Jameson had just walked out of the room.
Apparently, he had parted ways with Mysterio on bad terms.
About half an hour earlier, he had arrived as arranged and had seen Mysterio wearing a helmet as soon as he entered the room.
Having seen many masked heroes, Jameson didn't mind that the other party was not showing his true face; what mattered more to him was the kind of information he would reveal and whether it aligned with some of his suspicions.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Mysterio. If there's no problem, let's get started now," he said.
Jameson started with some routine questions—where are you from, what kinds of abilities do you possess, what kind of dangerous events have you dealt with, and what kind of person do you think you are, and so forth.
Mysterio answered in a mess.
If Jameson were to use one word to describe this new superhero, it would be "deceptive."
Mysterio clearly wasn't being sincere. As an experienced media person, Jameson could very accurately feel that he was hiding something. And it was not the clever sort of hiding, but rather a mouthful of lies.
It seemed he indeed had a problem; Jameson confirmed this much. He knew all too well how to deal with such a lying individual. After asking the routine questions, Jameson began to gradually reveal his aggressiveness.
He didn't start with the space station issue right away. Following what Mysterio had said about his background—his so-called Elemental Power—Jameson continued with questions like when Mysterio obtained the power, how many types of powers he received, and how he usually trained these powers.
Through these questions, Jameson became more certain that this guy was not only a deceptive liar but also a foolish megalomaniac.
He said he had never undergone any training, his power was completely innate, he claimed his power had no weaknesses, no energy limit, and that the output was infinitely large. As long as he wanted, he could do anything.
Holding the first knife in his hand, Jameson asked, "So, what do you most want to do then?"
Mysterio of course responded, "I want to benefit the Earth, make people better, and end war, poverty, and chaos forever."
Sounds fine, right? Jameson sarcastically thought to himself. If it wasn't because he had interacted with other superheroes through Spider Man before, he might have believed it.
Is there really such a powerful force in this world?
The answer is yes, at least Jameson had personally encountered one such individual, known as the Scarlet Witch, Wanda.
It was during the shooting of a superhero documentary. As the documentary needed some publicity, they invited some reporters to meet these superheroes face-to-face. Because they were going to meet a large number of ordinary people all at once, they chose superheroes who were relatively good-tempered and friendly. Wanda was among them.
Some might think Wanda is a bit volatile, but that's only when she's dealing with her sister and father. She is considered the most socially apt member of the Lensherr family, even capable of earning rent by working in human society.
Wanda was patient with ordinary people, and she seemed to have an ability to see through human nature. She noticed some kind of understanding between Jameson and Spider Man, so she answered a few extra questions for Jameson.
Of course, what Jameson was most curious about were the abilities of this Mutant lady. And when he learned that Wanda could almost do anything, he wanted to know what she would most like to use her power for.
The answer was to create a world.
Indeed, Wanda wanted to create a brand new world—a world that inherently had no chaos or poverty, where humans had never experienced these issues, where every person living on Earth had been happy and content from birth.
Then, Jameson realized—these real superpower users see the current world as too decrepit. They don't want to mend it based on its current state; they hope and also have the capability to mold a world that has never known tragedy, rather than merely saving the current one.
They don't want to merely relieve suffering; they want to ensure that suffering never exists. They don't see themselves as mere saviors among humans; they outright consider themselves gods.
This was surprising, yet unexpectedly reasonable because you can imagine that beings with such formidable powers have long perceived the world differently than ordinary people. What ordinary people dare not think about, they dare; what ordinary people can't do, they can, thus naturally adopting a god-like perspective.
Undoubtedly, Jameson saw a sort of divine compassion in Wanda, and he had seen the same quality in Professor X and even Magneto.
The word "merciful" seemed forever inapplicable to that stern German man, but the fact is, they all possessed the same kind of transcendent, detached—even somewhat void and hollow—quality, all because they were too powerful.
Mysterio had none of this quality, and his perspective on issues was not what you would expect from a God of the World. Perhaps some powerful superpower users like Clark return to simplicity, but Mysterio clearly lacked such broad-mindedness after experiencing much.
Jameson had essentially confirmed his suspicion—the Mysterio here was a sham.
Jameson believed that someone else had saved the space station and could tentatively still be called "Mysterio," but it certainly wasn't the guy in the helmet before him.
Having confirmed his speculation, Jameson no longer showed mercy. He began to barrage Mysterio with questions about the details of the space station rescue, such as when he noticed something was off with the Elemental Power, how he identified where the Elementals would emerge, how he defeated the first monster, and how he removed the bomb and left with it.
