It was night, way beyond midnight at Oscorp Technologies, which meant nearly all employees had already gone home, only the most dedicated decided to stay longer, staying alongside the night guards carefully watching all around the Oscorp's building for any intruder, from surveillance cameras to patrollers, they had their eyes everywhere.
One of the scientists decided to call it quits for the day, putting away the object he'd been working on inside a metal box, he closed the box and tapped on the keypad's numbers, once he typed the code the locks of the box closed shut.
The scientist went to the opposite side of the room, he put his hand to his left pocket and got out his ID card, it showed a picture of him with his status and full name "Doctor Mendel Stromm" and a bar code on the back of the card. He put the back of the ID card close to the wall-mounted ID reader, once the card was analyzed, the ID reader made a bip sound as the door slided open, the scientist exited the room, the door closing behind him.
He walked in the long corridor, he passed close to a night guard, flashlight on hand, they nodded to each other's presence before walking away into opposite directions, after a minute of walking the scientist was in front of the door to exit the corridor, he put his hand on his left pocket, but stayed on there a few seconds, trying to find his ID card, but it wasn't there. He started searching around his other pockets as well as tapping his hands around his body just to be sure the card was on him, but it wasn't on him. He put his head down and turned back looking around to see where his id card had fallen on.
He had no idea that in reality, his card had been stolen. A person in a black jumpsuit with yellow stripes put Stromm's card to the ID reader, opening the door to the room he was previously at. They looked up and saw a surveillance camera watching over everything inside the room. From the corridor they threw a little round device that glued itself on the camera's side, deactivating it.
They walked over to the metal box and crouched down near the keypad, they got out a uv flashlight intending to use it to check over the fingerprints on the keypad, but the thief narrowed their eyes on the keypad, seeing that the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 were faintly faded out. They typed on the four numbers in the same order and heard a click on the box's locks. The thief couldn't believe how lazy they were on their security.
They opened the box and saw inside what they were looking for, the ionic sword. They got it out of the box and looked at it for a bit, it was a sharp sword with a lime green handle with black around it. The thief turned their face back hearing footsteps on the other side.
Back on the corridor, Stromm didn't find his ID card yet, he saw the night guard from earlier walking back, Stromm went over to her.
"Excuse me." Stromm talked to the guard, "I've lost my ID card, could you open this door for me, please?" Stromm asked the guard, pointing to the door to their right side.
The guard turned her head to the door, "Okay." She nodded as she walked to the card reader, pulling out her ID card from her pocket, "You're forgetful, aren't you?" The guard asked Stromm, putting the card to the card reader.
"It's my first time I lost my card." Stromm replied, a bit ashamed of losing his ID card.
The door opened as the guard turned her flashlight around the room, until she found Stromm's ID card on the floor near the side of the room's card reader, she picked the card up and gave it back to Stromm.
"Thank you." Stromm took the card as he thanked the guard, "Sorry for the trouble."
The guard nodded and walked near the camera as she pointed her flashlight at it, looking at it for a few seconds, realizing it was functioning.
She took out her walkie talkie, clicked on the large button to speak to the person on the other side, "Hey, I think the problem is on your end. The camera seems to be working fine."
She heard the walkie talkie click as the person spoke through it, "It's strange, the feed went back on shortly before you two came in."
Stromm turned his head at the guard, hearing the full conversation, he looked down at his ID card, the ID card somehow falling out of his pocket and the surveillance camera stopped working the moment no one was in the room. He thought about the worse case scenario.
He quickly walked to the metal box, rapidly typing the code on the keypad, hoping that his sudden paranoia was just a mislead, the locks were lifted as he opened the box and his suspicions came true as he saw the box was empty, "Oh my god..." He muttered once he realized someone had stolen the ionic sword.
In another room, Norman was working on his own on a glider, staying late to fix the mistake one of his employees made earlier, he sighed as he thought he couldn't trust anyone but himself with his projects.
He turned his head back as he heard the guard opening the door to the room, judging from her breathing she must have ran all the way to here, "Mr. Osborn, the ionic sword has been stolen."
Norman got up as he couldn't believe what he just heard, "What?"
The guard explained the situation on their way to the surveillance room, they both entered the room, and stayed on the back of the person in charge of looking at the feeds of the surveillance cameras.
"So you have no footage of the thief?" Norman asked the surveillance guy.
He shook his head, "Not unless they were dressed as a scientist or a security guard. But they must not have gone too far." He turned his chair back to Norman and the guard, "I've already notified the police about the theft."
Norman looked at the guard, mouth open, he asked the guard to be sure, "You called the police?"
"I did." The surveillance guy nodded with uncertainty, not expecting Norman's reaction, "Wasn't I supposed to do that?"
"Of course not!" Norman shouted angrily, the surveillance guy leaned back on his chair, scared about Norman's sudden outburst, "I thought I made it clear that we can't get the police involved when something like this happens."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." The surveillance guy apologized.
Norman just waved his hand, not wanting to hear more from him, out of frustration he removed his white scientist blouse and threw it to the floor as he put his hands on his face not believing that his tech got stolen so easily and now that the police were involved the word would get out. This won't be good for Oscorp.
Far away from Oscorp Technologies, the thief had already made their way back to the base, the doors of the lift slided open, they walked out of the lift as the lights of the base turned on, row by row, the walls from the side started sliding vertically, revealing multiple gadgets and accessories mounted to an orange wall.
They looked to their sides and saw two antique vases that were deemed as one of a kind, one exposed on the left and the other on the right. The thief looked down at the ionic sword that was on their hands.
They swiftly made a 360 degrees turn, holding up the ionic sword, in the movement the sword started shining in a bright green, as it went through the two vases cutting them in half and shattering them in pieces in the process.
