“He’s wickedly smart.
Sometimes I feel like I can’t even catch up to his shadow.
He’s brave, fiercely loyal, and…” Black Cat paused, her voice softening, “…a remarkably good kisser.” Peter narrowed his eyes beneath his mask.
“If you like him so much, why don’t you just ask him out?” Black Cat stared at him for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
“Maybe I will.” She turned and leaped onto the roof of an adjacent building, vanishing into the night in just a few bounds.
Peter stood on the rooftop, watching the direction in which her silver hair had disappeared.
For a girl without superpowers, her parkour skills were pretty impressive.
Pulling his thoughts back, Peter descended into the ruins and retrieved all the packaged parts from the sewer.
Two forearms from Navy drones, a stretch of wreckage from an Army drone, two powered-down Arc Reactors, and a thruster leg whose model he couldn’t quite identify.
It wasn’t much, but it was enough for now.
By the time he slipped back into the basement, the whole family was fast asleep.
Peter set the Arc Reactors on his workbench.
He needed to figure out how these things worked.
As far as he currently knew, there were two key points: first, it contained radioactive material—the reactor in Tony’s chest was living proof of it slowly poisoning him—and second, it could output immense amounts of energy.
The teardown work went on until four in the morning.
Piecing it together step by step was like solving an insanely complex jigsaw puzzle.
The core mechanism relied on radioactive decay releasing charged particles, which a magnetic field confined and forced to collide at high speeds within a toroidal orbit.
High-speed particle collisions meant massive energy release.
Bending the particles into a circular trajectory essentially penned them in a confined space for repeated collisions, ensuring a complete reaction.
The collision process released free neutrons and gamma rays.
These neutrons re-entered motion inside the reactor, altering the magnetic field strength and inducing an alternating process within superconducting coils, ultimately generating a colossal AC power output.
Peter put down the reactor and rubbed his eyes.
Exhausted beyond belief.
He stashed away his “loot.” The reactors were small enough to tuck under a loose floorboard.
The drone parts were too large, so he could only stack them in the storage room.
Uncle Ben and Aunt May hardly ever came down to the basement, so it should be safe.
Sunday.
Peter didn’t drag himself out of bed until noon.
He wanted to dive straight back into the basement to keep working, but as he reached the living room, he found Aunt Anna and Mary Jane sitting there, chatting over tea with Aunt May and Uncle Ben.
“Morning, everyone,” he said with a yawn.
“I was working overtime last night.” “Oh, the big hero is finally awake,” Uncle Ben teased.
“What project were you pulling an all-nighter for this time?” “Just a new topic.
Hopefully I can get some results out of it.” Aunt May winked at him.
“Peter, why don’t you take Mary Jane to chat in the kitchen?
Anna and the rest of us have things to discuss.” Peter thought to himself that Aunt May’s matchmaking tactics were far too blatant.
Still, he dutifully led Mary Jane to the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal.
Mary Jane sat beside him, watching him scarf it down.
After a long pause, she blurted out, “So…
you and Felicia…?” “Hard to say,” Peter said vaguely.
“What do you mean, hard to say?” “She just leaned in and kissed me,” Peter said with a shrug.
“It wasn’t part of my plan.” “But you kissed her back!” Mary Jane raised her voice.
Aunt May popped her head out from the living room to glance over, prompting the two of them to instantly lower their heads and play innocent.
Mary Jane gritted her teeth in a whisper.
“She kisses you, so you just kiss her back?” “Why not?” Peter said righteously.
“It’s not like girls are lining up to kiss me every day.
Besides, Felicia is pretty cool—don’t you think so too?” “I…” Mary Jane was choked up.
“Regardless, you still kissed her.” “Yeah, I did.
What, do you want me to kiss you?” Mary Jane turned her face away, her ears turning bright red.
She said nothing.
Peter sighed, his tone softening.
“I’m just teasing, Mary Jane.
I’m sorry.” “It’s fine.” She shrugged.
His phone rang.
“Hello?” “Peter, it’s Marcus!” the voice on the line boomed anxiously.
“Master Colleen called an extra training session on short notice.
Are you coming?” Peter froze for a moment.
“Today?
You didn’t tell me beforehand.
What time?” “Can you make it before two?” “I could, but…” He glanced at Mary Jane.
“Sorry, I have a friend over at my place.
Can I make it up next time?” “Tsk, Master is definitely not going to be happy.” “I know.
Tell her I’m sorry.” Hanging up, Mary Jane asked, “Who was that?” “A friend from the dojo asking me to train.
I turned it down.” “You didn’t have to turn it down for me.” “It’s no big deal.” Peter washed his bowl.
“Wanna head upstairs and hang out for a bit?” Mary Jane nodded.
After entering the room, she sat on his bed, while Peter pulled up a chair and straddled it.
After a brief silence, he asked, “How have things been lately?” Mary Jane let out a bitter smile.
“Honestly, pretty…
weird.
Friday was so bizarre.
It started as a nice autumn field trip, and then suddenly it turned into…
that.” “Wanna talk about it?” “What’s there to talk about?” She spread her hands.
“Robots attacked us, Iron Man flew in to save the day, and you personally made sure nobody on our bus died.
