Twelve Charms Marvel Journey, My Girlfriend Gwen Spider
Change Lin Yu to Arthur
OC/Gwen pairing
Chapter 1: Time-Traveling to Marvel with the Zodiac Talismans, Girlfriend Gwen Spider
[Brain Consignment Counter]
[If you think I talk too much nonsense, you can scroll down and read the main text directly]
[Slice-of-life story interspersed with the main plot]
[Addendum: Please don't lecture me anymore about the strength of the Zodiac Talismans; I'm already numb to it. It was my superficial understanding, and I will patch it up.]
[Addendum: This time it is about the timeline issues and character plot issues that will frequently appear later.]
[1. As for the timeline, since the original timeline often spans months or years, the protagonist can't just be made to wait rigidly, so the timeline will be brought forward. Don't nitpick the timeline. Besides, if we are doing a chaotic stew, the Marvel Universe and DC worldviews are different, not to mention the X-Men, and there are multiversal matters later on. Spending time on the timeline is too wasteful, so I'll just insert things according to my mood. Whichever comes to mind, I'll do that.]
[2. As for the characters, just treat them as counterparts, not the original comic or TV show characters. As for the plot, I don't like following the original plot step by step either, so the further along it goes, the more heavily modified it will be.]
[3. To mention one last point and repeat: if you find the plot too bland, take a look at the third sentence of this chapter.]
[Main Text ↓]
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains into the room, casting patches of golden light on the floor.
Today is the weekend. There are no classes, no homework deadlines, and no band rehearsals—rare, completely free time belonging to just the two of them.
He was still waking up dazedly in bed when his phone screen lit up with a message from Gwen.
"Are you up yet?"
"I'm downstairs~"
"I brought breakfast! Your favorite bread and coffee."
Before he could reply, the doorbell rang.
When he opened the door, Gwen was standing there, holding a paper bag in one hand and two cups of hot coffee in the other.
A smile was plastered on her face, the kind she only revealed when she saw him.
It wasn't the cool, aloof smile she wore at school, but a genuine, warm smile tinged with a hint of quiet pride.
Sunlight shone from behind her, casting a halo over her pink-and-gold gradient short hair [Cover equals appearance setting].
Today she was wearing a loose mint-green hoodie, paired with ripped jeans and her signature Converse canvas shoes.
The three piercings on her left ear wore delicate silver earrings, and her necklace shimmered with tiny glints of light in the sunshine.
She looked... very happy.
It wasn't the forced kind of happiness, nor a smile meant to mask something, but a heartfelt, relaxed, and bounding joy.
"Good morning~"
She stood on tiptoe and gently pecked the corner of his mouth, her movement as swift as a little bird stealing honey, before immediately stepping back, the tips of her ears slightly flushed.
Even after dating for so long, she still felt shy over such small intimacies.
"I... I figured you probably hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so..."
She handed the paper bag to you, her azure-blue eyes flickering with anticipation.
"I remember you saying you liked their blueberry bread, so I went out of my way to buy it. And the coffee, made with the ratio you like—two parts sugar, one part milk."
She remembered all his little habits.
What flavor of coffee he liked, what time he was used to sleeping in on weekends, which seat he liked to sit in when watching movies, how he would react when he got angry... Every single detail, she remembered them all in her heart.
"Oh, right,"
she pulled her phone out of her hoodie pocket, "I saw on the weather forecast that today will be a rare nice day, so... if you want, we can together..."
She paused, as if organizing her words, and then added, "Of course, it doesn't matter if you have other plans! I just... just wanted to say, I'm free all day today. No rehearsals, no sudden... um, things."
She looked at him, her azure-blue eyes filled with anticipation and a trace of unease.
She was always like this. Even though they had been together for so long, she still worried that she wasn't doing well enough, worried that he would find her boring, worried that... he wouldn't want to be with her.
"So..."
she asked softly, her fingers unconsciously toying with the cup sleeve on the coffee cup, "Do you want to... go out with me? We can go to the park, or watch a movie, or do nothing at all and just... stay together?"
Her voice grew quieter and quieter, the last few words practically a whisper.
Sunlight danced on her pink-and-gold hair, the morning breeze brought the aroma of coffee and bread, along with the faint scent of shampoo on her—that scent belonging solely to her, which made him feel at ease.
If time were to freeze slightly at this moment, and the progress bar of memory were rewound a bit, the starting point of everything was actually quite absurd.
Arthur did not originally belong to this World full of supervillains and mutants. In that hometown called Blue Star, he was just a most ordinary college student.
His daily routine was nothing more than squeezing into the cafeteria, fighting for seats in the library, staying up late playing games in the dorm, and incidentally worrying a few hairs off his head for the upcoming final exams.
The weather that afternoon was very nice, and he was still carrying a freshly bought iced cola, walking back to school with his headphones on.
Pop songs with a brisk rhythm were playing in his headphones, and just as he walked to an intersection, a horn blast so piercing it could puncture an eardrum suddenly exploded.
He turned his head, his pupils reflecting a completely out-of-control Dayun brand dump truck.
That behemoth was like a runaway Beast, rushing straight over with a destructive momentum.
There was simply no time to dodge; even the fastest athlete would have been powerless in that instant.
The second the huge truck head rolled over him, Arthuronly felt a blinding white light flash before his eyes.
Then his whole body seemed to be forcibly flattened by an irresistible force, like a 2D sheet of paper drained of all dimensions, followed by all consciousness and pain plunging into complete darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, his surroundings had turned into a completely unfamiliar sight.
In the first few days, Arthur wandered around the city like a headless fly.
He didn't know the streets here, nor did he adapt to the English with a slightly retro accent here.
To figure out where exactly he had been trucked to by the dump truck, he found an internet cafe that looked rather dilapidated in equipment.
