EXCEPTIONAL.
(Two months after Peter received the Spider Bracelet)
Peter Parker was walking to the office of J. Jonah Jameson to hand him a new folder of Spider-Man pictures, which he saw as very necessary given the precarious situation in which he and his aunt were into, since shortly before his uncle's death. However, it wasn't pleasant for him in the slightest, as though Robbie, Hoffman and Betty didn't share Jameson's thoughts about the arachnid and even tried to make him see that he was not a menace as the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle thought, Jameson always said slander about Peter's alter ego and belittled his work as a photographer, even if even professional photographers couldn't take the shots he did of Spider-Man (although of course, it was very helpful that his camera had a tracer linked to a chip in his suit and the fact that, literally, Peter took pictures of himself).
Finally, when the poor teenager arrived at Jameson's office, the latter was shouting obscenities at Hoffman because of a slight misunderstanding about the setting of the pages of the Sunday edition while Robbie was being ignored ominously by the man who never seemed to lose his voice, despite screaming at least 60% of the daytime.
- You're useless, Hoffman! - Jameson shouted. - I couldn't have been clearer! I said move Conway to page 3, give Johnson only one column on page 4 and 5% less pay, and that the headline on the front page would be: "Masked Menace hinders police work"!
- That's the problem, Jonah! - Robbie snapped. - We have no pictures of that particular robbery and we can't print the front page without one.
- Where's the guy who brings us the pictures of that clown in a lycra suit?! - Jameson roared. - PARKER!
- Here I am, Mr. Jameson... - Peter let out as he walked up to Jameson's desk.
- Wow, at least you know how to respond immediately when someone calls you. - The man with the mustache said while he took the folder that Peter was carrying.
Jameson opened the folder and began to check the content, looking at the photos with little attention and some disdain.
- Crap... crap... megacrap. - Jameson said as he looked at the photos that Peter had given him. - Parker, you're the worst photographer I've ever had the misfortune to know. But since you're the only one who can take more or less decent photos of that wall-crawler parasite, I suppose these are good enough.
That said, Jameson took a picture of the folder and handed it to Robbie.
- Take your first page, put the headline that I told you. - Jameson snapped.
- I already told you that Spider-Man is not a menace. - Robbie snapped.
- And I told you...!
- Fine, I'll do everything...
Robbie sighed deeply and left Jameson's office to carry out his boss' orders, very reluctantly. Meanwhile, Peter only managed to sigh in exasperation as Jameson turned his attention to him.
- Alright, child, here, I'll give you two hundred and fifty for all the pictures. - Jameson said as he handed a check to Peter.
- It's all right, Mr. Jameson... And Spider-Man didn't hinder the work of the police, he was helping the boys in blue to catch the thieves... - Peter said.
- I'll tell you something, I'll decide if that's true, you just take pictures of that propaganda-looking clown.
- But...
- Are you his lawyer or something? - Jameson said with annoyance. - Get outta here! If Spider-Man is that annoyed about what I write, then tell him to sue me and make me rich, like a normal person!
Peter sighed and headed out of Jameson's office.
However, as soon as Peter closed the door of his boss' office, the window and the wall that held it were blown to pieces, causing Jameson to be thrown over his desk while Hoffman crashed against the wall, causing him to hit himself in the head and get knocked out cold. And inside the cloud of dust, an unmistakable silhouette was approaching Jameson, floating a few inches above the ground and with a large sinister grin on his face. Scared by all those facts, the workers of the Daily Bugle were terrified as Peter hurried to find a place to transform.
Once he was close enough, the villain known as the Green Goblin bent down a little and extended his right arm to lift Jameson by the neck as he struggled and kicked to try to free himself, without any success.
- John Jonah Jameson, you poor devil, I will ask you a question and you will answer me honestly or things will get very ugly for you. - Said the Green Goblin as he smiled wickedly. - Who's the guy that takes pictures to Spider-Man?
- I don't know who he is! I get them through email! - Jameson lied.
- That's a lie! Last chance, Jameson! Tell me who the damn photographer is!
- I mean it! I don't know who he is!
- If that's so, then you're useless to me...
The Green Goblin raised his fist and prepared to finish Jameson off with a single blow, but at that moment, a strand of webbing caught his arm and stopped him. And as soon as he saw the webbing line, the Green Goblin couldn't help but smirk.
- Let him go, you bully! - Spider-Man snapped.