Jameson's questioning technique was similar to the forms Shiller had Beck fill out, except Shiller was relatively gentler, and Jameson was quite aggressive, giving Mysterio no time to respond.
As a result, Mysterio's answers were a complete mess.
Although Jameson was not a professional Agent, he was an experienced journalist who managed to run a profitable newspaper in New York to this day. He might struggle with dangerous individuals, but he was spot on when dealing with ordinary people.
And Mysterio was not really a dangerous person; in fact, he was worse off than an ordinary person. He was in poor mental health now.
Since he had been injured, he had not had proper rest. During the days he lived with Shiller, not only did he have to fill out endless questionnaires and deal with the annoying psychiatrist, but Shiller also frequently caused accidents, preventing him from resting properly.
It was a relief to leave there, but then he was arrested and had to find evidence to justify his bail, a pressure so immense it nearly drove him mad.
The physical and mental torment had driven him to the brink of collapse, and now Mysterio was almost delirious.
In the latter part of the interview, Mysterio just rambled on, completely losing coherence. Jameson, on the other hand, was sharp and, although his questions seemed nonsensical and lacked a coherent internal logic, they completely disrupted Mysterio's already sparse responses, resulting in total incoherence.
Having obtained what he wanted, Jameson was not keen to stay any longer, but Mysterio, despite his compromised mental state, still had some wariness or perhaps the immense pressure forced him to be cautious. He wanted to see Jameson's notes.
Jameson would not show him. After all, having interviewed so many significant figures, none had ever asked to see his notes; not even the most unreasonable politicians dared to do so, as it could interfere with journalistic integrity.
Yet facing someone who looked dangerous and possibly irrational, Jameson, wisely protecting himself, handed over his notebook, which contained mostly accurate records and some embellishments, and successfully fooled Mysterio.
What Mysterio didn't know was that Jameson actually had no need to take notes using a pen. Having been a journalist for most of his life, he remembered every question he asked and every answer he received with absolute clarity.
Jameson continuously reviewed his haul from today in his mind. He had found more and more inconsistencies in Mysterio's statements, which were enough to expose this damned fraud.
Jameson walked out of the hotel where they had met; Mysterio followed closely behind. By this time, he had somewhat regained his senses and felt it was necessary to speak favorably to the journalist, enhancing his own image as powerful and benevolent, helping him stand his ground in public opinion.
The two exited the hotel one after the other but just then, Jameson saw a reflection flash across from a building. Turning his head, he saw a massive mechanical spider perched on the roof of the opposite building, appearing to be at least ten stories tall.
Jameson's eyes widened, and he stepped back in horror. He immediately thought of the mechanical spider monster that had blocked Mysterio during the live broadcast.
But wasn't the artificial intelligence crisis already resolved?! What was happening now?!
However, Mysterio was excited. To him, this was Stark's failed tactics emerging again; the two emoji monsters he had previously deployed had not caused effective damage, so now he had brought out their most advanced technology to suppress and threaten him.
With a cold snort, Mysterio thought, "This is perfect timing, just when I needed a pillow to sleep." He was worried about not getting a chance to demonstrate his mighty strength, but surely this monster wouldn't turn into emojis again.
This time it didn't, and the monster's design was exceptionally ferocious, its crawling movement like that of a true spider, terrifying the people on the street into frantic escape, while Jameson raised his camera.
The mechanical spider, although massive, moved extremely fast, almost instantaneously reaching Mysterio. Just as he was about to control his drone, Mysterio froze.
The drone's signal was interrupted.
Disbelieving, Mysterio looked at his arm, where there was a screen visible only to him. All the lit red dots had turned gray, signifying that his drones were out of control.
"This can't be possible!" Mysterio roared, struggling to calm his panic. He activated his earpiece and whispered urgently, "Sofia! Sofia! What's wrong with my drones?!"
There was no response from Sofia's end.
"Dammit! Answer me, why don't my drones have a signal?! Answer me!!"
"Who are you?" A strange male voice came from the other side, which seemed busy with various sounds, including Sofia's shouting.
Mysterio panicked completely.
"Who are you? What have you done to Sofia?!"
"I am an Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent. Sofia Adra is now being detained for involvement in an international money laundering case and needs to head to a designated location for questioning. Whoever you are, we'll find you."
Mysterio's face turned ashen.