Chapter #2

"You're a very difficult person to reach, Spider-Man," said Fury, who was seated on a piece of furniture in the room, holding a weapon. The way he made his appearances was always intimidating; I'd say it's the experience. He must have been doing this for a hundred years.

"Wow, you fell asleep very quickly," I replied with sarcasm. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Fury," I greeted.

"It's a very mild tranquilizer. And it's nice to finally meet you. I saw you at the funeral, but I didn't think it was appropriate to ask for your number," Fury remarked, alluding to the pain he still felt from Mr. Stark's death.

"No, it wouldn't have been a good time," I responded, recalling that funeral.

"That's what I said," Fury added.

"Right," I replied, feeling the awkwardness of the moment.

"The important thing is that you're here. I wanted to bring you, you avoided me, and now you're here. What a coincidence," he said, probably referring to how I hung up on him when I was with Happy.

"Yeah, what a coincidence. It's like fate, like dirt and nails," I responded, emphasizing the great coincidence of our meeting.

"Before, I knew everything. Then I came back 5 years later and now I know nothing, no information, no team, and a high school kid who rejects my calls," he said, looking at me seriously. "Here's what I do know." He pulled out a device from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of him.

The device projected a hologram of Earth, with points indicating different locations on the planet. "A week ago, a town in Mexico was destroyed by a cyclone. Witnesses say that cyclone had a face."

"Rrrr," the silence was interrupted by a snore from Ned, who was deeply asleep in his bed.

"Three days later, a similar event occurred in Morocco. A town was..." Fury was interrupted again by Mr. Harrington, who was knocking on the door.

Knock, knock.

I looked towards the door, where Mr. Harrington was standing. "I'm doing my rounds in case anyone needs emotional therapy after today's traumatic events," he said, explaining with an awkward smile.

"No, we're fine, all good. Thanks," I replied quickly, trying to get him to leave as soon as possible.

"That's good because I'm not qualified to give it," he looked at Ned, who was still snoring. "Ah, he's knocked out. I'm not qualified to give therapy. Rest up," he said, lowering his voice so as not to wake Ned before closing the door and leaving.

"That was my teacher, sorry about that. What were you saying?" I asked Fury, hoping Mr. Harrington wouldn't fall asleep as well.

"A town was destroyed by what could very well be another world-threatening event," Fury continued, before being interrupted again.

Knock, knock.

"Baby, you're not responding to my texts," said Betty, at the door to the room, calling out to Ned.

"Ah, he already fell asleep, Betty," I said gently. "Really?" she asked, with a surprised frown. "Yeah," I replied.

"That's why it's so important...," Fury started to say, but was interrupted again.

Knock, knock.

"Young people, the canal water was filled with dangerous bacteria," announced Mr. Dell from the door.

"If another person knocks on that door, you and I are going to another funeral," Fury said, looking at me seriously. "Get dressed," he ordered while picking up the device from the table and standing up.

I put on my Spider-Man suit and followed Fury to a dock on the canals. We took a gondola, with Fury driving.

The night was cold, or at least I would say so if I weren't wearing the suit, which has heating. I looked around, observing the water canals and the old European buildings lining the place, with dim lights reflecting on the surface.

"Stark left this for you," I heard Fury say as he pulled out a brown glasses case. He handed it to me, and I took it carefully. Opening it, I saw Tony Stark's iconic glasses. There was a note underneath the glasses with the Stark Industries logo. I looked at them closely, feeling a lump in my throat, and then looked at Fury.

"How uncertain is the head that wears the crown," he said, turning to look at me. Hearing that phrase from Fury sent shivers down my spine, understanding the weight of his words. "Stark said you wouldn't understand because it's not a *Star Wars* line, huh," Fury added, looking ahead again.

I closed the case, feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility Mr. Stark had left me.

We arrived at our destination. We got out of the gondola and entered a series of tunnels.

"You can take off your mask, everyone here has seen you without it. You'd only be pretending to be anonymous and breathing through spandex, which would be silly," Fury remarked as we entered what seemed to be a secret hideout, illuminated by yellow lights.

He was right, so I took off the mask. "Haah," I sighed, breathing fresh air again. I wasn't used to it, but at the same time, I was, breathing through the mask.

"Come on," Fury said as we walked through a brick underground filled with machines and technological instruments operated by specialized staff. "Over there we have Maria Hill, and this is Dimitri," he pointed to a woman operating a computer and a silent man with a rifle in hand.

I watched them for a moment, memorizing their faces. "And this is Mr. Beck," Fury said, pointing to a man in a red cape with bright blue details and a green suit, who dramatically turned towards us.

"Mysterio?" I asked, trying to keep up with the conversation.

"What?" Beck replied, confused.

"Never mind. That's what my friends call you," I answered, trying to follow the movie script.

"Well, you can call me Quentin," he said, approaching and extending his hand for a handshake. "And you did a good job today. With what happened in that tower, someone like you would be useful in my world," he added, stepping back.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I've got a lot going on. Wait. Sorry, did you say 'your world'?" I asked, trying to get to the point of the conversation.

"Ah, Mr. Beck is from Earth, but not from yours," Fury interjected as he walked past me. "There are multiple realities, Peter. This is Earth from dimension 616, and I'm from 833," Beck clarified.

