The trip to Aunt May's house this time was unusually peaceful.
As for whether there were hidden undercurrents, not many people would know.
"Whew, coming here for a meal really was the right choice."After helping Aunt May clear the table, Jessica flopped onto the couch without any regard for appearances.
She glanced at Gwen, who was still visibly a little stiff, and smiled.
Jessica's smile left Gwen momentarily dazed.
But she quickly understood what Jessica meant.
After all, no Spider-Man is truly socially anxious—at least not while wearing the mask.
Once the mask comes off, though, a Spider-Man might very well turn into a socially awkward mess.
"By the way, where's Bruce?"
It was only now that Gwen noticed Bruce had disappeared without a trace.
"Don't worry, he won't get lost—" Jessica had just started speaking when Aunt May approached them.
Especially notable was the tray of freshly baked cookies in her hands.
"Have some cookies. Bruce and the others have their own matters to attend to."
Aunt May smiled warmly at Jessica and Gwen.
But what she was really wondering was—
Why is there yet another girl showing up around Bruce?
She just didn't know how to ask.
Still, the more Aunt May looked at the two girls, the more she liked them.
At that moment, Mary Jane came out and, seeing Aunt May's expression, instantly knew what she was thinking.
So she asked on her behalf.
Besides, Mary Jane herself was curious.
"So, what's your relationship with Bruce?"
Mary Jane asked with a smile as she sat down next to Aunt May.
Aunt May nodded when she heard the question voiced.
In her eyes, Bruce and Peter Parker were similar in many ways—especially now, when Bruce felt like another one of her children.
Though the cookie Jessica had just eaten made her choke a little.
What kind of question was that?
Unbeknownst to them, Bruce had no idea they were discussing him like this. Right now, he was upstairs with Peter Parker, talking over the current situation.
Bruce didn't come here just for dinner. More importantly, he wanted to figure out who was still so obsessed with experimenting on Spider-Man.
"Is your injury okay?"
When the two were alone, Peter Parker opened the conversation with this line.
Bruce wasn't surprised.
The two of them shared some level of mutual understanding.
"Didn't you give up your powers?"Bruce joked lightly.
"My nose can still smell the scent of wounds," Peter replied casually.
Bruce frowned at the guy beside him.
"Hahaha."
Seeing Bruce's expression, Peter burst into unrestrained laughter. Clearly, guessing someone else's secret gave him a strong sense of satisfaction.
"But what I really want to know is, who's so fixated on you guys?"
Bruce looked out the window, puzzled. Aside from Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., who else would be targeting Spider-Man?
Sure, Spider-Man could be the perfect cloning material, but under these current circumstances, would anyone really take such a huge risk to capture one?
"There are way too many people obsessed with spiders."
Peter didn't see a problem with it. He'd seen far too many people who craved superhuman abilities or wanted to build a superhuman army.
"So, the kid you brought along—she's a Spider-Man too, right?"
Peter was clearly referring to Gwen, who had come with Bruce and the others.
Bruce nodded silently, his mind preoccupied with who might be bold enough to attack the Spider-People at a time like this.
He had already found the identities of the attackers through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database.
If he hadn't left a backdoor in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system earlier, it would've been nearly impossible to retrieve the specific information on that strike team.
Now that he had it, Bruce didn't believe the attack was orchestrated by S.H.I.E.L.D.—they were clearly just as shocked that the team had escaped their custody.
"To be honest, I don't know either."
Peter gave Bruce a serious answer after some thought.
And he was telling the truth.
Nearly all of his former enemies had either retired or ended up in prison.
Who knew who'd suddenly decide to go after Spider-Man now?
Bruce had more or less anticipated this response.
Still, he had to ask—maybe he could get something useful from Peter.
Just as Bruce was about to speak, the phone in his pocket vibrated.
He pulled it out to find a blinking red dot that had just stopped moving.
That dot marked Miles' current location.
Bruce had expected them to take Miles somewhere extremely far away—but he hadn't expected his location to only now settle.
What truly surprised Bruce was where the dot had stopped.
It wasn't far from New York—one could even say it was right under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nose.
Of course, Bruce didn't rule out the possibility that they'd discovered the tracking program he'd left on Miles and simply discarded the spider-signal emitter.
But that seemed highly unlikely.
"What happened?"
Peter noticed Bruce's furrowed brow and knew instantly that something was wrong.
After all, even with severe injuries, Bruce never let his expression change. A reaction like this definitely meant something was up.
"I have to go."
Bruce walked straight to the window of Peter's room and opened it.
In an instant, his nanobots had fully suited him up.
"You're not going to tell Jessica and the others? You're still injured, you know."
Peter wasn't keen on Bruce heading off to face a powerful enemy. After all, Bruce was just an ordinary human—and now an injured one at that. It would be nearly impossible to take on someone capable of capturing a Spider-Man.
"If I brought them along, that's exactly what the enemy would want."
