Inside the city's conference center, Safe Weaponry was hosting an event where the owner of the company, Mario Price, would reveal a weapon that would help people protect themselves without resorting to violence.
The room was full of people that came for this event, while some were interested in this project, others just came because Marmalade did show some support for this company.
Mario Price was at the center of the stage, the public was attentive at his speech, "Have you ever thought about finding ways to protect yourself? Of course you have, it's in our nature to do so, it can be just ourselves, our families or our friends, we all want to protect them from danger. But let's say that danger is someone trying to hurt us, some of us might not want to hurt them back, right?"
Mario looked to the left side as a man came from that side of the stage, dressed up like a 90's gang leader with a full leather attire. He spoke with a monotone voice, "Greetings, I'm a level 1 criminal, I've come to take your material belongings including your monetary funds, if you don't comply with my commands I'll have to physically hurt in an illegal manner."
Mario looked back at the public, "Well, I've got the solution for you." He paused dramatically, as he put his hand onto his pocket looking for the thing he wanted to show to the public, "I present you...the egg-bomb!" He showed off the egg-bomb, which looked like an average egg, but the public still gasped, Mario continued, "The first ever, no-pain bomb. Let's have a look at it."
Mario then threw the egg-bomb at the low-level criminal, the egg broke in half in contact with the man's face, he saw something was inside that egg and he caught it, he showed it off to the public and they saw a little duck in his hands, the duck quacked and the public awwed from the quack.
The man acted like he was shocked, but he still kept his monotone voice, "Oh my goodness gracious me. This adorable, cute and small little duckling, makes me feel things. Makes me remember the good old times where I too was an adorable, cute and small little youngin. Makes me see life in a new perspective, I don't wanna be a criminal anymore, as of right now I am a low class citizen."
Mario clapped his hands together, to get the public's attention back to him, "You see that, I didn't just save myself, I also saved the aggressor, because some make weapons to protect themselves, but here, at Safe Weaponry, we make weapons to save lives. Thank you." He waved at the public as they all cheered for him.
Mario and the man walked off the stage and into the backstage, then they went their separate ways as Mario put an earphone to his ear, and started to talk to someone in it.
"It went well. I literally pocketed the whole public, so those weapons and security contracts are definitively ours, and if they aren't, I'm sure you can pass a few good words about us to the Governor." Mario stopped in front of the door that had the sign 'hosts only', "Anyway, I've still got lots of work to do, so I will let you be." He turned off the earphone, opened the door and went inside the door.
He closed the door behind him, and looked in front of him, he saw someone was in his chair, he couldn't see who it was since the chair's back was facing him, he even had a look in the mirror, but a blanket was all over the chair, so he couldn't see who it was from the mirror's perspective.
He raised an eyebrow, as he slowly approached the person in the chair, taking his time to walk, "Hey now, who's this?" He spoke up, there was still no movement from the person in the chair, "Are you a fan? A reporter?" He then rolled his eyes, "If that's you mom, I already told you, I am not giving that money back!" He put his hands on top of the blanket and swiftly threw it out in the back, making the chair roll to face him, his facial expression faded out for an expression of pure shock, "Holy shit!"
Mario instantly backed on the sight of a person he didn't know who it was, they were fully suited in a green armor, the mask resembled the face of a goblin.
Mario shakily pointed at the Green Goblin, "Who are you?!"
The Green Goblin didn't answer his question, "Maybe you ought to use one of yours egg-bombs, or else I'm gonna kill you." The Green Goblin spoke menacingly as he offered Mario a window of opportunity to attack him.
Mario nodded, accepting to fight back, "Okay, I'm gonna save a life." He then pulled a pistol from his back and started rapidly shooting every single bullet he had in his pistol's magazine towards the Green Goblin, but every bullet just ricocheted back once making contact with his body armor, Mario continued to pull the trigger even though the pistol would just click from the empty magazine. He stopped, looking at his empty gun and then back at the Green Goblin, he was horrified to see him unscathed from bullets that were supposed to be lethal.
The Green Goblin patiently waited for Mario to realize the horrific situation he was in, before asking him, "You're just a pathological liar, aren't you?"
Mario dropped on his knees, he let go of his pistol as he put his hands together, nodding rapidly at the Green Goblin, "Yes, yes, I am just a dirty little liar. You want retribution, that's it? I'll do it better, I'll tell everyone how I've been lying to them this whole time and tell them everything, hell, if you tell me who you are and who you work for, I'll give you my full support."
The Green Goblin looked down at Mario, what a pathetic human being he was, Mario didn't see the Goblin's hand in his back, holding a small bomb in the shape of a pumpkin with a green button on top of it. With his thumb, he pushed the pumpkin bomb's button, making it shine in a bright green light.
The Green Goblin's yellow eyes lens moved up, so that Mario could see the Green Goblin's real eyes that were full of anger towards him, but Mario looked at the mouth, he could see it even faded in the armor, he could see the sadistic grin the Green Goblin was making as he addressed him, "Good. And for your generosity and honesty, I'll show you what a real bomb looks like."
He then threw the pumpkin bomb towards Mario, he didn't have time to get up, he could just move a bit to the back, his eyes wide open were reflecting the bomb that was falling and rolling just in front of him, he couldn't even scream with his mouth agape as the bomb instantly exploded, completely destroying the room they were in.
Panic filled the streets and inside the building once the explosion was heard, people started screaming and running away from all directions, scared that there might be more. The people in the streets saw the Green Goblin in a glider getting out of the smoke in the building's hole where the explosion happened, he laughed maniacally as he flew away from the scene.
Back at Marmalade's mansion, Marmalade had his hand over his face, sick of Piranha's interruption about his lamp meteorite being a butt.
He took out his hand from his face as he told Piranha, "Once again, it's not a butt. It's a heart. Now, as I was saying..."
"Then why does it have cheeks?" Piranha asked, interrupting Marmalade again. The others tried to shush him, trying to stop him from ruining their plan, but he was too focused on arguing with Marmalade about the lamp being in the shape of a butt rather than a heart meteor. He looked back at the others, confused as to why they wanted him to shut up, "What? I've never seen a heart with cheeks."
Marmalade breathed in and out, trying to keep himself calm, "It's not a..."
Piranha interrupted again, "Booty!"
Marmalade had enough, "It's not a butt! Not a butt!" He shouted, jumping up and down, sick of this debate.
Piranha turned back to the others, "Does he know what a butt is?" He asked them, still not convinced.
Marmalade cleared his throat, and tried to keep his cool, "As I was saying, on the outside, the five of you are villains, predators, remorseless sociopaths."
