After Nick Fury finished speaking, he had originally expected Peter Parker to get excited and eagerly agree to join his organization.
After all, for a teenager like Peter, what he wanted most was nothing more than to save the world and become a great hero.
Not to mention that Hydra, a common enemy, was standing right in front of both sides.
But to his surprise, Peter looked at him with open disdain.
All of a sudden, Peter felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
If the guy in front of him were not so dark-skinned, he would have thought he had traveled through time and gone back a few hours.
No way, brother, you even copied the recruitment speech?
Did you at least pay the copyright fee?
Nick Fury had no idea that he had somehow become a substitute, so he was confused by Peter's sudden change in attitude.
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
Of course Peter was not going to tell him, I already joined a secret organization, and its mission statement and slogan sound exactly like what you just said, then dump all his own information in the process.
Come on.
He was not that spoiler maniac version of Spider-Man.
Though in truth, Bant had never intended to keep the Plumbers completely hidden forever.
After all, if he never got the name out there, how was he supposed to compete with the Avengers for members?
It was just that, at the current point in time, all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s understanding of the Plumbers was still built on the assumption that it was most likely an alien organization.
Nick Fury had even asked the Skrulls in the agency about it, but they had never heard of the Plumbers either. The best they could do was guess that it was a newly emerged organization.
Seeing Peter shake his head, Nick continued and gave a full explanation of the Avengers Initiative.
But Peter shook his head.
"If it's about dealing with Hydra, I can help. But if you want me to join the Avengers, forget it."
Such a clean and direct refusal caught Nick Fury completely off guard.
Black Widow, standing nearby, immediately looked at him with suspicion after seeing him fail again, as if her eyes were saying: That's it?
Nick was obviously a little shaken. Even his tone changed ever so slightly as he asked, somewhat urgently, "Can you tell me why?"
"This Avengers thing of yours..."
Peter raised a finger and drew a circle in the air, as if he were sorting something into a category.
"If I'm guessing right, it should still be under the control of some official organization, right?"
"We have autonomy," Nick said.
But even innocent Peter knew very well that once power got involved in something, its nature would inevitably change.
Of course, maybe because of the Avengers' special nature, they would enjoy more freedom than most organizations.
But even so, they could never act entirely for justice alone.
In the past, Peter might actually have agreed.
But now that he had already joined the Plumbers, there was no reason for him to join another organization like this.
So Peter continued, "I think that as an official organization, your Avengers probably have a lot of trouble to deal with too..."
"Of course."
Nick nodded.
The whole purpose behind the Avengers' creation was to respond to major disasters and turn the tide in desperate situations.
He had thought Peter would be thrilled after hearing that.
After all, young guys were always eager for some massive crisis where they could show off their abilities.
But Peter shook his head again and said,
"Then that's even more reason I shouldn't join. I'm not that amazing. I'm just a kid from Queens. I don't have world-shaking mech weapons, and I don't have an indestructible shield. I'm just your friendly neighborhood guy in New York, doing a few small things while you all go save the world."
Of course Peter wanted to become the brightest, most dazzling person too.
But he also understood that while most people were willing to save the world, very few were willing to do the small, insignificant things.
Like Tony Stark.
He could risk his life fighting terrorists for world peace, and maybe even battle aliens if it came to that.
But he would never put on an expensive suit of armor just to help an elderly man with bad legs cross the street a few blocks away.
He would not bother chasing down a petty thief who stole someone's wallet, nor would he care which child got cornered in an alley by a group of other kids that day.
Only Peter would do those things.
Because he was Spider-Man, not some grand superhero.
He was just New York's friendly neighborhood hero.
"Alright, I think as long as we're all fighting for justice, it doesn't really matter what organization we're in."
Peter sidestepped the topic, then added, "I think we should talk about dealing with Hydra instead. Do you have any plans?"
The moment Hydra was mentioned, even Steve turned his head and looked at Nick Fury, waiting to see what kind of plan he could come up with.
But in truth, only Nick Fury himself knew the answer.
He did not have a damn plan at all.
He did not even know where Hydra's shadow was hiding. These documents were nothing more than bait to lure Peter Parker into joining the Avengers.
But there was no way he could say that.
If he admitted he did not know, would that not be the same as admitting that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence system was useless?
Even though he was panicking like crazy inside, Nick did not let any of it show on his face.
"The plan is to stay still and avoid alerting the enemy."
