As a single woman, Aunt May worked at a charitable assistance agency where the wages weren’t particularly high.
While their life wasn’t impoverished by any means, it remained strictly within the realm of barely getting by.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had to scavenge through junk yards to build his own computer.
If he had the means, he naturally hoped Aunt May could live a little more comfortably.
In the past, he wouldn’t have given much thought to these matters.
Yet after experiencing everything in Spider-Man Noir’s world, he had genuinely grown up a lot overnight.
The very first step of growing up began with caring for those around him.
“Alright, get yourself ready then.
I still have a few other matters to attend to,” Tony stood up, preparing to take his leave.
“This afternoon, my assistant will come pick you up and take you to your destination—his name is Happy.” “Alright,” Peter nodded, standing up as well.
He needed to synthesize a few more webbing refills during this stretch of time.
After seeing Tony off, Peter had to deal with Aunt May, who kept peppering him with questions.
He took the opportunity to explain that he had secured funding through the September Foundation.
For their household, this was wonderful news.
Aunt May was so delighted that she immediately suggested going out for dinner tonight to celebrate.
Peter, however, relayed Iron Man’s schedule to her: Iron Man was sending someone over this afternoon to take him to complete some onboarding processes, ensuring he met the qualification standards for the September Foundation’s grant.
This was the synchronized story he and Iron Man had agreed upon for his “business trip.” Though Aunt May felt a bit disappointed, she knew official business took priority.
She ended up pulling Peter aside for another lengthy lecture, sharing a wealth of advice on how to interact with others.
Peter felt his head throbbing as he listened, yet he had no choice but to patiently hear her out.
A somewhat mischievous thought crossed his mind: did Spider-Man Noir also get nagged like this by his Aunt May?
This was probably what they called “life advice from adults.” It truly came from a place of genuine care for the younger generation.
Even if the younger generation really hated hearing it.
After her lecture went on for more than half an hour, Peter dropped heavy hints that he had to set out this afternoon and needed to prepare his gear first, prompting Aunt May to finally let him go.
Shortly after, she packed a few changes of clothes for his trip and left for work.
Returning to his room, Peter gave a nimble jump, clinging to the ceiling.
He pushed open the access hatch and pulled out several small webbing cartridges from inside.
These were his home-brewed web fluids.
The formula for the web fluid was actually something he had learned naturally after being bitten by the spider and gaining his abilities.
Much like how a natural spider innately knew how to spin silk.
“One, two, three, four…
eight cartridges in total.
That should be enough, right?” After counting up the cartridges, Peter shoved them all into his pocket.
This was a “far-off expedition,” so stocking up on ammunition was an absolute necessity.
Next, his gaze shifted to the web-shooters.
Compared to the web fluid formula that came attached to his powers, the web-shooters were his true proud creation.
Because he wasn’t a real spider, his body lacked organs capable of organic web-shooting.
He had no choice but to rely on external tools.
To achieve this, he had self-taught himself biology, materials science, and mechanical dynamics.
Biology and materials science had helped him comprehend the structure of spider silk, as well as how to use the chemical formula to manifest actual webbing.
The molecular structure of spider silk was exceedingly complex.
It was divided into three structural levels.
The primary structure consisted of hydrogen-bonded β-strands tightly linked together via hydrogen bonds between amino acid molecules.
These hydrogen-bonded β-strands then interconnected through hydrogen bonds to form the secondary structure of spider silk—hydrogen-bonded β-sheet nanocrystals.
When embedded into semi-amorphous β-turn polypeptide chains to form α-helical structures, these β-sheet nanocrystals created a protein nanocomposite structure—the tertiary structure of spider silk.
(T/N:- Naruhodo!
Nods head) Based on this structural mechanism, he had devised a method: First, mix the materials to form the tertiary structure of the spider silk, then use a subatomic compressor to compress it down into a subatomic state.
In this manner, a mass of webbing several hundred meters long could be compressed into a fingernail-sized liquid-like state.
The web-shooter itself was essentially a miniaturized subatomic compressor; to make it portable, however, he had stripped away all other functions, retaining only its pressure output.
This was because the web fluid required sufficient pressure to allow instant deployment and instant cutoff.
Without enough pressure, the moment the webbing sprayed out, it wouldn’t stop flowing.
For these reasons, the materials for the web-shooter were extremely specific.
Most common materials on Earth failed to meet his criteria.
They were either far too expensive or far too brittle.
Eventually, he had quietly slipped into downtown New York, scavenging suitable metals from the ruins of the battle between the Avengers and aliens years ago.
Only after a grueling process of melting and forging did he finally shape it into what he wanted.
At times like this, he couldn’t help but envy Spider-Man Noir, who didn’t need to synthesize webbing manually at all, but rather shot it directly from his wrists.
He wondered if he might gain that ability if he ever possessed another Spider-Man in the future.
For now, though, Peter planned to make a few quick modifications to his web-shooters.
This inspiration had come directly from Spider-Man Noir.
Noir’s webbing could morph freely according to his will—strands, web-projectiles, full nets, or web-whips—making it adaptable to all sorts of combat scenarios.
Peter didn’t demand that level of versatility; altering his web-shooters to that degree was beyond his current capabilities anyway.
Instead, he planned to add two specific firing modes: Web-Balls and Web-Nets.
In the past, basic webbing served merely as a tool for mobility, with the occasional use for tying people up.
With web-balls, however, a massive burst of fluid could be released in a fraction of a second, leveraging a sudden wave of kinetic energy from the web-shooter to produce a bullet-like impact.
Given the soft material of the webbing and its rapid crystallization upon contacting air, these web-balls wouldn’t prove fatal; still, a direct hit on an ordinary person would certainly leave them dazed and disoriented.
This was clearly an excellent offensive option.
As for the web-net, it was an expansion of his existing method for tying people up: firing the webbing directly out in a broad net shape.
Not only did it cover a wide area, but it could also instantly entangle enemies, immobilizing them and neutralizing their combat capability on the spot.
To achieve this, Peter searched through extensive reference materials, meticulously studying similar mechanics in bullets and fishing nets, observing their motion from launch to impact.
All the while, he repeatedly recalled the sensations he had felt while merged with Spider-Man Noir.
Finally, just before two o’clock in the afternoon, he completed his modifications.
With the work finished, he conducted a quick test on the final product and found it completely matched his expectations.
A short while later, a text message popped up on Peter’s phone.
“Hi Peter, this is Happy.
Tony should have mentioned me to you.
I’m downstairs.” Peter grabbed his freshly calibrated web-shooters, gave his gear one final check, picked up the backpack lying on his bed, and headed downstairs.
He knew that up next, he would be facing the very first superhero in history.
Captain America!