After finishing his call with Flash, an invisible Peter reached a suitable location and slipped into a public restroom. Inside a stall, he deactivated his cloaking and retracted the Anti-Venom suit.
There was no helping it; compared to New York's traffic conditions, traveling by web-swinging was simply far more efficient.
Jonah Jameson's "exquisite voice" was still broadcasting along the way, though this time, he wasn't hurling insults at Spider-Man or anyone else. Rare as it was, Jonah wasn't even commenting on social news, but was instead introducing something else entirely.
"I am very pleased to announce that NASA will be launching a manned space mission at the end of this month. Of course, for our society, this might not seem like a monumental event, but this is the first time in human history that we are sending a craft to explore Earth's orbital path! We will be launching the ship to an unprecedented distance!"
At this point, Peter caught a rare glimpse of Jonah smiling with a touch of bashfulness. "I am deeply honored to tell everyone that my son, John Jonah Jameson III, will be one of the three astronauts on this mission. I must admit I report this news with a mix of pride and personal bias, but should a father not feel glory in his child's outstanding growth and achievements?"
"I only remember that your son went to space and turned into a werewolf, Jonah. Thank goodness my Spider-Sense can see the future now; otherwise, I'd have to invent a better excuse for the Avengers."
Peter didn't actually have many memories of JJJ's son. His primary takeaway was the man going to space and becoming a werewolf. Consequently, Peter sent a message to the Avengers, hoping they could persuade NASA to scrap the manned launch—ideally by sending an unmanned probe first to thoroughly investigate the mission site.
Having handled that minor detail, Peter arrived at the cafe where he had agreed to meet Cindy. Seeing that she hadn't arrived yet, he took a seat and ordered coffee for both of them. He began scrolling through his phone while waiting.
He soon came across a news headline about a sharp drop in Oscorp's stock price.
The mastermind behind this was Otto Octavius. As a lifelong hater of Oscorp, Otto had left Norman a massive "gift" before his death—a mountain of incriminating evidence regarding Oscorp Technologies, most of which concerned the illegal seizure and preemptive filing of patents.
During the less than forty-eight hours he held control of New York, Otto had spent every spare second of his time trying to spite Norman. The result was that even though Otto was as dead as could be, he had left a colossal mess for Oscorp.
Speaking of which, Norman Osborn's memories of this past month were quite... normal. Although he had been beaten by Otto and left hanging from Avengers Tower for a day, according to his perception of events, he believed he had been quickly rescued by Spider-Man and sent home.
Norman had spent the month busy handling company affairs, primarily by smearing Otto's name and claiming that information spread by a terrorist and criminal was untrustworthy. However, this didn't seem to stop Oscorp's market value from shrinking—though it didn't look like it would go bankrupt just yet.
While Peter continued scrolling through the news, he heard hurried footsteps. He looked up to see Cindy wearing a black dress. She slowed her pace, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry I'm late..."
"No, no, not at all. I just have a habit of being early for everything."
Peter quickly interrupted her. He could guess Cindy's thoughts and actions; once she sensed Peter might have arrived, she likely rushed over. It wasn't really necessary. As Peter said, he was used to arriving early to wait for people. Even before he gained his spider powers, he would show up to middle school events an hour or two early just to avoid traffic.
If he actually encountered a situation like that now, it would be even more awkward.
The two sat down together. The waiter, showing great timing, brought over their coffee and snacks. After the waiter left, Peter opened his mouth and then—quite normally, it seemed—found himself at a loss for words.
It appeared Cindy felt the same.
After a long silence, the first thing Peter managed to ask was: "Uh, how have things been at SHIELD lately?"
Well done, Peter Parker. Really great. First question on a date and you ask about SHIELD. I just hope Cindy doesn't turn around and ask me how things are with the Avengers. Peter glanced around, and after confirming the distance of the other customers, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's fine. Training intensity has dropped lately, and the number of missions... I don't think I've had any real missions since joining SHIELD."
Cindy spoke while stirring the foam on her coffee. Her mission seemed to be simply keeping an eye on Spider-Man and nothing else. She paused for a moment before asking a question in return.
"Do you have any other plans for the summer? If you aren't busy these next few days, we could actually go—"
Before the two could exchange more than a few words, a violent commotion erupted outside. Peter's Spider-Sense didn't "tingle" in the traditional sense, but it timely helped him foresee what would happen in the next few seconds: a large truck roared across the road, followed by several police cars screaming in pursuit.
No, wait—the faint sound of sirens was already audible in the distance. Peter instinctively stood up, then looked at Cindy with an awkward, apologetic smile.
"I guess if we leave now, we should probably pay the bill first... or wait for that truck to crash over here."
"You wouldn't choose the latter."
Peter chuckled helplessly. He hurried to call the waiter over to pay, then immediately rushed out of the cafe. Cindy followed close behind. As soon as they stepped outside, they could see the large black truck speeding toward them in the distance.
"This really is a date fit for Spider-Man... the so-called Parker Luck." Peter looked at Cindy. The Silk agent, her date interrupted, was clearly suppressing a flare of annoyance, ready to vent it at any moment.
However, she held back and looked at Peter first.
"Well, it looks like our date itinerary has changed a bit." As Peter spoke, he looked around, planning to find a spot to switch into the Anti-Venom suit. The beauty of a symbiote suit was that you never needed a specific phone booth to change clothes.
New York in 2013 probably didn't have many phone booths left for people to change into red-and-blue uniforms anyway.
With that thought, he looked at the distant truck and asked Cindy with a smile: "Shall we?"
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