Whether it was the original owner of the body—the one known as Spider-Man Noir—or Peter, who was currently inhabiting his body and passively receiving everything, neither of them could quite believe any of it.
Thus, Peter went to the Daily Bugle, wanting to demand answers face-to-face from Jonah.
Instead, he found “Jonah” shot dead inside the office!
The moment he appeared in the office holding a pistol was also “coincidentally” seen by the police who showed up right on cue!
After giving the pursuing police the slip, Peter headed to the police morgue and uncovered the shroud of mystery surrounding the corpse.
It was when he returned to the small room where he kept his files, attempting to search for clues among the documents Urich had left behind, that the other Peter possessed his body!
Peter opened his eyes, blinked, and realized that the agonizing pain in his brain had completely vanished.
The merging of memory fragments left him briefly unable to distinguish whether he was Peter the Spider-Man Noir, or the Peter who had just started his freshman year of high school.
Or perhaps…
both?
However, this confirmed one thing for him: in this world—no, in *another* world—there were people just like him!
Bitten by a spider all the same, and possessing extraordinary powers all the same!
It was just that compared to this Spider-Man codenamed Noir, his own life was far happier.
Although he hadn’t seen his parents since childhood either, he had an Aunt May who loved him dearly!
“Can I still go back?” With that thought, Peter tried to communicate with the strange web in his mind.
He quickly confirmed that he could indeed return!
As long as he actively severed the glowing neural thread from that point of light, his consciousness would leave this world and return to the world where he belonged!
Because of this, however, Peter was no longer in such a hurry to head back.
He wanted to see other worlds, other Spider-Men, and other adventures!
Peter shifted his focus to the photographs in front of him.
These were detailed files on members of the Green Goblin’s gang: [Sergei Kravinoff, alias: Kraven the Hunter.
Occupation: Beast Tamer.
Nationality: Soviet Union] [Adrian Toomes, alias: The Vulture, The Cannibal.
Nationality: Unknown…] [Dmitri Smerdyakov, alias: Chameleon.
Nationality: Soviet Union.
Half-brother of Kraven the Hunter.
Possesses the ability to perfectly mold his own face to mimic anyone!] “The core members of the Green Goblin’s gang were all recruited from circuses and freak shows, so it’s no surprise they have strange powers…” Having merged with Spider-Man Noir’s capabilities, Peter found that his logical reasoning had also been drastically enhanced.
“The dead Jonah was a fake, which means the real one must have been taken by the Green Goblin!” “Why would they kidnap Jonah?” “Urich!” “Because before he died, he wanted to use Jonah to expose the Green Goblin Crime Syndicate’s evidence, but the Goblin found out about it—the Daily Bugle must have a Goblin informant!
Right after that, the Goblin sent people to kidnap Jonah and had Chameleon disguise himself as Jonah.
But then Chameleon got shot dead!” “Who pulled the trigger?” “It had to be Felicia Hardy!” “She said she witnessed Jameson shoot Urich with her own eyes, which was why she grabbed Urich’s gathered evidence amidst the chaos.
Since she used to be involved with Urich, taking revenge for him was only natural.” “It’s just that there are too many coincidences in this world.
The one who shot Urich was actually Chameleon disguised as Jameson, and they didn’t expect Felicia to act so decisively.
So, Chameleon ended up dead.” “Because of this, though, Felicia is definitely in danger too.
Since they went after Jonah just because Urich contacted him, they’ll never let off someone even closer like Felicia!” “Wait, no, there’s another person who’s also their target!” “Me—Peter Parker!” “Because before Urich met his end, I was his best photography partner, and I even had a run-in with the Green Goblin at Felicia’s bar!” “They’ll definitely go to my house looking for me…
Oh no, Aunt May!” Peter bolted upright.
Even though this Aunt May wasn’t his Aunt May, having merged with a portion of Spider-Man Noir’s memory fragments gave him a deep, intense bond of familial affection for her nonetheless.
The thought that Aunt May might be in danger because of him made it impossible for him to sit still.
…
The Parker Residence.
*Knock, knock, knock.* Aunt May stood outside the room and knocked on the door.
“Peter, are you home?” After waiting a moment with no reply from inside, Aunt May pushed the door open and walked in.
She thought she had just heard some noise in this room, so she decided to check on it.
*Whoosh—* A gust of wind blew directly against her face.
Aunt May noticed that the room’s window hadn’t been closed.
Relieved, she murmured with a slight complaint, “This kid…
How many times have I told him to lock the windows tight whenever he goes out?
Honestly.” Saying that, she walked toward the window.
Before she could take more than a couple of steps, a massive black shadow pounced down from behind her.
Sensing the movement, Aunt May instinctively turned around: “Peter?” “It’s Toomes!” The dark shadow tackled Aunt May full-force to the floor, laughing sinisterly.
Only then did Aunt May realize this was a complete stranger.
He wore a loose, black robe, his head was completely bald, and his mouth was filled with razor-sharp fangs—he hardly looked human.
Even more terrifying were his eyes: gruesome, horrifying, and looking at her not as if looking at a person, but rather as if looking at food.
The Vulture appraised Aunt May’s body and hissed with distaste, “Hiss-hiss-hiss—a bag of old bones.
Your husband had much more meat on him…
and tasted far better, hiss-hiss—” A chill ran down Aunt May’s spine, her eyes widening in sudden horror.
She couldn’t bring herself to believe what came out of this man’s mouth.
Ben’s meat…
was tastier?
What…
did that mean?
A horrific realization surfaced in her mind.
Could it be that Ben…
wasn’t torn apart by wild dogs, but was actually by this man in front of her…
“Let her go, Toomes!” A figure cloaked in a black trench coat appeared in the doorway, shattering the atmosphere in the room.
Holding Aunt May by the throat with one hand, the Vulture turned his head: “S-S-Spider-Man.
You can move around, right?
With that strange web of yours?
But how fast can you move, S-S-Spider-Man?
Fast enough to stop me from t-t-tearing her neck to shreds?” “No…” Peter felt a moment of weakness; he was, after all, just a teenager.
At that moment, however, the part belonging to Spider-Man Noir took the upper hand.
Somewhat uncontrollably, he pulled a revolver from his black trench coat pocket and pointed it straight at the Vulture’s head.
“I am!” *BANG!* Amidst his decisive tone, a gunshot blasted out.
The revolver automatically cycled once.
Under Spider-Man’s formidable physical strength, the recoil was practically nonexistent.
The bullet struck with absolute precision right between the Vulture’s eyebrows, drilling straight into his brain.
The massive kinetic energy instantly turned the Vulture’s brain into pulp, sending him collapsing straight to the ground!