Wednesday Morning.
I was walking to the bus stop when I felt it.
A buzzing. Not a sound, but a mental itch.
I stopped and looked up at the electric pole across the street. Perched on top, disguised as a common pigeon, was a drone. It was incredibly realistic—flapping wings, erratic head movements—but to my [Mental Strength], it screamed of lithium batteries and encrypted data streams.
Stark.
"He moves fast," I muttered. The 'Watcher' protocol wasn't a passive program; it was active surveillance.
I didn't destroy it. That would confirm I was a threat. Instead, I pulled out my phone and pretended to take a selfie, deliberately turning my back to the "bird" so it couldn't get a clear facial recognition lock.
Then, I focused a tiny, microscopic beam of telekinetic energy on its internal gyroscope.
Nudge.
The "pigeon" suddenly lost its balance, flapped wildly, and crashed into a transformer box.
Pop. A small spark, and the bird fell to the ground, dead.
"Oops," I whispered, suppressing a smirk. "Poor bird."
Lunch Break.
I was sitting in the courtyard, reading a book on Quantum Mechanics (light reading), when Harry sat down opposite me.
He didn't have his lunch tray. He looked serious. Even more serious than usual.
"Matt," he started without preamble. "My father wants to meet you."
I paused, slowly turning a page. "Your father? Norman Osborn?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Harry leaned in, lowering his voice. "Because of the scholarship essay? No. He doesn't care about grades. He cares about... potential. He saw the security footage from the Science Center."
My heart didn't skip a beat, but my mind sharpened instantly.
"The footage?" I asked calmly. "All the footage showed was a chaotic crowd and a thief blowing himself up."
"That's what the police saw," Harry said, his eyes locking onto mine. "My father saw something else. He analyzed the frame-by-frame breakdown of the gauntlet malfunction. He thinks... he thinks it wasn't an accident. He thinks someone sabotaged it with extreme precision."
Harry paused.
"And he noticed that in the split second before the malfunction, you were the only one not looking at the thief. You were looking at space."
'Damn,' I thought. 'Norman Osborn is a paranoid genius. Of course he would analyze the footage.'
"And?" I asked.
"And he wants to offer you an internship," Harry said. "A personal internship. Under him."
This was unexpected.
I expected suspicion. I expected the police. I didn't expect a job offer from the future Green Goblin.
"When?"
"Today. After school. The limousine is waiting."
I closed my book. This was a trap. Or an opportunity. To be close to Norman was dangerous, but it was also the best way to monitor his descent into madness. Plus, Oscorp had resources Stark didn't share.
"Alright," I said. "I've always wanted to see the inside of the Emerald City."
Oscorp Tower. 5:00 PM.
If Stark Tower was a monument to the future, Oscorp Tower was a monument to power. Cold, green glass and sharp angles.
Harry led me through the private elevator, straight to the top floor.
The office was massive. Dark wood, tribal masks on the walls (a creepy touch), and a panoramic view of New York.
Sitting behind a desk that cost more than my dormitory building was Norman Osborn.
He didn't look crazy. Not yet. He looked impeccable. Sharp suit, combed hair, and a smile that didn't reach his icy blue eyes.
"Matthew White," Norman said, standing up. He didn't offer a handshake. He just assessed me, like a scientist looking at a lab rat.
"Mr. Osborn," I nodded politely. "Thank you for the invitation."
"Cut the pleasantries," Norman said, walking around the desk. "Harry tells me you're 'different'. My security algorithms tell me you're a ghost. No digital footprint until a week ago. Then suddenly... perfect grades, perfect health, and a very interesting presence at the Science Center."
He pressed a button on a remote. A holographic screen appeared, showing a zoomed-in, grainy video of the museum attack.
It paused right at the moment I used [Spatial Blink].
On the video, it was just a blur. A glitch in the camera feed.
"You see this?" Norman pointed at the blur. "Stark's AI dismissed this as a frame rate error. But I know better. Nature doesn't glitch like that."
He turned to me, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous intelligence.
"I don't care how you did it. Mutation? Technology? Magic? Irrelevant."
He leaned in close, invading my personal space.
"What I care about is results. You stopped a threat to my company's competitor, but you did it without taking credit. That shows restraint. Intelligence."
I held his gaze, activating my [Mental Strength] to shield my mind, just in case he had any psychic dampeners or sensors.
"What do you want, Mr. Osborn?"
"I'm building a new division," Norman said softly. "Special Projects. Things that Stark is too 'moral' to touch. Human enhancement. Bio-engineering. The next step of evolution."
He walked to a wall, and a panel slid open, revealing a row of glass terrariums. Inside were spiders. Glowing, red and blue spiders.
The Cross-Species Genetics spiders.
"I need minds that aren't bound by traditional rules. Harry is... soft. He has his mother's heart. But you?"
Norman smiled, and for a second, I saw the Goblin.
"You have a predator's eyes. I want you to work for me. You'll have access to Oscorp's labs, resources, and funding. In exchange, when I need a 'problem' solved quietly... you solve it."
It was a deal with the devil.
But looking at those spiders, I realized something terrifying.
One of the terrariums was empty.
"Where is the missing specimen?" I asked, pointing at the empty glass.
Norman frowned, looking annoyed. "Ah. That. We had a small containment breach yesterday during a school tour. A minor loss. It probably died in the vents."
My blood ran cold.
Yesterday. A school tour.
Midtown High didn't have a tour yesterday. But another school did.
I realized with a jolt that I wasn't the only 'main character' in this story anymore. The universe was correcting itself.
"I accept the internship," I said instantly.
Norman's smile widened. "Excellent. Welcome to Oscorp, Matthew."
The Twist.
As I walked out of the office with Harry (who looked relieved that his father didn't eat me alive), my phone buzzed.
It was an unknown number. But the text wasn't from a stranger.
Message:Hey! Is this Matt? Peter gave me your number. He said you're the 'smartest guy he knows'. I need help. I think... I think I'm sick. My hands are sticking to everything.- Miles.
I froze in the middle of the Oscorp lobby.
Miles?
I looked at the text again.
This universe... it wasn't the MCU. And it wasn't the Raimi-verse.
It was a Merge.
Peter Parker was here. But so was Miles Morales. And apparently, the spider that escaped yesterday didn't bite Peter.
It bit Miles.
"Oh," I whispered, staring at the phone. "This just got complicated."
Harry looked back at me. "Matt? You coming?"
I looked up, a wild grin forming on my face.
"Yeah, Harry. I'm coming. I just... I think I just found our new project."