Peter knew Shocker was the first supervillain he'd encountered. He never doubted he'd face them after becoming Spider-Man, but he wasn't sure if he was ready.
Today was the day to prove himself!
Spider-Man stood up from the interior wall of Midtown Bank and began to sprint rapidly around the circular bank lobby, forcing Shocker to chase him with vibration waves. Herman, as expected, kept firing, shattering the ornately patterned ceiling. Spider-Man precisely ran behind a marble pillar, and Shocker's vibration wave shattered it.
"You know, Herman? I actually liked that Roman-style pillar."
Spider-Man didn't run towards him; instead, he used a web to slingshot himself directly into a powerful charge, kicking Shocker. Shocker stumbled back two steps, then was immediately met with a heavy, powerful punch to the face from Spider-Man, who had leapt on him.
He swayed but stood straight. Spider-Man looked at his fist, utterly incredulous.
"How could you—"
"Gold titanium alloy, kid." Shocker, having built up energy, punched Spider-Man in the jaw, sending him flying. Mid-air, Spider-Man shot a web that latched onto the broken marble pillar and swung it at Herman.
Shocker took a deep breath, reeled back, and punched. The three to four-ton marble pillar shattered instantly, but in that very moment, a web splatted across his face, blinding him.
"I have a question: if your punches are so strong, and your armor is so tough—"
Spider-Man landed on Shocker's back, his web directly attaching to Shocker's charging fist, pulling it towards his armored face.
"How about punching your own face?!"
The instant the heavy punch connected with Shocker's own face, Spider-Man leapt up. The powerful vibration wave slammed into Shocker's face, sending him stumbling back two steps. Then, he couldn't help but laugh, seeing Spider-Man on the ground.
"My armor can dissipate most of the kinetic energy from impacts, Spidey! Whether it's my own vibration waves or external forces!"
"Fantastic!" Spider-Man's web had already hooked the remaining part of the marble pillar, tearing the entire pillar free and swinging it at Shocker: "Does that mean I can hit you as hard as I want without holding back?"
"Or maybe you should think about how to survive!"
The energy indicator on his gauntlet instantly turned red. Shocker slammed his fists onto the ground, unleashing a violent tremor that shattered all the bank's protective glass and the falling marble. Then, the yellow figure leapt out of the smoke, lunging directly at Spider-Man. Even with his spider-sense, Peter couldn't dodge this time. Shocker pinned him to the ground, raising his fist high.
"Say goodbye, Spider-Man!"
"I usually prefer to say, 'Cheese!'"
Peter simultaneously fired webs from both hands, splattering them across Shocker's faceplate, causing his punch to go wide. Then, Peter kicked up with both legs, sending Shocker directly through the ceiling. He then sprang to his feet with a kip-up, still clutching his throbbing head: "Herman's burst speed is too fast; even with my spider-sense, I didn't react in time. Oh, crap."
He immediately leapt up, performing a spin to dodge. Shocker, along with who-knew-how-many layers of ceiling, crashed down from above, seemingly unharmed, and stood upright.
"You think I'm still some petty thug? I'm as strong as you now, Spider-Man! No, I'm stronger!"
"Quick question, Herman," Peter said, retreating and seizing the opportunity to regain his strength. "I thought you were here to rob the bank again because you were short on cash. But now it looks like you just want to beat me up. Why?"
"I am short on cash, but money is easy to earn with this suit."
"You could earn money easily without this suit. You're smart, talented, creative. You could succeed anywhere."
Herman laughed, genuinely for the first time, simply because he wanted to—he clearly saw that this little bug in front of him truly wanted to persuade him not to be a criminal. He unclenched his fist and waved at Spider-Man: "You're not Black under that suit, are you?"
"Uh..."
"You can afford to go to high school. Even if you have student debt, you can pay it off in this lifetime. I'm different. I might never be able to pay it off, and more importantly, I might not even have had the chance to go to school." Herman didn't walk towards Peter; instead, he distanced himself: "Think about it, Stark, Osborn, Baxter—would they hire someone without even a high school diploma? And a Black man at that?"