"Oh, stop. You're making me blush." Shark said, blushing as he thought Marmalade was complimenting them.
Marmalade continued, "But inside, there's a flower...The flower of goodness, and when it blooms and you feel that tingle of positivity radiating through your body, you're going to want to feel it all the time."
"So we're going for a tingle?" Tarantula asked Marmalade, scratching her head.
Marmalade waved his finger, "Not any tingle. The tingle of goodness, which you'll feel in my state-of-the-art Sharing Laboratory."
Marmalade then showed them the large kitchen of his mansion.
Marmalade turned to Snake, "Okay, Mr. Snake, I'm going to give you a Push Pop." He showed a push pop to Snake.
"Great! Push Pop just for me!" Snake smiled, taking the push pop from Marmalade's hand and opening his mouth about to eat it.
"No, to share." Marmalade told Snake, stopping him from eating the push pop.
"Why?" Snake asked, not wanting to share the push pop.
"Well, on a fundamental level, it's about putting someone else's needs ahead of your own." Marmalade explained, pointing to Shark sitting near a small table, waiting for Snake to give him the push pop.
Snake shook his head, "Oh, no. No way." He quickly refused to share.
"Snake." Wolf went over to Snake side, telling him to act nice just for the time being.
Snake groaned, "All right, all right."
He slithered to the seat in front of Shark, as he was tapping excitedly on the table.
"This is going to taste extra sweet, 'cause I know how bad you want it." Shark provoked Snake. Snake tried his best to fight the urge to eat the push pop as he slowly and shakily handed it out, Shark opened his mouth, "Pop me, please."
Snake couldn't take it anymore, "Nope." He said, before eating the push pop, "Sucker." He said, looking at Shark straight in the eyes.
Shark got up from his seat, angry, "That's it!" He grabbed Snake by the neck, "I'll teach you to share!" He then ate Snake whole. Everyone gasped in horror, as Shark sat back, satisfied with his meal, "Mm, I like sharing. It's yummy."
"Well, that's terrifying." Marmalade admitted.
"I should probably help him out." Spider-man said, walking over to Shark and wondering how he would get Snake out of Shark.
Marmalade nodded, "Yeah. In the meantime, let's try something simpler."
Then they went outside on a highway, they were on the side where the pedestrian pathway was in the road.
"A good person always pays attention to the needs of others." Marmalade explained what good action they would do next, "Now, here's a kindly, frail grandma." He pointed to Wolf who was dressed as an old woman, the others started laughing at his outfit. Marmalade walked over to Piranha, "Mr. Piranha, help grandma across the street."
Piranha scoffed, waving his hand, "Sure, sure, sure. I do this all the time." He walked over to Wolf as he took his hand, he looked at the others, saying in a sarcastic tone, "Here you go, ma'am."
They started walking in the road for a bit, as Piranha heard Tarantula saying to the others, "Oh, he is totally gonna blow it."
He looked back at her, "What was that?" He asked, wanting her to repeat those words, "What did you say? You think I can't do this?" Tarantula just laughed in response. Angry, Piranha let go of Wolf's hand and started walking over to Tarantula.
In that short moment Wolf was about to get hit by a truck going full speed, but Spider-man saw it coming. He shot a web string to Wolf and pushed him out of the way before the truck passed through.
"No, grandma Wolf!" Piranha said as he turned behind him, thinking Wolf got hit by the truck.
Wolf was standing behind Piranha, he threw his grandma's wig away as he growled at him, "I'm right here!"
"Maybe simpler?" Marmalade proposed something else, seeing as they failed this test too.
They left the highway to go back to the mansion, going to the large backyard, Marmalade stopped in front of the palm tree closest to his swimming pool, the bad guys looked up the tree and saw a cat with orange fur clawed in the middle of the tree.
Wolf pointed to the cat, "Hey, look. It's a cat stuck in a tree."
"It doesn't get much simpler than that." Marmalade started explaining the simplest test of goodness, "Now, what in this scenario would give you that good tingle?"
"Eating it?" Snake supposed, he then got out two pieces of bread, he looked down at them, "This is why I always carry two pieces of bread with me."
"No." Marmalade told Snake was wrong, "I want you to s..." He stayed on the 's', wanting the bad guys to find the word.
"Smack it." Wolf said.
"Skin it?" Snake supposed.
"Stab it." Shark said.
"Sauté it." Tarantula said.
"Sing to it?" Piranha supposed.
Marmalade couldn't believe they didn't know the answer, "Save it." He told them, "I want you to sa- that's obv- it so obvi- I want you to save it."
"Oh, right." They all said in unison, nodding their heads.
Tarantula turned her head to Spider-man, "It's like what you do, save it, it's so simple."
"Right." Spider-man nodded, "Don't do any of your suggestions, just save the poor cat in the tree, that's it."
"Of course, easy." Tarantula said, she then turned to the others, "Right guys?"
"Right." They all nodded in agreement.
The Bad Guys then looked up at the cat, they saw the cat looking scared at them, they started shouting at the cat to come down to them, showing off their fangs in the meantime, the cat started climbing up to the top of the tree from being threatened by the Bad Guys. The cat hid itself on the top of a leaf, looking down at the confused Bad Guys from seeing the cat fleeing them.
"Whoa, that cat is obviously defective." Snake stated, not understanding why the cat didn't come towards them.
"What is wrong with you?" Piranha asked them, understanding they were the problem, "You're gonna give it a heart attack. I'll handle this."
Piranha started walking to the back of the tree. The cat was still looking down, wondering where Piranha went. Then Piranha jumped to the tree and went face to face with the cat, screaming to it, "What's up, papa!"
The cat made a horrified meow, as it jumped off the tree, landing on Wolf's face. In self defense the cat started scratching Wolf's face, he started running from all sides screaming for the cat to get off his face.
Piranha jumped down to the tree, watching the scene, he realized it reminded of something, he said to Spider-man, "So that's how we look when I attack you."
"Yeah." Spider-man nodded, also seeing the similarities.
But Marmalade had enough of seeing the Bad Guys constantly fail, "No, no, no, no, no, listen! What are you doing?" The Bad Guys looked at Marmalade, as the cat let go of Wolf's face and climbed up the palm tree again. Marmalade took a deep breath and then asked the Bad Guys, "Okay. What, may I ask, are you good at?"
Piranha shrugged, "Stealing stuff."
Shark nodded in agreement, "Oh yeah, we're great at that."
"Stealing stuff, okay. So, like, you guys are good at heists?" Marmalade asked the Bad Guys.
"Well, yeah." Wolf nodded, "That's kind of our specialty."
Marmalade looked down, pensive, "I might just have an idea."