The thief looked again at the two unique vases, being now just broken small pieces, they thought about replacing those with two others one of a kind vases, the thief walked a bit to the front and turned to the right wall, placing the ionic sword on a handle on the wall, they backed away and looked at the ionic sword that was now their property.
They looked slightly to the left, looking at a Daily Bugle's newspaper, they kept it, because it was the first time they made the news.
"A new furry thief? Crimson Paw makes their debut!"
3 years later. Diane opened the double wooden doors to her office, she walked into her office, Norman following behind her. They would be talking about the matter that Diane wanted to talk about for some time now.
"So what is the purpose of this meeting?" Norman asked Diane.
"I'll go straight to the point. Your technology is dangerous, Norman." Diane said, leaning on her desk.
Norman raised an eyebrow, "Yes, that's the whole point."
"I'm saying they're dangerous in general, not just criminals." Diane told Norman, "Your technology works a bit like the system of high risk, high reward. If it works, then it will definitely stop criminals, if it doesn't, and worse, get into criminal's hands then it's the people that are in danger, and we can't risk that."
"Today was just a slip up, we will fix the problems and make sure it will never happen again." Norman explained they would look into the problem.
"It's not that I don't believe you, but it's not the first time this sort of thing happens." Diane reminded Norman of Oscorp's previous failures.
"What do you mean?" Norman asked Diane, wanting to see what sort of arguments she had.
Diane took out her phone from her pocket, scrolling a bit in it as she asked at the same time, "Three years ago, you had your tech stolen, right?" Then she showed her phone with the news article to Norman.
"Yes, I remember." Norman nodded, not bothering to look at Diane's phone.
Diane put her phone back to her pocket, "Now, imagine if that person used that tech to whatever twisted ideas they had, it could create massive problems to the whole city and the people. Today was no different, if the Bad Guys wanted to hit people with your tech, they totally could."
Norman couldn't believe where she was trying to get at, he pointed a finger to himself, "Are you saying we would be responsible for the damage caused by madmen who stole our tech?"
"No, I'm not." Diane was quick to answer, "I'm just trying to say, if we didn't have this type of technology, things like this wouldn't happen." Diane explained.
"So you are saying, in a way, we're responsible." Norman pointed out.
"We're not here to play the blame game, I just wanted you to know there are things that will change." Diane told Norman.
"Like what?" Norman asked, mentally dreading what changes she was talking about.
"The contracts we have for your weapons, security and all those, we're pulling out." Diane revealed.
Norman needed a few seconds to let those words sink in, he couldn't believe it, "What?"
"It doesn't mean, I'm removing all of your funds, I just expect you to change your type of projects." Diane explained.
"But we're in the finishing touches of many of our projects, I mean there's one that will help us get rid of the Bad Guys problem." Norman tried to change Diane's mind about canceling the contracts.
"I know, the performance enhancers." Diane nodded, knowing the current projects of Oscorp. She then pointed out, "But we have another solution to the Bad Guys problem."
"Oh you really think they're just going to become docile just because we asked them?" Norman asked, because he didn't believe in the possibility of the Bad Guys redeeming themselves.
"It's worth a shot." Diane believed in at least trying to give them a chance.
Norman started pacing back and forth, "You can't do this, right? I know you're the Governor, but you don't have this much power, do you?"
"You're right, I can't make this decision on my own, but I'm not the only one who thinks this way." Diane revealed, she then sighed as the silence overcame the room, Norman continued to pace back and forth, that revelation didn't please him. She then explained, "Listen, I'm not doing this, because I want to see you fail, this is not personal. You're smart, Mr. Osborn, I just believe you ought to use that skill of yours for something else other than weapons."
Norman didn't want to hear more of this, "Is that all?"
"It is." Diane nodded, she knew he wouldn't like this news, and she felt bad for him, but she also felt it was the right thing to do.
"I'll be on my way then." Norman said, as he walked out of the office and closed the door behind.
He walked in the corridor ready to leave the building as he took out his phone and called his assistant.
He tried not to show it, but he was angry and once the call got picked up, the anger in his voice was clear as day, "Prepare an emergency meeting with all the board members as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, Angel made a quick quick stop at the Daily Bugle to give Jameson the pictures he took of the Good Samaritan event to get his pay. Then Angel went back to his apartment, walking up the stairs of the building, and put his hand over his left cheek, having a red bruise on it after his fight with the Bad Guys. He touched it with his finger, it did hurt a bit when he touched it, but he still continued to touch the bruise.
He got up the stairs and walked to the door to his apartment, he put his hand on the door's handle, but he couldn't open it as Mr. Ditkovich, the landlord, put his hand over his.
"Rent?" He asked the same question he asked every time he saw Angel trying to sneakily go into his apartment.
Angel looked down and took out an envelope with some money bills in it, he had got it for the pictures of Diane he took at the Goodest citizen award, "Here." He held out the envelope.
Ditkovich took the envelope and looked at how much money he was given, "You're short. Like a goblin."
"I know." Angel nodded, "I will give you more when I get paid."
"You better or I'm gonna destroy you like Sheriff Tiraspol destroyed Real Madrid in the Champions League." Ditkovich warned, he then saw the bruise on Angel's cheek, "Okay, maybe not destroy you. But I might kick you out, boy."
Angel nodded again, but not understanding what he was referencing at his first warning. Ditkovich then let go of Angel's hand and walked out, as Angel opened the door to his apartment and entered it.
He closed the door behind him and looked at his room, his only room, his only very tiny room. There was only place for a bed, a desk, a mini fridge and a wardrobe. But with the money he had, this was the best he could have. At least he had a laptop, months of just surviving with premade noodles and water paid off.
He sat down on his bed and booted up the police radio scanner he had on his desk. This was useful to find out about crimes that he couldn't detect on his own, but like often the chatter was mostly empty or something that wasn't of importance. Even though this day could prove otherwise, crime has definitively died down in these past months, nowadays it was mostly being the guy in a spider suit helping cats get off trees. He wouldn't complain about this change, it was just a question of getting used to having Spider-man not being needed 24/7.
