He leaped from rooftop to rooftop, following their car.
Liz parked a few blocks away, and Jean nervously stepped out.
Peter shook his head. She wasn't ready at all.
Just then, his phone rang. It was Felicia.
"We're at Pike's Peak," she said.
"I know. Look up."
Felicia slowly looked up, making sure Mary Jane and Liz weren't paying attention. Peter stood on the roof, waving at her.
"She isn't ready."
"She'll be fine."
"She hasn't had any training."
"Have you?"
"I have a danger sense and spiderlike reflexes. All she can do is move things with her mind."
Peter watched Jean walk out of the alley, her posture stiff.
"I'm hanging up. Go make sure our girl doesn't get herself killed."
"Good luck, Laohu," Felicia said coyly.
Peter leaped between rooftops, following Jean. Along the way, a few street punks whistled at her and mocked her. She ignored them and kept going.
Peter silently admired her. The nervous girl from a few weeks ago would never have done that. She was growing so fast.
Eventually, she ran into trouble anyway.
She walked into an alley, and three men immediately jumped out in front of her, while two more appeared behind her. They brandished daggers and baseball bats, laughing wildly.
Peter couldn't make out their threats, but he was already furious.
Then they attacked.
Jean moved.
She used her telekinesis to send the guy with the dagger flying hard. The punks were stunned, but Jean didn't stop.
She controlled a trash can to knock two of them down, then hurled another trash can toward the wall. When someone lunged at her from behind, she used her telekinesis to flip him straight over her head and slam him into another punk who had just gotten up.
She seemed to enjoy dealing with these punks. She ducked and weaved as though dancing, tossing them back and forth.
But just then, Peter noticed a furious-looking punk lunging at Jean with a knife from her blind spot.
"That's not good!"
Peter shouted, shooting a strand of webbing that wrapped precisely around the dagger and snatched it away.
The punks all stopped and turned to see Peter clinging to the wall, examining the knife.
"This is dangerous, you know? You could hurt innocent people."
"S-Spider-Man?!" one punk shouted. "Shit! This bitch isn't worth it! Run!"
They turned and fled, leaving Peter and Jean behind.
Peter jumped down and tossed the dagger over his shoulder.
"You guys really make me miss the old days. Back then, ordinary punks would still put up a fight. Now they all run away. Ah, how sad."
He looked at Jean. Her jaw had practically hit the ground, and her eyes sparkled.
Peter tilted his head, the only way he could express emotion beneath the mask.
"So... who are you trying to be, dressed like that?"
"I-I'm Marvel Girl," Jean answered in a tiny voice, unbearably nervous.
Peter chuckled. "It's okay, Marvel Girl. I don't bite... unless you ask."
Jean let out another gasp.
Peter looked around and whistled.
"Wow, you've got some skills. Telekinesis? Are you a mutant, or were you in some cosmic accident?"
"A-a mutant," Jean said in a tiny voice. "A-and you're Spider-Man!"
Peter nodded. "Correct! What gave me away? The giant black spider on my chest?"
Jean giggled.
"Oh, great, you can laugh too," Peter said. "I thought all you could do was scream in fright. If you want to be a hero, you'll have to be braver, Marvel Girl."
"I am brave!" Jean cried excitedly. "It's just... I've never met a real superhero before."
Peter flicked her forehead.
"But if you really want to be a hero, you need to take it seriously. Go home, train, learn, adapt. You can't rely on your powers for everything, understand?"
Jean nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's just... I wanted to see what I could do."
"From what I just saw, you have the potential to become truly incredible."
Peter chuckled and took out his phone.
"Selfie?"
Jean's eyes lit up. "Yes!"
They stood together, Jean making a peace sign and Peter making devil horns.
Peter quickly uploaded the photo to social media with the caption:
[New York. Met a real Marvel hero today. Say hello to Marvel Girl! Watch out, she bites.]
He had deliberately blurred Jean's face to conceal her identity.
Peter turned to Jean and said, "All right, Marvel Girl, stay safe. Don't worry. You'll be a superhero soon."
Jean smiled as Peter leaped away and climbed up the wall.
"Thank you, Spider-Man!" Jean shouted.
"You're welcome!" Peter shouted back, climbing onto the roof and disappearing into the shadows.
He looked down as Jean hurried back to where Liz had parked.
Jean quickly got into the car, and they drove off. Peter followed from the rooftops, while Jean seemed to be excitedly recounting her first meeting with the world's greatest superhero.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly.
Until Peter saw a dark shape streak across the rooftops and slam into the middle of the road.
Liz's car screeched to a halt, and everyone stared in shock at the metal beam embedded in the middle of the road.
The girls looked bewildered, but Peter only felt his heart plunge, as though it were the warning sign of a heart attack.
What was he doing here?