Spider-man crouched near Marmalade, "I'm not sure I follow."
Marmalade waved his hands, "Don't worry, it's nothing bad. It's illegal but it's for good, therefore it's okay. You know, like what you do." He told Spider-man to not worry.
"I suppose I can't be against that." Spider-man agreed with Marmalade's point.
After that Marmalade took everyone to his limousine out of the mansion, they were driven to the Sunnyside Laboratories, the building was specialized for animal testing labs, inside the car they all saw a crowd of people protesting in front of the building, chanting, "Free the pigs!"
"That is an animal testing lab." Marmalade explained to the Bad Guys, as they drove around the building, "Within, 200 000 helpless guinea pigs, all being poked and prodded by sadistic scientists."
"Guinea pigs, you say?" Snake asked, a huge smile on his face in prospect of being surrounded by so many guinea pigs.
"Snake." Wolf warned Snake to calm down on his urge to eat guinea pigs.
"Be careful guys, don't get bitten by a radioactive guinea pig." Spider-man told them.
"Why do you say that?" Wolf asked, turning to Spider-man.
"I'm like this because I've been bitten by a radioactive spider." Spider-man explained.
"Oh I didn't know that." Tarantula said, looking up at Spider-man.
"What kind of powers would you get with a guinea pig?" Shark asked, as he wondered the possibilities.
Marmalade proudly put his hand over his hair, showing it off to everybody, "You become the most adorable creature of all the universe."
"Yeah, I'm gonna pass on that one." Snake said, then he thought about it and realized he wasn't against someone being bitten by a radioactive guinea pig, "Unless someone else is bitten, then I would probably eat them."
"Snake, stop." Wolf repeated for Snake to stop with his urge for eating guinea pig.
Marmalade looked back at The Bad Guys, "I don't want you to eat or hurt them, I want you to rescue them. After all, this is a heist for good, so I brought something more friendly for you to wear."
"Like super suits?" Tarantula asked, excited at the prospect of getting a suit similar to Spider-man's.
Marmalade nodded with a smile, "Yeah, like super suits."
Then Cuddles came to the back of the limousine showing off the super suits. Once the Bad Guys wore them, they realized it wasn't really super suits instead it was more full body pajamas. They all had different designs, Snake had a pink unicorn, Wolf had a white rabbit, Tarantula had a blue cat, Shark had a purple walrus and Piranha had a brown koala.
"Well, there goes our street cred." Tarantula said, clearly disappointed and humiliated about her suit.
"You guys look, somewhat, adorable." Marmalade told them.
"Alright guys, we'll see you on the other side, I believe in you." Spider-man gave them a bit of encouragement.
That was enough to cheer Tarantula up, "You do?"
Spider-man nodded, "Well, yeah, you guys definitely have the skills to succeed." He explained, then he noticed Tarantula shaking, he asked her, "Are you okay?"
Tarantula shrugged, not understanding why he was asking that, "Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I be?"
"You're shaking." Spider-man pointed out.
Tarantula looked back at herself and saw her abdomen shaking, she looked back at him with a nervous smile, "O-oh that, ah, it's just the excitement, you know? C'mon, guys, let's go!" She told the others starting to walk towards the building.
Snake rolled his eyes, "Alright, Spider-Robin, we followin' you."
The Bad Guys followed Tarantula to the side of the building where a window was slightly opened, they saw there was a scientist walking back and forth near the window. They knew they couldn't pass through there without finding a way to get that scientist away from the window.
"All right, we need to distract that scientist." Wolf told them, he then turned his face to Shark, "Shark, you're up."
"Copy that." Shark nodded and started to walk away.
"Okay. We're gonna need a rope and a hook." Wolf told what they needed for the plan.
Snake was quick to offer help with a huge smile on his face, "I got this one."
They all looked up at him, shocked, asking in unison, "What?"
"You're volunteering?" Piranha asked Snake. Snake quickly nodded.
"You've never volunteered for anything." Tarantula pointed out.
"Sure, I did. Right now." Snake pointed out in return, he looked back at the building, "Throw me up there. Giddyap!"
"Really?" Wolf asked Snake if he was sure.
Snake put his tail over Wolf's paws, "Yep. I'm 99% sure you can make it."
"Okay." Wolf decided to use Snake as a rope and hook, he grabbed his tail with one hand and started rotating Snake around until he was at the right speed to throw him, he just waited for Shark to distract the scientist.
The scientist stopped walking when he heard a voice behind him, "Hey there, son." He turned back and saw a shark looking old man with a huge gray mustache and glasses too large for his eyes, it was definitely his father.
"Dad?" The scientist asked, starting to have a teary eye.
Shark had a baseball glove and a baseball in his hands, he did his best impression of a father coming back after 20 years of leaving his family to get milk, "I know you've got an important job, but I hope you still have time for a catch with your old man."
The scientist gasped, re-finding joy in his life, he was so caught up in his emotions, he didn't hear Snake slamming his head to the window multiple times.
"I've been waiting my entire life for this moment." The now not-fatherless scientist said excitedly, he hugged Shark.
"Okay." Shark got off the hug, "Now, go long." Shark told the scientist throwing the baseball far away, the scientist started chasing behind the ball like a dog.
Shark fully opened the window so that Snake could easily pass through it.
He still failed.
Shark helped him, grabbing his face and putting Snake to the lower edge of the window, Snake bit the edge as the others started walking up on his back.
The Bad Guys sneaked in the building, following Marmalade's instructions.
"Right, the guinea pigs are locked behind a three foot thick steel door." Marmalade told them, and soon enough they found a thick steel door, that was the good one, "The only way in is through the vents." They looked to the side of the door and saw a vent.
Wolf removed the vent's lid, as Snake quickly took initiative, "I got it." He quickly slithered in the vents and started going to the other side.
While the others looked at Snake's mood change in confusion, Shark was happy for him, "I have never seen him so chipper." He looked at the others, "Has he been meditating?"
With the prospect of being inside a room with 200 000 guinea pigs, Snake was too distracted to notice a passageway in the vent that went down, he fell on it and down to a room he had no idea what it was, but he quickly got up, when he noticed he had just fall on the room where the guinea pigs were. Every single one of them was here and he was with them all.
Outside the building, the people in the back of the protest saw Marmalade's limousine parking right behind them.
"Oh hey, it's Professor Marmalade." One person said. Every protestor stopped and looked back at the limousine, starting to clap for Marmalade.
"Yes, that's right. It's me." Marmalade said, getting off the limousine, he stopped pointing a finger up, "But I'm not alone."
Then Spider-man got out of the limousine, getting claps from the protestors too. He waved back at them. He didn't do a grand entrance this time, but the public didn't seem to mind.
