Chapter Text
"When you said we were going to play detectives, this wasn't what I had in mind, Peter." Peter, or Spider-Man, was trying to be as quiet as he crawled through the police station's ventilation system.
"I don't understand what you don't like; I'm just doing it the way all the other police officers do." Ned's sigh came from the other end of his; he was clearly unhappy about what they were about to do.
Peter knew Ned was waiting with a sullen expression; he hadn't supported this plan from the beginning. "Couldn't you worked with the police? I thought you were starting to get along."
Just as Peter was about to answer, a mouse, seemingly out of nowhere, squeaked past him, causing him to have a minor panic attack and hit his head on the side, knocking his earbuds out of his ears.
He quickly adjusted the device in his ear and started moving forward. He had been crawling for a while now, and his hands were starting to ache. If he knew where he was going, he could actually get this done much faster, but since he couldn't quite figure out the police station, he was improvising. And he had to be fast, every second he wasted felt like a second Soma might be spending with Minari.
"If only I could get access to the files, Ned. We know they've found out who he is, why should we waste our time investigating separately? Finding Officer Nakamura's office will be enough."
He was trying to figure out whose office it was by looking at the nameplates on the desks in each office he passed. For now, he didn't seem to have much luck.
"We actually could have. The reason it seems difficult right now is perhaps because we have no information." Ned paused, taking a large sip of his drink. "We haven't even been able to look into the connections of the people he killed, and it could have been fun. Like the police, solving mysteries and uncovering the secrets behind the murders."
Peter was struggling to concentrate as he tried to read the nameplate on another table. "But I'm Spider-Man, not a cop. Would it be right for me to get involved this much?"
Ned turned the page of the newspaper he was pretending to read and continued to look around. He was sitting on a bench across from the police station, keeping watch. He had been thrilled when Peter had offered him the job, but now he realized how boring it was. "Don't be silly, fighting crime isn't your only skill; you can find criminals too."
Peter continued his stroll through the ventilation system, looking at the tables. He couldn't contain his excitement when he came across the name Nakamura on one of the tables. "Bingo!"
He quickly went to the ventilation hatch in the room, opened it, and jumped into the middle of the room; as long as he acted fast, there shouldn't be a problem.
"No, I don't want a free massage, thank you." Peter didn't answer him because he knew that Ned was talking to someone outside. "For example, you could stop these organ traffickers from luring people away, kidnapping them, and then taking their organs. After all, there are much bigger problems in this city than gangsters fighting and causing brawls in the streets."
He was right, actually. Peter couldn't stop crime just by patrolling the streets. He could never know about the filth going on behind closed doors.
"You might be right, actually. Spider-Man doesn't just have to stop drunken assailants; he can be a cop too.” Peter scratched his chin and glanced around Nakamura's desk. Both the office walls and the desk were covered in Soma's mess. “Cop Spider-Man. Police Spider, no. Spider-Cop, yeah!"
Peter began to examine it. He tried to decipher the meaning of the strings on the board hanging on the wall, reading what was written. The information listed listed the common areas of expertise of the murdered scientists. Apparently, they had all worked at the same facility at some point.
“Dude… That’s awesome.” The sound of Ned finishing his drink reached Peter, not forgetting to delight his ears with a burp. "Man, you're disgusting."
"So, did you find anything?" Peter began describing what they had found, one by one. He was acting quickly; Nakamura could return at any moment.
"It all looks like the victims worked at the same facility. Some kind of brain research or psychology research facility, Nedhawks; have you ever heard of it?" Ned answered negatively. Peter didn't expect him to know, it was clearly a research institution that wasn't very well-known.
Peter skipped over the unimportant writings on the wall and began browsing the files on the desk. Unfortunately, he couldn't read the texts in the files because the room's light was off.
"This suite really needs night vision. I can't see in front of me." He took out his phone and started reading the text using the flashlight.
Ned replied with a laugh, "Let me know when you've found the money, buddy, maybe you can get a new phone too." Peter glanced at his cracked phone screen once more. "Haha, very funny."
“Let’s see…” The files contained a lot of information, mostly about the facility. But there was no information about Soma's identity. If his identity had been found, there would probably be information about his personal life scattered throughout the room.
"It seems they haven't been able to find his identity. But they're focusing heavily on this facility. They've gone through all the patients, but none of them seem to fit the profile."
