SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SPIDER (CHAPTER 9)
9:03 am J. Jonah Jameson's office, Daily Bugle Building…
"I've got the latest scoop on Fisk's plans for Queens, alright?" Frederick said, "That should be enough content to write about for maybe three or four weeks."
"Yeah, yeah…Do what you must, Foswell…" John said sitting on his desk feeling bored while chewing on a mint.
"I see you're unenthusiastic, Mr. Jameson…" Frederick said, "Don't worry…There's bound to be something that will catch our attention."
"I'm done with politics…" John said, "So much of the media have gone bankrupt thanks to it. We want to make news more exciting than that."
"Wilson Fisk is unlike anything else, you know." Frederick replied back.
"You know what I think of that egghead?" John answered back, "Wilson Fisk is a man whose money comes from all corners of the Earth. It's shady the way he goes about his business. But hey…At least he's not a guy running around in a super suit. That's one problem I have with people who want to help others."
"Then I guess positive coverage on him is no problem then?" Frederick asked while subtly hinting on the Daily Bugle's negativity towards Spider-Man.
"We generally don't post our thoughts on a subject. We just post the facts…" John grunted.
Afterwards, a knock was heard on the door.
"Come in…" John said.
Peter slowly opened up the door and meekly approached John's desk.
"Parker…What do you want?" John asked.
"You told me to come see you in your office? Well… At least, Betty did." Peter said.
"Oh that's right… Well, Foswell… Nice chatting up with you." John said, "Now shoo…"
Frederick turned around and looked Peter in the eye.
"Hey, Fred. Can I just ask how's Ned doing?" Peter asked considering that Frederick supervises his friend.
Frederick paused before giving Peter an answer.
"He's doing great, Peter. He's getting better with his photography skills." Frederick answered.
"Cool…Uh…I hope he's doing great." Peter said.
"Trust me, his photos will print money…" Frederick said, "I'm going to meet up with him now. Take care."
Peter watched as Frederick hastily rushed off and pondered on the idea of Ned being busy. He then turned around to face John.
"So…Mr. Jameson. Um…" Peter stammered.
"Parker, you're working with Robbie today." John instructed through his reply, "He needs help with some of the articles we're publishing for today."
"What's that got to do with me?" Peter asked.
"Consider this a new form of experience here at the Bugle. We like having people willing to learn new things. For example, Miss Brant is working hard to be an approved reporter." John said.
"She's actually doing that?" Peter added to which John nodded.
"Anyway…Why don't you look for Robbie? I've got a lot more things I need to do. Get out of here." John said.
7:45 am Leeds residence…
Prior to Frederick's meeting with John, he had some special business to do under Wilson Fisk's orders. His connection to the man put on him on a different level compared to his façade as a reporter.
Stopping his car on the side lane of the street, he turned his attention to the little house where Ned Leeds lives in and waited. Inside, Ned was taking his time finishing off his breakfast and bidding farewell to his family as well as his pet cat.
"Goodbye, mum. Goodbye, Mandy." Ned said kissing his terminally ill mum on the forehead as she sat on her wheelchair and hugging his little sister.
Ned walked over to his cat and picked him up.
"Goodbye, King. Don't wonder off too far this time." Ned said before hugging King as he meowed.
Putting the cat down, Ned made his way out of the house door to see Frederick's car outside in front of him.
"Hey, kid. Hurry up!" Frederick said as Ned rushed forward to open the front seat door.
As Ned got in and buckled up his seat belt, Frederick wasted no time in leaving.
"Sorry…Ned. Your place is a little far from work." Frederick said as he sped a little.
"Actually I have ways in which I get to work just in time." Ned replied.
"You do? Tell me…Does your Spider friend come down and give you a swing?" Frederick joked.
"No…There's a subway/train line I catch at the Forest Hills station. Then I just walk the rest." Ned said, "So what's going on?"
"Ah…Well, today… Is…Work day. For me mostly." Frederick said, "I'm not going to be needing that many important photos from you."
"What?" Ned questioned.
"Don't get me wrong…You're still providing photos for me but it's going much more of a joy ride for you than for me." Frederick said.
"Joy ride?" Ned asked wondering if that's a joke to Frederick driving the car.
"We are going to meet a special group of people today. You mostly though…" Frederick said, "They're a friendly bunch."
"Is it people from the Bugle?" Ned wondered.
