It was a few days later when Peter was back in the Support Lab working on his web shooters. The fact that it was a Saturday and that he was in school of all places didn't bother him. If he was going to be an effective hero, then he needed to work with the best tech heads. Fortunately for him, they didn't take Saturdays off either.

Professor Foster was loading a few obsolete support items into boxes, later to be scrapped and repurposed. Riri Williams was working on her armor, but gladly took a moment away to help her primary client.

She leaned over his shoulder to examine the damaged tech, "Damn, what'd you do, run 'em over?"

"I wish that's what it was," Peter replied tiredly. "I got my ass kicked by Iron Man, he busted them up in the process..."

Riri whistled, "And you're still breathing? That's a win in and of itself."

"Very true," added Professor Foster, stacking another box of junk at the end of the laboratory. "You kids sure packed a wallop, I haven't fought like that in a while. That kid with the drawings, he caught me by surprise. What was his name again?"

"Kei," replied Peter, dropping the tool he held in exasperation. "Ugh, it's no good. I'm gonna have to start from scratch with these..."

"Just as well, you planned on upgrading them anyhow," put in Riri.

"Yeah, but I didn't finish the specs for the Mark II's yet," Peter sighed. "And the Midterm Exam made me rethink a few things about my shooters. Stuff to add, new ideas, it's hard to make them all work together when I barely have an idea of the concept..."

"Well, going off that wish list you shared with me a while back, I was working on some plans for your web shooters," Riri said.

"Really?" Peter looked up at his fellow science nerd.

"Hey, it's part of my classwork," she shrugged. "And you are my first client."

"She's not kidding," added Professor Foster, coming over with a folder labeled 'P. Parker.' It was filled with notes, sketches, and completed blueprints. "Girl must've come up with eight different variants of those things alone. Pick the one you like best, and we'll see about putting them together."

"Oh wow! Thanks!!" Peter said, taking the folder from the instructor.

"Like I said, it's Support Department's job to make sure you heroes have everything you need," Riri smiled.

"Amen to that," said Professor Foster. He noticed a small box with a few outdated cellphones and a radio, "What're you doing with those?"

"Little side project," replied Peter. "Got an idea for a tracking device I could incorporate into the web shooter. Could save a bit of time if I gotta fall back after taking on a bad guy. Stick this on a villain, get the drop on him later when he's not expecting it."

"Interesting..." The Professor nodded, his fingers around his slightly greying goatee. "But you may not want everything linked to your web shooters. Take what happened in your fight with Iron Man: if they got destroyed again, you'd be out more than one tool. Plus there's a matter of space vs ideal functionality to consider..."

"Good point," Peter noted. "Maybe once I come up with that belt for under the suit, I can add a compartment to hold them..."

"I'll add it to the list!" Riri replied cheerfully, adding notes to one of the pages in front of her. "Oh! I see you wrote something else here, a question mark's next to it: 'Taser Webs'. You looking to make electric webbing?"

"Sort of, it's another idea I had," Peter replied. "I came up with it while I was watching Azari and Kamala fight Vision. I still need to test and see if my web's capable of holding a charge though."

"Right, if you wanted to make a sustained charge, you'll need to have web that's capable of grounding itself onto whatever it connects to," said Riri, thoughtfully.

"If you don't, then you could introduce a grounding agent," added Professor Foster, sitting back and mulling over the concept. "That way, you don't burn yourself or short out your tech."

"Yeah, if the my web fluid needs to be altered, then I want to make it an all-in-one kind of solution," Peter replied, writing out a few notes. "First step is to figure out what else I wanna do with it and develop a complete formula. Otherwise, I'm probably gonna keep coming back to refine it all the time..."

"I didn't say you had to go with it," the Professor shrugged. "Just start with a building block or somethin'. The hadron collider didn't build itself in a day. I've got some old schematics in the database that you can look through, see if that sparks any ideas. No pun intended..."

Peter smiled, "Thanks Professor." The head of the Support Department was certainly different from Mr. Murdock, and even more so Mr. Stark. Bill Foster was a more soft spoken man, who tended to allow his students to grow at their own pace, and only stepped in when it was necessary.

"For now... let's go with this design," Peter singled out one of the blueprints. "Two sets for each hand."

