Max Dillon was an ordinary electrical engineer working at Oscorp, responsible for maintaining circuit systems.
He was introverted and insecure, long ignored or even mocked by his coworkers, lacking any sense of presence. Even on his birthday, his coworkers could forget his name.
Only Spider-Man once saved him in an accident and called him a "friend," which made Max develop a sense of worship toward Spider-Man.
From that moment on, his home was plastered with Spider-Man posters. Max regarded Spider-Man as the only person who truly acknowledged him, and he even fantasized about becoming Spider-Man's "partner."
But an accident changed his fate.
While inspecting a circuit, Max made a mistake and fell into a tank filled with genetically modified electric eels. His body was pierced by high-voltage current and burned black all over.
The people at Oscorp thought he was dead and planned to dispose of him hastily to protect the company's reputation.
But Max suddenly woke up in the morgue, the charred carbon on his body flaking off piece by piece.
He discovered that he could actually see the bioelectric currents inside his body. Not only that, the surrounding electrical devices seemed to sense the energy leaking from him and started operating on their own without being plugged in.
At this point, Max still did not know that he was no longer human. He picked up some clothes nearby and wandered onto the streets without any clear destination.
Wherever he passed, nearby cars would automatically set off their alarms, and Max also felt a hunger he had never experienced before.
He slowly placed one hand on a car headlight, and the next second, that weak current was completely absorbed by him.
That bit of electricity slightly eased Max's hunger, but it was far from enough.
His gaze turned toward the brightly lit Times Square not far away.
To Max, that was basically a five-star buffet. The underground power grid was like wagyu, crazily enticing him.
Unable to wait, he ran to the center of the square, knelt on the ground, opened the barrier, and without hesitation placed both hands on it.
As Max greedily siphoned energy, the power supply of the entire square was affected.
This caught the attention of nearby police officers, "Sir! Take your hands off the cables! Now!"
Max slowly stood up. His body, emitting pale blue electric light, frightened the officer.
The officer instinctively raised his gun instead, which startled Max.
In a panic, he drove his power into physical form, lifting a passing truck high into the air and tossing it aside.
Police quickly arrived and surrounded Max.
"Get on the ground immediately!"
"For your safety and the safety of nearby civilians…"
Under the coverage of surrounding reporters, Max's inhuman face was projected onto the giant advertising screens of Times Square.
As a level-ten electrician riddled with insecurity, his dream had always been that one day he would be noticed by others.
He never expected that dream to come true in this way.
"Hands up, freak!"
Just as Max was staring blankly at himself on the screen, the police threw smoke grenades and shouted insults.
"No, no, don't do this!"
"This isn't my fault!"
"I said—STOP IT!"
Max's emotions were finally ignited. His body erupted with immense energy, blue electric light spreading outward in a circle, instantly blasting away many police cars and officers.
The police decisively opened fire.
Strangely, when the bullets approached Max, they were torn apart by the powerful electric force field.
———
"Times Square One is only worth five hundred million dollars?"
After appraising the building covered in electronic advertising screens, Corin found it quite surprising.
Suddenly, the billboards flickered, clearly showing signs of insufficient power.
Before long, cries of alarm rose from the crowd. Turning to look, he saw a hooded man lifting a truck overhead with electric light blazing from both hands.
"Oh? Isn't that... what's-his-name?"
'If Electro is here, then the little spider should be arriving soon.'
Corin sighed at how disaster-prone New York really was. Even just going out for a stroll, he could run into Electro.
Ignoring the civilians scattering in all directions, Corin dragged a chair over from the roadside, found a decent spot, and sat down.
"Ah~ perfect timing to take a break, watch the show, and enjoy the drama!"
A strand of web shot across the night sky. Spider-Man Peter Parker nimbly arrived beneath a flying police car, braced it, and saved the officer who was about to be crushed.
"Good thing you were driving and not riding a horse."
Peter thought he was being very funny.
The rescued officer saw Spider-Man arrive, his eyes lighting up, and immediately reported to all units over the radio, "All units, cease fire immediately! Repeat! Cease fire immediately!"
Peter did a flip onto the roof of the car and looked at the bewildered figure, "Hey~ Sparkles~ what are you doing?"
Max turned around and saw that his good partner Spider-Man was right there. His fear was instantly soothed.
The only person who acknowledged me has finally come.
'They call me a monster, but this isn't my fault. They shot at me and even gassed me with smoke.'
Max had a belly full of grievances he wanted to pour out to Spider-Man, but when the words reached his mouth, all that came out was, "Is it… you?"
Peter Parker had no idea who this blue-glowing guy was.
When he had accidentally saved Max before, he had only known his name because of the ID badge on his chest and had casually encouraged him.
But at this moment, he simply could not recognize Max. After all, his change was a bit too drastic.
Hearing Max's words, Peter shouted back, "Yeah, I'm here! Who are you?"
Spider-Man's "Who are you?" made Max's heart slowly sink.
Stepping toward Peter, Max could not believe that the only partner who acknowledged him now did not remember him at all.
To protect Spider-Man's reputation, he had argued logically with others. He had never fought this hard even for himself.
Max found it unbelievable. He could endure the grievances given by others, but Spider-Man's forgetting him nearly made him unable to suppress his instinctive anger.
Electric light flared at his toes, conducted along the ground into the distance, nearly affecting civilians on the steps:
"Don't you remember me?"
Peter Parker felt like he had missed something, but could not recall it for the moment. He subconsciously asked "Am I supposed to remember?"
"I was walking down the street, a car almost hit me, you carried me away… you saved me! You said you needed me…"
Max reminded Spider-Man of what they had been through, desperately hoping Spider-Man would recognize him at a glance.
"The one holding the blueprints?"
Peter finally remembered the person he had casually saved before, 'So it is him. How did he end up like this?'
But no matter what, he had to calm him down and prevent more civilians from getting hurt.
Peter put on a relaxed front and stepped forward to talk. On the edge of Max's rage, he finally remembered his name.
He also explained that Max had changed so much that he had not recognized him at first.
This explanation was accepted by Max.
After a brief exchange, Max said that he did not want the police to shoot at him.
"Hey~ guys, this is my buddy, Max. I've mentioned him before. Don't shoot at him..."
Peter's actions earned Max's trust. Looking at himself on the giant advertising screen, he spoke his true feelings, "I just want everyone to see me."
Peter kept comforting Max, and Max was ready to properly suppress that indescribable anger inside his body.
Just as the two were about to move to another place to talk things through, Max stepped on a piece of metal, and the massive energy inside him burst out in a flash of electricity.
This alerted the sniper who had been aiming at him for a long time.
BANG!
The bullet shattered in front of Max.
Max could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. He lashed out with a bolt of electricity, blasting apart the rooftop where the sniper was.
Peter immediately fired a web, pulling Max's hand back, but the intense current traveled along the web, knocking Peter away and destroying the web-shooter on his wrist.
Even so, Peter still managed to save a police officer in time.
This scene made the crowd erupt in cheers:
"Spider-Man!"
"Spider-Man!"
———
Watching the images on the screens all switch to close-ups of Spider-Man, his ears filled with the crowd's malicious curses.
Max realized that he had been tricked by Spider-Man. Spider-Man just wanted to step on him to gain even more public support.
With his faith shattered, Max was consumed by rage. Completely driven mad.
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