The usual morning, which began at seven, as always pleased Peter with a severe headache pounding in his temples, as well as dry mouth. Despite the superpowers that he received, as well as the accelerated metabolism, the consequences of almost two weeks of drinking any available alcohol, undermined his body, which is why the guy woke up every morning with what the Russians call "dry".
Perhaps this was his kind of punishment for trying to poison his body with booze, but the young man did not worry, it was only a slight inconvenience that was easily corrected with a glass of water. Refreshed in the shower, as well as having eaten the usual breakfast, the young man crawls out of the house in a fairly short time to rush to lectures at Columbia University. Ahead of him are trials, such as evil teachers, exams and lectures, which are attended not only by those who want to learn, but also by those who want to make life to their neighbors.
Finding himself at a bus stop and seeing a newly clogged bus leaving without him, the guy sighed and headed towards the nearest gateway to get to the lecture hall in the form of Spider-Man, one of the heroes of the New York Crisis.
After those events that deprived him of Gwen, a year has passed, full of sadness, pain and rethinking. More, Spider-Man was not a simple, friendly neighbor who, on occasion, catching a robber, hid him in a cocoon of cobwebs - the criminals knew that after changing his red-blue suit to a white one, Spider-Man also changed, became tougher, more dangerous and cynical ... To meet him at night, doing something illegal was like a huge trouble - you will at least be beaten, but they can break something and "accidentally" pierce the belly with something sharp, long and hot, so that you will live until the ambulance arrives. help is not always successful. Flying over the streets of the city, looking around and watching some of the thieves scatter at the sight of his figure flying between the skyscrapers of Queens and Manhattan, Peter chased in his head another plan of how to pin down Kingpin, unbelievable beyond measure. Gathered around thirteen mutants and cyborgs, the head of one of the largest syndicates in New York was another pain in the ass that he and Daredevil still could not get out of the seat. After all, there was no chance to simply break in and kill all the inhabitants of that skyscraper - the small PMC guarding it could compete in its strength with the SHIELD agents who had never flown over the city on their jets.
<<Hey Pete, are you going to be late again today?>>- the sound of an SMS made the guy get distracted from his sad thoughts and open a message on his phone. A classmate of Parker, attending several subjects with him, but at the same time studying on the stream of programmers and AI creators. -Professor Moore is going to do a control cut in three months, so I recommend speeding up and arriving on time. Otherwise, you will have to visit the dean again, and Connors will hardly otmash you.
<<Thank you, Ned. I think that today I will be in time ,>> - quickly typing the answer, Parker began to fiddle with his hands more actively, not being distracted by extraneous reflections, and trying to be at the university as soon as possible. Edverd Leeds, for friends Ned, has been an old friend of Peter since his school days. They were both Star Wars geeks, weekend picking Lego and knowing too much for the average high school student, so it was no surprise that they ended up befriending and supporting each other, but they soon parted ways - Ned began dating Michelle Jones, the captain of the decathlon team, and Peter became Spider-Man and his school friends and hobbies began to interest him less, and then Parker met Gwen. Now Ned was one of the best students of the university, a happy family man and an intern at Stark Industries, which built its base in the center of Manhattan, and Peter remained a loner, not the most exemplary student and superhero in New York, communicating with the Most Talkative Mercenary and the Nemesis of Hell's Kitchen. But sometimes, when they had common couples, they wrote off ... communicating.
Almost flew into the wall of one of the high-rise buildings located in the center of the city, Peter quickly jumped down, protecting himself with cobwebs and looking around, changed his clothes. Every year the number of cameras in New York only grew, and it became more and more difficult to hide your appearance, especially when SHIELD became interested in you. and Fury, but the brown-haired man coped with it, although he was thinking about changing his own costume. Quickly running to the campus entrance, the guy found himself in the lecture hall just before the bell rang, and sat in one of the upper seats, getting ready for class. With a chuckle and giving the guy an unreadable look, Professor Moore put a small three-page questionnaire in front of his face and walked on through the students.
