After School

From three in the afternoon to eight in the evening was the extracurricular enrichment time Midtown High arranged for its students.

During this time, students could participate in club activities, sports, and the like.

And for Peter, this meant he had finally, finally gotten out of school!

You had no idea how long Peter had waited for this moment.

The instant the time came, Peter grabbed the textbooks on his desk, rushed into the hallway, opened his locker, took out his little backpack, and leaped straight out through the relatively deserted back exit with it on his back!

The whole sequence was smooth and fluid.

After all, he had been doing this for over half a month and was already thoroughly familiar with it.

As for whether someone might spot him?

The chances were very, very low.

Because one of his spider abilities was concealment.

Hiding was a spider's instinct, and Spider-Man naturally possessed that instinct as well.

This instinct allowed him to find the safest places to transform from Peter Parker into Spider-Man without being discovered.

And after visiting Shadow Spider-Man's world, that instinct had been strengthened somewhat, enhancing a whole series of related abilities such as his concealment, tracking, and counter-tracking.

If he had possessed his current concealment abilities before, perhaps Iron Man would not have found him so easily.

Well, only "not so easily."

In fact, in this age of big data, if Iron Man truly wanted to find someone, with his super AI and the Avengers' enormous information network, there were probably very few secrets that could remain hidden from him.

It was merely a matter of how long it took and how many resources he invested.

Of course, Iron Man and Peter were now "on the same side," so there was little point in dwelling on such things.

After climbing out of school, Peter followed his usual routine and found an alley to change into the Spider-suit Iron Man had given him.

Then, he aimed his web-shooters at several spots on his backpack and sprayed them before coloring the white webbing with a paint marker.

Just like that, a backpack of the same style but an entirely different color appeared.

Peter slung the backpack directly onto his back.

He used to hide his backpack wherever he changed clothes, but several times, passersby with empty hands had made off with it.

Every time, he had to swallow his pride and ask Aunt May for another backpack.

So he decided that from now on, he would be Backpack Spider-Man.

Anyway, he was now a trainee Avenger. Iron Man had personally told him that his range of activity lay between what Iron Man would do and what Iron Man would not do.

A gray area.

Pretty profound, right?

Anyway, Peter decided to treat it as if it really were profound.

So, as a trainee Avenger, as long as he did not actively expose his identity, the Avengers would only help him cover it up.

"Good afternoon, Peter."

"Hello, Miss Karen." Peter greeted the AI in his suit.

"Peter, which course are you preparing to undertake today?" Karen asked.

Peter raised his hand, and a list of preset courses appeared on his wrist, all meant to teach him how to become a qualified superhero.

With the mindset of there's no harm in learning a little, Peter decided to grind through them every day and treat them as daily missions.

"Let's study this one today: The Scientific Art of Web-Swinging Combined with Gymnastic Aesthetics. What the hell kind of name is that?" Peter said helplessly.

"Probably Mr. Stark," Karen honestly sold out the former owner who had created her.

Peter: "...What a naming genius!"

Karen remained silent.

Peter then had Karen activate the suit's receiver, which could connect to the Queens police radio network, allowing him to learn about emergencies immediately and rush to the scene.

To Peter's relief, Queens was very peaceful today.

He wandered around from three to five, and in the end, all he did was help an elderly woman cross the street and help a little girl who had gotten separated from her mother find her again.

The elderly woman treated him to a grilled meat pie, while the little girl gave him a chocolate bar.

That made Peter very happy.

Not because he had received rewards. He did not help people for rewards like that.

It was because he had felt other people's appreciation.

That was what mattered most.

Peter returned home and made himself a simple dinner.

Aunt May's charity event, which seemed to be sponsored by Red Bull, would take several days.

She had left some food and money in the refrigerator.

For the next few days, Peter would have to handle his own breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Afterward, Peter shut himself in his room and began modifying his web-shooters.

He planned to install two "ammo chambers" in the web-shooters. One would hold his own web fluid—Peter named it Webbing One—while the other would hold Amazing Spider-Man's web fluid—Peter named it Webbing Two.

Webbing One was more elastic and could be used to capture criminals alive, rescue people, and so on.

Webbing Two was tougher and could be used to hold back vehicles, buildings, and the like.

Normally, he could use both together as well. The two different types of webbing would combine into thicker webs with greater pulling force.

But that would also increase consumption.

Considering his web-fluid reserves, Peter felt he should only use that when necessary.

As for modifying the web-shooters, it was actually quite simple.

He only needed to add a parallel route to the original mechanism.

It took Peter only an hour to complete the modification.

Afterward, he took out paper and a pen and began writing down from memory the internal structure of the pneumatic electronic single-fiber tensile tester he had secretly memorized at school.

His memory was strong, and after being bitten by the spider and awakening his superpowers, it had become even stronger.

Very soon, he had written down everything stored in his mind.

Then, based on this diagram, he would rebuild and modify the manual tensile tester in his room, which he had pieced together out of junk.

That part was rather complicated.

It was even more complicated than making a new one from scratch.

But he could not possibly make a new one.

The reason was simple: he had no money.

He had made this thing partly to make future equipment adjustments easier, and partly so he could thoroughly study the properties of his webbing before approaching Tony Stark to discuss a partnership!

So he only had a few dozen dollars left on him, and that was supposed to cover his meals for the next few days.

He wondered whether trainee Avengers were paid monthly.

Was it paid at the beginning of the month or the end?

Wait!

Peter suddenly looked up.

He had suddenly remembered something very important.

He had forgotten to ask Tony Stark exactly how much he would be paid as a trainee Avenger!

His Spider-suit was covered by the September Fund, but Tony Stark had said that Avengers like Black Widow received living support in their daily lives!

He was only a trainee, but he should... have that too, right?