Chapter 20: S.H.I.E.L.D. Takes Notice – Kingpin, a Monster Spawning Point!
The Other Side
Rhino's body had been taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D.
Coulson reported the incident to Nick Fury. "Should we reach out to the girl calling herself the 'Female Knight'? We've identified her through facial recognition."
Nick Fury replied casually, "We can send someone to investigate."
He didn't think much of Jessica—after all, she was just a teenage girl. As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he had seen plenty of extraordinary humans, not to mention non-human entities far more dangerous.
Coulson hesitated before asking, "Should we inform Natasha?"
Nick Fury raised an eyebrow. "Coulson, do you have a misunderstanding about our agent hierarchy?"
He leaned back and continued, "Natasha has a more important mission. The intel says this girl, Jessica Ye, is just a high school student at Central City High. Do you really want to play house with her?"
"But she is a superhuman," Coulson pointed out. "Data analysis suggests her physical stats far exceed those of normal people. Her strength, in particular—she can lift at least 800 pounds, conservatively speaking."
As a fan of Captain America, Coulson knew that Steve Rogers could bench press 1,200 pounds (545 kg) and clean and jerk 800 pounds (363 kg).
"Rhino Mihajlovic was even stronger, and he still got torn apart," Fury said, his expression serious. "I think we should focus more on the Black Spider."
"This Black Spider rarely appears and has exceptional counter-surveillance skills. His suit seems highly advanced, blocking almost all forms of data tracking." Coulson checked the reports again but found nothing useful.
Narrowing his eye, Fury said, "There's a clear connection between the Black Spider and the Ghost Spider. Wherever one appears, the other isn't far behind."
Coulson recalled something and reported, "That girl, Jessica, started a Ghost Spider fan club. It's unclear if it's just admiration or if there's a deeper connection. Also, Skye—who's already on our radar—has joined the club. I took a quick look at it before, but I haven't had time to investigate further."
"Coulson, are you hinting that you need a vacation?"
"That's not what I meant… though a vacation would be nice," Coulson admitted, rubbing his balding head.
Fury smirked. "There'll be time for that—eventually."
He slid a file across the desk. "For now, I have another mission for you."
Coulson sighed, taking the file. "And what about the Ghost Spider club?"
After a brief moment of thought, Fury decided, "Have Barbara look into it."
---
Time Moves Forward
Weeks had passed since Norman Osborn's body mysteriously disappeared.
The Osborn Corporation was struggling in his absence. Harry Osborn, still just a high school student, had neither the experience nor the authority to manage the company. Despite his upbringing in a corporate environment, he found himself overwhelmed.
The board of directors was deeply divided, and Harry, acting as chairman, had lost much of his influence. Several of Norman Osborn's research projects, including Dr. Connors' lizard gene transfer experiments, had been halted due to lack of funding.
These days, Peter Parker spent most of his time either helping Dr. Connors or checking in on Harry at Oscorp. His visits to the club with his best friend, Ned, had become infrequent.
Ethan Lee, however, paid little attention to these events—he had just returned from Hell's Kitchen.
There, he had successfully captured Kingpin and "taught" him a lesson about the importance of keeping the streets clean.
More importantly, Ethan had systematically eliminated every supercriminal under Kingpin's command, leaving only the crime lord himself.
Keeping Kingpin alive served a purpose—sooner or later, the man would hire more superpowered thugs, providing Ethan with more opportunities to hunt them down.
The system's random rewards were always worth the effort. Even weak enemies could yield powerful abilities if luck was on his side.
After acquiring Weather Control from the Rhino, Ethan had become even more motivated.
Of course, he hadn't ignored other developments. Two days ago, Tony Stark had disappeared in the Middle East desert, which gave Ethan a sense of urgency. Still, there was plenty of time before he arrived.
Just then, his phone buzzed.
"Hello?" Ethan answered.
"Ethan, it's Skye—" Her voice carried a hint of hesitation. "I… I dropped out of school."