To be fair, that was not completely unreasonable.
With Hydra's nature, the moment they realized they had been exposed, they would vanish into hiding again. And once that happened, finding them would only become harder.
The problem was that, coming from S.H.I.E.L.D., those words sounded almost ridiculous.
In a giant organization like S.H.I.E.L.D., at least sixty percent of its members were Hydra, while quite a few of the rest were spies from other agencies.
The whole place was practically a snake pit.
Even if Nick Fury wanted to find Hydra's traces, there was no way he could.
And even if one or two bases were occasionally discovered, they would only be decoys blown up to distract attention.
"Then when you're ready to take action, let me know."
Peter was already preparing to show them out.
He had finally seen it clearly.
This guy named Nick Fury was obviously trying to get something for nothing. He took out one file and thought he could trick Peter into doing free labor for him.
To be fair, Peter was grateful that Nick Fury had brought him the truth about his parents, so he did not actually dislike him very much.
The only reason he wanted them to leave was because it was almost time for Uncle Ben and Aunt May to come home.
"When Little Bant gets back, I'll talk to him. If we can find any information related to Hydra, we can share it with you too," Peter said.
At this point, Nick Fury, who knew nothing about the true nature of Snake Shield, had no idea what he might be facing next.
He thought that Bant's AI system was no worse than Tony Stark's. In fact, Bant's codename was Hacker. If Bant was willing to help, then maybe he really could find some clues about Hydra.
Bant: Oh, I'll find them alright, little bro.
I'll tear down the whole snake nest for you.
"In that case, I'll have to trouble you to say a few more nice things about me to him," Nick said.
"Say nice things?"
Peter froze.
Nick immediately phrased it tactfully. "We've had some... differences of opinion over certain things before. That led to a few... very minor misunderstandings between us."
Hearing that, Peter nodded.
"Don't worry. Little Bant is a really nice person."
So Nick Fury and Natasha left first, while Steve stayed at Peter's house a little longer to express just how highly he thought of him.
"You know, Peter, I think I might not be as good as you."
Steve said this with a smile.
"How is that possible? You're Captain America!"
Cap let out a sigh and said, "Just like you said, everyone dreams of saving the world, but very few people are willing to pay attention to the tiny little things right beside them."
Memories from nearly a century ago were reflected in his emerald-green eyes.
"Back then, all I wanted was to enlist and serve my country. I wanted to throw all my strength into fighting the Nazis. But I overlooked a lot of things. Like my mother, who was sick and weak..."
He narrowed his eyes.
After a moment of silence, sadness filled the air. Peter wanted to say something, but Steve cut him off.
Looking at Peter seriously, he said,
"Peter, this world is full of people who want to accomplish great deeds. But only a few are willing to start step by step from the smallest things. And we both know that those are the people who are truly great."
"Keep going, Peter."
"Don't become a successful superhero. Become a good person."
He patted Peter on the shoulder and left.
Earlier, he had told Nick Fury that perhaps Peter possessed the same worthiness required to lift Thor's hammer.
Now, he was certain of it.
Without question, that was exactly the case.
Night fell.
After the family finished dinner, Peter knocked on Bant's door and walked in with the documents Nick Fury had given him that day.
He recounted the whole matter from beginning to end.
After hearing it, Bant said,
"You could've chosen to join, actually."
"But I've already joined the Plumbers!"
Peter's eyes widened.
"So what? The Plumbers don't forbid you from joining a second organization. Besides, you could use the chance to dig out all the Avengers' intel and pass it along to me."
Peter: ???
"You're so shameless."
"Thanks."
After a while, Bant set down the documents in his hand, rubbed his chin, and said thoughtfully, "Actually, I also investigated your parents..."
"Really?"
Peter was shocked.
"You never told me that."
"Because I couldn't find anything useful. The important information was never kept online."
Bant waved the paper files in his hand. Most of the contents inside were even handwritten.
"I didn't expect it to be Hydra."
Peter nodded upon hearing that.
Then he heard Bant continue, "What I really didn't expect was for S.H.I.E.L.D. to come knocking and say they wanted to work with us to deal with Hydra."
He let out a cold laugh.
So I hit myself, is that it?
Then Bant immediately made a decision.
"Peter, if Hydra caused your parents' deaths, then we absolutely will not let this go!"
"You mean..."
"Snake Shield has already chosen the path of death!"
/-\
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