socalfunplaces Chapter 5 Escape
Chapter 5 Escape
Chapter 5 Escape
In reality, the fact that an entire skyscraper had become a dangerous structure was far more serious than Peter had imagined. Within minutes of him leaving, the Avengers had taken over the nearby streets.
The Avengers in this universe are not entirely the same as those in the MCU. The five original Avengers who participated in the Battle of New York were Tony Stark (Iron Man), Steve Rogers (Captain America), Thor, Bruce Banner (Hulk), and Hank Pym (Ant-Man). In addition, there was an unofficial member who served as the team's manager—Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp). Captain America did not work for S.H.I.E.L.D. but was based at Avengers Tower, formerly Stark Tower.
"I still suggest shrinking the entire building down with Pym Particles. These webs are slowly degrading naturally and will become ineffective in less than two hours." Ant-Man, who had just shrunk himself to observe the web structure, returned to his original size. His suit automatically retracted its helmet, revealing short, light brown hair and a young face that looked like he was only in his thirties: "The structure of these webs looks familiar... I feel like I've seen them somewhere before."
"I've stabilized the building's structure using Stark Industries' engineering equipment, so I probably won't need Hank's help anymore." Iron Man flew into the air, admiring the message left for the police on the spiderweb between the two buildings: "Not bad handwriting, isn't it, Captain?"
Only three Avengers arrived. Bruce Banner wasn't there, and Thor wasn't even on Earth. Captain Rogers sat on his motorcycle, watching a video recorded on a tablet. It was Jarvis's reconstructed bank surveillance footage, showing the entire Spider-Man battle sequence.
"He took care of these criminals in less than seven minutes. It was all over before we even arrived."
"I can do it in just one minute." Iron Man landed next to Captain America and lifted his armor mask.
"What I mean is, he's trained, and from the military. Not only that, he's specifically trained his strength control." Steve Rogers focused the camera on the moment Spider-Man punched Herman in the face: "With his strength, that punch, if not properly controlled, would have killed him. But the guy wasn't even knocked unconscious."
"So, we've found a guy who knows what he's supposed to do. That's good. I was worried about how to wash his spider webs off the seams of my armor."
"It's Professor Richard Parker." Hank's sudden statement interrupted their conversation. Tony closed his armor mask and looked at the information Jarvis had brought up: "An entomologist? Hank, your colleague?"
"No, he's an expert in genetic modification and programming. Several experts in related fields in academia, including Curtis Connors, Miles Warren, and Jonathan Drew, are his students."
"Wow!" Tony exclaimed. "I've never heard of any of them."
"He was the principal investigator of the U.S. military's Super Soldier Serum project, whose main research focused on using animal genes to enhance humans. He published a considerable number of related articles, most of which were archived 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 the artificial synthesis of a certain spider silk protein, whose spider silk structure is exactly the same as the one here."
Tony glanced at the captain, but the captain remained silent, revealing no additional emotion.
"Osborn Technologies was in charge of the Super Soldier Serum project back then—and probably still is now. However, he left the project a few years ago and joined S.H.I.E.L.D., where he died in a plane crash three years ago."
"I'm not surprised at all. So, this Spider-Man is a super soldier developed by Osborn? Very well, Jarvis, schedule a meeting with Norman Osborn for me."
"He's not a super soldier developed through research, nor is he some kind of weapon," the captain concluded. "He's more like a vigilante acting on volunteer duty."
"We'll just ask Osborn then," Tony said, seemingly unconcerned. The captain thought for a moment and then made his decision: "Or Nick Fury, I'll ask him. And the police; they should have done some investigation into Spider-Man."
"I'll take this back and study it." Hank picked up a "Shock" launcher: "It might come in handy."
Hearing the police sirens, the three Avengers looked towards the police cars appearing on the street. Tony raised an eyebrow: "The NYPD really came just in time."
George Stacy, who had escorted the prisoner back to NYPD headquarters, was extremely annoyed. Today was supposed to be his daughter's high school opening ceremony, and he was supposed to take her to school and stay until the ceremony was over. Not only had he overslept, but just as he woke up and was about to leave, he had to escort a prisoner.
And I heard that the street they vandalized was the one Gwen took to school. If George hadn't asked Ben and learned that Gwen was alright, he wouldn't have hesitated to turn off the body cameras and give them a beating.
All the prisoners are now at the police station, awaiting interrogation after they regain consciousness. He had just taken a sip of coffee when his officers came to report the "good news."
"Sir, the gang leader has woken up."
