Have I been writing a bit too long lately?
Eight chapters already...
I didn't originally intend to waste too much time on the Mysterio storyline.
The initial aim was to showcase Peter's initial trust and subsequent growth.
It can easily turn into a detailed description.
I have some free time today, so I'll add an extra chapter at noon to finish the Mysterio storyline as soon as possible.
Life at the SSC base was shrouded in an illusion of extreme peace.
Since his privileges were upgraded, Quentin has actually become more well-behaved than before.
He understood the importance of taking things step by step. Asking for things too quickly would only expose his true intentions. Only by accompanying and giving him day after day could he completely dismantle Peter's last bit of defenses and make that trust take root.
In the following days, Quentin Tarantino portrayed the "close brother" persona even more vividly and flawlessly.
He would proactively take on most of the tedious, time-consuming, and energy-draining tasks, such as archiving wreckage, organizing data, and reviewing missions at the base.
He simply kept everything in perfect order. Every time Peter came to the common office area, he would always see Quentin quietly working at his desk, gentle and reliable, making him feel incredibly at ease.
When Peter is too busy with Peter studies to attend to base affairs, Quentin will proactively help him connect with the logistics department and organize the daily information so that Peter can access it directly when Peter has time.
What moved Peter the most was Quentin's ability to accurately capture all of his emotional fluctuations.
He would occasionally fall into self-doubt due to his lack of ability, occasionally feel frustrated and drained by the inability to balance his studies, missions, and relationships, and occasionally miss the lively days at the base with Tony and everyone else, feeling empty inside. Every time he was feeling down, Quentin would appear at just the right time.
Over time, Peter completely let down his guard.
In his eyes, Quentin is a unique and reliable older brother, a senior who will always be there for him during his low points, and someone who is closer to him and understands him better than the distant Avengers or busy superheroes.
He began to share everything about the base with Quentin without reservation, and would even proactively talk to him about his confusion, his daily interactions with MJ, and his uncertainty about the future.
During casual conversations, task reviews, and data organization, Quentin subtly extracted more internal information about SSC.
He would use the pretext of optimizing combat plans to inquire about Peter's blind spot deployment and emergency response mechanisms for patrolling New York City.
Under the guise of sorting through alien debris files, they inquired about unknown alien technology samples collected by the base over the years. Taking advantage of assisting with daily security work, they uncovered security loopholes in the base's perimeter, as well as the frequency and rotation patterns of robot patrols.
All his actions were wrapped in the legitimate reasons of "helping you share the burden, avoid risks, and improve the base's defenses," which were gentle and sincere, so that Peter had no suspicions and told him everything he knew.
Every piece of information obtained would be secretly uploaded by Quentin to the encrypted terminal of the team behind the scenes late at night when no one was around.
His technical team worked day and night to disassemble and analyze SSC's basic defense system, combat power configuration, and emergency plans, constantly improving the infiltration plan against the base.
Quentin maintained extreme patience, lying in wait and slowly eroding Peter's trust and information about the base.
All of these clandestine operations never escaped JARVIS's surveillance.
Before Tony left, he deployed a comprehensive sensing system, frequency band monitoring devices, and thermal capture equipment, providing 24-hour coverage of every corner of the base without any blind spots.
JARVIS remained silent throughout, quietly recording Quentin's every encrypted late-night message and every instance of information theft.
They accurately detected the probing traps in his words, the deliberate pretense in his behavior, and the deliberate restraint in his emotions.
In the system's backend, risk warnings were quietly generated and archived layer by layer. Following Lynn and Tony's instructions, JARVIS never intervened proactively or revealed anything prematurely, remaining completely invisible.
But the precautions were never relaxed in the slightest.
Whenever Quentin acquires a new batch of base data or attempts to search deeper databases, JARVIS simultaneously activates a blocking mechanism in the background, quietly tampering with or obscuring some key parameters, hiding core defense vulnerabilities, and blocking advanced technology data.
All the information that Quentin and his team analyzed, seemingly complete and detailed, was actually harmless data deliberately released by JARVIS after being filtered. The secrets that truly concerned the lifeline of the base, core combat power, and Stark's top technology remained firmly locked, without a single leak.
He watched quietly as the boy grew up in a false sense of security, as the deception continued to fester, waiting for the most opportune moment.
Days passed peacefully, the base repeating its monotonous routine day after day. There were no sudden crises, no external invasions, and the peace felt almost unreal.
Peter, who had been fully immersed in the trivial matters of the base and adjusting his mindset for days, finally remembered the long-forgotten silver-gray mechanical fragment on a quiet afternoon.
Since the end of the Battle of Prague Square, he has been preoccupied with missions, studies, and emotions, completely forgetting about the strange fragment that MJ had found. Now, with some rare free time, he suddenly remembered this odd object.
During lunch break, Peter returned to his dormitory alone.
Pushing open the door, the warm afternoon sunlight streamed into the room through the floor-to-ceiling windows, landing on the white storage boxes on the table—clean and quiet.
He walked to the table, gently opened the storage box, and the silver-gray mechanical fragment lay quietly at the bottom.
The fragments are finely textured with strange patterns. They have no energy fluctuations and seem ordinary, yet they can shield all the base's detection instruments, causing all scanning data to become completely disordered and ineffective.
Peter gently picked up the fragment with his fingertips and examined it closely in the sunlight.
The edges were neatly polished, and the internal texture was intricate and complex. He repeatedly turned it over to observe it, his fingertips tracing the fine lines, his brain rapidly searching through all his memory reserves.