"Help has arrived." Marmalade told the public as he and Spider-man walked to the front entrance of the building, he pointed to the door, "Just keep your eyes glued to that door."
On the other side, Wolf was knocking on the steel door, he hadn't heard from Snake for a while, "Snake. Come on, Snake. Open up."
Then the doors were opened a bit by Snake, "Relax." He said all wobbly, "These doors are complicated." He then fully opened the door, as the others saw he had eaten many guinea pigs.
"Are you kidding me?" Tarantula couldn't believe Snake didn't control himself.
"What do you think you're doing?" Wolf asked Snake, who just chuckled in response, "We're supposed to save them, not eat them."
Snake shrugged, "Well, I'd say they've gone to a better place."
"All right. That's it." Wolf decided to take matters in his own han- paws. He grabbed Snake's tail and started pushing out the guinea pigs inside of Snake, "Spit them out."
He started rotating Snake around the room, making him vomit the guinea pigs, little by little. The others ran inside the room, trying to make order in the chaos.
"We gonna save you, whether you like it or not." Shark told the guinea pigs, trying to calm them down so that they would stop running around.
"We're saving you, you stupid hair balls." Tarantula told the guinea pigs, riding on top of one of them.
"Not that door, the other door." Piranha told the guinea pigs, as he pointed to the exit.
Outside the laboratory, everyone was waiting for the door to open, Marmalade had his phone out filming the scene.
"Any second." He told the public to wait just a bit.
But Spider-man felt his spider-sense tingle, something was happening inside the building, he crouched down to Marmalade's level, "Hey, uh, I think-"
Marmalade interrupted him, "Shhh. Don't ruin the moment."
"See, I think it's already ruined." Spider-man told Marmalade.
Marmalade looked at Spider-man, "What do you-"
He got interrupted when the door suddenly opened and a swarm of guinea pigs got out of the laboratory. Spider-man grabbed Marmalade and jumped to the left wall, putting his hand and boot on it and he stayed there with Marmalade, looking down at the escaping guinea pigs.
"Not sure even I can handle this many guinea pigs." Spider-man admitted.
The protestors gasped when they looked inside, and saw the Bad Guys fighting guinea pigs. They stopped once they realized everyone was watching them.
Wolf smiled nervously, "It's not what it looks like."
Then the building's alarm rang, as the lights switched to a flickering red.
Hours later, the Bad Guys had returned to Marmalade's mansion, where they got paid a little visit by the Governor after hearing the news of them going to the laboratory.
"Trespassing, burglary, mayhem, assault with a deadly reptile?" Diane repeated the news she heard to the Bad Guys, she was angry they didn't seem to get better, "As if those poor rodents haven't been through enough already."
"No, Diane, please." Marmalade was the first to defend the Bad Guys.
Diane waved her paw in front of her, not wanting to hear it, "I'm sorry, Professor, but I'm calling the chief." She then started walking away, going towards the mansion's front entrance.
"Miss Governor, please, you gotta give them a chance." Spider-man went to Diane's side, trying to make her change her mind.
"I've got to say, I'm disappointed in you." Diane stopped and turned to Spider-man, "I mean, you seriously just let this happen? This just- it just doesn't look like you at all. You're clearly out of your element here." She paused, taking a breath before continuing to speak in a calmer tone, "Listen, the city needs you, more than ever."
Spider-man understood that something may have happened, he asked to confirm his doubts, "Something happened?"
"You know Mario Price?" Diane asked Spider-man.
He answered, "The guy from Safe Weaponry, right?"
Diane nodded, "Right, he's been murdered." She then explained, "The cause was the explosion of a bomb inside his room, some bystanders have said they've seen someone getting out, a sort of goblin flying through a glider, some filmed the scene, it's pretty messed up, but we know it's the guy that stole Oscorp's tech and probably murdered Stromm."
Spider-man thought about her words, something so major happened and he wasn't there to stop it, "I'm sorry that I wasn't there when you needed." He apologized.
"It's fine. You know, I thought with you two around, the city was safe, but I was wrong. I suppose there's some people you just can't change." Diane said.
"I will help you wherever I can with this goblin guy, but I still need to help these guys out." Spider-man told Diane, he then turned his head back to the Bad Guys, "Like you said the city needs me, and these guys may not be the best citizens, but they're still part of the city."
Diane nodded, understanding Spider-man's point, "That's admirable, Spider-man." She then asked, "You really believe you can change them?"
Spider-man turned his head back to Diane, "I haven't been gifted these powers just to use them for fighting."
"Right, let me think about it." Diane told she would think about giving the Bad Guys another chance.
Spider-man nodded, "Of course."
Diane walked away from the entrance, as Wolf quickly joined her. He wanted confirmation that she wouldn't arrest them.
"Madam Governor. Diane." He wasted no time asking her, "Have you thought about it?"
Diane put her paw up, already knowing where Wolf was trying to go, "Do not Clooney me, Mr Wolf."
"Oh, I see what's going on. You think I'm still a Bad Guy, trying to bamboozle my way to freedom." Wolf tried to convince Diane to give them another chance, "But we've changed. That flower of goodness is blossoming all over the place."
Diane sighed, "Don't you ever get tired of lying?" She asked Wolf.
Wolf chuckled, "No." He stopped once he realized he had just fallen into Diane's trap, "I mean...fudge." He walked back to her, "That was...that was a trick question, right?"
Diane stopped in her tracks as she pointed back at the mansion, "I gave you an opportunity. A chance to show the world that you're more than just a scary stereotype." She tapped on his chest, "But you're too proud or too gutless to take advantage of it."
"Gutless? I'm gutless?" Wolf asked Diane, starting to get frustrated with her words, "I'm sorry, have we met? I'm the villain of every story. Guilty until proven innocent. Even if by some miracle we did change, who's gonna believe us, huh? Of course you wouldn't know anything about that, with your Little Miss Perfect power suits."
"Is that so?" Diane asked Wolf if he was sure about his words. She then clicked her fingers and showed her the ring that Wolf had stolen from her back at the Good Samaritan Awards.
"Wait a second." Wolf looked down, checking if Diane really did steal back her ring from him, once he realized she really did that he looked back at her, "What did...How did you..."
"A wolf and a fox are not so different." Diane explained looking at the ring, she then tossed the ring at Wolf, he caught it as she continued, "Maybe they will believe you, maybe they won't, but it doesn't matter. Don't do it for them. Do it for you. This is a chance to write your own story. To find a better life for you and your friends. Come on, what have you got to lose?"
Wolf shrugged, "I don't know. My dignity?"
