Herman had never forgotten Spider-Man. He was already certain that to make a name for himself, he had to defeat a true superhero. Compared to the well-equipped Avengers, that Spider-kid in his cheap tights, swinging between buildings, was undoubtedly the best choice.
The last rays of the setting sun cast mottled shadows through the skeletal steel framework of the unfinished building. Suddenly, a flash of silver—Herman, clad in silver armor, leapt high, slamming his armored gauntlet into a concrete wall. With a deafening roar, the entire wall shattered. His figure plunged with the collapsing bricks, smashing through three floors before hitting the ground level with a heavy thud, raising a cloud of dust.
"Finally... it's complete."
Improving the Shocker gauntlet was never a problem for Herman; what truly took a full week was the suit of armor itself. It featured an internal energy circulation system, a backup battery on the back, gauntlet-style shock emitters, and gold titanium alloy armor that could even withstand automatic rifle fire. Not only that, but the recoil from the vibration waves could be fully converted into kinetic energy, granting him superhuman strength and speed. Concrete crumbled like brittle crackers under his fists, and the hundred-pound metal shell didn't affect his hundred-meter dash speed in the slightest. The only drawback was the extremely cumbersome donning process—this wasn't some high-tech exoskeleton, but merely a collection of metal plates connected by a complex transmission system, requiring assembly piece by piece like a medieval knight.
When the last piece of armor was removed, Herman let out a long sigh of relief. The last few dollars in his pocket were meant for food, but the sight of J. Jonah Jameson ranting furiously about Spider-Man on a large street screen changed his mind. The red and blue tights in the footage reminded him of his own crude silver armor—still bearing burn marks from welding and hammer indentations from forging.
So he turned and walked into a convenience store. A few minutes later, he walked out with two cans of spray paint.
"Time for a shocking entrance."
"Today! Is! A! Normal! Day!"
High school life passed quickly. For Peter Parker, nothing particularly good or bad had happened. The Detective Club's investigation had made no progress, the nights building Lego with Harry and Amadeus were filled with laughter, Gwen was secretly involved in the rock club, and Homecoming was just around the corner... Everything was reassuringly uneventful. His only minor annoyances were the unresponsiveness of his internship applications and the embarrassment of not being able to afford a cosplay costume—looks like he'd have to go home early from the Homecoming dance this year.
As for Spider-Man? His friendly neighborhood duties continued. No supervillains, no alien tech weapons, not even petty thugs. If not for the Avengers Tower still standing on the skyline, Peter would almost suspect he had traveled to a parallel universe where only Spider-Man existed.
"Oh oh, this doesn't look good."
The wail of police sirens and the blare of ambulance horns pierced the sky; something significant had clearly happened. Spider-Man swiftly moved, swinging along behind the police cars.
"Alright, what is it this time? Gangsters? Bank robbers? High-tech crime?"
He landed on a familiar outer wall, looking at the familiar sign, and scratched his head.
"Or all of the above? Why would someone rob a bank that's already been robbed?"
The source of the thick smoke was Midtown Bank. This building, originally a condemned building due to damaged load-bearing structures, should have been demolished. However, Tony Stark's disaster relief equipment had maintained the building's stability. Consequently, the demolition of the building had become a huge bureaucratic tug-of-war: various companies inside wanted to retrieve their remaining assets, using "no significant safety issues" as an excuse to delay the building's controlled demolition.
Thus, this "undemolishable" condemned building had become a temporary famous landmark in New York.
Peter wasn't sure if there was any money left in a robbed, condemned bank, but seeing the two overturned police cars outside and the ready police officers, Spider-Man knew it was his time to make an appearance.
"Hey, Chief, long time no see."
Spider-Man landed on a utility pole beside Chief Stacy's police car, catching the Chief's attention. Seeing the arrival of a super-powered individual, George had to admit that even if citizens called them incompetent, some criminals truly could only be dealt with by masked vigilantes.
"You're right on time, Spider-Man."
"Who's inside?"
"According to our intel, it's Herman Schultz."
"Who's that?"
"The leader of that bank robbery gang you arrested here last week. He escaped from the NYPD. His men say he invented that weapon himself and used it in the bank robbery. Both of our police cars were flipped by vibration waves, so we can only assume it's him."
Only then did Peter realize who Chief Stacy was talking about.
"Oh, Mr. Shocker, I remember him. No worries, Chief Stacy, I'll catch him again."
Chief Stacy watched Spider-Man make his grand statement and then swing into the bank lobby. He could only arrange traffic control and wish him good luck.
Upon entering the bank, Spider-Man found that nothing had changed. The battle scars from a week ago were still there. More importantly, his spider-sense was completely still, showing no sign of danger—correspondingly, the dim bank was empty, showing no signs of invasion.
"Hello? Herman? Mr. Shocker? Are you in here?"
After shouting twice with no response, Spider-Man continued forward. He saw the vault door, ajar, as if it had been opened, but strangely, not as if it had been blasted open by a vibration weapon.
"I once called myself New York's best safecracker. No safe could stop me. I used to think that was just a boast, but this vault door tells me it's true. I can pry it open, not destroy it."
A man's monologue came from behind the vault, sounding exceptionally 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 hit me with your shock gauntlet."
"Don't you think they're stupid, Spider-Man?"
"Who are you talking about? Yourself? After all, what kind of person would rob a bank they've already robbed, again?"
"But they didn't take a single cent. They left everything here, as if waiting for me to rob it."
A violent jolt hit Peter's brain. The last time he felt this level of pain was against the Chitauri mothership. Peter instinctively flipped backward, narrowly dodging the vault door as it flew out and crashed to the ground. The landing Spider-Man only had time for a single exasperated curse.
A golden avalanche of dollar bills poured out, and walking through this avalanche was an opponent he had never seen before. He wore heavy, yellow-brown anti-vibration armor, with segmented metal plates for shoulder and chest armor, and a honeycomb shock-absorbing structure covering the entire surface of his suit. His arms were equipped with gauntlet-style shock emitters, and his brown helmet resembled a dangerous owl.
"As if I were waiting for you again!"
At that moment, Herman Schultz, no, he should now be called "Shocker," threw a left punch. A shockwave powerful enough to send the vault door flying was launched towards Spider-Man. Spider-Man dodged with his spider-sense, then swung on a web back to the bank lobby—where there was more space to fight.
"I'm truly flattered, Herman. You improved your gear just to beat me up? You even made a suit of armor?" Spider-Man clung to the wall, watching Shocker walk out step by step. "Look at your invention, you're a genius! You could totally use your talent to do something meaningful, you could help so many people, even become a hero. What do you say?"
Shocker paused, lowering his arm. Peter could sense his spider-sense slightly decrease.
"You've spoken well, Spider-Man." Shocker nodded, looking up at Spider-Man: "Except for one thing."
"You should have invited me when I was still a nobody!"
Chief George was waiting outside the bank for an update on the situation inside, but it was clearly not looking good. A large hole had been blasted through the bank's outer wall, and Spider-Man was sent flying directly out of it.
"Don't go in, Chief! Herman is dangerous! Evacuate the surrounding area!"
Spider-Man, propelled backward by the Shocker gauntlet, stuck a web to the bank lobby floor and slingshotted himself back into the fight. The upgraded gauntlet's range was incredibly wide; even with his spider-sense, he hadn't fully dodged the attack.
And at this moment, he could only execute a standard superhero landing, directly in front of Herman.
"Alright, Herman, looks like we need to talk some hard truths first."