Middle-Aged Peter awkwardly tried to compensate: "Even if he can't just turn invisible, he's still cool... Show them the venom blast, Miles!" Miles willingly extended both hands, holding them in front of him as if charging electricity. "Emmm...." Another long moment of trying to activate the power. Still nothing happened.
The scene descended into awkwardness again. Doubt was creeping onto the faces of the others. Miles, dejected, admitted: "I can't just activate it on command."
"See, he can't... activate it on command... but he has other skills!" Middle-Aged Peter looked at Miles: "Like, like what now?" Miles scratched his head, whispering: "Just those two..." "Uh..." Middle-Aged Peter was now truly stumped. Although he claimed to be Marvel's most prolific trash-talker (Deadpool: ?), continuously boasting about nothing wasn't his forte either.
"Oh, dear." "Hmph-hmph—" "Tsk tsk." Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, and Peni all shook their heads.
Gwen stepped forward to defend Miles: "Listen, I've seen his powers. He genuinely has potential. I think maybe he can send us home."
"Alright, young man," Noir walked up to Miles. "Kingpin will send a lot of tough guys after you. They're all massive, and they're all trouble. Can you handle them all at once? Are you confident?" Miles adopted a fighting stance mirroring Noir, his surface confidence betraying a distinct lack of conviction: "I haven't actually fought anyone yet." The others nearly collapsed with exasperation.
"Surprise attack!" Noir lunged forward, feinting a punch, then suddenly swept his leg out as Miles prepared to block. PLOP! Miles instantly tumbled backward, nearly hitting the wall. Fortunately, Peter (Earth-616), reacting quickly, caught him.
"Can you reboot a computer while you're mid-battle?" Peni pulled out a handheld game console from nowhere and tossed it to Miles. Miles: Huh?
Gwen put her hands on her hips: "Can you elegantly dance through the air like a prima ballerina?" Miles: ? Peter (Earth-616): (Thinking) Wait, weren't you just defending him? Your stance changed fast!
Noir: "Can you cut off your humanity and not feel guilty about your acts of violence?" Miles: ??
Aunt May: "Can you help your aunt set up a dating profile so she can go out on a date sometime?"
Miles: ???
Spider-Ham also floated slightly in the air: "When you smell delicious food, can you float with ecstasy?" Miles: How can a normal person violate gravity and float? Newton's coffin lid can't hold that down!!!
Peter (Earth-616) looked thoughtful. If he didn't participate now, would he seem uncooperative?
"Are you strong enough?" "Are you ruthless enough?" "Are you self-disciplined enough?"
Just as Miles was being overwhelmed by the collective barrage of questions. Peter stepped forward.
"Everyone, listen up. I think I know Miles's abilities."
"Oh?" Everyone looked at Peter. Spider-Man Noir tilted his head, then his eyes lit up. He recalled that when they first met, Peter had mentioned his world had many stories about Spider-Man, including Miles. Peter had also said that different worlds have different Spider-Men, so different worlds would have different versions of Miles. It was logical that Peter would know Miles's powers.
Thinking this, Noir spoke: "I believe Peter. He truly knows a lot of things, for example... about us."
The group: ? "What do you mean?"
"Literally," Peter replied seriously: "But, before that, I think the most urgent matter is to repair The Gadget, right? Without it, everything else is moot."
"You have a point. So, do we have the proper facility for that?" They all looked at Aunt May. Aunt May smiled: "Of course! Come on, children, follow me!"
Everyone stood up and walked toward the backyard. In the backyard, there was an unassuming, detached shack—many homes have such a structure, mainly for storage. From the outside, it looked like a perfectly ordinary wooden shed.
Seeing it, Middle-Aged Peter chuckled: "I have a place like this too. A little shed for storing gear." Peter (Earth-616) glanced at him: "Are you sure yours is the same as this?" Although Peter hadn't been here before, he'd heard Peni mention that there was a huge underground base beneath the shack in Aunt May's backyard—the secret lair of this world's original Spider-Man, complete with high-tech equipment. Clearly, this was more than just a simple shed.
"What do you mean..." Middle-Aged Peter asked doubtfully. The next moment, his eyes went wide, and he stood frozen, letting out a stunned gasp: "Oh, my God!"
Aunt May took out a key and twisted it into the lock of the seemingly ordinary wooden door. Following the activation of a complex verification system, a faint red light shone from the key. Then, the plain wooden door shimmered and transformed into a high-tech entrance, quietly receding amid a dazzling white light, revealing... an elevator?
Peter (Earth-616) grinned, patted Middle-Aged Peter on the shoulder, and followed Noir into the shed. The others filed in too.
Middle-Aged Peter grimaced: "This place is way too flashy, isn't it?" But his feet obediently followed the group.
The interior was nothing like the exterior. The seemingly ordinary wooden shed was actually a sophisticated anti-gravity floating elevator, with walls of cold, sleek metal, suggesting an extremely high level of protection. And it was surprisingly spacious. Even packed with eight people and one spider-mech, it didn't feel cramped.
The elevator began to descend. Peter's gaze naturally followed the descent. As the elevator moved down, lights turned on one by one, revealing suspended platforms secured by webbing. The items stored on these platforms varied greatly. Some held obviously modified cars and motorcycles, some were piled with computer equipment, and some even held small aircraft... The sense of familiarity was strong. Isn't this just like the Batcave next door? Looking down from above, it truly resembled a gigantic Spider's Lair.
"Wow!" Miles Morales had been exclaiming since they entered. No one laughed at him now. Aside from Peni, who had been here once, everyone else wore expressions of pure astonishment.