To his surprise, the article was quite positive. Even the notoriously critical Daily Bugle could not paint him as a criminal in the face of the fact that he had saved so many soldiers. The report even used the word "hero" once, describing how astonishing it was for an ordinary person to face a monster head-on. Eyewitnesses went so far as to compare the battle to "David and Goliath."
Peter's lips curved upward. It looked like Spider-Man wouldn't start out being treated as a threat to the city this time.
After a healthy breakfast, he took the bus to Midtown High School with Mary Jane.
The campus buzzed with voices, students gathering in twos and threes. Peter led Mary Jane through the crowded hallways, introducing her to the local ecosystem.
"Welcome to Midtown High School." Peter pointed at the groups of students. "We've got jocks, cheerleaders, tech geeks, nerds, dancers, theater fanatics, freaks, and outsiders like me-too smart to be regular nerds, but not cool enough to be hip."
"I think I'll fit right in." Mary Jane smiled confidently.
"You definitely will, little frog."
"Please don't call me that."
"No."
"I didn't even croak."
"Still no."
Still bantering, they walked into their first classroom. The moment they stepped through the door, Flash Thompson's grating voice rang out.
"Hey, everybody, look! Punk Parker's back!"
Flash's lackey Kong joined in. "What's wrong, Parker? Finally gotten over that spider bite?"
Peter sneered inwardly. A classic school bullying routine.
Flash was about to lash out when his gaze suddenly landed on Mary Jane. He immediately swallowed, his expression turning fawning in an instant. "Whoa..."
Mary Jane leaned toward Peter's ear and whispered, "Are they always like this?"
Peter spread his hands. "Usually, they only target me. I suspect Flash actually has a crush on me, but he's afraid to admit he's gay."
Flash abruptly snapped out of it, his face flushing as he roared, "What?! Listen, Parker, I'm not gay!"
Zach, a gay student in the class, cut in. "What's wrong with being gay?"
"N-nothing! I'm just saying I'm not!" Flash stammered in protest.
Peter couldn't be bothered with him. He put down his backpack and rolled his neck.
Trying to cover his embarrassment, Flash awkwardly turned to Mary Jane. "Ahem. New here?"
"Yes, I'm Mary Jane. Nice to meet you." Mary Jane smiled politely.
"Hey, Mary Jane, I'm Flash, and this is Kong. If you need any help at school, just come to us. Anything at all." Flash waggled his eyebrows and winked at her.
Peter made an exaggerated gagging noise. "Truly impressive, Flash. You've taken the art of courtship to its absolute peak."
"What's it to you, Parker?!" Flash snapped, his embarrassment turning to anger.
"Nothing to do with me. Please, carry on. You're showing the new girl how charming you are."
"Shut up, Parker!"
"All right, tiger, don't embarrass him too much," Mary Jane teased.
Peter rolled his eyes and said nothing more.
Just then, head cheerleader Liz Allan came over and looked Mary Jane up and down. "Where are you from?"
"I'm from up north. I recently moved in with my aunt," Mary Jane answered easily.
"What do you like doing?" asked another cheerleader, Kristel.
"Fashion, singing, theater, things like that."
"Oh! Have you seen Chanel's new collection this season? It's amazing!"
"I have, but I don't like their perfume. It's too strong."
"Right? That's what I think too!" Liz's eyes lit up, as though she had found a kindred spirit.
Peter watched coolly from the sidelines. Like a fish slipping into water, Mary Jane instantly hit it off with Flash, Liz, and the other so-called gods of the school.
"Wait, how do you know Parker?" Liz shot Peter a disdainful glance.
"Oh, he's my neighbor," Mary Jane explained.
"I see. Hey, Mary Jane, sit with us between classes. We'll show you around."
"Thanks, but Peter already promised-"
"Parker?" Flash scoffed. "That loser can't even find the bathroom!"
"Of course I can, Flash. After all, you've shoved my head in the toilet and flushed it plenty of times," Peter shot back coldly.
Mary Jane's eyes widened. "He did what?"
Flash's face darkened, and he lowered his voice threateningly. "Don't ruin this for me, Parker, or next time I won't flush before I shove you in."
