"Okay. Tomorrow I have to go to school with Gwen. If nothing happens on the way, fine. But if something does happen and I have to leave in the middle of it, there's no way I'll be able to keep my identity hidden from her."
It was already past ten at night when Peter finally slipped out of the house. His web lines traced silver arcs through the darkness over Queens as he swung toward Manhattan like a shadow. Avengers Tower stood in the dark, with only a few windows still lit. J.A.R.V.I.S. had already opened the door for him. Peter landed lightly and, out of habit, brushed nonexistent dust off his suit.
"Good evening, J.A.R.V.I.S. How's the Avengers' mission going?"
[After the Quinjet entered Wakandan airspace, all outside communications were cut off. The only recorded data transmission originated inside the Wakandan royal palace.]
So that probably meant nothing was wrong. The Avengers had made it into the palace, and the loss of contact was probably just because of Wakanda's security protocols. Once Peter had the rough idea, he stopped worrying about the Avengers and turned to the two things that actually mattered right now.
First, was the new impersonator the escaped Chameleon, or just Mysterio working alone?
Second, why had Carl been following him? Had he noticed something?
"Let's start with the easy one. J.A.R.V.I.S., compare the face of Midtown High freshman Carl King against every known camera feed in New York. I want to know what exactly he knows."
J.A.R.V.I.S. quickly pulled up the first piece of information Peter needed from various media camera feeds. On the night Spider-Man fought the Shocker, Carl had appeared at the scene and, after the battle ended, had wandered around the area looking at things.
After that, there didn't seem to be much else.
Peter then had J.A.R.V.I.S. compare all the footage where he himself had appeared, using ten-minute blocks from the same camera as the frame of reference. Unsurprisingly, every relevant clip pointed back to things that happened at Midtown High.
At first glance, there didn't seem to be a problem.
Then Peter's eyes sharpened.
He found the clip he needed.
It was from the night he had gone to the school lab to make the upgraded web fluid. Carl had gone in afterward, probably found the webbing before it had fully degraded, and since Carl had been the one who put the spider on Peter's neck in the first place, he had started getting suspicious.
Even then, there was no reason for him to be this paranoid.
"Unless he's worried I'll get back at him. Fine, Carl. Then I guess you'll just have to figure out on your own that I'm not going to do anything to you. Until then, enjoy being scared."
Peter, who had absolutely no knowledge of a certain spider-related villain, set Carl aside and had J.A.R.V.I.S. pull up information on the Chameleon instead.
Neither J.A.R.V.I.S. nor the NYPD disappointed him.
The Chameleon had escaped again.
Some dirty cop had let him out, and he had gotten away. There had also been one unusual development along the way. Frank Castle, the Punisher, had attempted to kill the Chameleon, but had targeted the wrong person. The Chameleon had already slipped away, and his current location was unknown.
"The Punisher? He's been hunting the Chameleon for a while?"
[According to available records, Frank Castle has launched more than five operations against Dmitri Smerdyakov. All failed.]
"Can you find out why? No? Okay."
After sorting through the available leads, Peter more or less pieced together the shape of what was happening.
First, the Chameleon was working with Mysterio, and Mysterio's equipment had come from the things the Shocker stole. To cover the Shocker's thefts, someone had organized a wave of distraction bank robberies across the city.
And now Mysterio and the Chameleon had worked together to smear Spider-Man's name. That meant there had to be someone behind them calling the shots, someone who wanted Spider-Man dealt with. Whether that meant killing him outright or ruining his reputation didn't matter. As for why, after mentally reviewing everything Spider-Man had done up to now, Peter could only come to one conclusion.
The mastermind had to be the one buying up all those Chitauri parts in New York, converting them into weapons, and selling them. After all, most of what Spider-Man had been doing for months was dealing with smugglers and crooks carrying around high-tech alien weapons.
Who could it be?
Kingpin? Hammerhead? Tombstone?
There were plenty of crime bosses in New York. It really wasn't possible to narrow it down yet.
But no matter who it was, the Chameleon's purpose was obvious.
He was there to get Spider-Man killed.
"But the Punisher's after him. If the Chameleon keeps smearing Spider-Man's name, then the Punisher will figure out he's a fake. Which means he has no choice but to keep acting like me and doing what a superhero is supposed to do. That's actually kind of hilarious."
And the Chameleon that was currently showing up around the city was absolutely a trap. Peter still couldn't say exactly what kind of trap it was. Maybe it was a pile of hired muscle. Maybe a bomb setup. Maybe the mastermind had brought in some real supervillain who was actually good in a fight. But one thing was certain.
If Peter went after him, he'd be walking straight into that trap.
The trap might not actually work on him, but...
Why did he have to walk into it at all?
Wasn't that what the Punisher was for?
"I need to talk to the Punisher. He's definitely keeping a close eye on every Spider-Man sighting. I should be able to find him pretty easily... as long as he doesn't start shooting at me. He can't be that extreme, right?"
Peter was sure of one thing. A man who had hunted the Chameleon this long had to know a lot about him. What Peter still needed to confirm was whether the Chameleon really was beyond saving, or whether, like Herman, he was still something other than a lost cause deep down.
"Okay, here's my conclusion. Spider-Man is probably a student. High school or college, something like that. High school is more likely."
As a detective, Mac Gargan might have been a lousy human being, but his professional instincts were unquestionably sharp. After organizing all his findings, he looked toward his two temporary partners and Kingpin.
Kingpin was seated in a heavy carved wooden armchair and was sitting on it barely seeming to need more than half the chair, smiling mildly as he motioned for Gargan to continue.
"Right. Here's the breakdown of his activity windows. It's obvious that Spider-Man behaves differently on school days and holidays, and there's a very clear pattern on weekdays. He rarely appears between eight in the morning and three in the afternoon. That's not a work schedule. It has to be school. I cross-checked every school timetable in Manhattan and found seven schools that fit."
"Excellent work, Mr. Gargan."
Kingpin took the A4 sheet listing the seven schools from Gargan, scanned it once, then handed it to the Prowler standing beside him with obvious satisfaction.
"If we fail to deal with Spider-Man quickly, this list may become useful. But for now, let's focus on how to eliminate him directly. I've already prepared the site. An entire building under construction, not owned by Fisk Group. We've filled it with enough explosives to kill any living thing inside. And if the blast doesn't finish Spider-Man, the collapsing rubble will bury him."
"All we need now is the right timing. Once Spider-Man makes a move and notices us, we can lure him into the trap."
Kingpin raised his hand as though a tiny invisible spider were standing in his palm.
Then he slowly closed his fist.
"And then, once and for all, Spider-Man dies."
(End of Chapter)
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