Lisa stepped carefully into Jameson's office. She watched his stern face to look for any signs of an explosion before sighing in relief. His eyes, dark and gleaming showed his dismay at the situation, causing Lisa to silently chuckle to herself.

The Daily Bugle had a bad rap. It had become such a bad reputation that in less than 3 months, Jameson would have to sell to a bigger network just to stay afloat. His public campaign against Spider-Man had absolutely backfired, and Lisa was the one left scrambling trying to find a solution. There simply wasn't enough readers for the network to carry on business as usual. For the first time, the Daily Bugle was bleeding red.

Her solution was for Jameson to get his head out of his ass and start balancing articles about Spider-Man.

"Jonah, I realize you're against Spider-Man-" She began to say.

"He's a vigilante that is not held accountable to his actions, Lisa! How am I supposed to feel about that?" Jonah interrupted, irritated at his declining sales.

Lisa paused. She expected something like this, of course. Jonah was not one to change his mind easily. Perhaps a different approach...

"Sir, I understand your point of view. However, we are a news organization. We cannot be seen as biased. We have to be reliable and objective to the facts. It is fine that we still run objecting articles to Spider-Man. It seems we are in the minority of companies that are willing to criticize his actions. That's okay and shows we're not swayed by popular opinion. However, we cannot deny that Spider-Man does some good in the world. He does save people and we can't dispute that fact. What we can dispute is whether he should or something to the effect that our police force is unequipped to handle the rate of crime if a vigilante is running amok."

Jonah J. Jameson thought for bit on that speech. He steepled his fingers and mulled the proposition over. Sighing he said, "You may have a point. Our reputation is damaged to a point where surveys are saying our target market are starting to liken us to Fox. What did you have in mind to start to repair our branding?"

Lisa smiled gently. She said, "Have some dedicated writers to focus on positive events or theories surrounding Spider-Man. Things like him being a well-intentioned man with flaws would see about bringing back a large portion of our readers. We don't have to idolize him, but we can certainly thank and respect him from time to time. I think if we started with a theory, it'd make for a smoother transition."

Jameson frowned a bit as he sipped his cup of coffee. "Alright, Liza. If your plan works you'll have saved the entire business from going under. If we're in the black next quarter, you're getting a raise. Otherwise, I can't say much for even my own job security because I'll have to sell at that point. I sincerely hope this idea of yours works."

Liza rolled her eyes a bit at that. "Of course, Jonah. I realize we're all in a bit of a pickle in terms of jobs here so I think we're all working towards a solution. Have faith that this plan will work. And, before I forget, that Stark Industries law team called yet again about another lawsuit. Is this the third or fourth one this month?"

Grumbling to himself, Jonah replied, "It's the third. God, you think they'll back off if we balance our opinion pieces? Certainly would cut a good portion of expenses from paying for our law agency so much. Damn contract."

Liza laughed as she walked out of his office and back towards her own. She had work to do of course.

…

Betty Brant was so excited she got an internship at the Daily Bugle. Finally, she could start to pursue her dream of real journalism. Being a part of Midtown's journalism club and class was a good stepping stone, don't get her wrong, but there's only so much you can take writing about the most popular app at the moment. Who even cared about TikTok anyways?

Ms. Lisa Richards, the COO, was such an inspiration in Betty's eyes. From a young age, she has built up several credible and successful news outlets that thrived to this day. The Daily Bugle was only her latest project in her 20 year career.

Squealing to herself, Charles laughed and said, "Betty, what's got you so happy? Did you get those concert tickets you wanted so badly?"

Glaring at him, Betty responded, "No, Charles. I just found out I got an internship at the Daily Bugle!"

MJ, sitting at the long table with her sketchbook out, cut through all the ruckus with a dry remark, "Great, we'll end up with another Peter that's always rushing out early. Will you still be able to keep up with Decathlon with this internship?"

Betty smiled and said, "Yeah! They want me to come in today and later this week, but after that I'll be mostly working online. They'll probably only have me come in once a week, and I'll ask if I could come in on Saturdays to better fit our schedules. Of course, when we start going to competitions and stuff I'll have to check in and let them know ahead of time, but I'm sure there will be no issue when it comes to pass."

MJ smiled and said, "Well that's good then. I'm happy you got the internship, it sounds like you're really excited for it."

Flash chimed in from where he was messing around with his phone. "At least Betty's internship is real. Parker's isn't and he's still lying about it. It's been what, two months at least? Whatever. Personally, I could care less about the Daily Bugle. They're always bashing on Spider-Man! But, I'm still happy you're able to get a taste of real journalism, Betty."