He looked to the side when he heard a knock on his door. He got up from the bed and opened the door. He saw it was Ursula, Ditkovich's daughter, who was on the other side of the door. She waved at him with a smile.
Angel waved back at her, "Hey. Do you need something?" He asked why she came here.
Ursula shook her head as she looked to the side, "No." She then looked back at Angel, "Dad told me you got hurt." She then showed a ice pack she had on her hands, "Do you want it?"
Angel looked down at the ice pack, "Sure." He took it, as he then looked back at Ursula, "Thank you."
Ursula nodded at him, still smiling, she then looked back seeing her father watching them.
Mr. Ditkovich's eyes were focused on the ice pack, "That's my ice pack!" He told them, pointing at the ice pack.
Ursula looked back at Angel, "I gotta go." She grabbed the door handle, "See ya."
"See ya." Angel said to Ursula as she closed the door before Mr. Ditkovich tried to get in his apartment.
He could hear Mr. Ditkovich on the other side, "He doesn't pay rent and gets ice free of charge?!"
Angel shook his head, chuckling at the scene. They were good people. He laid on his bed and put the ice pack on his bruise, he supposed he could just lay back and rest a bit, after all, now it was time for his daily ration of pre-made noodles and water.
One hour later, inside Oscorp Technologies, Norman had made an emergency meeting with all the board members. They were all in the meeting room as Norman had just finished explaining the reason for the sudden reunion.
Norman sat down at his chair, as he spoke to all the board members, "Now that you know the context of our current situation, I hope you understand we need to find a solution to it quickly."
"We understand it alright, Norman." Henry Balkan, one of the board members, nodded, but then he said, "But I don't think you do."
"What do you mean?" Norman asked Henry.
"I mean, this is wonderful news." Henry stated.
Norman didn't understand why Henry thought like that, "How so?" He asked Henry.
Henry put his hands together as he spoke as a matter-of-fact, "Just look at the numbers, Norman. Nowadays, terrorism, wars, those are all old news, nobody cares anymore, I see this as the perfect window of opportunity to change Oscorp up to something more in touch with current trends."
"Are you all blind?" Norman asked, turning his head at everyone in the room, "This is not good for Oscorp at all, this is a clear tactic from the Governor to kill this company."
"I see it as her giving us a chance to prove our usefulness to whatever her plans may be. Whatever her intentions are, we shouldn't care about it, as long as we are on her side." Henry explained.
"All of our current projects will get canceled, meaning all the funding we've got for them will be wasted." Norman pointed out.
Henry pointed out too, "She's the Governor, we can't force her to change her decision. " He then chuckled, "I mean, what else are we supposed to do? Use our weapons against her?" They all laughed at that joke.
Norman couldn't believe none of them were on his side, they preferred the safety of being the lap-dog of the Governor, "You can't do this to me. I-I started this company..." He got up from his chair, his frustration could be heard from his voice, "I had a clear vision of what I wanted this company to be, and this direction we are forced to be heading at, i-it's not mine and I don't like it."
"You have to do what's best for the company, Norman." Henry told Norman, not wanting his emotions to put a dent in the company.
And suddenly, Norman screamed in anger, "You know how much I sacrificed?!" The board stared silently at him, a bit unsettled by his sudden outburst, but it did show he was in the wrong. Norman looked down, breathing a bit to calm his nerves, he then looked to the side of Maximilian Fargas, a board member that Norman knew was the closest to him, he always agreed with him, Max was his last chance to appeal to the other members, "Oh Max, please..."
Max sighed, "Norman, the board is unanimous. We'll be canceling all of our current projects and start the planning process of which projects the Governor will be looking for. I'm sorry." He said apologetically.
"You have to accept change, Norman." Henry advised Norman as he then took a sip of his coffee, his eyes locked on Norman.
Norman didn't say a word, as he looked down putting a finger to his lips, pensive, "Change?" He said, as in the back of his mind he had an idea to fight against this injustice. He looked in front of him as a smirk escaped from his lips.
Back at Angel's apartment, he had finished eating his daily ration of noodles, he was now laying in his bed as he held his phone in front of him, he was talking to his parents on the phone.
His parents lived in New York, far away from this city. But they would occasionally talk to each other through the phone. Most of the times the talks were between him and his mother, Holly Maguire, his father, Jacob Maguire, rarely wanted to talk in front of the phone since Angel left home.
"Oh my god, Angel. What happened to your cheek?" His mother asked Angel, worried as to why he had a bruise on his cheek.
Angel shrugged, trying to not worry his mother, "Eh, you know, got into a fight. But I won."
"I don't care if you win or not, I don't want you to go into fights." His mother told him to stop fighting.
"Alright, I, Angel Maguire, will not go into fights anymore, happy?" Angel asked his mother.
"Not yet." His mother told him, then she was quick to ask that specific question, "Did you find a full-time job yet?" His mother was quick to ask that specific question.
"No." Angel answered.
"You should, I mean I saw pictures of your apartment, it won't be good for your mental health to live in just a small space, and you just eat noodles, that's no way of living." The mother wanted him to get a full-time job.
"I'm fine with it, not to say I'm not trying to get a full-time job, but, you know, I've got a lot of things I got to take care of." Angel explained his situation.
His father shouted from afar, "What else do you do other than taking those pictures of that furry?"
While the father wasn't in front of the phone, he was in the kitchen drinking and listening to the conversation.
Angel sighed, "Dad, he's not a furry." He said, referring to Spider-man.
"Why would you ever dress as a spider, if not attracted to furries?" His father asked, shouting to be heard.
Angel didn't answer, just scratching the top of his head, he was definitely drunk.
The mother spoke up, "Speaking of photos, why don't you ask to work full-time at the Daily Bugle?"
