“Norman. It’s… it’s good to see you” I replied.

“The pleasure’s all mine Peter” Mr Osborne said, stepping forward and clamping a hand onto my shoulder. “You’ve grown since the last time I saw you. How old are you know?”

“Twenty-five”

“Wow. Twenty-five already. It feels like just yesterday you graduated from university” he said.

“I, yeah, guess it does”

“I hear you’re working for Mason, eh? How’s the work there?”

“Things at Alchemax are good. We’re making a lot of progress”

“I heard on the grapevine the two of you don’t exactly have the best relationship” he said. Huh? How the hell did he know that? l spared a quick glance as he looked at me expectantly. A small smile grew on his lips, as though he was amused at my reaction. Yeah, not creepy at all.

“Well, that’s mostly due to tardiness on my end” I joked, nervously. “I’m… working on it so I, hopefully, don’t get fired”

“He’d never fire you Peter, you’re far too valuable” he said. I let out an awkward chuckle.

“I’m not joking Peter. You are” he said, as he looked over me proudly.

“T-thanks” I responded, caught off guard by the praise.

“Come, let’s go upstairs” Mr Osborne said, gesturing to an elevator set of stairs. We walked slowly, in silence for the first few seconds as we made our way into the elevator. It rose slowly as orchestral music played in the background.

I glanced at Mr Osborne as he stood silently, hands in pockets, and aura of impossible calm surrounding him. He still gave me the creeps like always. Just standing this close to him was making me feel weird. We stepped out of the elevator and into an empty but beautiful longue, adorned with paintings. Even in the dim light almost all of them were of Gods from various cultures.

“Quite nice, no?” Mr Osborne said.

“Yeah…” I said.

“Come, come. There’s more” he said with a sly smile. We walked through the longue, and Mr Osborne raised his hand. The lights slowly dimmed, revealing the distant night lights of the city, just beyond the glass walls surrounding us. A balcony wrapped around this longue, offering a better view from the top of New City Hall.

“Do you want to talk inside or outside?” he asked.

“Outside”

“I see you enjoy the views from balconies too” he said, grinning wildly as he clamped a hand onto my shoulder.

“Who doesn’t?”

“Victor’s the only one who doesn’t seem to enjoy stuff like this. Like his mother that one so- never mind” he said, his relaxed demeanour shifting almost imperceptibly for a second. He turned, and walked over to the glass doors. I followed and we stepped outside onto the balcony, greeted by cool air.

I took in the view. Even as Spider-Man, I’d seen plenty of sights like this, but it never got boring to look at. New York really was beautiful. Most of the time at least. I turned to Mr Osborne, watching as he looked out over the city for a few more seconds.

“Mr- Norman?”

“Ah right” he said, turning to face me. His face was less relaxed now, slightly stiff.

“I’m sure you know what I’ve brought you here to talk about, given Harry and his mouth”

“Not exactly. I have a vague idea though” I said. Norman nodded, staring off at the city thoughtfully.

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“Let’s walk while I explain” he said.

“Sure”

We began, making our way around the balcony, Mr Osborne’s gaze still fixed on the rest of the city. After a few seconds he turned to me with a smile.

“Let’s make this interesting” he said with a smile. ”Do you have any guesses on what we might be discussing?”

I paused. I didn’t know much, other than he was going to offer me the job, and it was something to do with military personnel.

“Something to do with the military? I saw a few guys in uniforms downstairs” I responded.

“That’s no fair, but you’re quite right. Well spotted” he said, grinning. He was enjoying this. Revealing things slowly to me. If he knew me as well as he probably thought he did, then he probably wouldn’t have even asked if I wanted a job. But if he did know I didn’t want it, then he probably had something up his sleeve. That’s probably what was exciting him, and that’s probably why I felt so nervous. What did he know? What could he do?

“Any other guesses on things?”

“Uh… it’s probably got something to do with big bombs right? Negative energy explosions?” I said. Norman nodded.

“Close but no”

“No?”