Huffing a bit, Betty said, "Thanks Flash. And, maybe lay off Peter a bit? He might be lying but I don't think he'd do it for attention. He's a pretty solitary guy, you know? Maybe something's come up at home, so he has a job with odd hours? He could just be embarrassed, that's all."

Scowling Flash spit out, "Yeah okay. I'll try, but it just really gets on my nerves, you know? It feels like he's taking advantage of Iron Man."

MJ rolled her eyes and replied, "He could be telling the truth, but either way it's not our issue. What is our problem though, is that Mr. Harrington should've been here twenty minutes ago. I vote that we should leave at the thirty minute mark. Anyone else in?"

From where he was sitting, Charles said, "Uh, yeah duh. Not all of us are here anyways so it'd be a short meeting in the first place. Did you guys want to go to Starbucks together and work on homework? I have nothing better to do."

Betty pouted and said, "I can't, I have my internship orientation. Have fun though."

Flash responded, "I'm down, let me just post this TikTok first." He had stopped doing this weird jittering dance to talk.

"Literally none of us care that you're TikTok famous, Flash." MJ put in her two cents. "And yeah, Starbucks sounds fun."

…

Lisa led her newest group of interns into their shared office space. "Congratulations on being accepted to intern here at the Daily Bugle. All of you show great promise in journalism and I'm happy to welcome you in this industry. Some of you are in high school, while the majority are in college. Either way, I appreciate your dedication to our line of work. Most of you will be working as editors or opinion piece writers, with a few advising opportunities thrown in. All of your work will be credited to you in our papers and website, so this is an opportunity for you to get your name out there. If any of you are interested in photography positions, please see me in my office after orientation. Are there any questions?"

Perusing the sea of faces before her, she saw no one that looked confused, so nodded and continued with her speech.

"Very well, if you have any questions at all, you are more than welcome to see me in my office when I am available, or email me. Later this week, I'll introduce you to your manager who will be overseeing what you do. He's currently on his honeymoon, so I'm filling in for him until he gets back on Wednesday. If there's nothing else, let's move on to your first assignment."

Pausing here, Liza took a deep breath and started, "I realize in recent months our company has faltered in the public eye due to our negative opinion pieces surrounding Spider-Man." Here she saw a lot of faces nod in agreement, making her wince inside at the situation.

"It is therefore our current business objective to repair our image. The first way to do that task is for the company to have a more balanced outlook on Spider-Man. To accomplish that goal, we need more positive opinion pieces on him, which brings us back to your first assignment."

Looking fierce, she narrowed her eyes at the crowd. "All of you are to write a piece on Spider-Man that is to be geared toward a positive opinion. Do not worry about the language you use, as Senior Editors will review your work beforehand. Whoever writes the most compelling piece will be offered a specific internship with our opinion piece writers. Don't be mistaken, opinions might not be facts, but they can be theories. If you want to write about how Spider-Man saving a kitten is the U.S. government testing androids for field use, go for it. But be prepared to back up your ideas with facts. I hope that this is not too much to ask for. Please work on it throughout the week, and send me your drafts this Thursday. Now that's all I have for you. You're welcome to stay and work here in the communal intern office or work from home. Whatever suits you best. I would like to see you here again on Friday at 2:00 PM."

…

Betty Brant mumbled and mulled over her predicament she was in. Granted, she was ecstatic to jump into journalism with a first major assignment, but she didn't have a single idea of what to write about. Writing a feel-good article with Spider-Man saving a cat, or helping an eldery woman cross the street was a safe bet, but Betty wanted to take a risk. She wanted to go out on a limb and do some investigative work about who Spider-Man is. Any clues about where he's from to how old he is…

Startled at the thought, Betty grabbed her laptop off her desk and sat on her bed googling Spider-Man audios and interviews. From mentions by people saved by him, to criminals and their comments, and to the occasional comment he'd give to the press. Betty needed to know everything.

Biting her lip, she got out her phone. Debating whether she should or not, she closed her eyes and breathed out slowly.

BETTY: hey Flash, do you have any links about spiderman? im working on a piece for my internship and was hoping you could help. I know you don't like the Bugle, but I was told by the COO herself that I'm to write a positive piece about spiderman

FLASH: ye. Give me a sec

Here are some

Her phone buzzed with the texts being received. Flash had sent seven sites that compiled different information on the hero. It ranged from any sightings around NYC to what was confirmed at his identity/powers and what was speculated. One of them had a list of all the people that had interacted with the hero one on one including their contact information.

