In a deep, secluded alleyway, the air thick with the acidic rot of overflowing trash, Peter casually tossed Shocker off his shoulder. The villain hit the pavement with a heavy, wet thud.
"Hiss—!"
Herman Schultz felt as though his skeletal frame had turned into a jigsaw puzzle. He opened his mouth to shriek in pain, but his voice died in his throat when he looked up.
In the jagged shadows of the alley, the Arbiter's black-and-red mask looked utterly demonic.
The scream was forced back down into his gut.
Peter crouched, his movements crisp and efficient as he ripped the quilted yellow mask off Shocker's head. Revealed underneath was an ordinary, middle-aged white man, his face a mess of sweat, tension, and petty desperation.
"Name. Origin of the gear. Your objective."
Peter's voice was a low, emotionless drone. Herman's eyes darted around, his face twisting into a smile that looked more painful than a sob.
"I—my name is Tom—"
CRACK!
Before he could finish the lie, Peter grabbed Herman's wrist and gave it a sharp, casual twist. Another bone snapped.
Herman's body convulsed violently. His face contorted from the peak of agony. He tried to scream, but Peter's gloved hand clamped over his mouth, muffling the sound into a series of pained, guttural groans.
"Did you know the human body has 206 bones?"
Peter shared the bit of trivia as if they were discussing the weather, but it sent a freezing chill down Herman's spine. He didn't need a translator to understand the subtext: Lie again, and this freak will snap every single one.
Realizing he was dealing with a genuine predator, Herman abandoned his tricks. Tears and snot began to flow as he stammered, "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"
Over the next few minutes, Herman Schultz spilled his life story like a tipped bucket of beans. To summarize: he was a high school dropout and a self-taught physics prodigy.
He had tried to change his fate through his inventions, only to have his work repeatedly stolen by corporate vampires. When he tried to steal his own inventions back, he ended up behind bars.
After that, he fell into a cycle of professional thievery, eventually fantasizing about using his gear to live a life of leisure without the "work" part.
Peter listened with lukewarm interest. Most Marvel villain backstories followed this "wronged by the system" template; it lacked a certain spark. Until...
"The vibration gauntlets... I built them myself! They're powered by a custom-designed, high-density battery array—"
"Wait."
Peter's tone shifted for the first time. He interrupted Herman with a blunt, commanding sharpness. "What did you say? A battery array?"
Peter was genuinely floored. He had expected Shocker's power source to be something sci-fi or high-tech, but he hadn't expected it to be this advanced.
A battery module capable of releasing shockwaves that could level a building? And it could be cycled at least a dozen times on a single charge? What kind of god-tier energy density was that?!
"Yeah! Batteries!" Herman sensed Peter's interest like a drowning man grasping at a life raft. He hurried to explain: "It's a micro-high-energy battery set I developed! I found the chemical ratios by accident! The charge capacity is hundreds of times higher than anything on the market—"
Before Herman could finish, Peter ruthlessly tore open the quilted yellow tunic. He shredded through the unknown composite buffer materials until, a second later, hundreds of crystal-blue batteries—each no larger than a button cell—were revealed.
Hiss—!
Peter sucked in a breath through his teeth. This kid is a total lunatic.
He pointed at the tiny blue cells, his voice slightly off-key from shock. "You aren't afraid these things will short-circuit mid-fight? One puncture and—BOOM—you're a human firework!"
"No! Absolutely not!" Herman replied with defensive pride. "I tested these solid-state cells a thousand times during development! They are perfectly stable! Even if you drive a nail straight through them, they just lose power. They won't catch fire, and they definitely won't explode."
Listening to Herman, Peter felt the world spin.
You have this kind of god-tier technology... and you choose to do THIS? With this battery, you could make phone manufacturers crawl on their knees to call you "Daddy." You could disrupt the entire electric vehicle industry in a weekend. And this guy used it to... rob banks?!
At this moment, Peter really wanted to channel his inner commander, give this man a massive thumbs up, and shout: "You're a goddamn genius!"
If Peter's initial plan had been to "cast a wide net" and see if Shocker could be a useful lackey, that plan had just been completely rewritten.
Looking at the "loser" shivering on the ground in pain and fear, Peter didn't see a criminal. He saw an inexhaustible, golden megamine.
A true talent!
As long as he could keep Herman Schultz and his battery tech firmly in his grasp, the commercial empire Peter had envisioned wouldn't just have a foundation—it would have an unshakeable bedrock.
"Herman Schultz."
After a long silence, Peter finally spoke. His voice was deep, magnetic, and carried a strange, seductive weight.
"Do you really think robbing banks is the only way out for your life?"
Herman froze. He truly hadn't expected this monster—who had just broken his wrist with the cruelty of a demon—to suddenly pivot to life coaching.
After a long pause, Herman spoke with a voice full of bitterness. "I... I had no other choice. I've been to prison five times for theft. No company will hire me. I told them about my tech, but no one believed me. They just thought I was a crackpot."
If there was a choice, if the world hadn't spat on him at every turn, who would want to be a common thief hunted by the feds?
"I believe you," Peter said suddenly.
"I've seen your talent firsthand. And I'm willing to give you a chance—a chance to truly realize your value, so your brilliance is no longer buried in the mud."
In that moment, even the wind in the alleyway seemed to hold its breath. Herman stared up at Peter, feeling his heart hammer against his ribs.
"You... what do you want me to do?" Herman's voice trembled with hope.
Peter stood up slowly, looming over him like a god looking down at a new disciple.
"Simple. Work for me. With your battery tech and a few ideas from my head, we can build a commercial empire that rivals Oscorp, Hammer Industries, or even Stark.
I'll make you rich—wealthier than 99.99% of the people on this planet. You'll be respected. Those who looked down on you will only be fit to kneel and lick the soles of your shoes."
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