"Why two?" Asked Riri, taking the sheets from Peter.

"That way I can take a set home with me to tinker with," he replied. "If I'm gonna use them with my costume, it'd definitely help to train with them."

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Professor Foster. "The design you chose, while a bit more streamlined than your old one, doesn't have any fancy bells and whistles that would classify them as weapons. Plus they're technically your invention, and fall under the M.A Support Item guidelines."

He took the blueprint and placed it under a scanner, motioning for the boy to come over. Professor Foster pressed a button, and a holographic image emerged of the web shooter.

"Put your hand through, and we'll get them to scale," he said.

Peter nodded, and placed his wrist through the glowing image. Professor Foster raised his hands, as if framing a picture with his fingers, and gradually brought them closer together. The hologram in turn became smaller until it seemed to fit snuggly on Peter's wrist.

"That'll do it," said the Professor. He pressed a few more buttons, powering up one of the large 3D printers. "Should only take a few hours to fabricate," he said. "There's some other parts you'll need that aren't in the lab at the moment. I meant to pick them up, but I've been held up helping Riri with her project."

Peter glanced over to see Riri's armor had taken a more structured, humanoid shape. It now looked reminiscent of an early Iron Man armor, but definitely made to fit someone smaller. And in the left part of the chest, where a power source would later be installed, the image of a heart was carved in.

"You've really made progress," said Peter, impressed with the armor.

"Thanks! I'm calling her 'Iron Heart'!" Riri replied proudly, thinking about her inspiration for the name. "I'm hoping to bring her to the tech expo this summer, maybe earn backing from potential investors."

"Tech Expo?" Peter paused, the realization dawning on him. "You're not talking about-"

"The Yinsen Memorial Technology Conference!" She said excitedly. "Only thing bigger is the Stark Expo, and the next one of those isn't for another 2 years."

"That... brings up a question I've been meaning to ask," the boy began. "Have you ever spoken to Mr. Stark? I mean, he's teaching here, and-"

"Waitwaitwait, talk to Tony Stark??" Riri went rigid, visible sweat beginning to show. "You say that like it's nothing!"

Professor Foster laughed, "Our Riri has a slight case of hero worship for Iron Man."

"It's not that!" She snapped, trying to refrain from blushing. "It's just... Yes, I'm inspired by him and I wanna build suits like he does. But what if he sees what I've made... And thinks it's garbage? That I'm just a cheap, knockoff imitation?"

"I promise you, he'd never think that!" Peter replied.

"How would you know?" Asked Riri, turning to the boy. "A few classes with him lecturing doesn't make you an expert on the man!"

"Listen, I interned with Mr. Stark over the summer," said the boy, attempting to calm her down. "All he talked about was wanting to build up the next generation of heroes. That includes you, Riri."

"Still..." She settled down a little, "I want to prove my own merit before I even think about meeting Mr. Stark. Whether it's making it to the Heroes Course, or creating something amazing that he can't help but say, 'Damn, wish I'd built that'."

"Needless to say," the Professor interjected. "Things are pretty busy around here, but you're always welcome to come by, Peter. I just won't always be able to talk shop, We're backed up on so many requests I haven't been able to pick up my order from GreenTech. Actually, if you'd be willing to run down and grab it, we can get everything done faster."

"Oh sure!" Replied Peter, "You're helping me out, so the least I can do is return the favor."

"Perfect," said Professor Foster, picking up a slip of paper. "Here's the receipt with the order number. The location's at the mall. Tell the guy at the front that Bill sent you, and he'll do the rest. Riri, you go with him."

"What? Why?" She asked. "It's a milk run, he can do it on his own."

"Yes, but I want you to get some fresh air," replied Professor Foster. "You've been cooped up in this lab all day, a little break won't kill you. Grab some lunch or something, it's on me."

Riri grumbled under her breath, not wanting to be distracted from her project. "Don't worry, we won't be gone long," reassured Peter. "And he's right, we've been here for hours and it wouldn't hurt to stretch our legs."

"Ugh, fine..." said the girl.

"Cool, we'll be back, teach!" With that, Peter and Riri walked out of the lab as Professor Foster watched.