"I tried to, but I'm still stuck in freelance." Angel answered.
His father shouted again, "You should find a real job, one that pays well. If you didn't stop your education after high school, you would easily get a job."
Angel pointed out, raising his voice so that his father could hear him, "Yeah I know, but I just can't find the time, you know? My life is pretty full already, plus I don't really want to live the next century indebted."
"Angel." The mother said, "You do know you can come back anytime, right?"
"Mom..." Angel said, not wanting to come back to this conversation.
"I'm just saying, you shouldn't be ashamed of living back with us, find something better for your life." The mother explained.
"I made a decision." Angel said, it was clear he needed to stay.
"And it's okay to change your mind about it. I'm just worried that you might not get a good life with the way things are going." The mother continued to try and convince him.
"I'm happy with how my life is right now." Angel wasn't convinced, "And I know I need money to live, but that doesn't mean my life has to revolve around money. Trust me, it doesn't bring happiness."
"Money is a safety cushion to live whatever life you want without having any worries." The father explained, still shouting, but Angel could hear him walking closer to his mother.
"I know, dad." Angel nodded.
"Hey son, listen..." His father said with a much softer tone as he grabbed the phone and put it in front of his face, "Listen...it's not your fault, son. Just come back, alright? No one's mad at you, It's not your fault-"
"Hey, give me that." The mother was quick to grab the phone back, she then spoke to Angel, "I'm so sorry, Angel. Your father is drunk. Listen, we'll call you another day, okay?"
"Sure. Bye mom." Angel said.
"Bye." The mother said, as she turned off the call.
Angel turned off his phone, putting it to the small desk in his side as he then looked up at the ceiling, the dirty and rusty ceiling, he saw in one of the edges of the ceiling a spider had made it their home, the spider had long and slim legs with a tiny body that looked like a tiny black dot, he remembered when he was young he would try and kill them, simple survival instinct. But later on in life he found out they were pretty much harmless to humans, largely preferring small insects. Nature was well-made.
Angel put his hand up and quickly closed it down, forming a fist, after forcing a bit he opened his hand and saw a crushed mosquito in his hand. Nature was (sometimes) well-made.
But the satisfaction of killing the mosquito quickly dissipated once he thought back about his father's words.
It's not my fault?
He looked back up to the ceiling, watching the spider having caught a small insect and dragging it to its web.
It's my fault.
Back at Oscorp Technologies, Norman Osborn had stayed in a bit more late and he intended to stay even more. He had asked the help of Dr. Mendel Stromm to achieve what Norman hoped would be a revolution with the performance enhancers that would force the Governor to change her mind. They were both at the testing laboratory.
"Doctor Osborn, please. The performance enhancers aren't ready." Stromm warned Norman, he agreed to help him, but only so he could have an excuse to talk him out of it, "The data just doesn't justify this test. Now, I'm asking you for the last time. We can't do this."
"Don't be a coward." Norman said, typing on the computer's keyboard, making the last preparations, "Risks are part of laboratory science."
"Let me reschedule, with a proper medical staff and a volunteer." Stromm tried to convince Norman to just wait, "Just give me two weeks."
"Two weeks?" Norman asked, raising his voice, clearly against stopping now, "In two weeks, this project will be canceled just like the others, and in my eyes Oscorp will be dead. Sometimes you gotta do things yourself."
"I don't get it, Norman. You told me this project will be canceled, because the Governor doesn't want our weapons anymore, but aren't we creating a weapon?" Stromm asked for more details, hoping he would find a counter-argument to stop him.
"No one considers the hands of a boxer as a weapon, because they're human, you just have to be a bit cunning and you can beat one quite easily. Take the Bad Guys as an example, they're a different breed, literally. Stronger, more agile and possess abilities than no normal human can obtain." Norman explained, getting off his lab coat, "But with the performance enhancer, we will be able to even the playing field, and no one will ever be scared of the Bad Guys, because anyone can become the Bad Guy."
"I'm not sure where you're trying to get at, Norman." Stromm said, not understanding Norman's goal.
"We live in a democracy, Stromm. The moment the people will see the results of the performance enhancers, they will all be begging for one and with the people's voice at our side, the Governor will have no other choice than to obey us, not the other way around." Norman explained further as he removed his shirt, he then demanded, "Now, get me the Promachloraperazine."
"For what?" Stromm asked, walking to get the Promachloraperazine.
"It begins catalyzation when the vapor hits the bloodstream." Norman explained as he then took the Promachloraperazine from Stromm's hand, and then stared at it, "Forty thousand years of evolution and we've barely tapped the vastness of human potential. You'll see, Diane Foxtington, when we feel challenged, that's when we grow stronger." He began drinking it all in one sip and then threw it at the floor, shattering the empty bottle. He then laid down at the sliding metal trolley as Stromm put on the restraints over Norman's arms and legs, Norman shivered in contact with the cold metal, "Brr, that's cold."
Then Stromm walked up to the computer and began typing on it, the trolley took Norman inside the testing chamber made out of glass walls, and Stromm closed the entrance. The trolley raised up to a vertical position, Stromm and Norman shared one last look, as Norman nodded for Stromm to begin the test.
Stromm clicked on enter, as the tube containing the liquid green performance enhancer started getting unfilled and passed into the testing chamber, Stromm looked back at the chamber. Green vapor started to appear from the floor, slowly rising up and surrounding the whole testing chamber. Stroom looked at the screen that monitored Norman's body condition, he noticed that his muscles were starting to grow larger and his heart rate was rapidly increasing in speed.
"Norman?" Stromm asked as soon as he heard Norman making grunting noises, some of the vapor evaporated as Stromm glared in horror at Norman convulsing.
"Norman!" Stromm didn't waste any time and typed on the computer to vent out all the gas in the chamber, "Norman!" He looked back at Norman, still convulsing, he could see Norman's eyes, no pupils, only white.