Determined to keep up the act, I moved a bit closer. "Sorry, are you saying it's a multiverse? I thought it was just a theory. I mean, this completely changes how we understand the initial singularity, talking about an eternal inflation system and how it relates to quantum physics. Crazy!" I said, noticing how Fury and Maria looked at me as if I were a weirdo.

"Sorry, it's just that this is cool," I excused myself, turning back to Beck.

"Don't apologize for being the smartest one in the group," Beck responded, making Fury and Hill turn around to continue with their work.

"Anyway," Hill said, changing the topic and starting a hologram.

"They were born in stable orbits of black holes, creatures formed by the primary elements: air, water, fire, and earth. The science division had a technical name, but we call them Elementals," Beck explained as the hologram displayed the elementals.

"There are versions of them in all our mythologies," Hill said as the holographic elementals changed, showing ancient mythological designs. "Turns out the myths are real," Beck responded.

"Like Thor. Thor was a myth and now we study him in my physics class," I commented, trying to keep up.

"These myths are threats," Fury interjected. "They materialized in my world many years ago. We mobilized against them, but with each battalion, they grew and strengthened. I was part of the last battalion that tried to stop them. We only delayed the inevitable," Beck said, trying to sound tragic.

"And now the Elementals are here. They attack at the same coordinates, our satellites confirm it," Hill assured.

"Thank Mr. Beck for destroying the other three. Only one remains: Fire," Fury said, looking at me seriously. "He's the strongest of them all. The one who destroyed my world. The one who took my family," Beck added, slowly twisting the ring on his ring finger.

"Wow..." I murmured, trying not to laugh at Talos for believing this nonsense, while maintaining a neutral expression. Inside, incredulity and doubt mixed, knowing these guys were playing games, but I struggled to play along.

"And he'll be in Prague in 48 hours," Hill added. "We have a mission: to destroy him, and you're going to help us," Fury said, his gaze fixed on mine, making it clear there was no option to refuse.

"Excuse me? Did you say Prague? Mr. Fury, this all seems pretty heavy, doesn't it? Superhero stuff for stronger heroes. I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man," I replied, hoping to avoid getting involved in something so big.

"Please, you've been to space already," Fury reminded me, with not a hint of sympathy.

"Yeah, but that was an accident. There must be someone more useful. Uh, why not Thor?" I suggested, looking for any excuse.

"He's out of this world," Fury responded without hesitation.

"Okay, um, Doctor Strange?" I tried again.

"Not available," Hill said, cutting off another option.

"Captain Marvel?" I asked, searching for any excuse.

"Don't invoke her name," Fury replied firmly.

"Alright... I want to help, but if my aunt finds out I skipped my school trip, she's going to kill me," I said, trying to sound as desperate as possible to avoid getting involved in something so big. Although, deep down, I knew that wouldn't work.

"Okay, I get it," Fury replied, surprising me with a slight smile. "Get back before your teachers notice and start suspecting."

"Dimitri, take him back to the hotel, please," Fury ordered the silent man who had been watching from a distance.

"Yes," Dimitri replied in a deep voice.

"Thank you, Mr. Fury. See you later," I said, relieved to be leaving that situation. I started to walk away, passing by Beck.

"Goodbye, kid," Beck said, without much enthusiasm.

"Yeah, see you later," I replied, and left with Dimitri, who was waiting by the exit. Not without shooting Beck a tracker with my web-shooters, unnoticed.

I returned to the hotel, escorted by Dimitri. "See you later," I said, trying to be polite. I turned and entered the hotel.

I went into my shared room with Ned. It was dark, but not so dark that I couldn't see. I could see Ned asleep in his bed, trying not to wake him, I approached and removed the dart from his neck. I had forgotten it before leaving.

I took off my suit and stored it in my suitcase. I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling, and then remembered the glasses with EDITH, the only thing Mr. Stark left me when he died.

I grabbed the case with the glasses and opened it. There were the glasses; I took them out and put them on, standing up and walking to the mirror in the room. They fit well, I liked them, and I don't think I'll give them away. Not that I was planning to.

I looked at the note with the Stark Industries logo in gold and black that was inside the case. "For the new Tony Stark, I trust you. - EDITH. TS," said what was written on the back of the note.

I watched as an advanced technology interface started up while I thought about what to do with it. "Wait, performing retinal and biometric scan," said an artificial voice coming from the glasses, directly into my ears. "Retinal and biometric scan accepted," while the interface displayed an image of me with my name at the top.

"Hello?" I called out to EDITH.

"Hello Peter. I am EDITH, Tony Stark's augmented reality, security, and defense system," EDITH responded.

"Cool. And what can you do?" I asked.

"I have access to the entire global security network of Stark, including several defense satellites, as well as all major telecommunications networks," it informed me, as several windows showing the nearest phones and recent chat and message information appeared.

"Wow, this will help me a lot," I said while looking at the news about Mysterio and the water issue.

"You also have access to all of Tony's protocols. EDITH stands for 'Even Dead I'm The Hero,' Tony liked acronyms," EDITH responded.

"Yeah," I replied, remembering that J.A.R.V.I.S. was also an acronym.