Chapter Summaries

After clearing out the Court’s assassins, Yang Ming sent the students back into the forest to finish their survival assessment. All three thousand students made it to the extraction point, and their return to Gotham Hope Academy brought an unexpected barbecue celebration that left Jason, Dick, and Tim hopeful about school.

• Yang Ming ordered Jason, Dick, and the other students to complete the three-day, fifty-kilometer forest assessment after the Court’s assassins were defeated.
• Jason led Zero Squad through the forest and gathered other lost students, and all three thousand students reached the extraction point without leaving anyone behind.
• Yang Ming brought the exhausted students back to Gotham Hope Academy, where hundreds of grills and a feast awaited them.
• Jessica announced that hellish military training was over for the night, and the students celebrated by eating and drinking around the grills.
• Yang Ming watched the celebration from the Administration Building and toasted the students’ survival.
• Jason, Dick, and Tim fell asleep by the bonfire after agreeing that the school seemed good and that its frightening principal helped keep them alive.

Jason, Dick, and Tim became class representatives in their respective classes, then struggled with ordinary lessons as Tim uncovered military secrets hidden in his textbooks. Yang Ming revealed he was preparing the Gotham orphans for a future where technological skill determined survival.

• Jason shut down Mohawk’s attempt to force his election and became Class 021’s representative, ordering the students not to drive teachers away.
• Dick won over Class 022 with promises to help during cleanup and teach backflips, while Tim was overwhelmingly elected representative of Class 023.
• Jason failed to solve a quadratic equation and asked to run laps instead, while Dick accidentally threw a pen into the classroom wall during English class.
• Tim recognized classified exoskeleton engineering diagrams and a high-explosive formula in his textbooks, then suspected Yang Ming was building an army.
• Yang Ming watched the classes on surveillance screens and told Jessica that students had to learn because technology would soon decide who survived in Gotham.

Yang Ming's monthly exam competition drove Gotham Hope Academy's students into intense studying, but Class 021 and Class 023 tied for first. He settled the tie by announcing a brutal interclass basketball tournament, while the defeated Mohawk threatened Jason.

• Yang Ming announced that the lowest-scoring class would face public shame and cafeteria cleanup, while the top class would win tactical gear and a request.
• Jason forced Class 021 to study through threats, Tim taught Class 023 through criminal examples, and Dick led Class 022 in upside-down memorization drills.
• The results showed Class 021 and Class 023 tied at 4,850 points, with Class 023 excelling in academic subjects and Class 021 earning full marks in practical survival and anatomy.
• Jessica ordered the last-place upper-year troublemakers, led by Mohawk, to clean the cafeteria slop while Jason and Tim claimed the top spot's request.
• Yang Ming announced a single-elimination basketball tournament with nearly all physical contact allowed to break the tie, and Mohawk vowed to beat Jason.

Yang Ming’s school basketball tournament descended into violent spectacle, with Retsu Unohana healing injured players so they could return to the court. Jason defeated Mohawk’s gang in the semifinals and destroyed the backboard, while Loki recognized a resemblance between Jason’s ferocity and Asgard’s berserkers.

• Class 024’s Mohawk broke Class 018’s center’s ribs, and Retsu Unohana healed him before sending him back into the game.
• Yang Ming docked Loki points for her attitude and assigned her extra toilets to scrub as Selene teased her.
• Dick Grayson dazzled the crowd with an impossible dunk, while Tim Drake used calculations and a banana peel to give Class 023 an edge.
• In the semifinals, Mohawk and three thugs attacked Jason, but Jason threw them together and slammed the ball through the backboard.
• Jason called Mohawk trash as the crowd cheered, and Loki saw in Jason’s fighting spirit a resemblance to Asgard’s berserkers.

Class 022 overcame Tim Drake’s carefully planned tactics when Dick Grayson used extraordinary acrobatics to win the semifinal, 42–40. The final was set for the next morning between Class 021 and Class 022, as Jason Todd and Dick locked eyes across the gym.

