4 Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ten hours, that's how long I slept, due to physical and mental fatigue. And if physical fatigue was caused by the fact that I hadn't slept for twenty-four hours, then mental fatigue was caused by the excessive strain of manually calculating the genome unification.

And I probably would have slept even longer if I hadn't been so hungry.

After taking a light shower, I walked into the kitchen, where Aunt May was sitting.

- And Peter, you're finally awake. You were sleeping so soundly that I couldn't wake you up, though I tried several times.

- Oh, I'm sorry, Aunt May. I was up late on the computer, so I didn't get to bed until dawn. - I sat down at the table and started my breakfast.

- Oh Peter, guys at your age should not so load their bodies, after all, you are still growing, and it can affect you badly. - smiled Aunt May.

- Hmm, a couple of sleepless nights won't do any harm. And aren't I a big boy already? - I smiled smugly as I swallowed a spoonful of cereal.

- Yeah, you've grown so much... you were only six years old when your parents were gone and we took you in... you were so small. And now..." she looked at me nostalgically.

- And now, you probably don't have a lot of girls, do you? - Aunt May grinned.

- Well, I've been asked to date a few times, but I've turned them down. - I smiled.

- Hoo, we've got a lady-killer on the rise here. - laughed Aunt May.

- Well, and why did you refuse them? Do you really have someone you like? - she wondered.

- No," I answered without changing my expression.

Aunt May stared at my face as if trying to see something, but finally she looked away.

- Okay, I'll take it as a given that I believe you. It's none of my business who you spend your time with, but if you like someone, it's best not to delay. Or you'll find someone stealing her away before you know it. - Aunt May got up from the table and went into the living room to watch TV.

I finished my breakfast, then washed the dishes and went to my room to figure out how to find the money.

For about thirty minutes I sat there racking my brain, but I couldn't figure out how to find money fast, a lot of money. And it looked like there was only one option left to me, and that was to commit a robbery. And to do it in such a way that they couldn't get on my trail, and most importantly, so that I wouldn't be caught by Gwen, who had been fighting with such people lately.

Of course I wasn't going to rob a bank or a jewelry store. It's too risky, and completely impossible to do alone. My victims were going to be ATM withdrawals. And to break into them, I needed tools. And I don't mean something like a hammer or a crowbar, I needed a compact plasma cutter, because only with it I would be able to break into quite sturdy ATMs, without too much noise and in the shortest possible time. And luckily I had everything I needed to make it.

Pulling out an inconspicuous drawer from under the bed, I opened it and began to look through my belongings.

And in the drawer were a few parts from the Chitauri technology that I had managed to find and stealthily take for myself after their attack on New York had been repulsed. But the most important item in here was the arc reactor.

I got it five years ago when Stark Expo was attacked by a bunch of Hammer Industries drones. They had these reactors built into them. I got it from a destroyed drone that Tony Stark destroyed in front of me.

Having prepared all the materials, I began to solder all the necessary microcircuits and other things to the souvenir Iron Man glove that I bought back then. And now, after three hours of work, I had a lightweight yet handy plasma cutter.

Beside it, I prepared some chemicals, and poured them into flasks to use in case of emergency. Finished with the preparations, I started to wait for Aunt May to fall asleep at night so I could go out to "earn" money.

***

It was two in the morning, it was dark and quiet outside since everyone was already asleep.

I put on dark pants with a dark sweatshirt and then pulled my hat over my head, making a couple holes in it for vision. Grabbing my bag, I opened the window in my room and then made my way out onto the fire escape and started walking towards the ATMs I needed.

I decided to take action five kilometers away from my house, and it took me twenty minutes to get all the way there. And there I was, standing and watching as five ATMs filled with cash stood behind a glass fence.

My heart was racing with excitement, for this was the first time I was going on a crime... a serious crime.....

- Okay, Peter, calm down! This is about getting superpowers, not fun! - I encouraged myself, while giving myself a mental slap in the face.

As I walked across the street, I opened the glass door, and then stood near the ATM and began to put the glove on my hand.

Once it was on my hand, I put my hand against the ATM and began to cut through its steel plate, behind which was the money.

The result of the glove exceeded all my expectations, because its power was so great that after ten seconds a huge piece of steel with a deafening ringing sound, fell on the tiles, opening access to the money.

Without wasting a second, I started putting all the cash into my bag, and I was done with it pretty quickly.

Then it was the turn of the second ATM, the third, the fourth... And only I joyfully started melting the fifth, as my heart sank down, from the voice behind me.

- What are we doing here instead of sleeping? - I heard a woman's voice, in which I immediately recognized Gwen.

Without letting my emotions get the best of me, I slowly slipped my hand into my bag and grabbed the reagent, turning to the girl.

At the same moment I saw a girl in a tight white suit that looked unrealistically sexy, but I wasn't interested in that right now.

- You see, I got a message that the ATMs were malfunctioning here, so I came to fix them. - I grinned nervously, and then looked behind Gwen's back and widened my eyes as if I'd seen something incredible.

Gwen, inexperienced as she was, looked back to check what I had seen, but at that moment I fired a large stream of plasma from my glove, which shattered the glass behind me, and then I threw the reagent flask and started to run.

There was a small explosion sound, and an incredibly bright flash that should blind a spider at night quite well. On top of that, the reagent also had tear gas in it, and that should have helped me escape.

 I didn't look back, and at this pace I ran the whole two kilometers, constantly changing my route and hiding in dark corners. Finally, when I felt safe, I changed my clothes in another dark alley, and then went home... happy.

Fifteen minutes later, I was already in my room counting my catch. It took me half an hour to sort the bills by denomination and count them, and I was finally able to breathe easy, because eighty-five thousand dollars should have been more than enough for me....