That’s pretty much it.” “I didn’t really do much.” “Peter, you tore a drone apart with your bare hands.
And if you hadn’t called Johnny Storm—I still can’t believe you know Johnny Storm—god knows how many people would’ve died.” Mary Jane stared at him, enunciating each word carefully.
“Face it, Tiger.
You’re a hero.” Peter smiled.
“Thanks, Mary Jane.
I’m glad you think so.” “What do you mean ‘I think so’?
It’s not just me!” Mary Jane grew excited.
“I was on the phone with Liz all day yesterday.
The whole school knows about what you did!
Everyone thinks you’re a hero!
Liz even said half the cheerleading squad has a crush on you now!” Peter blinked.
“Interesting.” Mary Jane’s expression became a bit complex, looking as though she wanted to say something but held back.
Seeing that, Peter changed the subject.
“Speaking of which, isn’t the school play audition on Monday?
Are you going?” Mary Jane was taken aback.
“You actually remembered?” “Of course I remember.
I’m still your friend, aren’t I?” “…Yeah, you are.” “So?
Are you going or not?” “I’m not sure, Peter.
Liz keeps saying it’s a bad idea, that rehearsals are long and exhausting—” “Mary Jane, the fact that it’s long and exhausting is precisely why it’s worth doing.
If it were something effortless, why would anyone bother giving it their all?
Is that really a reason to quit?” “But Liz—” “Liz isn’t you.
She hasn’t even tried, so what right does she have to judge for you?
Stop bringing up what Liz says.
Tell me what *you* think.” Mary Jane fell silent for a moment before finally letting out a breath.
“You’re right.” Peter grinned smugly.
“Of course I am.” “Watch out, Tiger.
Girls don’t find arrogance very appealing.” Mary Jane rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips were already curving upward.
“Noted.” Mary Jane’s voice lowered again.
“Liz said we should focus on the prom instead, that there isn’t much time left to prepare.
She and Flash are already going together.
I…
I’m still not sure if I’m going.” Peter raised an eyebrow.
“Prom is right around the corner and you don’t have a date?
Didn’t Harry ask you?” “He did ask, but…” “Don’t go with him,” Peter said flatly.
“Every single Osborn is off their rocker.
Harry might be decent enough as a person, but his old man is completely unhinged.” “How do you know so much?” “I used to be his best friend.
Norman’s always looked at me weird, and now it’s even more obvious.
To him, people are just toys to be collected.
I don’t want Harry looking at you that way either.” “He wouldn’t.” Peter shrugged.
“If you say so.
Tell you what—if you end up deciding Harry’s not the right call, I’ll go to prom with you.
How’s that sound?” “What about Felicia?” “Her?
That woman is complicated.
I seriously doubt she even likes me, let alone going to prom with me.” Peter knew full well that Black Cat was into him, but she was too stubborn to come clean, so he wasn’t about to expose it.
“So?
Do you want to go with me or what?” Mary Jane blinked, her lips slowly curving into a smile.
“How about this: you talk to Felicia, and I’ll clear things up with Harry.
If neither of us can sort out our own mess, we’ll go together.
Deal?” “Deal,” Peter chuckled.
“Also, about the audition—don’t you need to practice your lines?
What play are they putting on this year again?” “*A Midsummer Night’s Dream*.
I want to try out for Helena.” Peter thought to himself: *From love letters to stage plays, you certainly stick to a theme.
A woman who falls for a man who isn’t interested in her.
Mary Jane, Mary Jane…
talk about subtle hints.* Out loud, he said, “Alright.
I’ll download a PDF on my phone and rehearse with you.” Mary Jane’s eyes lit up.
They practiced straight until dark.
Aunt Anna showed no signs of rushing Mary Jane home and stayed to have dinner with them instead.
Uncle Ben cracked a few corny jokes at the table, Aunt May cooked a meal even richer than usual, and Mary Jane thoroughly enjoyed her food sitting beside Peter.
Peter felt like this was the most comfortable day he’d had in a long time.
It was rare not to have his nerves on edge, rare to have a nice, effortless conversation with someone.
Once night fell, he went back to the basement and resumed reverse-engineering the Arc Reactor.
By early morning, he was confident he could fabricate one whenever he wanted; at least on a theoretical level, there were no blind spots left.
Then he got bored.
So he hauled out the unidentified thruster leg and began dismantling the propulsion system.
The structure was breathtakingly intricate.
The core of the thruster utilized concentrated muons—elementary particles similar to electrons, but with a vastly higher mass-density.
By adjusting the density levels, it could function both as a thruster for flight and as a heavy physical weapon at higher densities.
This kind of repulsor technology was mind-boggling.
The more Peter disassembled it, the more impressed he became.
This was unequivocally a replica of Tony Stark’s technology.
If he learned this much just from reverse-engineering an imitation, imagine what he could learn from tearing down an original…
He put away the thruster leg and went upstairs to his bedroom, his eyelids heavy with exhaustion.
Just as he stripped off his T-shirt and prepared to lie down, a low whistle came from behind him.
“Quite impressive, Mr.
Parker.
You look skinny, but you’re surprisingly shredded with that shirt off.”