"Uh…No. But they're actually good friends of mine and I hope you don't mind but…They require special photos from you." Frederick said, "You'll see when we meet them."
"Oh goodie…Um, hope you're not too stressed with work." Ned said.
"What can I do about it?" Frederick said, "Thanks for your concerns, by the way."
9:12 am Robbie Robertson's office, Daily Bugle Building…
Robbie's office was a lot more tidy when compared to John's despite having loads of work like him. However unlike John, Robbie does not let the stress of work get to him and maintained a sense of optimism in his professionalism.
Peter entered the office and was greeted by the nice looking place. Robbie turned around and smiled at Peter.
"Ah, Peter. Just the man I wanted to see." Robbie said.
"Uh…Hi… Mr. Robertson." Peter greeted as he shook Robbie's hand since it was the first time he formally interacted with him.
"Call me 'Robbie'." Robbie replied.
"So…You need help right?" Peter asked looking around the place, "Your place looks pretty well organised."
"Well, I did read this book by some Japanese author and there was some pretty insightful advice in organising things." Robbie said, "Anyway, that's not why I need you here. I called you to see if you could look through today's articles."
"Isn't that your job?" Peter wondered.
"Yes… But your job is help look through some statistics. I want to know if you could help sort out what our readers are interested in. Jonah's looking for ways to make the Bugle as profitable as possible." Robbie said, "Do you have your laptop?"
"Oh, yes I do…" Peter said grabbing it out of his bag.
"Good. I'm going to send through an email of stuff that I want you to look through under my guidance." Robbie said.
As Peter booted up his laptop and grabbed a nearby chair to sit down on, he waited for Robbie to give out some instructions.
"How are you finding the Bugle so far?" Robbie asked.
"Oh… I actually like it. It seems like a nice place so far." Peter replied.
"Glad you do… Has Jonah been treating you fine as well so far?" Robbie asked.
"Uh…I can deal with him. No sweat…" Peter said as he logged onto his laptop.
"Glad to hear that as well… If you find your level with him, he won't break you down." Robbie assured.
"Thanks, Robbie. I noticed you and Mr. Jameson are like close friends." Peter added.
"We're more like professional colleagues. But I agree…We actually have a friendship." Robbie said.
"Wow…" Peter replied, "I guess years of work must have paid off."
"It did indeed…" Robbie said clicking his mouse in front of his own computer.
As Peter entered into his emails on his computer screen, Robbie decided to ask Peter another question.
"You're not studying tertiary education in any shape or form right now, are you?" Robbie asked.
"Yeah…I'm not studying at the moment, unfortunately." Peter said, "I tried though."
"What were you planning to study?" Robbie asked again.
"Oh…Uh… Science at Empire State. Like mechanical engineering since I'm into physics." Peter said.
"Interesting… My son's at Empire State right now. But I'm not sure if he's going to graduate." Robbie said, "He's going through a lot."
"Your son? What's he studying?" Peter wondered almost forgetting about the work Robbie assigned him on.
"He's going for a diploma of social works. Not what I hoped for out of him…" Robbie said with a sigh.
"Social works doesn't sound too bad. I mean…Helping others can be a great thing, it's what we all do every day." Peter said.
"There's more than that… I hope I don't distress you with the information I have about it." Robbie said.
"Uh…I guess it's your choice if you want to share it. Besides, I think I can handle it." Peter said.
Robbie let out a sigh before he started.
"I failed as a father…" Robbie said not even focusing on his computer screen anymore, "I failed my wife twice already."
Peter said nothing as he waited for Robbie to say more.
"My firstborn never came to be and passed away before the age of one. Then my current son, Randy… He grew up with a huge adventurous spirit, something which I took from him. I…Made him resent me for the rest of my life." Robbie continued.
Again, Peter said nothing but was feeling some form of sympathy for Robbie as it looked like he was about to tear up. Robbie took a nearby tissue and blew his nose.
"I'm sorry, Peter…" Robbie said talking to him, "I got carried away."
As Peter opened up the email from Robbie and opened up a column graph on his screen, he could not help but wonder why Robbie shared this personal information with him.
"I honestly don't know what to make of your story, Robbie." Peter said, "It's all sudden."
Robbie stopped with his sadness before he switched back to a smile.
"I feel like you have a bright future ahead of you, Peter. Now that I know a bit about you…" Robbie said, "Everything in life okay so far?"