Peter raised one eyebrow. "Are you threatening me?"
"So what if I am?"
Peter looked down at him and scoffed. "I'd like to see what you can do to me."
Flash gritted his teeth. "The park. After school today."
Those words immediately brought the original storyline to Peter's mind. In the Ultimate Universe, Peter Parker had beaten Flash up in the park and broken his arm. Flash's parents had then taken Uncle Ben and Aunt May straight to court, demanding an enormous sum in damages and plunging the Parker family into a serious financial crisis.
Peter would never repeat such a stupid mistake and end up losing on both fronts.
"Sorry, big guy," Peter said evenly. "I'm not interested in playing with you. And I don't need to."
"You bastard-"
"Quiet! Class is starting!" The teacher entered the classroom, cutting off Flash's roar. "That includes you, Mr. Thompson."
Flash glared viciously at Peter. "I'll deal with you next time."
Peter returned a mocking look. Next time? There won't be a next time.
"Come on, Mary Jane, sit with us!" Liz enthusiastically pulled Mary Jane toward the back row. Mary Jane seemed to want to say something, but Liz dragged her away, leaving Peter alone again.
He sighed and sat down at his desk. English class. He had no interest whatsoever.
After class, Peter was just about to speak to Mary Jane, but Liz and the others had already swept her off to the next lesson. Peter shrugged indifferently and headed for the advanced chemistry lab.
During chemistry, the teacher's dull explanation left Peter drowsy. Not until the lesson was nearly over did the teacher mention the structure of graphite chains, and how altering that structure affected their tensile strength.
Peter's eyes lit up. Graphite chain structures! If I incorporate that molecular arrangement into the web fluid formula, it might greatly improve the webbing's toughness!
Peter spent the next few classes completely lost in thought. The teachers couldn't be bothered to intervene. Everyone knew Peter Parker was a genius who could score full marks without listening in class.
At lunch, Peter sat alone at a table in the farthest corner of the cafeteria, right beside the trash cans. He took a bite of Aunt May's tuna sandwich and pondered. With Peter's IQ, he could skip ahead to college whenever he wanted. Why insist on staying in high school and suffering?
The answer was simple: loneliness. Peter feared that even after leaving this familiar environment, he would still be isolated in college. Better to stay in a familiar hell than face an unknown loneliness.
As he was thinking, Mary Jane walked into the cafeteria, laughing and chatting with her new friends. She didn't even glance at him.
A trace of bitterness rose in Peter's heart. Is this girl really that pragmatic? Were those weeks of exchanging glances just a way for her to pass the time?
Just then, a boy in designer clothes with carefully styled hair came over. Harry Osborn. Peter didn't even need Peter's memories to recognize the future junior Green Goblin at a glance.
"Harry!" Liz greeted him enthusiastically. "Come sit down! Meet the new girl!"
Harry grinned and sat right beside Mary Jane, close enough to be a little suggestive. "Nice to meet you. I'm Harry Osborn."
Mary Jane blushed. "H-hello, I'm Mary Jane."
Liz egged them on from the side. "Careful, Osborn. I think she's already in love with you!"
"Liz!" Mary Jane's face turned bright red with embarrassment.
Harry laughed. "I don't mind. Having such a cute girl like me is a huge boost to my self-esteem."
Watching the jarring scene before him, the last bit of affection Peter had for Mary Jane vanished in an instant. He stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth in a few bites, got up, and left without looking back. Mary Jane's bell-like laughter rang out behind him, striking him as utterly ironic.
Peter walked down the hallway, irritated. He was surrounded by idiots. With Peter's high IQ, he found these peers even more laughably childish. If he wanted a friend he could talk to as an equal, he would probably have to go chat with Tony Stark.
No wonder Peter Parker always suppressed himself. If he hadn't, these shallow people would have driven him mad long ago.
Peter entered the deserted chemistry lab. It had once been Peter's refuge from Flash; now it was his private laboratory. He took out his notebook and began incorporating the graphite chain structure into the web fluid formula.
He spent the entire afternoon in the lab.
