Chapter 99: Image

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"Hey Peter!"

"My man!"

"Parker! I'm having a party tonight, wanna come?!"

As Peter walked through the hallways of Midtown, everyone he crossed greeted him. Be it the popular guys from the basketball team or the popular cheerleaders, they all greeted him with vigour. This was quite the change from their usual behaviour.

This change did not come from nowhere though, as Peter also had changed, externally at least. Gone were his old clothes clearly oversized, brands were all over his body.

A large smile on his face, Peter reached his locker, but looking around Peter didn't see his best friend, Ned. Usually they always met here…

"Hey Tiger."

Before he could think anymore about it, a red haired girl came to him, and greeted with a smile.

Peter felt himself blush a little as he replied sheepishly, "Hey MJ."

MJ, or Mary Jane Watson, was Peter's neighbour, or rather her aunt was, and Mary Jane started living with her aunt at the start of the school year.

Like many others, Peter was completely charmed by her gorgeous face and outgoing personality, but was quick to be reminded who he was.

Peter wasn't the popular kid at school, he wasn't the one whom the girls wanted to date. And yet, against all odds, Mary Jane and him became friends. Sure they were neighbours, but they were barely presented to each other once and even that was quite awkward for Peter as he kept blushing like a tomato.

But a few months ago, things changed for Peter, both of which were caused by a spider's bite. He had become Spider-Man, obviously that changed his life quite a bit, but it was more of an activity in his free time, it didn't mess up much with his actual life.

His only friend had always been Ned, and it hadn't taken very long for his friend to find out his real identity, but their friendship hadn't changed a single bit.

However, the second change, was his employment at Mr Bell's company. Honestly, he didn't really expect much from them, he took it as an opportunity to learn, Mr Bell seemed brilliant, but he had underestimated how brilliant.

Not long after starting the company, they had created the Elephant Mice Serum, which cured mental illnesses. After it was cleared by the WHO, they sold the production method to them, so that they would be the ones to put in the resources to make all the serums, in exchange of a share of all the medications that would be sold.

Peter was given much lesser shares than Mr Bell, obviously, he was only an assistant officially, and he came into the project quite late, but the money he got from it was more than enough.

"I heard you wanted to leave the neighbourhood? Do I bore you that much?"

MJ pulled him out of his thoughts as she teased him. Peter blushed even harder as he stuttered, "N-No! Of course not!"

Mary Jane chuckled, "I was kidding Tiger."

Peter scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed, and explained, "It's just that I proposed May to move to a better neighbourhood, but she said she wanted to stay."

MJ smiled softly, and said, "She has lived there her entire life, it's understandable she wanted to stay."

Peter wanted to say something else, to make this conversation last just a little longer, but nothing came to him as MJ patted his shoulder and walked away, to her group of friends, that is his past bully Flash Thompson, and who used to be his best friend, Harry Osborn.

Flash no longer dared to bully him because Peter now had both money and power, so there was nothing really he could threaten him with. As for Harry, he was the son of Norman Osborn, head of Oscorp, as well as Peter's prime suspect on the Green Goblin's identity.

The Green Goblin was a master villain who seemed to have a hand in every attack made on him.

Peter was startled out of his thoughts as the bell rung, it was time for class.

The morning was pretty boring, and he had to wait until noon for lunch to deliver him from his boring classes.

After having worked a few months with Dr Bell, his classes really felt more boring than ever, and as Ned wasn't in his class his only relief was during lunches.

However, as he arrived in the cafeteria, he saw Ned, Lisa and Donna sitting together. Donna was Dr Bell's… well, he thought of daughter, although the correct appellation would be she was his ward, but for Peter, who had spent some time with them, knew he treated her more like a daughter than anything.

Donna herself was quite mature for her age, and didn't have the best reputation in her year for her few fights. As for Lisa, she followed Donna basically everywhere, so the two little girls ended up joining him and Ned while at school.

But as he approached the table they were at, Ned spotted him, and took his plate as he left. Peter noted the half eaten meal, something very out of character from Ned. He loved the food from the cafeteria, to the point he struck out an unlikely friendship with the cook.

At Ned's departure, the two girls also looked over, and quickly followed him. For some reason though, although Peter found this behaviour weird, he didn't think much about it as his eyes trailed to the table at which MJ sat.

With her were Harry, Flash, and a few other girls from the cheerleaders team. With a smile on his face, he went to join them.

Peter was welcomed warmly, or what seemed to be warmth, but as the minutes passed, Peter realized he was missing something.