Ned turned another page of the newspaper. "So you're saying they haven't found anything yet? All this time they've only managed to reach the facility where the victims worked together? It's a real waste of our taxes." Peter smiled disapprovingly.
"I don't know if they reached." Peter sifted through the files a bit more but couldn't find any new information. There was only information about the patients and crime scene investigation reports. "The facility appears to be officially closed."
Peter put the files back on the table and continued rummaging through it. He was searching for the notebook where Nakamura kept her notes while doing her job in the crime scenes, which he saw while being a creep and following her. But it didn't seem to be there. "The notebook isn't here. She must have jotted down different information in there, or her guesses."
Ned put down the newspaper he was reading aloud. He was so furious that he attracted the attention of a few people walking around him. It was a rather illogical action at this hour, with the high crime rate and everyone on high alert.
"We don't need the notebook, Peter. We need Spider-Cop!"
Peter couldn't think of many other options. He stopped mid-sentence, "Yes, you're right, we need..." He needed a different voice. Making his voice deeper and more mysterious, he continued, "We need Spider-cop."
"Dude, literally Dom Toretto. Chills..."
Peter was trying to make sense of the situation, he had to figure it out. "They haven't found his identity, but they're still focusing on the facility. So they must think he either worked there or was a patient, or a relative or acquaintance of one of them."
"Hmm, what do you think might be happening, dear Spider-Cop?"
Peter looked around again, continued to search for clues. "What would it take for you to attack these scientists, Ned?" Peter placed his hands on the table, waiting for an answer. Many possibilities ran through his mind, but none seemed realistic.
"Maybe an experiment went wrong. After all, that's what it takes to harbor resentment towards all these people."
Peter shook his head negatively, even though he knew Ned couldn't see him. "According to the writers, the experiments were very innocent. Not the kind of things that could go wrong or mess with people's minds." He desperately turned off his phone's flashlight and started rummaging through the drawers.
Ned chuckled. "You and your so-called honest mind... Not everyone cares about ethics as much as you do, Peter, you keep forgetting that. If I were a scientist, I wouldn't put my horrific, unethical experiments on the official records."
Peter couldn't find anything in the drawers either. Suddenly, something occurred to him, and he straightened his posture. "Wait, Soma mentioned something to me about scientists and cages during one of our encounters. Something about the victim putting him in a cage, I don't remember much. I mean, probably, he was a patient."
Peter jumped up and down with joy, throwing punches and kicks at the invisible target.
"Good job, Mr. Spider-cop. But it's time for you to leave now. Nakamura's car is pulling into the parking lot. You can do your thinking outside."
Peter hastily photographed the other employee names in the files, then left the building the way he came, through the ventilation system, changed his clothes in a deserted street, and returned to Ned.
"What we know is that the guy is a patient at the facility. They're doing something to him with experiments, and that's why he's pissed off. And they're not recording these experiments. How can we find out what they were doing, or what happened to him?"
Ned put his hands in his pockets and began to think. "Maybe we should talk to one of the former employees."
Peter nodded and turned to Ned. It didn't seem like they had much of a chance. The facility had already closed, so they couldn't go there to investigate. But perhaps they could gather information from former employees. Though they'd also need to figure out how to get the former employees to talk about it.
"I took a picture of the file with all the employees' names. But how are we going to reach them? Are we going to go to their workplaces, sneak into their homes? How are we going to find them?" Peter and his colleagues felt like they were in another dead end. They didn't have the information systems that the police had. Just having the names wouldn't help; all they could do was search on social media to see if they had accounts.
"My friend..." Ned looked at him with a mocking expression, as if he couldn't see the obvious. "You need to keep up with the times a bit. With LinkedIn, of course!"
“Right.”
"We'll search for their names and find out where they're working now. It's that simple!"
Peter placed his hand on Ned's shoulder and adjusted his voice to a dramatic tone. "I believe you can handle this heavy burden, great warrior Master Ned! Spider-Cop needs to go on patrol, but you can handle it. I trust you!"
And after saying his last words, Peter suddenly started running away. He didn't want to hear Ned's denials. "At least send the photo so I can start tonight!"
As he ran, Peter laughed, found an alleyway, and began his night patrol.
The night was long; and going to be tiring.