Chapter 108
[Third Person's PoV]
As they sat in comfortable silence together, each person engrossed in their own activities, Felicia unexpectedly burst into laughter.
They all turned to look at her in confusion.
"Listen to this…" she said with a large grin, turning up the volume on her phone.
"HE'S A MENACE, I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU, A MENACE!" J. Jonah Jameson's voice blared from Felicia's phone.
Gwen and Peter exchanged a glance before tuning in.
"But nooooo! No one wanted to believe me. But here's the proof, people! Just last night, Spider-Man was seen swinging through the city with an old man on his shoulder. That old man was heard screaming and crying for his life. There have been reports saying he was wrapped up in Spider-Man's web, which caused the old man's screaming to become muffled.
That Spider-Man has no respect for the elderly. If Spider-Man can mistreat an innocent old man like that, imagine what he could do to you? Imagine what he could do to your children.
Huh? What do you mean the old man wasn't innocent? What harm could an old man possibly do? Betty, are you playing with me? Are you saying that the old man was a famous underground weapons dealer? Why didn't you say that earlier!?
*clears throat*
Well, I still say he's a menace to our society! Even if that old man was a criminal, it's not Spider-Man's job—or anyone's job, for that matter—to treat him roughly except for the police. We've seen Spider-Man catch cars with his bare hands with such inhuman strength; imagine what he could do when fighting that old man—
Huh? What do you mean he appeared uninjured? So you're saying Spider-Man went to capture such a famous weapons dealer and did so just by tying him up in a web, putting a bow on him, and delivering him to the police?"
"..."
"We will now be moving into the section of today's broadcast where you get to call us and tell us any grievance you have with our menace of New York City—
*Ring* *Ring*
Would you look at that, it seems we have an eager caller with us today. Let's find out what our 'heroes' have done now, shall we?
*Click*
Welcome, caller—"
A new voice appeared, the voice of a little girl, a voice Peter and Gwen recognized. "Leave them alone, you big bully!"
Peter and Gwen exchanged a smile and continued to listen.
"Stop saying mean things about Spider-Man and his sidekick, the Ghost-Spider!"
"Hahahahahahaha!!" Peter, upon hearing this, couldn't help but laugh until he toppled over, clutching his stomach.
Gwen wore a plain expression, her eyebrows twitching by the second.
Felicia paused the video and turned towards Peter, looking at him in confusion. "Sorry, sorry. I'm just imagining Ghost-Spider's expression right now upon being called a sidekick."
MJ and Felicia chuckled, finding the thought of Ghost-Spider throwing a tantrum upon being called a sidekick amusing.
Gwen secretly took a deep breath to calm herself down, hearing her friends practically laughing at her, though two of them didn't know any better.
Gwen gave Peter a look that said, "I'll deal with you later," which caused Peter to look at her apologetically. Then Felicia resumed the video.
"Listen, little girl, you don't know–" Jameson started off before being cut off by the little girl.
"Don't you say I don't know what I'm talking about because I do! Just last night Spider-Man and his sidekick saved my life. *sniffed* Did you know that I was locked up in a scary place for a long time, thinking I would never see the light of the sun again? Spider-Man guided me and everyone else out towards the light. He's my hero, my savior, so stop talking bad about him. *hiccups*"
Peter looked down upon hearing that, not daring to look up.
He then heard the voice of an older woman on the phone a bit farther away, "It's okay, sweetie. Let me talk to him as well, okay?"
"Here, mommy," the little girl sniffled.
The voice of the woman then became clearer. "Listen here, I don't know what you have against Spider-Man or Ghost-Spider, but from what I've been hearing, they're both very good people doing the best they can for this city."
Gwen looked down towards Peter and smiled but froze upon seeing Peter looking down, squeezing his own thighs to stop himself from shedding tears. She saw the corner of Peter's lips quivering as the woman continued.
"Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider aren't just her heroes. They're my heroes as well, and everyone else's. They reunited my little family together once more that was on the verge of falling apart, so please… I beg of you… stop trying to tarnish their name and make them out as bad people because they're not. We see them out there every day, every morning, even sometimes at night, putting themselves in harm's way to protect us… to make sure this city is safe… No one likes to listen to their heroes be constantly blamed for something they're not or didn't do…"
After she finished speaking, she hung up the phone, her voice shaking towards the end as if she was on the verge of crying as well.
Jameson didn't say anything to that; just when he was about to change the subject or end the broadcast, the phone started ringing once more.
"What do you–" Jameson was once again cut off before he had a chance to say anything.
This time it was the voice of a man. "Listen, man, I've been listening to your stuff for a while, but all you've been talking about is how bad Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider are. But you haven't given us any evidence as to why or how.
They're heroes, and I have the evidence to prove it. We all do. We've seen how he fought against that green monster in the school, then with the metal Rhino. Did you know that during that attack, the metal Rhino ran across the bridge, throwing cars off of it?
Instead of ignoring them and continuing to chase after the villain, Spider-Man stopped completely and focused entirely on the people. He stopped the cars and saved the people from plunging into the ocean, pulling them all up, making sure everyone was okay and well accounted for before returning to chasing the villain.
The crazy part? Spider-Man still caught up to him and took him down!"
Jameson didn't reply and just ended the broadcast, which caused Felicia to start laughing again.
Peter finally composed himself and was genuinely touched by all of that. "Spider-Man sure is loved, huh?" Peter said, leaning back on the bed.
Gwen smiled as she softly ruffled his hair.
Felicia scoffed, "What have you been living under, a rock? Of course he is. What do you think this is, a comic book where the hero fights and doesn't get the recognition they deserve?"
"That isn't the case with Spider-Man?" Peter asked, as that was how he assumed it was.
"Wow, you must have really been living under a rock. Although they've only been active for a short while, people pay attention. They aren't blind. They're very judgmental; they see how hard Ghost-Spider and Spider-Man protect them, so they deemed them worthy of recognition. People think they're the coolest thing ever.
Even I think they're cool. My favorite one between the two is Ghost-Spider. She's basically showing that even women can be superheroes if they want to. She's very popular among the women in the world."
Gwen was shocked to hear that, as she really wasn't expecting that. They've never really stopped to see the effects they had on people. So, this was very eye-opening for both of them.
Just before they could continue their conversation, Peter's stomach started to rumble, which reminded Gwen that she herself hadn't eaten.
"Chinese food anyone? I'll pay?" Peter said, a bit embarrassed.
"Dude, I'll freaking love you for life if you get me some Chinese food right now," Felicia said with a hungry look.
"Looks like what they say is true: the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach," Peter said with a smile as he took their order before calling…
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A/N: Just a bit of all fashion Spider-Man love for this chapter ❤
I want to use this chance to brag a bit: I've read over 250 Marvel comic issues, so I'm big proud of myself.
I really like the Giant-Man outfit. I really think it looks the coolest out of everyone currently.
And one last thing… imagine this for a fanfic: someone reincarnated with the power of Sun God Nika in marvel as the twin brother of Thor… (this is something I really want to do after I fully finish at least one of my fanfics and finish reading the Marvel comics)