*Almost* Messed Up

It would have taken him a split second to split my neck in half, but he didn't. 

It was terrifying but it wasn't the first time someone threatened me with my life. 

"Speak." His voice was cold, much more stern than the previously smiling man. "How did you learn about my identity?"

"In the world of the rich, money speaks. Politics and the country is run by money." I said. "What I mean is, if you have money… it is not impossible to unravel such mysteries."

It wasn't a lie. With money, you could do nearly everything. And while it was not the case for me, it wouldn't have been impossible either.

He frowned but didn't comment on the revelation. "You are not an average kid. To have a knife next to your throat and still not faint or even sweat." He asked. "What exactly are you?"

I chuckled. "I am the only heir of the Osborn Corporation. Do you really think it's the first time someone threatened me this way?"

He paused and looked at me, in one way or another he believed me. 

"As for why I came looking for you." I smiled. "It's for something that I need and something that will earn you a fortune."

"Speak." His patience was running out but I knew I had his interest. 

"Before that… Why not remove the knife? It's not very comfortable to have it next to my neck."

The frown was stuck to his face but this time, he did as I asked. He removed the knife and backed off a little.

"My patience is thin, Osborn." Paul— No, Paladin spoke. "Speak."

But I didn't. 

Instead, I slid a piece of paper toward him. He acted suspiciously but as he saw what was written on it, his eyes went wide. 

"Firstly, call me Harry. Osborn is my father and secondly, I said this will benefit us both… didn't I?"

The piece of paper I passed to him was a cheque, one with an astounding amount of money. 

I had to take out a lot from my account but it was worth it.

For a solid minute, he stared at the cheque and then at me. 

"For someone to spend this much money, even if it's the heir of Osborn… without the knowledge of his father, what exactly are you looking for?"

This time his voice was softer and much calmer. 

"It's not a very difficult task but sadly I cannot do it without being monitored." I said. "I want you to make contact with someone for me."

"Is this monitoring related to your father?" 

He asked and I nodded. 

"Revealing this to my father might fetch you quite a bit of money, but working for me will earn you far more in the long run." I said, shutting down any idea he might have gotten. "And unlike me, my father is not a man of his word."

He thought about what I said and ultimately nodded. "Fair. I haven't heard many good things about your father."

Saying this, he got to ask another important question. "But you said 'in the long run', that means you don't plan on hiring me just once."

"You are smart." I smiled. "Indeed. If possible, I would like you to be my spokesperson. Mostly as Paul Denning but when necessary, I would want you to be Paladin."

"So, you want it to be me so that your father doesn't come to know about your endeavours."

I agreed with his deduction. "Indeed. And as long as you work for me, you will be paid such amounts." I said as I pointed toward the cheque. "Maybe even more, depending on the difficulty of the task."

Paladin was a greedy bastard. He would kill or even act as a dog if he was paid enough. And while I couldn't let him in on the major details, I did plan to use him for the backdoor business. 

After all, even in politics you never used the good guys for such business. 

"Who are you after?" He asked, which made me chuckle.

"There are two people, scientists to be precise. And they don't know that there are people after them and even if there aren't any at the moment, there will be many in the future. And when I make contact with them, I do not want those people to link them to me… So, that's where you come in."

Paladin frowned. "Who are these people?"

I shook my head. "Government officials."

A lie. But the government was scary enough for him to believe me. 

He once again went back to staring at the cheque. 

"As long as it's not something that could result in the revelation of my true identity, I don't mind taking your offer."

This made me smile gleefully. 

"Perfect! We both want the same thing then."

He nodded and asked. "So, who do you want me to find?"

And just like that, I found my substitute. 

"Two people, Aldrich Killian and Maya Hansen."

The two people responsible for so much drama.

…

…

At the basketball court of Midtown High, Peter Parker was in a pinch. 

'How did I end up here…' He frowned. 'Oh, right. Me and my big mouth.'

Being drowned in his newly found powers, he challenged Flash Thompson. He didn't think that he would be made to play against the said person as it was just a taunt.

'How would have I known that one of those big guys would get hurt and I would be made to play.'

He cursed his big mouth and bad luck. He was certain that he could win against Flash, what he wasn't sure about was if he could do so without having his powers revealed. 