• Tim Drake used a waxed patch of floor and calculated plays to give Class 023 an early lead over Class 022.
• Dick Grayson switched his team to circus-style play and scored a physics-defying dunk past Fatty and Skinny Monkey.
• Dick and Class 022 overturned Tim’s strategy and won the semifinal by two points.
• Yang Ming announced that Class 021 would face Class 022 in the final at ten the next morning.
• Jason Todd crushed a can and stared down the celebrating Dick Grayson, who met his gaze.

Class 021 and Class 022 fought a brutal basketball final, with Jason Todd relying on power and Dick Grayson answering with acrobatics and clever passes. The game was tied at 88–88 in the final seconds as Jason forced space against Dick, leaving the outcome undecided.

• Yang Ming watched the final with Bruce Wayne while Loki served them drinks under Selene’s supervision.
• Jason won the opening tip and drove Class 021’s attack with powerful plays, while Dick countered with acrobatic passes and court awareness.
• The second half turned into a punishing brawl, and the players kept going to avoid treatment from Retsu Unohana.
• With thirty seconds left and the score tied 88–88, Jason took possession beyond the three-point line as Dick guarded him.
• Jason charged into Dick near the free-throw line, collided with him, and used the recoil to create space with eight seconds remaining.

Dick led Class 022 to a 91-88 victory over Jason’s Class 021 with a buzzer-beating shot, then asked Yang Ming to teach him how to get stronger. Yang Ming said Dick could not learn his own abilities but offered to recommend a teacher, leaving Dick summoned to his office that evening.

• Dick grabbed the rebound, raced down court, and made a three-point shot at the buzzer to defeat Jason’s team 91-88.
• Yang Ming presented Dick with the trophy, and Dick asked to learn from him so he could get stronger.
• Yang Ming demonstrated that his power would destroy Dick’s body and told him he could not teach him those abilities.
• Yang Ming hinted that Bruce Wayne was a qualified teacher and told Dick to come to his office after evening study hall.

Yang Ming persuaded Bruce Wayne to train Dick Grayson, arguing that Gotham needed someone to continue Bruce’s work. Dick arrived at the meeting and recognized Bruce as the mysterious figure who had saved his parents.

• Dick waited anxiously for evening study to end, eager to meet the teacher Principal Yang had promised him.
• Bruce refused to train Dick because he wanted the boy to live a normal life and feared losing someone close to him.
• Yang Ming reminded Bruce that he had trained Dave Lizewski, now the superhero Nightlight, and argued Dick was an even better successor.
• Bruce conceded that Dick could be trained, though he criticized the boy’s discipline.
• Dick entered the principal’s office, recognized Bruce’s familiar presence, and heard Bruce ask if he was looking for a teacher.

Matt Murdock, Frank Castle, and Damon discover that Kingpin killed the Damico father and son, while months later Empire State University begins its freshman orientation. Peter Parker meets Felicia Hardy in a photography elective, and her interest in his Leica leaves their first encounter poised to continue.

• Matt Murdock, Frank Castle, and Damon find Chris D'Amico and Frank D'Amico dead in their Long Island villa and identify Kingpin as responsible.
• Months after the killings, Harry Osborn, Peter Parker, and Gwen Stacy arrive at Empire State University for freshman orientation.
• Dave Lizewski, carrying his Redscale armor beneath his books, collides with Peter Parker without either recognizing the other's vigilante identity.
• Peter enters a crowded photography elective and discovers that the only open seat is beside Felicia Hardy.
• Felicia identifies Peter's restored Leica M3, questions him about it, and introduces herself as she shows interest in him.

Peter met Felicia in photography class, where they connected over their knowledge of cameras and she invited him to bring his Leica to a location shoot. In Switzerland, Kingpin accepted a lucrative arms deal with the Mandarin and arranged a discreet shipping route into New York.

• Felicia recognized the history and repairs of Peter's Leica, and Peter shared his view that photographs preserved moments and memories.
• Peter impressed the photography professor with his thoughts on lens flare, and the professor asked him to bring in his work next week.
• Felicia invited Peter to bring his Leica to the next week's location shoot, while Harry teased Peter about her and warned him about her wealthy family.
• The Mandarin's emissary offered Kingpin three times the market price for weapons after several arms suppliers had shut down.
• Kingpin agreed to supply the weapons through separate shipments routed through the Caribbean and Mediterranean, and demanded to meet someone with decision-making power.