And then Norman suddenly stopped moving, as his body went limp. He looked back at the computer, hearing the constant beep sound he would never want to hear, he saw Norman's heart had stopped beating, he typed on the computer, opening the doors to the testing chambers as he then looked back at Norman, "Oh my god! Norman?"
He ran to the inside of the chamber, he looked at Norman, calling his name out hoping for a response, but he got none. Without wasting any more time, he put his hands on Norman's chest and started doing CPR on him, trying to get his heart beating again. After a few seconds of struggle, he heard from the back a constant beeping sound starting, he looked back and saw the heart rate of Norman had risen.
He didn't notice that Norman woke up as he eyes were shot wide open, Stromm turned his face back to Norman only to get his neck firmly grabbed by Norman's hand, Stromm gasped in fear and confusion from Norman's sudden aggressive grab. He saw his eyes full of murderous intent.
"You don't get it?" Norman coldly asked Stromm.
But it wasn't a question worth answering in Norman's eyes, as he immediately threw Stromm off the chamber, breaking the glass wall as Stromm flew far until his back got slammed into a metal container, all of that with just the strength of one hand.
Stromm was barely conscious, he tried to keep his eyes open, his body was too weak to move, he could only watch as Norman got off the Trolley and stood in the edge of the testing chamber, Stromm's vision was blurry, but he could see the devious smile of Norman as he leaped off the chamber to finish off Stromm.
The next day, Diane had gone to the Daily Bugle early in the morning, she was waiting in the lobby room to be called for the podcast she would be soon participating in.
"Hey, excuse me..." She heard a voice near her, she looked to her right and saw it was Angel with a water bottle in hand.
She got up from her chair, "Hey, Angel."
"Hi." Angel greeted her back.
Diane noticed the bruise on Angel's cheek, by now it had turned purple, "Hey, uh, what happened to you?"
"Oh this?" Angel pointed to his bruise, he then waved his hand, chuckling a bit, "I just got into a bit of a fight."
"Why?" Diane asked Angel, wanting to know more.
Angel stayed silent, thinking what he should tell her, he then decided instead of inventing a full-blown story he would just try to joke about it and hope she wouldn't ask more questions about it, "Okay, it was just a drunk guy that randomly punched me. Not the greatest moment in my life." He then showed the bottle of water to Diane, "You need some water?"
Diane shrugged, "Uh, I need coffee."
"The coffee machine is broken." Angel revealed, he then turned his head to the side at the dusty coffee machine, "Since 2002. Apparently."
"Water it is." Diane said as Angel gave her the water bottle, she opened it and drank a bit of it, before stopping and asking him, "So, apart from the attack from that drunk guy, you've been okay since yesterday?"
At first he didn't get what she meant, but then he remembered that, as Angel Maguire, he disappeared out of the event for no given reason, he looked to the side as he scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I had to quit early."
Dianne nodded, "Oh so you missed out on what happened?" She asked.
"I did, but I watched the news on what happened, crazy stuff happened just after I was gone." Angel said.
"Totally, you should've been there." Diane said, but then she thought she shouldn't have said that, so she corrected herself, "I mean, on a safe distance of course."
This was weird for him, having a friendly conversation with the Governor herself, he just couldn't shake the feeling that this didn't make much sense. They were old acquaintances for sure that knew of each other's existence, but that was it, they never went further than knowing each other's names. So why did she treat him like, she said, "old friends"?
Angel decided he should figure it out with her, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course." Diane nodded.
Angel took a short breath before telling Diane his doubts over this, "Yesterday you told the others that I was an old friend of yours, and sure, we went to the same high school and knew of each other's existence, but that was it. We never spoke to each other, and also I thought that when you quit the high school you were maybe angry at me. I just wonder where this goodwill comes from."
Diane took in his words, realizing Angel didn't have the same point of view as her in their time in High School, she asked him, "You remember the first day we met?"
"I do." Angel nodded.
Diane started explaining as she flashed back to the first day they met in High School. She was walking in the corridors, wearing a black hoodie, her paws in the hoddie's pockets, the hood was over her head as she had her head turned slightly down, so that no one would notice her face. She found her way to the chemistry class, and unlike Angel, she wasn't late.
The teacher saw her enter the class, noticing her face hidden in the hood of her hoodie, he was quick to inform her, "Hey, no hoodies in class. I want to see your face."
She reluctantly got her head off the hood, as the whole class couldn't help but gasp once they saw the new student was an anthropomorphic fox. But right after their surprise came in their survival instinct, every student started in unisson to put all of their stuff back into their bags, and they made sure to keep their bags as close as possible.
The teacher wasn't as surprised or as defensive as the students, as he already knew Diane would be a student of his, so he had already hidden his stuff in his bag, way before she arrived in the class.
"You can take a seat." The teacher told her.
Diane put her paws back in her pockets as she walked in the classroom, knowing that none of the students would want her to sit by their side, she took the table that had no one in it and sat down on a seat.
A few minutes after the bell had rung and the lesson had started, Angel arrived, late. He had a quick discussion with the teacher and then he went to his seat, which was to Diane's side. She was confused by his decision, why would he do that? Did he not know who he was sitting beside? She couldn't help but turn her face to him and look at him, wondering if he was blind or something like that, he wasn't blind since he was staring at her too. Both of their intrigued looks turned into embarrassed looks, once they both realized they've been staring at each other for too long, they turned their faces in front of them, hoping this wasn't too weird for the other.
But it made Diane think, he knew who she was, but he didn't try to hide from her, he had all of his stuff out of his side of the table, she still wondered why he acted differently from everyone else, but it was a nice change of pace.
Diane finished the flashback as she also finished explaining her point of view of those past events, Angel stayed silent thinking about Diane's story, it did explain a few things he never found an answer on, and there are a few things that he was wrong about.
