A year hurried by (though perhaps not truly that hurried), and soon it was time for school to start once again. Peter, in a rare departure from his usual routine, didn't swing his way to Midtown High; instead, he hitched a ride in Uncle Ben's car. New York looked peaceful today—and in truth, it actually was.
There were no alien invasions and no villains causing trouble on the streets. Uncle Ben chatted with Peter about what had happened when he and Aunt May went to Pittsburgh, and time slipped away quickly. Before long, Ben pulled the car up to the entrance of Midtown High.
"I'm glad you could listen to my rambling all the way here without looking bored, kid."
Uncle Ben looked at Peter through the rearview mirror as he spoke. Peter bid him farewell with a smile and hopped out of the car. He had only taken a few steps toward the school when he felt a slap on his back—though he had known someone was coming, so he didn't react at all.
"Good to see you walking on the ground for once, pal."
Harry walked up to Peter's side with a grin and immediately began questioning him. "How come I tried reaching out to you several times over the summer and never got a reply? And then you said it wasn't convenient to explain—did you run into some kind of trouble?"
"Strictly speaking, I didn't just run into a little trouble; I ran into a lot of trouble. Earth must be under some kind of curse, considering serious disasters seem to be happening almost every second."
Peter couldn't help but let out a yawn. Harry fell into thought for a moment before musing, "I wonder if there's still a way to become a superhero."
Peter glanced at Harry. "Do you think if your dad found out, he'd give himself a dose of Green Goblin serum just so he could beat you up?"
"How is that possible? He destroyed all the Green Goblin serum a long time ago." Harry finished speaking, then suddenly frowned and looked at Peter. "He destroyed all of it... right?"
"I don't know."
Peter shrugged. He had considered this; given Norman's recent series of actions, it was possible that by shifting the blame to the 'Goblin' persona, Norman Osborn had successfully whitened his image and no longer actively sought to become the Green Goblin. However, it seemed unlikely that a man like Norman wouldn't have kept even a tiny bit of the serum in reserve.
Hearing this, Harry let out a helpless sigh. "Sigh, if only the Green Goblin serum didn't have those weird side effects, it would actually be pretty cool."
"I think it's better not to be a superhuman," Peter replied. "As they say, with great power comes great responsibility. Once your power grows, all sorts of messy things start looking for you."
Harry looked at Peter with a strange expression after hearing that, then patted his shoulder. "I gave up a tube of Super Soldier serum for you, brother. Stop trying to scare me. Isn't New York peaceful enough?"
That's because you haven't seen what's happening outside of New York, pal.
Harry didn't dwell on the topic, instead looking around to find their other friend. "Where's Amadeus? I haven't seen him."
"I don't know what he's up to. There was no news from him all summer. He was probably dragged off somewhere by Hercules again, so we couldn't find him."
Peter felt that Amadeus Cho was becoming a bit detached from the world. Instead of becoming a new Hulk, he was being dragged around by Hercules every day to the point where his presence was practically vanishing. He couldn't understand why Hercules felt the need to drag a high schooler with zero combat power all over the place.
Was it because Hercules lacked the IQ himself?
"Oh, he's here."
Amadeus arrived by bus. He looked severely sleep-deprived, but his glasses were gone. It was unclear if he had been bitten by some Greek radioactive spider or something similar, but he looked ordinary enough. He walked up to the two of them, lacking the usual excitement he used to show after returning from an adventure with Hercules.
"What were you doing all summer? Adventuring in Greece?"
"Huh? Greece? Oh, no. Hercules went back a while ago. I spent the whole summer in my apartment reading, watching TV, or playing games. I didn't step out for three months except for essentials."
Amadeus's answer shocked the two of them; it was completely beyond their expectations. While the three of them stood there speechless, a greeting from Flash Thompson in the distance interrupted them. The trio turned to see Flash wave his hand before heading off with his own friends.
Amadeus looked at Flash with a hint of confusion. "Is it just my imagination, or why do I feel like Flash—who usually has nothing to do with us—is on such good terms with us? I mean, things were okay before, but..."
"Flash is Agent Venom."
After Peter said this, Amadeus still looked confused. Peter looked at him, slightly exasperated. "Buddy, are you okay?"
"Uh, I'm fine. What is Agent Venom?"
Peter's brow suddenly furrowed. At first, he thought Amadeus was just being a shut-in, but now it seemed Amadeus had physically isolated himself for the entire summer. He was completely out of the loop, knowing nothing of the outside world. While a person could indeed be that much of a hermit, Peter's keen senses told him something wasn't quite right with Amadeus.
"Are you really okay? Did you run into some trouble?"
"Hmm? Oh, no, nothing like that. It's just that I was working on a very troublesome math problem. I researched it all summer and still haven't made much headway."
"What, are you planning to claim the prize money for a Millennium Prize Problem?"
Amadeus just smiled at the question and said, "Something like that."
This kid is definitely hiding something, Peter thought. But the problem was that Amadeus didn't seem intent on sharing. Peter wasn't sure if what Amadeus had encountered was "trouble" or something else, but since his Spider-Sense hadn't reacted, it likely wasn't anything too severe.
The three continued walking forward. Because their grades were similar, they were looking at the same course schedule again this year. On the way to check the schedules, Harry suddenly brought up a very serious and important question.
"Guys, I was thinking... do you think a bunch of new superheroes will pop up in the school again this year? Maybe Midtown High is some kind of auspicious land, and we can start a whole team of Young Avengers."
Peter Parker fell into silence. After a few seconds of brief thought, he looked at Harry and let out a helpless sigh.
"I don't really know, but if that's the case, I think we should hurry up and gather these superpowered teens for some training. You have no idea how much trouble they can cause."
Amadeus caught the blind spot in that statement.
"Wait, isn't Spider-Man one of them?"
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