Diane looked up and down at Wolf, still in his full-body rabbit suit, "Yeah, well, that ship has already sailed." She then walked to her car and entered the back passenger seat, she rolled down the window, "Believe it or not, I'm rooting for you, Wolf."
"So you're not gonna call the chief?" Wolf asked Diane.
"Your choice." Diane told Wolf, as then the car drove away from the mansion.
Wolf just stood there, watching the car driving away until it was out of his view. Those words...He had to admit it, she was kind of right. He had a choice to make, give up now and spend the rest of life in prison, continue to lie to everyone until they get the golden dolphin and ride off into the sunset, or...
Or...
His ears shot up upon hearing a distinct sound that came from the backyard, it was a cat's meowl. Was that cat still on top of that palm tree? He looked back at the ring, wondering if he could try becoming good, would it be okay if he just tried it for a bit?
Back inside the mansion, Tarantula was hiding behind a bowl of fruits, watching over Marmalade having a conversation with Spider-man. She was waiting for them to finish their conversation, so that she could talk to Spider-man.
"Listen, we have not gone off with a great start, but that's totally expected, changing these guys, it will take some time. But, we have to stick with the plan." Marmalade explained to Spider-man that they would continue to follow his lead.
Spider-man nodded, agreeing with the suggestion, "Right, I get it. We follow the plan."
She then saw they started walking away from each other, this was her moment to strike.
She jumped to the front of the table, greeting Spider-man, "Hey."
Spider-man stopped and looked down at Tarantula, "Hey. What's up?"
She put her palps together as she said apologetically, "I'm sorry about earlier."
"Why do you say that?" Spider-man asked Tarantula, he didn't expect her to apologize.
"You put your trust in me and I failed you." Tarantula explained why she was apologizing.
"So, you think because of that, I have lost faith in you?" Spider-man asked Tarantula if what he said was true.
Tarantula looked to the side, shrugging a bit, "I mean, yeah, we just proved to you we couldn't really become good."
"I don't know, you just proved me otherwise." Spider-man told Tarantula, sitting down on a chair near the table.
Tarantula looked up at Spider-man, surprised he would say that, "Did I?" She asked him.
"Yeah." Spider-man nodded.
Tarantula looked down as she blinked a few times, thinking why he still trusts them, she once again looked up, "I'm not sure I follow."
"You're admitting your mistake, and by the way you're talking and moving around I know your words are genuine." Spider-man explained, "It's a step in the right direction."
"So you're not gonna give up on us?" Tarantula asked Spider-man.
Spider-man shook his head, "Of course not, I'm gonna help you guys. But at the end of the day, it's your choice whether or not you want to turn good."
Tarantula couldn't help but smile from retaining Spider-man's trust, her abdomen started shaking again, "Oh you're so cool, you know that?"
"I'm glad you think that, I actually expected that you would think otherwise of me." Spider-man admitted.
Tarantula raised an eyebrow, "Why would I?" She asked him, wondering why he would ever think she wouldn't respect him.
"Well, I'm Spider-man, more man than spider, I just thought that doing this might be...cultural appropriation in your eyes, you know?" Spider-man explained.
"I don't care about that, you're putting respect into our name, I totally respect that." , "And like I said...you're cool!"
"Hey Spidey, come over here quickly." Marmalade called out Spider-man to come to him.
They both had a quick look at Marmalade, as then Spider-man looked back at Tarantula, "I gotta go." Spider-man then put his fist in front of Tarantula, "See you soon."
Tarantula put her palps to her cheeks, she couldn't believe what Spider-man was offering her. She looked up at him as he nodded to her that they could do it. She took a palp out of her cheek and fist bumped with Spider-man.
After the fist bump Spider-man waved bye at Tarantula as he went to join Marmalade, Tarantula watched him leave, then she looked down at her palp she used to fist bump the one and only Spider-man, she was so happy. She turned back to the sliding doors that lead to the backyard.
Alright it's time to become a hero!
Tarantula-man!
...
Webs is fine too.
Tarantula jumped down from the table and walked to the backyard, she saw Wolf was standing right in front of the palm tree the cat was still up to, he was looking up at the cat, watching how fearful the cat was towards him.
Tarantula's excitement died down by looking at Wolf, remembering that she wasn't supposed to be turning good, she was supposed to fake it until the gala. But it was very clear she felt that flower blooming inside of her, maybe she didn't tail wag, but she did abdomen wag, that's the same, right?
She sighed, thinking if Wolf and the others knew about this, they would be so disappointed in her, even worse, they would probably hate it. But then if she follows the plan, then it's Spider-man who's going to hate her. She remembered the first videos she saw of him webbing around, or stopping criminals in the viewpoint of security cameras, but he still looked great in those and even better when she would see him in real life. They have had confrontations before, but he was the hero and they were the villains, that's just how things were, nothing personal. But she knew by following the plan this would definitively become personal.
She looked back in front of herself, looking at Wolf as she wondered why he was still standing there, he removed the rabbit face hood from his head, as she saw he seemed to have a look of sympathy towards the cat, he put his paws to the tree and she knew he had the intention to climb up the tree, she wondered why he was doing that, so might as well ask him directly.
She walked up to Wolf and then asked him, "What are you doing here, Wolf?"
Wolf stopped trying to climb on the tree as he looked down at Tarantula, he jumped back to the ground and then told her, "I think we got off to a bad start with the cat. Maybe we should help him out." He looked to the side, then he shrugged as he gave his usual smirk, "You know, just to look good."
Tarantula understood he was trying to save the cat to make a good impression to not blow their covers, but then why was he doing this all alone with no one watching? She still nodded to him, "Oh yeah, totally, we help him just to help us."
"Exactly." Wolf was glad Tarantula understood his plan, he then looked back up at the cat as he told Tarantula, "But I can do this on my own."
Tarantula chuckled, "Can't let you suffer through this alone, can't I?" She still offered to help him.
Wolf decided to accept Tarantula's help, "Right." He then crouched to her, put the front of his paw to her, "Hop in." Tarantula jumped on his paw and started crawling to his arm until arriving at his shoulder and staying there. Wolf went back to climbing up the tree, stopping halfway on it, he addressed the cat, "The name's Wolf and she's Tarantula." Seeing them approach, the cat whimpered and moved back from the branch, carefully watching Wolf and Tarantula's movements, Wolf sighed, "Yep. We get that a lot. First impressions and all."
Tarantula looked up at the cat, "I've got an idea." She told Wolf.
Wolf looked at Tarantula, "What? You do?"
Tarantula nodded, "Yeah, trust me on this." Tarantula got off Wolf's shoulder and started crawling up the tree.