"Alright, but I think you should—" Peter Parker turned around, wanting to find something for Bruce. But when he got the item and looked back toward the window, Bruce was nowhere to be seen.
"Take these things with you."
Rubbing his head, he muttered, "I knew it. These bats always disappear at moments like this."
He set down the weapon he had just developed.
Peter Parker sighed helplessly and headed downstairs.
"Peter, where's Bruce?"
Seeing Peter come out alone, Aunt May asked curiously. She had clearly seen the two boys go upstairs together, so why was Peter the only one coming down?
"He had an upset stomach."
Peter blurted out the first excuse that came to mind, even though he knew it sounded terrible the moment he said it.
Jessica, who had been slouched on the sofa, was now sitting upright, staring at Peter Parker with a smile.
"You know, my boss has long since made lying a natural part of his life," Jessica said with a grin.
"But it's obvious you don't have that skill. You just lied."
Peter looked a bit embarrassed, unsure of how to explain the current situation. After all, Bruce had already warned that bringing the others along might lead them straight into a trap.
But at that moment, Jessica slumped back onto the couch, no longer paying him any attention.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to ask where he went. If he didn't take the two of us along, it's probably because of the recent attack."
Jessica's tone sounded more like she was explaining things to Gwen than to Peter.
After Peter gave that clumsy excuse, Gwen had clearly become restless. Both of them knew Bruce's condition wasn't good. If he went out and did something again, it might worsen his injuries.
"Besides, you have to trust that the boss is capable of handling the situation."
This time, Jessica was definitely speaking to Gwen.
At that moment, Aunt May sat down beside Gwen, holding the girl in her arms and gently patting her shoulder in comfort.
"Don't worry. When he gets back, I'll give him a good scolding."
As she said this, Aunt May shot Peter Parker a look.
Peter knew exactly what that look meant—he'd better keep his mouth shut and not snitch on Bruce, or he'd be the one in trouble later.
Mary Jane just smiled.
Meanwhile, Bruce had already vanished from Queens.
With the Batwing destroyed, Bruce now had only the Batmobile under his control.
He activated all the stealth systems on the Batmobile, making sure no one could monitor or detect his movements as he rushed toward that marked location.
Speeding toward the red dot on the map, Bruce didn't forget to send a message to S.H.I.E.L.D.
The familiar Bat symbol once again appeared on the command center's screen in the Triskelion. At this point, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were more than used to it.
"Could you maybe stop hacking directly into our system? It's starting to make me feel like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network is just for show," Monica grumbled at Bruce.
"Any progress on the Miles situation?"
Bruce ignored her complaint and got straight to the point, asking for updates on Miles' disappearance.
"We're currently trying to recover the surveillance footage from when they captured him. I have to admit—they were well-prepared. They took out every camera in the area."
Just thinking about it gave Monica a headache. Whoever took Miles had clearly gone to great lengths.
"They even managed to partially block our satellite surveillance. But we did get some footage—it just needs to be restored."
"Oh, and thanks for keeping Vision under control. Otherwise, he might've turned one of our satellites into a nuke."
Monica was genuinely thankful as she said this to Bruce.
If a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite were to crash and explode anywhere on the West Coast right now, it could trigger another uprising—maybe even a new West Coast nation.
Then they'd be labeled as the culprits.
But when Monica looked back at the screen, the Bat symbol had already vanished. She turned to her aide and asked,
"When did he disconnect?"
"Right when you mentioned restoring the satellite footage, Commander."
The aide knew it didn't look good but still reported it truthfully.
Monica gritted her teeth but couldn't say anything—this was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own fault for having a system that someone could just waltz into.
"Notify the Science and Tech Department. I want a complete system overhaul within 12 hours. No backdoors for anyone."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The aide immediately turned and rushed to deliver the order.
Before Monica could fully shake off her frustration, the screen was once again overtaken by the Bat symbol. But this time, it wasn't a communication—it was a live-updating map.
Bruce had thoughtfully marked the location with a red dot.
If Monica couldn't figure out what that map meant, she had no business being in command.
"Alert the Ultimate Strike Team. Have them move to this location immediately—it's very likely where Miles is being held."
As Monica gave the order, Bruce had already arrived at the red dot.
From a distance, there was no trace of any building—just a desolate area untouched by human activity.
But places like this were ideal for hidden laboratories.
Even though Bruce currently used a bunker as his Batcave, he remembered others who had used natural caves as their bases.
To a bat, finding a hidden facility in a place like this was practically second nature. Bruce was an expert.
Besides, he had already equipped the Batmobile with lifeform detectors.
Normally, this gear was used to rescue civilians trapped in disasters.
But now, it was proving just as useful for locating the missing Miles.
Deep underground—nearly a hundred meters below—
A man stood watching with great satisfaction as Miles remained trapped inside a cube-shaped cell.
"Mr. Morales, I believe you understand the situation," the man said, watching as Miles slowly opened his eyes, trying to start a conversation.
But Miles instantly recognized him.
"Doctor Doom!!!"
(End of Chapter)
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