During the Roman holiday, if the others weren't out sightseeing, they were on dates; some students even attempted to use these five days to pick up Italian girls in Rome.
Mary Jane Watson, wearing her glasses, sat in the hotel cafe. She ordered a cup of coffee, donned her spectacles, and began typing on her laptop. Normally, she wouldn't have any relevant assignments; after all, she was just a high school intern. No matter how one looked at it, she wasn't senior enough for serious work, and this was a school-funded trip to boot.
Jonah Jameson was an excellent boss; though he had a venomous tongue, he truly looked after his subordinates. Once he realized that Phil Urich wasn't actually a bad person or a mole, he had personally apologized to Phil in the hospital and even covered his medical expenses. Furthermore, Mr. Ned's funeral costs were borne by the Daily Bugle.
He highly approved of Mary Jane's desire to join the tour group. Students, he believed, benefited from traveling abroad. At most, he simply gave Mary Jane a few completely unimportant human-interest stories to practice her craft and draft some copy.
Everything changed when Spider-Man appeared in Naples.
As the Daily Bugle's only reporter in Naples, Mary Jane was granted supreme authority by Jameson to conduct a comprehensive follow-up and report on exactly why Spider-Man was appearing in Italy. One had to consider that the Avengers hadn't mentioned any emergency missions in Europe, so did Spider-Man's presence in Italy suggest something else was afoot?
"Is that cursed menace planning to play the hero again, solve something on his own, and then leave acting like he saved the world?! I'm going to expose his true colors! Watson, find him and keep your eyes glued to Spider-Man!"
At the time, Mary Jane had to pull the phone away from her ear to avoid Jonah's vocal onslaught. She was still suffering from the tortures of jet lag, and now she had been burdened with a heavy responsibility.
"Why would Spider-Man be in Europe... according to the news from New York, Spider-Man has actually been seen in the U.S. as well. Either he can create duplicates, or he flew here on an emergency basis." While typing, Mary Jane gathered various news reports to summarize intelligence. She pushed up her glasses and began to reflect on the events related to Spider-Man's enemies along this journey.
First, in Lisbon, the students were attacked by a sandstorm as soon as they came ashore. A face had appeared within the sandstorm, and that same face had appeared in the battle in Naples as well. In other words, these enemies had been present since the students landed in Lisbon.
Then there was the battle in Naples. If one also accounted for that night of inexplicable blinding light in Madrid... it seemed this group of enemies was hunting their group of students? Why? Did they have someone important among them? A chaperone? Or a specific student?
Mary Jane tugged at her hair, feeling the investigation had hit a bottleneck. She began to ponder why this was happening.
If only Peter Parker were here. That boy was not only willing to help but also very bright. As a member of the Detective Club, he should be able to provide some good leads, just like when they investigated the bombings.
While Mary Jane was fretting, she heard a loud thud. Startled, she stood up immediately and found a girl had collapsed onto the floor. She hurried over to help her up, only to realize the student seemed to be from her own school.
No, more than that—this senior was the president of the Detective Club!
Mary Jane's eyes lit up. She helped the girl to the seat opposite her and asked with concern, "Are you alright, Senpai?"
"I'm okay, my strength just suddenly failed me. Oh, I remember you. You're... the lead singer and guitarist for the 'Mary Janes' band, right?"
Mary Jane looked at Jessica in surprise and nodded. "Yes, Jessica-senpai."
"Hmm? You know me?"
"I'm, uh, a friend of Peter Parker. We know each other, and I've heard of you." Mary Jane sat back in her own seat and asked Jessica, "How do you know about me, Senpai?"
"By memory. I've basically memorized information on all the students. As long as it's public info, I just commit it to memory and organize it. For example, I also know you're an intern reporter for the Daily Bugle because the school posted a notice. And right now, you should be writing a report on Spider-Man? Since you're a Bugle intern."
After taking her seat, Jessica asked the server for a cup of coffee and then asked curiously, "What's wrong? Writer's block?"
"Yeah. I don't know who these people are or what they're doing. I'm just guessing that they're likely following our movements, but I don't know why..."
Jessica arched an eyebrow. She actually had a fair idea why.
Because one person among the students was their target, and that person was almost certainly Spider-Man.
Just like the Scorpion years ago, Jessica—or indeed anyone investigating and following Spider-Man—could easily discover the patterns in his active hours. The only people who fit those hours were high school or college students. By cross-referencing with class schedules and adding the fact that Spider-Man wasn't particularly tall, one could basically confirm he was a high schooler.
However, Jessica couldn't proceed any further than that. She wasn't the Scorpion, after all, and she didn't have the Kingpin backing her up, so she had no way to investigate further. But she did know other details; for instance, her father provided technical support for Spider-Man at Oscorp, and Spider-Man was a member of the Avengers.
Therefore, as long as one could get the roster and compare the interns at Oscorp and Stark Industries, one could theoretically find out exactly who Spider-Man was. But Jessica couldn't get her hands on those lists.
More importantly, there were two other matters. One was what her father had told her: don't bother Spider-Man. From the news, one could see how many enemies Spider-Man dealt with and how busy he was; interference would truly cause him trouble. The other point was that her own illness was likely more troublesome. Although her father kept saying he was researching a miracle cure, Jessica didn't actually hold much hope.
And if she were to become completely paralyzed, finding Spider-Man might just be an added burden for him.
So, Jessica chose to investigate in secret; once she could no longer move, she would simply end it there.
Except now... she had a new lead.
Spider-Man was definitely a student at her school, and those four monsters were chasing Spider-Man!
So, who could he be?
As Jessica thought, she looked at Mary Jane and smiled. "Then, how about I give you a hand?"
"Is that really okay? Thank you so much."
"It's nothing, really."
Jessica smiled, intending to lead the Daily Bugle down the wrong path.
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