Chapter 4: I Am Spider-Man

"Um, excuse me?" She mustered the courage to approach, "Thank you for helping me. Are you a superhero too?"

She had another question in her mind: Why are you dressed like you're in the same series as me?

Arthur activated the voice changer in his suit, speaking in a deep, cool tone, "You can call me Spider-Man."

That's right, he shamelessly took that name.

"Spider..." Gwen was speechless. Could you be any less original? Copying my suit is one thing, but stealing the name too?

If this strange guy hadn't just saved her, she would have wanted to call him out.

"You bastard!" Vulture, still under Arthur's foot, didn't miss the chance to make his presence known.

Arthur stayed silent, maintaining his composure and applying more pressure with his foot, making Vulture understand the situation.

"Ah—!"

"I was wrong! Please spare me!" Vulture felt his broken ribs dig deeper into his chest and quickly abandoned his defiant attitude, pleading for mercy.

"I'm taking him," Arthur said to Ghost-Spider, then hooked Vulture with his foot, lifting him up and grabbing him.

"Wait! Where are you taking him?" Ghost-Spider hurriedly asked, "You should hand him over to the police!"

"I'm not a vigilante."

Leaving those words behind, Arthur soared into the sky with Vulture, his coat flapping in the wind, disappearing into the night.

"Hey!" Gwen was exasperated, already too late to catch up.

...

On an empty rooftop.

Bang.

Arthur tossed the injured Vulture onto the ground and folded his arms, "Do you know where Kingpin is?"

"Kingpin?" Toomes' mind raced. So this guy was actually looking for Kingpin?

He silently cursed Kingpin, swearing revenge for the trouble he'd caused.

"Answer my question." The cold voice echoed again.

"What do you want with Kingpin?" Vulture's eyes flickered. If Arthur had malicious intent toward Kingpin, he wouldn't hesitate to spill everything he knew.

"To teach him a lesson and make him understand not to throw trash around the city."

Arthur replied nonchalantly.

What a weirdo... Even Vulture wanted to retort. Kingpin was the underground king, and you're going after him for littering? Are you from the World Environmental Organization or something?

Vulture didn't realize Arthur referred to him as the trash.

He thought for a moment, "Will you let me go if I tell you?"

"My patience is limited." Arthur cracked his neck, ready to take action.

"Okay, I'll tell you... You're really brutal." Vulture realized this dark figure was nothing like Ghost-Spider, ruthless to the core.

"Kingpin and I have a grudge too. I can take you to him once I'm healed."

"Does that mean you don't know his location?" Arthur's mask seemed to flash coldly, "If that's the case, you're useless."

"No, I know!" Vulture hurriedly said, "If you need to go now, I can give you a few locations... He might be operating in these areas, but you need to hurry; his range of activity might change after today."

Arthur silently noted the locations and was about to leave when a message suddenly appeared in his mind.

You have defeated Gwen Stacy's nemesis. As her [Affiliate], you can choose one of the following rewards:

1. Monetary Reward: One million dollars

2. Random Reward: Captain America collectible figure

3. Minion Reward: Transform Adrian Toomes into a loyal subordinate

**Arthur's mind was spinning.**

*Defeating supervillains comes with rewards?*

*Am I just a connection holder tagging along with superheroes?*

As someone who had just incapacitated Vulture, Arthur was having trouble grasping the situation. As a "relationship holder," wasn't he supposed to be a regular guy, providing a warm haven for heroes or doing errands under their shining light? Why did it feel like he was being thrust into the role of a superhero himself?

Arthur imagined if Tony Stark, suited up and ready for a big fight, was told by Pepper, "Hey, Tony, I already took care of the enemies. Stop showing off in the Iron Man suit and get back to work!"

*Heaven forbid, the Iron Man movies would have to be renamed Iron Woman.*

This "Extraordinary Relationship Holder System" seemed quite odd, nudging him to overstep his boundaries.

Despite his grumbling, Arthur examined the rewards seriously.

**Hmm...** It was like the difference between doing NPC quests in an MMORPG versus grinding mobs. Compared to triggering rewards from Gwen's missions, his self-initiated actions seemed less rewarding.

*One million dollars? A lot for an average person, but I don't care much for money.*

*A Captain America collectible figure?*

*Phil Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D. would love that.*

*Vulture's absolute loyalty?* 

*What use would I have for a shady old man's loyalty?*

*Alright, he could be a useful minion.*

After some deliberation, Arthur made his choice.

**Option three**

At least, as a former electrical engineer, Toomes would be more useful than the other two choices.

...

Vulture, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, felt his heart tighten as Arthur stopped mid-step and turned back towards him.

"You..."

Before Vulture could say anything, his consciousness started to blur. His body, along with his suit, transformed into a stream of data and disappeared.

"What's this?" Arthur, following the system's information, opened the control panel on his suit and pressed a button on his wrist.

The data stream reassembled, and Vulture reappeared, fully restored with his suit intact.

*This is different than expected...*

Apparently, absolute loyalty meant transforming Vulture into a summonable entity.

...

**A few days later.**

Arthur sat before a laptop, browsing some news online.

As expected, Kingpin had changed his activity area that night. Arthur scoured all the locations Vulture had mentioned but found nothing.

So, Arthur decided to put it on hold for now. He would deal with the underground kingpin another time. After all, they hadn't even crossed paths yet, so Arthur didn't hold a deep grudge.

"Oh, you're also keeping up with this news." Jessica, carrying a small black shoulder bag, leaned over to look at Arthur's computer, "The black spider who showed up recently looks a lot like Ghost-Spider. I suspect they're a couple or something."

Arthur felt exasperated. He had clearly said he was Spider-Man, but the media called him Black Spider instead. He wasn't Miles Morales, for crying out loud.

Jessica kept chatting, "But he's very mysterious. The supervillain Vulture who almost fell on us the other day disappeared without a trace. Some say Black Spider killed him."

"Gwen told me her dad was really upset about this, saying criminals should be handed over to the police and that no one else has the right to take the law into their own hands..."

"Jessica, you're going to be late for school if you don't leave now. You don't want to be late on the first day, do you?"

Arthur raised his wrist, showing the time on his new watch.

"Alright, your new watch is nice." Jessica gave him a quick peck on the cheek and smiled, "I'll see you later. Don't forget the party tonight! Gwen will be there too."

"Don't worry, I'll be there!" Arthur waved her off.

After Jessica left, he glanced through the news of the past few days.

"Stark isn't Iron Man yet, so there aren't many supervillains around."

Not finding any news about Gwen or Jessica's nemeses, Arthur turned off the screen, deciding to give up on actively seeking out battles for now.

Rather than exhausting himself fighting supervillains for rewards, he preferred building connections with future superheroes, joining their simple missions, and loading a few templates, happily being a relationship holder. 

Yes, he was that lazy. Maybe he had grown accustomed to being a slacker over the past few years.

...

**Midtown High School.**

"Gwen, you don't seem quite yourself," Jessica commented.

"Do I?" Gwen pulled out a small mirror and smiled at her reflection, "I look fine, don't I? No frowning."

"It's your appetite! You've been eating a lot lately, almost as much as I do. I heard people tend to overeat when they're feeling down."

Jessica earnestly reminded her, "Don't overeat at the party tonight, or you'll ruin your figure."

"..." Gwen felt innocent. Crime-fighting was tough work; was it wrong to eat a bit more?