-It’s worth talking to Doc about an organic AI that could help solve this,- thoughtfully gnawing at the tip of a pencil, Peter looked closely at the test, wishing that the calculator had stayed at home. Moore did not allow using telephones on the cuts, but cars like the one that Parker needed so much were acceptable, although there was still hope that the young man would choose a less furious solution to the problem, but the brown-haired man's head was empty on this issue. -You could call him Karen, after Doc's mother, or Bill. He will always be with me, because I would not hurt to help with this damn task, which I do not understand at all!
-Mr. Parker, if you cannot decide something, start another example, - Moore's calm voice, which was heard from the pulpit, made the brown-haired man shudder, and most of his fellow students look at him. - Believe me, I don't really want to hear your teeth destroy the pencil in an unequal attempt to find a solution to the problem.
-I beg your pardon, professor, - the guy says calmly, looking into the teacher's eyes. After waiting for a nod, the guy acts according to the advice, and grins slightly when he understands a rather subtle move from Moore's part - the next task serves as a key to the previous one, which clearly helps to gain the required score for the minimum. - Well, drunken hedgehogs and cancan are dancing.
- Psycho, - having heard Wade's favorite expression, picked up from one of the Russian mercenaries, a student sitting next to her tried to get away from the guy, but was stopped by a shout from the professor. But Parker, at a fairly fast pace, began to solve the problem, simultaneously making calculations to the previous task - nevertheless, despite his not so great abilities in mathematics, this test was not the most terrible.
Having passed the test in half an hour, the guy calmly left the audience, thinking about where to go. Ned followed him, wiping his plump face with a handkerchief - the hot June did not give him a chance to feel normal.
- Hi Pete. Haven't seen you for a long time, dude! - overly emotional, as if trying to talk about his feelings and from Jones, Ned shook hands with Parker. - How are you? Falling asleep again on work for Connors? Angela has already argued with Matt that you won't come at all.
-I always said that you shouldn't argue with her, it's not her, - the guy said with a shrug, avoiding the topic of why he was almost late again. Waving his hand in the direction of the corridor leading to the exit from the building, the brown-haired man continued - How are you? How is MJ?
-It's okay,- Ned said with a happy smile. - Her aunt invites us to Los Angeles this summer, to relax on the Pacific coast, and at the same time help her with the hotel. We're still pondering, you know how she treats most people, but we tend to agree. And the sea air is useful, especially if you have lung diseases, my doctor told me so.
“Glad for you,” Peter said quietly, trying to hide the sadness in his eyes. Habitually missing all the noise that Ned's monologue created, the young man went out into the courtyard and turned to a small arbor, lit a cigarette. Having moved a couple of steps to the side so that the wind would not carry cigarette smoke towards him, Ned continued to speak, and Parker only occasionally had to insert a few words into his monologue.
-Look, it's pale-faced Pete and his faithful friend, Friday! The laughter of Football captain Flash made Leeds shut up and Peter narrowed his eyes. Eugene Thompson, or as he called himself, Flash, went to the same school as Peter and Edward, but unlike the latter, he was Parker's school enemy. The captain of the school team, the first in sports and a friend of many schoolchildren at the expense of his parents' money, he was the most popular guy in the school, who did not do badly at the same time. And if earlier he mocked two friends not only with words, but also with fists, now he had to choose expressions extremely carefully - once angry Peter could not restrain himself and poked the player so that he could not play sports for a long time, his whole body ached. The case did not come to court, his curator, who was very respected not only at the university, but also in the city, interceded for the student, which saved Peter from a fine and prison. - You that, kicked out of steam, if you cool off here?
- Little Pitty, did your parents say you can't smoke? It's bad for a jock like you! Oh yeah, you have ... - Alan didn’t have time to finish, as Flash cautiously covered his mouth with his hand, looking at Parker's narrowed eyes. He remembered this look well, the pain was just a great teacher, and he no longer wanted to cause rage in the brown-haired man. - Hey, what are you doing, bro.
-Let's get out of here, this garbage is not worth our time,- Flash said after trying to look cool. As he walked away, he felt a sharp, dagger-like look on his back, and Parker's quiet, grave whisper flashed through his head again: -If you say that again insulting the nasty thing of someone in my family, I will break all your bones, Thompson. And trust me, you don't care if I go to jail or not, because you will definitely become disabled.- Eugene learned his lesson by touching the brown-haired man only verbally, and never crossing the line that Parker had set, and not allowing his friends to cross it. Everyone wanted to live a full life.
