63: Chapter 63 Gradually Recovering

"That's not very polite!" Peter shouted, four mechanical spider-arms popping out, four streams of Webbing snatching away their guns before yanking them back.

"It's Spider-Man! Run!" one soldier yelled.

"We haven't grabbed anything yet!" the man in the yellow hazmat suit shouted back.

"I don't care!"

They tried to flee, but Peter was faster, rounding them all up and tying them into a bundle. He walked closer, his voice dropping low:

"You know who I am. And you know what I can do. How easy it would be to tear you apart." One mechanical spider-arm pressed against one of their throats, "Talk."

"I, we work for—"

Before he could finish, his head suddenly exploded right in front of Peter.

A warm mist of blood splattered onto his mask, and Peter froze for a split second. He hadn't expected the other side to silence them so ruthlessly.

He leaped backward, raising his arm to block the incoming blood mist: "What the hell?!"

"Death before betrayal!" someone shouted from behind the rubble, throwing a grenade. Peter kicked it away, the explosion kicking up dust, only to watch in horror as the man raised his gun and fired at his own comrades.

"No!" Peter used his Webbing to rip the gun away, knocking the man unconscious with bio-electricity.

The tied-up men were all dead. Only the shooter was still alive. Peter searched him thoroughly, finding no identification, only a skull tattoo.

There wasn't much information, but the design reminded him of Captain America's old nemesis—HYDRA. They had finally crawled out from the Shadow. With so much technology right before their eyes, how could they not be tempted?

He looked around the ruins, sighed, and connected to Fury to explain the situation. He would arrive soon.

The city needed time to recover. The first phase was over, and the second phase would begin soon.

He only hoped that he was ready.

...

Several weeks after the Battle of New York, Spider-Man finally received the positive press he deserved.

Ever since he appeared in public as a member of the Avengers, people no longer took J. Jonah Jameson's rhetoric seriously.

Just yesterday, the Daily Bugle's official account posted on Twitter:

"Spider-Man's actions in the city are completely illegal vigilante behavior!"

Peter originally intended to jump in and retort, but before he could act, another netizen beat him to it:

"At nine o'clock tonight I was held at gunpoint, and it was Spider-Man who saved me. He let me go home to see my family tonight. Screw you, Daily Bugle!"

And he wasn't the only one. Whenever someone tried to smear Spider-Man online, hundreds or thousands of people would stand up to refute it. They came like a tsunami, and the key was that these weren't bots, but real, ordinary people—the honest citizens who had been helped by Spider-Man in their daily lives.

He felt like he was floating on a cloud; life was perfect. He was a superhero truly respected by the public, and people had even set up fan clubs for him! While working at the Baxter Building, Susan Storm and Reed always asked for his opinion, and although he couldn't help much most of the time, he always did his best.

At home, Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei were happy that he had finally stepped out of his Small World and started integrating into real life. What they didn't know was that Peter was secretly paying off all their overdue bills for them. He simply had the bank notify them of a "system filing error," and then covered the money with his own earned salary.

Summer vacation allowed him to be a full-time hero. He descended from the sky countless times to save the World.

He had basically become New York's exclusive hero. After all, Tony Stark was out of the city half the time, Captain America was more of a national symbol, Thor was a god, and Natasha and Clint were Agents. This meant he was the only one who could bring public exposure to the Avengers. The pressure was not small.

But it wasn't just about swinging around and playing games; Peter also spent a lot of time at the Baxter Building. Reed and Susan Storm were very busy—Reed was in charge of inventing new toys, while Susan Storm was responsible for filing patents and ensuring cash flow.

The only thing that made Peter a bit awkward was the relationship between Reed and Susan Storm. To be precise, there was no "that kind" of relationship between them at all. Reed had tried in his own way, but Susan Storm always pretended not to see. After a while, poor Reed finally gave up. Peter didn't know when this bickering pair would finally get together, but at this rate, he was afraid he would have a long wait before seeing little Franklin Richards being born.

But that was probably for the best; Peter's scalp would tingle at the mere thought of a child being able to warp reality with a wave of their hand.

Peter started pushing forward with his personal project, researching the alien trash seized from the alien invaders.

From those weapons, he found a way to operate machinery via telepathy. The design was extremely ingenious: there was a metal plate made of an unknown alloy that consumed the bio-electricity in brainwaves like a symbiote. It guided human brainwaves, and through a sensor on the other end, any machine could track the "consumed" signal.

Peter applied this technology to his mechanical spider-arms, making them much safer to use, with no more risk of exploding, driving him crazy, or fusing with his spine.

Susan Storm saw the telekinetic metal plate, and her eyes lit up. She guessed its origin at a glance, but what really surprised her was that Peter had cracked the principle so quickly. She had already started the process of filing a patent, calling it the "Telekinetic Metal Plate."

Peter also analyzed the alloy used in the alien armor. It was a unique formula that couldn't be found on Earth. Although he didn't succeed in synthesizing his own version, he at least figured out the composition and reaction mechanism. He now had a basic metallurgical formula on hand that could theoretically create a metal with strength comparable to Wolverine's claws—as long as he could find the last missing ingredient.

Next, he set his sights on the alien power source.

It was a glowing purple stone with strong radiation. But strangely, its outer shell could perfectly isolate the radiation, so the thing wouldn't kill every living creature around it.

Only external radiation could trigger it and make it burst open. With Reed's help, Peter successfully reverse-engineered the process for manufacturing this type of battery, but the result was a bit disheartening—the stones they created only output one-quarter of the energy of the real alien batteries.

Reed, however, was not disappointed at all; on the contrary, he was very excited. He said he would continue to research this technology, which could very well determine whether humanity would struggle to survive or enter a new era. As for how the aliens levitated, Peter was stumped for now and could only toss the pile of things aside.

On the other end, Natasha's training hadn't relaxed at all. Ever since Fury gave the strict order to improve Peter's combat ability, her classes had become a daily requirement.

One training session even lasted an entire day—Natasha insisted on testing how long he could last without eating or sleeping. In the end, Peter's endurance caused her to reveal a rare look of approval.

And recently, Natasha finally started teaching him real espionage techniques: how to track a target without being detected, and how to extract the secrets a person most wanted to hide. Peter didn't like it at all. But there was no choice; he had to be prepared for every possibility.

Weeks passed, and the city gradually restored order. Peter found that the time he spent transforming into Spider-Man was decreasing; people had finally learned to handle trouble on their own. So, he decided to start a new personal project. Since there was a DeLorean DMC-12 parked in the garage, the best use for it was to get it running. But before that, it needed a complete overhaul.

He called Johnny Storm: "Johnny Storm, I need you to help me modify a car."