Then Angel spoke up, "I thought you were staring at me, because I made you feel uneasy."
Diane shook her head as she explained, "No, I was wondering why you would willingly sit by my side."
"It was sitting there or on the floor, the choice was easy." Angel pointed out, he then asked confused as to why he wouldn't want to sit by her side, "Why would I think otherwise?"
Diane looked down at herself, "Just look at me."
"Well, there's nothing wrong with how you look." Angel told Diane, not understanding where she was trying to get at.
Diane answered, "I am a fox, and we have the reputation of being sneaky thieves, you know?"
Angel raised an eyebrow on those words, did people really think like that? "But...you're not a thief."
"I-I'm not, but some people thought otherwise." Diane agreed with Angel, but he did notice the stuttering in her voice.
"But they were wrong." Angel said without hesitation.
Diane smiled, seeing Angel giving her so much trust, "This is what I meant. We never talked to each other, but you did something that at the time never happened, you treated me like I was somebody."
"Parker!" Their conversation got interrupted when Jonah Jameson stormed into the lobby, cigar in his mouth.
"Yes?" Angel asked as he turned to Jameson.
"Enjoying your break? Well, I'm gonna enjoy breaking your salary, 'cause I too need to cool off my stress." Jameson said, not happy seeing Angel just chilling in the workplace.
"You don't pay me a salary." Angel pointed out.
Jameson took the cigar out of his mouth, "You know what? I hire you for a full-time contract paid hourly, welcome to the Daily Bugle! And since you're not working, I'm going to deduct all of your salary, but legally I am not allowed to pay you lower than the minimum wage, so no point in keeping you here, you're fired!" After shouting at him, he put his hand over Angel's shoulder, "But you're still my freelance boy, and I need you to be my cameraman for my podcast."
"I'm a photographer, I'm not sure I'm adequate for filming." Angel pointed out another problem.
Jameson shrugged, "Photos, films, they're images, they're the same thing." He then waved at him to go to the podcast room, "Now go, 'cause money is time, and I need more money to find ways to waste my time."
"Yes, sir." Angel nodded, sharing a look with Diane before going to the podcast room.
"Parker?" Diane asked Jameson, raising an eyebrow. She wondered why he could call Angel that name.
Jameson shrugged, not bothering to turn to Diane, "I forgot his name."
"It's Angel Maguire." Diane told his name.
Jameson nodded, "Yes, Harry Maguire, I know." But he didn't care.
"No." Diane said firmly, "It's Angel Maguire."
Jameson turned to Diane, surprised to see someone standing up against him, he turned back and put his cigar back in his mouth, "Angel Maguire..." He whispered to himself.
Inside Osborn's residence, Harry Osborn was walking in the corridor towards the front doors, he wanted to go out and take some fresh air. But on his way out, he saw his father laying down unconscious on the floor in a room, not knowing Norman's condition he rushed to the room and then crouched down to his father, to check on him.
"Dad." Harry called Norman, he slowly opened his eyes. Harry was relieved that his father wasn't in a grave condition, but wondered what happened to him, "Dad, are you alright?"
Norman looked up, "Harry." Harry then helped him get up just enough so he could sit down on a more comfortable seat.
"What are you doing on the floor?" Harry asked.
"I don't know." Norman shook his head, trying to remember what happened for him to get here.
"Have you been there all night?" Harry asked, trying to help Norman remember.
Norman then tried thinking about what he did last night, "Last night I was..." He stopped having flashes to what happened the day before, but he couldn't make sense of whatever events he was thinking about, he looked at Harry, "I don't remember."
"Mr. Osborn?" They both heard a woman calling for Norman, they looked at the entrance of the room and saw that it was Norman's assistant followed by the butler.
"Sir, I asked her to wait in the foyer." The butler told Norman that he tried to stop her from coming.
Harry got up and turned to Norman's assistant as he told her, "My father's not feeling well."
But she didn't stop, the news was too important to just be ignored, "Mr. Osborn, Dr. Stromm is dead." She revealed.
"What?" Norman asked dumbfounded, as he slowly got up from his chair.
"They found his body in the lab. He's been murdered, sir." The assistant explained.
"What are you talking about?" Norman asked, still not believing something like murder would happen inside his own company.
"And the flight suit and the glider..." The assistant was about to say.
"What about it?" Norman asked about the flight suit and the glider.
"It's been stolen, sir." The assistant revealed.
Norman stayed silent, he was shocked such a thing would happen, one of his employees gets murdered and two of his tech got stolen too. He wondered, Who would do this?
Diane and Angel got out of the Daily Bugle, after Diane had finished being interviewed in Jonah Jameson's podcast. They had decided to take the trip back to her car together, just chatting a bit before they would go their separate ways.
"You did good." Angel spoke up.
"You think?" Diane asked.
"Yeah, it's rare that Jameson stays silent to let someone else speak." Angel explained, he was still surprised how Jameson stayed surprisingly docile in the podcast.
"He's that bad, uh?" Diane asked, from the little she talked with Jameson didn't seem as bad as everyone told her he was.
Angel shrugged, "You get used to it." Jameson's shouts had no effect on him anymore.
"All you need is knowing how to communicate correctly. If you want I can help you with that." Diane offered to help Angel.
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm good." Angel declined the offer, saying he didn't need it. Diane crossed her arms, giving him a playful smile, clearly saying he was wrong, Angel chuckled, "Okay, maybe I need a few pointers, but I'm not that bad."
And with that, Diane found out Angel's problem was in communicating with others, she told him, "You just need to gain some confidence in yourself."
"Maybe." Angel nodded in agreement, maybe he was comfortable being Spider-man but he was never that good being himself.
"Look at Jameson for example, you just need to impose yourself to him, he's someone who loves challenges, you show him you're worthy, he will respect you." Diane explained to Angel how to correctly deal with Jonah Jameson.
