The entire skyscraper becoming a condemned building was far more serious than Peter had imagined. Within minutes of his departure, the Avengers took over the nearby streets.
The members of the Avengers in this universe weren't entirely the same as those in the MCU. The five veteran Avengers who participated in the Battle of New York were Iron Man Tony Stark, Captain America Steve Rogers, Thor, Hulk Bruce Banner, and Ant-Man Hank Pym. Additionally, there was an unofficial member who served as the team manager—Wasp Janet Van Dyne. Captain America didn't work for S.H.I.E.L.D. but was instead based at Avengers Tower, formerly Stark Tower.
"I still suggest we just shrink the entire building with Pym Particles. These webs are slowly degrading naturally and will lose their effectiveness in less than two hours." Ant-Man, who had just shrunk himself to observe the web structure, returned to his original size. His suit's helmet retracted automatically, revealing short light-brown hair and a young face in his late thirties. "The structure of these webs is somewhat familiar... I seem to have seen it somewhere before."
"I've already stabilized the building's structure with Stark Industries' engineering equipment, so I probably won't need your help, Hank." Iron Man flew overhead, admiring the message left for the police on the web between the two buildings. "That cursive isn't bad, is it, Cap?"
Only three Avengers had come. Bruce Banner wasn't present, and Thor was simply not on Earth. Captain Rogers sat on his motorcycle, looking at a tablet displaying video recovered by J.A.R.V.I.S. from the bank's surveillance, showing the entire recording of Spider-Man's fight.
"Less than seven minutes, he took care of those criminals in less than seven minutes. It was all over before we even arrived."
"I could do it in one minute," Iron Man landed next to the Captain, lifting his armor's faceplate.
"I mean, he's trained, and from a military background. Not only that, but he's also specifically trained his strength control." Steve Rogers paused the surveillance at the exact moment Spider-Man punched Herman in the face. "That punch, with his strength, would have killed the guy without proper retraction. But that person wasn't even knocked unconscious."
"So, we found a guy who knows what he's doing. That's good; I was worried about how to clean his webs out of my armor's seams."
"It's Professor Richard Parker." Hank's sudden statement interrupted their casual chat. Tony closed his armor's faceplate, looking at the information J.A.R.V.I.S. had pulled up. "An entomologist? A colleague of yours, Hank?"
"No, he was an expert in genetic engineering and programming. Several current academic experts in related fields, including Curtis Connors, Miles Warren, and Jonathan Drew, were his students."
"Wow," Tony exclaimed. "I haven't heard of any of them."
"He was once the lead researcher for the US military's Super Soldier Serum project, primarily researching the use of animal genes to enhance humans. He published quite a few related articles, most of which were sealed by S.H.I.E.L.D. I saw some of them when I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. a few years ago, including a paper on synthesizing a certain type of spider silk protein. The web structure on it is identical to what's here."
Tony glanced at the Captain, but the Captain remained silent, showing no additional emotion.
"At that time, the Super Soldier Serum project was overseen by Oscorp Technologies—and it probably still is. However, he left the project a few years ago and then joined S.H.I.E.L.D., dying in a plane crash three years ago."
"I'm not surprised at all. So, this Spider-Man is a super-soldier developed by Oscorp? Great. J.A.R.V.I.S., schedule a meeting with Norman Osborn for me."
"He wasn't a super-soldier developed in a lab, nor is he some kind of weapon." The Captain made a conclusion: "More like a vigilante acting voluntarily."
"We'll find out when I ask Osborn," Tony said, largely unconcerned. The Captain thought for a moment and made his own decision: "Or Nick Fury. I'll ask him, and the police department; they should have conducted some investigations into Spider-Man."
"I'll take this back to study," Hank said, picking up a Shocker emitter. "It might be useful."
Hearing police sirens, the three Avengers looked towards the patrol cars appearing on the street. Tony raised an eyebrow: "New York's finest are quite punctual, aren't they?"
George Stacy, who had escorted the criminals back to NYPD headquarters, was extremely annoyed. Today was supposed to be his daughter's high school orientation, and he should have been taking her to school and staying until the ceremony ended. Instead, not only did he oversleep, but as soon as he woke up and was about to leave, he had to escort criminals.
And he heard that the street they had damaged was on Gwen's way to school. If he hadn't asked Ben and confirmed Gwen was safe, George wouldn't have minded turning off his bodycam and giving them a beating.
Now all the criminals were escorted to the police station, awaiting interrogation after waking up. He had just taken a sip of coffee when his officer came to report the "good news."
"Sergeant, the gang leader has woken up."
