At Avengers Tower

Spider-Man led The Punisher into the base of Avengers Tower, then proceeded to the main elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.

As a guest, The Punisher hadn't brought many weapons, only seven or eight guns and a dozen explosives to Avengers Tower. However, J.A.R.V.I.S. was clearly experienced and calmly welcomed them in the elevator.

"Greetings, Mr. Spider-Man, Mr. Castle. Welcome to Avengers Tower."

"Avengers Tower, Stark's playground. I never thought I'd end up here," The Punisher muttered, unsure if he was being self-deprecating or mocking Iron Man. Peter nodded under his mask, "Yeah, I heard this elevator hasn't been used in ages. The last time was when the construction workers were bringing up materials..."

"Actually, most of the Avengers use this elevator to go upstairs."

Peter shrugged, "I usually just swing straight to the roof, so I've only heard about it."

The Punisher glanced at Spider-Man, who crossed his arms in front of him and fell silent. After the elevator had traveled up a few floors, he couldn't help but speak again, "When you ride elevators, do you ever feel unsafe, like it might just fall at any moment—"

"Shut up."

"I'm just a little nervous, huff." The little Spider-Man let out a long breath, "Just two people, sitting in an elevator for a minute or two, saying nothing."

"Could you please just be quiet?"

"Sorry."

Peter fell silent, but he remembered something that happened during their recent fight and was about to speak when he saw The Punisher slightly turn his head, his silent gaze fixed on him. Peter closed his mouth.

I'll ask later.

The elevator finally opened on the top five floors of Avengers Tower. As Peter walked out, he skillfully instructed J.A.R.V.I.S., "J.A.R.V.I.S., help me search for recent disappearances. Even if Carl can mimic humans, he still has to follow the law of conservation of mass—though many people seem to defy that rule. He still needs to devour others to replenish his spider swarm."

"It's no use. This city is full of homeless people and addicts no one cares about. Your spider friend can easily fill his stomach."

The Punisher said this as he retrieved a bottle of whiskey from under the bar, opened it, and poured himself a drink, "As long as he wants to hide, he can hide anytime."

"From what I know of Carl, he won't give up that easily. He might not be able to deal with me directly, but he'll go after the people around me. Luckily, my family is out of town, and he doesn't know where I live. My only option is to go find my friends at school tomorrow morning."

Frank's whiskey paused before reaching his lips. He stopped for a moment, then set the drink down and walked towards Spider-Man, "What's your deal?"

"?"

"A student? Maybe not even college, high school? You... you just swing around the city in that outfit, fighting guys with guns, fine. And that guy you beat up earlier, Scarecrow, Chameleon, and now this guy. What are you doing?"

"...Trying to be a friendly neighborhood hero, helping people out, that sort of thing."

"Is that so?" Frank didn't plan to ask any more questions. He took his drink and sat down on one of the Avengers' sofas, "So how are you going to deal with this friend of yours, with your mouth?"

Not with his mouth, of course. Peter took out the only spider corpse that hadn't been incinerated after the fight.

"An animal's body structure dictates its mode of operation. Carl's mind has to control so many spiders simultaneously, it must rely on something else, like pheromones. I can borrow Hank Pym's research. With proper pheromone induction, I can force Carl to follow me."

This wasn't particularly difficult. Peter believed that with J.A.R.V.I.S.'s help, modulating these pheromones could be done in one night. The rest would be to set up an ambush at school tomorrow morning to prevent Carl from suddenly appearing and harming his friends.

In addition, there was thermal imaging. Spiders and human bodies have different average temperatures, and countless spiders mimicking creatures would also appear differently on thermal imaging. This gave Peter enough information to deal with him.

Frank watched the busy Spider-Man without saying much, simply lying on the sofa to rest. He had killed many villains, scoundrels, but he had never killed a swarm of spiders.

He wished he could have a peaceful dream today.

Meanwhile, Peter sent the spider to the lab for analysis. He also took out his phone to check it. Due to the fights in the past few days, the screen was already cracked. He sighed and saw a message from Gwen:

—When are you coming home? I have something to tell you.

"I have something tonight, I might be back very late..."

Peter most likely wouldn't be going home tonight. Even if the possibility was slim, he had to monitor any news and be ready to mobilize at any time. There was no better place than Avengers Tower to oversee the entire city of New York.

Looking at the already risen moon, Peter received another message from Gwen, saying she could wait a little longer. Peter then persuaded Gwen a couple more times.

"It doesn't seem like an urgent matter, and she didn't call me. Huff."

When he walked out of the lab, he heard Frank's rapid and muffled snores.

Peter took off his mask and silently looked at the entire map of New York.

Frank Castle rarely dreamed, not since that day.

He didn't seem to need to dream anymore. After all, as soon as he closed his eyes, he could see his wife and children dying before him, hear their voices. He couldn't forget that afternoon, it was just an ordinary afternoon picnic in Central Park.

If they hadn't run into a gang shootout, if they hadn't gone for a picnic, none of it would have happened.

But Frank wasn't dreaming of that.

He dreamed of a mother and a daughter. He saw the mother raise a gun to her own head and pull the trigger.

Frank Castle woke up. It wasn't dawn yet. He looked at the sky in silence, then got up, smelling coffee.

He saw Spider-Man, with half his face revealed, drinking coffee.

"Good morning. Want a cup? The Avengers' coffee is pretty good."

The Punisher ignored him, took out his medicine, and swallowed it down with water. Spider-Man walked over to him and asked the question he hadn't asked in the elevator.

"When you were dealing with Chameleon, why did you choose to fight that way? It was like you had some personal grudge."