"If the plan doesn't end in the cat landing on my face, then sure." Wolf was okay to let Tarantula try out her plan, only if he didn't suffer at the end of it.
Tarantula chuckled, "We'll see." Tarantula climbed up to the branch as the cat immediately backed away from it, keeping eye contact with Tarantula, stopping right in the center of the tree, "Hey, little guy, I mean, I should probably say big guy, since you're bigger than me." Tarantula spoke softly to the cat, but the cat was still scared, and seeing no way out the cat started raising their back, hoping turning themselves big would intimate Tarantula, "I know I'm a tarantula so I'm all scary looking, but that's it just looks. Just like what you're doing right now, I know you're not bad, just protecting yourself, but look at me, I'm small, very small, just like a ball." In response Tarantula tried to make herself as small as possible, "So don't be scared, okay?" The cat hesitated, but after a few seconds the cat lowered their back, the cat sat down, eyes still on Tarantula, she did look like a ball, "Good. And now, I'm gonna just look the other way, okay? I'm not watching you." Tarantula turned her head away from the cat, waiting for them to move, and they did more than, the cat jumped on her, paws first trying to catch her, after landing the cat looked at their paws seeing Tarantula wasn't below them, "You nearly got me." The cat looked to their left, seeing Tarantula a bit further.
And so a game of cat and mouse spider began, the cat and Tarantula were jumping around from branch to leaf, Wolf was watching them, chuckling from the scene, he definitely didn't expect this. He saw Tarantula jumping down from the tree and landing on top of his head, she looked up seeing the cat looking down on them, they actually hesitated from jumping down too, but from seeing Wolf, the cat hid themselves in the leaf.
"Seems like you need a little helping." Wolf told Tarantula, deciding it was his turn to help out, he addressed the cat, "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. I know you're scared of me, but I'm just as friendly as your new friend. Just give me a chance." Wolf paused, wanting to tell something to the cat, but he knew Tarantula would laugh at him for ages if he told this, oh well, like Diane said, he had no more dignity, "Truth is we actually have a lot in common. Don't tell anyone, but I love a little scratch on the spot behind my ears. You know, right there." Wolf started scratching the back of his head near the back of his ear, he then moved up his paw, close to the cat, hoping the cat would let him approach them, "The best."
The cat was still unsure, as they moved back a bit, "Don't worry, you can trust him." Tarantula said, trying to encourage the cat.
The cat continued to hesitate a bit, but they decided to give just a try, the cat slowly approached Wolf's paw and started sniffing it, realizing there wasn't any danger the cat let themselves go, giving in to Wolf's touch, he started softly scratching the cat's head, he heard them purr from the touch. Wolf moved his paw down, the cat looked down on him, Wolf wanted the cat to come down to him, the cat wasn't scared anymore, they didn't hesitate to jump down, but Wolf was surprised the moment the cat didn't land on his paws, but on top of his head, where Tarantula was too. At least he wasn't trying to hurt his face anymore.
Wolf climbed down from the tree, he then took them out of the top of his head, leaving them on his paw instead, he started softly scratching the cat's head, Wolf chuckled, "Yeah. Who's a good kitty?"
The cat was enjoying the scratches but they wouldn't let go of Tarantula, "Ah, alright you got me." Tarantula chuckled too. She stopped when she felt the cat vibrate and wondered why they were doing that, she asked Wolf, "Hey, uh, the cat's vibrating, is it normal?"
"It means they like you." Wolf explained.
"Uh, Wolf, Tarantula?" Wolf and Tarantula turned to the sound of Snake's voice, they saw he was with Piranha and Shark right in front of the glass sliding doors, "You guys saved him?"
"Yes!" Marmalade screamed excitedly, getting out of hiding behind a rock, he showed his phone to Spider-man who was right behind him, "Yes. You see that? It's working."
"You-you filmed that?" Wolf asked Marmalade, walking towards him.
Marmalade nodded, "Yes, and look at the video." He tapped on his phone to play the video and showed off to the others.
The Bad Guys looked at the video of a mobile game's ad. Marmalade sighed from the ad destroying the moment, he turned the phone back to him and waited for the timer to end so he could skip the ad and show them the video.
"You should get YouTube Vanced, it removes all the ads, it's pretty cool." Tarantula advised Marmalade.
"Yeah, but I've got an Iphone so it's complicated to install that app." Marmalade explained, he then gave up and turned off his phone. He spoke to the Bad Guys, "But the point is, they're starting to like you."
The Bad Guys all celebrated together, "Yeah! All right!"
"This might just be enough to win over the guests at the gala." Marmalade told them.
The Bad Guys continued cheering as they started to walk back to the mansion.
"Uh, Wolf? Tarantula?" Marmalade asked for both of their attention, they stopped and turned back to Marmalade, "I must say, you've really turned a corner. You're really getting it."
"Really?" Wolf asked Marmalade.
Marmalade nodded, "Yeah, I mean it." He looked at Tarantula, "I'm actually surprised about your progress, Tarantula."
Wolf looked to the side, wondering why Marmalade was surprised that only Tarantula changed, he looked back at Marmalade as he asked him, "Was it...so obvious I would change?"
"You were the one who gave me the idea." Marmalade reminded Wolf, "I suppose now you don't have to carry all that baggage all by yourself."
"What are you talk..." Wolf was about to ask but he stopped as he turned his head back to the others inside the mansion, "You mean the guys?"
"What do you mean?" Tarantula wanted to know too on what Marmalade was getting at.
Snake just happened to overhear the conversation, so he stayed behind, watching the conversation unfold, hidden so that they wouldn't know he was hearing them.
"You two have great potential, but at some point, you're going to have to choose between your friends or the good life." Marmalade explained to them.
Snake couldn't believe it, Marmalade was trying to convince them to separate the group, and worse of all Wolf and Tarantula said nothing in return, like they were seriously thinking about it. He saw Marmalade starting to walk back to the mansion, Snake slithered away, he would need to have a talk with Wolf about all of this.
Wolf and Tarantula looked back at Marmalade waiting for him to leave until he was out of their sight.
Tarantula raised an eyebrow, "Is he serious?"
"Seems like it." Wolf shrugged.
Tarantula waved her palps in frustration, "Who does he think we are? Traitors?"
"Yeah." Wolf agreed with Tarantula, they wouldn't give up on the group.
They faced each other as they spoke at the same time, "We're gonna stay bad together/turn good together."
They stayed silent upon hearing the other didn't say the same thing, wondering why that was the case.