As classes resumed, Peter ran into Lisa and Donna though, and asked, "Why did you leave in the cafeteria?"

Lisa only looked away while Donna snorted, "Go back to your popular friends, asshole."

Peter was shocked by her words, to say the least, but she and Lisa left before he could say anything.

For the next few hours, he was… absent. In mind more than in body, he kept thinking about what Donna told him, and his recent actions popped in his head as he realized he really had been an asshole to them.

And this leads to the present, Peter and Edward working together in the lab. After learning he could not learn cultivation, Peter wasn't really as disappointed as he showed himself to be, he expected it.

But he hesitated a little before finally telling Edward about what happened.

Listening to Peter's story, Edward felt a little surprised, before nodding to himself. He was already mightily impressed by Peter for not having his power go to his head, but in today's world, or at least when Peter awakened his powers, physical power was not really much, money governed the world.

So as he became suddenly much stronger physically, Peter remained the exact same, or almost, but as he earned a lot of money, subtle changes came to be. The reason was simple, Peter fully realized the power of money, and not of his body.

After staying silent for a few second, to organise his words, Edward advised, "You have hurt your friends with your behaviour, and it is only fair for you to apologize to them. However, before doing any of that, I think an introspection is in order."

"An… introspection?"

Edward nodded, "Yes, the bigger problem here, is that how you treated your friends, however bad it was, but how you changed."

Seeing the teen worry, Edward added with a smile, "Don't worry, you are still Peter Parker, but you have to accept you have changed, and must not try to go back to the way you were before, because you are not the same person. Instead, you should become a better person, the best you possibly can."

"Do you live by those principles?" Peter asked.

Edward's smile faded as he replied, "As egocentric as it sounds, I believe possess wisdom beyond my years thanks to my experiences. However, that had a cost, as does everything in life, and it changed me. Change cannot be stopped, and should be welcomed, for if you fear it, that's when it will become dangerous."

Peter was feeling a little awed by both the words of Edward, as well as his bearing as he uttered them. Still, he was feeling some doubt.

"If all change is to be accepted, then should I just accept to become a worse person?"

Edward shook his head, "The world isn't as simple as good and bad, Peter. Tell me, what's your opinion of me. Answer honestly, please."

Peter seemed a little shocked by the question, and was about to say something before he stopped. He thought about the question, took a breath, and finally replied, "Both as a human being and as a hero, you have been my role model for the past few months, sir."

Edward felt a little flattered, but a sigh still came out as he shook his head, "Here's where you're wrong, Peter."

Peter replied, flustered, "If you are about to tell me that I know only what you show, only the surface, then let me say first that this is what matters most. I believe that not only our feats, but more importantly our image affects the world."

Edward raised an eyebrow in surprise at that, before praising, "I must say, I agree with that. So no, the reason you are wrong is not this. Actually, you can take me an example, but I guess that you meant not just you, but anyone should take me an example."

Peter looked away, "Not everyone, but I think youth…"

"No. They should not, because we are not the same."

Peter looked back at him in shock, and he continued, "Normal humans cannot fly. They cannot destroy buildings with punches. They cannot erase whole armies with a twitch of their hand."

"But the actions themselves aren't what matters, it's the intent behind!"

"In a way, yes, but also, no. This is something you will have to discover and experience yourself to truly understand, but my point is, people should not take people out of their reach as role models. Any kid from a poor neighbourhood could become a billionaire with the right mind and opportunities."

He then pointed at himself, and finished, "But not any of them could become like me. Like us. No matter how much work they put in, no matter what they do, they won't be able to reach us, become like us."

Peter frowned, and asked, clenching his fist, "This isn't fair…"

Edward showed a slight smile as he went back to the instrument he was working on, while replying, "It is not. No matter how much of a 'normal' human being I claim I used to be, I still had something special to me in the end."

Peter slumped onto a nearby stool, and looked like he had all his energy sapped away as he asked with some distaste, "Is that the real reason they call Supers a double edged sword? Why you were summoned by the UN?"

Edward shook his head, and released a chuckle. Peter was confused, not understanding what was funny.

"Peter, this isn't just about Supers, this is something humans have always done. It happened before Supers, and if there ever is an after Supers, it will still happen. Before Supers, who did little girls look up to?"

Feeling Peter's spirits rise back as he understood his meaning, Edward sneered, "Any human in power had their public image tempered with. Models use Photoshop, politics use media, while we use power, just like the people in power have always done. The only difference, which is the only one that bothers the people up top, is that their tempering method can be taken away easily, while ours can't."