I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 16: Shocking Opening (1)

Herman never forgot Spider-Man. He had long been convinced that to achieve fame and fortune, he had to defeat a true superhero. Compared to the well-equipped Avengers, the Spider-Kid, swinging from building to building in a cheap tights, was undoubtedly the best choice.

The setting sun filtered through the steel skeleton of the unfinished building, casting mottled shadows on the ground. Suddenly, a flash of silver light flashed—Hermann, clad in silver armor, leaped high, his mechanical arm armor slamming down on the concrete wall. With a deafening roar, the entire wall shattered. His figure plummeted along with the crumbling masonry, piercing through three floors before crashing heavily onto the ground floor, sending up a cloud of dust.

"Finally... it's done."

Improving the scare emitter was never a problem for Hermann. What really took up an entire week was the suit of armor he was wearing. The internally circulating energy device, the backup battery on his back, the arm-mounted scare emitter, and the gold-titanium alloy armor also allowed him to defend against automatic rifle fire. Furthermore, the recoil of the vibration wave could be completely converted into kinetic energy, giving him superhuman strength and speed. Concrete was like a crispy cookie under his fists, and the hundreds of pounds of metal shell had no effect on his 100-meter sprint speed. The only drawback was that the donning process was extremely cumbersome - this was not some high-tech exoskeleton, but just a bunch of metal plates connected by a complex transmission system, which had to be assembled piece by piece like a medieval knight.

As the last piece of armor came off, Herman breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been planning to buy some food with the remaining cash in his pocket, but the image of Jonah Jameson spitting and cursing Spider-Man on the big screen on the street changed his mind. The red and blue bodysuit on screen reminded him of his own rough silver armor—still bearing the scorch marks of welding and the hammer marks of forging.

So he turned and walked into the grocery store, and a few minutes later came out with two bottles of spray paint.

"It's time for a shocking entrance."

"Today! Is! Just! An! Ordinary! Day!"

High school life flew by like a fleeting whirlwind. For Peter Parker, neither good nor bad things happened. The detective agency's investigation was utterly fruitless, Harry and Amadeus's Lego nights at his house were filled with laughter, Gwen was secretly joining the rock club, and homecoming was just around the corner... everything was reassuringly uneventful. His only minor annoyances were his internship applications going unanswered and the dreaded lack of cosplay costumes—it looked like he'd have to go home early for the homecoming dance this year.

As for Spider-Man? His friendly neighborhood business continued unabated. No supervillains, no alien-tech weapons, even the small-time thugs had vanished. If it weren't for the Avengers Tower still towering over the skyline, Peter would have wondered if he'd traveled to another parallel universe where only Spider-Man existed.

"Oh, that doesn't look good."

The shrieks of sirens and ambulances cut through the sky. It was obvious that something serious had happened. Spider-Man quickly attacked and flew along with the police car.

"Okay, what's it this time? Gangsters? Bank robbers? Black-tech crime?"

He landed on a familiar exterior wall, looking at the familiar sign and scratching his head.

"Or is it all of them? Why would anyone rob a bank that has already been robbed?"

The smoke billowed from the Midtown Bank, which should have been a dangerous building due to structural damage, but Tony Stark used his own disaster relief equipment to maintain its stability. Consequently, the demolition of the building became a massive logjam: various companies inside wanted to remove their remaining assets, delaying the demolition by claiming there were no major safety concerns.

Therefore, this "uncollapsed" dangerous building has also become a temporary famous attraction in New York.

Peter wasn't sure if there was still money in a dilapidated bank building that had been robbed, but looking at the two overturned police cars outside the bank and the officers on high alert, Spider-Man knew it was time for him to take the stage.

"Hey, Sheriff, long time no see."

Spider-Man landed on a telephone pole next to Sheriff Stacy's police car, attracting the sheriff's attention. Seeing the super-powered person coming, George had to admit that even if the citizens said they were incompetent, some criminals could only be dealt with by masked vigilantes.

"You're just in time, Spider-Man."

"Who's in there?"

"Presumably, it was Hermann Schultz."

