Inside the lab with everything shut down and organized, he gathered the components he needed for two things: the new suit and a specific device he had designed for it.
The first thing he built was a facial concealment mechanism.
It had been used in certain films but only applied to objects.
Adapting it to a person required several modifications, none of which were beyond him.
He produced two units: one for himself and one for the car he intended to buy.
For the suit itself, he created the design first.
The fabric was the same graphene-reinforced material as his current suit, body-hugging and protective against standard rounds.
Once the materials were ready he fed them into the 3D printing unit.
The 3D Box was a machine he had asked to be installed in his lab after noticing Reed's unit.
He had upgraded it with a full-body scanner so that his suits could be produced to perfect tolerances without him building them manually, which saved considerable time.
The scanner also allowed him to scan external materials and objects and replicate them later.
Seeing that the suit would take some time to complete, he left Baxter and walked to the nearest dealership.
The salesman who greeted him was a man somewhere between fifty and sixty with the specific energy of someone who has been selling cars for decades and genuinely enjoys it.
"Hello, young man. Tell me what you are looking for."
"Hello, sir. I am here to buy a Chevrolet."
"A fine choice. Follow me, I will show you our best ones. My name is Stan, by the way. Stan Lee."
"Peter Parker," he said, and followed Stan through the floor.
"Here they are. Take all the time you need, kid."
He nodded and began working through the rows. After nearly fifteen minutes of not finding the right one, he noticed a car in the next row covered with a cloth. He uncovered it.
He stood still for a moment.
There it was.
He found Stan and told him which one he wanted. Stan walked him back to it.
"I would like this one."
"Ah~. The beast. The 2006 Chevrolet Camaro Concept. 3.6 litre V-6. 300 horsepower. Stealthy urban profile. Excellent choice, kid. This car runs around $32,000. If you ask me, it is worth every penny."
"Really. Then I will take it. When can we do the paperwork?"
"Right now, if you have a license."
"Here." He produced it. "I got it a while ago. My uncle still had a car at the time but he sold it afterward. This will be my first time actually using the license."
"Perfect. As they say, better late than never, right? I hope you enjoy the car." Stan started toward the office, then looked back. "Any preferences on color?"
"Black," Peter said, smiling. "I will take it in black."
The paperwork took fifteen minutes. A man with a crane moved the car out of the dealership. When Peter sat in the driver's seat he breathed in the interior air involuntarily.
"Smells like a new car."
He started the engine and heard it. A long, low, mechanical purr that settled into a steady note. He sat with it for a moment before putting it in gear and pulling out into the street.
He drove through the city for a while, enjoying it, and then began working through the remaining items on his list.
Four clothing stores, approached in sequence.
At the first and second he was wearing a cap and a face mask, and the occasional fake cough was sufficient to prevent sustained eye contact from anyone who stared.
The first store provided the upper portion of what he needed.
The second the lower.
The third, shoes, no cap or mask.
The fourth, cap and mask back on, was for the double holster and black belt.
The salesman had questions about those, which were answered by a brief explanation that it was a purchase for his brother, a police officer.
With everything collected, he returned to the car he had parked at a careful distance from each store.
He drove back to Baxter, scanned all the new clothing items into the system for future replication, and began the detailed work of assembly.
The machine handled the suit body efficiently.
The pieces that could not be fabricated by the printer he made manually and assembled himself.
The mask was the part he enjoyed most: the design, the equipment integration, every small improvement he had planned for weeks finally taking physical form.
He also, while driving back to Baxter, had stopped at a grocery store.
The purchase from that stop would serve as a deterrent for what he was about to do next.
The suit was done. The plan was ready. He just had to wait for the right time.
....