When he casually typed a few daily keywords into the search engine on that somewhat yellowed monitor, the pop-up breaking news directly nailed him to his chair.
The largest bold title right in the middle of the screen read Stark Industries, accompanied by an extremely eye-catching photo below—Tony Stark, sporting his iconic mustache and wearing expensive sunglasses, flanked by women on both sides, revealing that punchable yet charming smile directly at the lens.
Seeing this news, no matter how slow Arthur was, he understood that he had plunged headfirst into the perilous Marvel Universe.
However, what the news was extensively reporting was still the latest missile launch conference of Stark Industries, and Tony Stark was still traveling the Worldthrowing parties and making tabloid headlines.
This indicated that the timeline was still very early; that iconic declaration "I am Iron Man" had not yet happened, and the plot of Iron Man 1" hasn't even cast a shadow yet.
But he soon discovered some things that weren't quite right.
In this city named New York, active in the streets and alleys, Web-slinging to catch petty thieves, was not that poor student Peter Parker who always loved muttering bad jokes in his mouth.
But rather a girl wearing a white hooded combat suit and as light as a ghost.
It wasn't until later when Gwen Stacy solidly walked into his life that Arthur completely connected all the clues together.
This was not just Marvel, but also a parallel Universebelonging to Ghost Spider.
As for which numbered Universe it actually was, he didn't delve deeply into it. After all, the living person right in front of him was Gwen, and that was enough.
Of course, as a member of the transmigrator army, Arthurhad initially been expecting some crisp "ding" sound.
Lying in bed at night, he had silently recited "System activate", "Deep Blue allocate points", "Old Grandpa, come out quickly" countless times in his heart, only to be met with the sound of the wind outside the window in return.
Clearly, he was a transmigrator without a system.
But God had not completely deprived him of his transmigrator perks. As long as he closed his eyes and concentrated, he could clearly "see" twelve octagonal slate slabs carved with animal patterns in the deepest part of his consciousness.
They formed a perfect circle, quietly suspended in his mind.
Those were the Zodiac Talismans from Jackie Chan Adventures. Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
Although there was no robotic-sounding system guidance, these Twelve Talismans representing the ultimate rules of magic gave Arthur the greatest confidence to establish himself in a World where superheroes were everywhere.
Even if he usually kept a low profile, as long as these things were around, he wouldn't have that sense of powerlessness of potentially being blasted to death by the aftermath of major events at any moment.
Later, Gwen walked into his life, and they logically started dating.
Looking back now, Arthur would still feel that it was an incredible process.
Back in Blue Star, his head was filled only with games and academics; he was a pure single-since-birth who hadn't even touched a girl's fingertip, let alone actively pursued girls.
So at the beginning, when Gwen showed extraordinary attention toward him, Arthur's first reaction was not joy, but being flattered.
He often felt somewhat at a loss, feeling that as an ordinary person, how could he possibly be worthy of the girl in front of him.
In the eyes of outsiders, Gwen was a cool and dashing rock girl, radiant when playing the drums, usually keeping a cold face with that aloof aura of strangers do not approach.
But to Arthur's surprise, in this relationship, Gwen was actually much more proactive.
She would deliberately pass by where he worked part-time, and intentionally find some clumsy excuses to talk to him.
Under Gwen's clumsy yet sincere approaches time and time again, the layer of hard ice and inferiority in Arthur's heart was melted away bit by bit.
He gradually opened up and began learning to reciprocate by acting as a boyfriend.
From awkwardly holding hands on the street for the first time to later hugging, they experienced everything an ordinary couple should have.
When he wasn't busy normally, Arthur would hold Gwen's hand to eat at her favorite corner burger joint, accompany her to stroll leisurely through the night market in Brooklyn, or buy two movie tickets on the weekend and sit in the second-to-last row of the cinema watching a bad movie whose name he couldn't even remember.
Although possessing shocking secrets, during this process Arthur hadn't been idle either; he had been secretly observing and gathering intelligence on various factions regarding this Universe, taking it as preparing for a rainy day against any chaos that might happen in the future.
At this moment, vision refocused back into the sun-drenched apartment.
Standing in front of the door, Arthur looked at the girl in front of him who still carried a bit of morning chill, and casually took the paper bag and two cups of steaming coffee from her hands.
During the handover, his fingertips inadvertently brushed against Gwen's fingers, allowing him to clearly feel the slight coolness on the back of her hand, as well as the thin layer of calluses left on her fingertips from long-term drum practice.
"Thanks a lot," Arthur said while very naturally rubbing his somewhat hollow stomach with his other hand, a relaxed smile blooming on his face.
"I was just wondering what to have for breakfast, and was thinking if worst came to worst, I'd just go back to sleep and skip it."
He smiled gently at Gwen.
Looking at the girl in front of him who was wearing only a simple mint-green hoodie and had completely shed her cool, dashing, and spiky outer shell, Arthur's heartbeat still involuntarily skipped half a beat.
Without wearing that color-changing holographic mask, and not Web-slinging against the wind above the city, Gwen right now was just an adorable, soft and tender ordinary girl.
She would have smiles in her eyes from buying her favorite breakfast, and the tips of her ears would flush red from a tiny gesture.
Watching her cautious and anticipatory expression, a cloyingly sweet feeling suddenly surged into Arthur's heart, as if a jar of honey had been knocked over in his chest.
He turned and walked into the house, placing the two cups of coffee on the small coffee table, while he himself took the paper bag containing the bread and sat down on the soft sofa.
The living room was very quiet, with only the tiny sound of sunlight passing through the window lattice hitting the floor. Arthur quietly opened the paper bag, took out the blueberry bread that still carried a bit of residual warmth from the oven, and took a small bite.
