Afternoon came.
Universities are much the same everywhere. If you have classes, it's a full day. If not, you're free the whole day.
By around three or four in the afternoon, Gwen and Mayday were done. The two lingered around campus for a while, waiting until most of their classmates had left. Then they rushed over to Cindy.
Before long, the three met up. Cindy told them,
"I checked. There are cameras—it's troublesome."
"Do they have night vision?" Gwen asked. "If not, we can sneak in at night."
Cindy shook her head. "I don't know."
"Then let's go check."
They made their way near the archives. Gwen glanced at the cameras from a distance and let out a regretful sigh.
"They have night vision."
That left them disappointed. What to do about the cameras?
Mayday thought for a moment. "I could cover it, and you two slip inside?"
Cindy shook her head.
"What if there are more cameras inside? And covering them would just expose us. We need to be silent, invisible—like assassins. Too bad."
This time, though, they weren't assassins hunting people. If they were, Gwen could've just gone all out. No one would be left to talk afterward. But the point was, they needed to slip into the archives without gunfire or chaos.
So Gwen thought for a bit. She pulled out her phone.
"?" Cindy looked puzzled.
"Gwen, what are you doing with your phone?" Mayday asked too.
"Calling for help."
Gwen dialed Wanda.
"Gwen? What's going on?"
"I need help. We want to check the school's records for anyone with the last name Parker, but the archives are packed with cameras—all with night vision. What should we do?"
"You've got three options. One, I use magic to create illusions so you can slip by. Two, contact Jetfire with your phone and let it hack the system—the night vision cameras are definitely networked. Three, ask Lorien. For him, it'd be as easy as a snap."
There were plenty of possible solutions. But for Spider-Woman and the others, if they wanted this done tonight, they had no way. No magic, no hacker skills, no powerhouse ally.
Wanda, on the other hand, had it all.
"I'll try Jetfire first. Thanks, Wanda. If that doesn't work, I'll come back to you."
"If you really want to thank me, come back and sleep here soon. I can't take it anymore."
"?" Gwen froze. "Didn't you use your duplicate?"
"I did..."
"Oh..."
Gwen glanced at Cindy and Mayday. They weren't looking at her, but their ears were perked.
Helpless, she said into the phone,
"Okay, I get it. I'll definitely be back tonight."
Wanda let out a sigh of relief. "Promise me you're not lying."
"Promise."
After that guarantee, Gwen hung up.
Cindy and Mayday immediately acted as if nothing had happened. They exchanged glances, adjusted each other's clothes, fussing over appearances.
Gwen sighed and looked down at her phone. She found the app for contacting Jetfire—an app with the Transformers logo.
It wasn't downloaded online. Jetfire had installed it for them directly, so they could call for help anytime. Wanda had it on her phone too.
Gwen opened the app.
"Jetfire, I need to slip into an archive room unnoticed, but it's full of cameras. Can you hack them so we won't be recorded?"
As soon as she finished, Jetfire replied,
"Open video chat and aim it at the cameras you want me to hack, or give me the exact location."
Even the best hacker needs a network. Even the best tech needs an entry point. If a computer is offline, no one can hack it. And without a target, there's nothing to attack.
So Gwen switched to her rear camera and zoomed in on the ones they needed gone. Jetfire immediately locked on.
A progress bar appeared on her screen.
1%... 21%... 32%...
Not long after, it reached 100%. Jetfire reported,
"All surveillance in the archives has been optimized. From now on, the footage will appear perfectly normal."
Meaning the video looked real, but it was fake. Jetfire had synced every camera with falsified footage so flawless no one could tell the difference.
"Perfect. Thanks, Jetfire."
"My pleasure."
With the cameras handled, Gwen put away her phone and waved the others forward. Cindy and Mayday stared at her in disbelief.
"You just pointed the camera and snapped a pic? That fixed it?"
"Hackers can do that kind of hacking?"
"Hacking through photos?"
This wasn't anything like the hackers they'd seen in movies.
"This is Jetfire—a Transformer," Gwen said with a grin as she tucked her phone away. "Its tech is way more advanced than Earth's."
"Transformers?"
Cindy and Mayday looked completely lost.
What were Transformers?
And who was Jetfire?
Seeing their confused expressions, Gwen waved it off.
"I'll explain who Jetfire is later. It's not a person—it's a sports car."
"A hacker is a sports car!?"
That only left the two even more bewildered.
What could a sports car possibly have to do with hacking?
But when they saw Gwen heading toward the archives, they hurried after her.
...
The three entered the archives.
Only then did they realize New York University's archives were sealed, with both hard drives and physical files inside.
"This..."
Mayday couldn't help blurting out.
"Gwen, we can't break the seals. If we do, we'll be discovered sooner or later."
Cindy asked, "Then what do we do?"
Gwen thought for a moment. Her eyes landed on the computer in the room.
She pulled out her phone.
"Then let's hope these computers also have student and faculty records."
Turning to Jetfire, she said,
"Check this computer for faculty and student records. If they're there, find me someone named Parker."
"As you wish, Ms. Gwen. Please place your phone on the computer."
Gwen immediately set her phone down on it.