Grabbing a notebook and some colored pens, Betty got to work. Her mission? To find out the possible age range for Spider-Man. With that being said, she first looked at all the sightings around New York and compiled them by time. If Spider-Man was in any type of school, there would always be a gap in sightings when he's in school.

Biting softly on a pencil's eraser, she thought, 'What seems to be a pattern…?'

Eyes widening, she started to notice something peculiar. Spider-Man was never sighted within the hours of 8 o'clock to 3 o'clock except for weekends and the summer. Her suspicions rising, she looked at the start and end of his summer mid-week sightings and compared it to the end of the last school year and the beginning of this one. Immediately, her suspicions were confirmed.

Spider-Man was in High School.

A superhero, someone who could lift probably the same as Captain America, could possibly be in her school?

WHAT?

…

After having gone downstairs to fix up a cup of tea for herself, Betty sighed and massaged her temples. She could be putting Spider-Man in danger… but she really wanted to prove herself at the Daily Bugle and this was something alright. Sightings aside though, how else could she test her theory, she pondered.

Looking back over the source material Flash had given her, she was tempted to call MJ to ask for a second opinion. Chewing numbly on her lip, she checked the time to see it was 1:22 AM. Deciding not to bother her this late at night, Betty crawled into bed still contemplating the implications of her findings.

The next day soon came, and with the start of school, Betty made her way numbly to her locker. Flash, for some reason, came up to her with a curious look upon his face.

"Hey Betty, did any of those articles I sent help at all? I'm friends with one of the creators so I could get in contact for you if want."

Straining her eyes to look him in the eyes, she muttered, "Oh I found something alright."

Eyes wide, Flash blurted out, "What! What is it? Oh my god, do you think he's an alien?!"

"No, Flash." Betty took a deep breath to finish gathering her thoughts. "I have a hunch-" here, she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Spider-Man might be a high schooler."

Flash stood shell-shocked as he flashed over who might be his very own idol. "That's- wow. Are you sure?"

Betty frowned, "I'm fairly confident, but I'm cautious about my conclusion. I wanted to ask MJ for a second opinion on the work I've done because I think I need to get more evidence beforehand to submit it for the Bugle."

Flash mumbled out, "Alright Bets. Remember I'm here to help, okay?"

Smiling up at him, Betty replied, "I know. Thanks again, Flash. I'll see about listing you as a contributor when I submit the article."

…

Finding MJ was tougher than Betty first thought it'd be. At first, she looked to Peter's lunch table, only to see none of them there. Rolling her eyes, she walked to the library to see if she was there. Luckily, MJ was sitting at one table with her backpack strewn lazily in front of her.

"Hey MJ, do you have a sec?"

"What is a second compared to our lifespans?"

Blinking, Betty mouthed words only to be stumped. "What?"

MJ looked up and grinned with her hazel eyes glistening. "I just thought of that, you know? What'chu need?"

"Oh! Right, well my internship is having me write a positive piece on Spider-Man, and I went for a more investigative one that I was hoping you could go over and help me out with."

"Sure, Peter and Ned are off trying to see whether the fourth or fifth Star Wars movie was better in nerdom so I have nothing better to do. Show me what you got."

Laying her notebook down gently on the table, MJ carefully read the time tables and ideas that splattered across it. Turning each page slowly, MJ's eyes darted back and forth over every page. With a grin on her face, she said, "I think you're on the right track. You need a bit more evidence to support your findings other than the time tables and you should be good."

Sighing in relief, Betty said, "Thanks. I was worried I was drawing conclusions from nothing, but I'm happy you seem receptive to the ideas I've come up with."

Grinning in silent mischief, MJ cheerfully said, "Don't mention it! Just make sure you get me a copy when it gets published."

"Well- I don't know, it might not get published. There's so many interns working on this same assignment but- okay. If it gets published in the Daily Bugle, I'll get a copy for you, deal?"

"Deal."

…

Coming back home, Betty worked arduously to come up with new evidence to support her theory. Going back to the articles Flash sent her, she scrolled through Tweets about the hero when one caught her eye.

David G. datboiG

Spidey has a really high pitched voice, huh? Almost thought he was Spider-Boy for a sec

Realization flashing in her eyes, she wrote down a few ideas to follow. Height, voice, build, mannerisms. Things that simply can't be hidden easily.