"Yeah…" Peter agreed, "I got the graphs in front of me by the way."
"Alright then." Robbie chuckled before turning his attention onto the computer screen, "We should really start working."
5:53 pm Romeo's…
Peter waited around the entrance of the restaurant which he had booked to meet up with Gwen. It was quite chilly waiting outside but it didn't stop Peter who was wearing his nice casual clothes. Today was not just the day, he did not need to be Spider-Man but he also managed to get along with Robbie back at the Bugle.
"Everything okay, signore?" A waiter asked opening the door.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just waiting for someone. She should be here soon." Peter said before the waiter nodded and closed the doors.
As Peter checked his watch, he soon heard a familiar voice near him to which he turned around and smiled.
"Peter…" Gwen said smiling.
"Just in time…" Peter said before he and Gwen went inside to the warm conditions of the restaurant.
The two of them made their way to their designated table to sit down. Gwen then laughed.
"What?" Peter wondered before noticing Gwen staring at the candles.
"Fancy having candles here…" Gwen said.
"Oh yeah…Um, not my intention." Peter said as he sat down.
"Was the name 'Romeo' intentional?" Gwen teased.
"I… Just booked everything based on quality." Peter said.
"You know I wouldn't mind a regular pizzeria. But since we're here…Hope it can be worth it." Gwen said back.
"Well, I say this is worth it since we might see eye to eye that often." Peter said as he watched the waiter place down a basket of garlic bread onto the table, "So how's your day?"
"Good…As in… Standard stuff, really." Gwen stated.
"How's learning with Professor Warren?" Peter questioned.
"He didn't show up today… And neither did Anton, the student who was tested on. He was absent two days now." Gwen said, "I'm guessing Warren is checking on him."
"Makes sense…It is his project." Peter noted, "Who was there to teach you?"
"Wanna guess?" Gwen asked making it seem like it was someone special.
"Dr. Reed Richards? Bruce Banner? Uh…Is this a trick question? Cause it sounds like someone working at ES but isn't anyone famous." Peter replied trying to interpret Gwen's smile.
"J. Jonah's wife…" Gwen stated.
"What?" Peter replied before realising there was truth behind it. J. Jonah Jameson's wife was a biologist at Empire State University.
"Of course…" Peter laughed, "What a coincidence also… Is she as loud-mouthed as her husband?"
"Quite the opposite. She's really friendly and a really sweet person." Gwen said.
"Seriously, how did Jameson get to that stage?" Peter wondered confused.
"What's new with you?" Gwen asked.
"Me? Not much… I worked with one of the editors at the Bugle today." Peter said, "It was about marketing strategies on what kind of articles the Bugle wants to print."
"And what do they want to print?" Gwen asked again.
"Spider-Man talk. Anything that's out of the ordinary mostly." Peter said with a sigh.
"How is Spider-Man out of the ordinary? I saw him yesterday swinging right by near my house." Gwen said, "I think J. Jonah needs to adjust himself."
"He puts on deaf ears, you know?" Peter said shaking his head before noticing the waiter deliver two plates of food on the table.
"Oh god…That's um…A huge bowl of spaghetti." Gwen said looking at her food.
"It should taste nice." Peter said as he chewed into his risotto.
Gwen poked her food and decided to make comment on it.
"Feels a little dry, Peter." Gwen said shaking her head while poking the food with her fork.
"If you're not hungry, it's fine by me." Peter said before thinking that he wasted money.
"Relax…I'm going to dig in." Gwen said before she ate.
As the two ate, Peter then got a buzzing message on his phone from Ned which read 'Help'. Dropping his fork, Peter looked at his phone before typing back a message of 'What's wrong?'. There was no further reply which prompted Peter to stand up.
"What are you doing?" Gwen asked.
"Sorry, Gwen… It's Ned." Peter said picking up his jacket.
"Your friend? What?" Gwen asked puzzled by Peter's sudden need to leave.
"I hate doing this but I promise…I'll be back." Peter said before leaving, "Have a nice night, Gwen."
"What about your food? What about… Me?" Gwen asked, "Peter, what the hell?!"
Peter ran off which left Gwen in an awkward state of being alone.
"Hey, don't feel too bad if a guy leaves you on a date like this." A random man said seated with his own girlfriend at a table.
TO BE CONTINUED…