Chapter 93: Raising the Little Spider

The jabbermouth side effect Luke had picked up from secretly studying Spider-Sense lasted a full two days.

On the morning of the third day, when he woke up, he was delighted to find that every symptom had vanished.

Those two days had worried him to no end. Thankfully, it had only been a temporary side effect, and he had not turned into a chatterbox for good.

Once he was back to normal, Luke actually did not feel like talking much at all.

A brand-new day had begun.

In the morning, Skye moved in several laptops and pieces of equipment and spent the whole morning busily assembling them. She seemed intent on making the warehouse her permanent home.

Skye was learning new technology.

From the perspective of an artificial intelligence, Christina only needed to point out a few simple technical concepts to become a hacker’s bible.

Skye absorbed those technologies she had never even heard of before like a sponge. Lately, the word she used most often was: awesome.

This large warehouse of about two hundred square meters had two floors. Skye had set up a little nest on the upper level, while the lower level served as a mecha workshop, crammed everywhere with all kinds of instruments and equipment.

When Luke came in, he saw that besides Skye, there was also a little runt in a white snowman outfit, running back and forth.

The one wearing the snowman suit was Christina.

Before her outer shell was finished, she could only put something else over her alloy skeleton. After asking Luke for permission, Luke thought about it and took out the snowman suit he had gotten from his Magic Box and gave it to her.

At one point three feet and three inches tall, the snowman looked exactly like a female mage from Dungeon Fighter Online brought to life in the real world: all white from head to toe, round-bodied, wearing a red scarf, with a pointed nose, short stature, stubby little legs, and an adorably bouncy run.

“Good morning, Master! Coffee? Or tea? Or me?” Snowman Christina came trotting over with a cup of hot milk in both hands, asking sweetly.

Upstairs, Skye lifted her head from the laptop screen and glanced down at the two of them, then shook her head with a strange expression on her face.

Before long, Luke had not even finished his usual morning milk when Peter Parker arrived as well, running into the warehouse on his short little legs.

Today was Saturday, and Luke had called the little spider over to officially begin his training.

Skye looked down from the second floor and thought to herself that there were already three short little legs here.

Peter Parker looked unusually excited. He had barely slept all night after hearing that Luke would train him today. He had suffered from insomnia, and yet the moment he got up that morning, his energy was still boundless.

Luke called Skye downstairs so she could get acquainted with the little spider first.

When Peter Parker saw Skye, his eyes lit up, and he asked curiously, “Ma’am, are you of Chinese descent?”

Skye’s features clearly bore Chinese ancestry.

“Half, I guess.” Skye smiled and nodded.

Peter Parker was delighted. He immediately said to Skye, “Holy crap, ma’am!”

Skye stared in dumbfounded silence. “What the hell?” She turned to Luke with widened eyes. “You taught him that?”

Luke: “Mm-hm.”

Skye knew a few simple phrases in Chinese. While investigating her own background, she had taught herself some for a while.

Like most people, the first things she had learned to say in a new language were either hello or swear words.

She knew that phrase too.

While the little spider was busy ingratiating himself with Snowman Christina, Skye leaned over and whispered to Luke, “Why did you teach him that? It’s not great for a child to swear.”

“He still thinks it means ‘hello’ from you.”

“...”

Skye’s mouth fell open. Then she nearly laughed out loud. She felt that Luke was far too wicked.

“Let me introduce you. Lab Member No. 003, Peter Parker. Lab Member No. 004, Skye. From now on, you’re all mine, so no need to be formal,” Luke said.

Why not count Lotuses? Because this organization did not accept animals.

“So you’re 003? Nice to meet you.” Skye held out her hand and smiled as she shook the little spider’s tiny hand.

“Holy crap, holy crap. My name is Peter Benjamin Parker. You can call me Peter or Parker. Luke and I are good buddies, we’ve known each other for a long time. Nice to meet you, ma’am. You’re gorgeous.”

Skye smiled. “Thank you.”

Peter Parker glanced at Luke with a questioning look.

Luke nodded.

So Peter Parker took a small step back and jumped straight up on the spot.

Skye’s mouth dropped open at once, her face full of disbelief.

Peter Parker actually sprang from the ground straight up to the second floor right in front of her, even doing a somersault in midair.

The little spider grabbed the railing on the second floor and waved at them excitedly.

“Pretty good, right?” Luke asked, standing beside Skye and looking up at the excited little spider.

“No wonder you said your organization only takes talented people. He’s still this young, and he already has superpowers?” Skye was astonished. She clicked her tongue and said, “I’ll admit it. That is really cool.”

She was a fan of superpowers and had always yearned for this world.

Now that world had been revealed to her by two children, one after the other.

If Christina was included, then it was three children.

“I plan to train him here and teach him a few things. Once he can use his abilities with ease, I’ll send him out to crack down on New York’s underground crime.”

“Fight crime as a child? Are you joking?” Skye said in surprise.

Luke shrugged, too lazy to explain.

He was confident he could teach Peter Parker to grow quickly.

Kingpin ought to feel honored: he was going to meet Spider-Man so many years early.

The entire Saturday was devoted to training the little spider in controlling his abilities.

No one in this world understood Spider-Man’s potential better than Luke did. In fact, he understood it even better than Peter Parker himself. That made Peter Parker increasingly trusting of Luke, beyond all his surprise.

Though Peter Parker was still young, his genes were no different from those of the future Spider-Man. What he lacked was only experience, technique, and equipment.

Luke prepared a deluxe package for the little spider.

The Little Spider Plan: have Christina design an all-purpose battle suit for Peter Parker.

In the movie, the little spider had first cobbled together a ridiculous homemade outfit, low-budget to an almost admirable degree, and Tony had laughed at him for it. Afterward, Tony personally designed a suit and gave it to him.

Later still, Tony even built him a far more advanced Iron Spider armor.

Luke, having seen the film, felt that Tony was basically raising Peter Parker like a son.

Tony undoubtedly admired Peter Parker, but that plot would not happen here. The little spider had been snatched up eight years early, and he would not be joining the Avengers either.

Luke would raise him from the very beginning with his own hands and make Peter Parker into the core strength of the organization that had yet to be founded, and did not even have a name yet.

Naturally, Luke would not shortchange the little spider. Whatever Tony could give him, Luke would give him something better. Whatever Tony refused to give, Luke would still give him in the future.

Luke directly took out the blueprints for the aerial battle mech Gale and handed them to Christina for modification.

Combining them with the Mark Six blueprints she had “borrowed” from J.A.R.V.I.S., Christina was now custom-building a compact Iron suit for Peter Parker. The rest was just a matter of time.

For the core technology, they would use Heaven Realm technology. For the engineering design, they would draw on the Mark Six. The paint scheme would be red and blue, in a spider motif. Those were the requirements Luke had given her.

Christina estimated that the Little Spider Plan could be completed in as little as twenty days.

After all, he had made it clear from the beginning: if the little spider followed him, he would have the best of everything, food and drink included, battle suits when he wanted battle suits, and girls when he wanted girls.

“Now the battle suit is almost ready. We’re only missing a girl.”

Luke stroked his chin as he recalled it. Peter Parker’s original partner seemed to be named Jane something.

On the other side, the Inhuman princess and the tutor were thirty seconds away from the battlefield...