I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 109 Finally, I have some free time.
Rikers Island, located on Rikers Island in New York City, is the city's most overcrowded and largest prison. At its peak, it housed over 1 inmates. Due to a shortage of rooms, many low-risk prisoners were shared with dozens of others in a single cell, with some cells containing up to 50 beds. It is said that Kingpin, who announced his surrender yesterday, will soon be transferred to this prison—he previously served time there.

But Kingpin's arrival wasn't the reason for the sirens blaring and the guards frantically searching Rikers Island prison today. Their mobilization was because a prisoner had escaped, and worse, the warden had ordered them not to reveal who had escaped.

Just as they were conducting their urgent search, a bald, muscular black man wearing prison clothes emerged from the Hudson River in Hell's Kitchen, on the west side of Manhattan Island. He looked around, took off his prison clothes, threw them into the river, and after confirming that there were no surveillance cameras, slipped into the chaotic Hell's Kitchen.

He had some names before, but those names don't matter anymore. From today onward, he only has one name.

Luke Cage.
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Today was a good day for school, and everything seemed to have finally returned to the simple and monotonous routine before the start of the school year—no supervillains, no messy stuff. Peter finally felt relieved at the end of September.

Upon closer inspection, he had already fought against Thriller, Chameleon, Cal King, Mysterio, Giant Wheel, Rhino, and Scorpion in September. He went to a parallel world to stop Miles' rise... oh no, to stop Spider-Man's death on Earth 700. He also returned to witness the reunion of the X-Men, went abroad to Madrid to fight Weapon X, and then beat up Mr. Ominous.

What a fulfilling and busy September! I hope it won't be this busy again in the future.

And Cindy's kiss... well, let's not include that in the summary.

Speaking of this, Peter glanced at Cindy sitting next to him. Since yesterday, their relationship had become somewhat awkward, and Cindy didn't talk to him much anymore. It was actually quite strange to say that, since Cindy wasn't a talkative person to begin with. She was the kind of girl who would hide behind a book if she felt she was being watched.

The main problem was that Peter would occasionally notice Cindy glancing at him, and when he tried to say something, she wouldn't continue the conversation.

It's strange, but there's nothing we can do about it.

He has never been in a relationship in either of his lives and doesn't know how to handle it. He doesn't know if he will fall into one of the three great illusions of life.

Most importantly, it seems like no one in the entire Avengers can offer him any reference. Captain America's views on love are quite reserved, still stuck in the last century. Tony Stark is usually a playboy, but he becomes speechless around Pepper Potts. Hank has never pursued a girl; Janet pursued him—who knows how he did it. Hulk… Banner and Betty aren't even close to getting together yet. And Black Panther, King T'Challa's love story probably doesn't serve as any reference either.

As for Saul, to be honest, Peter had never met Saul.

"It's possible that Thor doesn't exist at all, and is just a lie made up by the Avengers to deceive aliens."

Cindy heard Peter mutter this completely nonsensical remark, glanced at him again, and then continued reading her book.

"Hey guys, great news!"

As the most social of the trio, Harry ran back to his seat with some exciting news and shared it: "Guess what I found?"

"...What new comic convention news?"

Harry looked at Peter with disdain. How old was he, still thinking about playing? He shook his head mysteriously, then looked at Amadeus: "Guess what the good news is, Amadeus."

“I guess it’s not about our school’s trip to the Arecibo Telescope in November, is it?” Harry’s face fell immediately, because, without a doubt, Amadeus was right.

Arecibo Observatory, currently the world's largest and slated to become the world's second largest telescope, is one of the world's most important telescopes. Incidentally, in 2020, a steel cable supporting the feed platform broke, causing the entire telescope to be destroyed, leaving only the one at the University of Tokyo in the world.

But at least for now, this thing is unique to the United States. And since the Arecibo Telescope is located on Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory), it's still considered a trip out to sea.

"Isn't this supposed to be an astronomy club activity?" Peter looked over curiously, then noticed the strange looks from Harry and Amadeus. He realized that he had been so engrossed in Spider-Man's superhero career that he hadn't known anything about what was happening at school that he should have known.

That's bad news.

“No, Peter, it’s… a reward. Simply put, the school is planning to organize a student science competition team to research extraterrestrial civilizations. After all, New York was really invaded by aliens once.” Harry explained to Peter, assuming Peter hadn’t had time to pay attention because he was sick: “As long as you can participate in their questionnaire and answer the questions correctly, you can join the competition team, and then we can go see the 'Sky Eye'!”

“Cool, I should have time. I’ll look at the problem online when I get home.” Peter nodded, while Cindy, who was listening nearby, asked Harry, “Can anyone join the competition group as long as they get enough points?”

"Of course, otherwise how would we freshmen get there?"

This little incident passed quickly. It wasn't until school was over that Cindy stopped Peter, but of course, they didn't talk about yesterday's events.

“I feel there’s something off about that science competition, just like the internship at Baxter Building; it might have been arranged.”

"Perhaps. You could have S.H.I.E.L.D. check it out. My spider-sense isn't reacting at all." Peter didn't think there was anything wrong with it. If everything he did was orchestrated, he'd have to wonder if his time travel was also orchestrated.

It shouldn't be that outrageous.

"Are you going on patrol after school?"

"I'm not going today, uh, I have some things to do."

Mary Jane asked him to do an interview with JJJ. Cindy and Gwen actually knew about this, but Peter thought it was better not to say it. Saying it would make his spider-sense buzz.

"Do you need my help?"

“No, no need.” Peter smiled. “All the villains have been defeated. Now New York should be at peace.”

　Starting with this chapter, we've officially left the beginner's village stage. Welcome to the first major storyline of this book: the Defenders Alliance arc.
　　Incidentally, Zemo doesn't pretend to be a superhero himself; rather, he disguises himself as some superhero who hasn't appeared yet.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)