"I could try that, I just hope it doesn't end in a game of who shouts higher." Angel said, keeping Diane's advice in mind. After some more walking they had arrived at Diane's car, Angel turned to Diane, "But anyway, I'm gonna go, I'm sure you have a busy day."
But before she went to her car, Diane told him, "Hey, I just wanted to let you know, I'm glad we met back."
Angel had a faint smile as he nodded, "Likewise."
"See ya." Diane said as she opened the rear passenger door.
"Yeah, see ya." Angel waved goodbye to Diane, as she went inside the car and the driver drove the car away.
And when the car was out of his view, he lowered his hand as he smiled faded out, he was truly happy to have seen her again and she didn't seem to hate him like he thought she would, but at the same time he thought about his high schools days, and maybe deep down he wished she didn't remember him.
He shook his head, he shouldn't think like that, they weren't best friends or anything like that, he was sure she would be too busy as the Governor to spend time with him, he just had to continue to lay low and be Spider-man. That's what he needed to do.
Back at Osborn's residence, Norman was advised that he should rest and stay at home, let the fire burn out. What fire? Somehow journalists had got their hands on the whole events in Oscorp last night, down to every single detail. He was sure one of the board members leaked out the information, Norman was sure those rats were ready to do anything to destroy his image.
Norman was sitting on his couch, he watched BFC news reporting the whole situation.
Norman was hearing what the reporter had to say on the situation, "...We've just found that some pretty massive stuff has happened yesterday night at Oscorp Technologies. An anonimous source from Oscorp has revealed that the company seems to be heading to a sudden downwards spiral, their weapons contracts are in the process of being cancelled by the government, which led to a blow-out by Norman towards his company's board members and worse of all, the source confirms one of the scientists working for Oscorp has been murdered in one of the labs and some of Oscorp's tech has also been stolen, the who and why of these crimes have yet to be answered, but clearly Oscorp are- "
The TV turned off, Norman looked to the side and saw Harry pointing the remote to the TV, Norman asked him, "Harry, what are you doing?"
Harry lowered his arm as he turned his face to his father, "You shouldn't watch this."
"Put it back on." Norman ordered Harry to put the TV on again.
"Dad, there's no point in watching this, they are only trying to bury us." Harry explained there was no point in watching the news.
"And you think I went this far by letting the media take control of my narrative?" Norman asked Harry, frustrated in the lack of cooperation his son was giving.
"You need rest, Dad. Get your head clear, that's what you need." Harry advised Norman.
Norman got up from the couch, he was getting angry, "I need to save my company, who else will do it? The governor? The treacherous board members? You?" Then he extended his hand to Harry, "The remote."
"Dad, just-" Harry tried to convince Norman to just stop worrying about all of this.
But Norman quickly interrupted him as he shouted angrily, "Give me the remote!"
Harry let out a frustrated sigh, but decided to give the remote back to his father, seeing there was no convincing, Norman quickly and forcely took the remote out of Harry's hands, he sat back at the couch turning the TV back on, as Harry left the room without saying a word.
He saw Thierry asking a question to a bald man that was familiar to him, "...Mario Price, owner of Safe Weaponry, what do you think about the whole Oscorp's situation?"
Now he remembers Mario Price. Founder of Safe Weaponry, the company was founded just a year ago, but somehow it became the company that would guide our world to the future with their ridiculous concept of safe weapons, weapons that were deemed to hurt no one, it was stupid, might as well not create weapons at all. But still everyone loves him and his company and all of their products, because Marmalade just happened to give a few good words to that company, and Mario was highly supportive of Diane's campaign in the city's election. They helped each other quite well, as if there was more than just helping.
Norman started hearing what Mario had to say about Oscorp's situation, "I think this is all a giant mess, and I give my whole support for everyone who's working hard in that company to keep that boat afloat from all that is happening right now. But I must say, it was a long time coming, that murder is a true tragedy all my condelensce for the family of Stromm, but I have to be honest and I just think this all would have been easily avoided if Oscorp didn't create all of their dangerous technology, because then no one would try to steal them and murder innocent bystanders. And now someone has Oscorp's dangerous tech in their hands, imagine that person using that tech to whatever twisted ideas they had, it could create massive problems for all of us." Norman believed in a conspiracy against him, "Luckily today, I will unveil a new weapon for everyone in this city to get and finally feel safe without resorting to any unnecessary violence-"
Norman threw the remote at the TV, breaking the transmission as the screen shattered from the remote's impact. Norman had heard enough, this was enough for him to finally understand what all of this was about. It was about destroying him, his company's ideals, he had no doubt this was all a conspiracy against him.
Diane used her power as Governor to weaken Oscorp, the board members quickly accepted her compromise so that he looked like a fool that needed to be off his own company for a more loyal and passive dog, and Mario's company was just window dressing to look like things are changing while Oscorp recovers from the mess they've created, he didn't know what was Marmalade's involvement, but he was sure he would soon find out his role in all of this.
Norman got up from the couch, starting to laugh proudly as he had all figured it out, his laugh started getting louder and crazier as Norman thought how these fools had no idea he won't just sit idly waiting for his company to be taken from his caring hands, he will save his image, he will save his ideals, he will save his company, and to achieve that he had no other choice but to kill them all.
Far away from the Osborn's residence, a softer laugh could be heard, it was from Marmalade. He was at the entrance of his mansion, talking to a bunch of journalists that came to the entrance of his mansion hoping he would answer their questions, but also they would catch glimpses of the Bad Guys.
"I'm not kidding, it's true." Marmalade finished off laughing from a joke he told the journalists, "Anyway, I really appreciate you all came here to watch the Bad Guys' progress on turning good, but I will have to kindly ask you to get off the perimeter." The journalists all voiced their disappointment, "I know, I know, but you gotta understand, these are very sensible creatures, we cannot make them feel uncomfortable by filming them 24/7 to finally know if they pour the milk before or after the cereals. I will make sure to keep all of you updated. So now, off you go, and thank you for your cooperation." He waved at the journalists to walk away, and surprisingly, they did, they all left, leaving him alone, he looked to the side down to the bushes, "I know you're in the bushes, Tiffany."
