Spider-Man and The Esper

33. Livestream

It started with an interview. Spider-man did not often give them in fact… actually, yeah, this was his first one ever.

It was brief; he'd just been passing through, on his way back from another patrol, and wandered into the path of a film crew. A woman in a sharp dress and a well-fitting sweater on top had climbed over a pile of rubble to get to him and asked, "You're Spider-man, right?"

Feeling a muscle twitch in his jaw, Spider-man nodded.

"Can we interview you for a minute?" she asked, already gesturing for another woman carrying a large camera over her shoulder. She was filming the still-steaming remains of what had once been a very loud, very annoying monster that had tried to stop Spider-man from getting to the flash sale at a store on the edge of City Z in time.

"Uh, it's not really my thing," Spider-man said, awkwardly, scratching his cheek.

"Our viewers would love to hear from you," the newscaster said, smiling encouragingly. Spider-man really doubted that, but he shrugged.

"Okay."

"Great! We're live in three, two…"

The camerawoman held up a hand and the other, brown-haired and pretty, sidled next to him and addressed the camera which now blinked red.

"This is Jennifer Hudson reporting live from City Z. With me at this scene of total devastation is Spider-man, Class-A hero."

Spider-man looked blankly back and forth from the camera to Jennifer.

"Early reports say that this monster was eliminated in an instant by Class-S hero King," she gushed. "Tell us, Spider-man, do you think that's possible? This was a Demon-level threat."

Spider-man thought, folding his arms. On the one hand, Spider-man had to use a bit of his Cosmic powers to beat the thing.

On the other hand, his friend King only got to stay alive because of how everyone was so damn afraid of him, and this was a good chance for Spider-man to hype him up a bit.

And… even if Spider-man did say that no, it wasn't King, and he'd defeated the monster, would anyone believe him? Would they accuse him of taking credit for other folks' kills, like he supposedly always did?

Ms. Hudson was awkward from Spider-man's long pause and was about to stop offering the mic to him when Spider-man said, looking into the camera, "I'd believe it. King is stronger than anyone I know. A puny monster like that? Pssh - King could take care of it like that." He smacked one fist into his open palm.

Encouraged, she asked, "Oh? You've witnessed King's strength firsthand?"

One time King had smashed a bug on his kotatsu with the case of one of his old games, all without looking away from the TV and still managing to kick Spider-man's ass in his new fighting game. That was pretty cool.

"Yeah. Of course. He's my friend. Just last week he-" Spider-man thought, "-He snuck into an underground fortress and defeated a threat level Dragon monster all by himself."

"Ah, so you can attest to King's strength?"

Spider-man nodded. King was able to keep a poker face around the other S Classes which was impressive and some of them had massive egos and he was able to face them head on during the hot springs. Spider-man actually spoke to him and only him about King and he actually supported King and Spider-man to keep it a secret between them.

"Do you have a message for King, if he's watching?"

Spider-man shrugged. He looked into the camera, imagining King's scarred friend's face in front of him.