It had been three days since Peter returned to New York, and just as Strange had said, there wasn't a single trace of Mephisto plotting any schemes.
This, in itself, felt especially like one of Mephisto's schemes.
But life had to go on. When the school bell rang, Peter slung his backpack over his shoulder, ready to leave. He turned to Harry and Amadeus, adding, "I've got a bit of a situation to handle, so you guys might not be able to reach me for a while."
"Oh, wait, did something happen? I'll go to the Web Base right now and get things ready."
Harry immediately started grabbing his own backpack, preparing to set out, but Peter stopped him on the spot. "No, no, no, it's nothing like that. I'm planning to head over to F.E.A.S.T. to help out today. Though now that I think about it, if you guys want to come along and lend a hand, that would actually be—"
"I've got somewhere to be, gotta run!"
Harry bolted before Peter could even finish, backpack in hand. Peter shook his head helplessly and looked at Amadeus. Amadeus adjusted his glasses and said, "Sorry, but I have a few experiments to run at the Baxter Building. I need to get going too."
"Alright then."
Watching his two friends leave, Peter let out a helpless sigh and prepared to head out. Beside him, Cindy stood up and asked, "Do you need my help?"
"Oh, no, it's just me and them... wait, don't you have things to take care of?"
"Nope, I've got nothing going on today."
Peter hesitated for a brief moment before nodding. "Alright, Aunt May will definitely be happy to have an extra pair of hands. Let's meet at the school gates."
Peter said a temporary goodbye to Cindy and walked over to his locker. He unlocked the combination pad, pulled his things out, and was just about to leave when Gwen ran over, catching up to him. "Peter, do you have some time today?"
"Is there something urgent?"
"Not exactly. I was just thinking... if you're not busy, how about we go on patrol together? Just the two of us."
Gwen watched Peter closely after asking. Peter looked a bit conflicted. "I already promised Aunt May that I'd go help her out today..."
"Oh, okay, then I'll just go by my—wait, I remember Felicia used to help out at F.E.A.S.T. too, right? Is she going to be there today?"
"I don't know."
Peter wavered on whether he should tell Gwen that Cindy was coming. But during that split-second hesitation, he felt like bringing it up might invite a lot of trouble, so he kept quiet.
However, Gwen had already made a critical executive decision.
"Since Aunt May said F.E.A.S.T. needs help, I might as well go and help out too!"
"..."
Peter opened his mouth to speak but hesitated, finally muttering, "I actually asked Harry and Amadeus to help out earlier..."
"Did they say yes? That's fine too."
"No, they turned me down..."
"Oh, so aren't they still short-staffed?"
"So Cindy told me she could come help..."
Silence fell between the two of them for a brief moment. Then, Gwen offered a smile. "That's fine too. The more the merrier. Speaking of which, this is probably Moon's first time at F.E.A.S.T., right? I happen to be pretty familiar with the place, so I can show her around a bit."
Peter thought for a long moment about how to respond to that, and in the end, there was only one reply he could give.
"...Thanks, I appreciate it."
"Ah, it's you guys. Are you all here to help?"
The person who least needed to be here at this moment appeared right before them. Wearing an apron and insulated oven mitts, Felicia held a baking sheet full of freshly baked cookies, looking at the incoming trio with a smile.
Peter, Gwen, and Cindy.
Peter wanted to let out a long, heavy sigh, but he didn't quite dare to, so he held it in. He just looked at Felicia with an innocent expression. "You're here to help too, Felicia?"
"Yeah, Ms. May sent me a message saying F.E.A.S.T. might be short-handed today and asked if I could come over. So I agreed."
This really has nothing to do with me.
Peter muttered to himself as he started getting to work. He first showed Gwen and Cindy where the women's changing room was, then headed to the men's changing room to put on his F.E.A.S.T. volunteer vest before walking out.
Peter stepped into the main hall first. He visited F.E.A.S.T. quite often, so he immediately noticed that the number of temporary cots had increased.
What was even more shocking was the front desk. The reception at F.E.A.S.T. was responsible for helping the homeless find affordable housing and employment services. Usually, the unhoused population rarely utilized these two services, but right now, long queues were formed in front of all three reception desks.
Peter carried a tray of cookies over to Aunt May, who was currently chatting with the elderly residents of the shelter. He glanced at one of the elderly women. "Is that Ms. Shuri? She's back again?"
"Her pension isn't enough, and more importantly, she doesn't want to trouble her daughter. Her daughter lives with her husband, and both of them work to support the family. She's worried that moving in would just add to their burden."
Aunt May spoke as she took the tray from Peter's hands. "Miss Hardy's baked cookies? Everyone loves her treats, and she's incredibly efficient. She bakes them so fast."
"You seem to really like her, Aunt May."
"I do like her. She's beautiful, well-spoken, and most importantly, she has a good heart. Her family is definitely wealthy, yet she's willing to come to a place like this to help those who are down on their luck."
As Aunt May distributed the cookies, she couldn't help but sigh. "It's just such a shame."
"A shame about what?"
"An excellent girl like her would definitely never look twice at you. Our family just isn't in her league."
...
So what exactly are you feeling sorry about, Aunt May?
Peter shook his head helplessly, changing the subject to ask about another matter. "Why are there suddenly so many more homeless people? And why are so many people looking for work?"
Aunt May gave Peter a strange look. "I thought you would know better than I do. You really don't know?"
"...Could it be the corporate war between Roxxon and Stark?"
"That's only one part of it. Quite a few power companies were acquired by both sides and then downsized. But those companies didn't have that many employees to begin with, and the laid-off workers could usually get by for a few months."
Aunt May shook her head as she continued, "But then things went wrong with Stark Industries' products. After that, so many people who bought Stark Industries stock lost everything or went bankrupt, leaving a massive number of people homeless."
Aunt May sighed. It wasn't just F.E.A.S.T.—the charity organizations run by Kingpin, as well as various other shelters, were basically overflowing right now.
Almost no one had been spared from the fallout.