Peter climbed an abandoned water tower with Felicia, who grew suspicious of his unusual strength and climbing ability. When they spotted Ten Rings smugglers and were shot at, Peter saved Felicia with webbing from his wrist, exposing that he was Spider-Man.

• Felicia climbed the water tower effortlessly while Peter struggled and concealed his strength by pretending to be exhausted.
• At the top, Peter and Felicia photographed the harbor and spotted armed Ten Rings mercenaries unloading crates from a ship.
• Felicia leaned out to inspect a weapon in one of the crates, and a guard saw them and opened fire.
• Felicia lost her balance and fell from the tower, so Peter caught her wrist with webbing and held her above the ground.
• Felicia realized Peter had shot webbing from his wrist and identified him as Spider-Man before he pulled her back onto the platform.

Peter accidentally revealed to Felicia that he was Spider-Man after saving her from falling, and she demanded a nighttime web-swinging tour in exchange for keeping his identity secret. When Ten Rings mercenaries closed in, Peter escaped with Felicia by swinging away under gunfire, while she continued pressing him about the tour.

• Felicia noticed Peter's webbing and deduced that he was Spider-Man, and Peter's accidental web shot confirmed it.
• Felicia promised not to reveal Peter's identity if he took her web-swinging across Manhattan the next night, and threatened to expose him if he refused.
• Ten Rings mercenaries surrounded the water tower and began climbing toward Peter and Felicia.
• Peter disarmed a mercenary with his webbing, then leaped from the water tower with Felicia as gunfire erupted.
• Peter swung with Felicia past the abandoned factories toward Manhattan, while she insisted that he had agreed to show her the city after dark.

Peter and Felicia escaped an attack helicopter by rescuing workers on a tugboat, then Felicia arranged a night-view outing with Peter at Empire State University. Meanwhile, Kingpin learned that Walter Hardy had once seen a Super Soldier Serum formula and ordered the Hardy family brought to him.

• Peter changed course to shield workers on a tugboat with a web as the helicopter fired on them, and Felicia was injured in the blast.
• Peter brought Felicia to Empire State University, where she invited him to meet her at the arts building roof the next night and returned his photography sketch as an invitation.
• Harry called Peter about Gwen Stacy waiting at the lab, but Peter's bicycle chain fell off as he hurried to leave.
• Kingpin learned that the Mandarin had reported Walter Hardy once glimpsed Super Soldier Serum records and ordered an investigation into him.
• Kingpin's subordinate identified Walter's wife, Anastasia, and daughter, Felicia Hardy, and Kingpin ordered the whole family brought to him.

Peter took Felicia on a nighttime swing across Manhattan, insisting their outing was an emergency evacuation drill, and they shared a moment of personal connection on a rooftop. When Felicia moved to kiss him, Peter thought of Gwen, pulled away, and hurried to take Felicia home as she angrily protested.

• Peter prepared a rooftop swing route and greeted Felicia, then denied that their outing was a date.
• Peter and Felicia swung across Manhattan, and Felicia photographed part of his face near the Chrysler Building.
• After they landed, Peter told Felicia that Mr. Yang Ming had taught him that great power came with great responsibility.
• Felicia praised Peter for using his strength to save people, then removed his mask and leaned in to kiss him.
• Peter remembered Gwen Stacy, put his mask back on, and said he would take Felicia home.
• Peter carried Felicia off the rooftop as she shouted at him during their swing through the night.

After Peter left Felicia at her mansion, mercenaries abducted her and her parents for Kingpin. Kingpin forced Walter to recreate what he remembered of the Super Soldier Serum records, while Felicia feared Peter might be targeted next.

• Peter refused to enter the Hardy mansion, and Felicia went inside angry and embarrassed about their near-kiss.
• Mercenaries broke into Felicia's bedroom, subdued her, and captured Walter and Anastasia.
• The mercenaries brought the Hardy family to an underground facility, where they faced Wilson Fisk, also known as Kingpin.
• Kingpin revealed that Walter had seen secret records about Dr. Erskine's Human Enhancement Project as a boy and demanded the Super Soldier Serum information.
• Kingpin threatened Anastasia and used a photograph of Peter and Felicia to pressure Walter, who agreed to write down the parts he remembered.

