The clock showed twelve and seven minutes past midnight, and the city was asleep under the dim light of street lamps, while some cold breezes slipped through a small open window in a back room inside Felicia Hardy's apartment.
The room was not spacious, but Felicia had made an effort to turn it into a small workshop for Peter.
Between walls covered with sticky notes and hastily drawn diagrams, Peter Parker sat on a metal chair, hunched over a cluttered table.
His fingers moved precisely among fine wires and tiny sensors, and his tired eyes still resisted sleep.
Before him, on a piece of black cloth, was the small electronic bracelet he had been working on for days.
He hadn't given it a fancy name. Just "NanoPulse." A simple-looking device, but it might hold the potential to change everything.
Its size did not exceed a wristwatch, yet it could send miniature electromagnetic pulses to the brain to stimulate focus and attention, without stimulants or chemical interference.
Peter whispered as he reconnected one of the connectors: "The idea isn't complicated... if I can tune the frequencies precisely enough, I can stimulate the brain's prefrontal cortex without causing neural stress. Focus. Mental clarity. Even problem-solving ability..."
He was talking to himself as scientists do when alone facing the world.
He wasn't speaking just with scientific enthusiasm, but with something deeper, more real. The responsibility weighing on his heart lately wasn't just a moral burden.
It was a genuine commitment to another person.
His eyes fell on a small photo pinned beside the computer screen — a picture of Lia.
That girl who had become something like family, or maybe more. He didn't express it much, but inside it was clear: he wouldn't let her live again what she was now trying to escape.
No tents, no hunger, no pitying looks, no fear of tomorrow.
He said to himself as if making a final promise: "She won't go back there. She'll never feel like no one cares."
The door suddenly opened, and Felicia slipped in like a cat. She was wearing a simple black nightgown, but she wasn't trying to seduce him tonight.
Her gaze was different, inspecting, as if trying to understand why Peter looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She said, "How long have you been awake?"
He answered without looking back: "For hours... lost count. But it works. I think I succeeded."
She approached, gently placed her hand on his shoulder, then looked at the device before him. "I hope you don't burn yourself out before saving the world."
He smiled with light sarcasm: "This time I'm not trying to save the world. Just one girl... and a broken version of me."
She sat before him, legs folded, contemplating his exhausted features, but his eyes burning bright. She said, "Lia?"
He nodded slowly, then said, "She doesn't know, but she's the reason. All this is so I can see her sleep without fear, open a book without wondering if she'll eat tomorrow.
I want to give her everything I couldn't give anyone. A home. Safety. A new beginning."
It was the first time he said it out loud. He wanted money. Not to get rich, but to give Lia something simple: a warm bed, steady education, a meal without worry. That small dream that many were denied.
He continued working silently for a few minutes, then breathed deeply and placed the bracelet around his wrist. He pressed the side button.
A soft blue flash appeared on the device, then he felt a strange flow inside him. It wasn't painful.
It was like a cold breath on a busy morning. His mind began to clear from chaos, and his thoughts started organizing themselves automatically.
He looked at the screen in front of him and started writing equations faster. The old notes that once seemed obscure became clear now.
Frequencies, stimulation levels, brain areas—all took understandable, logical, interconnected forms.
He laughed shortly and said, "I... really made it."
Felicia came closer, looking at him more seriously than ever. "Do you feel anything?"
He answered calmly, without taking his eyes off the screen: "I feel like myself. Not Peter Spiderman, nor Peter lost between jobs, just... me. A clear mind. A clear direction. No confusion. No fear."
She took the device from him, examined it in her hands and said, "This isn't a small project, Parker. This is a weapon. For focus. For clarity. Companies will pay more than you imagine. But you... don't want to sell the idea, right?"
He shook his head lightly. "I want to build it with my own hands. I want to know I did this, not for fame or profit, but because I promised myself that Lia will need no one but me."
He opened a new notebook and wrote on it
NanoPulse – Version One.
Purpose: Stimulate mental performance without chemical intervention.
First user: P.P.
Motivation: Lia.
Then he closed the notebook and leaned his head back.
At that moment, he wasn't a superhero in the room. Just a tired young man, a genius, trying to save the future of one person... so the past wouldn't repeat itself again.
-END OF CHAPTER-
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Wait until 2026