Peter quickly realized an even more annoying point: since it was the first day, Cindy didn't know where the cafeteria was, so he had to take her himself. This led to a new problem—Cindy also sat across from him at lunch.
Because of this, Harry and Amadeus deliberately chose another table, whispering to each other from a distance. After Cindy sat down, she seemed to understand something and suggested, "If you find it troublesome, just tell me."
"Today's your first day transferring. Anyway, you won't need me to take you to the cafeteria tomorrow," Peter said, hoping someone would come over to relieve his awkwardness. He thought it would be Gwen or Jessica, but an unexpected person broke the ice.
"Hey, Peter, can I talk to you about something… Oh, who's this?"
It was Mary Jane who came over. She initially thought Peter was eating with Amadeus but then saw an unfamiliar Asian girl after arriving.
"This is Cindy, a new transfer student. The teacher asked me to help her get familiar with the school." Peter smiled, then saw Cindy just focused on eating, so he asked, "Can I help you with something?"
"Can you take a few photos for me?"
Peter looked at MJ, confused, wondering why she suddenly needed him to take pictures. MJ, in turn, looked at Peter in disbelief: "You don't know, do you? Your photos were on the front page of the Daily Bugle!"
???
When did that happen?
"Oh! No way! One moment."
Peter pulled out his phone and scrolled through it. Sure enough, he found the Daily Bugle's reply in his inbox. He really hadn't expected his photos of Spider-Man fighting Shocker to be published. The camera had been stuck to the wall, with no particular angles for candid shots. He had just picked one, developed it, and mailed it to the Bugle.
After all, back then he was still penniless Peter Parker. Now it was different; he was Peter Parker, who could sell Spider-Man's image rights thanks to his Avenger status.
Well, he was still temporarily penniless.
"I thought my photos would definitely be rejected, so I didn't even check. I still have five hundred dollars to collect." Peter thanked MJ, then asked, "What kind of photos do you need me to take?"
"I'd most like to interview Spider-Man, but I guess that's unlikely." MJ smiled helplessly. "But can you believe it? J. Jonah Jameson is willing to give me a chance. I can interview him for his thoughts on Spider-Man."
Yeah, what thoughts could JJJ have about Spider-Man? After sighing inwardly, Peter suddenly realized, "Oh, you mean you want me to take two photos of J. Jonah Jameson?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"No, I actually really want to meet him."
Peter indeed wanted to meet JJJ. After all, as Spider-Man's number one archenemy, few were as annoying and unavoidable as JJJ. But he wasn't in a hurry. JJJ was there; he wasn't going anywhere.
Perhaps he should worry about the people who could run away first.
"MJ, are you talking to Peter…"
Carrying her tray, Gwen walked over when she saw MJ chatting with Peter. She then peeked her head in, saw Cindy, and looked at Peter, raising an eyebrow.
Fortunately, MJ helped Peter explain that Cindy was a transfer student and why Peter was sitting with her, which avoided some awkwardness. Then Mary Jane looked at Gwen very genuinely: "Also, I need to borrow Peter for a bit, if that's okay?"
"He's not my property, why would you ask me?"
"Because you'd get angry if I didn't tell you?"
This made Gwen quite confused: "Why would I get angry?"
"Hmm? You wouldn't?"
Peter, having finished eating, excused himself and bolted with his tray, leaving the three girls standing there. Mary Jane looked at Cindy's hardly eaten tray and smiled, asking if she could sit next to her.
Cindy didn't refuse, so Mary Jane sat down. Then, Gwen also sat down and began to interrogate MJ about what she had meant.
Cindy looked at them and suddenly thought of something: Is Peter Parker's life always this ordinary?
It seemed a bit different from what she had imagined.
Meanwhile, Peter intended to confront his two good friends, but someone tapped him on the shoulder. Peter, whose mind was elsewhere and who hadn't gotten a Spider-Sense feedback, was startled. He sighed when he saw it was Flash signaling him.
"What's up, Flash?"
"Where have you been these past few days?!"
"I was sick." Peter looked at Flash, who was suddenly concerned, and felt a bit bewildered: "What's wrong?"
"That photo you took of Spider-Man! It was so good!" Flash asked him, excitedly and expectantly: "When are you going to take another one of Spider-Man?!"
Peter: "..."
"I'm not Spider-Man's personal photographer, okay? It's not like we know where Spider-Man is fighting every time."
Peter sighed, and Flash, realizing this, said "Oh" and visibly became dejected.
"I… I heard Spider-Man stopped a crime yesterday. He's back! So… sorry."
Watching Flash leave, Peter shook his head, then pulled out his phone again.
This time, it was serious business. Since Quentin and Herman still refused to say who their boss was, Peter decided to try a different approach: have J.A.R.V.I.S. investigate the gunman who tried to shoot him.
This investigation turned up something interesting: the gunman was named Mac Gargan, a private investigator by profession. This was undoubtedly Scorpion, one of Spider-Man's villains. Peter quickly pursued his whereabouts.
The conclusion was that he was missing. After being shot, he was taken away by ambulance to a hospital. However, hospital records showed that someone had come to the hospital and taken Gargan.
More importantly, no one knew who did it. The hospital's system had been tampered with, deleting related records and data, but the programming algorithm used was similar to the one Mysterio used to interfere with Tony's programs.
In other words, the person who took Mac Gargan was the true culprit behind Shocker, Chameleon, and Mysterio. And they might already be modifying Scorpion.
This person was most likely Kingpin, but unfortunately, Peter had no evidence. Without evidence, neither arrest nor punishment would be sufficiently convincing.
It might even earn Kingpin a good reputation if he were to die because of this. So, Kingpin had to be branded a villain first.
And Peter knew there was such a person in New York who had been collecting evidence against Kingpin.
"It's time to pay a visit to Matt Murdock."