"I never expected that guy to have super regeneration too. At first, I didn't even bother believing it," Bobby whispered, leaning close to Pietro's ear.
"Well, that info came from Wade, you know. The guy's always talking nonsense, but nonsense doesn't mean he's lying."
"But we gotta keep it secret. Right now, only the mutants and the Avengers know about his healing factor." Bobby sighed.
"Huh? What's up?"
"Nothing, dude." Both of them shook their heads at my question.
"Thank you so much for playing with my Peter, kids. He doesn't have many friends, so I'm really happy he's making some!" Aunt May said cheerfully to the two mutants.
"Huh? Uh… Yeah!"
'We haven't even added each other on our phones yet…'
"Here, I forgot to give you this." Gwen placed a bag of fruit in Harry's hand.
"Wait, this is for me?! From you?!" Harry was completely shocked.
"Why are you so surprised? Do I always have to be obsessed with Peter or something?"
"Bullshit! You're literally like that all the time!"
'Huh, this is actually kinda chill,' I thought to myself while watching the scene.
[You…]
'Yeah, you're back. What's up?'
[You've got some nerve! Without me you'd be dead, and the moment you wake up you don't even say hi, you straight-up forget I exist!]
'…Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Nya.'
[OH MY GOD! You finally thanked me! You should've done that eight lifetimes ago—I totally deserve it! Gahaha!]
Listening to Nya gloating inside my head, I glanced at the TV.
"Oh right, Peter, Ned—that guy you were worried about? He's alive," Gwen said.
"Really? He's not hurt at all?"
"Yep. Even more miraculously, he was standing closest to the cafeteria door, so he got the clearest look at Emma's face. Right now he's drawing her portrait for the police."
"Oh, really?"
[I saw you were worried about that dude, so I used a tiny bit of my power to protect him.]
'…Wait, seriously?'
[Heh, what do you think? I might be unreliable sometimes, but I'll never let you down!]
'…Didn't you say you wouldn't interfere?'
[Huh? When did I ever say that?]
'Lying without even sweating—now that's Nya I know.'
"Peter, does the wound still hurt, Peter?" Uncle Ben asked.
"No, uncle, it's all healed."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Then why was the hospital bill so expensive? If you healed that fast, the injuries must've been pretty light, right?"
"…Wait, what did you just say?!"
I frantically opened my phone to check my bank account.
Empty. Not a single cent left.
"…"
The anguished scream of a broke young man echoed throughout the hospital.
***
Everyone else had left; only Harry and I remained.
…Well, not exactly—Gwen stayed behind, and Lee had just rushed over.
"Thanks, but I'm not ready to date anyone yet," Harry said awkwardly, scratching his head and putting the medicine box on the table.
"That's okay. This is the first time I've ever liked someone, so I'll wait," Lee replied, pulling up a chair and sitting right next to him.
"Wow, these two has more developing than us," Gwen said in amazement.
"Exactly. And then there's you—who just declared yourself my girlfriend and took over my bed," I complained, looking at her.
"Hey! That's what girlfriends do!"
"When did I ever agree to that?"
While Gwen was busy coming up with roundabout justifications for why everything she did was totally reasonable, I started thinking about Emma.
Not romantically… but about how to deal with that girl.
'Lock her up in a psych ward, or send her straight to jail?'
[Just kill her?]
'…I—'
[What? Gonna argue with me? Humans aren't exactly the peaceful species you pretend to be. You all say "don't kill people," but you only mean don't kill other humans—you slaughter everything else like it's nothing.]
'…'
[Why worry? Find her, claim self-defense, done. Or ask Tony Stark—he's got plenty of ways. Emma's not even that strong anyway.]
'Dude, if I didn't have regeneration, she would've turned me into a corpse.'
[That's your fault for being weak. When you meet someone stronger, you blame yourself for being weak but when you meet someone weaker, you call it luck?]
Kuh…
After chatting with Harry for a bit, Lee suddenly remembered something.
"Oh yeah, Peter—Professor said he wants to meet you once you're discharged."
"Professor X? What does he want with me?"
"Not sure. He did mention something about… something inside your head?"
