After that little trip, Steve finally understood what Darren meant when he talked about this country's idea of "freedom."
In his words, this was truly the land of the free, where "gunfire comes free with every sunrise."
Steve couldn't help but be thankful for the time he'd been born in.
If he'd grown up in this America, that fateful encounter in the alley might not have involved fists, it would've been a .45 caliber bullet, and everything that followed would've never happened.
Before leaving, Darren suddenly remembered Nick Fury's earlier reminder.
"Oh right," he said to Steve, "our Director wants to invite you to join S.H.I.E.L.D."
Steve thought about it, then shook his head. "Maybe later. For now, I just want to go back to Brooklyn and rest. I'm not thinking about anything else. Sorry."
Darren waved it off, unbothered.
"No worries. Honestly, our S.H.I.E.L.D. salary isn't much. The workload's crazy, danger level's high, and we don't even get weekends. It'd be weird if you joined."
Steve's mouth twitched.
Was this man's boss secretly running a labor camp?
After Steve's polite refusal, Darren reported back to Nick Fury.
The Director was silent for a few seconds before agreeing to Steve's request, arranging a new home for him in Brooklyn.
But knowing Nick Fury the way he did, Darren could easily imagine that the place was probably stuffed with enough hidden cameras to weigh a few kilos.
[Mission "The Return of the Century-Old Soldier" completed!]
[Rewards: 1000 EXP, +20 S.H.I.E.L.D. reputation, +20 Steve favorability, Equipment: "Bloodstained Pencil"]
[Item Description: Bloodstained Pencil , witnesses once saw a dog lover in a bar kill three men with this very pencil.]
"A pencil counts as equipment now?"
Darren's mouth twitched.
The game's rewards were never consistent. Sometimes great, sometimes utterly useless.
If luck was on your side, you'd get a rare item. If not, you'd end up with junk.
A pencil wasn't even the worst, he'd once drawn a "large bloodstained bandage," and he'd never dared to touch it since.
...
In the following days, New York seemed to enter an almost eerie period of peace. Crime rates dropped sharply.
And that, of course, had everything to do with the sudden boom in costumed heroes.
Ever since Tony Stark publicly announced that he was Iron Man, America had been sprouting superheroes like mushrooms after rain.
Especially New York, it had become the world's most overpopulated hero zone.
Even from what Darren knew, there were already several active ones.
But none were as busy as Spider-Man.
Whenever a criminal showed his face, it was only a matter of time before Spider-Man swung in to deliver justice from the sky.
Lately, the NYPD practically had nothing to do.
The reason for Peter's extra enthusiasm was simple, his school was still under reconstruction, leaving him plenty of time to web up bad guys.
If the criminals knew that, they'd probably curse out Ross and the Hulk, the two who wrecked Midtown High in the first place.
As for Darren, he hadn't received any special assignments lately. The ones he did get were mostly mundane, low-reward missions.
And after tasting the luxury of high-tier missions, there was no way he'd go back to grinding for scraps.
Stealth or assassination missions? Forget it. He'd just blow everything up with an RPG.
His motto was simple, maximum efficiency!
After finishing one of those dull daily missions, Darren's phone buzzed, it was Nick Fury.
"Agent Darren, remember the investigation you did on Oscorp?"
Fury's tone was low, serious.
"They developed two batches of Super Soldier Serum. One was handed to the military and used on Emil Blonsky. The other was intercepted by Oscorp. Evidence suggests Norman Osborn has injected himself."
Fury paused before continuing.
"The serum amplifies negative emotions. Recently, someone calling himself the Green Goblin has been attacking Oscorp shareholders using advanced Oscorp tech. We suspect he is Norman Osborn. I need you to bring him in."
[NPC Nick Fury has issued you a new mission]
[Mission: Evil Goblin]
[Objective: Capture Norman Osborn]
[Rewards: +3000 EXP, +60 S.H.I.E.L.D. Reputation, 1 Random Equipment, 2 Random Items]
"Norman Osborn?" Darren muttered.
He remembered that name.
During his last trip to Oscorp, he'd liberated a few experimental gadgets from their labs.
This might just be the perfect time to test them out.
...
Meanwhile, after much hesitation, Peter finally decided to take Darren's advice, he would tell Mary Jane the truth.
He dialed her number, heart racing.
When the call connected, however, it wasn't Mary Jane's voice he heard. It was a man's laughter, loud, manic, and echoing.
"Ha ha ha! Hello there!"
Peter froze.
Mary Jane didn't have a new boyfriend... did she?
Then it hit him, that voice. He knew that voice.
"It's you... Green Goblin!"
Just a few weeks ago, while on patrol, Peter had stumbled upon a grotesque figure dressed in green armor massacring a group of unarmed civilians.
He'd leapt in without hesitation, only to realize the man wasn't ordinary. His strength nearly matched Peter's own, and his gadgets made him even more dangerous.
They fought across rooftops, trading blows midair. Within ten rounds, Peter was losing ground.
If he hadn't torn off the Goblin's glider at the last second, sending the madman spinning out of control, Peter might not have lived to tell the tale.
But from that night onward, the Green Goblin seemed fixated on him.
He'd appear out of nowhere during Peter's patrols, striking without warning, vanishing just as quickly.
And now, the lunatic had Mary Jane.
Peter's heart pounded. "What are you planning, Goblin!?"
The villain's laughter echoed through the line.
"Spider-Man! I'm waiting for you at Queensboro Bridge! Don't be late, or I can't promise your little girlfriend won't... get hurt."
Then, silence. The call ended.
Peter froze for a split second before the panic hit him full force.
Mary Jane had been taken.
Knowing the Goblin's deranged personality, Peter didn't even want to imagine what horrors might await her.
Goblin. Girl. Kidnapping.
Those words alone painted too many awful possibilities in his mind.
Heart thundering, he threw on his Spider-Man suit, shot a web, and swung off toward the bridge at full speed.
...
"AAAHHH!"
Before he even arrived, a piercing scream split the air.
Peter's senses screamed with it, something terrible was happening.
He looked up.
Atop the Queensboro Bridge, the Green Goblin stood tall in the whipping wind, green armor gleaming under the night sky.
One hand clutched Mary Jane, dangling helplessly over the abyss.
The other held a severed steel cable, at the end of which hung a cable car packed with children, swaying dangerously above the river.
The Goblin's crazed grin stretched wide as he spotted Spider-Man's approach.
"Spider-Man! This is why only fools choose to be heroes, because you never know when some lunatic will force you to make an impossible choice!"
His voice rose, manic and sharp.
"Just like now! Will you save the woman you love, or the innocent children?"
He laughed, wild and merciless.
"Their fate... is yours to decide!"