Marvel: The Amazing Spider-Man in the Multiverse

"Alright, tomorrow I have to go to school with Gwen. If nothing happens on the way, great. But if it does, I'll have to leave halfway, and then it'll be even harder to hide my identity from her."

It was past ten at night when Peter slipped out of the house. Webs traced silvery arcs through the night sky of Queens, and he swung like a shadow towards Manhattan. Avengers Tower stood in the darkness, with only a few scattered windows faintly lit. J.A.R.V.I.S. had already opened the door for him. Peter landed lightly, instinctively patting imaginary dust off his suit.

"Good evening, J.A.R.V.I.S. How are the Avengers' missions going?"

[After the Quinjet entered Wakandan airspace, all external communications were cut. The only data transmission record occurred within the Wakandan Royal Palace.]

That should be fine then. The Avengers entered the Wakandan Royal Palace, and communication was cut due to Wakanda's unique nature. After getting a rough idea of the situation, Peter stopped focusing on the Avengers and turned his attention to two other matters: first, whether the new impersonator was the escaped Chameleon or just Mysterio, and second, why Karl King was following him and if he'd discovered anything.

"First, the easy one. J.A.R.V.I.S., help me compare Midtown High freshman Karl King's headshot to all known cameras in New York. I want to see exactly what he knows."

Soon, J.A.R.V.I.S. found the first piece of information Peter needed from various media cameras: on the night of Spider-Man's battle with Shocker, Karl King was present at the scene and even looked around the battlefield for a while after the fight ended.

It seemed there was nothing else. Peter then had J.A.R.V.I.S. compare the parts where he was caught on camera, using a ten-minute window for the same camera. And, naturally, all the footage was from Midtown High.

It seemed like there was no problem...

Peter's gaze sharpened; he caught the crucial segment. It was that night, after he went to the school lab to mix new web fluid, Karl King also entered. He might have found some web fluid that hadn't degraded yet, and coupled with Karl being the one who put that spider on his neck, he started to suspect Peter.

But that wouldn't make him so paranoid, would it?

"Is he worried about my retaliation? Well, Karl, you'll just have to understand that I won't do anything to you. In the meantime, you'll just have to be scared."

Peter, completely unaware of the villain "the Thousands," brushed past Karl and began to have J.A.R.V.I.S. retrieve information about the Chameleon. And both J.A.R.V.I.S. and the NYPD didn't disappoint—Chameleon had indeed escaped again.

Some crooked cops, whose allegiance was unknown, released Chameleon. Chameleon then escaped, and some unusual events occurred along the way: "The Punisher" Frank Castle attempted to kill Chameleon, but he targeted the wrong person. Chameleon had already fled and was currently at large.

"The Punisher? Has he been hunting Chameleon for a long time?"

[According to existing records, Frank Castle has undertaken over five operations against Dimitri Smerdyakov, all ending in failure.]

"Can you find out why? No, alright."

After briefly sorting through the current clues, Peter roughly deduced the situation: First, Chameleon was cooperating with Mysterio, and Mysterio's equipment was stolen by Shocker. To aid Shocker's theft, someone organized a large-scale bank robbery as a diversion.

Now, Mysterio and Chameleon were working together, initially trying to tarnish Spider-Man's reputation. This indicated that there must be a mastermind behind these people, aiming to get rid of Spider-Man. Whether by direct elimination or defamation. As for the reason, Peter in carefully considering all of Spider-Man's actions so far, came to only one conclusion: the opponent was the one acquiring a large batch of Chitauri parts in New York and converting them into weapons for sale, since Spider-Man had primarily been dealing with these smugglers carrying high-tech weapons.

Who could it be? Kingpin? Hammerhead? Tombstone? There were quite a few gang leaders in New York; it was hard to say who exactly it was right away.

But regardless, Chameleon's objective was clear: to eliminate Spider-Man.

"But Chameleon is being targeted by the Punisher. If he continues to blacken Spider-Man's name, the Punisher will realize he's a fake. Because of that, he has to imitate me and do what a superhero should do. That's quite ironic."

And the appearance of Chameleon now was definitely a trap, though Peter couldn't determine the exact nature of the trap—for instance, a bunch of thugs, a bomb trap, or a supervillain skilled in combat hired by the mastermind. But if Peter went to the rendezvous, he would certainly step into the trap. Even if the trap might not affect him, why did he have to step into it?

Wasn't the Punisher around?

"I need to talk to the Punisher. He'll definitely be closely monitoring those appearing as Spider-Man. I should be able to find him easily... if he doesn't open fire on me. He wouldn't be that violent, would he?"

Peter was sure that the Punisher, who had been hunting Chameleon for so long, would know a lot about him. However, he still needed to confirm whether Chameleon was truly beyond redemption, or if, like Herman, he wasn't inherently irredeemable.

"Alright, let me start with my conclusion: Spider-Man is likely a student. A high school or college student, with high school being more probable."

As a detective, Mac Gargan's character might be quite ordinary, but his professional conduct as a detective was certainly present. After summarizing his investigation results, he looked at his two temporary teammates and Kingpin. Kingpin had brought a grand Eastern-style armchair and sat only halfway on it, smiling gently, motioning for Mac Gargan to continue.

"Okay, here's my summary of his appearance times. It's clear that Spider-Man's activity times differ between weekdays and holidays, and there's a significant distinction on weekdays. He rarely appears between 8 AM and 3 PM. This time slot definitely isn't for work; it can only be for school. I cross-referenced the school schedules for the entire Manhattan area, and there are seven schools whose schedules fit the requirements."

"Excellent, Mr. Gargan."

Kingpin took the A4 paper with the names of the seven schools printed on it from Mac Gargan, scanned it, and then handed it to the Prowler standing beside him. "If we're delayed in dealing with Spider-Man, this list might be very useful. For now, however, let's consider how to deal with Spider-Man directly. I've made arrangements: an entire building currently under construction, not under the Fisk Industries name. It's already rigged with enough explosives to kill any living creature, and even if it doesn't kill him, the collapsing rubble will be enough to bury Spider-Man."

"Now we just need to find the right moment. When Spider-Man is in action, we'll let him find us, and then we can lure him into our trap."

Kingpin extended his palm, as if an invisible spider stood within it. He then clenched his fist tightly.

"And then, once and for all, eliminate Spider-Man."