The Vulture of the Main Universe

After Iron Man left, Peter didn't linger either and soon departed Stark Tower.

Instead of taking off the Spider-suit, Peter directly boarded a bus wearing it.

That's right, he "boarded" it.

He found a bus heading to Queens and simply jumped onto its roof, catching a free ride.

The bio-electricity granted by his spider-abilities allowed him to easily adhere to any surface, making acceleration, deceleration, or sudden turns feel no different than sitting on flat ground.

Well, maybe a little bumpier.

Lying on his back on the bus roof, Peter opened the communication device on his web-shooter.

Just now, the Spider-suit's AI assistant had notified him of a text message from "Unknown."

Peter opened it to read.

Uh, "Unknown"? It was clearly from Tony Stark.

It contained relevant information about the "mission" he had just received at Stark Tower.

Actually, the special agency didn't have much information. It mainly concerned recent clashes between several underground gangs in New York. Witnesses had captured some videos showing the use of energy weapons!

Due to the angle and distance of the video recordings, the clarity wasn't very high, but based on comparisons, the weapons' appearance still resembled terrestrial kinetic weapons.

What did that mean?

It meant someone had combined energy weapons and kinetic weapons to create a watered-down version of an energy weapon.

However, even a watered-down version was still an energy weapon!

A powerful handheld energy cannon could turn a person into a pile of charcoal with a single shot, so much so that even their own mother wouldn't recognize them.

There were also some cluster weapons that could easily cut through armor.

This already exceeded the limits of the gun laws!

While the Constitution didn't specify types of firearms, federal and state laws had their own interpretations of gun control.

Among these, the purchase of automatic weapons, short-barreled long guns, silencers, as well as weapons of mass destruction and explosives, all required very strict local and federal review.

Energy weapons, with their far greater power than kinetic weapons, fell under the category of weapons of mass destruction.

Unregistered weapons like these were clearly illegal.

Furthermore, they were engaging in firefights in residential areas.

A single mistake could injure innocent civilians.

However, through the information provided by Iron Man, Peter found some potentially useful clues.

First, since these watered-down energy weapons were created by combining kinetic and energy weapons, it indicated they likely had at least one manufacturing facility.

And the scale of it should be quite significant.

Small workshops couldn't process and manufacture energy weapons.

Therefore, he might be able to start by investigating some "abandoned factories" in the vicinity of Queens and Brooklyn.

The factories might be abandoned, but that was just a facade, a label.

Perhaps they could be utilized by someone with ulterior motives, secretly converted into weapon workshops.

After all, "abandoned" meant being overlooked and not having to pay taxes, offering many conveniences.

Second, the source of the energy weapons.

First, rule out the possibility that they developed these energy weapons themselves.

Why?

If they had developed them themselves, they wouldn't have any reason to combine them with the casings of kinetic weapons.

With such technology, they could have gained significant support by cooperating with official channels or large corporations like Stark Industries.

They wouldn't have to operate so stealthily.

Their actions clearly indicated only one reason – they had something to hide.

So, what was the biggest and most easily leaked source of energy weapons?

The Chitauri invasion!

The Battle of New York, which shocked the world eight years ago, had many videos circulating.

Although Peter was young then, he had seen many of them.

The energy rifles and energy cannons held by the Chitauri, the large-caliber energy cannons mounted on Chitauri flying chariots, and so on, were all various types of energy weapons.

However, Peter didn't know where these energy weapons ended up later, or the whereabouts of the Chitauri army's remains.

He vaguely remembered seeing people cleaning up in the sealed-off area.

"Karen, do I have permission to access some of the Avengers' archival data?" Peter asked.

"Authorization is required. Do you wish to apply for authorization?" Karen replied.

"Apply, of course, apply," Peter said.

"Please wait a moment, I'm waiting for Mr. Stark's confirmation," Karen paused, and after a short while, her voice sounded again, "It's approved, Peter. You can now access some information within your clearance level."

"Okay, thank you, Miss Karen."

"You're welcome, Peter."

"Help me pull up information related to the period after the Battle of New York in 2012," Peter said.

"Okay, Peter, I've pulled it up," Karen replied.

A light screen appeared on Peter's watch.

Much relevant information surfaced.

Peter quickly browsed through it, soon filtering out some useful information.

After the Battle of New York that year, the repair and cleanup work in New York City was taken over by an organization called Damage Control, jointly established by the U.S. federal government and Stark Industries.

Over the years, Damage Control had become a true official agency, and they were also responsible for the follow-up work of the recent Sokovia incident.

This meant that Damage Control possessed a large amount of high-tech materials.

The mysterious weapons manufacturer had likely obtained the raw materials from Damage Control!

Unfortunately, although Iron Man was the proponent and founder of Damage Control, he had handed over the organization later, and it was no longer under his control.

Therefore, Peter's idea of checking Damage Control for any records of missing items could only be abandoned.

However, Peter was not discouraged.

Because he had also found some other things.

For example, actually, right after the Battle of New York ended, before Damage Control was established, the New York City government had commissioned a company to help them clear the wreckage from the war.

And the name of that company was "Batesman Salvage."

Batesman Salvage was a scrap recycling company that had previously focused on scrap recycling and post-disaster cleanup work.

However, since then, Batesman Salvage had been deregistered.

The only thing that could be found was that the original head of Batesman Salvage was named: Adrian Toomes!

Peter found this name somewhat familiar!

In the world of Shadow Spider-Man, the Vulture, whose real name was Adrian Toomes, was decisively killed by Peter after he attacked Aunt May and was fused with Shadow Spider-Man!