Detective Segment Part One

The detective club's admission process was exactly as Jessica had described—besides filling out basic information, applicants also had to solve a cleverly designed mystery. The details of the case were astonishingly rich, with a level of professionalism comparable to a publishable detective novel.

Take the case Peter encountered, for example. I won't go into the specific details of the crime, but the gist was that the victim's stomach was burned through by replacing the granules in a medication capsule with sodium metal. Setting aside the feasibility, just the sheer audacity of the idea was enough to drive an ordinary high school student crazy. There was no way to arrive at the answer without deductive reasoning.

"I'm done."

"Congratulations, Peter Parker, you're officially a member of the detective club." Jessica smiled and pulled out a cardboard box from under her desk. "This is your welcome gift—a deerstalker hat from 221B Baker Street."

The box was piled high with at least twenty hats, dust motes dancing in the sunlight. Peter picked one up and glanced at the tag.

"Made in... Oh!"

"Believe me, even if you went to Baker Street and bought one, the tag in the back would say the same thing."

Peter actually owned a real 221B Baker Street deerstalker hat that Gwen had brought back from London, and its tag did say "Made in England." Still, he didn't want to burst his senior's bubble.

Amadeus finished his deduction shortly after, also receiving a "souvenir." Harry, however, was still racking his brain. Ten minutes later, he suddenly slapped the table.

"I know! The killer used—"

"Shh!" Jessica put a finger to her lips. "You have to write the answer down, no spoilers."

Harry sheepishly handed over his answer sheet. Jessica looked at it and nodded with satisfaction. "The quality of this year's newcomers is really good. All three of you got perfect scores—usually, we just require a passing grade to join."

"Is our club very small? It feels like no one else comes here."

"Not too many, but we do have over twenty members. The thing is, when there aren't any activities, only the duty members are here—usually me. We do take on a few small requests, like if a student lost something, or if someone suspects their boyfriend or girlfriend is cheating and needs proof... These requests don't count towards academic credit."

The ones that did count for credit were, without a doubt, the detective club's activities.

So Amadeus asked the question.

"So, what kind of activities does the detective club usually have?"

Jessica chuckled, picked up a remote from the table, and lowered a screen. The projector cast a pre-made PowerPoint onto it, displaying a bold headline.

[Ultimate Challenge: Find Spider-Man's True Identity!]

"What?!"

"Surprised, aren't you?"

Misinterpreting Peter's shocked reaction, Jessica explained matter-of-factly, "Almost all superheroes have revealed their identities; only Spider-Man is an exception. So, isn't finding Spider-Man's true identity the most important challenge the detective club should tackle? I know it's difficult, but this is what we're here to do!"

Peter began to doubt the wisdom of joining the detective club. He stared at it all with his mouth agape, completely at a loss for words.

Harry, on the other hand, reacted quickly. "Doesn't that mean Spider-Man doesn't want his identity exposed? If that's the case, he'll definitely protect his secret identity."

"And detectives are supposed to seek the truth."

"Wait, won't this infringe on his privacy?"

Although he felt he was hiding his identity well, Peter decided he should say something. Jessica hesitated upon hearing this, then reached a conclusion.

"That's true, but we can't exactly get Spider-Man to come here and stop us."

Peter's eyes went dark as he leaned back, then sat up straight, taking a deep breath and attempting to analyze the situation rationally.

"Okay, even if we're going to investigate, what leads do we have? He swings all over the sky; you can't catch any flaws."

But to this question, Jessica merely smiled faintly.

"Indeed, generally speaking, it's hard for us to get such clues. Currently, the only footage of Spider-Man available on social media is from that incident with the robbers before, and it's very short, making it almost impossible to find anything."

"But—!"

Jessica raised her voice and pressed the remote again. "I have exclusive footage here, and it's probably the earliest known footage of Spider-Man in action."

At this, Peter Parker raised his hand.

"May I ask where you got it?"

"I filmed it myself. I live in Manhattan, and I was caught in the alien invasion. Spider-Man saved me." Jessica tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking a little embarrassed. "Personally, I wanted to find him and thank him. Coincidentally, the school was also very interested in this activity, so as soon as I proposed it, the student council approved it!"

