Miles had left.
He was well aware of how important those two papers were to him.
If something went wrong, there was a high possibility that he would fail both of those courses.
Especially Spanish.
If his mom found out that he had failed his Spanish course, she would absolutely blow a fuse.
He could only wave at Peter Parker and Bruce before dashing out of the bank building and disappearing into the night.
"He still looks like just a kid." Peter Parker mercilessly commented on Miles' departure.
But Bruce had no intention of responding.
"Let's change locations." As Bruce spoke, he had already used his grappling hook to return to his Batwing.
"What a guy, always ready to leave at a moment's notice."
Peter Parker shrugged but quickly followed Bruce's lead.
When he finally sat inside the Batwing, he was beyond excited.
He examined every corner and every button inside the Batwing, but he knew better than to touch anything.
No one knew what those buttons did — what if one of them was the emergency eject button? He could end up launching himself out.
"Cool! Bro, now I really feel like watching that Batman vs. Superman movie."
Bruce silently fastened his seatbelt without giving Spider-Man any warnings.
He accelerated the Batwing straight into the night sky.
The powerful thrust sent Peter Parker's adrenaline soaring — he absolutely loved the feeling.
"Wahoo!!!"
As Spider-Man, Peter Parker didn't panic or make a fool of himself. He quickly adjusted his sitting posture and secured himself with the seatbelt.
"Honestly, bro, you should have given me a heads-up. If it were anyone else, they'd definitely be caught off guard by your sudden acceleration." Even now, as he sat steadily, his mouth hadn't stopped, chattering away to Bruce.
Perhaps this was why Spider-Men were such chatterboxes — the mask seemed to unleash their true selves.
"How long have you been in this universe?" Bruce abruptly interrupted Peter Parker.
"I just arrived today." Peter Parker replied while gazing down through the Batwing's window.
He immediately spotted the completely burned-down Kane Manor.
"That's your Wayne Manor, right? But why is it burned down? Oh, and did you also travel across universes? You must have been here longer than me; otherwise, there's no way you'd have such a nice manor."
Peter's questions flowed out the moment he saw Kane Manor's ruins.
But Bruce merely glanced at Peter without answering.
When the Batwing slowly landed in the Batcave, Peter Parker practically bounced out the moment the hatch opened.
"You really have a Batcave!"
The boy's excitement was palpable as Bruce led him inside.
As a kid reading Batman comics, Peter had always wondered how Batman could store so much equipment in his cave.
For any kid who had read Batman comics, owning a Batcave would be the happiest thing in the world.
Now, Peter Parker's childhood dream had come true — though he didn't own his own Batcave, he had set foot in one belonging to a real Batman.
"Peter Parker?" Jessica frowned as she looked at the red-and-blue Spider-Man standing in the Batcave.
Having worked with Peter Parker before, Jessica instantly recognized his trademark chatter.
However, S.H.I.E.L.D. had confirmed Peter Parker's death — there had been no mistake.
But now, this Peter Parker showing up seemed rather odd.
"Where did you find the clone?" Jessica could only assume this Peter Parker was a clone like herself.
"From another universe." Bruce leaped down from the Batwing, delivering the explanation in one sentence that left Jessica speechless.
They had traveled to other universes before and brought back things — but always under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supervision.
With S.H.I.E.L.D. backing them, they could accomplish many things.
But solo universe-hopping like this was astonishing.
Then again, Wilson Fisk had previously built a collider in Brooklyn's underground to search for people from other universes.
So maybe having one extra Peter Parker wasn't such a big deal.
"How's the Prowler?"
Bruce had taken longer to arrive at the bank because he had brought the Prowler back to the Batcave.
He wanted to know why the Prowler had chosen to kill the Tinker.
For these supervillains, the Tinker was the best weapons supplier — no one would ever target him.
"He's in your meditation room — not talking, not moving, like a dementia patient." Jessica glanced at the hyperactive Peter Parker, still struggling to adjust to the sudden liveliness of the Batcave.
Bruce's cave had always been cold and quiet — when had it ever been this lively?
"I'll go ask him. You keep an eye on this guy." Bruce said before heading to the meditation room.
Jessica instinctively nodded.
Only after a moment did she realize who Bruce wanted her to watch.
Peter Parker — as if anyone could keep him in check.
Well, there was one person who could.
And that person emerged just then.
"Peter?" Aunt May's voice trembled as she saw the red-and-blue Spider-Man.
Despite her disbelief, she immediately recognized him as Peter Parker.
Hearing that familiar voice, Peter thought he was hallucinating.
Why would anyone in this world know his real identity?
And why would that person be Aunt May?
But when he turned and saw her familiar figure, he knew he wasn't imagining things — Aunt May was really standing in front of him.
Which meant this universe had its own Peter Parker.
His parallel universe counterpart.
"You're healthier than the last Peter I met."
Having experienced parallel universes, Aunt May accepted Peter's presence calmly.
Peter didn't know what to say.
This elderly woman must have seen another version of him.
It seemed this universe had been through a lot.
While Aunt May held Peter's hand, Bruce arrived outside the meditation room.
The door slowly opened, revealing the Prowler sitting cross-legged, eyes closed.
He didn't even glance at the newcomer.
"I want to know why you killed the Tinker." Bruce's towering figure blocked the dim light in the room.
The Prowler didn't respond, only opening his eyes briefly to glance at Bruce before closing them again.
Clearly, he had no intention of talking.
For stubborn hardcases like this, Batman had his methods.
Bruce grabbed the Prowler by the collar and hurled him against the solid wall.
The force shook the ceiling lights.
But the Prowler remained silent.
This time, Bruce seized the Prowler's head and smashed his face against the wall.
Even in the dim light, blood could be seen trickling down.
"I know you think you're a tough guy — that you'll never talk and understand all the pain in the world." Bruce's eyes locked onto the Prowler as he gripped his collar tightly.
"But in my experience, those who refuse to talk — they always end up breaking the fastest."
"But I understand pain. I understand pain, so sometimes I will share a little of it with people like you."
The shadow completely engulfed the Prowler's face. At this moment, for the first time, he felt the terror emanating from the darkness.
"Ahhh!!!"
A painful wail echoed through the meditation chamber.
Once, darkness might have been the Prowler's camouflage, his protection. But from this moment on, the darkness would always be filled with bats, watching him with predatory eyes.
And darkness would no longer shelter him.
When Bruce stepped out of the meditation chamber, the dim lighting from before was completely gone. Now, the entire room was bathed in bright lights, illuminating every brick and tile with absolute clarity.
Outside the meditation chamber, Jessica was waiting for Bruce.
"Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on that guy?" Bruce wasn't surprised to see Jessica here.
"Someone else is watching him. And he's behaving like a baby," Jessica shrugged, indicating that this was no longer her responsibility.
Bruce, of course, knew exactly who was keeping an eye on Peter Parker, the little Spider who could climb walls and swing through the city.
In the Batcave, besides Aunt May, no one else could have done it.
"Did he talk?" Jessica was curious about what had happened inside. What could have changed the Prowler from his initial indifferent attitude to a state where he needed the lights turned up?
"Yes," Bruce nodded. During the interrogation, he had learned everything from the Prowler.
He had to admit, the Tinkerer was quite an extraordinary figure—he could get his hands on just about anything.
"So why did he kill that guy?"
"Two reasons. The first is that the guy helped him deduce that Miles Morales is Spider-Man."
When Bruce revealed the first reason, Jessica could hardly believe her ears.
To her, it seemed absurd—killing someone just because they helped identify Spider-Man.
"Why?"
"He didn't want anyone else knowing Spider-Man's identity. Not even the slightest chance. His goal was to turn Spider-Man into his own criminal accomplice."
"If Spider-Man appeared at the entrance of a bank, would you think he was doing something good or something bad?"
Bruce's question caught Jessica off guard. She was about to answer "something good" but hesitated.
Because in everyone's mind, Spider-Man was inherently a hero. If the Prowler's plan succeeded, no one would ever be wary of him.
"And the second reason?"
By the time Jessica asked this, she and Bruce had already reached the center of the Batcave, where Peter Parker was talking with Aunt May.
"The second reason has to do with Peter Parker." Bruce walked up to Peter.
At that moment, the young Spider-Man stood up to face Bruce.
Although he didn't know what had just been said, Peter instinctively felt it had something to do with how he ended up in this universe.
"The Prowler has experienced a parallel universe event. He's one of the few people who has encountered multiple Spider-Men."
Hearing about the parallel universe, Jessica seemed confused.
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken over the situation after Wilson Fisk's explosion, she hadn't paid much attention to it at the time—she was still investigating her own origins.
Meanwhile, she had been working in a special unit under Nick Fury.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. has some files on the incident, but I doubt they're detailed," Bruce commented.
He didn't believe that so many Spider-Men had appeared in Brooklyn, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had failed to notice.
Of course, there were probably records, but they wouldn't be very comprehensive.
At best, they could deduce it had something to do with Wilson Fisk's collider.
"I'll explain the parallel universe event later, but what you need to know now is that the main reason the Prowler killed the Tinkerer was because of it."
"But what does that have to do with me?" Peter Parker was puzzled.
He had been sent to this universe by Mysterio from his own world. Logically, he shouldn't have any connection to this one.
"I assume the guy who sent you here was a genius with a very high IQ."
Peter considered everything he knew about Mysterio and had to admit Bruce was right.
Mysterio was undeniably brilliant—he just used his intelligence in the wrong way.
"And that's why I said the Tinkerer was quite an extraordinary figure."
"Somehow, the Tinkerer got his hands on Wilson Fisk's original collider schematics, along with some of the negative energy that leaked when the machine exploded."
"With those two things and his own genius mind, he managed to build a small-scale collider."
"But unlike Wilson Fisk, he wasn't trying to pull people into this universe or erase anyone from their own. He simply wanted to expand his business across the multiverse."
"Quite the ambitious entrepreneur," Jessica quipped at the absurdity of it all.
A weapons dealer trying to take his trade across the multiverse—he might be the only one with such an idea.
"So the Prowler killed the Tinkerer just because of this ridiculous reason?" Jessica found it hard to wrap her head around his logic.
"It sounds ridiculous, but at the time, the Tinkerer was negotiating with someone from another universe."
Bruce's gaze landed on Peter Parker.
"My universe's Mysterio?" Peter was shocked. The mastermind behind his arrival in this world was actually someone from this universe.
"Exactly. The Tinkerer sold part of his collider blueprints to Mysterio and even helped him modify some things."
"He made Mysterio's portal device smaller and more efficient."
"And the Prowler's main reason for killing him was that the Tinkerer had told him all of this." Bruce rubbed his temples, struggling to understand why the Tinkerer had revealed such sensitive information.
Maybe he wanted to show off his intelligence, or maybe there was another reason.
"The Prowler wanted to prevent the emergence of more Spider-Men or any other superheroes, so he decided to cut off the multiversal trade at its source."
"So he killed the Tinkerer."
"But it's obvious now that your universe's Mysterio has already perfected his portal device," Bruce said, feeling a headache coming on.
He was still in the early stages of building himself up, yet the challenges he faced were already overwhelming.
First, the Spider-Men from the multiverse. Then, the chaos erupting in America.
And now, another universe's Spider-Man had been brought right to him.
And the root of it all?
It was his own universe's fault.
The only consolation was that the source of the problem was already dead.
(End of Chapter)
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