Then Jetfire got to work, scanning all the data inside—just like Tony secretly scanning the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier's files in Age of Ultron.
A short while later, Jetfire reported,
"Found one girl named Parker. Her file is stored in the core area."
"Girl?" The three were stunned.
Gwen quickly asked, "Copy her info to my phone. Let me see it."
The next moment—
"Done."
Hearing that, Gwen snatched up her phone, with Cindy and Mayday peering over her shoulder.
Onscreen was the girl's file.
The three of them read it together.
[Profile Picture]
[Name: Peni Parker]
[Age: 13.5 years old]
[Class: Junior Class]
[IQ: 200+]
[Evaluation: Orphan from a New York welfare home, fully funded by New York University. A genius, capable of remembering almost any detail and never forgetting data once seen.]
"Whoa~!"
After reading Peni Parker's file, all three were floored.
She was a true prodigy. Only 13 and a half years old with an IQ over 200!
Like Cindy, she was an orphan. And she had near-perfect memory!
"Quick, let's see what she looks like," Mayday said curiously.
"Mm." Gwen nodded.
They scrolled down to her photo.
"Hissss~~~"
"Huh?"
"This..."
The moment her picture appeared, all three froze.
"Isn't that the little girl who was watching us this morning?"
"Yeah, that's her."
"Black hair, sharp eyes—definitely her."
One glance was enough. There was no mistaking it.
"Just as we thought—there really is a Spider-Person among us who hasn't been discovered yet!" Cindy said happily.
Mayday frowned. "But she's so young. Was she bitten by a spider at that age?"
Gwen shook her head. She had no idea.
"We just need to find her and follow her."
"Right."
The three immediately began planning.
But then, Jetfire suddenly cut in.
"Ms. Gwen, Peni Parker's file has changed. Should I update it?"
"Changed?" The three froze.
"Update," Gwen ordered.
Jetfire refreshed the file.
The three of them looked again.
[Profile Picture] (Look again and I'll smack you!)
[Name: Peni Parker] (Why are you checking my name?)
[Age: 13.5 years old] (So what if I'm young?)
[Class: Junior Class] (Bleh bleh bleh~~~)
[IQ: 200+] (Hmph, never seen a genius before? This is fake anyway.)
[Evaluation: Orphan from a New York welfare home, fully funded by NYU. Genius, capable of remembering almost any detail and never forgetting data once seen.] (Did an orphan steal your sandwich? Tell me why you're looking at my file, or I'll sound the school-wide alarm.)
Gwen was stunned.
"Jetfire, did you get caught?"
[Ms. Gwen, with Cybertron technology assisting my calculations, there are several possible reasons for this reaction.]
[1: Pre-programmed. Various factors analyzed beforehand, with a preset message triggered.]
[2: Passive response. Once the file is accessed, it undergoes a secondary update. Only someone actively watching for changes would notice.]
[3: Guessing.]
After reading Jetfire's analysis, the three agreed it made sense.
They waited a little longer, but no alarm sounded.
Flipping the page, they saw the profile picture had indeed changed again—this time into a close-up of Peni Parker pulling down her lower eyelid and sticking out her tongue.
Completely mocking!
At that moment, Jetfire alerted them again.
"The file can be updated again. Do you want to proceed?"
Gwen asked, "Will the update be noticed?"
"No."
"Then update it."
A second later—
"Update complete."
When the update finished, the three looked back at the file.
Sure enough, the text in parentheses had changed.
(Scared yet?)
(Hmph. I'll give you one last chance. Admit what you've done, or I'll release the videos and photos of you caught on camera.)
(Of course, you could try coming after me. The profile picture is me, but be careful—you might get taken out first.)
Clearly, it was another automated threat.
Now the three understood.
These messages weren't real-time responses but automatic updates.
Basically, a program. And obviously, that program was set up by Peni Parker.
Mayday let out a sigh. "This Spider Girl is really sharp."
"Exactly," Cindy agreed. "She almost fooled us, and she's not even fourteen yet."
Gwen also had to admit the girl was brilliant. But that left a bigger problem.
"This girl has to be a hacker, or at least a tech-type Spider-Man. So how do we approach her?"
Mayday suggested, "Hack her back?"
"No," Cindy rejected immediately. "Whatever happens, meeting face-to-face is the only real option."
Mayday thought again. "Then when she's back at school, why don't we just grab her?"
Cindy gave her a look. "You sound like a child trafficker."
"Then what else can we do?"
Mayday and Cindy both sighed at the same time.
Then their eyes turned to Gwen.
Gwen was deep in thought. If Peni Parker was a genius who lived on tech, how could they follow her without being discovered?
Or better yet, draw her out and get her to show up as Spider-Woman?
She mulled it over for a long while.
Her gaze dropped to her phone, and she almost asked Jetfire—but the moment his name crossed her mind, realization struck.
"Wait. If Peni Parker's into tech and high-tech stuff, what if Jetfire shows himself under a camera—but only to her? Do you think she'd come to check it out?"
The three considered it and agreed the plan sounded great.
Jetfire replied, "Good idea."
"Then let's do it!"