#685 - Peter returns, Oliver is sad

"You must understand one thing, Mark, and that is that you must either become a superhero or a purely good person. You can only choose one; you cannot have both. This is what I mean by the price."

Peter placed his hand on Mark's shoulder, saying with a serious expression.

Staring into Peter's eyes, Mark nodded after a long while.

Although he didn't quite understand, he still firmly remembered his father's words.

"By the way, Dad, is Mrs. Grayson okay?"

Mark was concerned about Debbie, who was receiving treatment.

"She's fine, and Oliver is fine too."

Hearing Peter say that Mrs. Grayson was okay, Mark breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's good. I hope she recovers soon."

Mark said softly, while looking through the glass at Debbie sleeping on the hospital bed in the room.

One month later.

"John Witherspoon, Oliver Wolcott, and George Weiss."

Oliver, with purple skin and grown to be about the size of a normal four-year-old human, replied to Peter while lying on the sofa, kicking a ball up into the air.

The two were playing a memory puzzle game.

The little boy, Oliver, looked at Peter expectantly after speaking, as if wanting a reward.

As a descendant of Viltrumites and Thraxans, Oliver's growth rate was astonishing.

In just one month, he had grown to the size of an average three or four-year-old, and quickly learned to speak, write, and had a super strong memory.

"Good job, Oliver. Your memory is quite amazing!"

Peter put down the cards at hand and said to him.

"Can we go play now? Uncle Peter."

Oliver approached affectionately, holding the soccer ball, and said to Peter, "We agreed that if I answered everything correctly, we could go play together."

Peter showed a puzzled expression, "Did I say that?"

Oliver's face immediately puffed up with anger, "You did say that, Uncle Peter. I remember it clearly."

Peter nodded, "Hmm, I think I did say that."

Oliver, a handsome, cute boy with black hair, clenched his fist excitedly.

"Great! Uncle Peter, can you take me up into the sky? I mean, like the last time you took me flying in the sky. I like that feeling. Also, I want to learn magic from you, just like Brother Mark, waving a magic wand to defeat all the bad guys!"

Debbie, who had just entered the house, saw Oliver running towards him quickly.

"Hi, Mom, I'm going out to play with Uncle Peter. See you later."

Debbie watched Oliver run out and smiled at Peter, who walked over, "Kids grow up so fast, don't they?"

Peter nodded, "Yes, but Oliver's growth rate far exceeds other children. His growth and development are faster than normal, but he should start to slow down after he enters puberty."

A smile appeared on the corner of Debbie's mouth as she looked at Peter, "So that's tomorrow?"

"No, not that fast, but it should be soon."

Debbie turned to look at Peter and said to him, "You're Oliver's idol now, Peter. He keeps telling me about your adventures and says he hopes to be like you when he grows up."

Mark had not appeared since being exiled by Raven, which made Debbie very worried.

Hearing Debbie's inquiry, Peter hesitated, unsure how to explain.

In fact, Raven had discovered the whereabouts of Invincible, Mark, whom she had exiled a month ago.

However, when Raven entered the world where Mark had been exiled, she found that Mark had disappeared again.

And according to Raven, Mark seemed to be constantly traversing different dimensional worlds.

This made it difficult for Raven to pinpoint Mark's location.

Ghestalt is dead, but Invincible, Mark, can travel through different dimensional worlds. Plus, Raven told me that the world Mark was initially in had Spider-Man.

Peter quickly thought of the suspect who was constantly taking Mark through different worlds—Spider-Gwen!

This Spider-Woman had a dimension-traveling bracelet, and her favorite thing to do was traverse different dimensional worlds.

In the end, it was said that she even caused a major event in the Spider-Verse.

"Mark is still on a space-time journey. He is very safe now and might be back tomorrow."

Peter comforted Debbie in a low voice.

Then he looked at the watch on his wrist.

The hands on his wristwatch had already completed three-quarters of a rotation.

His eighth child might be born soon.

In addition to Raven, Loki, Tom, and Mark needing to return to Hogwarts to study, he had to temporarily leave the Invincible world and return to the farm.

"I think I have to go back, Debbie, but don't worry. Raven and I will keep looking for Mark's whereabouts, and I will come to see Oliver often."

Peter told Debbie his plan to return.

Debbie was stunned when she heard that Peter was leaving.

"You...you're leaving? Peter."

