Multiverse , Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 392: 392 MCU 67

"Ah... I laughed like crazy. I never imagined Jin would prepare something like this. This has been the most fun I’ve had in a while."

"That’s right. I laughed so hard my stomach hurts."

Clint, having laughed so much he was exhausted, wiped away tears as he said that, and Vulture also agreed and said the same.

It seemed everyone had been stressed out by the UN’s media play, so they looked extremely pleased.

"Since it’s hard to leave the base today because of the reporters, I think it’d be best to just stay in, eat something good, and rest."

"Great!"

"Good."

When I said that, everyone agreed.

I prepared a hearty spread from the cafeteria for them—barbecue pork ribs, lobster, roast chicken, skewered grilled meat, vegetable salad, and potato salad—so they could eat their fill.

And I laid it all out generously in the outdoor area inside the base, along with beer.

Then not only the team members but also the doctors and staff all came out and began enjoying the meal.

"Wow~ This is amazing."

"I felt this last time too, but Jin really seems to be a great cook."

"Right. I should get the recipe later."

"Are you going to make it for your family later?"

"Of course. I’d feel guilty eating it all alone."

As expected, the compliments about the food kept coming.

After enjoying lunch like that, we were drinking beer, chatting with people, and relaxing when suddenly the Captain looked at his phone and his expression turned serious.

"What’s wrong?"

"Sorry, something urgent came up and I have to go. It’ll probably take a few days, so take care of Eleanor (Deadpool) and Emilia (his daughter)."

"Ah, okay."

Since reporters were still crowded at the base entrance, the Captain had no choice but to take a Talarian vehicle and leave in a hurry.

Seeing that he’d taken Sharon Carter along, it seemed he’d gotten word of Peggy Carter’s death.

Deadpool also knew the future, so he didn’t say anything and let him go.

I also wanted to go to Peggy Carter’s funeral, but since I had no proper connection to her, I decided to give up.

Peggy Carter and Captain America met during World War II and became lovers who deeply trusted and loved each other.

Peggy was the person who acknowledged and supported Steve from the very beginning during the war, and Steve truly cherished her as well.

However, after the war, Steve went into cryogenic freeze, and the two were separated for a long time. In the end, due to the gap in time, they couldn’t be together and remained a tragic, crossed love.

But unlike the original story, since he even has a daughter now, given the Captain’s responsible nature, he probably wouldn’t remain trapped in the past.

’Thanks to Deadpool causing trouble, the Captain’s situation got a bit more complicated too.’

The day after that incident, protests against governments and the UN began in earnest from all over.

The protests weren’t limited to the U.S. and spread to other countries as well.

The measures I’d prepared seemed to have worked, because public opinion flipped in an instant. The protesters were demanding a thorough investigation into Hydra and the nuclear issue and were voicing support for the Avengers’ activities.

That wasn’t all.

Countries around the world began flooding the U.S. government with requests to "share Gundam technology with us to stop the cosmic threat."

The U.S. government seemed deeply troubled, but in the end, they designated both Iron Man’s technology and Gundam technology as Critical Military Technologies and made it clear they would not share them.

Because of this, world leaders kept raising their voices of criticism toward the U.S. day after day.

In particular, strong criticism continued at the UN, led by China and Russia.

As a result, interest in the Sokovia Accords had all but disappeared.

Public opinion was also unfavorable, so the issue couldn’t be properly discussed, and it seemed like it would eventually fizzle out.

Another interesting point was that the U.S. government wasn’t responding at all to the Hydra and nuclear issues.

But they couldn’t say anything to us either.

Probably because internal matters were complicatedly entangled, and since they didn’t know how much information the Avengers had, the U.S. government seemed to just maintain silence.

In the midst of all this, King T’Chaka of Wakanda came to the Avengers base with his son T’Challa.

"What brings you here?"

I served them coffee and asked.

Then T’Chaka apologized to me first.