The sweet and sour taste of blueberry jam mixed with the aroma of butter instantly spread throughout his mouth.
He reached out again to pick up the specially blended cup of coffee and took a sip; two parts sugar, one part milk, the sweetness and bitterness neutralized just right—truly a cup of coffee that understood his appetite very well.
After eating a few bites, Arthur stopped his movements.
He slowly put the bread in his hand back to the edge of the paper bag, then raised his head to look at Gwen, who was standing not far away and still waiting for him to make a decision. Looking into her eyes as azure as the morning sky of New York, Arthur's heart melted into a soft mess.
"Gwen, is there anywhere you want to go?" Arthur asked back softly, looking at her with a calm and focused gaze.
His tone was very calm, lacking the assertiveness of making decisions for others, and instead carrying a gentle sense of consultation.
Sitting on the sofa, Arthur leaned forward slightly and continued, "We can't always listen to my opinion every time, right? Besides, I think lovers should be equal. I also want to accompany you to the places you want to go."
[If you have time, take a look at my comment in the comment section]
Chapter 2: "Iron Man 1" Plot Begins / Who Wouldn't Want to Tease Cute Gwen
Gwen tilted her head slightly, her clear blue eyes fixed on Arthur's face.
She had actually been seriously pondering in her mind what fun places were nearby, whether to go to the newly built skate park in Brooklyn, or to that old record store she passed by last time and didn't go in.
But after thinking quietly for a short while, she gently shook her head, the corners of her mouth lifting involuntarily to reveal a soft and defenceless sweet smile.
"Actually... wherever you want to go, that's where I want to go."
Her voice was very soft, carrying a hint of a girl's unique tenderness, completely unlike the rock girl who usually sweated in front of the drum kit, "The only thing I want is to stay with you."
Hearing these words, the coffee Arthur had just picked up and prepared to drink hung suspended in mid-air.
He felt his heartbeat visibly skip a beat. Sunlight hit Gwen's pinkish-golden hair tips, making her look exceptionally gentle and beautiful.
Arthur couldn't help howling in his heart: "Heavens, with a girlfriend like this, what more could I ask for in this lifetime?"
He felt his eye sockets getting a bit warm; this feeling of being wholeheartedly relied on and loved by someone almost moved him to tears on the spot.
Just as the atmosphere was about to develop in a more clingy and sweet direction, "Buzz—" a sudden phone vibration broke into this warm Small World.
Arthur's mood was interrupted, and he frowned slightly, casually picking up the phone placed on the edge of the coffee table.
The screen lit up, and the pop-up window displayed a push notification he had specially set for special attention.
The news source was the official movements of Stark Industries that he had subscribed to long ago.
Arthur had originally just glanced at it absent-mindedly, but after seeing the text clearly, his entire body suddenly sat up straight.
The brief flash report read: "Mr. Tony Stark, the new head of Stark Industries, will head to a Military Base in a Middle East desert region today to personally test the newly developed high-energy thermal weapon of war—the Jericho missile—for senior Military leadership."
Arthur's eyes widened instantly.
Tony going to the desert to test weapons? He knew this plot too well! This was the classic opening scene of the movie "Iron Man 1", the first major turning point of the entire Marvel Universe, and the moment announcing the start of the major event was today!
Without time to think further, Arthur hurriedly swallowed the unchewed blueberry bread in his mouth whole, almost choking himself.
He quickly took a sip of coffee to catch his breath, then looked with glowing eyes at Gwen sitting next to him, reaching out with his phone to point at the news on the screen: "Gwen, are you interested in this?"
Gwen leaned over somewhat doubtfully, stretching her body to glance at Arthur's phone screen.
After seeing clearly that it was news about arms testing and Stark Industries, a trace of puzzlement flashed in her eyes.
In her understanding, Arthur had always been an ordinary student who usually liked playing games. How could he suddenly become interested in such dangerous Militaryweapon testing?
Although she felt a bit strange inside, Gwen looked at Arthur's enthusiastic look and immediately threw those doubts to the back of her mind.
She didn't even ask what Arthur was going there to do, just nodded very submissively: "As long as you like it, I've said it before, wherever you go, I go."
"That's great!" Arthur clapped his hands in joy, his excitement overflowing in words, "Then today let's go up close and appreciate the latest work of Stark Industries!"
Just as Arthur's mind was racing with how to join in the excitement of this major event and gain some knowledge along the way, Gwen looked at him and suddenly chimed in with some hesitation:
"But... Arthur, the travel expenses to get over there are not cheap. The news says it's a desert region, a remote place like that—even if we have money, we probably won't be able to get there by taxi."
This sentence was like a basin of cold water, directly extinguishing half of the enthusiasm Arthur had just ignited.
He opened his mouth, suddenly speechless.
Arthur pinched his chin, his brows knitted into a knot, falling into deep thought.
It wasn't like he was completely helpless. After all, he actually possessed the power of the Twelve Talismans in his head.
As long as he simultaneously activated the Rabbit Talisman which controlled speed and the Rooster Talisman which allowed one to float in mid-air, the combination of the two could completely achieve the effect of perfect flight. Flying someone to the desert was by no means a difficult task.
However, Arthur weighed things frantically in his heart: This was his biggest trump card. Exposing his trump card right now was definitely out of the question!
He had been constantly planning that when a major event truly happened in the future and Gwen encountered danger, he would suddenly go all out, use the Twelve Talismans, and like an invincible God of War riding colorful auspicious clouds descend from the sky to save her. How cool that scene would be! It would definitely max out her affection and admiration on the spot!
If he used his trump card today just to watch Tony Starktest a missile, and used it merely as a means of transportation, it would be far too casual and cheap!
No, absolutely not. Good things must be used at the most critical moments. But if he didn't use the talismans, how would they get there?