Wolf was the first to ask, "I-I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Uh..." Tarantula stood still, thinking how could she get out of this situation, she had a quick look to the right, and found an idea, "Oh hey Spider-man!" She used Spider-man as a distraction to jump off Wolf and the cat's grasp, joining over Spider-man being on the edge of the cliff, he seemed ready to leave, "You leaving right now?"
Spider-man turned to Tarantula, "Yeah, can't stay here, as much as I would like to."
"Oh, that sucks." Tarantula said, disappointed to see him leave, "You will be here tomorrow, right?"
"I don't know, I've got other responsibilities to deal with." Spider-man explained.
"You will be at least at the gala? You will totally be a guest of honor there." Tarantula asked, wanting to know exactly when she would see Spider-man again.
"I..." Spider-man thought about it, he then crouched down to Tarantula, "well, don't tell anyone, but I will be there, just no one will know I was there."
Tarantula nodded, "Oh yeah, yeah, I get it." She then showed off her palp to Spider-man, "But before you leave can we do a fist bump?"
Spider-man chuckled, "Sure."
They did another fist bump, as Wolf watched them, a smile on his face as he forgot about the talk he had with Tarantula a minute ago. But seeing Spider-man, something else came into his mind.
"Yo Spidey." Wolf called out Spider-man, "I know you want to go back to your web, but I would like to have a chat with you."
Spider-man got up, "Sure."
"In private." Wolf said, looking down at Tarantula.
Tarantula groaned, "Urgh. You're no fun." She started walking away, before turning back and waving her palps to Spider-man, "Bye, bye."
Spider-man waved back at her, as she entered the mansion, leaving Spider-man and Wolf alone, with the cat too.
A bit later, both of them had sat down near the mansion's entrance from the backyard, Spider-man was looking at the full moon as Wolf was still petting the cat that was sitting on his lap.
Wolf spoke up to Spider-man, still looking at the cat, "She really looks up to you, you know?"
Spider-man nodded, "I've noticed."
"I shouldn't be surprised, I mean, who doesn't love Spider-man?" Wolf asked Spider-man, turning his face to him.
"I've got a pretty long list that proves the contrary." Spider-man pointed out.
"I suppose those people aren't the best role models." Wolf pointed out in return.
"I fight bad guys, in general, and that adversity against me comes from that." Spider-man explained why certain people would hate him.
"And that's where I wonder, why aren't you a bad guy?" Wolf finally asked the question he wanted an answer from Spider-man.
Spider-man turned his face to Wolf, "What do you mean?"
"Why do you fight for justice?" Wolf repeated his question.
"Because bad is bad, therefore I must do good?" Spider-man answered, not wanting to give a real answer.
Wolf chuckled, not finding Spider-man's joke funny, he then went on to explain why he asked that question, "I'm just saying, a guy like you, could get anything you want quite easily, but you seem to do this just out of your heart's goodwill, I mean, I never heard about the spider-mansion, the spider-mobile or something like that, you know?"
Spider-man shook his head, "I'm no Bruce Wayne."
"But you could be." Wolf retorted.
"Who's to say I haven't tried that?" Spider-man asked Wolf.
Wolf stayed silent, knowing he just gave an unintentional hit to Spider-man, "I just opened an old wound, huh?" Wolf asked Spider-man, but as he was expecting, Spider-man stayed silent, turning his head down, Wolf sighed, "I suppose your whole great power, great responsibility quote is not just a marketing gimmick?"
"I dedicate my life to it." Spider-man told Wolf.
Wolf then saw the cat getting up and moving away from his lap and walking up to Spider-man, they sniffed him as Spider-man turned his head to the cat, the cat started going up to Spider-man's lap, keeping eye contact with him.
"I think he likes you." Wolf said at Spider-man, looking at the scene.
"That's great, but, uh, could you remove him, please?" Spider-man asked Wolf to remove the cat from his lap.
Wolf chuckled at Spider-man's demand, "Why? Is the Spider-man scared of cats?"
Spider-man waved his hand, "It's not really that, the cat is definitively cute but-" He then suddenly sneezed, accidentally shooting a web string from his arm as the cat got scared by it and quickly turned back and ran hiding in Wolf's side, Spider-man put his hand on the back of his head, "I'm allergic to cats."
"Oh, I didn't know that." Wolf said, surprised to know the Spider-man was actually allergic to cats.
"Not something I like to shout from the rooftops." Spider-man said, he then got up, "I should go, get this thing taken care of."
Wolf waved goodbye at Spider-man, as he shot a web string up and then started swinging away. Wolf looked back at the cat watching Spider-man going away, the cat slowly got out of their hiding spot once Spider-man was out of sight.
Wolf picked up the cat and held them in front of him, smiling towards them, "So...You're Spider-man's weakness?"
A while later, Wolf decided it was time to go to sleep, tomorrow would be a long day after all. He went to the room where the Bad Guys were sleeping, there were two bunk beds, he took the last free bed, the one that was below from Snake's bed. Everyone else was already asleep, except Snake. He was just waiting for Wolf to come in, so they could have a talk.
Snake spoke up to Wolf, "Hey. You still awake?" He then heard meowing, "You-you brought the cat in?"
"Yeah. Yeah, yeah." Wolf told Snake, holding the cat close to him, "I'm just...I'm just saving it up for later. Why? What's up?"
Snake started explaining, "I was just getting a little worried, since you and Tarantula kind of become a..." He paused, not sure if he wanted to say it.
"Become a what?" Wolf asked Snake to finish his phrase.
"You know, teacher's pets." Snake finished his phrase.
"Oh come on, don't be ridiculous Snake." Wolf told Snake, what he said was far-fetched, "Tarantula has been like this for a long time."
"Sure, but you're not like her. Never saw you fanboying all over Marmalade. Your tail wagging and everything." Snake explained.
"Well, yeah, because it has to be believable." Wolf reminded Snake.
Snake nodded, "Uh-huh. Yeah, I guess so. As long as it's all part of the plan." Then Snake slithered his head to below his bed as he looked down at Wolf, asking him, "It is all part of the plan, isn't it?"
"Snake, buddy, who made the plan to begin with?" Wolf asked Snake.
"You did." Snake answered.
"So I'm the one who sticks to the plan the most, right?" Wolf told Snake to not worry about the plan changing.
"Yeah, ri... Uh, yeah, okay. I guess that makes sense, yeah." Snake understood what Wolf meant, but he still asked him, "But if the plan were ever to change, you'd-you'd tell me, right?"
Wolf removed his rabbit looking hood from his head, "You have my word." He then showed Snake his fist, "Go bad..."
Snake looked down at Wolf's fist, smiling, "Or go home." He then headbutted Wolf's fist.
