Stepping out of the activity center at the Avengers Compound, Peter spotted Bob operating a street sweeper to clear debris. Bob still didn't look in high spirits, driving quietly along the streets. Upon noticing Peter, Bob merely offered a faint smile. He opened his mouth as if to greet him, but no sound came out.
"Good afternoon, Bob. Getting used to life here at the Avengers Compound?"
"It's alright. There's a roof over my head, food to eat, and no other worries." Bob brought the sweeper to a stop and glanced back at the road behind him. "I didn't have much to do, so I, uh... asked Mr. Stark if I could lend a hand. He mentioned there was a sweeper parked in the rear warehouse, so I figured I'd sweep the compound's streets since I have time on my hands—not like I have anything else to do anyway."
"Uh, right. Feel free to ask if you need anything."
"No, no, no, I don't need a thing." Bob nodded with a persistent smile. "Thank you for rescuing me, Spider-Man. Thanks a lot. I'll just be... on my way?"
"Sure, I won't keep you then."
Peter watched the street sweeper roll away. After a brief silence, he couldn't help but marvel, "If I remember correctly, the total area Tony built for the Avengers Compound covers dozens of hectares..."
It'll probably take him several days just to finish a single sweep.
With zero knowledge about street sweeping, Peter pulled out his phone while mulling it over, planning his next stops.
While Tony and the team's plan was solid, Peter wanted a few extra insurance policies.
And then...
He placed separate calls to Aunt May and Uncle Ben, explaining that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day would likely be exceptionally busy this year. He probably wouldn't be able to celebrate Christmas at home. Afterward, he conjured a sling ring portal and stepped directly into Nick Fury's office.
Nick Fury was kicking his legs up, enjoying a cup of coffee, when a portal opened right before his eyes, revealing Spider-Man. "I thought Strange was dropping by. Why is it you, kid?"
"...Is there a difference?"
"I expected you to portal outside the door, knock, and then come in."
So Peter promptly cast another portal right outside Fury's office, knocked on the door, and walked in.
Fury: "..."
After a moment of silence, Fury asked, "What do you need?"
"I need an absolute offline venue to talk to you. Can you set that up?"
Fury's expression instantly turned grave. Maintaining eye contact with Peter, he silently jotted something down on a slip of paper and handed it over. "Here. Even I don't know where this place is."
"Even you don't know?"
"Even I don't know."
Peter took the paper and tucked it into his pocket. Fury then asked, "Do you need to go anywhere else?"
"Yeah, plenty of places."
A few minutes later, at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Cyclops had just taken a call from Wasp to catch up on recent events when a sling ring portal flickered to life near the front entrance, revealing Spider-Man.
Peter walked swiftly into the main building and headed straight for the Professor's office. Knowing Peter was on his way, the Professor had sent Cyclops ahead to open the door, saving Peter the trouble of opening it himself.
"Welcome, child. You must have something urgent that requires our help."
Once the Professor finished speaking, Cyclops picked up the conversation. "If you're referring to the Ultron issue, Ms. Dane has already briefed us. Though I'd actually suggest you tone down your visits to the academy, Spider-Man. We know you're not a mutant, but that won't stop others from drawing their own conclusions. People might just decide that Spider-Man being a mutant is the best explanation for why you never take off that mask."
Cyclops delivered the latter half with a half-joking, lighthearted tone. As non-mutant superhumans like the Avengers became increasingly common, public hostility toward mutants had been dropping rapidly. Because of this, the social issues surrounding mutants were being resolved in ways neither the Professor nor Magneto had ever envisioned.
"That's precisely why I'm here. We've discovered one of Ultron's plans involves using neural transmission devices—developed by Osborn Tech through research on Cerebro—to infiltrate the minds of all humanity. So we need a safeguard. If we plan to deploy a method to protect human minds, we'll need the X-Men's assistance."
To be precise, they needed the assistance of the Professor or Emma—preferably the Professor, as only he possessed the capability to project his mind across the entire world to shield humanity from Ultron's network intrusion.
However, Ultron was equally aware of this fact. Thus, the X-Men had to protect both the Professor and Cerebro to guarantee humanity's safety.
Naturally, Cyclops agreed, casually volunteering Logan for the job. "Logan hasn't had much on his plate lately. Send him along."
"Speaking of which, how are Daken and X-23 doing?"
At the mention of them, Cyclops's expression turned odd. "You know the Hand, right? The organization you and Logan wiped out together?"
"...Of course I do."
Most of the Hand's ninjas had been killed, while the remaining few—like Lady Bullseye and Typhoid Mary—had been hired as enforcers by Kingpin. Furthermore, the Hand had previously brainwashed X-23 and Daken, using them as Middle Eastern Wolverines.
"There's a mutant who joined the Hand named Silver Samurai. He somehow hooked up with Gambit and broke X-23 out. Then Daken followed them right out through the hole they blasted."
Peter felt utterly baffled. "...The X-Men couldn't stop two guys from pulling off a jailbreak?"
"Don't forget Gambit has a team, and they've got someone named Domino. Plus, they picked up a few extra members who caused a massive scene at the academy." Cyclops maintained an air that suggested the fault didn't lie with them. "We almost took them down four times! Four times! If not for that damn Domino."
"So why didn't you call the Avengers... fine, I get it. Internal X-Men business."
"I owe you an apology, Spider-Man," the Professor chimed in with a sigh. "Scott's original intention was to draw the snake out of its hole. However, those individuals were shielded by an external force—a very potent telepathic power that rendered even me incapable of stopping them."
Peter was speechlessly exasperated, but with other pressing matters to settle, he merely sighed, opened a portal right in the Professor's office, and prepared to leave. "Alright, we'll talk more about this next time. I need to head over to the Baxter Building first."