Gwen sat on the side, watching the anxious look on Arthur's face as he alternated between excitement, conflict, and a deeply knitted brow, couldn't help finding it a bit funny.
She pressed her lips together and smiled secretly, saying with curved eyebrows and eyes: "Although I'd love to keep sitting here admiring your distressed look, I think better of it."
As she spoke, she took out her phone from her pocket and shook it at Arthur: "I happen to have a friend here who can take us over. And it's free~"
While speaking, Gwen lowered her head, her two thumbs pressing rapidly on the screen as she began sending a message to the other person.
Hearing that there was a free ride, Arthur immediately perked up and curiously leaned his head over to see which "almighty" friend she was messaging.
As soon as his head leaned over, Gwen pulled the phone back into her arms, blocking the screen with her hand so he couldn't see, with a hint of playful smiling intent on her face: "I'm not showing you, it's a girl's secret."
Looking at Gwen's mysterious appearance, a classic game frequently seen online in his past life that girls used to act spoiled and tease their boyfriends suddenly popped into Arthur's mind.
When Gwen finally finished communicating with the other person and raised her head, preparing to tell Arthur that it was settled, Arthur's expression suddenly turned stern.
He heavily turned his head to the side, let out a long and haughty cold snort from his nose, then crossed his arms over his chest, putting on an extremely angry stance.
"Do you not love me anymore!" Arthur deliberately raised his volume, accusing with a tone carrying grievances and wrongs: "Chatting with someone else, actually behind my back, not even letting me see~"
Arthur swore that he really just wanted to make a harmless joke to tease the girl in front of him.
But the very next second after his words left his mouth, he realized that the development of events had completely exceeded his expectations.
When had Gwen ever seen such a stance in her life? In front of outsiders, she was a cool and dashing rock girl, but in romance, she was an inexperienced, extremely sensitive, and insecure pure-hearted girl. Moreover, because of a past trauma, she now cherished every relationship deeply.
Hearing Arthur's sentence "Do you not love me anymore", Gwen panicked on the spot.
The playful smile on her face instantly vanished completely, and her azure-blue eyes were filled with visible panic and fluster.
She was so anxious that she abruptly sat up straight from the sofa, waving her hands repeatedly, and explained flusteredly: "It's not like that! It's not like that! I don't not love you! Arthur, I really am just chatting with a friend! Really!"
She was so anxious that her eye rims were a bit red, and her voice even carried a trembling quiver: "I don't have any of that kind of feeling for him at all! Pure friends! If you don't believe me, look!"
As she spoke, Gwen unhesitatingly lit up her phone screen, holding it with both hands and almost thrusting it directly into Arthur's hands.
That excuse she originally made up to hide identity was completely less important than a single strand of Arthur's hair in her heart at this moment.
Looking at the girl in front of him whose face was flushed with anxiety and whose eyes revealed deep fear, Arthur felt a pang of soreness in his heart, yet felt that her appearance was truly too adorable and heartwarming. How could he possibly be truly angry?
Arthur couldn't keep a straight face pretending to be angry anymore, and he suddenly burst out laughing with a pfft.
He didn't take the phone from Gwen's hand, but looked at her with a very doting gaze, and softly said: "Alright, I was teasing you, look how scared you were. I believe you."
Hearing Arthur's relaxed laughter and these words, Gwenstared at him for several seconds, confirming that he wasn't truly angry, and only then let out a long sigh of relief, like a person about to drown finally surfacing above water.
Her shoulders slumped down all at once, and patting her chest with lingering fear, she muttered softly: "You scared me to death... If you really left me because of this, I truly wouldn't know what to do."
She raised her head, those watery eyes looking at Arthur, her tone becoming incomparably fragile and reliant: "Here... I only have you as family. That so-called friend is really just a pure friend."
Looking at her, even though he had clearly said it was a joke, she was still stubbornly explaining it one last time just to avoid leaving even the slightest misunderstanding.
This feeling of wholeheartedly treating you as her whole World made the bottom of Arthur's heart melt into an absolute mess.
He reached out, touching the pinkish-golden gradient short hair of Gwen with incomparable gentleness, and casually rubbed her head.
"Let's go." Arthur stood up, naturally pulling Gwen's hand, and smiled at her, "Don't let your friend wait too long."
Chapter 3: A Hotpot Plot, The Helplessly Lying Flat Arthur(Revised)
[When I wrote the plot for these two chapters, I didn't check the data and was bad at geography, leading me to think the Middle East was a place name and very close by. However, because there are a bit too many detail issues involved in this part of the plot and it's hard to change, let's just leave it at that.]
The dilapidated exhaust pipe let out a violent cough that sounded like it had a bad cold.
This clunker, which at first glance was barely pieced together from some second-hand junk recycling yard, was crawling along the asphalt road in a posture that it might fall apart at any moment.
Only a few minutes after getting in, Arthur already deeply regretted it.
With his arms crossed over his chest, his whole body stiffly shrank into the back seat, which exuded a mixed smell of stale leather and unknown engine oil.
Along with the teeth-aching squeaking sound the car body made every time it drove over a small pothole, Arthur's brow couldn't help but twitch.
But the main point of his regret right now was not this terrible riding experience at all, but the person holding the steering wheel in the driver's seat ahead.
Arthur stared dead at the rearview mirror.
Through that somewhat blurry lens, he clearly saw a face that couldn't be more familiar to him—that slightly dull, and even somewhat honest-looking face, was definitely the Tobey Maguire version of Spider-Man!
What kind of joke is God playing?
Arthur flipped tables crazily in his heart.
Although he had long known that he had transmigrated to a parallel Universe of the Marvel Universe, and had accepted that his girlfriend was a Spider-Woman who could fly around swinging with Web-slinging, how did he manage to catch a free ride and end up in the car of another veteran Spider-Man?!