"I’m sorry. I was so busy criticizing without knowing the internal situation. Thanks to a broadcast a few days ago and our own investigation, I finally realized how hard the Avengers have been fighting all this time. Please forgive my ignorance."

Despite being a king of a nation, T’Chaka honestly apologized for his mistake.

It definitely made me think he was a trustworthy person.

"It’s fine. There are many things we do that can’t be disclosed to the public, so I think misunderstandings are bound to happen. Besides, things are going well now, so you don’t need to worry too much."

"I’m glad you understand. In the future, our kingdom will actively cooperate with the Avengers."

"Thank you. By the way, does Wakanda have the technology to treat people who have been brainwashed? The thing is, there’s a friend of the Captain’s named Bucky..."

I took this chance to tell them about Hydra’s experiments and Bucky and to ask for their cooperation.

"So that’s what happened... Hmm... I’d need to look into it in detail, but I think it might be possible. But Hydra was a more dangerous organization than I thought?"

"Yes. They tried to swallow up the entire United States. They’re not just a simple terrorist group. We’re doing our best, but we couldn’t easily root them out, and we can’t predict what they’ll do next."

"Hmm... You must be going through a lot. Understood. I’ll look into it."

With that, we exchanged contact information and they left.

Now that Wakanda also knew about Bucky’s condition, I thought he’d be able to receive treatment for his brainwashing without issue.

’Good to see things are going well.’

I was spending time at the base having lunch with Natasha and Cosmo when, in the afternoon, Tony came to me with a very pleased expression and showed me a video on his phone.

"Look at this. There’s a kid making waves in Queens lately. What do you think?"

The video showed someone wearing a red hoodie, with their face covered, wearing a roughly made black goggle-like thing.

They were shooting something like white webbing to catch criminals and save people.

This was clearly Peter Parker in his early homemade Spider-Man costume.

"Wow~ That’s impressive. Are you going to bring him into the Avengers?"

"I can’t bring him in right away. I need to meet him and judge for myself."

"That sounds fun. Want me to come along?"

"You must have been bored. Alright, let’s go for a drive together for once. Natasha might get jealous though?"

Then Natasha, who was next to us, chuckled and said,

"I can hear you, you know!"

Saying we were going for a drive, it was just riding in a luxury car driven by Happy to Queens.

I greeted Happy happily after a long time.

"Long time no see, Happy. You’re not feeling any discomfort anywhere from the last incident, are you?"

"Long time no see, Chairman. Thanks to your concern, I’m healthy."

"Good to hear."

Happy seemed to have recovered healthily without any problems after the events of Iron Man 3.

Queens is a district located east of Manhattan, and outside the window, low-rise houses and small shops lined the streets.

People of various races busily moved about on every street, and the ordinary yet vibrant noise and smells of the neighborhood seeped into the car, giving a sense of Queens’ unique liveliness.

We drove around Queens like that and stopped at a small apartment complex.

This seemed to be where Peter Parker lived.

"We’re here. This is the place. I did some background checks—he’s still a student, so he probably hasn’t arrived yet. But since he has family here, we can wait inside."

"Really? To surprise him?"

"Exactly that. He’ll be shocked that the two of us came."

Tony secretly loved things like this.

But I also thought it would be fun, so I didn’t say anything.

We immediately took the elevator up to Peter Parker’s apartment and knocked.

Then Peter Parker’s aunt, May Parker, opened the door, looking surprised.

"Oh, what brings you here... I’m not dreaming, am I? Tony Stark and Jin..."

Unlike the comics, MCU Aunt May was quite young, with long brown hair and a friendly, attractive appearance.

She seemed extremely flustered by our sudden visit.

"We’re here because Peter Parker is receiving a grant from the Stark Foundation. We came to congratulate him in person."

"Oh, is that so? A grant... Well, please come in and wait. Peter will be here soon."

We followed May inside and sat on the sofa.

May served us her homemade cookies and coffee.

"I’m sorry. This is all I have to offer at home..."

"It’s fine. But you’re incredibly young to be Peter’s aunt. Did you get married early?"

