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The next day, Jimmy was still wrestling with the problem.
More precisely, he was trying to figure out how to deal with it, or how to quietly tip Tony off without raising suspicion.
After classes ended, a visibly distracted Jimmy sat on a bench beside the school field, staring into space.
Suddenly, he felt eyes on him.
He looked up.
Peter and Ned were walking over, and with them was a tall, athletic boy with an easy smile and the unmistakable confidence of someone who had never worried about money a day in his life.
That boy was the one watching Jimmy.
"Told you," Peter said, grinning. "It's basically impossible to sneak up on Jimmy. Every time you try, he somehow notices at the last second."
Then Peter clapped his hands together.
"Hey, Jimmy, let me introduce you to someone. This is Harry Osborn, Yeah, that Osborn. I know there are a lot of people with that last name, but he's actually the heir to Oscorp."
Peter sighed dramatically. "Another guy with an unlimited allowance. I seriously hate people who never have to work part-time during vacations."
Harry laughed. "Fair enough."
Peter gestured toward Jimmy. "This is my best friend and next-door neighbor, Jimmy. He looks like a football player. Actually, he's strong like one too. He could probably tear you in half if he wanted to But he's also a writer."
"You can just call him Jimmy."
"Nice to meet you, Harry." Jimmy stood up and offered his hand.
Green Goblin.
Well, future Green Goblin.
"Nice to meet you too," Harry said, shaking his hand. "Peter's been talking about you nonstop for the last two classes. It's obvious you guys are close."
"Yeah," Jimmy replied casually. "Peter's always been helpful. When I first moved here, he helped me settle in a lot."
Harry glanced at Peter with a smile. "Looks like I got lucky. First day after transferring, and I already met someone decent."
The four of them chatted for a while.
Then Harry casually suggested going to find the cafeteria and pulled Jimmy along with him.
Harry could tell Jimmy was distracted and not in the mood to talk, but Jimmy clearly did not want to share what was bothering him.
So Harry deliberately drew Peter away.
Ned noticed it too, but Ned was never the type to give advice.
He was the kind of guy who listened, not lectured.
One offhand comment from Harry, though, sparked an idea in Jimmy's mind.
Harry mentioned that he wanted to help with his family's business, but could not do much yet because he had not graduated.
That was when it clicked.
If only he could graduate early.
Midtown High allowed early graduation.
All you needed was to pass the graduation exams, complete a formal academic defense, and make a voluntary donation to the school.
Of course, there was one more requirement. A university had to agree to admit you first.
Jimmy's thoughts started moving fast.
If he wanted to help Tony, he needed to become an adult in the system.
Graduating early solved that.
And surprisingly, every requirement was something he could handle.
That experimental skincare compound from his lab already existed.
If he simply added his name to the research credits at the end, it would be enough to secure early university admission.
After enrolling, he could complete the required coursework, apply for graduation exams, and probably finish everything in under two years.
Once in college, studying biological sciences and accidentally discovering something groundbreaking would not seem strange at all.
At that point, Tony could step in, guide him, and naturally uncover new breakthroughs.
Sure, it sounded a little forced when you thought too hard about it But it was still far better than the current situation, where anything Jimmy produced had to be explained away as something he "found."
With his mind made up, Jimmy stretched and stood up.
Step one.
Pass the written driver's license exam.
A responsible, model student image had to be maintained.
With that decided, Jimmy headed straight for the principal's office to ask about early graduation procedures.
As he walked away, he glanced back at the field.
Harry was chatting with Peter.
Peter was animated, waving his hands around as usual, while Harry listened patiently with a relaxed smile.
Ned was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed increasingly likely that the Osborn family had begun to suspect Peter's parents.
More specifically, they suspected that Peter's parents may have injected a genetic serum into him.
Although the official experiments had been halted and the records destroyed before Peter was born, embryo-stage genetic modification was not exactly difficult work for two experienced biologists.
That explained a lot.
It explained why Peter always showed up at just the right moment when he was being bullied, stepping in to defuse the situation.
But he never truly eliminated the problem.
Unlike Jimmy, who would have hung the bullies on a metal fence like drying fish and ended it permanently.
Harry had been testing Peter for a long time.
At first, it was deliberate probing.
Later, it turned into habit.
Jimmy understood this well.
Peter talked too much, dressed poorly, and came off as awkward.
But once you became his friend, he treated you with complete sincerity.
Before you realized it, he became your closest friend.
He was also fiercely loyal.
Jimmy had once casually mentioned that he wanted to buy a warehouse.
Peter spent half of his vacation riding his bike across every warehouse district nearby, personally checking rental options until he found one that perfectly matched Jimmy's requirements.
He even went into Hell's Kitchen for it.
That was not something an ordinary friend would do.
Perhaps that was why the future Green Goblin had unconsciously begun to see Peter as a real friend.
But Jimmy was certain of one thing.
Right now, Harry does not truly regard Peter as a genuine friend.
Forget it.
Jimmy decided he would stop paying attention to children playing house.
The priority was getting his diploma.
There was also another issue.
He needed time to level up as quickly as possible.
Harry had already appeared.
That meant the timeline for Peter becoming the friendly neighborhood hero was not far off.
Jimmy had never positioned his true enemy as street-level criminals.
His target was the purple alien with a god complex.
Playing vigilante games was not his job.
Let the friendly neighborhood stuff belong to the guy in pajamas.
Jimmy needed to focus on adult matters.
---
At the principal's office, Jimmy stated his intentions clearly.
He requested a leave of absence lasting until the graduation examinations.
He planned to use the time to study seriously.
At the same time, he donated a fully equipped biological laboratory to the school and asked whether the principal could write him a recommendation letter if his graduation results were outstanding.
Of course, Jimmy already had a preferred university in mind.
For example, the university that his chief researcher, Grace Stane, had graduated from was an excellent option.
Most importantly, it was close to home.
---
When the principal learned that Jimmy intended to donate an entire biology lab, the response became extremely accommodating.
Everything was negotiable.
The principal even asked whether Jimmy was confident in passing the graduation exams.
After being personally escorted out, Jimmy was carrying a stack of study materials so thick that if he had shown the slightest interest, the principal probably would have handed him this year's exam papers as well.
So this was how capital worked.
It only strengthened Jimmy's resolve to become part of the system that wrote the rules.
They were all superheroes.
Tony Stark operated openly without consequence.
Bruce Banner spent his life being hunted.
And that was even though Banner possessed a built-in self-preservation mechanism that made him extremely hard to eliminate.
Otherwise, he would have ended up on an operating table long ago.
Jimmy thought about Shockwave's mother, who had been dissected like livestock.
Why.
One reason.
She was poor.
Someone like Tony Stark could only be schemed against in secret.
Even if people hated him to the point of grinding their teeth, they could not touch him openly.
Why.
Because capital, influence, public attention, and corporate power structures made it impossible to use dirty methods against him in the open.
That was the difference.
And Jimmy intended to stand on the right side of it.
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