The atmosphere in the carriage was weird to the extreme.
The air seemed to have frozen into ice blocks, so viscous that it made people breathless.
The person in the driver's seat obviously noticed the two bayonet-sharp gazes from behind that could see right through a person.
That guy suspected to be Spider-Man was stared at by Arthur so much that he didn't dare to take a big breath at all.
His hands holding the steering wheel visibly tightened, his knuckles turned slightly white, and his neck was as stiff as a piece of wood.
He didn't even dare to turn his head back, only daring to steal glances at the rearview mirror from the corner of his eye from time to time, dodging away immediately as soon as he met Arthur's inquisitive gaze as if he had been scalded.
His whole person exuded a weak aura of "I have a guilty conscience, I'm so scared, please stop looking".
And Gwen, sitting beside Arthur, was also sitting on pins and needles at this moment.
As the culprit who called this "free ride" with a text message, Gwen was almost driven crazy by the weird atmosphere in the car.
Just moments ago in front of Arthur, she had sworn up and down that this was a "pure friend", but now once getting in the car, Arthur's formidable-enemy-like and scrutinizing gaze made this little girl's heart creeped out.
Her superhuman Spider-Sense was now frantically issuing warnings to her: her boyfriend's state right now was very wrong, extremely wrong!
But did she dare to ask?
She didn't dare!
When dealing with those armed gangsters outside, she was a super cool Ghost Spider who could do a 720-degree twist in mid-air and tell a dad joke along the way.
But in this narrow car backseat, in front of the boyfriend she cared about most, she directly degenerated into a wrongdoing kitten caught red-handed by her Master.
Gwen's two hands intertwined nowhere to be placed, almost twisting the hem of her loose sweatshirt out of shape.
Several times she wanted to open her mouth to say something, but stealing a glance at Arthur's expressionless face, she forcefully swallowed her words back down.
This family status was simply clear at a glance, worrying to the extreme.
Finally, unable to bear this suffocating silence, Gwen took a deep breath, as if making some huge determination, mustered half of the courage she usually used to fight criminals, and finally opened her little mouth to emit a tiny syllable: "Th... That, Arthur..."
The moment she spoke, Arthur suddenly moved.
Without even glancing at the terrified kitten beside him, he simply and neatly raised his right hand, making a "stop" gesture in mid-air.
The courage Gwen had just mustered was like a balloon punctured by a needle, instantly leaking completely clean.
She immediately and obediently closed her mouth, shrank her neck, and even moved a little bit toward the car door, as quiet as a chicken.
After stopping his little girlfriend's attempt to break the ice, the muscles on Arthur's originally expressionless face suddenly twitched, forcefully squeezing out a polite smile that looked quite amiable, but upon closer inspection made people feel a bit chilled down their spines.
He stretched his head forward, crossed the back of the seat, and spoke to the driver ahead who was sweating on his back from tension, drawing out his tone very long:
"My friend, what's your name? How come... I always feel like I've seen you somewhere before?"
This was Arthur's probe after careful consideration.
You must know, in the tragic past of Gwen in his cognition, Peter Parker had turned into one of the Lizard Men and died in her arms as a close friend, which was eternal pain in Gwen's heart.
Although he didn't know what the plotline of his own Gwen's World was like, it definitely couldn't escape having a Parker.
And now a living Peter popped up, still with Maguire's face, so Arthur had to figure out the situation.
The person sitting in the driver's seat was so startled by this sudden conversation that his shoulders visibly shook.
The interior of the car was already somewhat excessively quiet, and Arthur's not-so-loud question was simply like striking a bronze gong right beside his ear.
He heavily swallowed a mouthful of saliva, the "gulp" sound clearly audible in this narrow space.
He obviously heard something wrong in Arthur's deliberately prolonged trailing tone, a tone that sounded like a husband checking up on his post, interrogating a strange man appearing at his doorstep late at night.
To save his life, this guy's speech rate instantly soared to twice his usual speed, stuttering and impatiently starting to self-expose:
"I! My name is Peter! Peter Parker! I'm, I'm a student at a high school nearby! Um, I swear, I just happened to pass by before and saw Miss Gwen performing on the drums at that club on the roadside, thought her drumming looked amazing, and then... then we got to know each other! We're just ordinary acquaintances, really absolutely no out-of-bounds relationship! Mr. Arthur, you must rest assured!"
After clearing the relationship in one breath, this Mr. Parker seemed to feel that what he said was not convincing enough, so he racked his brains and started to pick up Arthur's previous question, his mouth completely unable to stop:
"As for... as for the question of where you said we've met, sir, I think it's most likely because we met at school? Right, it must be like that! I heard about it from Miss Gwen, she said you and I are actually students of the same school! Oh, well that makes total sense. Except I recently heard that you seemed to have completed withdrawal procedures, right? Then the two of us must have accidentally brushed past each other in the school hallway, or in the library, cafeteria, or somewhere before. After all, the school is only that big, so it's totally normal for you to find me looking familiar, right? Hahaha..."
The moment he heard the other party admit in person that his name was Peter Parker, Arthur's temples uncontrollably began to throb violently.
Once this guy's chatterbox opened, it was like a floodgate releasing water, completely unstoppable.
He laughed dryly in the front seat, a string of rambling by himself buzzing in Arthur's ears like flies.
Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Case closed, no need to doubt anymore. This nagging nature leaking from the bones and the maddening talkative attribute were completely engraved deep in the soul of every Spider-Man.
It was definitely the genuine counterpart, no doubt about it!
While having a headache, Arthur turned his head and secretly glanced at Gwen beside him, who was a little dazed by their conversation.
