"Peter, wake up, it's ti to get up. You're late," Aunt May called out, and Peter jolted awake.
He checked the clock. 8:00 AM was late for school. He got up fast.
"Peter, did you wake up?" Hearing no reply, Aunt May's voice ca from downstairs again, followed by Uncle Ben's familiar complaint.
"He must have been on the computer all night again."
"I'm getting ready!" Peter called back and started rushing through his morning routine.
This won't show the injury, right? He adjusted his clothes carefully so the bandaged area on his leg was hidden. As long as he walked normally, no one would notice.
He headed downstairs to find Uncle Ben reading the morning newspaper and May at the stove cooking.
Seeing Peter, she gestured for him to sit.
"Here, your favorite — pancakes."
The sll of pancake filled the kitchen
Peter looked at the plate and ate quickly, since he would be late if he ate more slowly.
"Uncle Ben, I forgot to ntion I got an internship at Osborn. Dr Connors took in as an assistant. So... I'll probably be going there after school every day from now on. Might get ho a little later."
Hearing that, both Uncle Ben and May stopped what they were doing and looked at each other with quiet worry.
Looking at the ti, he said, "Oh no, I'm gonna be late. See you later!" Peter, not noticing their exchange, grabbed his bag and left.
May looked at Ben after the door closed. "Ben."
"Don't worry. Peter's a smart kid. He'll be alright." He said it to calm her down, but even he couldn't fully shake the unease. Ever since Peter's parents went missing, Ben had always felt that Osborn was behind it — but he had no evidence to act on it. He sat there for a mont after May went back to the stove, still holding his newspaper without reading it.
School
"Hey, Gwen, glad you're back. School was really boring without you," Jack said as Gwen walked into class.
"Are you saying we were boring you this whole ti?" Mary Jane looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, good to see you guys too." Gwen smiled and they quickly caught up on everything they had missed over the past few days.
Peter ntioned his internship at Osborn.
"Wow, Peter, you actually got an internship there?" MJ was genuinely happy for him.
"It's nothing. Dr. Connors recomnded ."
Hearing that, Jack imdiately thought of the Lizard. Dr. Connors — that na was never a good sign.
So the Lizard situation is starting sooner than I thought. And with Iron Man showing up around here too, these peaceful days are almost over. But oddly, he wasn't as afraid as he had been when he first got his mories. If anything, he was even a little eager to fight those villains. Did I beco a little fight addict after fighting daily?
A few seats away, Gwen leaned slightly toward Peter while keeping her eyes forward, like she was just looking at her notebook.
"How's your injury?" she asked quietly.
Peter didn't look at her either. "Much better. Not much pain."
"You coming out tonight?"
"Yeah. A few thugs won't be a problem even with this leg."
MJ was busy talking to soone else. Jack was still daydreaming about the future. Nobody noticed a thing.
The bell rang and the rest of the school day passed without anything notable.
After finishing his dojo training, Jack was in his hideout upgrading his plumber suit with the Vibranium he had gotten from S.H.I.E.L.D. A small figure worked on the suit in the lab with Red Queen assisting beside him.
"Alright. The suit now has the sa kinetic energy absorption and recharge function as the Black Panther suit." Jack, in his Grey Matter form, took a few notes while checking the suit.
He examined it carefully. "I have a few more ideas for improving the energy output, but I need to run experints first. This small lab needs an upgrade too."
"Red Queen, did the items I ordered arrive?"
"Yes, Master. Since Stark's stock prices dropped, I've been generating funds faster than expected, so I purchased everything and moved it to the storage unit anonymously. However, since so of the items we ordered are classified as military-grade products, a few people have been watching the pickup location, trying to figure out who placed the order."
Hearing that, Jack's Grey Matter mind imdiately started running through different ways to move the items to his hideout without being seen.
For the smaller and lighter items, I can use XLR8 to bring them here quietly. For the bigger ones, I could use Upgrade to possess a vehicle, move them fast, then disengage. And once everything is here, I can build a better version from scratch with what I know.
Satisfied with the plan, he undid his transformation and checked the upgraded suit. The defence and absorption stats were noticeably better than before.
"Alright. Let's test the new alien I unlocked yesterday." He looked at the Omnitrix. The new alien was the only one in his current lineup that could fly naturally. He selected it.
He transford into Big Chill.
Cold air rolled off his body the mont the transformation finished. He rose toward the ceiling and phased straight through it without slowing down, leaving the hideout silently.
With Red Queen guiding him, he flew toward the warehouse.
Flying with technology and flying on your own really are two completely different feelings.
Passing over a park, he noticed so kids playing below. On a small impulse, he used his ice ability to send a light snowfall drifting down toward them.
"Hey, it's snow! Snow!" The kids imdiately started chasing the snowflakes around the park.
He kept moving.
He reached the warehouse area and, as expected, spotted a few n keeping a low-key watch on the place — clearly trying to figure out who had placed such an unusual order with no company na or address attached.
Using Big Chill's invisibility, Jack observed them carefully. They were ordinary, not military or S.H.I.E.L.D.
He started thinking through the extraction plan again when sothing clicked and he stopped himself mid-thought. He actually reached up and tapped the side of his head.
I'm an idiot.
I've been thinking about this completely wrong. Why am I planning so complicated multi-alien operation to move these items when I could just hire a normal truck, load everything up openly, drive it close to my hideout, and make the last short move from there without anyone caring?
He stood there for a mont, feeling slightly embarrassed about overcomplicating it in his head.
With Grey Matter, I should be thinking smarter, not more complicated. These guys watching the warehouse are just low-level business types trying to track down an unusual buyer — they're not tracking the items themselves. To them, it's just military surplus, not anything worth a serious operation. A normal transfer would have worked fine from the start.
He made a ntal note to approach problems from the simplest angle first before jumping to elaborate solutions.
As Jack got to work handling the transfer, on the other side of New York, a very different kind of first day was beginning.
Peter was walking through the doors of Oscorp.
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