"Who is that?"

"The leader of the bank robbery gang you arrested here last week escaped from the NYPD. His men claim he invented that weapon himself and used it in bank robberies. Both of our police cars were overturned by the shockwave, so we assume it had to be him."

Peter finally realized who Sheriff Stacy was talking about. "Oh, Mr. Thrillist, I remember now. It's okay, Sheriff Stacy, I'll catch him again."

Sheriff Stacy watched Spider-Man make his bold statements and then wander into the bank lobby. She could only arrange traffic control and wish him good luck.

Spider-Man entered the bank and found that nothing had changed. The traces of the battle left a week ago were still there. More importantly, his spider-sense was motionless, and it didn't look like there was any danger at all. In contrast, there was no one in the dim bank, and there was no sign of invasion.

"Hello? Herman? Mr. Thrillist? Are you here?"

After shouting twice, Spider-Man continued to move forward without receiving any response. He saw the door of the bank's vault. The door of the vault was ajar, as if it had been opened by someone, but strangely, it did not look like it was blown open by a shock weapon.

"I used to call myself the best locksmith in New York. No safe could stop me. I thought it was just a boast, but this vault door shows me that it's true. I can pry it open, not break it."

A man's mumbling could be heard from the back of the vault. It sounded particularly clear in the empty building. Spider-Man stood outside the vault, calmly waiting for him to finish, then shrugged. "How about you come out and talk? Or I'll go in, as long as you promise not to shoot me with your thriller gun."

"Do you think they're stupid, Spider-Man?"

"Who are you talking about? You? After all, who would rob a bank again after they robbed it?"

"But they didn't take a single cent. They left it all here, as if they were waiting for me to rob them."

A sharp pain hit Peter's brain. The last time he faced this level of pain was when he faced the Chitauri mothership. Peter subconsciously flipped backwards and narrowly avoided the vault door that flew backwards. The metal door weighing several tons collapsed to the ground, and Spider-Man only had time to utter a swear word.

A cloud of US dollar bills erupted like a golden avalanche. Amidst this avalanche emerged an opponent he had never seen before. He wore thick, yellow and brown shock-resistant armor, with shoulder and chest plates joined by segmented metal plates, and a honeycomb-like shock-absorbing structure covering the entire armor surface. His arms were equipped with gauntlet-like scare emitters, and his brown helmet resembled a menacing owl.

"It's like I'm waiting for you to come again!"

At this moment, Hermann Schultz, no, he should be called "Thriller", Thriller threw a left punch, and the shock wave that was enough to blow the entire vault door away was launched towards Spider-Man. Spider-Man dodged with the help of spider sense, and then swung on the spider silk back to the bank lobby - where there was a wider space for fighting.

"I'm so flattered, Herman. You improved your equipment just to beat me up? You even made a suit of armor?" Spider-Man leaned against the wall, watching the horror approaching. "Look at your inventions! You're a genius. You can definitely use your talent to do something meaningful. You can help a lot of people, maybe even become a hero. How about that?"

Thrill paused for a moment, lowering his arm, and Peter could sense that his spider-sense had decreased slightly.

"You said it well, Spider-Man." Shocker nodded and looked up at Spider-Man: "Except for one thing."

"You should have invited me when I was still a nobody!"

Sheriff George was waiting outside the bank to see what was happening inside. However, the situation was obviously not optimistic. A big hole was blown out of the bank's outer wall, and Spider-Man flew out of the hole directly.

"Don't go in, Sheriff! Herman is in danger! Evacuate the surrounding area!"

Spider-Man, who was knocked out by the horror launcher, used spider silk to stick to the ground of the bank hall and bounced back to the battlefield. The range of the upgraded launcher reached an exaggerated level. Even with the spider sense, he could not completely avoid it.

At this moment, he had no choice but to use a standard superhero landing, landing right in front of Herman.

"Well, Herman, it seems I have to talk some hard truths with you first."

To keep up with 21st-century standards, Shocker's outfit is the kind from the Marvel Spider-Man games, not the tights from the comics.

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(End of this chapter)