The clue Kingpin provided wasn't much. In essence, for years, there had been illegal trafficking and kidnapping of people from New York's prisons and impoverished areas. As the underground king of New York, Kingpin had conducted a brief investigation and concluded:
This matter was either orchestrated by official channels or by mega-corporations like Stark or Osborn. It far exceeded the scope a New York gang leader like Kingpin could control, so he chose to completely ignore it. Anyway, nobody cared about these poor people from the slums or the prison inmates; if they died, they died. Instead, Spider-Man had even helped him explain where these missing people had gone.
Upon learning this, Matt stated that he had a way to handle such matters. He had a detective friend currently investigating a strange disappearance case, which could perfectly help her. Peter also got the name of the missing person: Tandy Bowen, the future Dagger.
After that, Peter had no more leads. After all, he had nothing; what else could he do? So, he continued to attend school as usual the next day.
In the afternoon, there was a detective club activity, but he couldn't possibly let the detective club investigate these cases; putting everything else aside, it wouldn't be safe.
Thinking this, Peter submitted his deduction report. Senior Jessica really enjoyed writing cases and having club members deduce them, never tiring of it. Although, to be fair, Senior Jessica's writing skills were quite good, and her deduction segments were clever. But Peter's mind wasn't on it today, so Senior Jessica pointed out several errors. The deduction result itself wasn't wrong, but there were omissions in the details that could be refuted.
"I still don't understand why, out of dozens of people on the roster, only three of us come to the detective club every week?"
Peter looked bewildered at the club activity room. The detective club must have been quite large and well-funded; otherwise, it wouldn't have such a big activity room. But now there was no one there, and even the new recruits were just the three of them.
Jessica looked at Peter, pouting unhappily.
"Alright, kids, it's time to tell you the truth about the detective club."
Jessica sighed helplessly before revealing the truth about the detective club: "Most of the detective club members are like you, math and science prodigies, constantly immersed in various competitions and high-level internships. Besides me, hardly anyone else is here. As for new recruits, we really only recruited the three of you this year, since I was the only one who showed up on club recruitment day."
"If! The guy who was supposed to come with me could have made it back from Europe, I wouldn't have only gotten three people!"
"I think I heard someone talking bad about me." A sudden voice interrupted Jessica's complaints. The four of them simultaneously turned their heads to look at the person who had opened the door to the detective club's activity room. It was a silver-haired girl wearing a short-sleeved shirt and denim shorts, with sunglasses pushed up onto her head. Her long hair fell to her collarbones, the ends slightly curled. Her sapphire-like eyes swept over the new members. Her standard oval face, paired with delicate features, always carried a smile that gave off a comfortable and languid feeling.
This was absolutely the prettiest girl Peter had ever seen; no one could compare. Amadeus simply lowered his head, and Harry, well, he mumbled incoherently, likely speechless.
Senior Jessica, seeing this incredibly beautiful girl, excitedly jumped up and hugged her neck: "Felicia! You're back from Europe!"
Felicia?
Peter, drawn by the name, looked at the girl, then at Jessica: "President, an introduction?"
"Oh, this is my good friend, same-grade student, Felicia Hardy. She was originally supposed to be our detective club's vice-president and attend recruitment with me, but unfortunately, she went to Europe for a while and didn't come back. Felicia, you promised me you'd be back by the start of school! You see, with Felicia standing there, our detective club would definitely recruit a lot of new members."
"Sorry, but I really had something important..."
It really was Black Cat.
Black Cat, Felicia Hardy, was a character who wasn't exactly a hero nor entirely a villain, similar to DC's Catwoman. She was a master thief but often sided with heroes to assist them. Most importantly, or rather, completely unimportantly, Black Cat was one of Spider-Man's girlfriends in the comics.
Peter was surprised by two things: how young she was, and how quickly their paths crossed. After thinking for a moment, a question suddenly came to mind.
"Most people who applied to the detective club just by seeing Senior Felicia definitely wouldn't deduce that such a beauty is a means for the detective club to recruit them; they'd fail your president's exam and be rejected." Peter started by using a flaw in Jessica's own words: "If they came for deduction, their primary focus shouldn't be Senior Felicia, should it?"
Felicia looked at Peter with a hint of surprise, then asked Jessica: "Who is this smart and generous boy? You've found a good new recruit."
"Putting everything else aside, at least his deductions are pretty good. Peter Parker, freshman." Jessica also introduced the others: "This is Harry Lyman, and Amadeus Cho."
Felicia also greeted them.
"Good afternoon, boys. Like Jessica, I'll be a regular in the club. If you think Jessica's questions are too difficult, you can tell me, and I promise she'll make them simpler next time."
Jessica grumbled discontentedly, while Peter finally asked the question he wanted to ask.
"Senior, when you went to Europe, did you go to London? I really want to visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street, and other places in London are also nice, like the London Eye, the Shard..."
"No, I didn't go to London."
Peter waited for Felicia's next sentence.
"I went to Budapest, that's a really nice city. And Warsaw, oh, and Vienna."
Felicia spoke as if it were obvious, but Peter was certain that for a fleeting moment, she had glanced at him, and his Spider-Sense had felt a slight tingle.
In other words, the Felicia Hardy, who was only seventeen or eighteen years old, was already "Black Cat."
Peter didn't continue asking, because, as expected, Senior Jessica blocked Felicia's gaze, predictably asking Felicia for photos of her European trip, thereby helping Peter escape Felicia's scrutiny.