Looking at the girl's well-behaved and quiet appearance shrinking beside him not daring to breathe loudly, Arthuractually gave birth to a trace of relief in his heart: Thank goodness, his own little spider usually had a cold-outside-warm-inside personality, and even if she was occasionally tsundere, she wouldn't make people's brains hurt with noise like a chanting repeat machine.
Seeing that Parker in the front seat was still trying to explain the fate of why he and Arthur found each other familiar from various angles such as climate and traffic, with a great momentum of talking endlessly all the way to the destination, Arthur finally couldn't help it anymore.
He decided to cut through the mess quickly and directly interrupt the spell-casting.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Arthur voiced out to interrupt him.
Then he didn't continue to dwell on the question of whether they knew each other, but instead changed the subject and threw out the soul-searching question he couldn't figure out the most since getting in the car.
He pointed at the broken iron shell that was about to fall apart every meter it drove, and asked: "Finally, I'll only ask one sentence. This Mr. Parker, where on earth did this clunker of yours come from, which looks a full generation older than my great-grandfather at your age? Could it be that you sneaked to some nearby scrap yard to get a scrapped item?"
Hearing this question, Parker, who was driving, panicked and shouted as if his tail had been stepped on:
"No, no, no! No mend-mend-mend! Not stolen, absolutely not stolen! How could this car be stolen! This is Uncle Ben's car! I just saw it idle in the garage and borrowed it, just borrowed it! When I finish dropping you two off, I'll return it to the garage completely intact when I go back, Uncle Ben cherishes this car very much!"
Hearing the three words "Uncle Ben" pop out of Parker's mouth, Arthur just nodded slightly and didn't continue talking to pick up this topic.
The conversation in the carriage finally stopped, leaving only the tired roar of the engine.
Arthur leaned the weight of his whole body backwards, collapsing and lying on the backrest of this tattered car seat where he could even feel the springs poking him a bit, and let out a heavy sigh.
Right now he only felt one head as big as two.
Originally thinking that after transmigrating to the Marvel Universe, he, a prophetic butterfly who knew all major event plots, relying on the memory in his head and the power of the Zodiac Talismans as his trump card, no matter how dangerous the World was, could sit firmly on the Diaoyutai and protect his girlfriend to live a good life.
But he never expected that this parallel Universe could be messed up to such an outrageous degree!
What time node is it now?
Today is the day Tony Stark goes to the desert to test the Jericho missile!
This is the starting timeline of 2008's Iron Man 1, the stage where the gears of the entire MCU are just starting to turn.
At this time node that should have been simple, not only was there Ghost Spider Gwen as the female lead by his side, but now even Maguire's version of the Spider-Mancounterpart had popped out!
What's even more outrageous is that in this Parker's timeline, his Uncle Ben hasn't died yet!
What does this mean?
Whether this kid has been bitten by a spider right now, and whether he has turned into Spider-Man, is completely an unknown variable!
Two spiders in one World?
What the hell kind of crazy script of a multiverse hotpot is this?
Originally there was only one main line, but now it was directly stirred into a messy hotpot!
Arthur was so worried that he kept pinching his nasal bridge, and the sense of security that everything was under control in his heart was slipping away bit by bit.
For a very long journey afterwards, Arthur didn't speak a single word again.
He just quietly turned his head sideways, following the dust-filled car window with his gaze, blankly looking at the urban scenery continuously retreating backward outside the road.
Peter, who was driving, seeing that this big guy finally quieted down, also let out a long sigh of relief in his heart, wholeheartedly dealing with this clunker that might break down at any time; and Gwen, seeing the crisis lifted, also relaxed, quietly accompanying Arthur's side, only occasionally looking at him with some worry to see if he was in a bad mood.
Right in this seemingly calm journey, suddenly, Arthur's pupils shrank violently!
Like getting an electric shock, he hurriedly turned around, most of his body reaching towards the back, his face almost glued to the rear windshield, staring fixedly at the street continuously moving away behind the car.
The back of the car was empty, except for a few taxis driving past honking their horns and the withered yellow street trees by the roadside, there was nothing special at all.
Arthur's sudden and violent movement gave Gwen beside him a big start.
She curiously leaned over, her pretty blue eyes also looking out the rear car window following Arthur's line of sight, seeing nothing except dust and exhaust fumes.
"What's wrong, Arthur? Did something happen?"
Gwen's soft and sweet voice carrying a bit of tension and concern sounded in his ear.
Arthur quickly turned his body back.
He tried hard to control the shocked expression on his face that was about to break, forced out an nonchalant smile, shook his head gently at Gwen, and said in a tone pretending to be very casual:
"It's nothing.
Just that when passing by just now, I saw a building with a quite fun architectural style by the roadside, seeming like some strange sculpture.
The car was driving too fast just now and I didn't see enough, so I wanted to turn back and take a couple more looks."
"Oh, is that so..."
Although Gwen still had some doubts in her heart, seeing Arthur's relaxed appearance, she didn't doubt too much, and then obediently shrank back to her position.
Building? Sculpture?
Of course, all of that was just an excuse Arthur casually fabricated to fob off Gwen!
In fact, just when his gaze swept across the entrance of a dirty dark alley by the roadside, the scene he truly saw almost made his heart jump straight out of his throat.
That was a person.
A guy wearing a tacky red and black tight suit, with two sharp long swords crossed on his back!
Just in the fleeting instant, Arthur's eyesight enhanced by the talisman even clearly captured those two white cloth eyes like waterdrops on the head of that tight suit!
That was Deadpool! A living, breathing Deadpool!!
And what made Arthur's worldview shatter even more was that that red and black figure wasn't walking on the street, but hopped and bounced directly into a Portal that appeared out of thin air, flickering with blinding sparks and yellow light!
Arthur now not only wanted to sigh, he simply wanted to jump out of the car and roll around frantically on the roadside.