"Too bad he didn't join us on the Support Course," he noted. "With the three of us, we could've burned through these requests in no time..."

Over in the run down bar on the other side of town, Hobgoblin sat bored at the counter in one of the stools, eyeing the newcomers with an irritated expression. He'd been interviewing potential recruits all morning and was bored out of his mind.

"Ugh, who'd of thought running a criminal operation would involve so much bureaucracy?" He groaned, as Flint Marko entered the room two men entered the room.

One of them was a man in spiked biker garb, with brown hair and eyes. He had patches of burned skin on his face and hands. A chain made of bones was wrapped around his waist.

The other man wore a black and dark green outfit with a tattered red cloak. Lowering his hood, the space normally reserved for a head was filled by a stitched up pumpkin with triangular eyes and a jagged mouth. An aura of orange flame surrounded his head. Attached to his belt was a sickle head.

The Sandman left the two and took the beer bottle Azazel put out for him. Hobgoblin raised an eyebrow, "I thought your Quirk made it so you don't have to eat or drink?"

Marko shrugged after taking a swig, "I still like the taste."

Hobgoblin looked to Azazel, who was wiping glasses behind the bar, "Now who're those guys again?"

"Allow me to introduce you," the red skinned man motioned first towards the biker. "This one refers to himself simply as 'Vengence'," he said, the man in question stood silently before Hobgoblin.

"Never heard of you," said the villain, unimpressed.

Vengeance narrowed his eyes, "That's the point."

Azazel, looking to avoid conflict, quickly acknowledged the gaudier looking new arrival, "And the other is the aptly named 'Jack-o-Lantern'."

"You I've heard of..." Hobgoblin got off his stool and approached the man in question. "You were Crime Master's apprentice, weren't you? Made quite a name for yourself in Europe."

Jack scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "Well, when you scoop out a few brains and leave candles in place, it tends to start up a reputation!" He held up a sickle blade, "But what can I say? When you love your job, it's never work!"

From his table, Sandman eyed the newcomer suspiciously. "Great, another wacko..." he muttered.

If Hobgoblin heard it, the villain didn't indicate as such. He looked over to Vengeance, "And what is it you do?"

The biker grinned darkly and thumbed towards Jack, "What he does, but more discreetly." As if on cue, he clenched his fists and they became covered in a burst of green flames. Over at his table, Sandman shielded his eyes.

"Hey, hey!! I get the picture!" Shouted Hobgoblin, waving his arms. "Now turn off your Quirk, before you burn the place down and give away our location!!"

Vengeance powered down, extinguishing his flames.

"So, what do you think of these two for potential recruits?" Asked Azazel, wiping another glass.

"I think between these two, you'll have to shut off the smoke detectors," the Sandman put in. "I thought he said he was discreet!"

"Nobody asked you, Sandypants!" Hobgoblin sniped before turning back to the potential recruits. "Now, Jack I get wanting to build his rep for higher paying clients. But why are you here, Mr. Tall, Dark and Mysterious? If you've been all about working from the shadows, why come into the light to join our cause?"

"Let's just say there's someone in Hero Society I want dead," replied the biker. "I figure if I stick with you, there's a better chance of getting the job done. Punisher was right, these heroes get away with everything and operate with reckless abandon. It's time they were brought down a peg."

Hobgoblin rolled his eyes at the mention of the vigilante, "Ugh, why do I keep hearing about that clown? More than half the recruits joined up because of him!"

"Still, his influence has been a boon to your organization," Azazel put in. "Surely you would gain strength in numbers, regardless of motivation?"

While his right hand man had a point, it was still a bitter pill to make the fledgling villain swallow. "This whole day's been nothing but a giant cringe of a headache," Hobgoblin muttered, walking upstairs. "I'm heading out for some air."

"Hartnäckiger junge," Azazel sighed, shaking his head slightly as he went back to work.

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Barber's Chair

• Beginning to add some bits from the MCU Suit, as well as referencing classic tech like the Spider Tracer.

• A few relatively obscure villains introduced. One's a Ghost Rider villain, the other was actually on the original fanart I saw that inspired me to start writing. Naturally, my lineup of villains is a bit different from his so far, but I definitely respect the source material!