The Detective Club's admission process was exactly as Jessica had described, aside from filling out basic information, applicants also had to solve a carefully designed deduction puzzle. The level of detail in the problems was honestly ridiculous, polished enough that they could have come straight out of a published detective novel.
Take the one Peter got. There was no point repeating every detail of the case, but the basic setup was that the victim's stomach had been burned through, and the method involved replacing the contents of a medicine capsule with sodium metal. Never mind whether it was actually plausible. The sheer leap of imagination alone was enough to make an ordinary high school student lose their mind. Without working backward by elimination, there was no way you were getting that answer.
"I'm done."
"Congratulations, Peter Parker. You're officially a member of the Detective Club."
Jessica smiled and dragged a cardboard box out from under the table.
"Here's your welcome gift. A deerstalker from 221B Baker Street."
There had to be at least twenty hats piled inside the box, with dust floating through the sunlight above them. Peter picked one up and glanced at the tag.
"Made in... oh."
"Trust me, even if you bought one at Baker Street yourself, the tag would probably still say that."
Peter actually did own a real deerstalker Gwen had brought him from London, one genuinely bought near 221B Baker Street, and the label on that one said it had been made in Britain. Still, there was no reason to ruin his upperclassman's mood.
Amadeus solved his case right after him and received the same "welcome gift." Harry was still staring at his paper in deep thought, until ten minutes later when he suddenly slapped the desk.
"I've got it! The killer used..."
"Shh."
Jessica raised a finger.
"You have to write the answer down. No spoilers."
Harry awkwardly handed in his paper. After reading it, Jessica nodded in satisfaction.
"This year's new members are really impressive. All three of you got full marks. Usually you only need a passing score to get in."
"Is the club really that small?" Peter asked. "Feels like barely anyone's here."
"Not tiny, exactly. We've got a little over twenty members. It's just that if there isn't an event going on, usually only the person on duty is here. Most of the time that's me. We do occasionally take requests too. Lost items, people trying to find out whether their boyfriend or girlfriend is cheating, stuff like that. Those don't count for club credit, though."
Anything that counted for credit was, obviously, part of the Detective Club's actual activities.
So Amadeus asked the obvious question.
"So what does the Detective Club usually do?"
Jessica gave a grin, picked up a remote from the desk, and lowered the projection screen. A projector flickered to life, throwing a prepared PowerPoint slide onto it. Across the screen, in huge bold letters, were the words:
Ultimate Challenge: Find Spider-Man's Real Identity!
"What?!"
"Surprised, right?"
Jessica completely misunderstood Peter's reaction and launched right into the explanation.
"Almost every superhero has gone public with their identity. Spider-Man is the only major exception. So finding out who Spider-Man really is, isn't that exactly the kind of mystery the Detective Club should solve? I know it's difficult, but that's what makes it worth doing!"
Peter was beginning to question whether joining this club had been a mistake. He stared at the screen with his mouth slightly open, with absolutely no idea how to respond.
Harry recovered much faster.
"But doesn't that just mean Spider-Man doesn't want people to know who he is? If that's the case, then obviously he's going to protect his secret identity."
"And detectives exist to uncover the truth."
"Hold on, doesn't that cross some privacy lines?"
Even though Peter thought he had hidden himself fairly well, he decided he had to say something. Jessica hesitated for a second after hearing that, then reached her conclusion.
"That's true, but it's not like Spider-Man can come here and stop us."
Peter nearly blacked out. He leaned back, sat up again, took a deep breath, and tried to approach the whole thing rationally.
"Okay. Even if we are going to investigate him, what actual clues do we have? He swings around overhead all day. It's not like he leaves obvious openings."
But Jessica just smiled.
"Normally, no, there really aren't many clues. At the moment, the only footage of Spider-Man anyone can really find on social media is that short clip of him stopping those robbers, and it's too brief to get much out of."
Then she lifted the remote again.
"But!"
Jessica raised her voice dramatically and clicked to the next slide.
"I have exclusive material. And as far as I know, it's the earliest recorded footage of Spider-Man in action."
So Peter Parker raised his hand.
"Can I ask where you got it?"
"I filmed it myself. My apartment's in Manhattan, and the alien invasion hit our building. Spider-Man saved me." Jessica awkwardly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Honestly, I wanted to find him just to thank him. And once I suggested this project, the school got really interested in it too. The student council approved it right away."
