"So you're the famous Ghost-Spider, huh?" Bruce observed the girl.
"Pretty young," Marc commented.
"Are you two done staring? We need to kill that sea monster right now to get the wedding ring back!" Gwen said.
"Do you have your hero costume with you?" I asked.
"Why would I bring that when I'm going swimming?"
"Well, that's a problem then. What do we do now?" I turned to Bruce.
"Did you bring yours?"
"I don't even have one."
"And yet you talk like you're different from your girlfriend."
Don't mock me like that, okay?
[You could always ask me for help, you know?]
'Gwen's here! You told me I need to be careful around her!'
[Oh, right… forgot.]
'…goldfish brain.'
I then looked around to see if there was anything I could wear to hide my identity, and spotted two things.
'Wait… I can use these!'
"Gwen! Follow me!"
"Okay!"
"Hey! Where are you two going??"
Bruce and Marc watched as I rummaged through the trash and handed something to Gwen and myself.
"Tadah!"
Peter wore a cardboard box, while Gwen had a tied-up plastic bag over her head.
"…Dude," Bruce squinted at the two of us.
Did you seriously just put on trash you found in a dumpster?
And how is she even breathing with that white plastic bag tied around her head?
"I am… the Bombastic Bag-Man! And she is… uhhh… Plastic Ghost!"
"Plastic Ghost!" Gwen echoed.
"…"
These two really are in sync. Dumb in the exact same way. A match made in heaven.
"All right, time to put on the diving gear," Bruce said.
"What about you?" Marc asked.
"I'll manage just fine," Bruce gave a thumbs-up with a grin.
So Gwen and I put on diving suits, Marc strapped an oxygen tank on his back, while Bruce took off his shirt.
"Climb on me!"
"Huh?" I was confused by his words.
Right after that, Bruce's skin started to change color, his body growing larger and covered with bulging muscles.
He had turned into the Hulk!
"RAGHHHHHHHHH!!!" Hulk roared so loudly that Gwen and I had to cover our ears.
"Climb on! Just make sure to hold on tight!" Marc shouted as he latched onto Hulk's back.
"Come on, Peter!"
"Uh, right."
So Gwen and I clung onto Hulk's back.
But wait a second!
"HEY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE HOLDING ON?!" I yelled when I realized Gwen was grabbing onto my legs.
"This spot's actually pretty safe!"
"Safe my ass! Are you just using it as an excuse to peek up my shorts?!"
"Tch, busted."
"LET GO!"
"Hulk doesn't like noisy ones. They bother Hulk," Hulk glared at me.
"Oh, sorry…"
"Hulk swims fast. If you fall off, it's your fault. Hulk won't save you!"
"Got it, I underst—AGHHHHHHHH!!"
Before I could finish, Hulk stomped the ground and leapt high into the air, nearly sending the cardboard box I was wearing flying off.
Then the whole group plunged into the ocean. And just like Hulk said, every time he moved his arms, he covered several meters at once—he was even creating waves just by swimming!
In just a few minutes, we spotted some fragments of the ship.
"It must be close by!"
Suddenly, I felt someone trembling.
"Huh? You okay?"
"…I'm fine, don't worry about me," Marc said.
"Then why are you holding my hand? I don't recall you being gay."
"I'm not gay."
"Then let go."
"I can't."
Dude, are you scared or something? It's so obvious!
Suddenly, Hulk came to a halt, startling all of us.
"What's wrong, Hulk?" I asked.
"Hulk feels something watching Hulk… like Hulk is its prey."
"You mean the thing right below us?" Gwen said, pointing downward.
"Huh?" Marc and I said in unison, then looked down.
The abyssal darkness of the ocean… only for us to see something glowing.
"Oh…"
It was sunlight reflecting off its eyes.
A massive creature—let me repeat, MASSIVE—was swimming upward at breakneck speed. Its body was covered in seaweed, coral, blah blah, all kinds of junk. Oh, and it had crab legs too.
Then it opened its mouth—wide enough to swallow a whole airplane—and it was aiming straight at us.
This is so not good!!!
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!" Marc screamed like a girl.
"Dude, so you do have thalassophobia."
"JUST SWIM AWAY, BRUCE! I'M SCARED I'M SCARED I'M SCARED I'M SCARED I'M SCARED!!! KHONSU DOESN'T PAY ME ENOUGH FOR THIS! GASHFHAKNDKIHDNKAHD!!"
"Hulk is not Bruce! Hulk is HULK! And this thing doesn't scare Hulk!"
"HULK, MOVE! WE'RE GONNA GET EATEN!" I shouted, panicking.
"Looks kinda cute," Gwen said as she watched it charge closer.
"HULK ISN'T AFRAID! HULK IS A REAL MAN! HULK WILL BEAT BIG FISH!!!"
With that, Hulk dove straight down—completely ignoring the giant mouth closing in.
"NOOOOOOO!" Marc was on the verge of tears.
"OH GOD, THIS IS WHAT THALASSOPHOBIA FEELS LIKE?!" I started freaking out too.
"YAYY!" Gwen cheered excitedly.
And then the whole group got swallowed into the black abyss of its mouth.
The group kept moving deeper inside.
Marc was on the verge of fainting after seeing the monster swallow us whole.
Meanwhile, I started noticing something odd.
"Strange… is it normal for an undiscovered sea monster to have no tongue or important organs?"
"No idea," Gwen replied.
"Anyone got a light?" I asked.
"I-I do…" Marc said.
"Then shine it forward. You're the Moon, so you should be glowing anyway, right?"
"Just because I'm the Moon doesn't mean I'm a flashlight!"
Marc turned on his light and pointed it ahead.
"…Nothing," I scratched my head—still pitch black.
"Look!" Gwen pointed to the side.
We turned and saw… a guy, snuggled up in a blanket, sleeping peacefully.
"???" Even Hulk looked confused seeing someone alive in here.
"…Who's that?" I asked, baffled.
The man opened his eyes, looked at us, making us all flinch.
"Oh, hi."
"Uh… hi."
Then he went right back to sleep.
"…That's it? Who even is he?"
He opened his eyes again, glanced at us.
"Aquaman."
Then went back to sleep.
"…Sorry, I don't remember this universe having a DC crossover. Care to be honest?" I asked.
"…So annoying. Fine, Poseidon. Happy now? Let me sleep."
Poseidon? Wait, isn't he supposed to be some old dude? He's not supposed to be that handsome!
[Oh, that's Namor.]
'Huh?! You mean that's NTR-man?!'
[Probably, yeah.]
"Hulk confused… how man survive in here?"
"Just… leave him be, Hulk. But if you ever get a girlfriend, stay the hell away from him," I warned.
"Why?" Gwen and Marc asked, curious.
"My spider-sense is telling me… he's dangerous. Especially to women who already have boyfriends or husbands."
"Ohhhhh."
"Let's keep swimming, see what else is here."
And so we ignored Namor and continued exploring.
*****
Do you guys have any issues with Peter? Because I just saw someone complaining about Peter in Chapter 1.
If you're not satisfied with something about Peter, just say it, but if you want Peter to become edgy or aura farm, then nahh, I will not changing him that way.