It was another beautiful new day. Peter Parker finished a day of school and celebrated the victory at the Detective Agency—the Detective Agency had successfully helped Spider-Man capture Scarecrow, which greatly improved Peter's mood after Aunt May had scolded him all night yesterday.
Then Spider-Man came to Avengers Tower once again. The last ray of sunlight on the horizon reflected a brilliant golden-red glow off the tower's glass curtain wall, as dazzling as his mood at that very moment.
Although his two battles with Scarecrow had pretty much wrecked both of his suits, he could only dig out the parts that were still as intact as possible and wear those over.
"Stop, soldier. One more step and you'll enter the restricted area."
Iron Man deliberately imitated Captain's stern voice. Then his faceplate flipped open, revealing Tony Stark's distinctive face wearing a teasing grin. He smiled and patted Peter on the shoulder. "You know, Captain has always thought you weren't up to it. He thought you were just a kid, that you'd act impulsively and all that. But you proved you did very well, didn't you? The idea of overloading and detonating Scarecrow's weapon was absolutely brilliant."
Peter smiled as well, noticing that Tony Stark was wearing his armor.
"Mr. Stark, does the Avengers have a mission?"
"Oh, right. We need to go to Africa and catch a smuggler named Ulysses Klaue. He has a huge stockpile of Vibranium weapons." Only after saying that did Tony realize Peter might not know who Ulysses Klaue was, so he added, "Captain's shield uses Vibranium. He's supporting a civil war in Wakanda so he can plunder its local resources. We need to bring him back. The Quinjet has already departed."
Peter did know Ulysses Klaue. He was the guy Ultron cut the hand off in the Avengers 2 movie. In the comics, he was also a supervillain called Klaw, and he had appeared in the Black Panther movie as well. His weapon was a Vibranium-powered sonic emitter attached to his severed arm. Peter's verdict: inferior to Scarecrow.
The Avengers were probably not heading there just to arrest a smuggler. It was most likely related to Vibranium and Wakanda, but that was not something he could get involved in.
"Anyway, we'll be away on a business trip, and no one will be home. Which happens to be perfect, because I thought of someone who might be able to help me look after this place." As Tony spoke, he led Peter into Avengers Tower and picked up a card that had long been prepared from the bar counter. "The Avengers protect the world, while a friendly neighborhood hero can protect New York. Your Avengers ID card, kid."
"Is this supposed to mean...?"
"Don't read too much into it, kid. At most, you count as a reserve." Tony laughed. "You still need a few more years of hard work. All right, look after New York while we're gone. With this ID card, you can use all the equipment in Avengers Tower. Oh, right. To keep you from abusing it, you have to swipe your card every time you come in, so we know what you've been doing."
"I understand, Mr. Stark." Peter accepted the ID card and turned it over in his hands several times before making his first request. "Can I use the technology here to make a suit? My current costume, uh, has basically no protective capability, and it's all torn up."
"I told you, kid. You can use all the equipment."
Tony put on his faceplate as he spoke. "If there's anything you don't understand, ask J.A.R.V.I.S. I need to catch up with Captain—"
"Uh, there's one more thing, Mr. Stark."
Tony, whose thrusters had already activated as he prepared to take off, stopped and looked at Peter. "What is it?"
"I met someone. She said she was a prophet who could see my future. She knew my identity, and she had spider abilities similar to mine." To avoid affecting the Avengers' mission, Peter summarized what had happened as concisely as possible. "She said that on the same day I got my spider abilities, someone else got them too. That person is very important, because I'll travel through the multiverse in the future and need that person as a beacon to return."
"Whoa." Even Iron Man froze for a full three seconds as he processed all that. "That really is... unusual. Regardless of whether it's true, if there's a possibility of another Spider-Man, the Avengers will investigate carefully."
Peter actually had a rough idea of who that person was. Someone who had gotten powers from the same spider as Peter Parker—that should have been Silk, Cindy Moon.
But there was a problem. No matter what Cindy Moon was doing right now, she definitely was not a student at Midtown High School. If she had been, Peter would have noticed her long ago. He also had to consider the possibility that it was not her, so after thinking it over, it was better to leave this matter to the Avengers.
Tony Stark's thoughts, meanwhile, were much simpler—half a year had passed, yet there had been no word at all of another person with spider powers?
No need to say more. He just needed to find Nick Fury.
After watching Iron Man leave, Peter put away his Avengers ID card and asked the entire building, "If I want to make a suit, where should I go?"
"The 3D printer is in the fifth-floor laboratory, Mr. Parker."
Peter nodded while muttering to himself.
"For a building where only the top few floors are used to house the Avengers, isn't the fifth floor a little too low?"
"Actually, the Avengers only consider the top five floors to be living quarters, Mr. Parker."
Peter burst out laughing. He needed to test out the new equipment and give his suit a proper upgrade.
"This is your new equipment, Mr. Sneshkov."
Dimitri Sneshkov, code name Chameleon, was a former Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency agent. After stealing disguise equipment from the former Soviet Union, he defected to the United States. Once he had spent all the payment the CIA had given him, he chose to use that disguise technology to work for various underground forces. Now, he had accepted Kingpin's invitation to come to an abandoned warehouse and test the little toy Kingpin had prepared for him.
Dimitri narrowed his eyes and pinched the tiny sphere in his hand, perhaps only three centimeters across, as he looked at Kingpin nearby. "Is this thing really as miraculous as you claim, Mr. Visk?"
"Let one of my employees explain it to you. This is Quentin Beck, formerly Hollywood's finest special effects artist."
Quentin Beck was a timid, skinny man who could not stop nodding, as though agreeing with something. Quentin walked up to Dimitri. After thinking for a long while about how to explain the purpose of the item in his hands, he decided not to explain it at all and simply told him how to use it.
"Press the button in the middle, then throw it on the ground. That's how you use it."
After Dimitri did as instructed, he witnessed a miracle. A lifelike scene appeared before them. The warehouse, which had originally contained only a handful of people, was now filled with countless workers laboring away. No matter what angle they viewed it from, there was no obvious trace of projection.
"This is light-particle distortion technology. It isn't fully developed yet. It can only be programmed in advance and matched to the environment. It still can't be operated anywhere at will..."
Dimitri had no interest in listening to that meaningless scientific nonsense.
"What's the projection range?"
"A sphere with a radius of one hundred meters, but it can only play prearranged images, and it must be deployed within the appropriate area."
That was enough. It was enough to deal with Spider-Man. Within a hundred-meter radius, he could completely disguise himself as Spider-Man and commit all kinds of crimes, ruining Spider-Man's reputation. Sometimes, defeating a superhero did not require actually beating or killing him. Making everyone believe he was a criminal and a villain was another way.
And that was no difficult task for Chameleon. He had long since mastered such methods.
"As long as the right scenario is arranged, I can begin. First, I'll ruin Spider-Man's reputation, then lure him into the trap. What happens next is up to you."
After speaking, Dimitri asked with some interest, "But I still want to ask—have you chosen the location?"
"I'm already looking for a suitable graveyard for Spider-Man."
Kingpin lit a cigar. "I've hired the best detective in all of New York, Mr. MacDonald Gargan. He will choose the most suitable place for Spider-Man to meet his end."
Before you continue