Chapter 6
J. Jonah Jameson shot up like a bottle rocket in his seat, his mustache bristling as a cigar fell from his mouth, eyes widening as he shouted, "What's this about Parker? He was supposed to be in here later today! Now, he's accused of murdering his wife?"
Jameson stood there, face red as he looked at Robby, his right hand man. Robby gave a nod, equally shocked by the news as he gave his boss a second to absorb the information. Jameson spun away from the desk, picking up his cigar as he puffed on it intently for a moment, running a hand through his short hair, black with some grey at the temples. It took a few more minutes before he spun back around.
"Parker isn't even capable of hurting a fly, Robbie! The kid's a wimp!" Jameson shouted, regaining his usual bluster in the face of this news, "You better give me the details right now."
Nodding softly, Robby began to relay all the details he knew so far in his usual, calm manner. It was this steadiness that had allowed him to climb the ranks at the Daily Bugle. Robbie had the patience of a saint, but had distinguished himself from the other journalists at the Bugle by being the only one not intimidated by Jameson's usual belligerent manner and would openly defy him on issues that Robbie deemed worthy, such as the issue of Spiderman.
Robbie stood there at the desk, leaning over it as Jameson sat down, listening to the story until the very end of the story, where Parker was being transported to the police station for questioning.
"I don't think Parker would kill Mary Jane either." is how Robbie finished the story, "Have you seen them together?"
"Of course I've seen them together!", Jameson snapped, though with less of his usual rage as he looked around, "I already told you Parker's not guilty. I told you he's too much of a wimp to hurt anybody and well, Parker he's a good kid."
Jameson struggled to avoid sounding compassionate at all in any situation, but despite his usual treatment of Parker, Robbie knew he cared about him and was one of his favorite employees.
"Well, what are we gonna do?" Robbie asked.
"Well, the Daily Bugle will stand behind its own!" Jameson said, pounding his fist on the desk, "This will make great news. The Bugle defending one of their star photographers against this accusation. Can't you just see the headlines?"
Jameson went over to grab his coat, "Grab your coat, Robbie. We're gonna go down and talk to Parker to get his side of the story. This is going into the evening edition!"
"I think there's something you ought to know first." said a voice from the doorway, "Parker's not at the police station."
Jameson spun around, seeing Ben Urich standing in the doorway as his eyes narrowed as he shouted out, "What do you mean Parker's not there?"
Ben Urich, a star reporter for the Daily Bugle stood in the doorway, holding a piece of paper in between two fingers as he waved it in the air, "A lot's happenned since Parker was captured. The Bank of America was robbed for one thing."
Jameson looked over to his police scanner, surprised to remember that he had turned it off earlier in anger, then shocked at having missed such an important news story as one of the largest banks in the city being robbed in the middle of the day.
"Who robbed the bank, Urich?" Jonah demanded, taking a step towards the doorway.
Acting as if he hadn't heard, Urich read over the piece of paper for a moment, adjusting his glasses, "It would appear that in the midst of responding to the robbery and the ensuing chaos, Parker escaped police custody."
Jameson cursed, stamping his foot as Robby asked, with all the serenity he could manage at the moment, "Parker's a fugitive?", then reiterated the earlier question, "Who robbed the bank, Ben?".
Obviously cherishing such privileged information over Jameson as Urich paused for dramatic effect as he handed the paper over to the chief editor of the Daily Bugle with a flourish as he pronounced, "The Joker!"
And for the second time that day, Jameson's cigar fell out of his mouth as his jaw dropped.