After Nick Fury finished his recruitment pitch, he fully expected Peter Parker to jump at the chance to join his organization. After all, teenagers like Peter typically dreamed of nothing more than saving the world and becoming heroes. What's more, both sides shared a common enemy: Hydra.
However, to his complete surprise, Peter looked at him with obvious disdain.
A wave of déjà vu washed over Peter as he stared at the one-eyed director. If the guy standing in front of him hadn't been bald and wearing an eye patch, Peter would have sworn he'd somehow traveled back in time to just a few hours earlier.
Seriously? You literally copied the entire recruitment speech word for word! Did you at least pay the copyright fees?
Nick Fury had no idea he'd become an unwitting copycat and found himself genuinely confused by Peter's sudden shift in attitude. The teenager had seemed interested just moments before.
"What's wrong?" Nick asked, his brow furrowing beneath his eyepatch.
Of course, Peter wasn't about to tell him the truth: I already joined a secret organization, and their mission statement and slogans are exactly the same as what you just said. That would reveal far too much information about the Plumbers, and so Peter knew when to keep his mouth shut.
In truth, Ben had never intended to completely hide the existence of the Plumbers. After all, if he didn't make their name known, how could they compete with the Avengers for potential members? However, at this point in time, all SHIELD knew about the Plumbers was based on speculation that it was likely an alien organization.
Nick Fury had indeed asked the Skrulls about them, but they'd never heard of the Plumbers either. They could only speculate that it was an organization that had emerged recently, possibly from a sector of space they weren't familiar with.
When Peter simply shook his head without explanation, Nick continued, launching into a detailed explanation of the Avengers Initiative and their plans for the future.
But Peter remained unmoved, shaking his head firmly. "If you want to fight Hydra, I can help with that. But forget about me joining the Avengers."
Nick Fury was completely caught off guard by such a blunt rejection. This wasn't how these conversations usually went.
Seeing that he'd failed yet again, Black Widow shot him a suspicious look from the side, her expression clearly saying: That's it? That's your legendary persuasion skills?
Nick was obviously rattled, and even his usually steady tone wavered slightly as he asked with barely concealed anxiety, "Can you at least tell me why?"
"This thing of yours, the Avengers..." Peter stretched out his finger and spun it in the air, as if he was trying to categorize something, drawing an invisible circle. "If I'm guessing correctly, it's subject to the constraints of official agencies, right?"
"We have autonomy," Nick replied quickly, though his voice lacked conviction.
However, even the relatively naive Peter understood that many things changed their fundamental nature once government power got involved. Sure, perhaps because of the Avengers' special nature, it might have more autonomy than other organizations, but it would ultimately be impossible for it to act entirely in the name of pure justice.
In the past, Peter might have agreed to join anyway. But now that he'd already joined the Plumbers, there was no need for him to entangle himself with such an organization.
So Peter continued, his voice steady and measured, "I think that as an official organization, the Avengers will have to deal with a lot of political complications..."
Nick's frustration mounted. The whole purpose of establishing the Avengers was to respond to major disasters and world-ending threats, to turn the tide in humanity's darkest hours. He'd thought Peter would be thrilled to hear this, because young people always seemed to long for a big crisis where they could prove themselves.
But Peter shook his head and said something that caught everyone off guard:
"Then you definitely shouldn't want me to join. I'm not that powerful. I'm just a kid from Queens. I don't have world-destroying mecha weapons, and I don't carry an indestructible shield. I'm just a good neighbor to the people of New York, doing small, seemingly insignificant things while you guys save the world."
Of course Peter wanted to be the most celebrated hero, but he also understood something that most people missed: while many people were willing to save the world, only a precious few were willing to handle the small, unglamorous tasks that actually mattered.
Take Tony Stark, for instance. Iron Man would gladly engage in a life-and-death battle with terrorists for the sake of world peace. He'd probably even fight aliens without hesitation if it came to that.
But he would never use his expensive armor to help a disabled elderly man cross the street a few blocks away. He wouldn't bother arresting pickpockets who stole wallets from innocent people. He wouldn't care which kid was getting cornered and bullied in some back alley today.
These were things only Spider-Man could do, because he wasn't trying to be a superhero in the traditional sense. He was just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
"Look, I think as long as we're all fighting for justice, it doesn't matter which organization we're part of," Peter said, smoothly changing the subject. "I think we should talk about dealing with Hydra instead. Do you have any plans?"
At the mention of Hydra, even Steve turned his head toward Nick Fury, curious to see what kind of strategy this legendary spymaster had developed.
But in reality, only Nick Fury himself knew the truth: he had absolutely no plan whatsoever. He couldn't even find a shadow of Hydra's actual operations. Those files he'd shown Peter were just an excuse to trick the young hero into joining the Avengers.
But he couldn't admit that. If he just said they didn't know anything, wouldn't that expose SHIELD's intelligence system as completely incompetent? Although he was panicking internally, Nick's face remained impassive.
