Calling Card

It was Monday afternoon, and I was sitting in school just like usual, except instead of being focused on the class or reading my books like I usually do, I was instead staring off into my notification log.

[Gamer's Mind has successfully blocked a mental attack.]

When I woke up in the morning and casually decided to check my log, I was horrified to find this message there not only once, twice, or even three times but spammed over and over hundreds, maybe even thousands of times throughout the whole night.

Someone had been very persistently trying to do… something to me, and they just didn't know how to quit. The worst part about this is that I have no clue who or what is behind this, as when I asked Diana about it in the morning, she said there hadn't been anyone who tried to break into my apartment or anything out of the ordinary as far as she could tell.

During the whole day, I had been trying to figure out who could be behind this, but clearly, my knowledge of the Marvel universe is insufficient as I had no suspect at all in mind except maybe someone like Xavier, but I highly doubt he could be that persistent in getting into my head especially when he knows I can tell whenever he tries.

I am brought out of my mulling by a finger poking my cheek repeatedly. Looking over, it is, of course, Gwen who is sitting next to me.

"Oh, you are alive!" She says, feigning surprise. "You have been staring at the ceiling more than usual today, so I just wanted to check and see if you are still among the living."

I reach out my hand and grab her finger that, for some reason, is still poking my cheek. "I'm fine, just been thinking about some… work stuff."

"Work, huh? Talking about that, have you listened to yesterday's Jameson's show yet?"

I roll my eyes. "No, I've been skipping them for a while now. Why would I want to listen to that guy just shit-talking me every time he gets a chance to."

"Oh well, he actually had a few somewhat nice things to say about you this time," Gwen says, getting my attention.

Jameson saying something nice about Spiderman? What happened? Did the sun rise from the west yesterday, and I didn't notice?

"Sounds interesting. I guess I will have a listen." I say and go to grab my phone and earphones from my bag, but Gwen is already one step ahead of me, just handing me one of her earpieces and showing that she already has the episode brought up on her phone.

I put the earpiece in my right ear, with the other remaining in Gwen's, and she starts up the episode.

"Thank you, everyone, for tuning in to the Daily Bugle radio station and listening to this Sunday's episode of 'Just The Facts with J. Jonah Jameson'." The intro plays.

"I am your host J.Jonah. Jameson, and this Sunday, I have some things to say that many of my usual listeners would find surprising, shocking, or even unbelievable. I'm sure many of you intelligent and well-informed people are aware that the New York City menace that is Spiderman has been seen swinging around the city and once again doing the job of the police, but this time not alone. No, this time, he had a companion with him."

"Now I could start talking about the obvious facts about how he is clearly trying to corrupt this innocent girl into being a second, possibly even worse menace to the city or how he is setting this young woman's life in danger by bringing her to fight dangerous criminals that should be dealt with by trained professional police officers but no. This time I would like to entertain a different viewpoint."

"You see, after analyzing various photos of this companion of Spiderman and talking with my sources, I have concluded that this 'partner' of his is actually a known member of one of the mutant groups called the X-Men!"

Jameson leaves a few seconds of silence as if letting people process a shocking revelation before giving a quiet cough and continuing.

"You all know about my thought concerning mutants in our society and their rights, so I won't delve into it too deeply this time, but I just want it to be known to all that this is the one and only time in my life that I shall publicly say I support something the menace has done," Jameson says, and I am amazed.

"No matter how much I dislike this menace and believe he should be somewhere behind bars or six feet underground, there are unfortunately many brainless idiots who admire and adore him, so him having a mutant as a teammate can only be good for the image of mutants overall. Let's just hope he doesn't somehow screw this up as well." Jameson ends and goes right into the outro of his show which Gwen just skips.

To be honest, I forgot how supportive Jameson was of mutant rights. I think he even had a daughter who was a mutant, so it's no wonder he is taking this chance to show support, of course, not for me but for mutants.

I am about to take out the earpiece as the next class is about to begin, but I am interrupted by Diana. "Wait up!"

The one who reacts first isn't me but Gwen, who also hears Diana's voice as she is speaking through her phone and earphones, one of which was still in her ear. "Huh? What was that? Do I have a virus or something on my phone?"

Gwen starts checking her phone and already brings up an anti-virus scan app, but I explain. "Ah no, that's Diana, the A.I. I created (stole but no need to say that) for myself."

"Wait, you created an A.I.? And why is it in my phone?" Gwen looks stunned at the information, and Diana answers for me.

"It's difficult to get in touch with Peter unless he is currently wearing his mask or at home, so I had to talk to him through your phone."

Oh yeah, I should probably look into getting some sort of an earpiece that she could be connected to at all times. It's a bit inconvenient for her to contact me right now if there happens to be some sort of an emergency.

"Wow, it's able to answer by itself…" Gwen seems awed by the ability of this A.I. she thinks I have created. "Still, though, how did you get into my phone?"

"Oh, I'm in pretty much all electronics and have access to anything connected to the internet or other private networks though I am currently trying to spread myself in different ways too! Connecting to a random phone is no problem. Even getting some more protected stuff like government secrets or nuclear codes could be done in a few short seconds." Diana brags about her abilities, but she doesn't seem to realize how terrifying that is.

"Diana, why did you need to talk to me?" I ask, putting a stop to her bragging.

"Oh right!" She gets back on track. "I was keeping an eye on the police communication channels like I was supposed to, and there is something you should know about. Some auction house was just robbed of an expensive bust of some artist and in its place police found a small doll of a black cat sitting on top of a closed envelope reading 'To the Spider', the officers there are currently trying to figure out what to do with it."

"Ah shit, I guess I should get there. Oh well, I didn't want to be in math class anyways." I say but get stopped by Gwen.

"You do remember the Dodgeball tournament starts today, and your team is the first to play, right? You've only got at most an hour before you are needed here." She says, but I still stand up.

"An hour is more than enough for me to go catch the cat and get back here. I just wonder why she is leaving a letter for me." I say, giving my farewell to Gwen and leaving the school building to put on my suit.

Gwen said she would get someone to call in for me, too, so I wouldn't be marked as missing, so no problem as long as I am quick.

The second my mask is on, Diana speaks to me again. "The cops wanted to open the letter themselves, so I sent them a message through their chief's phone telling them to stay put until Spiderman arrives."

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Note: Diana is stronk