Watching Gwen leave, Maguire's face showed a hint of puzzlement.
"What's going on here? She wants me to go to her place after school?"
Maguire wasn't some narcissist who would naively think Gwen had suddenly fallen for him.
He thought to himself:
"If you don't enter the tiger's den, how will you get the cub?"
"Let's see what Gwen is really up to."
Just as Gwen had walked away, Garfield stepped in through the door.
When he saw her, Garfield smiled faintly.
But Gwen seemed preoccupied, lost in thought, and didn't even notice him.
She walked past quickly.
Garfield felt a wave of awkwardness.
At that moment, Maguire spotted Garfield at the doorway.
"Garfield, come here."
Hearing him, Garfield quickly walked over to Maguire.
"Maguire, didn't we agree to go to Dr. Connors' research seminar today? Do you have time?"
Maguire smiled.
"Of course. Come on, let's go now."
The two of them left the classroom, heading toward Dr. Connors' research institute.
---
As they walked down the street, Garfield glanced at Maguire's arrogant, swaggering stride, feeling conflicted inside.
"Should I tell him about my situation? He's probably already noticed something different about me. There's no point in hiding it—better to talk it over with him."
He turned toward Maguire.
"Maguire, there's something I want to tell you."
Maguire, seeing Garfield fidget like that, thought:
"He's probably going to talk about Gwen. You like Gwen? What's that got to do with me?
"When it comes to women, no one's allowed to take them from me.
"Brothers are like hands and feet, women are like clothes—if you try to take my clothes, I'll cut off your hands and feet."
Maguire said bluntly,
"Out with it—don't sit there hemming and hawing like a woman!"
Hearing Maguire's… unique way with words, Garfield froze for a moment, then told him everything—how he'd been bitten by a spider and had gained superpowers.
Maguire listened, muttering inwardly:
"So that's how it is. I thought it was… never mind."
He replied,
"What's the big deal? I was bitten by a spider too, and got powers just like you.
"And I don't think it's just us—there's probably a third one."
Garfield frowned in confusion.
"Why do you say that?"
Maguire rolled his eyes.
"I guessed."
Garfield stared at him, dumbfounded.
Then he said,
"Maguire, there are criminals all over this area. I think, since we have these powers, we should do something about it."
Maguire smirked.
"With great power comes great responsibility, right?"
Hearing this, Garfield's eyes lit up.
"With great power comes great responsibility… Maguire, that's perfect! You're absolutely right!"
But Maguire waved him off.
"Not interested. You can go find that Matt Murdock over at the law office—he might need a young idealist like you right now."
Garfield blinked.
"Why do you say that? Isn't Murdock blind?"
Maguire let out a short laugh.
"You don't know? He's also Daredevil. That, at least, you've heard of."
Garfield stared in shock.
"You mean the vigilante who shows up at night—that's Murdock?"
Maguire nodded helplessly.
Garfield's eyes flickered with thought, his mind already racing.
Before long, they arrived at the gates of Dr. Connors' research institute.
Thanks to their student IDs, they were quickly let inside.
This institute was funded by Oscorp Industries. Even Dr. Connors' work in human regeneration and biotechnology was under Oscorp's sponsorship.
---
A few minutes later,
They entered a vast laboratory.
Bright lights shone down on rows of glass containers.
Inside each container was a small animal, waiting to be used in experiments.
Seeing the two students, a one-armed man in a white lab coat walked over—it was none other than Dr. Curt Connors, the future Lizard.
As Connors approached, Maguire thought to himself:
"If I take him out right now, would I rack up a ton of Villain Points?"
But at that very moment, the voice of the system echoed in his head:
[Friendly reminder:
Antagonist characters cannot be classified as villains before committing destructive acts.
At this stage, they count only as ordinary plot characters.
Furthermore, killing a target outright counts as a low-level villain act.]
---
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