"The plan is to stay put for now, so as not to alert the enemy," he said with practiced authority.
Actually, what he said made perfect sense in theory. Given Hydra's secretive nature, if they realized they'd been discovered, they would naturally go underground. At that point, finding them would become exponentially more difficult.
But the problem was that when this logic was applied to SHIELD specifically, it became almost laughably ironic.
In such a large organization like SHIELD, at least sixty or more percent of its members were Hydra agents, and many of the rest were spies from other agencies. The whole place was essentially a nest of snakes wearing badges.
Even if Nick Fury genuinely wanted to find traces of Hydra, it would be virtually impossible. Even if one or two bases were discovered occasionally, they were just sacrificial lambs being thrown to the wolves to cover up the truth.
"Then I will wait until you're ready to take action," Peter said, clearly ready to end this conversation.
He finally understood that this man named Nick Fury was obviously trying to get something for nothing. He'd just shown up with a document and expected Peter to work for him for free.
Of course, Peter was genuinely grateful to Nick Fury for telling him about his parents, so he didn't harbor any real resentment toward the director. The reason he was planning to let them leave was simply because it was almost time for Uncle Ben and Aunt May to come back home.
"I'll talk to Ben when he gets back," Peter said. "If we can find any information about Hydra, we can share it with you."
In this regard, Nick Fury, who knew virtually nothing about the true extent of SHIELD's infiltration, had no idea what he might face next. He thought that Ben's artificial intelligence system was no worse than Tony Stark's.
If Ben was willing to help, maybe they could really find some concrete clues about Hydra.
"In that case, please put in a good word for me with him," Nick said hopefully.
"Put in a good word?"
Peter looked confused.
Nick immediately said tactfully, "We had different opinions on some matters before, which led to some... minor conflicts between us."
Hearing this, Peter nodded understandingly. "Don't worry, Ben's a really good guy. He doesn't hold grudges."
So Nick Fury and Natasha left first, but Steve stayed in Peter's house for a while longer and expressed his genuine admiration for the young hero.
"You know, Peter, I don't think I'm as good as you," Steve said with a sincere smile.
"How is that possible? You're Captain America!"
Captain America sighed deeply and said, "As you said, everyone dreams of saving the world, but not many people are willing to focus on the small things happening right around them."
His blue eyes reflected memories from nearly a century ago, filled with regret and hard-won wisdom.
"Back then, I was so focused on joining the army to serve my country. I wanted to put all my energy into the cause of fighting the Nazis. But I neglected so many other things. Like my frail mother who needed me..."
He closed his eyes for a moment, and silence filled the room, heavy with sadness. Peter wanted to say something comforting, but Steve gently interrupted him.
Looking at Peter with deadly seriousness, he said, "Peter, there are many people in this world who want to achieve great things, but only a few are willing to start from the smallest steps and work their way up. We all know that the latter are the ones who are truly great."
"Hold onto that, Peter."
"Don't try to be a successful superhero. Just be a good person."
He patted Peter on the shoulder and left, his footsteps echoing in the hallway.
He had told Nick Fury before that perhaps Peter was equally qualified to lift Thor's hammer, and now he was absolutely certain, without a doubt, that it was true.
After the family finished dinner that evening, Peter knocked on Ben's door and walked in with the information Nick Fury had given him earlier.
He narrated the entire incident from beginning to end, including every detail of the conversation and his own thoughts about the Avengers Initiative.
Upon hearing the full story, Ben looked up from his computer and said casually, "You know, you could still choose to join them if you wanted."
"But I already joined the Plumbers!" Peter's eyes widened in confusion.
"So what? The Plumbers doesn't forbid you from joining a second organization. You could just gather all the information about the Avengers and pass it along to me," Ben said as he examined the document more closely.
Peter stared at him in disbelief. "You're so devious."
"Thank you for the compliment," Ben replied with a slight grin.
Afterward, Ben put down the documents, pinched his chin thoughtfully, and said, "Actually, I've been investigating your parents too..."
Peter was genuinely surprised. "You never told me that."
"Because I didn't find any useful information. There are no relevant information I can find in the internet." Ben waved the paper documents in his hand. Most of the contents were still handwritten, old-school intelligence work. "I didn't expect it to be Hydra behind their deaths."
Hearing this, Peter nodded grimly. Then he heard Ben continue, "What I really didn't expect was that SHIELD would actually approach us and say they wanted to join forces with us to fight Hydra."
Oh, the irony. They want to team up with us to fight themselves.
Then Ben immediately made a decision, his voice taking on a harder edge that Peter had rarely heard before.
"Peter, since it was Hydra that caused your parents' deaths, we will never tolerate their existence!"
"What do you mean...?"
Ben's eyes flashed with determination, and when he spoke, his voice carried the weight of absolute conviction:
"Hydra has just signed its own death warrant!"