- Speaking of the devil... - Said the Green Goblin as he let go of Jameson.
The maniac in a green and purple suit turned to face the newcomer hero and smiled more broadly at the sight of his rival par excellence, hanging headfirst thanks to a thread of webbing.
Meanwhile, Jameson grunted and stood up as he pointed an accusing finger at both superhumans.
- Green Goblin, Spider-Man! I knew you were a team...! Jameson roared.
At that point, Spider-Man shot a spider web at Jameson's mouth.
- Shut up and let the adults talk in private. - Spider-Man said.
Meanwhile, the Green Goblin raised his arm and pointed the back of his wrist to Spider-Man's neck, causing a compartment in his glove to open and fire a micro-dart at the arachnid superhero. Although Spider-Man's spider sense was activated in time, due to his distraction while he was shutting Jameson's mouth with his webbing, the young hero couldn't avoid the Green Goblin's attack.
And as soon as the dart embedded into his neck, his body began to feel extremely heavy and his grip on the webbing line began to falter.
- Sleep. - The villain in green and purple smirked.
A few seconds later, Spider-Man fell from his webbing strand and a few meters before he crashed into the ground, the Green Goblin caught him and took him flying away, before the astonished gaze of the bystanders.
(Hours later)
Spider-Man began to regain consciousness, his body still felt heavy, his head was spinning and although his vision was blurry, he could see that it was nighttime. He also noticed that he was on the roof of a building and that there was a person right in front of him.
- Wake up, little spider. - Said the person in front of him. - You're not dead, not yet. Only temporarily paralyzed.
Little by little, the young hero's senses were cleared up, letting him see that the person in front of him was the Green Goblin.
But as the villain had told him, his body was paralyzed, so he could only move his head a little to look better at his enemy, who was walking up to him.
The Green Goblin squatted in front of his young archenemy and smiled as he stared at the arachnid hero with his yellow eyes.
- Honestly, you're an incredible creature, Spider-Man. - Said the Green Goblin. - And that makes me believe that we are not so different.
- We're not the same... - A stunned Spider-Man spat. - You're a murderer and a criminal...
- Well, to each his own. I chose my way, you decided to follow the path of the hero. - The villain let out as he shrugged. - And that has been fun so far because people find you entertaining, but make no mistake, boy, if there is something that the people of this city loves more than their heroes is to see those heroes fall and die in a feat.
The Green Goblin stepped closer to Spider-Man to grab his chin with some rudeness and smirked.
- It'd be very easy to fulfill the dream of the people of this city, I could very well crush you like an insect, but I won't do it because I prefer to give you the chance to choose your own destiny. - Said the Green Goblin. - Listen well: There are almost eight and a half million people in the city, and that kind of prolific masses exist for the sole purpose of lifting up and adoring the few exceptional people, and you and I are exceptional.
- You're just a criminal... - Spider-Man said.
- True, but that doesn't mean that I won't win in this little fight, and neither you, Fisk, Zemo, Loki, Von Doom, Richards, nor Stark and his friends will ever be able to avoid it. And that's why I want to give you three options.
- Keep dreaming on, Gobby, after all, dreaming is free...
- The first option I give you is what I consider the best for you, and that option is to join me. - Said the Green Goblin, completely ignoring Spider-Man's comment. - Imagine what you and I would create, or what we would destroy!
After that, the green-and-purple maniac pulled away from Spider-Man and turned his back on the hero.
- The second option is quite simple, just stay away from my business, you can continue playing hero with the Avengers, but without getting in my way. - Said the Green Goblin. - The last of your options is, in my humble opinion, the most stupid and the worst you can take, and is that you remain a hero, trying to stop me. But keep in mind that if you keep getting into my plans, I will kill you and everybody you care about. Also, consider the deaths that we'd cause to innocent people to confront each other, and another selfish battle until either of them dies, could you live with all that blood on your hands?
- If I can stop you, I can save the rest of the world from you...
- Well, as you wish, but since you're still somewhat stunned by the neurotoxin I injected you, I'll give you time to consider your options well and choose the right one. - Said the Green Goblin as he climbed onto his glider. - I leave it to you as homework, hero!
The Green Goblin laughed and flew away on his bat-shaped glider, while Spider-Man began to regain movement and sensation in his limbs.
And after analyzing the talk he had just had with the Green Goblin, Spider-Man thought he had never before felt so determined to stop the green-faced maniac as at that time.