Chapter 56: Seven O'Clock: Undercover Investigation

Saturday morning, six-thirty.

If you had entered the F.E.R.S.K Tower's server room at that time and observed carefully, you would have found a data cable connected from the main server to the ventilation duct. And there, in the dirty ventilation system, a spider-freak in a red bodysuit was conducting an illegal intrusion, the low hum of the ventilation system masking the sound of his typing.

New York has many villains, but few can afford to hire the Shocker, the Chameleon, and Mysterio. It's usually a handful of wealthy and powerful figures, like mob bosses Kingpin and Hammerhead, or black-tech enthusiasts like A.I.M. and Alchemax, or even Hydra.

Peter, of course, didn't know who was behind all this, so he decided to take advantage of the few days after dealing with the spider swarm to do some investigating.

"Nothing, nothing, still nothing... Kingpin's database is as clean as a freshly washed plate, just like last time I was here. Where do you hide your stuff, Fisk?"

This wasn't Peter's first time infiltrating F.E.R.S.K Tower. He'd been there once before, even before his battle with Shocker, and found nothing, just like now. Kingpin kept the tower's server room data meticulously clean, as if his illicit dealings had nothing to do with the building itself. Actually, if Daredevil hadn't been active three years earlier, like Spider-Man, Peter might not have even focused on Kingpin.

But Daredevil was already active, and Kingpin supposedly had no criminal record? Did Peter believe that? Of course not.

For example, after scanning with his new suit, he discovered a huge hollow structure beneath F.E.R.S.K Tower. What was inside, he didn't know; it looked like a nuclear fallout shelter. Entering the elevator required DNA screening, and the elevator was full of alarms and infrared detectors. He couldn't get down there.

Yet the entire tower seemed quite clean; at least, the main server interface was empty.

"Hmm? Kingpin went underground?"

On his laptop, a small window with hacked camera footage recorded Kingpin's movements. Kingpin, along with a few of his assistants, opened the elevator door and began to descend deeper underground. Peter thought for a moment, quickly closed his laptop, and then slipped out through a ventilation duct in another room. After entering the elevator shaft, he quickly made his way to Kingpin's office.

He hoped Kingpin would stay underground for a while, giving him a chance to hack into Kingpin's computer.

"Your password lock is less secure than the elevator control panel."

After easily cracking the computer's password, Peter began to browse Kingpin's computer, directly searching through its activity logs in chronological order. But to Peter's surprise, there was almost nothing on this computer. Most of it was clean, basically only content related to legitimate businesses, and a few TV show viewing records. He truly hadn't known that Kingpin actually watched TV, and for several hours a day at that.

Or perhaps, Kingpin simply didn't use this computer for his actual business.

After scanning the entire office, Peter confirmed that there were no hidden rooms or secret compartments either. It seemed Kingpin had always been incredibly good at concealing things; both the computer server room and his personal computer were meticulously clean. There might be some tax evasion or business secrets involved, but no information related to villainy.

Of course, there was another possibility: this universe's Kingpin wasn't a bad guy, just an honest businessman. But believing that would be like believing he was Homelander Spider-Man.

In other words, this office and the computer's main server room were meant for invaders to check—like S.H.I.E.L.D. or the F.B.I. If they suspected Kingpin, they would surely come here to investigate, and Kingpin would simply show them that there was nothing here.

But those criminal records couldn't possibly be completely gone. Kingpin must have them somewhere else.

Anyway, there was nothing to do until the Homecoming dance tonight, so he might as well stake out Fisk here for the whole day. Surely, he wouldn't genuinely spend an entire day reviewing documents and watching American dramas, right?

So, he meticulously cleaned up any traces of his presence, planning to hide in the ventilation ducts of Kingpin's office all day. It was then that he noticed the rising green smoke outside, and the towering Mysterio emerging from it.

Spider-Man was stunned, and then Spider-Man was furious.

"Seriously? I've been in school for less than two weeks! I've already fought three villains: Shocker, Chameleon, and Kaine! The second week isn't even over, it's just Saturday, and now Mysterio?! It's only been two weeks of school!"

Just then, night covered New York City, and Mysterio delivered his shocking declaration of crime—he even gave ordinary people ten minutes not to run around in the streets. What a nice guy, really.

"During my performance, criminal activity throughout New York might skyrocket, so I invite all the superheroes of New York to stop me. Once you stop me, New York will return to normal."

You win, Mysterio, you really do.

No longer in the mood to stake out Kingpin, Peter crawled out of the ventilation duct. As soon as he emerged, he saw Iron Man shooting up from Avengers Tower, only to plow through Mysterio—passing right through him, then getting hit by a laser and crashing down.

"I told J.A.R.V.I.S. about Quentin Beck. I even left Mysterio's old projection device at Avengers Tower, and then Iron Man just—pounced."

Sighing, Peter prepared to swing into action to stop Mysterio before the illusion became too widespread. Just then, he saw a ball of flame shoot up from the Baxter Building, forming a cool circle enclosing a "4" in the air, then charging towards Mysterio as well.

And then it also missed Mysterio.

No, Tony Stark is one thing, but Human Torch, didn't you see Iron Man crash? Why did you charge in too?

Even worse, Iron Man at least got hit and crashed, but Human Torch just... literally flamed out, then started free-falling.

"Quick! Quick! Quick!"

"I'm already fast enough, buddy!"

Johnny Storm, free-falling, was caught by Spider-Man with one hand, tucked under his armpit, and then safely landed on the roof of a building.

"Oh, hey," Johnny greeted happily, then looked at Peter. "I've heard of you. Reed said you'd be coming to the Baxter Building in a few days."

"Yeah, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know, my flames just disappeared before I even hit that guy. My powers failed, so I fell." The Human Torch explained. After a brief thought, Spider-Man understood what was going on.

"Perhaps your powers didn't fail; Mysterio just made you see your flames disappear, and your brain thought your powers failed, so you shut them off yourself."

The Human Torch stared at Spider-Man for a full three seconds, finally muttering "Son of a beach" at Mysterio. Then, the flameless Human Torch floated up and shot into the sky. Spider-Man raised his hand to shoot a web, only to see the guy crash head-first into the side of the building and fall down again, landing next to Peter.

...

Are you here to be a comedian, man?

"Spider-Man, welcome to our party."

A Mysterio, who appeared to be genuinely human according to sonar, stood before Peter. Everything around Peter disappeared, leaving only him and Mysterio. Mysterio extended his hand in a friendly gesture.

"I want to talk to you, because you... I think you're special."