Iron Man is fit only to serve as a backdrop for Batman.

One day and one night passed.

The next morning, Suye and Gwen woke up feeling refreshed and invigorated, ready to greet the new day’s sunlight. At that moment, everything seemed beautiful and harmonious—the very air tasted sweet.

The five masks they’d prepared had gone unused.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning!"

Their eyes met, and as is often the case, all it took was a single glance for desire to spark.

By noon, Suye ordered takeout from a Chinese restaurant, choosing Buddha Jumps Over the Wall to replenish their energy and recover a bit.

This round was a match of equals—a duel of talents, with victory still uncertain.

Come evening, they called a truce. Gwen finally found time to talk with Suye about recent events.

"Originally, I intended to stay in the lab, working alongside Dr. Connors, hoping we could achieve something. But one problem kept eluding us, stalling the entire project," she began.

"That day, I went back to campus, to the spot where I used to read, hoping to clear my mind and think things through. But I got distracted and ended up getting bitten by a spider."

The place Gwen spoke of was the same table where Suye had first seen her—the very spot where he, too, had been bitten by the super-spider.

"And I have a strong feeling that it might have been the same spider that bit you!" Gwen said with conviction.

Months had passed, and yet the spider was still lurking nearby, emerging once more to bite someone else. The whole thing was quite bizarre.

"Do you think the spider will bite anyone else?" Suye suddenly asked. What if being bitten by the same spider created some special attraction? If another person got bitten, and it happened to be a beautiful woman, that would be one thing—but if it were a burly man...

He shuddered at the thought.

Gwen shook her head. "I didn’t know before, but I’m pretty sure it won’t happen again."

"Why are you so certain?" Suye pressed.

Gwen sighed. "Because I killed the spider then and there and threw it away. Later, when I tried to find its body, it was already gone. Otherwise, maybe Dr. Connors’ experiment could have made some progress..."

Suye nodded. All they could do was wait and see if any new Spider-Men appeared. If not, then the matter wasn’t too serious.

But in Gwen’s heart, another figure suddenly surfaced: Batman.

Back when she was with Batman, Gwen had experienced some discomfort, but she hadn’t thought much of it—assuming it was just aftereffects from the spider gene. Yet now, having spent over a dozen hours with Suye, fighting and talking, she realized that strange sensation might have been triggered by Batman’s presence.

Could Batman himself be connected to the super-spider?

The question took root in her mind, but she kept it to herself, not wanting to risk Suye’s displeasure.

While the two spoke, the world outside was in turmoil.

From Los Angeles to New York, the alien descending in a rainbow of colors had pursued Iron Man across the entire United States, hell-bent on vengeance. And, even more astonishing, he’d actually managed to take Iron Man down. Photographic evidence of Iron Man lying face-down on the ground had already made headlines in both print and digital media.

Beside those images, another comparison image showed Batman, cape unfurled, soaring through the night.

As the news spread, the public quickly learned that once again it was Batman who had saved Iron Man, just as he had before, from the Hammer Industries launch to the epic battle at Oracle Ecological Park.

Iron Man lay defeated, and Batman ended the fight.

It seemed Iron Man was doomed to play the perpetual backdrop to Batman’s exploits.

As for the destroyed buildings and the final explosion, no one had much to say—necessary sacrifices, after all, for the greater victory. What mattered was the heroic brilliance of the superhumans; that was all anyone cared to remember.

What delighted New Yorkers most, however, was the rumor that the first person to help Iron Man that night wasn’t Batman but Spider-Man.

On the same night Iron Man was once again brought low, Spider-Man and Batman had teamed up!

This instantly sent Spider-Man and Batman fans—especially the shippers with more peculiar tastes—into a frenzy.

"Spider-Man vs. Batman" fan comics were updated overnight, selling tens of thousands of copies in a flash, treasured by fans as prized collectibles.

The whole affair tempted Suye to go after the underground publisher responsible.

You’re making a fortune off my image rights—is it too much to ask for a small share? I don’t want to take advantage, just a fifty-fifty split. If you refuse, I’ll tie you to the Bat-Signal and hang you from the rooftop for all to see.

Compared to Batman’s moment in the spotlight, Thor—the Thunder God, who should have shone in this chapter—was in dire straits.

With Zhenyuan Zhai having taken the hammer and Suye’s chaotic interference as Spider-Man, Thor was deprived of his signature moment: seizing the hammer at death’s door, reclaiming the power of thunder, and smashing the Destroyer in a triumphant return.

Now, Thor was still regarded as a thief, locked up in a storage room at the Shiranui Dojo.

The appearance of the alien Destroyer made SHIELD anxious. Naturally, they were interested in the man who, after being flown by Iron Man for two hours from Los Angeles to New York—a journey of over four thousand kilometers—showed no ill effects, and upon arrival, went straight for the Thunder God’s Hammer with clear intent.

According to Coulson’s understanding of aliens, this man, despite his human appearance, was likely not of this world. The mysterious hammer, which only Zhenyuan Zhai could lift, was surely connected to him.

The best way to deal with an alien, of course, was to dissect him—study his internal structure and compare it to humans. Who knows what benefits might be discovered for humanity?

Perhaps a bite of his flesh would grant superhuman strength and invulnerability; a sip of his blood, unbreakable endurance.

If that were true, he’d need to be kept alive, well-fed, fattened up—then slaughtered at the right time.

However, the SHIELD team assigned to the hammer had just been taken out by the fighters at the dojo; manpower was running short. They didn’t want to entrust someone else, so for now, Thor remained locked in the storage room.

Coulson managed to visit Thor, skipping the usual nonsense—no "Are you a trained agent or mercenary from Pakistan, Chechnya, or Afghanistan?" Instead, he went straight to the point.

"You’re not from Earth, are you? Where do you come from? What’s your purpose here? What’s the hammer? Who’s the guy in the iron suit? And why did the sandblaster chase you all the way from Los Angeles to New York?"

At this point, Coulson was like a child, full of questions.

But Thor sat silently, as if he were a statue.

From Old Bridge Town to Los Angeles, from Los Angeles to New York—Thor’s anticipation for his reunion with the hammer had been immense. Now, his disappointment was just as profound.

It was worse than going on a date on Valentine’s Day, only for the girl to leave after dinner without even watching a movie—truly disheartening.