Chapter 97: Green Goblin
The chaotic traffic on Second Avenue affected Colin's work to some extent.
"No, Spider-Man, you can't do that!"
From the information transmitted via Super Hearing, the battle seemed to be taking a dramatic turn.
The Green Goblin, who had originally held the upper hand, now found itself in a predicament, letting out sharp shrieks as if struggling against something.
"You should know, it wasn't you who defeated me; it was all caused by my damned, cowardly personality. If not for him holding me back, you would have died from my Pumpkin Bomb long ago..."
"So, let me out! I swear I'll thank you properly, in the Green Goblin's name, hahaha, hahahaha..."
"Mmmph, mmmph!"
The Green Goblin's maniacal laughter hadn't ended yet when something muffled its mouth.
Under Super Hearing, Colin could only hear its muffled whimpers. As for Spider-Man's voice, he hadn't heard it at all, from beginning to end.
So, the Little Bug in this Anti-World is a complete man of action?
With this thought, Colin stepped on the gas, wanting a closer look at the Spider-Man in this world who had been affected by the Twisted Time Node.
But alas.
By the time he arrived at the scene, the battle had long since ended. He could only faintly make out Spider-Man's swinging figure in the gaps between the towering buildings.
Click!
Although, if Colin had wanted to, he could naturally have caught up to this taciturn Spidey.
However, considering his disguised identity as Clark, Colin still restrained this impulse. He merely took out his camera and photographed the other party's back as they moved through the high-rises.
Lowering his head, Colin glanced at the photo of Spider-Man on his camera screen, then looked up at the building where the explosion had occurred, and the half-logo of the Daily Bugle at the top of the building.
It seems that in any world, Spider-Man and Jameson are destined to dislike each other.
This is a result that even a Time Node cannot distort.
Silently, he withdrew his gaze from the Daily Bugle's giant logo. While Spider-Man, the protagonist, had left the battle scene, he had also left a 'gift' for Colin. Under Super Hearing, the Green Goblin's continuous whimpers and struggles could still be heard, clearly indicating Spider-Man had left it behind at the scene.
This aligns well with his identity as a Superhero: to hand over the enemy to the police.
After all, Superheroes are merely Vigilantes and have no law enforcement authority whatsoever.
Unless they are willing to become Registered Heroes like the Thunderbolts, but apparently, Spider-Man has no intention of registering his identity.
Standing in front of The Daily Bugle's News Building, Colin displayed the curiosity a reporter should have.
He glanced at the onlookers and the sound of police sirens approaching from a distance.
Without a second thought, he grabbed the camera in his hand and rushed towards the Daily Bugle building.
"Where did Spider-Man fight?"
Rushing in, Colin did not run directly to where the incident occurred.
Instead, he first asked the survivors in the lobby.
"I don't know."
"Who are you?"
Once they reacted, he anxiously pressed the elevator button. Next, under the gaze of the survivors, he abandoned the unresponsive elevator and ran up the stairs of the nearby emergency exit.
Once he was in the stairwell, out of sight.
Colin then slightly dropped his disguise. With the boost from Super Strength, the 46-story News Building of the Daily Bugle News Agency was not much of an impediment to him. Of course, outwardly, Colin still pretended to be out of breath while guided by the location pinpointed by Super Hearing, he ran towards the floor where the Green Goblin was.
After a few minutes, he reached the location where Spider-Man and the Green Goblin had fought.
Colin used Super X-Ray Vision to confirm that there was no one else near the floor.
Only then, holding the DSLR camera in his hand, did he 'cautiously' walk towards where the Green Goblin was captured.
Click, click!
He pressed the camera button, recording the destruction of the floor. Colin looked at the walls and rooms around him, twisted and damaged by the explosion's impact, and wore an expression of 'lingering fear'.
Just like that, he cautiously made his way towards the center of the explosion's ruins, and 'casually' noticed an immobile figure, bound by a large amount of Webbing, behind the wall of a collapsed room.
Click!
Reaching out, he raised the camera in his hand and photographed the Green Goblin in the center of the Webbing.
"What in the world is this?"
Colin looked at the immobile Green Goblin with its head bowed down in front of him, his face appropriately showing a hint of curiosity. He took a deep breath, glanced left and right, then mustered his courage and approached the other party's location a little closer.
Outwardly, Colin wore a look of curiosity and nervousness.
But in reality, he felt not the slightest ripple in his heart.
In fact, regarding the Green Goblin's actions, he had already seen all of its reactions through Super X-Ray Vision as early as when he entered this floor. During this process, Colin clearly witnessed the Green Goblin's cunning expression under its mask and its motionless disguise after noticing someone walk in.
That is, this very scene before him.
In fact, it was a drama performed by two parties, each with their own ulterior motives, collaborating to put on a show.
The Green Goblin mistakenly believed it had deceived Colin.
In truth, Colin played along and pretended to be fooled, his purpose naturally being to approach the other party without suspicion and incidentally obtain the required Time Shards.
While Faith was truly steadily growing in the Main World, he naturally also needed to strive in the Anti-World to fully collect the Time Shards needed for the Bronze Mark.
[Contacted Twisted Time Node, collected a small amount of Time Shards x2]
Inside the exploded Daily Bugle News Building, Colin stepped over the debris and rubble covering the floor, 'cautiously' extended his finger, and carefully touched the Green Goblin in the Webbing.
With the completion of the contact, faint text immediately flashed before his eyes.
"Bang!"
And just as Colin's gaze was drawn to the text.
In front of him, the Green Goblin, who had originally kept its head bowed and pretended to be unconscious, suddenly raised its head towards Colin, opened its mouth, and mimicked an explosion sound.
"Ah!"
Facing the Green Goblin's startling action, Colin played along perfectly, putting on a scared expression, recoiling several steps backward, and gripping the camera tightly to his chest with both hands.
"Hahahaha..."
At this, the Green Goblin bound in Webbing immediately let out a piercing maniacal laugh, seemingly extremely satisfied with its prank.
(end of chapter)