Judging people in this world by people from another world seemed somewhat biased and preconceived.
But this "old acquaintance," especially one with a criminal record, was already worth Peter investigating thoroughly.
After all, he was the only one in Peter's line of reasoning who seemed highly suspicious!
"Karen, help me look into a guy named Adrian Toomes," Peter said.
"Okay."
Perhaps because it was a test, Iron Man had given Peter as much autonomy as possible, along with certain permissions.
Like looking people up. That was not a privilege Peter should have had.
Yet it had been granted to him.
There was not much on the man's résumé.
Adrian Toomes's parents had died when he was very young. He had then been raised by his older brother, Marcus, and had performed exceptionally well in school.
But later, Marcus was in a car accident. Toomes dropped out to care for his brother, yet regrettably, he still failed to save him.
After lying in a hospital bed for several years, Marcus eventually died.
As an adult, Toomes drew on his early education and his own hard work to become an excellent electrical engineer and inventor. He founded a salvage company—Batesman Salvage.
While collecting scrap, he had always gathered and repaired useful tools from among it, then repurposed them to make cheap but highly marketable "ninety-percent-new" appliances.
Then, after the Battle of New York in 2012, Batesman Salvage received a commission from the city council.
Toomes had thought it was his chance to rise. He bought new trucks, hired many new workers, and even took on massive loans.
But he had not expected the federal government and Stark Industries to set their sights on this juicy prize as well. To Earth, the Chitauri army's advanced technology truly was a juicy prize.
And in truth, they were doing it out of safety concerns.
After all, this alien technology was enormously significant. Rather than hand it over to a private organization, it was safer to keep it in their own hands.
Under such overwhelming power, Toomes had no chance to resist.
In the end, Batesman Salvage went bankrupt and was liquidated.
What surprised Peter, however, was that Toomes had not sunk into ruin over the following years. Instead, he quickly paid off his debts and began living well.
Uh, it was not that Peter was jealous or anything.
It just did not make sense.
Putting aside how Toomes had repaid those enormous debts, he did not even own a company now. So where had his money come from?
If there were such a thing as a suspicion rating, then in Peter's mind, Toomes's had shot straight from thirty to seventy!
Before, Peter had wanted to investigate him only to find clues.
Now, he wanted to investigate him because he wanted evidence!
Unfortunately, Peter failed to find any further information about Toomes.
The man was clearly hiding something deliberately.
That raised his suspicion rating once again, but it also genuinely made Peter's investigation more difficult.
By then, the bus Peter had gotten "on" had unknowingly reached Queens and was heading in the opposite direction from Peter's home.
Peter snapped back to his senses and immediately got off.
Over the next few days, Peter once again lived a routine of home, streets, and school.
But now, the focus of his extracurricular activities was no longer scientific research, but tracking down Adrian Toomes.
Unfortunately, progress was exceedingly slow.
For one thing, although Peter often zoned out during class, school was crowded and full of watchful eyes, making many things inconvenient. It was also difficult to talk with Karen there.
For another, the man was extremely cautious, perhaps even highly aware of counter-surveillance. Despite Peter's deliberate investigation, he found little information connected to him.
Peter even went at night to gloomy alleys in chaotic neighborhoods to gather intelligence from thugs.
As a result, while progress was slow, it was not entirely fruitless.
A week later, the weekend arrived again.
Peter slipped out and caught a ride to Manhattan.
His destination was a section of Manhattan roughly between 34th Street and 57th Street, stretching from Eighth Avenue to the Hudson River.
The petty thug Peter had caught and interrogated had called it Hell's Kitchen.
From that thug, Peter had also learned that Hell's Kitchen had once been occupied by numerous gangs from different countries.
The most famous among them were the Hellhounds, Irish Kitchen, and the Mexican Cartel.
A few months earlier, however, those gang forces had all suffered devastating blows.
First, a masked vigilante named Daredevil had defeated Wilson Fisk, the leader jointly chosen by those criminal organizations.
Then, a lone gunman known as The Punisher took action to permanently eliminate most of the criminal organizations.
But a centipede did not stop wriggling just because it was dead.
Even now, Hell's Kitchen still had plenty of ambitious people.
After their leader was arrested and several major gangs dissolved one after another, the remaining smaller gangs and factions began fighting for control of the area.
According to the petty thug, he had heard on multiple occasions about gangs in Hell's Kitchen exchanging fire with energy weapons. They clearly had a stable channel for acquiring such weapons.
Moreover, some intelligence held by the special intelligence bureau also ultimately pointed toward Hell's Kitchen.
So Peter decided to try his luck there.
Hell's Kitchen.
Peter was not actually familiar with the place, since he had never been there.
Fortunately, he had Miss Karen, the intelligent assistant in his suit.
Not only was she beautiful with a sweet voice, she also had navigation capabilities. She could quickly locate targets for him and plan suitable routes.
She even knew exactly which nearby vehicles he could hitch a ride on.
With Miss Karen's help, he rapidly swung between buildings until he reached the top of one.
There, he saw two people.
One wore a somewhat crude polymer-fiber suit and was chained to a chimney from head to toe.
Another person stood beside him, wearing body armor and carrying quite a few weapons.
Peter froze for a moment, then quickly lay flat.
"Karen, is that tied-up guy Daredevil?" Peter asked doubtfully.
"Yes. Daredevil, also known as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen."
An image popped up, showing a photograph of Daredevil taken by the media.
"Then who's the other guy?" Peter felt that the other person looked somewhat familiar too.
Another image appeared. "After comparison, there is a ninety-percent probability that he is The Punisher, another violent criminal active in Hell's Kitchen."
"The Punisher?"
Peter was somewhat surprised.
He had not expected to encounter Hell's Kitchen's two famous vigilantes so quickly.
It was just that the way they met was rather unexpected.
Before you continue