Rome was supposed to be a five-day vacation. While half the Midtown High tour group scattered across the city to flirt with locals or wander through ancient ruins, Mary Jane Watson sat in the hotel lobby café. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, took a sip of dark espresso, and hammered away at her laptop keyboard.
As a high school intern on the reporter track for the Daily Bugle, she wasn't actually expected to do real fieldwork. The school was funding this trip, not the paper. But J. Jonah Jameson had a surprisingly solid core beneath his constant screaming. When Phil Urich ended up in the hospital, Jonah had personally paid his medical bills. He covered Mr. Ned's funeral expenses without a second thought. He even approved MJ's European absence, tossing her a few fluff pieces just to keep her typing.
That all changed the second Spider-Man crashed into Naples.
Jonah had immediately granted MJ full correspondent privileges. He roared through the phone so loudly she had to hold the receiver a foot away from her ear. "Is that masked menace trying to play international savior?! We've got sightings in New York, and now he's tearing up Italy? Find him, Watson! Expose whatever he's doing over there!"
MJ rubbed her eyes, fighting off the lingering jet lag. "Why Europe?" she muttered, scrolling through Italian news feeds.
According to the local New York stringers, Spider-Man was still occasionally popping up back home. Either the guy had cracked cloning technology, or he caught a transatlantic flight in a massive hurry. She cross-referenced the attacks. A freak sandstorm swallowing the plaza in Lisbon. A blinding light anomaly in Madrid. A full-blown elemental warzone in Naples.
Every single disaster lined up perfectly with the Midtown High itinerary.
They weren't random attacks. The monsters were following the tour group.
She tapped her fingernail against her chin. Why? Was a teacher the target? A student? She groaned, leaning back in her chair. The trail was dead. If Peter Parker were here, he'd probably have a working theory in five minutes. He was a science nerd, sure, but he was also sharp—good enough to help the Detective Club figure out the Shocker's motives back in New York.
A heavy thud echoed across the café.
MJ jumped, pushing her chair back. A girl had collapsed near the pastry counter, her shoulder slamming into a wooden table on the way down. MJ rushed over, hooking an arm under the girl's elbow to hoist her up.
She recognized the face instantly. It was Jessica Miriam Drew, a high school senior and the president of the Midtown High Detective Agency.
MJ guided Jessica into the chair opposite her laptop. "Are you okay, senior?"
Jessica pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead, taking a slow, shaky breath. "I'm fine. Just a sudden wave of weakness." She blinked, her dark eyes focusing on her rescuer. "Wait. You're Mary Jane. From the rock club. You're the lead singer of the Mary Janes, right?"
MJ raised an eyebrow. "You know me?"
"I'm a friend of Peter Parker's," MJ replied, leaning against the table. "I know who you are, Jessica. But how did you know about my band?"
"Photographic cataloging," Jessica said, her breathing finally steadying. She flagged down a waiter and ordered a coffee. "I memorize public student registries. I also know you're interning for the Daily Bugle. Judging by the frantic typing, I'm guessing you're trying to crack the Spider-Man story."
Jessica leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "Hitting a wall?"
MJ let out a frustrated breath. "A brick wall. I know those monsters are following our tour group, but I can't figure out the motive."
Jessica's expression didn't shift, but her mind raced. She knew exactly what the motive was. Spider-Man was a Midtown High student. The monsters were hunting him.
Jessica had run the exact same operating-hours analysis that the Scorpion had used. Spider-Man's patrol gaps aligned perfectly with a high school bell schedule. Cross-reference that with his height, his ties to the Osborn Tech Expo, and her father Jonathan Drew's classified genetic research at Osborn Technologies, and the suspect list shrank to single digits. She was incredibly close to exposing the hero's identity.
But she had stopped digging. Her father had explicitly warned her not to interfere with Spider-Man. More importantly, her illness was getting worse. Despite her father's desperate attempts to engineer a cure, Jessica's physical strength was failing her. If she ended up paralyzed, knowing Spider-Man's secret would only make her a target and a burden. She fully intended to bury the investigation.
Now, MJ was dangerously close to stumbling onto the truth.
Jessica picked up her coffee cup, offering MJ a faint, completely disarming smile. "Do you want some help?"
MJ's eyes lit up. "Really? That would be amazing."
"No problem at all," Jessica said smoothly. She took a sip of her espresso, fully prepared to steer the Daily Bugle's finest intern completely off a cliff.