On the rooftop of a five-story building, Jimmy was silently training himself—control was the most important thing.
"Big bro! Big bro!" A young Black guy came running and shouting.
"What is it?" Jimmy turned his head and asked in confusion.
"That Peter guy went to see that doctor!" The Black youth quickly reported.
"Oh!" Jimmy nodded. This kid had been sent by him to keep an eye on Peter. Otherwise, Jimmy wouldn't even know how far along the plot had progressed...
"Looks like the Lizard Doctor is about to be born," Jimmy muttered, rubbing his chin. Honestly, Jimmy wasn't sure if he was strong enough to take on Lizard Doctor. Originally, he could have stopped the transformation, but he had started coveting the Lizard serum...
"Sigh, nothing to do today..." Jimmy said helplessly, standing in front of the building.
"Ah! Robbery!" Suddenly, a sharp female scream came from the street. A Black man wearing a baseball cap was running ahead with a woman's handbag, chased by a middle-aged woman in her forties who shouted, "Help! Robbery!"
On the rooftop, Jimmy grinned. "Looks like I've got something to do now!"
Walmart (the woman) was a housewife, out shopping at the market with her handbag like usual. As she passed a narrow alley, a man wearing a baseball cap jumped out from behind and snatched her bag.
Walmart froze for a moment, then realized she was being robbed and screamed, "Robbery!" She quickly gave chase.
Unfortunately, the people on the street were completely indifferent. Just as she was about to lose him, a man in a black bodysuit dropped from the sky (Spider-Man 3 style) and landed a kick on the man in the cap.
The man in the black suit punched the thief in the head, knocking him out cold.
"Ma'am, this is yours!" Jimmy said as he handed the bag back to the slightly chubby woman.
"Thank you! Who are you?" the woman asked as she checked her bag.
"Heh, I'm Spider-Man—the scourge of criminals!" Jimmy laughed out loud and instantly disappeared into a nearby alley…
Similar incidents kept happening all over New York. Many criminals were beaten up during their crimes by a man in a black bodysuit, then dropped off at the police station entrance.
And the name "Spider-Man" quickly began to spread among the public…
Monday, Jimmy returned to school.
"Hey, Peter!" Jimmy greeted Peter as soon as he saw him.
"Hey, Jimmy!" Peter smiled and greeted him back. Jimmy noticed Peter had changed a lot. He used to always hang his head and look shy, but now… he looked full of confidence.
"Too much confidence isn't a good thing, you know," Jimmy said quietly with a smile.
"What?" Peter froze, not understanding what Jimmy meant. Jimmy just smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and walked away.
Back in the classroom, Jimmy immediately saw the girl with glasses sitting next to his seat.
"Hey, Karen!" Jimmy greeted her after sitting down.
"Hello, Jimmy!" Karen nodded at him.
Jimmy didn't pay any attention to the morning classes. In the afternoon, it was P.E. Because the school had a basketball team, there were lots of people training in the gym. Some of Jimmy's classmates were in the cheer squad, while others were core players on the team—like Flash.
Others were in charge of support work, like writing motivational signs. Karen was one of them. Jimmy, with nothing better to do, crouched beside Karen, watching her paint.
"You're really good at that," Jimmy said with a smile.
"Thanks!" Karen replied with a small smile. "Can you pass me that brush?"
"Sure!" Jimmy picked up the paintbrush and handed it to Karen. Just as she reached for it, Jimmy suddenly sensed something.
"Watch out!" he shouted.
He quickly pushed Karen's hand away, and a basketball flew in, knocking over the blue paint bucket on the ground. Luckily, Jimmy had pushed Karen in time, or else she would've been covered in blue paint.
"Flash, you did that on purpose!" Karen shouted angrily. Jimmy had taken the hit instead—his clothes were now splattered with blue paint.
"I wasn't doing it on purpose! I was doing it intentionally!" Flash laughed when he saw Jimmy's condition.
"You…!" Karen grew even angrier. At that moment, Peter, hearing the commotion, turned and saw his new friend drenched in blue paint.
"Hey Jimmy, are you alright?" Peter quickly walked over and asked.
"I'm fine." Jimmy shrugged. Actually, he could've caught the ball easily, but for some reason, he let it knock over the paint bucket instead.
Looking at Karen wiping his clothes, Jimmy couldn't help but feel a bit pleased.
Whoosh! Suddenly, Peter caught a basketball.
"Hey, Parker!" Flash waved and signaled for Peter to throw the ball back.
Peter looked at the ball in his hands, paused for a moment, then handed his camera to Jimmy.
Jimmy took the camera, and Peter walked toward Flash.
What followed was Peter, now empowered, completely messing with Flash on the court.
"Gained some powers and now he's getting arrogant?" Jimmy muttered as he watched Peter.
"Huh? What did you say?" Karen asked curiously.
"Heh, I think I need to help Peter get a better sense of himself," Jimmy said as he handed the camera to Karen and charged toward Peter.
Peter, holding the basketball, had just knocked Flash aside and was heading for the hoop when Jimmy suddenly flashed in front of him.
Peter frowned and looked at his hand—his basketball was gone.
Behind him, Jimmy was playing with the ball and said softly, "Hey Peter, I don't know how your physical ability increased so much all of a sudden, but there's one thing I have to tell you."
Hearing that, Peter felt a shock in his heart. He quickly turned around and saw Jimmy saying quietly:
"The first thing you need to control—is your strength." After speaking, Jimmy casually tossed the ball into the hoop.
"How about a match between us? You can use your full strength if you want!" Jimmy stretched and said with a grin.