The worst part was that Mary Jane was watching and while a lot of people knew that he had the fattest crush on her, he was extremely nervous to have her watch his match. 

One slip up and he would ruin his impression in front of her. 

It would have been better if it was Harry instead of her, at least having his best friend would have provided him with some moral support.

'Where is he even?'

He wondered, not seeing his friend anywhere amongst the audience. 

"You truly are a moron, Parker." Flash smirked. "Even with Dennish on your team, you have no chance against us."

The boy he talked about was their ace, the only guy that could give Flash a good fight. However, he knew that Flash had a far better team and he only had Dennish.

'Doesn't matter.' Peter thought. 'I need to let Dennish get the limelight while I focus on paying back Flash. He deserves it… after all these years of pain.'

Currently, he had only one goal. 

Revenge.

He looked at the audience and saw Mary Jane giving him a thumbs up, which made him chuckle lightly. 

"Focus, Peter." This time, it was the person standing in front of him. 

Their ace, Dennish.

"I will handle Flash, don't worry about him. You focus on passing the ball to the others, we will handle the rest."

He felt a bit insulted that Dennish didn't trust him, but he also knew that he hasn't done anything to gain the guy's trust. 

So, he did what was best.

He nodded. 

"Alright."

And the moment the whistle blew, Dennish ran with the ball. His movements seemed flawless but slow to Peter, which he determined was due to his heightened senses.

Dennish was good, he passed the enemy team without anyone being able to snatch his ball. 

Until he met Flash.

"Dennish!" Peter called and instinctively to protect the ball, Dennish passed the ball to Peter. 

And this made Flash grin. 

He knew Peter. He knew how bad the kid was with sports. And thus, he did what seemed like the smartest choice to him.

He made his team block the guy, cutting him off from passing the ball to any of his teammates. 

Dennish frowned. "Going the low end huh, Flash?"

Flash chuckled. "Don't blame me. The match was decided the moment you chose to allow the nerd on your team."

Dennish scowled. "Better than to be a jock about it."

Flash scoffed, not paying any attention to the boy in glasses. He was certain that Peter could do nothing in that scenario and embarrass himself. 

He didn't move, and neither did the team, they just blocked Peter. It was Flash's way of embarrassing Peter, showing everyone how bad the guy was under pressure and how he could do nothing. 

However, there was one fault in his plan.

He didn't know about Peter's new powers. 

Peter grinned as he found the golden opportunity to show off without revealing his powers. 

He gripped the ball and focused on the hoop. 

To him, it didn't matter if he stood at the half court or within the audience, he had enough accuracy and strength to throw the ball and not miss. 

And that's what he did. 

Making everyone's jaw drop, he threw the ball towards the hoop, with strength and accuracy that astonished not just Flash but even Mary Jane. 

"Too scared to play offensive, aren't you Flash?"

Flash didn't regain his senses when the ball went inside the loop, it was when he heard Peter mocking him. 

He growled. 

"Lucky shot, nerd…"

And that's when he decided to play offensive. Telling his teammates to gank Peter, he passed Dennish and ran towards Peter, focusing on taking the basketball. 

But just as his hand was near it, Peter smirked and swirled the ball from near his face, preventing the blonde from getting his hands on it. 

"Too slow Mr. Bull." He mocked. "Maybe I should have worn red."

This enraged Flash, much to the shock of Dennish and the others. However, Dennish didn't want to lose because of childish quarrels. 

"Peter Pass!" 

But the boy didn't listen, instead he continued toying with the blonde. Even when the rest of Flash's team tried attacking, Peter didn't budge, it was like child's play for him. 

The moment he saw Flash struggling, he forgot his entire plan of being subtle. It entertained him, he found pleasure in Flash's struggles. 

And as the blonde struggled, he made another throw —securing another point. 

"Oops, looks like you were too slow, Flash~"

Flash growled but Peter's team cheered him on. They loved seeing Flash in trouble and so did most of the audience. 

From cheers for Flash, it turned into cheers for Peter. Mary Jane was surprised but she cheered just as much. 

Everyone in the audience was going crazy at Peter's display of dominance. 

Except for one. 

"How did I not consider this…"

Except for someone that seemed disappointed in himself. 

"How did I forget about this phase of him?"

Except for Harry.