Peter’s distraction over Felicia caused him to mishandle a dangerous lab experiment, and he took the corrosive spray meant for Gwen Stacy on his back while protecting her. As the professor called for an ambulance, Gwen tearfully helped Peter and he insisted that he was glad she was unharmed.

• Peter arrived at the biochemistry lab exhausted and distracted by his encounter with Felicia the night before, while Gwen Stacy warned him to be careful during their experiment.
• Peter read a message from Harry saying Felicia had missed class, then accidentally poured too much corrosive catalyst into the reaction vessel.
• When the vessel burst, Peter shoved Gwen Stacy beneath the lab bench and shielded her from the corrosive spray, suffering severe burns to his back.
• Gwen Stacy found Peter bleeding and started crying as he checked whether she was hurt; the professor called for an ambulance.
• Gwen Stacy helped Peter sit up and tried to take him to the infirmary while he told her he was relieved she was safe.

Peter tried to hide his rapidly healing injuries and enhanced abilities from Gwen after rescuing her from a lab accident, but she confronted him and grew suspicious. Beneath Manhattan, Kingpin’s experiment with Walter Hardy’s formula produced a violent failed specimen.

• Peter resisted the school doctor’s examination and tests as his corrosive burns healed at an impossible rate.
• Gwen confronted Peter about his reflexes, disappearances, and healing, but he refused to reveal what he was hiding because he wanted to keep her safe.
• Gwen told Peter not to shield her with his body again, then left him with worry, anger, and suspicion.
• Walter Hardy warned Kingpin that the blue serum’s dosage was wrong and that the formula required balance.
• A death-row inmate injected with the serum transformed, broke free, attacked guards, and was killed by reinforcements.

After recovering from his injuries, Peter left Gwen to investigate Felicia’s disappearance and found evidence that she had been abducted from Hardy Manor. A hidden camera showed Felicia being taken by armed people and warning Peter not to come, but he set out to find her.

• Peter escaped the infirmary before the doctor could draw his blood, then thanked Gwen for caring for him during his recovery.
• Harry told Peter that Felicia had been missing for three days, and Peter decided to check Hardy Manor despite Gwen’s disappointment.
• Peter found Hardy Manor’s security system had been disabled from inside and discovered signs of a struggle, a tranquilizer dart, blood, and vehicle tracks.
• Peter uncovered a hidden camera recording four armed people dragging Felicia away, and saw her mouth, “Don’t come.”
• Peter put on his Spider-Man Costume and leaped toward the city to find Felicia.

Kingpin forced Walter Hardy to perfect a serum that transformed Felicia Hardy into a superhuman who could switch between an ordinary appearance and a clawed form. He held Felicia’s parents hostage and sent her to steal an Egyptian stone slab from the Metropolitan Art Museum before dawn.

• Walter Hardy completed the serum formula after Kingpin threatened his family, but Kingpin ordered Felicia to be its test subject.
• Kingpin’s mercenaries restrained Felicia and injected her with the serum, turning her hair silver-white and giving her black claws, enhanced strength, and heightened reflexes.
• Felicia broke her restraints and attacked Kingpin, but stopped when his men aimed their guns at Walter and Anastasia.
• Felicia discovered she could conceal her transformed appearance and agreed to obey Kingpin to protect her parents.
• Kingpin ordered Felicia to steal an inscribed Egyptian slab from the Metropolitan Art Museum before dawn, and she accepted while threatening him if her parents were harmed.

Felicia infiltrated the Metropolitan Museum to steal the Inscription Stele Fragment for Kingpin, while Peter searched desperately for her. Nightlight interrupted her escape, and the two were about to fight.

• Felicia used her new speed and claws to bypass the museum's security and enter the exhibition hall.
• Peter tracked the armored car that had taken Felicia but lost its trail in an industrial district and resumed searching.
• Felicia knocked out two guards, triggered the museum lockdown, smashed the bulletproof case, and took the stele.
• Nightlight heard the police sirens, broke through the museum dome, and confronted Felicia as she tried to escape.
• Felicia lunged at Nightlight before he could finish his warning.