“No. We’ve already dealt with that” he said, grinning wider. They’d already dealt with it? What? That should’ve been big news. Really big news. And what was I here for if not the bombs? Then why was the military here. If it was something different, then maybe that’s why he thought I wouldn’t refuse his offer. But I couldn’t think of anything military related that I’d ever agree to.

“Is it to do with materials or negative energy?”

“Hmm… I don’t want to give away too much, but I bit of both” he said.

“Then I’ve got no idea” I said. “Probably some kind of arm-” I paused, almost freezing in my tracks. Armour. Was this somehow related to the scorpion armour? I tried not to visibly panic. Was Mr Osborne involved with whatever was going on with Lupus? Was he responsible for all the bombings? I didn’t know enough about any of it. Dammit, I should’ve gone to investigate sooner.

“Peter?”

“Huh? Oh sorry. I was just thinking” I chuckled nervously. I paused, bringing my hand to my mouth. Wait, this could be good. I could ask questions, get info on stuff that Spider-Man wasn’t supposed to know. I might be able to even use some of it without revealing my identity.

“Is it about armour of some kind?” I asked. Mr Osborne’s eyes widened. Bingo.

“I- oh wow Peter. Have you started trying to infuse inorganic materials with negative energy at Alchemax?”

“I… I’m not at liberty to say” I lied.

“Right, right… well you’re not right, but that was something I was planning to get your help with in the future. Good guess” Mr Osborne responded. So it wasn’t the armour, but he might still somehow be connected. Dammit. I couldn’t ask questions about it without seeming overly interested, and he probably wouldn’t even tell me now unless I took the job.

“So… anymore guesses?” Mr Osborne asked.

“No, that was my best guess” I said. Mr Osborne grinned like he’d won some kind of game.

“What would you say if I told you we’ve managed to infuse inorganic materials with negative energy?” he said. I frowned.

“I thought this wasn’t about the armour?”

“It isn’t”

“Then fluids? You’ve managed to charge liquids and energy with it?” I asked.

“Sort of. We managed to do it to completely distilled water using a special strain of bacteria we’d infused with negative energy”

“I- wow, should you be telling me this?”

“It will become public knowledge soon” he said with a wave of the hand. “The more interesting side of things is the application of this new liquid. Any ideas?”

I froze. Inorganic liquids could be ingested in large quantities.

“Have you… are you making people drink it?”

“Well we’ve injected people with it with very few negative side effects yet”

“And the positive ones?” I said, intrigued.

“Extreme results” Mr Osborne said with a smile. I stared at him incredulous.

“You’ve made… super soldiers?” I said.

“Well results vary, but we’ve done enough to earn funding from the military and government. And I want you to join the effort Peter” he said. I turned away uncertain.

“What about the health benefits?”

“Unfortunately our project doesn’t work in the same way your project does. It wasn’t designed to fix ailments, but that can become something you can work on with me” he said, clamping a hand on my shoulder. I remained silent for a few seconds.

“You don’t want to do it, do you?” Mr Osborne said.

“I- I’m not sure” I said.

“Peter, just think about the possibilities. The world could be ours” he said, stepping back. I looked out over the city.

“I don’t want the world”

Mr Osborne kissed his teeth and looked away, putting his hands on his hips. He brushed a hand through his greying brown hair and sighed, closing his eyes.

“Will you at least think about it if I considered bringing Otto back?”

“I-“ I paused shocked. He hated Otto. He saw him as a black hole on his resources, with no gain. They’d worked together to help build Oscorp, with Mr Osborne’s connections and Otto’s mind, but they’d had disagreements that had only grown bigger and bigger over time. He really wanted me to work for him that much? Why?

“Yes or no, Peter?”

“I’d think about it if you can actually get a hold of him. I haven’t seen him in years now” I said, solemn. Mr Osborne frowned at that but didn’t say anything. He took a moment, looking over the city, towards Oscorp tower before nodding slowly.

“Thank you for coming Peter. You can head down now”

“Thanks for the invitation, Mr Osborne”

“I- no worries”