? And if so, should he intervene or just sit back and watch?

But if it wasn’t cross-species genetics, and she’d been bitten by a super-spider, then where did that spider come from? Was it the same one that bit Su Ye?

If it was the same spider...

Su Ye suddenly remembered a female superhero who hadn’t yet appeared in the films—Silk. Silk was a female Spider-Man who mutated after being bitten by the same super-spider that bit Peter Parker, leading to a very peculiar dynamic between them: whenever they met, they’d be irresistibly drawn to each other, and… well, things would quickly become unsuitable for children.

Marvel’s writers who came up with this must have been fans of a certain genre, though unfortunately without the resources to fully exploit it.

Su Ye had been spending most of his time lately at the dojo and the bar, not meeting Gwen, so he wasn’t very clear about her current situation. For now, all he could do was guess; the real answer would have to wait until she took off her disguise and he could ask her directly.

“Well, the problem’s solved now. I should…” Su Ye said in his disguised, deep voice as he turned to leave, only to see Spider-Gwen looking his way, her movements oddly restless, her legs rubbing together incessantly…

“What’s wrong with you…” Su Ye frowned. What was this? Was she… aroused?

“Batman, sir,” Gwen’s voice suddenly sounded unnatural. “You… you should go. Otherwise, someone will be here soon…”

Her voice grew quieter and finally trembled.

At that moment, Su Ye himself was seized by a strange feeling. This female spider before him was so delicate, her legs long and slender, with fine hairs visible; her patterned abdomen looked quite enticing… cough!

Clearly, Su Ye’s hunch was correct. This wasn’t the result of cross-species genetics, nor was it Spider-Gwen—this was Silk-Gwen. The attraction between individuals bitten by the same spider was even beginning to affect him.

Realizing this, Su Ye knew he couldn’t linger any longer. If he stayed, those scenes straight out of a certain genre would become reality.

“Take care!” Su Ye called, then vaulted off the rooftop, unfurled his cape, and vanished into the night.

It seemed Gwen really had been bitten by the same super-spider as Su Ye, which explained why she’d been so drawn to him just now, her instincts taking over.

Su Ye felt it too.

But right now, Su Ye was in his Batman persona, not Spider-Man, and he had no intention of revealing this identity to Gwen. If he stayed, what would be the point—testing Gwen’s loyalty? It wasn’t necessary. If Gwen could resist, fine; if not, Su Ye would, in a sense, be cheating on himself. Even if his body came away unscathed, his mind would feel betrayed.

It would be awkward, to say the least.

As he soared through the air, Su Ye’s helmet communicator suddenly came to life. The caller ID showed it was Gwen.

“Ye, where are you right now?” As soon as the call connected, Gwen’s urgent voice came through, trembling slightly.

“I… I’m at home, sleeping. What’s up, are you done with your work?” Su Ye replied in his normal voice, chuckling.

“Wait for me!” Gwen blurted, then hung up abruptly.

Su Ye quickly tore off his cape, raised his arm to fire a web, and swung rapidly toward his rented house in Queens.

The two of them, separated by just a few blocks, raced toward Su Ye’s little house, their moods different but equally urgent.

Both raced against time, but Su Ye, familiar with the terrain, arrived home first, shed his costume, and dove under the covers.

He had barely lain down for half a minute when a figure leapt in through the open window and slid under the covers, already stripped of all her gear.

Silk-Gwen—her speed was truly terrifying.

“Gwen?” Su Ye feigned surprise. “What are you—?”