After school, history class. Mary Jane was still laughing and chatting with her friends. When the final bell rang, she ran over to Peter as though nothing had happened.
"Hey, Peter!" Mary Jane called excitedly. "This was absolutely the best first day I've ever had! I never thought I'd make so many friends who liked me! Liz is so nice. You should've seen how well we hit it off!"
Peter nodded expressionlessly. "Glad you made friends. I told you there was nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, you were right. Oh, and I looked into the school's theater program. They actually put on three shows a year! I definitely want to audition for the December production. What do you think?"
"Give it a try. Starting with a bit part isn't bad," Peter replied perfunctorily.
All the way home, Mary Jane chattered on and on, showing off her new life. Peter watched coolly, the sense of distance within him growing stronger.
When they reached the fork in the road, Mary Jane asked, "Hey, Peter, want to come over? Aunt Anna might have baked cookies."
"No, I'm tired," Peter refused outright. "The aftereffects of yesterday only hit me today. I'm going to sleep. See you tomorrow."
Mary Jane paused. "Are you okay? You sound really drained."
"I told you, I'm just tired. Don't worry. I'll be fine tomorrow." Peter waved, turned, and walked through his front door, shutting it hard behind him.
"Peter? How was school?" Aunt May asked from the kitchen.
"Fine. I'm going to the basement. Call me if you need anything." Peter tossed his backpack onto the workbench and headed straight down to the basement.
He took out his notebook and began synthesizing a new web serum. He spent the entire evening completely absorbed in his experiments.
This new formula was extremely sensitive to pressure. The more pressure it bore, the harder it became. After repeated tests, Peter successfully developed three types of webbing with different degrees of hardness: a weakly adhesive webbing like glue, a strong webbing as hard as concrete, and a balanced version between the two, combining elasticity with tensile strength.
Time slipped by unnoticed. When Aunt May came downstairs to ask what he wanted for dinner, he hurriedly hid the formula and casually said he had no appetite.
It wasn't until two in the morning that Peter finished all his tests and drew up the design for his second-generation web-shooters. The new shooters would be more powerful, but making them would take time.
He lay in bed, not sleepy in the slightest. Outside his window, the quiet suburbs lay in darkness, while Manhattan blazed with lights in the distance, as though calling to him.
He couldn't go straight downtown, but staying home was a waste of time too. Peter changed into dark clothes, pushed open the window, and leaped lightly out, landing perfectly.
He started jogging, but soon grew curious about this body's limits.
He suddenly put on a burst of speed.
The surrounding houses instantly blurred into afterimages. Peter realized he was running incredibly fast, definitely over thirty kilometers an hour, perhaps even faster! Considering that neither he in his previous life nor Peter had ever received professional track training, the speed was simply unbelievable.
He ran all the way out of the suburbs to an abandoned train station several blocks away. Peter used to come here often for explosive experiments. The high wall had once been Peter's nightmare, but now he cleared it easily with a light jump.
A huge, rusting hangar stood in the overgrown yard. The place was so remote and dilapidated that even homeless people didn't want to come here.
Peter walked up to the hangar entrance, gripped the rusty iron doors with both hands, and exerted his arms. With a grating screech of metal, he forced the heavy doors open.
The hangar was piled with abandoned machinery. Rails of varying lengths lay scattered in a corner, some two or three meters long, others dozens of meters. There was also an abandoned train car, chains hanging from the ceiling, and an old generator beside it.
This was simply the perfect secret base.
Peter walked over to a three-meter rail, gripped both ends, took a deep breath, and heaved it upward.
To his delighted surprise, he lifted the heavy metal beam steadily over his head.
He threw the rail onto the ground with an enormous crash. This thing weighs at least two hundred and fifty kilograms! I actually military-pressed it straight overhead! With systematic strength training, how much terrifying potential could this body unleash?
Still, he couldn't train himself into a bodybuilder. Spider-Man's role was closer to a gymnast than a gladiator, like Nightwing, placing equal emphasis on agility and skill.
Wait.
An idea suddenly flashed through Peter's mind. Who are the two most popular characters in Marvel and DC?