Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Vol. 2

Chapter 18

Slamming the instructions against his desk, Jonah ran his hands over his head and face in frustration. He'd been at this for over an hour but had made little to no progress in his assembly of what he'd hoped to be his new home broadcast studio. Of course, he just had to spring for the best stuff he could find; part of him had told himself to just get only the basics to get himself out there faster, but he'd never been able to do something that way. If top of the line stuff was out there, he just had to have it; he hadn't even realized how accustomed he'd become to having the best of the best around him in almost everything, and now he was paying the price.

Before he could properly reconsider whether this was even a worthwhile idea or not, the familiar ring of his doorbell rang in his ears. A mix of curiosity and concern came over him as he made his way out of his office room and to the front door. Cautiously approaching, he took a peek out through the small peek spot in his door, and was surprised to find none other than Randy Robertson, Robbie's twenty-year-old son. He then swiftly unlocked and opened the door.

"Randy?"

"Yes sir," he said. "I, uh, I guess it's been a little while, hasn't it?"

"It has," Jonah concurred; there was a feeling in the air between them that, though the source was obvious, he couldn't put a name to. It seemed like a mix of awkwardness, grief and frustration, but he wasn't sure how much of any of those things was directed at him. He then recognized that a few moments had passed without a word either way, so Jonah spoke up again.

"You want to come in?"

"Thanks," Randy replied as he stepped into the home, but not before scraping his shoes off on the mat in the front. It was a little thing, but it was a reminder of how his father had raised him right.

"Listen, Randy," Jonah spoke up as he shut the door, turning back to his guest, "we both know what brought you here, so, if I may, I would like to say two things."

Randy silently nodded, prompting him to continue.

"First, I just want to say that I'm sorry," he said. "Your dad... he offered to come with me that day, but I told him that I needed him there. If I'd accepted his offer, maybe..."

"Respectfully, sir, there's plenty of blame to go around," Randy interrupted. Jonah narrowed his eyes towards him in sympathetic curiosity, causing the young man to avert his eyes for a moment before continuing: "You see, we, uh... my dad was actually planning to ask off that day, but he and I... we got into an argument. It was stupid, something I never should have gotten upset over, but I was just having a bad day, and..."

The young man then shut his eyes, clearly fighting back tears. Jonah placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, which seemed to help Randy to settle. He then turned back to his host.

"Look, Mr. Jameson, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you're probably trying to do something to bring down the people who killed my dad and everyone else. I'm here because I want to do the same."

"I can't let you do that, son," Jonah initially refuted. "The people I'm going after, they're powerful, and I don't want you..."

"Spare me the 'not ending up like my father speech', Mr. Jameson!" Randy snapped. He quickly shut his eyes, letting out a breath as he took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "I know what kind of people you're talking about; one thing I'll say about dad is he never sugarcoated the dangers of some of the people the Bugle went up against. But I'm tired of just sitting at home and doing nothing but missing him. Ma is struggling too, but she's trying to find something for herself to do too, something useful to others that would honor the way my dad lived his life, and she encouraged me to do the same. This is how I want to do that. Please, sir."