Before his study abroad trip, when Tony was still at the base, he often spent time in Stark Labs, studying various technological samples with Tony.
As I watched, a blurry fragment of memory suddenly exploded in my mind.
Peter's pupils contracted slightly, and a sense of familiarity suddenly rose in his heart.
He'd seen that pattern, that intricate internal structure, that special metal plating process before!
I've definitely seen it before!
Right there in Stark's private laboratory.
He clearly remembered that about half a year ago, Tony had sealed a batch of discarded, unfinished experimental samples in the laboratory. Among them was a small component that was highly similar to the fragment in his hand in terms of texture, material, and craftsmanship, almost from the same technical system.
He only glanced at it briefly and didn't pay much attention. Tony casually mentioned that these samples were early discarded holographic derivative experimental products, with major technical defects and extremely high risks, and that large-scale promotion was prohibited.
At that time, he was focused on developing a new type of Silk emitter and had no interest in or concern himself with such risky projects.
But now, holding this fragment, all the hazy memories instantly became clear and connected.
The same texture structure, the same special metal coating, and the same ability to interfere with detection instruments without energy fluctuations.
Countless tiny doubts instantly piled up and fermented in Peter's mind.
The Elementals that appeared out of nowhere in Prague Square, the Silk that mysteriously failed to materialize on the battlefield, Tony's high-risk holographic experiments that were abandoned and sealed away in his early years...
All the seemingly unrelated things were now subtly intertwined into a blurry thread.
A strange, inexplicable feeling welled up in Peter's heart; the doubts that had been completely dispelled by his gentle companionship were quietly resurfacing.
He had initially thought that the Elementals were simply dimensional mutated monsters, and that Prague's anomaly was merely an accident caused by the battlefield environment. But now it seemed that things were far more complicated than he had imagined.
This fragment from the Prague battlefield is actually of the same origin as the high-risk holographic experimental product from Tony's lab?
Could it be that the Elementals disasters that ravaged Prague and nearly destroyed the entire city were not natural disasters at all?
Peter grew increasingly alarmed as he thought about it, his fingertips unconsciously tightening, the tips of his fingers gripping the shards turning slightly white.
He suppressed the surging doubts in his heart and decided to immediately delve into the research.
He took the fragment and headed to Tony's private laboratory at the base, where he activated all the standard testing equipment, material analyzers, and energy spectrum scanners to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the fragment once again.
The result was exactly the same as before.
Peter frowned, repeatedly adjusting the equipment parameters and changing the detection mode. He spent two whole hours trying, but still got nowhere.
The only clue was a memory in his mind that highly overlapped with the discarded samples from Tony's lab.
He hesitated for a moment, then instinctively wanted to talk to Quentin about his discovery.
Over time, he had come to regard Quentin as his most reliable confidant. Whenever he encountered difficulties or had doubts, his first thought was to seek analysis and guidance from this calm and experienced senior.
But just as he turned to leave, a very faint sense of unease suddenly swept through his heart.
It's indescribable, faint, and fleeting.
Quentin is just too perfect.
Perfect gentleness, perfect humility, perfect understanding, perfect reliability—perfectly matching all his expectations of a "reliable senior and close comrade-in-arms."
All the anxieties, pressures, and confusion of the past can be soothed by Quentin.
Looking back now, this perfectly timed healing and companionship seems almost too good to be true, almost unreal.
This slight doubt came and went quickly.
Peter quickly shook his head, silently dismissing his wild thoughts.
He felt that he had become too suspicious and sensitive because he had experienced too many disasters during this period.
Quentin risked his life to fight the Elementals, supporting and helping him along the way, sincerely guiding and helping him; how could he possibly have ulterior motives?
I must be overthinking it.
Suppressing the faint unease in his heart, Peter put away the fragments and temporarily shelved his idea of further investigation.
He planned to wait until later to find an opportunity to discuss the suspicious points of the fragments with Quentin and hear his analysis. At the same time, he also secretly noted this down, intending to personally ask Tony for confirmation of the specific information about this batch of discarded holographic experimental samples after Tony and Lynn returned from their interstellar vacation.
The laboratory's surveillance cameras silently recorded all of Peter's actions and expressions.
Deep behind the scenes, JARVIS precisely detected Peter's unusual behavior.
The silent analysis quickly generated a new projection report, which was then sent to Tony.
As evening fell, the setting sun painted the sky above the base red.
Peter walked out of the lab and ran into Quentin, who was finishing work and heading to the cafeteria.
The doubts on the boy's face had long since vanished, leaving only his unwavering sincerity and trust.
" Quentin!" Peter greeted him with a smile and a lighthearted tone.
Quentin turned around at the sound of her voice, a gentle smile spreading across his face as he walked over with unhurried steps, "Just finished? I saw you spent the whole afternoon in the lab."
"Yeah, I've been researching something, but I haven't gotten anywhere. I've made a discovery, and I'd like to talk to you about it later."
A glint flashed in Quentin's eyes, but his expression remained calm and gentle as he said softly, "No problem, anytime. Whether it's a work problem or a question on your mind, I can help you sort it out."
With just one simple sentence, he once again firmly grasped Peter's psychology.
Under the setting sun, the boy's smile was pure and open, completely trusting the seemingly perfect conman in front of him.
Meanwhile, Quentin beside her, with his gentle eyes, concealed an ambition and coldness that he never revealed.
He clearly sensed that Peter's trust in him had reached its peak, almost without reservation. He was only one step away from completely infiltrating the SSC, obtaining high-level privileges, and completing his long-planned scheme.
JARVIS, hidden in the shadows, continued to watch his performance silently.