As the cargo ship from Valencia slowly sailed toward Naples, Peter and his group quietly departed. Instead of heading to Naples, they took a Wild Pack transport plane directly to Taranto, a small city in southeastern Italy.
Taranto was an inconspicuous town. For one, the economy in southern Italy was generally poorer than in the north, making southern towns appear more dilapidated. Additionally, Taranto was quite small; as a provincial capital and a significant port on the Adriatic Sea, its population was only about 200,000.
The city was perhaps most famous for the 1940 Battle of Taranto, where the British Royal Navy launched a surprise raid on the harbor to seize control of the Mediterranean. Aside from that, the little city had almost nothing noteworthy to its name.
"I'm wondering, could the person who helped my father have been Madame Web?"
After Peter posed the question, Cindy tilted her head. She had never actually met Madame Web and had only heard of her, so she didn't know how to answer even if Peter discussed it with her.
As for Felicia, the "Bad Luck Cat" seemed to be hissing at Silver Sable.
She didn't quite understand why this mission required bringing along a group of "armed personnel." Obvious to anyone, the larger the target, the higher the risk of exposure. Consequently, she glared quite unpleasantly at Silvija, who was clad in a combat suit. Silvija, of course, was completely indifferent to the gaze, almost finding it amusing.
As for Peter... he didn't actually mind Silvija coming. In truth, he knew exactly what Nick Fury was up to: using Peter Parker's status as Richard Parker's son to draw Hydra's attention. As long as Peter went looking for traces of his father's past, Hydra would inevitably notice.
Regarding who Fury had truly sent out to investigate or where they had gone, Peter didn't much care.
"We're about to reach Taranto. I don't know what you're looking for, and I won't interfere with your movements. However, since Fury requested that I stay close to you, I'll be nearby regardless of what you do. Call me if you need me."
While Silvija spoke, she directed the transport plane to land in the outskirts of Taranto, then tossed Peter a communicator. After catching it, Peter was the first to step off the plane. He turned back toward the aircraft and remarked, "I bet she'll be watching us from somewhere close by."
"Yeah, just like Nick Fury's lapdog," Felicia grumbled.
The one thing everyone had in common was that nobody liked Nick Fury. Felicia watched as the transport plane took off immediately with no intention of staying behind. Only then did she ask Peter a question she had been holding back.
"Do you think your parents died for the same reason my father did? That my father didn't die simply because of the Super Soldier Serum, but because... he discovered some even more terrifying secret?"
I think the fact that Walter Hardy discovered Hydra still existed was enough for them to take action, Peter thought. He didn't say it aloud, simply nodding absently before pulling out his notebook. In what had previously been a blank space, Peter had written down the address of the place his parents stayed in Taranto, as provided by Fury.
It was just an ordinary hotel, showing no outward signs of anything special. He let out a long breath and began searching for the hotel. As it turned out, finding a specific location in a small city wasn't very difficult. Peter quickly located the hotel on his phone and pushed through the doors.
The hotel receptionist was an elderly woman. Peter immediately felt that he might actually be able to learn something about the past here, so he walked up to the desk. Seeing the three young people approach, the old woman asked, "How many rooms would you like to book?"
"I'm looking for some information, ma'am. Do you remember a couple named Parker who booked a room here years ago?" Worried she might not remember, Peter added, "They came here looking for the local Taranto Wolf Spiders."
"Oh, oh, I remember. A pair of scientists came looking for spiders. I even warned them to be careful of 'tarantism,' but they just laughed and said there was no such thing."
The old woman stared at Peter for a while, considering his age. "You're their child, aren't you? Didn't they tell you anything about it?"
"They passed away several years ago. I'm here to find a friend of theirs. Supposedly, he helped them find the right spiders. Do you know who that might be?"
The old woman muttered to herself. If it were a guest with a very memorable personality, she might know, but she really wasn't sure about the others. Consequently, a slightly disappointed Peter booked three rooms.
Following a logical progression, the next step would be to do exactly what his parents did: search for the Taranto spiders and ask locals about them. Perhaps that would lead to contact with the mystery person. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. had surely tried this method already. Peter wasn't sure if he could make a breakthrough.
Moreover... Hydra might have been here too.
"The last time we were in Italy, the situation was pretty much the same!"
On a mountain road in southern Italy, two motorcycles were speeding along. Captain America, riding his beloved Harley, asked Logan, "Do you have any memory of it?"
"Not a shred."
Logan squinted his eyes against the wind pressure of the high-speed ride. If it weren't for the Captain, he wouldn't even know his full name was "James 'Logan' Howlett." The name on his dog tags was just his middle name. He certainly wouldn't have known that, just like his old rival Sabretooth, he had lived from World War II—or even earlier—to the present.
However, whenever the Captain told stories of their WWII exploits, Logan couldn't help but see himself in them. He had an intuition that the Captain was talking about him, not someone else.
"Where is this place we're going? Have we been there before?"
"No, we never went to Taranto. Hydra didn't have any bases there. We fought our way north; we were clashing with Hydra in Italy all the way until Normandy."
The Captain steered his motorcycle. Suddenly, a message came through his earpiece. He relayed it to Logan: "Fury says Spider-Man is in Taranto. He wants us to keep our identities hidden to avoid detection by the enemy."
"Mhm?"