"Darn it." Tiffany said, getting up from the bushes with a camera in her hand, she walked off disappointed that her hideout was found.
Seeing as there were no more journalists, Marmalade went back to his mansion, needing to prepare himself for the Bad Guys' arrival.
He went to his bedroom and was helped by Cuddles, his assistant, to make him look good. He helped him comb his hair, tidying up his white suit, and putting on a gold ring with an emerald.
They then heard someone landing behind them, and Marmalade knew who it was, it was Spider-Man. Marmalade and Cuddles turned back to face him as he was standing in front of the opened glass door.
Marmalade welcomed him with a large smile to his home, "Welcome to my home. I see you're too an enjoyer of grand entrances."
"I've got the opportunity to do it, so I'll do it." Spider-man was a fan of doing these sorts of entrances.
"Exactly, right?" Marmalade laughed a bit, as Cuddles helped him reach up to his human-sized bed so he could handshake Spider-man's hand, Marmalade then pointed back to Cuddles, "By the way, that man over there is my formidable assistant, Cuddles." Spider-man looked at Cuddles, as he waved at him, "He may not speak a single word, but he's got a big heart."
Spider-man nodded, waving back at Cuddles, then he looked back at Marmalade, "I hope I will be able to be of good help."
"Hope?" Marmalade asked, intrigued to why Spider-man seemed to have a sort of doubt.
"I'm good at crime fighting, helping people, but when it comes to giving advice, I'm not really the greatest at that." Spider-man explained.
"You mean, you never give off a speech when fighting against a villain?" Marmalade asked, he was sure this was something common that heroes like Spider-man do.
"I do, but I feel like it always has a 50% chance of succeeding, I still do it because it can work, but I also know sometimes it doesn't." Spider-man answered.
"It is true, you can't just turn someone good in the snap of your fingers." Marmalade said, snapping his tiny fingers, "Well, I can. But sometimes it has to be a long snap." Marmalade said, this time taking longer to snap his fingers, "You see, I actually got a degree in Goodness." Marmalade went off the bed and walked to the wall of his room that was full of varying diplomas and degrees, Cuddles helped him go up to the wall, "Right...here." He pointed to a degree.
Spider-man quickly read it, "That's a master degree in Engineering." He pointed out.
Marmalade looked at the degree, "Oops, my bad." Marmalade innocently shrugged, Cuddles then got him close to another degree, "Here it is."
Spider-man quickly read it, "Master's degree in Goodness." That existed. Spider-man looked at Marmalade, "I suppose if you were able to stop wars and terrorism with just your words, then getting this degree was a piece of cake."
"This is just to make you understand, without offense of course, I am better fitted to help out the Bad Guys." Marmalade explained why it was important for him to show his degree in Goodness.
Spider-man nodded, "I understand, I will let you do what you do best, I will help wherever I can."
"Great." Marmalade was glad to hear Spider-man understood his point, "Alright, they should be arriving soon, so...what do you say we prepare ourselves to make our grand entrance?"
"I don't know...repeating these sorts of entrances might make them lose the "grand" in them, right?" Spider-man wasn't sure if he wanted to overuse their grand entrances.
The Bad Guys had arrived at the mansion, they were impressed by the size and architecture of the mansion. They walked in having a look around the exterior of the mansion.
"Big and fancy." Tarantula commented.
"Rodent's got taste. Okay." Shark said, turning around to see the whole mansion.
The front doors opened as they went inside the mansion.
"Huh. Almost makes me want to be cute." Snake admitted, looking around the mansion.
"They say experience is the best teacher." They all heard Marmalade's voice echoing inside the entrance, "And they are wrong." They turned to the center of the room, as they saw Spider-man, with Marmalade's on his left shoulder, landing down near the lamp shaped like the heart meteorite then Cuddles appeared right behind them, "I am." Marmalade finished his phrase as he jumped down from Spider-man's shoulder, he greeted them, "Good morning, students of goodness. And welcome to the first day of the rest of your best life."
"A giant butt." Piranha excitedly spoke up, pointing to the lamp meteorite.
This was going to be a long day.
Oh hi everyone!
So, I'm new to this whole thing, I've read a few stories and I've noticed authors answer their reviews on the author's note, so I suppose I'll do the same here.
Flash XS guy- Thank you for the review, and I will check out those stories of yours when I have the time.
Shadowdispencer- Thank you for the review!
Stooge Man- Thank you for the review!
Guest- Green Goblin and Marmalade will be the main villains of the story, there might be others that will show up, but they will be more as devices to advance the story and characters rather than be characters/villains to be focused on. For the odd and cringe dialogue I will definitely try and improve on those, especially when it comes to the jokes, I'm trying to put myself limits on those, I mean I like to make some dialogue purposely cringe but I do understand it can annoying to read cringe dialogue, but the innuendos will definitely stop. Never keep first draft jokes.
Dumbfanboy71- Thank you for the review, and I haven't watched that video so when I get the time I will watch it.
Once again thank you for the reviews.
On another note, I can't believe I barely missed out on the 10k words count on this chapter, but it is what it is. I really had fun adapting Norman's transformation into the Green Goblin, those scenes were fun to rewatch and change them up a bit to fit in with the crossover.
And also this chapter is the introduction of the one and only Mario Price!
Yeah I know, no one cares about this bald fraud.
You might have noticed some changes in the main oc's character. I finally found a definitive story for him, so his character just doesn't feel bland anymore to me. Which is a relief, because I was starting to hate writing him because I couldn't find the thing that would make him an interesting character.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
See ya!