Facing Jonah's furious shouts and Spider-Man's explanation, Phil Urich was completely bewildered. Heaven knows, he truly hadn't betrayed the Daily Bugle!
But Jonah, believing he had found the individual who had tipped off Roderick Kingsley, was about to launch into a rant when Spider-Man interrupted him first: "Mr. Jameson, the Goblin King doesn't need any spies to know your movements; it is the best spy itself."
Jonah paused for less than a second, then seized upon the key word in Spider-Man's statement: "It? Your implication better be that it's non-human, not that it has non-binary gender."
"It's an Artificial Intelligence, an AI that mimicked someone's thought patterns. That AI needs a body—a body that can perfectly integrate with the Green Goblin Serum." Peter didn't waste any more breath, pointing at Phil and shouting: "Now, throw away all your electronic devices, and get inside the Avengers Tower, fast!"
"All of them?"
"Phil, why didn't you ever mention this when such things were happening!" Ben Urich roared. Phil was instantly scared and flustered: "Uncle Ben, I was worried, I was worried it might harm you..."
Why does he have an Uncle Ben too? Peter sighed helplessly. After instructing the uncle-nephew pair to discard all their electronic devices, he hurried them into the Avengers Tower, then picked up Phil Urich's mobile phone.
Robbie, the editor-in-chief, who was rushing over, was about to say something, but seeing Jonathan's shushing gesture, he chose to shut up, waiting for Spider-Man to finish this phone call. Jonah knew exactly who the call was for: the Goblin King.
Spider-Man was securing material for the Daily Bugle! He intended to tell Jonah part of the truth behind all this.
Although Spider-Man is a violent, masked vigilante and always causes a lot of property damage, he does have a few good points. Thinking this, Jonah grabbed the manuscript paper and pen beside him, preparing to transcribe everything he heard.
Of course, Peter didn't actually need to dial the AI Green Goblin; after all, the opponent was currently monitoring nearly the entire global network and would certainly know what Spider-Man was doing. Sure enough, the phone rang.
[I am impressed with you, Spider-Man. Your... magic has caused me considerable trouble, which was outside my calculations. But don't worry, I have already factored this variable back into the calculation.]
"I have a question: Why?"
The AI Green Goblin on the other end seemed not to understand Peter's question and countered: [What 'why'?]
"Why are you targeting Phil Urich, instead of simply cloning a Green Goblin body? With your capabilities, is it really that difficult to clone a Green Goblin body directly?"
The other side seemed to pause. Peter wasn't sure why the transmission was muffled. After checking the phone screen and confirming the communication wasn't cut off, he tapped the phone: "Hello? Can you answer that question? Are you still there?"
What awaited Peter was a burst of unexpected laughter. Although the opponent was an AI, its laughter was almost identical to Norman's, completely lacking any non-human quality.
[You ask about that? Did Jonathan tell you nothing?]
"What?"
[The condition of clones is inherently unstable. To ensure the clone retains the exact same performance as the original, you cannot use technology to accelerate the clone's growth, otherwise, genetic collapse is extremely likely to occur during mutation. This mutation is not the powerful kind, like injecting the Green Goblin Serum or being bitten by a mutated spider; it's even the natural mutation and differentiation of human cells that will collapse. A hastily matured cloned body, if injected with the Green Goblin Serum, simply won't last more than two months.]
[Otherwise, why do you think Norman abandoned Otto Octavius? Couldn't they just clone a young body for Otto and upload his consciousness, even though his original body was failing? Of course not. Even if they did that, he would still develop ALS within a year, and the body would decay even more severely and rapidly.]
So, the AI Green Goblin couldn't occupy a Norman clone body that would fail quickly; that wouldn't achieve the lasting disappearance he desired, and it wouldn't be a perfect Green Goblin.
[But in reality, clones are still somewhat useful. For instance, through continuous trial and error, one can still find one or two bodies that can survive for a few extra days, and then create a perfect Green Goblin—even if it's only for a few days.]
"What's the point of that?"
Jonah, who couldn't hear anything being said on the other end of the line, looked at his notes and realized he had no idea what they were discussing. Spider-Man was speaking in too many riddles. Couldn't you just put it on speakerphone?
[You haven't been counting. Of all the goblins I listed—the Green Goblin appeared, the Hobgoblin (Red Goblin) couldn't be born due to the lack of a symbiote, the Gray Goblin appeared, the Demogoblin (Ghoul) appeared, and Jack O'Lantern appeared—which other goblin hasn't appeared yet?]
[You! Spider-Man! You are also a perfect candidate for the Green Goblin Serum!]
Spider-Sense gave no warning, but Peter still felt the danger instinctively. He executed a backflip, landing just as a Pumpkin Bomb exploded. Unlike previous Pumpkin Bombs, this one was a concussion grenade. If he hadn't dodged in time, it would have stunned him.
"Your growth in combat is truly amazing, Spider-Man. Even when your Spider-Sense is suppressed, you still find a way to dodge."
The Green Goblin standing before Peter looked shorter than the one he fought this morning, only about 1.8 meters tall. However, the exoskeleton armor he wore appeared far more advanced and lightweight. Furthermore, his glider's speed was much greater and faster than the previous opponents.
He wasn't wearing the comical Goblin mask, but a helmet that encased the upper half of his face, protecting his head with dark V-shaped goggles. The antennas on the sides of the helmet made it look distinctly like goblin ears. The exposed lower jaw showed green skin, but not the grey-green or dark green Peter was used to.
It was the color of the Hulk.
As the Green Goblin in front of him slowly twisted his neck, the helmet smoothly disassembled and retracted backward, revealing his true face: a green-skinned Norman Osborn, free of madness, free of mutation, looking as if he had simply dyed his skin.
"The Goblin King is... is Norman Osborn?!" Jonah couldn't help but gasp in shock.
"The cloned Norman Osborn. He is the most perfect adapter for the Green Goblin Serum."
Jonah was stunned, while Peter noted two crucial things.
First, the Clone Green Goblin was successfully suppressing his Spider-Sense, which meant Norman had been secretly developing countermeasures against him. Second...
It seemed the AI Green Goblin didn't know Spider-Man's true identity...?