George nodded, not intending to conduct the interrogation himself. He and several officers stood outside the one-way glass window of the interrogation room, watching a large white police officer and a burly black man interrogate each other.
The bank robber's leader was a stereotypical slum gangster, with a dreadlocked braid and a lip piercing; he looked like an unemployed vagrant involved in organized crime.
"Name?"
Hermann Schulz.
"age?"
"26".
"Profession?"
"no."
"What about before?"
"Car mechanic."
The man seemed cooperative during the investigation, though somewhat distracted. Based on the interrogation, they pieced together his background: a middle school graduate with little education, who had previously worked as a car mechanic, then became rich by scavenging after the Battle of New York, and now planned to continue his no-capital-investment business.
So the fat policeman asked the next question.
"Where did you buy these weapons? How much did they cost?"
"I made it myself using alien materials I found."
The two police officers in charge of the interrogation and the police officers who were just watching outside were stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter in unison.
"Dude, do you know what you're talking about?" The corrupt cop couldn't help but shake his head with a laugh. "Those...those weapons that practically sliced the entire building apart, you made them?"
"I did it!" Hermann roared angrily, "I did it!"
"That's the most absurd confession I've ever heard, buddy." The white-clad officer shook his head helplessly, not bothering to write it down. "I know you don't want to implicate these guys, but you can make up a good reason. This stuff you made up yourself? It's ridiculous."
"Is there a problem?! I made those things!!!"
"No, brother, do you know how powerful those weapons are? Even our evidence lab experts couldn't figure out how they worked." The corrupt cop shrugged. "You're saying you made them? Dude, you're just a mechanic, a guy who only finished middle school. You could make something like this?"
"What? Are only highly educated white pigs capable of developing these things? Can't a black mechanic become the best engineer?!"
"Calm down, buddy. We didn't talk about skin color. You're being too sensitive."
After the white policeman finished speaking, he exchanged a glance with the black policeman, guessing that they wouldn't get anything out of him, so he took Herman out and had him taken to the detention room.
They decided to ask someone else; they couldn't expect everyone to say that this middle school student had created the high-tech weapon, could they?
As the police led him to the detention cell, Schultz kept recalling their mocking laughter and Spider-Man's agile movements during combat. Upon reaching the cell door, he remained motionless until a policeman gave him a push, finally guiding him inside.
The henchmen have also woken up.
"Hey, Herman, what's up?"
Herman remained silent, then suddenly seemed to understand something. He pulled off his underling's hairpin, went to the iron bars of the detention cell, and used the hairpin to pry open his own handcuffs and the lock on the cell door.
Herman Schultz is New York's best lock picker.
His underlings stared in disbelief as he suddenly flung open the cell door and, before the patrolling police could react, strangled him unconscious. He then took off his police uniform, put it on, and tossed the keys to his still-locked underlings.
"You decide for yourselves whether to go or not. If they ask you where I might go, just tell them the truth."
The henchmen, realizing something was amiss, exchanged bewildered glances before one finally couldn't help but ask, "Where are you going, Herman?"
"Do what I've always done: tell New York that I'm the best engineer."
Herman Schulz said, pulling his police cap down low as he walked out of the detention cell. Since it was still early morning, before nine o'clock, and not many people were at the police station, 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 his secret hideout. This was where he hid his alien technology; even his underlings didn't know it was there.
He pulled out the alien technology parts, but after thinking for two seconds, he kicked them aside. He could exchange them for money later, but he didn't need these fancy things now.
"You're the best engineer, Herman. You don't need any alien technology."
The entire experience of fighting Spider-Man kept replaying in his mind. The contrast between Spider-Man's powerful and agile movements and his own clumsiness while wielding the big gun was stark. He knew he had to create a suit of armor as flexible and powerful as Spider-Man's.
"The combat suit needs to be flexible enough to absorb excessive shockwaves and prevent recoil damage. The device needs to be portable; the bracelet is too small, so it can be made into an arm guard. The firing frequency also needs to be recalculated... like this..."
A broken table lamp, a box of colored pencils, and stacks of draft paper.
One morning, one miracle.
A pair of wrist guards that work on the same principle as the "Horror" launcher, but are more controllable, and a set of kinetic energy-absorbing armor with a yellow base and red metal coverings in some areas.
When the design was completed, Hermann Schulz stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what he had drawn.
But then he laughed.
"I did it! I did it!"
"I didn't invent Shock; quite the opposite, I will become—Shocker!"
(End of this chapter)