When Peter left the house, J. Jonah Jameson was still broadcasting the news regarding the list of Hydra members discovered within the government. The number of Hydra members among members of Congress alone had exceeded twenty, spanning both political parties. Combined with the incident earlier in the year where the former Vice President collaborated with the Hydra-subsidiary A.I.M. to kidnap the President, the Matthew Ellis administration's approval ratings had essentially bottomed out in just a single year.
President Ellis himself was certainly crying foul; after all, he hadn't actually done anything, so how did he end up stuck with this mess?
But there was no helping it. Even if you didn't do it, in a democratic nation, whether you were the culprit didn't matter—what mattered was whose watch it was when the bomb went off.
JJJ, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. For the past few days, he had been firing off verbal cannons with great vigor and a clear head. He hadn't even found the time to insult Spider-Man, simply because he was too busy.
And what was Spider-Man doing? Oh, he was busy heading out to school.
"You didn't take me with you again."
"Technically, I haven't taken you with me any of the times, Gwen."
Peter, the last one out the door, gave an honest reply as he locked up. However, Gwen clearly didn't appreciate hearing that. "You should have taken me. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the X-Men are all going out to wipe out Hydra outposts elsewhere, but I'm not. Such a huge event happened, and I was the only one left idling."
"Doesn't that just mean you were the only Spider-Man in New York at the time? It proves even more that New York needs you."
As Peter spoke, he finished locking the door. Gwen, walking beside him, was clearly dissatisfied with his answer. "I'm not an ordinary person. Like you, Cindy, and our senior, I have spider-powers too. I can even make everyone ignore my existence, and I'm still carrying Mysterio's helmet!"
Peter gave Gwen a strange look.
"You didn't return that helmet?"
"Uh... no."
Though theoretically, there wasn't really anywhere to return it to. Mysterio had long since been sent to the "Mansion Prison" for his second stint of further education. The helmet was already in Gwen's hands when he was arrested, so naturally, there was no place to return it.
Of course, with Gwen wearing Mysterio's helmet combined with her own abilities, she was indeed a quite excellent support, but Peter simply didn't intend to let Gwen get involved.
"You underestimate Hydra too much, Gwen. If nothing else, for this battle, the opponent brought an army of tens of thousands. If you used your ability and we couldn't see you, we might accidentally injure you when releasing our own powers."
"Accidental injury" was the reason Gwen heard most often regarding why she couldn't participate in these major operations. Kitty Pryde was the exact opposite—the nature of Shadowcat's powers meant that in most cases, she was just "sleepwalking" through the battlefield, and her teammates didn't need to worry about her safety. As for Gwen, if she participated, her teammates might not even know where the bullets hitting her were coming from.
"Accidental injury, accidental injury... I have spider-sense too. And when you go on missions with the Avengers, do you never worry about them getting hurt?"
The two talked as they walked toward the back of the garage. Peter deployed his nanites and Anti-Venom to cover his body, while Gwen took off her jacket and stuffed it into her backpack, pulling on her suit's mask and hood. "You never worry about them, do you?"
"That's because they're the Avengers."
The two shot out web lines simultaneously and began racing toward school. Along the way, they were still discussing the same topic: Peter basically ignored almost everyone he knew during major operations. Not just Gwen, but Cindy and Felicia as well—it was essentially always like this. Unless the situation was truly dire and there was no other choice, he settled everything by himself.
They even beat up a group of thugs on the way without finishing the conversation. It wasn't until they were near the school that Gwen, knowing the talk wasn't going anywhere, swung away and landed first.
"A lover's quarrel?"
Landing a moment later, Peter sighed and turned to see Felicia. She wasn't wearing her Black Cat costume; instead, she had climbed to the rooftop in civilian clothes. She smiled and hopped over to sit next to Peter. "Why don't you sit here for a minute or two? I guarantee that girl doesn't particularly want to see you right now."
"It's nothing, it's just—wait, are you looking for me for something?"
Peter's sudden shift into business mode made Felicia arch an eyebrow, but she got to the point quickly. "I checked in with the Defenders earlier to see what you guys have been up to lately. I heard you're very interested in the Hand?"
"Yeah, but the trail has gone cold recently. All the leads were cut. We intended to trace New York's original drug distribution network, but now we've lost the scent—"
Peter watched as Felicia, sitting with her legs crossed on top of a ventilation duct, shook a USB drive at him.
"What's this?"
"Well, after I heard you were out of leads, I took a trip to Colombia and Mexico. I looked up a few bosses and got some things off their computers. Those drug lords are quite capable, but their anti-theft measures are a bit lacking."
Felicia teased him while waving the drive. "During the time you've been puzzled, sales across the New York market haven't dropped; in fact, they've risen. Yet you haven't found any of the circulation—aren't you curious? Who is buying these things?"
Undoubtedly, it was the Hand.
"You went and stole data from Colombian and Mexican drug lords?"
"Regrettably, they didn't have any artwork." Felicia consciously ignored unimportant items like "cash and gold bars," but Peter didn't care about that either. "What if something had happened to you?"
"That's where I differ from those little girls—you can't manage me, kid. The bounty on Black Cat in Colombia and Mexico isn't low right now, but unfortunately, unless necessary, I'm never going back to those disgusting places again."
Felicia smiled and pulled the USB drive back. "Do you want it?"
"—You have something you want me to help with, don't you?"
"Don't always think about business, Peter Parker." Felicia hopped down from the duct, leaving the USB drive where it was. "However, there is indeed a small favor."
"What is it? What kind of trouble are you in?"
"I'm missing a date for Homecoming. I imagine you're still agonizing over who to choose and haven't settled on anyone yet, right?"
Peter, who had picked up the USB drive, spun around to look at Felicia after hearing those words. "What?"
"I said, you haven't settled on a Homecoming date yet, have you?"
Peter had heard her clearly; he just hadn't expected that Felicia's request would be this.