"…"
[…]
"Huh? Something inside Peter's head? Is it me? That's so romantic!" Gwen squealed happily, lost in her imagination.
"…" I looked at her and sighed.
[See? That old professor is a huge pain in the ass! He's probably already detected me! No—there's no "probably," he definitely has!!]
'Let's hope he means well…'
***
"Why are you here?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
Tony Stark was standing at the hospital gate, looking at me—the kid who'd just been discharged.
"Those damn reporters are annoying as hell, asking nothing but stupid questions and wasting my time," he grumbled.
"You still haven't answered my question."
"Isn't visiting an employee something a boss is supposed to do?"
"I'm pretty sure no other company's CEO does that—especially not you."
"You really don't trust me at all, huh? Come on." Tony smirked and started walking ahead.
Gwen was busy with something, so she wasn't around. Harry was still injured and staying longer at the hospital.
So I had plenty of free time—especially since the school gave us 1-2 weeks off after that nightmare.
"What, not coming?"
"Ah, wait a sec."
I followed him through the streets of New York.
As expected, protests had started popping up everywhere, almost all of them targeting one person.
Tony Stark.
Since Xavier's School had given a response that shut the press up completely, the media switched targets to Tony—the playboy billionaire they loved to hate.
He didn't just fail to save us students in time despite being "America's representative hero," he also gave an extremely irresponsible answer to the press. That lit the fuse for public outrage.
"…You're not gonna say anything about this?" I asked him.
"Why should I? If they want to blame me, let them. I said I'm off-duty, so I'm off-duty."
"But you could've gotten there earlier."
"Kid, even if I had arrived in time and stopped it, they still wouldn't treat me any better. They'll always find a reason to hate me no matter what good I do. So I don't care."
I looked at the protesters.
Some of them had genuinely lost loved ones and were grieving.
But others… they just hated Tony down to their bones. They didn't need a reason to judge someone.
"Nothing's ever clean, kid. Being a hero for the people isn't just about beating the bad guys. You also have to keep the people you're protecting happy. Fail to save even one person and they'll call you a heartless monster, even if you saved hundreds before. I'm not a saint who cares whether I save someone or not." Tony gave a sarcastic smile.
Right then, one of the protesters spotted Tony Stark, jumped in surprise, then flew into a rage:
"Holy shit, look who decided to show his face! Everyone, come see this murderer!"
That single shout got the whole crowd's attention, and they all glared at Tony with pure hatred.
"America's hero? That's fucking hilarious!"
"As long as this guy exists, the world will eventually be destroyed by his irresponsibility!"
"The government must be idiots to let him represent us!"
Insults rained down without any restraint.
Tony's face didn't even flinch—he was clearly used to this.
They weren't wrong—Tony really didn't fit the traditional hero mold. He severely lacked the qualities of a "true" hero, and he himself admitted it deep down.
"You're not gonna say anything…?" I looked at Tony.
"Pfft, why bother wasting my breath? Besides, they're right. Running their mouths is the only thing they're good at, and it'll stay that way forever." Tony smirked, pulling out a cigarette.
He had completely lost faith in these people. I wasn't sure of the exact reason, but it was definitely related to all this.
"You like laughing, huh?! Having fun, pretty boy?!" One furious guy picked up a rock and hurled it straight at him.
Tony didn't dodge—he just stood there, letting his energy shield take it.
But the rock never reached him. Someone else stopped it.
"?" Tony looked at me—I had caught the rock mid-air—then back at him.
"I think I get part of what you were saying. These people really are annoying." I smiled and threw the rock back at the guy.
To me it was just a light toss, but to him it felt like getting shot with a slingshot.
"AGH!!" He clutched his head, a massive lump instantly forming.
"…Kid." Tony looked at me, a little surprised.
"What? Did you think I was too nice to fight back?"
"…No, I thought you'd side with them."
I scratched my head and looked at him.
"They might be right about a few things—so what? You're still you. Plus, I think you're cool in your own way. I look up to you, so I don't need some deep reason to defend you."
"…Pfft! Haha! Kid, you should get your brain checked—something's definitely wrong with it!"
Tony slung his arm around my shoulders and walked off, leaving the protesters' curses echoing behind us.