"It has nothing to do with skin color! You can help so many people! You... you can prove what a brilliant genius you are right now! Look at your armor, how cool it's designed!"
"Yeah."
Herman nodded again. Just as Peter was about to continue persuading him, Shocker clenched his fist.
"There's only one thing!"
"Since 'Shocker' is going to make me famous! Why should I remain Herman Schultz!"
A direct punch shot towards Spider-Man. Spider-Man dodged with a spin, clinging to another marble pillar, while Herman rushed over and slammed his fist into the pillar.
"Since no one wants to know Herman, let them be shocked!"
Spider-Man, leaping from the marble, had intended to jump behind Herman but was surprised when Shocker also leapt, even higher than him. Then, Shocker directly punched him towards the now-blown-out vault door.
This won't work. I need to find something Herman can't break to counterattack.
He saw the giant vault door that Herman had sent flying. Then, seeing Herman rushing towards him, he directly webbed Shocker's gauntlets, stretching the webs to the ground to temporarily pin him, then stood up while firing more webs.
Shocker tugged twice, found the webs stuck to the ground unusually strong, and then activated his emitters to vibrate the webs away.
"You think your little tricks can—"
"These aren't little tricks, Herman!"
A whistling sound made Herman instinctively focus. The three-meter-high giant vault door, pulled by webs, flew towards him. He intended to raise his fist and punch the vault door away, but there wasn't enough time. The vault door directly slammed into him, sending him flying and crashing onto the lobby floor.
Finally relieved, Spider-Man continuously fired webs, firmly sticking the vault door and Herman, who was pinned beneath it, to the ground. According to the Spider-Man games he played, this method should be enough to deal with Shocker.
"Take a good look at yourself, Herman. With your talent, you don't need to do this," Peter said, panting. "You don't need to become famous this way."
"Then what do I do? Huh? When I first fought you, you even thought I bought that gun."
"I just didn't expect—"
"I know." Herman seemed motionless, just looking at Spider-Man: "You're a good person, unlike those stupid cops who laughed and didn't believe me when they heard I invented a weapon. You're the kind of guy who'd help a kid whose bicycle fell into the subway."
"That was you? That's so lame, dude."
"Want to hear something cool?" Shocker turned his head to the ceiling: "The vault door was a good idea; my fists really can't break through it."
"But the floor is different. Thanks to modern city construction, there's an underground parking lot beneath this building."
"What?!—"
A violent tremor, like a small earthquake, caused the entire bank lobby to collapse. Spider-Man had to leap onto the already riddled ceiling, watching the entire first floor of the bank collapse. Then, that massive vault door flew towards Spider-Man. Spider-Man instinctively dodged, then realized something was very wrong.
That door had flown directly out of the bank building!
"Spider-Man is still engaging Herman Schultz inside. The streets near Midtown Bank have been secured..."
George Stacy was listening to his subordinate's report. The strange noises constantly coming from inside the bank building filled him with worry. Suddenly, a massive roar erupted, and a good portion of the wall was smashed through by the giant, flying vault door, with Spider-Man following closely behind, continuously webbing the vault door.
"Stop! Stop! Stop! Everyone clear out!"
A group of police officers swiftly dodged at the shouted command, but they couldn't prevent the vault door from slicing a police car in half and then slamming into the wall of the building across the street. Spider-Man could only manage to embed it into the second-floor wall of the opposing building.
"What building is that, Chief?"
"...Roxxon Energy Corporation's office building. I'll send someone to check on the situation." A shaken Chief George Stacy looked at the flying vault door: "What's the situation inside?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but Shocker should be coming out now."
"Shocker? You mean Herman?"
Spider-Man, crouched on the vault door impaled in the wall, narrowed his eyes, watching the yellow figure emerge from the bank, and took a deep breath.
"Yeah."