Even these guys from "Deadpool & Wolverine" who could start a multiverse outbreak in Marvel Phase 5 and wander around through timelines casually had rushed over early to join the fun!
Yellow Portal, Deadpool, Maguire counterpart...
Arthur leaned back heavily against the car seat, his eyes looking at the half-falling gray flannel on the car roof.
[Clarifying here to save you guys from thinking wildly.
Deadpool is Deadpool, and the plotline is also correct.
It's just that wasn't there a ring in the original play?
Deadpool stole it to play with after the original plot ended, and then unintentionally opened a door connecting to this Universe.]
[There are already a bunch of Marvel versions to begin with, so me making up a few myself shouldn't be a problem, right.]
[There will definitely be Deadpool in the future, which version it is won't necessarily be certain.]
This World is definitely hopeless... It's too chaotic, truly chaotic to an outrageous degree!!!
I want to go home!! I don't want to play here anymore!!
Chapter 4: How could we arrive so late, we didn't even get an autograph, and I was even thinking of selling a batch of autographs (Revised)."
"Author's Note [Regarding the issue in this chapter where the vintage car drove straight from the United States to the Middle East, someone has already lectured me. Since the plot cannot be changed, just pretend I'm an idiot who is bad at geography and let me off]."
"The vintage car's dilapidated exhaust pipe finally stopped amidst a fit of violent coughing."
"The surrounding air was slightly distorted by the bake of the Sun, and the heatwaves in the desert could make people feel sultry even through the somewhat blurred car windows."
"The dry dust outside the car swirled in the breeze, and this somewhat dated clunker looked completely out of place here."
"The location guided by the subscription message was right before their eyes, but this had completely nothing to do with the originally expected 'high-end weapon exhibition'."
"Scattered across the asphalt road outside were metal debris of all sizes, a military jeep had been blown up leaving only a pitch-black empty shell, and the flames on the vehicle frame had not completely extinguished, emitting a faint and pungent black smoke upwards."
"The surrounding sandy ground was covered with messy ruts and disorderly footprints, a few broken assault rifles were casually discarded on the roadside, and bullet shells were scattered all over the ground."
"There was not a single living person as far as the eye could see, a dead silence, as if a group of thugs had just thrown a crazy party here."
""Wow…" Peter Parker sitting in the driver's seat couldn't help rolling down the car window, sticking most of his head out, his voice revealing a bit of disbelief and exaggerated doubt"
""What on earth happened, did someone cause a bomb to backfire? How did the scene get into such a mess.""
"He pulled his neck back, looked at Arthur in the back row through the rearview mirror, pointed at the ruins outside, and continued nagging"
""How come not a single shadow of a person can be seen around here? Where is that playboy who originally liked to show off, could it be that the weapon exhibition failed, and he ran away first because he felt he lost face.""
"Arthur leaned against the back of the chair, his gaze calmly sweeping across the mess outside. Looking at the burned-out jeep, his mind had already completely filled in what had happened here just now."
"It was not any exhibition failure at all; Stark had just been hit by missile shrapnel produced by his own company and was seriously injured."
"At this time, he was probably already hooded by Terrorists of the Ten Rings Gang, dragged into some dark and damp cave, and forced to start forging iron to save his life."
"Facing Parker's question, Arthur just shrugged indifferently, his tone very calm"
""It looks like this tycoon's weapon exhibition operation didn't go very smoothly. But this is also normal, after all, as the World's largest arms dealer, he sells lethal weapons everywhere, and he must have made quite a few enemies in this area. Maybe some batch of buyers was unsatisfied and came to return the goods, protesting with physical means by the way.""
"Hearing Arthur's understatement of the explanation, Peterswallowed a mouthful of saliva, seemingly having no interest in such a dangerous gang firefight scene."
"He turned his head to look at Arthur in the back seat, "Buddy, what's our schedule arrangement now anyway? Anyway, I plan to go back first. This place looks too abnormal, if my Uncle Ben finds out that I drove his precious darling vintage car into a desert where a firefight might have happened, he will definitely nag me to death at the breakfast table every morning. This car doesn't even have bulletproof glass.""
"Gwen, sitting beside Arthur, also quietly moved closer to him at this time."
"She reached out her fingers, and with her fingertips bearing thin calluses from frequently playing the drum kit, gently tugged at the corner of Arthur's thin jacket."
"She looked up at Arthur, her azure-blue eyes carrying a hint of cautious inquiry, her voice kept very low and soft"
""Otherwise let's go back Arthur, there are burnt iron sheets and dangerous goods smells everywhere here, it seems there really is nothing good to look at anymore.""
"What Gwen was actually more worried about in her heart was Arthur's safety."
"Although she herself was Spider-Woman who could swing with Web-slinging at a hundred meters high and stop cars with her bare hands, in her eyes Arthur was just an ordinary college student, the person she cared about most in this World."
"A dangerous place with traces of crossfire like this could easily cost an ordinary person's life if a stray bullet flew over."
"She definitely didn't want Arthur to encounter danger just to join in the excitement of some richest man."
"Besides, Arthur's cold questioning of Peter in the car earlier still made her feel somewhat uneasy until now; she just wanted to quickly end this somewhat awkward itinerary and return to a safe environment with just the two of them with Arthur."
"Arthur felt the tugging of the jacket corner, turned his head to look at this little spider of his own."
"Looking at this rare well-behaved and even somewhat dependent appearance of hers, he reached out and gently patted the back of Gwen's hand gripping his jacket corner as a comfort, calculating slightly in his heart."
"According to his memory of the timeline of the first-phase plot of Marvel in his mind, from Stark being dragged into that pitch-black cave to him hammering out the Mark Iinitial armor with that pile of scrap metal, there was a very long time in between."
"If his memory hadn't made any mistakes, he would probably still be trapped for quite a while."