"Yes, that’s how it turned out. And unluckily, I became a widow early too."

"I see. I’m sorry."

While Tony and May were talking, I picked up one of May’s cookies—the same ones Tony took one bite of and spat out in the original, saying they were terrible—and tried it.

It wasn’t inedible, but it wasn’t good either.

Cookies usually can’t be that bad, but May Parker really must be a terrible cook.

But I couldn’t show it, so I just finished the one in my hand and only drank the coffee.

"So why did Jin come along..."

"I’m a friend and colleague of Tony’s, so I was at the Avengers base and came with him. I also support the foundation."

"I see. Things have been noisy lately with all the Avengers talk. You must be very tired."

"Not everything in the world is easy. But things are going well, so you don’t need to worry."

"That’s a relief."

Just then, the sound of someone unlocking the door was heard, and Peter Parker came in.

Peter seemed not to have noticed us, busy putting down his bag and things.

"Aunt May."

"You’re back. How was school?"

"It was fine. But there’s a really expensive-looking car outside..."

Peter finally noticed us and stood frozen in place as if petrified.

Then Tony greeted Peter.

"Peter."

"Uh... so... what are you doing here... Oh, hello. I’m, I’m Peter."

Peter seemed flustered by us and stammered slightly as he greeted us.

"I’m Tony. And this is Jin."

Tony introduced me, so I gave a small wave as a light greeting.

Peter also bowed his head in greeting.

Seeing the still-fresh Peter gave me a strange feeling.

"How... why... what brings you here?"

"I should have met you sooner. You got my email, right? Yes?"

Tony awkwardly winked and signaled for Peter to play along.

Peter caught on and immediately started going along with it.

"Oh, yes. But what..."

Then Aunt May answered for him.

"It’s about the grant money?"

"Ah, right. That’s it."

Tony, probably afraid that if the conversation with May continued the lie would be exposed, quickly continued.

"From our foundation."

"Yes."

"Right, you applied."

"Th, that’s right."

"It’s been confirmed."

When Tony said that, May looked a little disappointed and scolded Peter.

"Why didn’t you tell me? Are you keeping secrets from me?"

"You have to surprise you after it’s confirmed... But what did I apply for?"

"That’s what we’re here to discuss."

"I see... Please discuss."

"You’re too pretty to be an aunt. And your cookies are delicious."

"Well, I am what I am."

Seeing the conversation heading in a weird direction, I stepped in.

"Shouldn’t you first talk with Parker about what kind of grant he wants to receive?"

"Oh, right. Then, Aunt May, let us have a talk with Parker for a moment."

"Alright."

With that strange conversation wrapped up, Tony and I stood up and went into Peter’s room.

Tony locked the door and immediately spat out the May-cookie he’d been eating into the trash can, saying,

"That was a lie. It’s just okay. But hey, you’ve got a vintage computer? Where’d you get it? A thrift store? A deal?"

"Well... from the trash."

"What? Trash? You dumpster-dived?"

"Yes, well... Anyway, I didn’t apply for a grant..."

Tony cut Peter off and said,

"Ah! Let me talk first. Just to be polite, I’m asking—this is you, right?"

Tony took out his phone and showed the video of Peter in action, asking.

"Uh... No, what are you talking about?"

"It’s you, right? Wow! You caught a car going over 60 km/h and weighing over a ton? That’s not easy. You have insane abilities."

Peter then vehemently denied it and started making excuses.

"You found that video on YouTube, right? It’s all fake. It’s computer-generated."

At that moment, I used a nearby broom to lift the inspection hatch in the ceiling.

Then the exact same costume from the video dropped down, hanging from a rope.

Peter, just like in the original, had hidden his costume up there.

"Ah!"

Peter was shocked and hurriedly snatched the costume and hid it back in his closet.

This kid is secretly kind of cute.

"So you’re Spider Ring? The crime-fighting Spider Boy? Right?"

"Hah... It’s Spider-Man."