Spider-Man has already received your thanks, senior. Please stop trying to violate Spider-Man's privacy.

Peter suppressed a sigh and watched as Jessica clicked to play the video. The footage began outside the window of an apartment building in Midtown Manhattan. A massive portal tore open in the sky, and the Chitauri army poured out like locusts. The camera shook violently, and Jessica's voice could be heard:

"What is that? Aliens?!"

In the frame, Iron Man, visible only by the trail of his boosters, charged into the enemy horde, followed by a series of explosions blooming in the sky. Peter tried hard to recall what he had been doing during the Battle of New York, but he couldn't remember anything, so he sighed and shrugged.

"So, an entire alien army descended from the sky, shooting everywhere, and all you did, senior, was pull out your phone and start recording."

Fortunately, it was only 2012. If this were 2020, Jessica would probably be live-streaming the whole thing.

Jessica just offered an awkward smile.

"There's no Spider-Man here, let's fast-forward through this part."

The video skipped forward a few minutes. A giant Chitauri beast emerged from the portal, and Chitauri soldiers, dropped from above, stormed into building after building, accurately crashing into Jessica's apartment window. It's unclear how Jessica dodged them while filming, but her phone flew out of her hand and landed perfectly by the wall, the camera still pointed towards the interior of the room.

And Jessica? Oh, the Jessica in the video had already collapsed on the floor, unconscious, without the aliens even firing a shot.

A Chitauri soldier aimed its weapon at the unconscious Jessica, preparing to fire. At the last second, a red and blue blur flashed into the frame, kicking the enemy out of view before also rushing out of the screen. A few seconds later, the Chitauri soldier was sent flying out the window, plummeting from a great height.

"He was right there, when I was injured and lost consciousness, he was right there."

Jessica's eyes lit up as she became immersed in the footage, completely oblivious to Peter's slightly strained expression. The Spider-Man in the video saw Jessica lying on the ground, picked her up, and laid her flat on the floor. He then spread his hands as if in distress, but quickly began performing standard CPR.

Peter wasn't sure if he remembered or not; the day had been too exhausting. But he had voiced his opinion before anyone else.

"Spider-Man has basic medical knowledge. The whole CPR process was standard."

"But he was clumsy, like he only knew the theory," Harry said, surprisingly knowledgeable about CPR for some reason. "He's definitely not from a medical background. Oh, wait, he was bandaging the senior's head. Why didn't he use his web fluid?"

"That's probably because it's inconvenient. See, he has a wristband, which means Spider-Man uses a mechanical device to shoot webs."

Harry listened to Amadeus's explanation and found it unbelievable. "Wait, Spider-Man can't produce webs himself? I thought his webs came from his veins."

Peter sighed helplessly.

"Humans don't have silk-producing organs, Harry. If he produced webs like a spider, he'd shoot them from his abdomen."

Perhaps due to the CPR, Jessica coughed twice unconsciously. Spider-Man then put an arm around Jessica, wrapped them both in webbing, and leaped out the window.

Amadeus shook his head in disbelief.

"He just... held you and jumped from... about how high?"

"The thirty-third floor. He brought me to safety and away from the dangerous battlefield."

"Carrying someone from the thirty-third floor, while considering acceleration... Spider-Man's strength surpasses Captain America's," Amadeus sighed. "It's ridiculous."

"Alright, we're not here to marvel at the strength of superheroes. Did anyone find any clues?"

"His shoes. Even though Spider-Man was in costume, his shoes were a pair of red sneakers. I have the exact same pair."

Peter took the lead in introducing the clue Gwen had found, but he had made shoe covers for himself, which he had already used that day. So, it was an outdated clue.

The group discussed various points scatteredly, and in the end, they reached the same conclusion as Jessica had before: they hadn't found anything conclusive.

As they were finishing their first day of detective work and about to leave, Harry suddenly turned back. "By the way, senior, what's your full name?"

"Jessica Miriam Drew," she said, smiling and waving. "But you can just call me Jessica."

Peter, who was drinking water, almost spat it out. Others might not know what this name represented, but he certainly did.

The original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew.