Spider-Man landed in the alley and took out his phone. Peter's voice came from the phone:
"Bruce. Where are you now? Why haven't you submitted the street view modeling assignment?"
"What?" Spider-Man was a bit confused, "I'm on patrol now, I set it to send automatically. Didn't you receive it?"
"No, I'm certain that my inbox doesn't have your assignment," Peter said, "I know you might be a bit busy, but you still need to submit your assignment on time. Can you submit it today?"
"Sorry, Professor," Spider-Man patted his forehead, "I asked Thomas... Never mind, I'll go back myself and send it to you."
"Don't use email; downloading is a bit troublesome," Peter said, "just copy it onto a USB drive and bring it directly."
"Alright, Professor," Spider-Man hurriedly said, "I'll go right now."
After hanging up, Spider-Man took off his mask and wiped his face. Everything seemed to be happening at once. He knew the assignment was due today, had completed it, and even set it for scheduled sending. But Carter asked him to watch this side, so he didn't check whether it was sent successfully. Sending it again now for Peter to download would surely delay his clock-out. So he could only deliver it himself.
Spider-Man swung through the sky at top speed and landed in the alley not far from Forward York University. He changed his clothes, shouldered his backpack, and ran towards the school. He hadn't run far before a group of people blocked him.
Spider-Man looked up and saw the person who had clashed with him at the beginning of the school term. It was a big guy, possibly from the school's football or basketball team, leading several members to block his way.
"Sorry, let me through," Spider-Man said.
"What's your hurry?" The other guy pushed him and laughed with his companions. Spider-Man's temper flared up.
Thomas asked him to familiarize himself with Wayne Enterprises' business, but no one under him listens; patrolling in the safe area, the patrol is unclear; coming to college, the assignment isn't submitted; and now running into these people. Clayface still has three points of anger, and Spider-Man really couldn't control it anymore.
When the other guy reached out to push him again, Spider-Man grabbed his wrist directly, yanked it hard to the side, and threw him to the ground.
"Oh!" The guy let out a scream.
But because Spider-Man held back his strength, he didn't throw the guy directly away, nor did he crush his wrist. It seemed like a sneak attack that brought the guy down. The remaining few people didn't run away; instead, they angrily surrounded him.
Spider-Man quickly took them all down and ran towards the teaching building. Little did he know, it had all been filmed. The attempted frame-up on the first day of school was now successful.
The saying goes that a tried-and-true trick is just fine. Spider-Man couldn't get past the hurdle of being slandered by the newspaper. But this time, the one doing it was the Daily Planet where Superman worked.
"Master Wayne's campus bullying, angelic face with a devilish mind?"
Clark Kent, just back from a rehearsal at the cathedral, was devastated when he saw this report. He gripped the corner of the paper and took several deep breaths to suppress his emotions.
He wasn't firmly convinced that Master Wayne didn't do it. There might be two reasons for this: either Bruce really bullied, or Bruce was foolish enough to fall into such a trap. Either way, it pissed him off.
Clark had long realized that Bruce had trouble controlling his emotions and frequently fell into such traps, even during the civil war. Clearly, he was the victim, yet he became the catalyst of the civil war, gaining the same status as Iron Man.
People say Batman is too cold and brooding and doesn't speak, but the truth is, only a personality like that can handle these matters. If someone from this universe were as ignorant as Bruce, just starting college, life would be full of pitfalls, and once stepped into, there's no escape.
Clark put down the paper and grabbed his bag, running to the back entrance of the newspaper office and flew, heading straight for Luther Group, hovering outside Luther's office window.
Luther hadn't even taken off the bandages wrapped around his eyes. Upon seeing Clark, he immediately stepped back. Clark said through the glass:
"It was you, right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Luther sneered.
"I'm not here to ask for evidence." Clark said, "I can move the Luther Group once, I can move it a second time. If you don't want to work in Kansas State, then stop these little tricks."
Luther glared at him with his one remaining eye, continuing to retreat as several robots blocked his path. Suddenly, the glass curtain wall opened. The gun in the robot's hand emitted a green light, hitting Clark and causing him to scream in agony, falling straight to the ground.
Luther's lips curled into a smirk, but the next second, the Divine Power Chain directly wrapped around him. Thor descended, coldly grabbed Luther, flew beneath the Luthor Building, and handed him over to the arriving agents.
At the Rebirth Alliance Headquarters, Thor's face was grim. Earlier, he went to capture Loki again; Loki was captured, but in just a moment's inattention, Iron Man over at Stark Group was nearly strangled by his own mecha; Pepper was shot and ended up in the hospital; over at Wayne Enterprises, Spider-Man was framed, trapped in a media storm, and Wayne Enterprises' stock price also fluctuated; over at Luther Group, framing Spider-Man wasn't enough, they directly shot down Superman. Thor's head was buzzing.
Being the master of the Nine Major Kingdoms isn't easy, even if you're omnipotent here, you can't afford even a moment of distraction, otherwise humans will surely mess things up.
"You shouldn't stay here." Thor told Luther, "I'll send you to Jotunheim right now, you're waiting to go to Court."
Not bothering with Luther's curses, Thor directly teleported him to Jotunheim and threw him into the masking zone. He wasn't worried Luther would collude with Reed; firstly, Luther's personality wasn't likable, and secondly, he lacked skill, Reed definitely wouldn't think highly of him.
The reason Reed got along well with White Can was because White Can actually had some credibility in chemistry and biology; compared to him, Luther was lacking, with nothing to show for, Reed wouldn't care for him.
After catching Luther, Thor hurried to save Pepper. Pepper's situation was truly critical; her body had undergone transformation by the Extremis Virus, her self healing power was very strong, but the problem was that Deathstroke had used N Metal bullets, and the bullets couldn't be extracted. Pepper struggled painfully for a while, continuing to hover on the brink of death.
Thor used his divine power to remove the bullet, but maybe because of the delayed time, the repeatedly healing wound caused distortion, requiring further surgery.
Then he went to rescue Iron Man. Brainiac was a thing Thor didn't quite understand; he could only use his divine power to cut off the signal, pulling Tony Stark from the mecha and temporarily settling him in the Rebirth Alliance's safe house. That place was wrapped in divine power and couldn't be invaded.
Over with Spider-Man, Wayne Enterprises was already conducting public relations, Peter clarified the matter in his personal podcast, temporarily leaving Thor less worried. But he still had to rescue Superman.
Thank goodness, Clark was merely paralyzed by the shot, falling to the ground; his Man of Steel body couldn't break. However, Thor still wanted to figure out what could hurt him, standing from his perspective, Clark's body was considered quite strong, anything threatening him might threaten the Aesir too; he couldn't allow such a thing to exist.
Yet, he also knew asking Luther would yield nothing, so he could only search Luther Group himself, eventually finding a green crystal in the robot's gun. It was later identified as Kryptonite.
Like attending a concert, saving so many people, the crisis had just begun. Stark Group, Wayne Enterprises, and Luther Group all faced problems simultaneously, some malicious groups began to emerge.
First, the Osborn Group acquired feed containing a modified Extremis Virus from the Atlantic Farm and reverse-engineered some components, re-registered it as "Osborn No. 0 Compound," and aimed to collaborate with the Rebirth Alliance in agriculture and animal husbandry.
Then, there's the perennial pain, Rockson Energy Co., Ltd. Even dared to sue Thor before, now the Legal Department went wild. Already having friction with Stark Group, now kicking while down, a happy mean, another heavy blow to Stark Group's stock price.
Wayne Enterprises faced an incident of alleged bullying, stirring a wave of public opinion attacks but was quickly clarified. However, due to not being well-managed, Spider-Man couldn't launch epoch-making patents, making it weaker than Stark Group, severely damaged too.
The Court of Owls would not miss such an opportunity, being shareholders of Wayne Enterprises, now united in palace intrigue, not only targeting Spider-Man but also wanting to force Thomas out, creating chaos.
Luther Group, no need to discuss, the Boss got directly seized, currently embroiled in power struggles, nearly splitting the Group. Assassin's Union idled not, continually throwing sand, hoping to control this giant company.
A series of lightning-fast "accidental incidents" nearly crushed these three major companies. Amidst Bruce and Selina stirring the pot and a group of sub-optimum moves, Nick noticed there must also be a hidden puppet master.
Firstly, Hydra, and the criminal organizations like the Court of Owls moved way too fast, seamlessly coordinated attacks suggested premeditation. These organizations couldn't unite - Hydra and Court of Owls had clashed before, unless someone manipulated them both.
Secondly, framing Spider-Man initially failed, same method, same people, identical place, this time worked, indicating someone pushed this through.
Lastly, Kryptonite. No one knew its origin or how it reached Luther; he conflicted with Superman, yet didn't use it, Nick doubted he withheld, likely acquired recently.
Apparently, tracing the incident was impossible. Immediate inquiry might yield traces, but investigations after parties recovered would reveal nothing.