63 Chapter 062 The Daily Bugle

Chapter 062

The next day, most of the papers in New York City reported about the Lizard attack on Williamsburg bridge.

There were no clear photos for proof, so most of these articles were speculative at best. Most of the reporters had to do with what the witnesses told them.

Some of the articles didn't go the more dramatic 'monster attack' way and reported on how the problem was with the construction of the bridge and there was blatant corruption going on behind the scenes.

But most still went on to report about how a giant reptile creature has appeared on the bridge and known vigilantes have dealt with it, protecting the city once again.

One of the major changes that deviated from the original Amazing Spiderman plotline was that the police didn't issue a warrant against Spiderman this time.

They did publish a report saying that they are paying close attention and will capture the Lizard as soon as possible.

Alex felt like the reason behind this was the public support of vigilantes. Though, he was sure that the case would be directed to Shield sooner or later.

In the Amazing Spiderman universe, there was no Shield, so the police were in charge of handling most things.

But with Shield in charge, he was sure that one of their agents would be told to intervene sooner or later. 

'Its better like this anyway. The police don't have the necessary training or equipment to battle with a giant lizard monster. Ah, here it is!'

Alex suddenly stopped his fingers that were scrolling through the web as he came across the article he was looking for.

[Spiderman – A cowardly menace! He and the monster named the Lizard were responsible for the destruction behind the Williamsburg bridge.

– The Daily Bugle]

He smiled sheepishly as he came across the article posted by the Daily Bugle article. Even in this universe, J. Jonah Jameson was hell bent on targeting Spiderman.

'He sure is a weird character.'

Alex read through the article and noticed that it mostly mentioned Spiderman and Lizard, only briefly mentioning Alex.

He didn't feel bad about it as he didn't want to do anything with the Daily Bugle.

It was best if they just focused on Peter…

"What are you looking at?"

He came out of his thoughts as Colleen walked up to him. He was currently sitting in Chikara dojo after not attending the lessons for months.

Alex had called Colleen yesterday and requested a sword training lesson to learn the sword better in order to fight off against the Lizard. 

He knew how to hold a sword and fight but it was only at a beginner level. He wanted to become better at it and that's when he had thought of Colleen.

Although she was not happy with him missing so many lessons, she still agreed.

After all, Alex was a good student and she was getting paid.

"Just some news articles. You know about the bridge incident yesterday." He said, standing up from his spot.

"I heard about it. Some kind of monster appeared and superheroes dealt with it. I don't really trust them." Colleen picked up two practiced swords while talking.

"Trust who?"

"Superheroes. Vigilantes… whatever you call them. I feel like all the crazy things started when they appeared."

She threw him the practice sword and he caught it. He thought about what to say before opening his mouth.

"I don't think so. Crazy things… they just don't appear out of nowhere most of the time. Some things are just always there. We just don't know they exist."

Colleen didn't say anything at that and seemed to be in some sort of thought. Shaking his head, she looked him up and down, a trace of surprise appearing on her face.

"You seem to have changed a lot. Gained more muscles and even gotten a bit taller." She said changing the subject.

"Yeah, well, stuff happened and I got a late growth spurt."

"I didn't know there was a thing like that but I guess a lot of stuff happens in puberty." She said, then asked. "Why do you want sword lessons anyway?"

"Just wanted to learn how to use it. Curiosity." 

Alex lied, thinking to himself that he was too used to it and thankfully, Colleen didn't ask much. She didn't have much interest in why he wanted to learn how to use a sword since she was getting paid.

"First thing to know is to keep your eyes open. Don't close them due to fear or anything else or before you know it, a sword would cut off your head." She added after a second. "Only if you are fighting with real swords. With training ones, it will just hurt a little or more depending on the strength behind the strike."

"Got it."

"You will learn better as we spar. So, get ready!"

She said and took a stance. Alex followed to do the same and without any warning, she rushed at him with her sword aiming at his shoulder.

He blocked the attack and they clashed in the dojo for a while. 

Colleen was clearly way ahead of him in terms of fighting experience but he was able to keep up with her due to his increased stats. 

Still, there were a lot of times, her sword grazed his body. One after another, she kept striking at different spots, leaving him to only defend.

"You are fast but you won't get anywhere if you keep being this defensive." 

She said as Alex ducked under her wooden blade.

"You don't have any openings."

"You can't wait for openings always. You need to make them sometimes."

She said and moved once again, her sword swishing through the air. This time, Alex rushed at her, dodging through her attack and aiming for her side.

Even Colleen was surprised at his speed, but she twisted the sword in her hand and blocked the attack just before it was going to touch her.

"You are good." She said, impressed at the level of improvement.

"Thanks."

"Let's start again."

Alex nodded as Colleen thought that he had gone through too much of a transformation in the time she had not seen him.