Debbie, who had emerged from the shadows of her life with Peter's help, felt reluctant and sad when she saw that Peter was leaving.

She didn't know how to keep him, nor did she know what her feelings for Peter were.

"Yes, but this is just a temporary separation."

As he said that, Peter reached out his hand.

In Debbie's surprised gaze, a grain of silver sand emitting a faint light floated in the air and then entered Debbie's body.

"This grain of sand will protect you and will establish a connection between us. If you encounter any danger, Debbie, I will be able to sense it."

Peter used his most common trick again.

The infallible method immediately moved Debbie, who was confused.

Hugging Peter, Debbie suppressed her surging emotions and murmured to Peter, "Thank you, Peter. I will always think of you."

Outside the courtyard.

After ending his conversation with Debbie, Peter played baseball throwing games with Oliver.

"I fought Thanos back then, and he had five gems on his hand."

While throwing to each other, Peter said to him.

Oliver said confidently, "If I had been there then, I would have completely defeated him."

Peter's eyebrows twitched. He glanced at Debbie, who was standing by the window looking at him, and asked, "Really?"

"Of course, Uncle Peter. My battle suit design is already drawn. I've been practicing moves, and we can practice moves together. You teach me, and we'll fight the villains together."

Oliver's eyes widened as he said excitedly.

Peter nodded, "That'll have to wait until you have superpowers."

Oliver threw the baseball back to Peter and said happily, "So you agree? Uncle Peter."

"Uh-huh, but you now..."

Before Peter could finish speaking, he was surprised to find Oliver flying into the air and grabbing the baseball.

Oliver hovered in the air, giving Peter a look that said, 'You've been tricked!', and said, "Too late, Uncle Peter. You fell for it!"

"You teach me superpowers, and we'll save the world together! You and me, we'll team up and no villain will be able to stand against us!"

Peter: "..."

He coughed and waved to Oliver, "Oliver, come down. I need to talk to you about something."

The excited Oliver didn't know Peter's sinister intentions and flew down, looking at Peter expectantly.

He was already imagining the scene of him and Peter fighting Thanos.

Two minutes later, Oliver ran into the room crying "Waaah."

Oliver, unable to accept that Peter was leaving, broke down and ran away, wiping away tears.

Debbie walked over helplessly and said to Peter, who was holding the baseball, "Oliver has already regarded you as his idol and family. He can't accept that you're leaving."

Soon, a worried expression appeared on her face, "I didn't expect Oliver to awaken his superpowers so quickly. I always wanted to give him a normal childhood."

Peter looked away and said to Debbie, "Sometimes, we should believe that children have the ability to face complex lives."

As he said that, he took out a gift and handed it to Debbie, "This is a gift for Oliver. Please give it to him for me."

Debbie took the gift, and listening to Oliver's cries coming from the room, her mood also became melancholy.

Half an hour later.

After explaining everything, Peter took Raven and the others back to the farm.

Patrick's Farm.

Vixen and Persephone looked at Peter and his group returning in surprise.

"I thought you guys weren't coming back."

Peter plopped down on the sofa, "This is my home. How could I not come back?"

Vixen said to Peter in a disgruntled mood, "You left all the farm's affairs to us, treating me like free black labor. By the way, Diana came to the farm a few times, saying she had something important to tell you."

"Diana?"

Peter frowned slightly when he heard Diana's name.

Invincible World.

Invincible, Mark, walked out of a portal, followed by Spider-Gwen—Gwen Stacy—who had a curious look on her face.

"Luckily, we're safe and sound. I have to say, that Inheritor family was quite troublesome. They ate countless Spider-Men and had countless clones."

Mark complained about the battle across countless parallel universes that he and Spider-Gwen had just experienced.

They encountered a villainous family called the Inheritors, who hunted various Spider-Men from parallel universes to obtain the power of the Spider-Totem.

It took them a lot of effort to defeat them.

Mark said to Gwen as he walked towards his home.

Gwen looked around curiously and said to Mark, "You said Peter Patrick is in your world. I should be able to see him now, right?"

Gwen came with him because she wanted to see Peter.

"Of course, no problem."

Mark Grayson stood outside the door and shouted excitedly inside, "Mom, I'm back."

At the same time.

Oliver in the room looked in surprise at the strange superhero costume that Peter had given him.

Because both Oliver and Thanos had purple skin, Peter directly gave him the Thanos costume he had collected.