"Until the end, Stark still had to withstand the pressure of serious injury, spending nearly a few months to barely piece the armor into shape, and then forcefully fought his way out of the Terrorists' encirclement."
"Since the timeline was arranged this way, staying in this uninhabited ruin right now truly had not even a shred of meaning for him."
"After all, he couldn't possibly rush directly into the cave right now, flatten all the surrounding minions with the power of talismans, and accompany that tycoon through the long night."
"Acting now would not only appear abrupt, but also didn't align with his own interests."
"Thinking of this, Arthur sighed slightly, intentionally putting on a very disappointed expression on his face, and pouted towards the ruins outside the car window."
""It's truly a pity. I originally thought that running this huge trip and braving such a big Sun, at least I could see a flashy feast of cutting-edge weapon exhibitions. If luck was a bit better, maybe I could even ask that playboy for an autograph, and take it back to hang on a secondhand website for a good price to earn some side money or something, but as a result, it was all a wasted trip.""
"While shaking his head to express regret, Arthur sat up straight again, leaning comfortably back against the rear seat, and waved casually at Peter in the front driver's seat"
""Driver, please make a U-turn, let's head back the original way. Today's excitement has been watched.""
"Peter Parker looked at Arthur in the rearview mirror, who didn't take the danger of the explosion scene seriously at all and was even full of thoughts about getting autographs to sell for money, and couldn't help rolling his eyes heavily."
"Regarding this strange fellow whose personality jumped around and whose mentality was surprisingly good, Petertruly didn't know what to say anymore."
"He could only sigh resignedly, put it in reverse, and skillfully stepped on the accelerator."
"Amidst a burst of violent shaking and unpleasant metal grinding sounds, the vintage car laboriously made a turn and drove back slowly along the road it came from."
"On the way back, the carriage recovered that somewhat muffled silence."
"Occasionally, only the sound of car tires crushing stones on the road and the engine's reluctant humming noise were transmitted in."
"The sunlight was still enthusiastic, but fortunately the car window was rolled down halfway, and the blowing wind slightly took away some of the mugginess."
"Arthur leaned very relaxed against the somewhat stiff back of the rear seat, closing his eyes slightly, and began to carefully plan tomorrow's itinerary in his mind."
"According to Stark's escape time, he had to find a way to go out earlier."
"He planned to secretly follow along and continue to join the excitement. It wasn't to steal any spotlight and become a big hero, but mainly so that before Stark escaped and fell in the desert, and before that bald Colonel Rhodes found him, he could make an appearance in time and conveniently give this miserably pathetic future Iron Man a hand."
"Taking advantage of this timely rescue action, he would build familiarity with Stark and grasp a bit of favorability from this richest man."
"If this tycoon was happy, maybe in the future he would still have the opportunity to purloin a customized version of exclusive iron armor from him to play with as a big toy, and flying in the sky was always much more convenient than walking on the ground."
"Even if the armor wasn't easy to get, this could definitely serve as an extremely perfect opportunity to let himself smoothly walk into the field of vision of those upper echelons."
"For example, that S.H.I.E.L.D. Egghead Director who always liked to wear black leather jackets and wear an eyepatch."
"Contacting this kind of guy who controlled intelligence and had extremely heavy guard in advance, getting familiar faces, and establishing a so-called "friendly cooperation" relationship was ultimately beneficial and harmless."
"After all, establishing oneself in this World full of variables, it was impossible to always be an unknown transparent person."
"The Zodiac Talismans hidden in the consciousness of his mind served as his only trump card for now, whether it was the Rabbit Talisman's speed or the Rooster Talisman's levitation, if he truly encountered any irresistible major crisis in the future, there would always be a time when they needed to be used."
"If he didn't smooth out these official interpersonal relationships in advance, and give himself a slightly legitimate background or excuse, once he displayed those unreasonable special magic abilities, he would most likely be targeted crazily as an unknown dangerous Mutant by those late-stage paranoid Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"He definitely didn't want to bring a bunch of endless little tails following behind into his and Gwen's peaceful little life."
"The current mission objective was very simple and clear, which was simply to take a stroll in the desert after a while and casually fish out a tycoon."
"As for how to get there, at worst he could find a place with no people and use the Rabbit Talisman and the Rooster Talisman to travel."
"Having planned future matters, Arthur's thoughts returned to the present. As for how to arrange this period of free time after going back today."
"Arthur slowly opened his eyes, turned his head and glanced at Gwen who was snuggled closely beside him."
"This girl was currently staring blankly somewhat boredly at the sand dunes outside the window, her pink-golden short hair made slightly messy by the wind leaking in through the car window gaps."
"Probably because of the morning episode, plus feeling a bit sleepy right now, her whole person looked somewhat listless, just like a little cat that had suffered a grievance and didn't get enough dried small fish compensation."
"The answer was self-evident, of course it was to accompany this cute little spider to stroll around the streets properly."
"In the morning because of Parker that chatterbox's matter, his casual joke didn't hold back its timing, accidentally causing this girl's post-traumatic stress disorder to act up again. Seeing her flustered and desperately trying to explain to herself at that time, Arthur still felt a muffled heartache in his heart when he thought about it now."
"No matter what, it was also because he didn't grasp the boundaries well, making his own girlfriend who usually always liked to act tough and pretend to be a cool girl cry."
"After going back today, he definitely had to take her to the city center for a good big meal, and then accompany her to browse that old record store she had been longing for for a long time, maybe even buy her a new pair of drumsticks."
"He always had to do something to properly make up for the fright brought to her this half day, considering it as his apology to her."
"Thinking of this, Arthur leaned a bit closer towards Gwen's side, his shoulder gently brushing against her thin shoulder, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help carrying a hint of gentle and doting smile."