Peter's fight with Doctor Lizard took nearly an hour, and the follow-up research took a full six hours.
By the time he returned, it was already daylight outside.
Peter's body had gotten some rest, leaving him full of energy.
As for Peter's mind, to be honest, it had been in a constant state of excitement.
After all, he was young.
More importantly, he felt that he got along very well with Amazing Spider-Man.
Just as mentioned before, they were like biological brothers from different parents.
The twin kind, at that.
Although Shadow Spider-Man had also influenced Peter greatly, his overall tone was far too gloomy. It clashed somewhat with Peter's youthful disposition, so they did not mesh as well.
Peter first glanced at the glowing spiderweb in his mind.
Unfortunately, after Shadow Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man's light point had also stopped glowing.
This meant that he could not travel to Amazing Spider-Man's universe for the time being.
He did not know when the next light point would activate, nor did he know whether it would lead to one of the two Parallel Universes he had visited or a new universe he had never been to.
Still, perhaps this was a good opportunity to sort out his own affairs first.
Since Aunt May was not home, he rolled out of bed, sat down at his desk, and rewrote the synthesis plan for SPC-120703 polymer biomass fiber material and the spider-silk optical microscope lenses.
SPC-120703 consisted of three parts. "SP" was short for Spider-Man, "C" was short for copy, and 120703 was the designation number of Amazing Spider-Man's universe.
Put together, it meant a copy of Spider-Man's webbing from Universe 120703—simple and clear.
Of course, it was merely an identification number for convenience.
As long as Peter did not say anything, no one would associate it with Spider-Man from a Parallel Universe.
Before he could finish writing, it was time for school.
So Peter brought his unfinished work to school and secretly wrote during class.
Watching Peter scribble away furiously, the teacher felt deeply gratified. He praised Peter for being so hardworking despite already being so smart, telling the other students to learn from him.
Especially Flash.
Thus: Flash's mental defenses shattered +1, HP -1, hatred +1.
During lab class.
Since he had just replenished his web fluid, Peter did not secretly make more webbing this time. Instead, he openly worked on the SPC-120703 polymer biomass fiber material and the spider-silk optical microscope lenses.
He needed to produce samples so he could convince Tony Stark.
Of course, it was not actually because he wanted to do it openly.
At first, he had habitually been conducting his research in secret.
But Ned, that fat bastard, happened to come over and start chatting, drawing the teacher over as well.
At the time, Peter was attaching the spider-silk optical microscope lenses to the lab's optical microscope and examining a tiny amount of the newly made SPC-120703 polymer biomass fiber. He did not have time to put it away.
So the teacher discovered it.
Left with no choice, Peter once again invoked the Stark Internship Program and explained that this was a task assigned to him by Mr. Stark.
The teacher was delighted to hear that.
Being connected to a major company like Stark Industries made him feel immensely honored.
Not only did he not reprimand Peter, he even asked whether Peter needed any other help, telling him to come find him anytime.
Thus, Peter somehow ended up with a "pass" that let him freely use the school lab.
It was a blessing in disguise.
At lunchtime, Peter tried to contact Tony Stark and pitch the samples from his two research projects.
However, the messages he sent vanished without a trace. There was not a single reply.
Peter found that extremely frustrating.
He was at least a prospective Avenger. Could they not be a little less perfunctory?
Unfortunately, Stark Tower was in Manhattan. Not only was it far from Queens, where he lived, there was even a river between them, making the trip highly inconvenient.
If he wanted to make a round trip, relying solely on the time after school was far too rushed.
If Aunt May were not home, he could have given it a try.
But with Aunt May at home, he had to return for dinner.
If he had found an opportunity during those two days when Aunt May had first gone out and decisively taken his samples to Stark Industries, perhaps he would not be in such an awkward position now.
Unfortunately, there were no ifs.
Several days passed like that, and the weekend finally arrived.
No new world had appeared. Over the past few days, Peter had simply gone about his usual routine.
Being everyone's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, doing the training courses in his spider-suit, chatting with Karen, and continuing to ponder new applications for webbing in the school library and laboratory.
And he had actually made some gains.
But those could wait until later.
Because Peter had something more important to do today.
Go see Tony Stark!
Peter slung on his backpack, stuffed the allowance he had saved over the past few days into his pocket, and boarded a bus headed for Manhattan.
After quite a bit of trouble, he finally arrived beneath Stark Tower, and then... he was stopped.
No matter how Peter explained himself, the security guards downstairs refused to believe that a kid like him knew Tony Stark.
Left with no choice, Peter had to "find another way."
He went into an alley near Stark Tower, put on his spider-suit, swung close to the tower, then ran straight up the wall.
After making it all the way to the roof, Peter had barely steadied himself when his Spider-Sense was triggered.
"Unknown visitor detected. Preliminary assessment identifies an illegal intrusion. Activating self-defense mode." An electronic voice sounded.
Immediately afterward, a section of the floor opened, and an Iron Man Armor flew out at high speed toward Peter.
Peter was slightly startled and quickly leaped away from where he had been standing.
"Mr. Stark, I'm Spider-Man, not an illegal intruder."
"No authorization data found in the database. 'Spider-Man' has been classified as an illegal intruder. Self-defense mode is authorized to continue."
The alarm in the room continued blaring.
Peter: ...
Wasn't I supposed to be a trainee Avenger? Fine, the security downstairs didn't recognize me, but why doesn't even the smart system's program recognize me?
While grumbling, Peter dodged the Iron Man Armor's attacks.
He actually wanted to test just how powerful the Iron Man Armor was.
But he was afraid that if he accidentally damaged it, Iron Man would demand compensation.
After all, he was in the wrong for "illegally intruding," and he had a project he wanted Stark to invest in. If he had not even explained himself before smashing an Iron Man Armor worth at least several million, that would be hard to justify.
"Reassessing illegal intruder threat level. Self-defense level increased!"
As Peter dodged the first Iron Man Armor's assault, another voice sounded.
Then, BOOM—
BOOM—
Two more Iron Man Armors flew out.
Peter: ...
If you keep this up, I'm not going to hold back anymore!
Before you continue