-They somehow got away too quickly,- Ned said, scratching his temple, which meant extreme bewilderment. -It seemed to me that Flash and the henchmen would chase us to the hull.
-They achieved the main thing,- Peter said with a slight chuckle, accurately throwing the cigarette into the urn. Turning to his friend, he grinned sadly, and shook his head, went to campus. - Will you protect me from Moore? I'll go to Doc, we have an interesting laboratory planned, and I shouldn't be angry to return to lectures.
-The professor will hate you for absenteeism,- Ned said, shaking his head, realizing that he would not be able to convince the stubborn guy. Any reminder of the dead family and friends of Parker immediately spoiled the guy's mood, turning him from a quiet student who listened to lectures melancholy, into a bilious student, trolling not only fellow students, but also teachers. “Have a nice day, Pete. If anything, write. Michelle and I are always happy to see you visiting.
- For now, - quickly picking up his bag, the guy ran to the basement, where the laboratories of biologists and chemists were located. Special equipment, air support and silence created ideal conditions for a lot of research, which was carried out by professors of Columbia University.
-I ran out of class again,- said Curt Connors, Peter Parker's curator and personal conscience, with a sigh. Shrugging his shoulders, the guy dropped the briefcase on a small pallet and put on a robe to help the mentor. -If you can't curb your anger, even your patents won't help you in your scientific career.
-I try, - the guy said quietly, despite the one who helped him in everything. It seemed that Doc was one of those who were always on the side of the guy, and his wife, Martha and the children Bill and Sam, were always happy to see the young man at his place, at any time of the year, in any situation and in any condition - no one ever asked questions, where did the student get old scars from cold weapons and gunshot wounds, fresh holes in the body that should be sewn up, and not to go to an ambulance from the hand and eternal lack of sleep. “But sometimes they pass over the bleeding wounds, not realizing that I can break.
-The third table, Peter,- the professor said calmly. - Today your task is to help the colony of protozoa destroy the iron plate. Do what you want, but they have to do it.
-Yes sir,- Parker said quietly, heading towards his destination. Unlike robotics, biology was not a "fast" science; it took organisms to pore over the simplest tasks for weeks, if not months, creating completely unimaginable skills in seemingly ordinary creatures. So far, the game with DNA has been quite successful only among the simplest - despite the professor's obsession, he was never able to repeat his experience of the Lizard, but no one was discouraged - the main thing is to start, and then things will go better.
Five hours later, the teenager realized what was the puncture of the majority - many used bacteria that lived in a solution of water, and the young man remembered that fungi, or rather mold, can also be attributed to the protozoa. Now it remained to create sufficiently strong changes in the DNA chain so that this mushroom could destroy any steel, or rather simply dissolve it. Having quickly sketched out a dozen or two options that the guy thought might help, Peter began to develop a mechanism for destruction. Brown-haired did not want to be the creator of Frankenstein's monster, which was impossible to control.
-Are you going home? - Approaching the best student, who really was more a member of the family than an ordinary student, Professor Connors carefully considered the complex equations. - Not bad, it really can work, the main thing is not to create problems.
-Everything will be fine, Doc,- the student said with a chuckle, receiving a slap on the head from the professor. Connors never liked this abbreviation, and if among themselves his students could call a man that, then only Peter could say this nickname in the face. - There are plans.
-Martha invited me to dinner, she says you’re eating badly again,- the professor said with a smile, examining Peter's notes. In moments of strong mental stress, the brown-haired man habitually used a notebook as a sedative - various drawings, mini-graphs and clumsy handwriting served him as an amplifier of the thought process, although this also served as a distracting maneuver - to make out what he wrote at that moment Parker himself could not , not to mention someone else. -Sam and Billy miss you.
-I'll drop by next week,- the brown-haired man said with a warm smile. The Connors family was one of the few that helped the young man not go crazy, forgetting himself in alcohol. George Stacy, despite all his skills and capabilities, was himself depressed, he was saved only by work. So Martha was entrusted to leave Peter, and the German woman managed to bring the guy to his senses. -I can't do this, I promised Mr. Stacey to come by. And there are enough things to do at home, we need to put some projects in order.
