"What on earth are the New York police even doing? How is this murderer still walking free?"
"Damn NYPD! They're taking our tax dollars just to sit in their offices eating donuts?"
"How is this guy, Mac Gargan, able to roam around so brazenly?"
"And now he's casually taking a ferry to buy high-tech weapons? This is ridiculous! I demand a protest!"
After the chaos that had driven many people to flee New York, the residents who remained began to openly question the NYPD's competence.
Crowds of frustrated citizens gathered outside NYPD headquarters and major precincts, demanding answers.
The police leadership was feeling the heat. Under intense pressure, they issued orders to track down and arrest Mac Gargan and his associates—whether or not they had committed any additional crimes recently. Right now, they just needed to make a high-profile arrest to ease public outrage. Otherwise, some top NYPD officials feared they might soon be out of a job.
New York was already at its most volatile moment. General Ross had deployed military forces into the city to suppress looting and maintain order. If public anger shifted toward the police as well, things could spiral out of control.
The city was under intense global scrutiny, and if violent clashes erupted between citizens and the police—or worse, between civilians and the military—there would be no way to shift the blame. The situation had to be defused as quickly as possible.
Mac Gargan quickly realized he was in trouble. He had already been lying low in New York, hoping things would blow over, but then Skycurtain exposed him to the world.
The news showed the NYPD holding a press conference, announcing a citywide manhunt and placing a high bounty on his capture.
With all escape routes cut off by military checkpoints and every criminal in the underworld looking to cash in on his bounty, Gargan was trapped. The true danger of being exposed by Sky curtain wasn't just law enforcement—it was that everyone knew what you'd done.
Changing his identity wouldn't help. He was already a marked man.
Not long after the NYPD placed the bounty, someone turned him in. He and his crew were quickly arrested, bringing a sigh of relief to the police force.
With his capture, the NYPD could now prove they were still capable of maintaining order in New York City. Meanwhile, the military had quelled most of the looting, calming public unrest.
[Herman walked over and said, "White pickup truck."]
[Mac Gargan motioned to his men, and they immediately headed toward the parking garage.]
[From above, Spider-Man listened in and whispered, "Drone, scan the ferry for a white pickup truck!"]
[Receiving the command, the drone immediately flew off, scanning the entire ferry. It soon located the white pickup truck among the mass of parked cars.]
[It hovered behind the truck, beginning a scan of the cargo. The driver, sitting in the cab, remained completely unaware of its presence.]
[Just then, the driver stepped out of the vehicle. The drone, only halfway through its scan, quickly retreated to avoid detection before repositioning itself to continue filming from a safer angle.]
[The driver and the trader, oblivious to the surveillance, casually lifted the tarp covering the truck bed, revealing crates of advanced weapons.]
[Spider-Man watched the scene unfold and couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh! This is perfect! We've got the weapons, the buyer, and the seller all in one place!"]
[Just as he was about to make his move, Karen suddenly interrupted. "Incoming call from Tony Stark."]
["NONONONO! Don't answer it!" Spider-Man panicked. He didn't want to disappoint Tony at such a critical moment, but before he could protest further, Karen had already connected the call.]
[Tony's voice came through as he removed his sunglasses while sitting in his car. "Mr. Parker! Got a moment?"]
[Flustered, Spider-Man blurted out, "Uh... uh, I'm at school!"]
[Karen, ever the AI assistant, immediately corrected him. "You are not in school."]
[Tony, unable to hear Karen, continued talking. "That rescue you pulled off ? Not bad! My dad never really encouraged me, but I'm trying to break that cycle."]
[Spider-Man listened while keeping his eyes locked on Herman and Mac Gargan below. "Uh-huh! Yeah! Look, I'm kinda busy right now!"]
[Tony frowned. "Don't interrupt me when I'm complimenting you! Anyway, some big things are coming soon—"]
[A loud horn from the ferry suddenly interrupted the conversation. Tony squinted in confusion. "What was that?"]
[Thinking fast, Spider-Man blurted out, "Uh! Band practice!"]
[Tony wasn't buying it. He narrowed his eyes. "That's weird… Happy told me you quit the band six weeks ago. What's going on?"]
[Meanwhile, the deal between Herman and Gargan was nearly complete. Herman was just about to hand over the keys to the pickup truck.]
[Spider-Man couldn't afford any more distractions. "I gotta go! Ending the call now!"]
[Tony barely had time to react. "Hey—!" But before he could say anything else, Karen had already hung up.]
"I never expected to hear you praise someone, Tony! Really, I'm shocked!" Rhodey smirked at him.
"Yeah! Honestly, I am pretty good at giving compliments," Tony said with a self-satisfied smirk. "But most people don't deserve them."
Rhodey chuckled. He had teased Tony so many times that the billionaire barely reacted anymore. There was just too much dirt on Tony for him to fight back effectively.
"Looks like Tony from Skycurtain is really raising little Peter Parker like his own son," someone commented. "He even brought up Howard!"
Steve Rogers, hearing Tony mention his father, felt a pang of nostalgia for his old friend.
"The third-gen Peter Parker's lies were full of holes, and now he's even hung up on Tony. Stark is definitely going to track his whereabouts," Nick Fury observed. "If things go smoothly, no problem. But if they don't… things could get messy."
Shaking his head, Fury thought to himself: Spider-Man was still too young. He wasn't careful enough with his words or actions. He needed proper training.
Perhaps it was time to bring in Natasha.
Although she was a top-tier spy, Natasha's current situation was a little… complicated. Giving her a temporary job as Peter's combat instructor might actually be a good way to let her relax while still being useful.
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