Spider-Man has already gotten your thanks, Jessica, so maybe stop digging into his private life.
Peter kept that thought to himself and watched as Jessica started the video.
It began outside an apartment in Midtown Manhattan. A huge portal had torn open in the sky, and Chitauri forces were pouring out of it like locusts. The image shook violently, and Jessica's voice could be heard from behind the camera.
"What is that? Aliens?!"
In the footage, Iron Man was only visible as a streak of thruster light shooting toward the enemy swarm, followed by repeated bursts of explosions in the air. Peter tried to remember what exactly he himself had been doing during the Battle of New York, but honestly, he came up blank. So he just sighed and spread his hands.
"So an entire alien army drops out of the sky and starts shooting everywhere, and your first instinct is to pull out your phone and start recording."
Thankfully, she had only started recording.
Jessica just gave an embarrassed smile.
"Spider-Man isn't in this part. Let's skip ahead."
The footage jumped forward a few minutes. A massive Chitauri leviathan was emerging through the portal, and Chitauri soldiers were pouring off it into building after building. A group of them crashed straight through Jessica's apartment window. How she managed to dodge them while filming was anyone's guess, but her phone flew across the room and landed perfectly against the wall, its camera still aimed at the apartment.
And where was Jessica?
Oh. Right there in the video, unconscious on the floor. The aliens had not even needed to shoot her.
One of the Chitauri raised a weapon and aimed it at the unconscious Jessica.
At the last possible second, a red-and-blue blur shot into frame, kicked the alien out of sight, then vanished offscreen just as fast. A few seconds later, the Chitauri soldier came flying back into view and sailed straight out the window, disappearing into the open air far below.
"He was right there," Jessica said, her eyes lighting up as she got lost in the memory. "Right there when I was injured and blacking out."
She was so focused on the scene that she completely missed the slightly pained expression on Peter's face.
In the video, Spider-Man saw Jessica on the floor and carried her over to lay her flat. Then he hesitated with both hands spread for a second, clearly unsure what to do, before starting CPR in a standard, textbook sequence.
Peter honestly couldn't tell whether he remembered this or not. That entire day had been a blur of exhaustion. Still, he got his point in before anyone else could.
"Spider-Man has basic medical training. The CPR procedure is completely standard."
"But awkward," Harry said, for some reason sounding surprisingly familiar with CPR himself. "Like somebody who only learned the basics. Definitely not a medical professional. Oh, wait, he's bandaging her head now. Why isn't he using webbing?"
"Because it wouldn't help there. Look, he's got something like a wrist device on. That means the webs are being fired mechanically," Amadeus explained.
Harry turned to him in disbelief.
"Wait, Spider-Man can't just shoot webs naturally? I thought they came out from the vein area or something."
Peter sighed helplessly.
"Humans don't have silk-producing organs, Harry. If he worked like an actual spider, the webs would come out of his abdomen."
Because of the CPR, Jessica coughed weakly while still half-conscious. Spider-Man immediately pulled her against him with one arm, webbed her securely to himself, and jumped straight out the window.
Amadeus shook his head in disbelief.
"He just... held onto you and jumped from... how high up was that, exactly?"
"Thirty-three floors. He got me out of there and left me somewhere safe, away from the battle."
"Carrying another person, from thirty-three floors up, while also managing the acceleration involved..." Amadeus let out a breath. "Spider-Man is physically stronger than Captain America. That's absurd."
"Okay, let's not turn this into a superhero appreciation session. Did anybody spot any actual clues?"
"Shoes. Even with the suit on, Spider-Man was wearing a pair of red sneakers. I own the exact same pair."
Peter volunteered the same point Gwen had already noticed before, but it no longer mattered. He had already made a shoe cover for himself and used it when going out today, so that clue was outdated now.
The four of them threw out scattered observations for a while, but in the end they reached the same conclusion Jessica had already reached before.
Nothing useful.
And just as they were wrapping up the first official Detective Club session and heading out, Harry suddenly turned back around.
"By the way, Jessica, what's your full name?"
"Jessica Miriam Drew." She smiled and waved. "But just call me Jessica."
Peter nearly sprayed water across the room.
Nobody else seemed to understand the significance of that name.
But he definitely did.
Jessica Drew.
Spider-Woman.
(End of Chapter)
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