The first day of the new semester passed just like that. Surprisingly, the most excited person was Senior Jessica. Despite facing S.H.I.E.L.D. agent training and missions alongside the pressures of her senior year, she had resolutely decided to pour all her energy into the Detective Agency. She was determined to make the club bigger and stronger in this final year.
After all, this was her last year of high school. Last year, they had only managed to recruit a dozen or so new members, and only three to five of them were actually active. This year, she absolutely had to recruit enough people from the freshmen!
Meanwhile, Peter had obtained the freshman roster from S.H.I.E.L.D.
"What do you need this for?"
Following Fury's orders, Coulson—who had brought the roster—expressed his confusion to Peter. This list didn't just include tenth graders; it also included transfer students. However, neither he nor Nick Fury were quite sure why Spider-Man needed information on the new students.
Peter gave them the simplest reason possible.
"I'm a little worried about whether a bunch of superhumans might pop up among our underclassmen. You know, I have a lot of... information from other universes. Sometimes that info is quite fragmented, so I have to double-check everything."
Coulson raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. He didn't think this middle school could be so ridiculous as to sprout a massive crowd of superhumans. It wasn't exactly some kind of mystical nexus. Unless certain organizations were intentionally gathering everyone here, how could so many people pop up?
Peter didn't answer directly. He sat in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Bus team's safe house, scanning the roster while asking Coulson about other matters. First was Amadeus. Although it seemed Amadeus could handle things himself, Peter still asked what exactly had happened to him. The answer Coulson provided was somewhat unexpected even for Peter.
"You guys don't know?"
"Yes, we don't know," Coulson shook his head helplessly. "One thing we can confirm is that your classmate wasn't lying to you; he really has been at home, almost never going out. The problem is, we don't know what he's doing in his room."
"You guys can't hack into his computer, right?"
After thinking for a moment, Peter understood the reason. Amadeus Cho in the Marvel Universe was known as the "Seventh Smartest Person in the World." Regardless of how much hyperbole was in that title, it at least proved that Amadeus was a genius-level talent. In that case, defending against S.H.I.E.L.D. on the network wasn't an impossible task.
"Uh, the situation might be worse. Well, for S.H.I.E.L.D., at least."
Coulson said helplessly, "Our system was directly hacked and paralyzed. For a full ten minutes, none of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computers could work normally. If we weren't certain that no data was lost or browsed, S.H.I.E.L.D. might have already taken him into custody."
Peter knit his brows. There was no doubt that some people within S.H.I.E.L.D. truly wanted to arrest Amadeus, but their demands hadn't been met because Nick Fury was keeping an eye on them.
So, were these people HYDRA agents hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D.?
And a crucial point: last year, Amadeus seemed to still be hiding his intelligence and other abilities, but now he seemed less and less inclined to act the part. Peter wondered what exactly had happened to him.
While thinking, Peter continued to flip through the freshman roster. After a few glances, he couldn't hold it in anymore and looked directly at Coulson.
"Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, transferring to the eleventh grade? Are you serious?"
"Considering Midtown High already has Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Silk, Ghost-Spider, Black Cat, and Agent Venom, Director Fury felt it was very appropriate for Cloak and Dagger to transfer to Midtown High as well. It makes centralized management easier."
Management my foot. Aside from a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who can your agency actually manage? Easier surveillance is more like it. Speaking of which, is this really not just baiting HYDRA?
Peter muttered to himself as he continued flipping through the list. He remembered that in the comics, Captain Britain and Jessica Jones were classmates of Peter Parker, but clearly, that wasn't the case in this universe. Jessica was already an adult working as a detective, and Captain Britain was actually in Britain. There was also a series called Ultimate Spider-Man that focused on high school Spider-Man's life, where his teammates included Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Nova, White Tiger...
Well, Iron Fist and Luke Cage could be passed over. What was White Tiger's name again? He forgot. Nova was Sam Alexander. Good, he wasn't there either.
Peter stopped halfway through, his hand suddenly freezing as he saw a name: Richard Rider.
Or rather, the original Nova.
Crap, he forgot that this guy was also just a high schooler when he debuted.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Peter's expression, Coulson felt that Peter had noticed something. Peter sighed and pointed out the name. "There was no info on this person in the Wasteland Universe?"
"Actually, many people still don't know the Wasteland Universe exists. Information on it is top secret. Aside from Director Fury, there might not be any other S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel who know of that universe's existence. Richard Rider—who is he?"
"Uh, Green Lantern."
"You mean that flop starring Ryan Reynolds?"
"In the universe, there's a group of guys like Green Lantern called the Nova Corps. They're responsible for maintaining peace and security in the cosmos. The difference is they aren't as powerful or as cool as Green Lantern. Their power comes from a helmet that looks a lot like a bucket, and their abilities are... well, think of them as a budget version of Superman."
"So, an alien crashed on Earth, was dying, and then gave his helmet to this young man named Richard Rider because he had a strong will or something, just like Green Lantern..."
Coulson joked with a smile, but after seeing Peter's strained expression, he immediately reacted: "It's actually like that?"
Yes, that was the origin of Marvel's Nova. A Centurion of the Nova Corps, Rhomann Dey, was mortally wounded in a battle with space pirates. Before he died, he tracked the enemy to Earth and let the helmet choose a successor. You couldn't say it was exactly the same as Green Lantern—it was basically copied straight from Green Lantern.
The only difference was that Marvel really loved making young people into superheroes.
"Right now he might not be Nova yet, or in our universe, he might never be, but..."
Coulson nodded understandingly. "I know, there are precedents. Keep reading."
But for the rest, Peter controlled his expression well, not letting Coulson see any further clues. Or rather, his face had become entirely blank.
Alex Wilder, Nico Minoru, Molly Hayes, Karolina Dean, Chase Stein...
Peter actually only remembered Nico Minoru's name, but that was enough.
"Check the parents of these individuals." Peter let out a helpless sigh. "I bet not a single one of them is innocent."
Midtown High was truly a disaster. Even the Runaways were here.