Realizing he couldn’t hide it anymore, he admitted it honestly.

Tony chuckled.

"Man? You’re just a kid."

"I’m not a kid. I actually had a really good day today... I didn’t miss the train, I found a DVD player, I got a perfect score on my math test..."

"And who else knows?"

"No one."

"Your unusually attractive aunt?"

"No, she doesn’t know. If she did, she’d freak out. She’d totally overreact."

Tony took the costume out of the closet, examined it, then pulled out a web cartridge and tossed it to Peter, saying,

"This webbing, it’s really something. The tensile strength is beyond imagination. Who made it?"

"I did."

"How do you climb walls? Do you use special gloves?"

"Hah... well... it’s a long story."

Tony started playing around, holding the goggle-like eye pieces of the costume up to his own eyes.

"Whoa, my god. Can you even see through these?"

"Yes, yes! I can see! I can see!"

Peter, a little annoyed, snatched his costume back from Tony, put it back in the closet, and began telling Tony about what had happened to him.

"Something happened to me, and my senses changed dramatically. That’s why I can do what I do."

Tony listened and thought for a moment before saying,

"Hmm... You need an upgrade. From head to toe, completely overhauled. I’ll help you. But why? Why did you start doing this?"

"Because... it’s been about six months since I got these special powers... I read books, built computers... I want to play football, but I can’t now."

"Right, because you’ve changed."

"Yes... but I can’t tell anyone..."

Peter sighed and began opening up about his true feelings.

"Having this special ability and just letting it go to waste—if something bad happens, I’d feel guilty, like it was my fault."

"So you want to help the little guy? To make a better world?"

"Yes, helping the little guy... that’s it."

Tony seemed a little moved by that and sat down beside Peter, patting his shoulder.

I knew the future, so I was a bit worried.

I decided to warn him in advance.

"Hmm... But you’re being too careless. Wearing a mask means you’re hiding your identity while operating, right?"

"Yes. In case criminals target me. Then something bad might happen to Aunt May. I don’t want that."

"Then you need to hide it more thoroughly. Not so sloppily. When you’re out there, no matter how stifling it gets, you can’t take off the costume. That’s how we were able to track you. If you keep going like this, the criminals might come to your house instead of us."

"I see... I’ll be careful."

I took this chance to ask about Peni too.

"By the way, the youngest Avenger is Peni Parker. Are you a relative?"

"Yes! She’s a distant relative, so I’ve never met her, but family is family. I actually want to meet and talk with her sometime, but Peni is so famous that it’s not easy."

When Peni came up, Peter’s face lit up.

But from what he said, they didn’t seem to be that close.

"Midtown School of Science and Technology... There’s a pretty girl named Liz there too, right?"

"Uh... how did you know? She’s a classmate."

"She’s the daughter of one of our employees. This kid is more connected to the Avengers than I thought, huh?"

Tony also knew who Liz was because Vulture had bragged about her so much.

"Right. She’s related to Peni and also a classmate of Liz... That’s too many coincidences. Could this be fate?"

Tony also found it interesting and tilted his head.

Seeing them react that way because of the connections I’d made was amusing.

"Anyway, we’ll be going now. Tony will probably contact you. Don’t push yourself too hard with your activities."

"Okay."

"And this is the grant money."

Before leaving, I handed Peter a stack of 100-dollar bills.

It was about 1,500,000 won in Korean currency.

For some reason, looking at the Parker household made me want to give them money.

"Whoa... This much?"

"You’ll spend it quickly. You seem to need a computer too, and school field trips and such cost a lot. Use it wisely."

"I see. Okay. I’ll do that."

With that, we said a brief goodbye to May, and Tony and I were back in the car heading to the base.

"I like that kid. I need to make him a proper suit."

Tony seemed to have taken quite a liking to Peter.

"Amazing. I never thought you’d say that. You must really like him."

"He seems talented and has a good personality. That’s why you sponsored him too, right?"

"Right. He did seem like a good kid. Maybe he could become our next generation."