The next day, at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy.
For these young students, today was a huge deal.
Even though it was called "Public Parent Day," what really mattered to the students wasn't the "parent" part, it was the fact that there was no training and they could mess around as much as they wanted.
And more importantly, they got to see their idols in person.
Like the X-Men.
Like the Coulson Team.
Like the Star Team.
Especially the Star Team. The later recruits hadn't interacted with them much, but for the first wave of students from the New S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, they were a legendary obstacle in Dante's short-lived teaching stint.
And yeah, they all got their butts handed to them by Dante.
What was outrageous was… they were proud of it.
Some students who had wavered about staying at the Academy became firm believers after that beatdown.
The Star Team became their ultimate goal.
It wasn't masochism. It was basic reverence for strength kicking in.
But after that incident, the Academy students rarely saw Dante again.
Once in a while, they might run into Professor Harley or catch Dante in the psych counseling room, but otherwise, nothing.
Even during HYDRA's big offensive, Dante was off handling the frontlines.
The New S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, among all HYDRA's targets, was the one that resolved their attack the quickest—and most efficiently.
In the end, the Bureau even used it as a bonus points site for the teacher assessments, with credit directly added to their final exam scores.
Thousands of words could be summed up with one truth…
These little punks missed Dante.
"I really don't get why you all like that bastard of a teacher so much."
Jessica Jones folded her arms, walking along the designated patrol route with Peter Parker and Danny Rand.
All the arrangements for today's Public Parent Day had been decided by a student vote. The Bureau leadership only offered "guidance suggestions."
And funding.
Maintaining security and order for the entire day was also the students' job, patrolling assigned zones and manning fixed posts across campus.
It was all organized into shifts.
Right now, it was Jessica's shift—alongside Peter and Danny.
"Jessica! Don't say 'like' when it comes to Agent Dante. That's too shallow. We worship him! That's right, worship! Since joining the FBI Academy, we've been living off the legendary tales of Agent Dante! Digging Captain America out of the North Pole! Fighting alien starfish! Recruiting the Gods of Asgard into the Star Team! And don't even get me started on the reality-warping event! I still don't know what that felt like, but it sounds epic!"
Jessica and Danny rolled their eyes.
Peter Parker was great—kind, selfless, loyal. Even Jessica, with her moody loner personality, could be friends with him.
But he had two incredibly annoying flaws.
One, he talked too much.
Two, when talking about Dante, he could hit warp-speed.
After about five minutes of Peter's hyper-fanboy chatter, the other two felt their brains starting to boil.
"Okay, okay, shut up already. We get it. You admire Agent Dante. Could you not sound like you run his fan page?" Danny pointed toward a nearby lawn buffet, where Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were casually chatting. "Look, even Tony Stark's here! He's not too bad either, right?"
"Mr. Stark currently ranks third in my Superhero ranking."
"Ah. So number one is obviously Dante," Jessica said, a little annoyed. "Then who's number two?"
"That would be the Asgardian Goddess. Star Team member. Agent Hela. Codename: 'Death.' She and Agent Dante are totally soulmates."
Jessica's eyes immediately narrowed…
"So, Peter, you're on the Hela x Dante ship, huh... Don't you dare run! Heeereeeetic! The one who's clearly meant to be with him is Professor Harley!"
Peter's spider-sense flared hard.
Instant regret.
He knew he'd just said something stupid and possibly fatal.
The second Jessica screamed, Peter fired a webline at a nearby rooftop and zipped out of there like a bat out of Hell.
"Damn it! If I could really fly, I'd catch that Peter punk and fry him with an electric punch! How dare he ship my Goddess of Death with anyone else!"
Jessica threw punches at the air, totally fuming.
A while ago, she had briefly achieved true flight during an ability development session.
Not gliding. Not hovering. Actual, legitimate flight.
But since then, she hadn't been able to do it again.
She'd always felt low-key frustrated about it.
But today, seeing Peter zip away like that, she made up her mind…
She was never skipping Beast's ability development class again.
Danny wiped his forehead, deadpan.
At least most people trained to get stronger because they wanted to be top Agents.
Or to take down a major villain.
But you?
You wanna power up just to beat the crap out of your friend over a fictional ship.
Great priorities.
...
Peter was crouched behind a storefront, panting, relieved Jessica hadn't followed.
"Phew!"
"Phew~"
Wait.
Two people exhaled?
Peter's head snapped around and saw someone with the exact same expression as him.
Also clearly hiding from something.
"Agent Dante?!"
"Hm? Oh hey, Peter Parker. Good afternoon. What are you doing here? Don't tell me... hiding from a girl?"
Dante glanced around nervously, then grinned. "You've definitely got the face of someone hiding from a girl."
"Uh, Agent Dante, aren't you also hiding here? Going by that logic, you're dodging a girl too, right?"
"Pfft, please. I'm not hiding from a girl. I'm hiding from a humanoid, female T-Rex who conquers Nine Realms just because she feels like it."
"Conquers the Nine Realms... You mean Agent Hela? Codename 'Death'?"
"SHHHH! Don't say her name!"
He had hidden himself by completely suppressing his aura with black magic.
But Peter just casually dropped Hela's true name right here?!
That would trigger her divinity. She'd sense it!
And today, Hela was acting...
Off.
"Dante. My Queen…"
"You were hiding here?"
"You are… mine. Everything about you is mine. Mine. Mine!"
Hela appeared mid-air, hovering directly above them, eyes locked on Dante.
The look in her eyes?
Possessive hunger.
(To be continued.)