Snake slithered back to his bed, getting back to trying to sleep since he was certain Wolf wouldn't change the plan without notifying all of them first. Wolf laid back on the bed, he didn't tell Snake, but he was conflicted about following the plan, this whole turning good thing wasn't as bad as he thought, but he knew Snake didn't like it, and telling him about it would be a bad idea.
"Hey, Snake." Wolf called out to Snake.
"Yeah?" Snake asked Wolf what he wanted to say.
"You ever wonder what it'd be like? The world loving us instead of being scared of us? You ever...you ever think about that?" Wolf asked Snake, trying to see if maybe he could change his mind.
"Loving us?" Snake asked Wolf, as he then chuckled, "Yeah, right." he put the cover over him, "I don't waste time thinking about stuff that's never gonna happen. I can't wait for things to get back to normal."
Wolf looked back at the ring he had stolen from Diane, which then she stole it from him and gave him back the ring, she was definitely not as different as them, yet she was able to be liked by people. He quickly told himself he should stop thinking like that, he can't compromise the plan, he can't compromise his friends.
He looked up, whispering to himself, "Yeah. Back to normal, back to normal."
Inside the Osborn's mansion, Norman was pouring himself a drink, today has been a weird day for him, since he woken from unconsciousness this morning, he had these unusual black outs, he tried as best as he could but he couldn't remember certains things from today, he had no memory of what he did just after watching the news about Oscorp this morning. He thought that drinking might make things worse, but to the point he was at in his life, might as well dig a deeper hole.
He was about to drink from his glass cup, but stopped once he heard laughing echoing in the room, he turned all around the room trying to find where he heard that person laugh, he called out, "Somebody there?"
He heard the voice echo again, "Somebody."
He gasped, not knowing where that voice came from, "Who said that?"
He heard the voice again, "Don't play the innocent with me." Norman started walking around the room trying to find the source of the voice, "You've known all along."
He couldn't pinpoint a location to where the voice could be coming from, he asked, "Where are you?"
"Follow the cold shiver running down your spine." The voice told him, Norman looked around at something that would make him feel the description the voice told him, he narrowed his eyes looking at the wall full of masks, wondering if one of those were the source of the voice. Then he heard the voice, "I'm right here."
This time he knew which direction he heard the voice, he turned back and saw the voice came from the mirror, it came from his reflection.
"I don't understand." Norman admitted, being freaked out seeing his reflection mimicking his movements, but seemed to have a mind of its own.
"Did you think it was coincidence?" Norman's reflection asked him, slowly walking forward, "You finally figuring out that you weren't the problem, Norman. They were."
Norman and his reflection took a sip of the drink and then threw it out to the floor, shattering it.
"Who?" Norman asked his reflection.
The reflection stopped moving, he took out his phone at the same time as Norman, he looked down at it as he tapped a few times on the phone, then he looked back at Norman, "Here's one."
Norman turned back from his reflection, reading the news article that was on his phones, it talked about the murder of Mario Price, "Oh my god..." He said in realization.
"Here was one." Norman's reflection smirked, enjoying making a word play out of the person he murdered.
Norman figured out his reflection somehow had something to do with the murder, "You killed him."
"We killed him." Norman's reflection quickly turned back to Norman as he corrected him.
"We?" Norman asked his reflection, deep inside he was terrified in the idea he helped in the murder of a person.
"Remember? Your little accident in the laboratory." Norman's reflection reminded Norman about the events of yesterday night.
Norman looked down, everything that he forgot about last night suddenly all came back to him, he looked at his reflection, saying in realization, "The performance enhancers."
"Bingo. Me! Your greatest creation." Norman's reflection said proudly, "Bringing you what you've always wanted: Power beyond your wildest dreams. And it's only the beginning. There are many hurdles in this road of ours." Norman started backing away from the mirror, horrified by his own creation. But his reflection stood still as a huge devilish smile faded in his face, "And all of them right in the same golden plate served right in front of us."
The reflection started laughing, Norman couldn't escape him, no one could escape him.
The next day, Angel spent the whole day patrolling the city as Spider-man, looking out for any signs of the Green Goblin, but nothing came of it, it was a peaceful day, actually.
By night, he had come back to his apartment, sitting on his bed with still his spider-man suit on, without the mask, he was listening in to the police radio scanner, seeing if from the police side had any progress, but it was radio silence. At least it made some useless chatter that would accompany him in eating his noodles. He chuckled internally, thinking if Tarantula saw Spider-man like this, her dreams would totally be crushed.
His phone started ringing, he put the noodles cup on the desk and picked up his phone, he saw it was from Jameson, he accepted the call and put the phone on his ear, instantly hearing Jameson's voice screaming to him, "Maguire! Where the hell have you been?! Did you take pictures of that goblin guy? Of course you didn't! You just lazy-"
"Mr. Jameson" Angel interrupted him, "Would you like me to take pictures of the Governor at the Gala for Goodness?"
There was silence on the other side of the phone, then Jameson simply said, "Ok." Then he called off.
Angel let go of the phone, falling on the bed, he stood still as he thought about what just happened, did he just interrupted J. Jonah Jameson and he totally accepted it? Maybe Diane was right.
Well, now he had no other choice but to go to the gala as Angel. He got up from the bed, put on some casual clothes, took out his bathroom equipment and then he stood in front of the door, turning his head back at the police radio scanner, wanting to see if something had changed, but still nothing.
He got out of his apartment, went to the communal bathroom of the building, in there he brushed his teeth, took a shower, and combed his hair until it looked good, but it still stayed messy.
After finishing preparing himself up, he went back to his apartment, he removed his clothes and put on his spider-man's suit and then wore his clothes back. But then he thought it might be better to choose a better looking set of clothes, he went to the closet and opened it, that's when he realized he didn't seem to have a better choice. He only had a few clothes and he's been using them for many years. They've clearly shown their age with the rips and tears on them, how many years was it since he bought new clothes?
The only one that seemed somewhat intact was his spider-suit for his short wrestling career, he was sure he wouldn't wear that at the gala. He closed the closed and had a look at himself in the mirror, why was he so much focused on looking good? Trying to impress? Trying to stand out? But why?
He put his hand on his shirt's collar and started bringing it down until he saw the black embossed spider's symbol on his suit. This is who he was supposed to be, Spider-man. And as Angel, he was just the guy behind the camera, the faceless watcher. Nothing more.
Oh hi everyone!
Stooge man: Thank you for the review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter too.
This is the first chapter to have 10k words, so it is a big one.
It is also the first chapter that does have a significant change to the original story, which is Tarantula turning good early, which will change some things up later in the story, and I've got to say I really enjoy writing the wholesome friendship between Tarantula and Spider-man.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this new chapter.
See ya!