The talkative raven in the world of American comics

Chapter 9: Spider-Man in Progress

Upon hearing Connors' words, Peter couldn't help but smile:

"You flatter me. I was just your assistant..."

Connors grew increasingly fond of the boy's humility, despite his unpleasant relationship with the boy's father; the boy's son was remarkably to his liking.

"You," Connors pointed at Peter and said, "I'm reminded of a friend's favorite saying: 'Intelligence isn't a privilege; we should use it to do the right thing.'"

"I believe your future achievements will be no less than ours, Peter."

The overwhelmingly positive praise made Peter scratch his head and smile sheepishly.

Oz then said, "Wow, he's setting a high bar for you. The more he says you'll achieve something great in the future, the less likely you are to achieve anything!"

Peter was annoyed: "This is Dr. Connors' expectation of me, what do you know? And judging from his performance just now, how could the doctor possibly turn into a lizard?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Oz replied perfunctorily. "Since you think it won't change, then let's go. You still have to keep playing Spider-Man."

Strictly speaking, Peter can't really help with whether Dr. Connors will actually turn into a lizard man.

The lizard serum was created in order to extend the life of Norman Osborn in this universe.

Even if Oz told Peter now that the spider that bit him was a Parker gene specially formulated by his father, Peter couldn't help him.

Because the life and death of important figures cannot be resolved by Peter's words alone; the factors involved are far too complex.

Unless the person he's assisting is some billionaire who can easily handle these kinds of things, given Peter's current abilities, Dr. Connors is destined to become a lizard man.

All he could do was help Peter quickly adapt to the Spider-Man identity so that he would suffer less in the battles to come.

And to avoid the death of his father-in-law.

In general, he still has to endure the hardships of being Spider-Man, but the tragedies that happen to him are for Oz to suffer.

......

After leaving Osborn, Peter took Oz to the place where he had previously played skateboarding, which was an abandoned construction site rooftop.

While he was supposed to be playing Spider-Man, he was more like a test subject.

Peter conducted a series of tests on his invention, the spider silk projectile.

Peter believes that when using his abilities to help others, he should at least have a clear understanding of himself.

If you're not even proficient with your own web-shooting device, how can you talk about helping others?

This is irresponsible.

"From now on, I'll have to keep some spider silk boxes on me at all times, because I'm consuming spider silk faster than I imagined."

Peter took off the suffocating hood and looked up at the black raven that had been lying in a hammock made of a few strands of spider silk.

Oz turned around and said lazily, "It's a pity you don't have a father of steel, otherwise you wouldn't need to worry about this issue."

Peter had gradually gotten used to the incomprehensible words coming out of Oz's mouth.

He jumped onto the spiderweb hammock and sat down, the sudden movement causing the whole hammock to sway.

The distant sky was draped in a dark veil, yet the lingering yellow hue was still visible.

"I don't know if I can do it well," Peter said suddenly, his hands braced against the hammock.

"Dude, you haven't even taken the first step yet, what are you talking about doing well?" Oz rejected Peter's attempt to have a heart-to-heart talk.

Has anyone ever told you that you have a really sharp tongue?

Peter thought he would have a conversation with Oz to get to know him better, but Oz's words were still sharp and he had no intention of continuing the conversation.

"Yes, the price of being a chatterbox is being killed by a dump truck."

Oz was furious at the memory of his experience before he was transported to another world. "After being wrecked and wearing an angel's halo, I ran into Morgan Freeman. All I did was ask him if he had harassed any little girls, and I ended up being turned into a damned raven!"

"..."

Peter couldn't tell if the guy was telling the truth, but luckily his phone rang at that moment.

And Oz continued rambling on:

"I'm not having it! Why am I the crow? All my other colleagues turned into owls, what's the meaning of me becoming a crow?"

"Then I told him, since you played Lucius, could you wait until I've watched the new DC Superman movie before I'm fully reincarnated..."

"..."

"Hi, Aunt May." Peter covered the microphone to make sure Oz couldn't hear what was on the other end of the line.

"I'll be back for dinner, right away... Eggs? No problem, I'll bring them back."

Even after hanging up the phone, Oz continued to hurl profanities.

"Damn it, I just don't understand why God is black. Is it because he was created from clay? That doesn't fit the mythological system at all..."

"Alright, alright, I know you're having a tough time," Peter interrupted. "I have to go back. What about you? Are you coming back with me or going to the docks for fries?"

Oz said, "I won't be able to get fries."

"for--"

Peter was about to ask why when a strange feeling came to his mind, as if telling him that something nearby could threaten him.

He followed his instincts to the edge of the rooftop and looked down at the street below.

A few wisps of smoke drifted out of one of the apartments in the building. A moment later, the sound of a window shattering rang out, and a wooden chair flew out and fell from the sky.

"Help! Someone please help me!"

Then a scream came from the apartment building.

"Heh heh, deliberately throwing things from a height, you're in big trouble if you get caught." Oz appeared next to Peter at some point.

Oz glanced at Peter. "That's a classic accident scenario, fitting your current situation. Go save them, great hero!"

Peter remained rational: "Save us? How can we save us? I've run out of spider silk!"

"What does it matter to you if you run out of webs? You're not Spider-Man," Oz said.

Peter shook his head: "A fire scene is very dangerous. We need to wait for professional firefighters to arrive before we can control it."

"So you're planning to stand by and do nothing?"

"Damn it!" Peter cursed. "You should at least consider your own capabilities before trying to save someone, okay?! You make it sound so easy, why don't you go and save them yourself?"

"Damn it, if this were my solo show, I would have gone to save it already, but this isn't my solo show!" Oz yelled.

Peter stood on tiptoe and looked further down the street, where he spotted the fire trucks.

"The firefighters will be here soon; they just need to hold on a little longer."

"It's easier said than done. What if you can't stick with it?"

"..."

Peter took a deep breath. "You're kidnapping me!"

“Yes,” Oz said matter-of-factly. “You said it yourself, when you have the ability to do what you can, you have no choice but to do it.”

"Oh right, it's fine if you don't save them. Anyway, I can complete the mission by keeping some damned people alive."

Peter glared at Oz with angry eyes, then took several deep breaths.

"Damn it!"

He cursed, then put on the ridiculous wrestler's headgear and ran along the wall toward the thick smoke.

Oz whistled triumphantly.