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Time flew by, and almost half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
"Our hero—Superman—hasn't been seen in public for several days now, but thanks to his existence, the city's crime rate has dropped by a staggering 80%! The President has even publicly announced plans to personally award Superman with the World Peace Prize…"
"Oscorp Industries recently signed a cooperation deal with the military and is set to supply them with cutting-edge combat gear…"
"Stark Industries just set up a new biotech lab a few days ago. Locals have reported hearing some absolutely blood-curdling screams coming from it at night…"
"Billionaire Tony Stark hasn't been seen in public for nearly a month. According to an anonymous source, he's actually been kidnapped…"
Peter casually glanced at the morning newspaper—unsurprisingly, Superman's name was once again splashed across the front page.
Thanks to the media's relentless coverage, by now literally everyone—from grandpas in their 80s to toddlers barely old enough to talk—had heard of Superman.
Every time Peter went to school, he'd overhear random people talking about him.
But honestly, it didn't have much impact on his daily life.
He still went to school like normal during the day and made nightly visits to the secret lab in Antarctica.
Now that the energy issues had been resolved, progress on the nano suit project had really picked up. The suit could already take form, but the particles still took too long to fully assemble and stabilize.
Right now, it still needed several minutes for the molecular structure to completely solidify and take shape.
Reed and the other scientists were focused on figuring out how to speed up the process of particle assembly.
As for Tony, after successfully building the arc reactor, he was now working on the suit's transformation algorithms—essentially making it as versatile as possible.
Long story short: Peter's nano battle suit was almost ready.
Even though it was the weekend, Peter had been invited to a special tech exhibition before school ended yesterday.
Gwen's new mentor was planning to showcase his latest research—something he'd spent over a decade developing—in front of the media.
"Seriously, this world just has it out for Spider-Man."
"She just lost one mentor who almost turned into a supervillain, and now she's picked up a new one who's also probably going to go bad."
On the way to the exhibition, Peter couldn't help but feel mentally exhausted for Gwen, aka Spider-Woman.
Maybe she really was the "chosen one" of this chaotic world—trouble just had a way of finding her.
"Still, Doc Ock's artificial sun is pretty damn interesting…"
Truthfully, the only reason Peter agreed to attend this event was because he had to confirm something important for himself—something that could change everything.
"Can an artificial sun give me the same kind of strength as the real one?"
Meanwhile, in a hospital room styled with a vintage aesthetic...
A well-built man was lying in bed. Even though he was just wearing a tank top, his muscular frame was still clearly visible.
An old-school radio in the room was playing the broadcast of a decades-old baseball game.
Suddenly, the man's body started trembling violently.
He kept mumbling under his breath, clearly trapped in some kind of traumatic memory.
Then, his eyes shot open—and in a flash, he bolted upright in bed.
"Where… am I?"
His eyes darted around the room, full of confusion as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
"This game…?"
He listened more closely to the broadcast. The voice of the commentator sounded very familiar.
His already confused expression shifted into something more serious.
"Good morning, Captain Rogers."
A young nurse in a retro uniform walked into the room with a warm smile and greeted the man who had just woken up.
"Where is this? Who are you?"The man shot her a cold look, his voice sharp and cautious.
"This is a post-op recovery room in New York…"
The nurse responded smoothly, not missing a beat. Technically, they were in New York—though not in the way he was expecting.
As the baseball game on the radio came to an end and the final score was announced...
The man's face dropped. Whatever calm he had left was gone.
"What the hell is going on? Where am I, really?"
He stood up, towering at nearly 6'3", his strong frame radiating an overwhelming sense of pressure.
"I don't know what you're talking about…"
The nurse was clearly rattled now, her voice starting to shake.
"That game—they played it in May of 1941."
"I know because I was there!"
His voice grew more intense, his expression turning downright menacing as he stepped closer, cornering the nurse.
BANG!
Right then, the door burst open.
Two armed agents stormed in and rushed toward him.
But even though he had just woken up, this man was no ordinary patient.
He was a battle-hardened soldier—a living legend.
Captain America.
With ease, Steve Rogers took down both of the armed men.
And without wasting another second, he bolted out of that suspicious hospital room, not looking back once.
They soon arrived in a large hall full of staff members.
Looking around at the unfamiliar people and surroundings, Steve finally realized he was in a place that felt completely foreign—and almost impossible to accept.
A moment later, wanting to figure out where exactly he was, Steve bolted out of the hall and ran straight onto a bustling, modern street.
Meanwhile, inside the surveillance room connected to the hall, Nick Fury and Agent Coulson stared intently at the screen showing Captain America running out the door.
"Director, why didn't you take my advice and choose a different year's baseball game? Why leave such an obvious flaw in the simulation?" Coulson asked, clearly puzzled.
He had warned Fury that a baseball game from 1941—something the baseball-loving Captain might remember vividly—was too risky. Why insist on using it?
"Coulson," Fury replied, "what we need is a Captain America who can quickly come to terms with reality—not a patient who just woke up and needs psychological therapy."
"Sometimes, discovering the truth on your own is easier to accept than being told outright."
"Come on, it's time we met this fossil face-to-face."
…
Right now, Steve stood on a street bursting with life.
He looked around at the towering skyscrapers and the huge screens plastered on the buildings. One was showing footage of a flying superhero battling a fierce, green-skinned monster. His expression was filled with disbelief and shock.
"Is that… Superman?" he muttered.
Watching the flying man unleash his signature heat vision, Steve felt his entire worldview start to fall apart.
He couldn't tell if what he saw was a movie or something real.
All he knew was—he'd clearly been asleep for a very long time.
Suddenly, a fleet of black cars surrounded him.
A bald man with a stern look and an eyepatch slowly walked up to him.
"Relax, Captain."
"I apologize for the little show earlier, but we figured it'd be best if you learned things gradually."
Hearing Fury's smooth words, Coulson standing beside him couldn't help but twitch a little.
No wonder he's the director...
"You've been asleep for about seventy years," Fury continued.
"And in that time, the world has changed—drastically. In ways you can't even begin to imagine."
As the words sank in—seventy years—Steve's face turned heavy with sadness. He thought of Peggy Carter, who was still waiting to go dancing with him when he left.
"I missed that dance…"
BOOM!
A massive rainbow-colored beam of light suddenly shot down from the sky.
"And those unimaginable changes you mentioned…" Steve pointed past Fury at the figure emerging from the light—a man in silver armor, crackling with lightning, wielding a large hammer. "...does that guy with the hammer count?"
"....."