George nodded, not planning to interrogate him personally. He and a few officers stood outside the interrogation room's one-way glass, watching a stout white police officer and a muscular black man interrogate the suspect.
The leader of this bank robbery gang was a typical stereotype of a ghetto gang member: black, with dreadlocks, a lip piercing, clearly an unemployed criminal.
"Name?"
"Herman Schultz."
"Age?"
"26."
"Occupation?"
"None."
"Before?"
"Mechanic."
The suspect seemed cooperative with the investigation, though a bit distracted. Based on the interrogation, they roughly pieced together the background of the man before them: a middle school dropout, uncultured, who used to be a mechanic, then got rich by salvaging after the Battle of New York, and now planned to continue illicit activities.
So the stout police officer asked the next question.
"Where did you buy these weapons? How much did they cost?"
"I made them myself from alien materials I salvaged."
The two interrogating officers and the idle officers watching from outside were momentarily stunned, then erupted into synchronized laughter.
"Buddy, do you know what you're saying?" The black officer couldn't help but shake his head, laughing. "Those... those weapons that almost cut an entire building in half, you made them?"
"I made them!" Herman roared in anger. "I made them!"
"That's seriously the most absurd confession I've ever heard, buddy." The white officer also shook his head helplessly, not writing anything down. "I know you don't want to rat out these guys, but you could at least come up with a good reason. You made these things yourself? That's ridiculous."
"What's the problem?! I made those things!!!"
"No, man, do you know how powerful those weapons are? Our evidence room experts can't even figure out their operating logic." The black officer spread his hands. "You're saying you made them? Buddy, you're just a mechanic, a middle school dropout. You can make this?"
"What? So only those highly educated white pigs can develop these things? A black mechanic can't become the best engineer?!"
"Calm down, man, we didn't say anything about skin color. You're being too sensitive."
After the white officer finished, he exchanged a glance with the black officer, assuming they wouldn't get anything more out of Herman, and then took Herman out to be escorted to a holding cell.
They planned to question someone else. Surely not everyone would claim this middle school dropout created high-tech weapons?
Schultz, being led to the holding cell by the police, kept replaying the officers' laughter and Spider-Man's agile movements during the fight in his mind. At the holding cell door, he stood still, then was pushed by an officer before stepping inside.
A few of his subordinates had also woken up.
"Hey, Herman, what's up?"
Herman remained silent, then suddenly, as if understanding something, pulled out a subordinate's hair clip, went to the holding cell bars, and used the hair clip to pick his handcuffs and the holding cell door lock.
Herman Schultz was New York's most brilliant lock-picker.
His subordinates watched in disbelief as he suddenly pulled open the cell door, then, before the patrolling officer could react, he choked the officer unconscious. He then stripped the officer's uniform, put it on himself, and tossed the keys to his still-imprisoned subordinates.
"You decide if you want to leave. If they ask you where I might go, just tell them honestly."
His subordinates, realizing something was amiss, exchanged glances. Finally, someone couldn't help but ask, "Where are you going, Herman?"
"To do what I've always done. To tell New York that I'm the best engineer."
Herman Schultz said, pulling his police cap low, and walked out of the holding cell. Since it was still early morning, not yet nine o'clock, there weren't many people working at the police station, and Herman easily slipped out of the "heavily guarded" NYPD. Half an hour later, he found an old residential area where he had a long-abandoned construction site as a secret hideout. This was where he hid his alien tech; even his subordinates didn't know about it.
He pulled out the alien tech parts, but after two seconds of thought, he kicked them aside. He could sell them for money later, but for now, he didn't need these flashy things.
"You're the best engineer, Herman. You don't need any alien tech."
The entire experience of fighting Spider-Man replayed in his head. The stark contrast between the powerful and agile figure of his opponent and his own clumsy, large gun was clear. He had to create a suit that was as flexible and powerful as Spider-Man's.
"A flexible suit that can absorb excessive shockwaves to prevent self-injury. The device needs to be portable; a wristband is too small, so it can be made into gauntlets. I also need to recalculate the firing frequency... like this..."
A broken desk lamp, a box of colored pencils, stacks of draft paper.
One morning, a miracle.
A pair of gauntlets based on the same principle as the Shocker emitter, but more controllable, and a kinetic energy absorption suit, yellow with red metal covering certain parts.
When the designs were complete, Herman Schultz's eyes were bloodshot, and he himself could hardly believe what he had drawn.
But then he smiled.
"I did it! I did it!"
"I didn't invent the Shock; on the contrary, I will become—the Shocker!"