-Okay,- the man said with a smile, watching his student change. Hanging up his robe, the brown-haired man said goodbye to the professor and headed for the exit - the clock showed seven in the evening, and if Spider-Man wanted to go out on patrol, then he should hurry home. Gone are the days when a guy left a backpack anywhere - the first ten bags for things, with a rather meager family budget, showed that people will always take what is bad.
The only drawback that he stayed at the university was practically empty streets - most of the shops that were located next to the training center were already closed, unlike cafes or restaurants, in which, on the contrary, students just started to come. It was a perennial problem on the Columbia University campus - there were mostly rented buildings around, rarely where private businesses were rented, and this created a problem with the infrastructure of this small piece of New York. Some tried to open small shops, but they did not gain much popularity, a third of them still held out, but preferred to close after six, with the official end of the working day on campus, while others were round-the-clock and the choice of food they had was quite wide. but it was very meager - the basis of their well-being was alcohol and cigarettes, and a 24-hour supermarket located half a kilometer away brought down this trade too. But Peter did not want to go to a large crowd of people - for the most part people irritated him, even though he saved them like Spider-Man, but for the most part it was unpleasant for him to be in a large crowd of people.
Having passed the alleys to the desired gateway, the guy changed into a suit and quickly went on business to the city - to buy groceries, throw a backpack home and start a patrol. But besides Queens, where the young man lived, there was another third of Manhattan, since the rest of the territory was taken over by Daredevil, in the world Matthew Murdoch, a wonderful lawyer, family man and a very strong lover of truth, ready to sacrifice his life for the cause. True, the influence of the wife, as well as the Spider, cooled the man's head a little, but still quite often it brought it down. His wife, Electra Nachios, a rather sweet Greek woman, was one of those who knew about the secret of Spider-Man, the woman proved more than once or twice that she could protect herself. And Matt wouldn't lie to her about his identity.
Peter's second companion was Deadpool, the Most Talkative Mercenary in the world, and it's probably good that this unkillable mutant was Peter's friend. Well, as a friend, just one day Wade showed up to the guy, introducing himself and said that now his friend and partner - in the end it didn't work to convince the impudent man, but they managed to find a common language ... after they swept each other and went to treat the crippled carcasses ... Deadpool leaned on whiskey, and Peter used the healing skills of Mrs. Murdoch, who knew how to use not only strange daggers, but also a needle and thread. It was the first time Peter heard Matt swear, though Danielle, who was only six, who was repeating his words, made Electra very angry.
-Hi, Spider, back on patrol? - The voice of Wade, sitting on one of the rooftops was quiet, but full of fun and irony. Looking down, a man dressed in red tights was genuinely enjoying what was happening below - three pot-bellied men, clearly abusing beer, tried to carry a picture through a narrow alley, the frame of which was covered with gilding and there were clearly rubies in the corners. - Look, they spent an hour and a half poking the protection of the museum, then they took out this masterpiece for another hour and even drag it for about ten minutes. Are they snail thieves? Or do they want to go to jail?
"Do you take into account that there are only three dozen cops in all of Queens now?" the guy asked, slightly arching an eyebrow. In fact, everything was not so sad, but in principle it did not change much - three dozen experienced police officers who managed to get through the Crisis, and about twenty recruits who had just graduated from the Academy - this was not enough for normal patrolling the streets. And that is why the bandits, even in spite of all the fear of Spider-Man, climbed into the world like mushrooms after rain - there were few superheroes, there were also few police officers, so it was a sin not to rob. And there, perhaps, luck will turn up and no one will catch them? And so not only repeat offenders thought, but also ordinary young people who want to earn more and faster, which ultimately led to a significant increase in the number of crimes in the city. "Okay, finish them so that you will be in the hospital for a long time, and I will go home, throw my things and on patrol. Wait for a visit today?
“I never gave up spider noodles,” the mercenary said with a laugh, jumping down. How Winston managed to combine the work of a mercenary, helping patrolling New York and rest, Peter did not know, but the fact that Deadpool was two-core he could say for sure.
"*Sighs* But the night has just begun ... Let's see what fish will be caught this time."