Pulling up that list of people who have had direct contact with Spider-Man, she saw thousands of phone numbers and emails to reach. Smiling, she drafted up a mass email to send, followed by her own personal cell in the sign-off. Hopefully she'll get to the bottom of this.

…

Penny Brant grumbled tiredly to herself as she settled in her armchair. Betty had been working non-stop for the past 24 hours, she even asked to be called in sick for school. Phone call after phone call, there seemed to be no end to Betty's predicament. At least, Penny thought, She's not off partying with some boys or whatnot. Her daughter had a goal, and she'd be damned if she didn't support her with the new internship.

…

Betty silently made her way through the halls of school, the world a blur around her. Anyone around her could possibly be a superhero in disguise. Evan from drama club… Garrett from her chemistry class…. Even Peter from Decathlon was suspect.

She had irrefutable evidence from so many different sources that all boiled down to support her own conclusion. Spider-Man was a high schooler. It's impossible for him to be 18, when she further reflected on it.

Fact: Spider-Man was on Team Iron Man during the Civil War. Ergo, he must support the Accords and what they stand for by proxy.

Fact: Spider-Man has yet to sign the Accords.

Fact: Spider-Man is never seen during high school hours.

Fact: Spider-Man sounds young, is somewhat short, and has very nervous mannerisms.

Fact: Minors cannot sign legal paperwork without a parent or guardian present.

The oldest Spider-Man could be right now is 17. The youngest, she supposed, could be as low as 14, but she was hoping he'd be 15 at least.

This whole theory of hers was absolutely insane. Who would believe her? Worse, what if they did? Would that put Spider-Man in harm's way? If he really is a teen, like her, he's probably keeping his identity a secret for a reason. The stress was starting to eat at her, but she was a woman on a mission. She had to polish up the article and send it in tonight for when she goes into the Bugle tomorrow. She'd get this done and prove herself beyond a doubt.

…

Friday as a school day was slow and senseless as Betty turned in all her paperwork from when she was absent on Wednesday. Quizzes were taken, movies were watched, and kahoot was played. Betty was exhausted from having worked incredibly hard on her first major assignment and tried to nap through some of her classes. MJ already let her off the hook for AcaDec so all she had after her last period was the meeting with Ms. Richards.

Walking back up the the communal intern floor, Betty sat numbly while other interns discussed their assignments glumly. One of them grabbed her attention, "Did you not find anything to write about?"

Scoffing, Betty replied, "I think I found too much."

With that final chatter, Lisa stepped into the room with a smile on her face. "I am incredibly happy with this group of interns. You all showed great strides and dedication with your pieces and I'm happy to say that all of you will be getting published at some point in the future. That being said, the first article that will be published is my personal favorite due to not only the incredible amount of evidence that was gathered, but for the extrapolation that followed. Please give a hand for Betty Brant everybody."

Applause rounded out the floor, causing Betty to glance in shock at her idol. "I- I won the competition?"

Laughing, Lisa replied, "Yes, dear. Your article was flawless and I'm more than happy to see it published as soon as possible. I'll send you more details for the opinion piece internship later this weekend, if you're interested. With that being said, I do believe I've yet to explain what her piece was on. Betty, would you mind explaining?"

Betty gathered her nerves before replying. "Of course, Ms. Richards. My article was about the identity of Spider-Man. Specifically, his age…"

As she continued explaining, the interns around her grew more and more impressed and awed that she connected together so many loose ends. A teenage superhero? No one would have ever guessed in a million years that would be possible.

…

The following Monday, her article was front news on the Daily Bugle and it was a resounding success. Taking a few copies for herself, Betty made her way to school and saw Flash by his locker.

"Here," she muttered as she walked past. "Thanks for starting me off in the right direction, Flash."

And there, listed under contributors was Flash Thompson.

Flash watched completely wide-eyed and speechless and Betty sauntered down the hall to find her next target.

…

Betty dropped the paper in front of MJ's eyes in the cafeteria without even saying a word. Walking off, she sat down with her own friends who were gushing about how cool it is that she wrote this article, and how awesome it was to have a teenage superhero.

MJ, on the other hand, flip the paper over and grinned evilly. Peter and Ned were both looking at her curiously, wondering what the exchange between the two was about.

MJ finally cracked, and said, "Hey Peter, take a look at this," as she threw the front page into his face. Tumbling it out of the way, and righting it, Peter saw the headline:

Spider-Man or Spider-Boy? The Teenage Superhero?

By Betty Brant

Gasping, Peter yelled, "What the-"

...