"For the last time, it wasn't me." Growled Stephen as the cop led him inside.
"It's true!" Sarah insisted, keeping pace with them. "He was trying to stop that guy! I was there!"
"Not my job." Said the cop, and cuffed Stephen's hand to the nearest chair. "Now wait here, I've gotta check something."
Sarah sighed. Stephen sighed. Stephen pulled his hand away from the chair and the cuff slipped off his wrist instantly.
Sarah blinked. "How'd you do that?"
Stephen smiled thinly. "Broke my hand during the first week of my training. Turned out it was a blessing in disguise, because I can pop my thumb and forefinger in and out of their sockets. There isn't a cuff made that I can't get out of now."
Sarah grimaced. "Isn't that painful?"
Stephen nodded. "Not as much as when I pop them back…" he grunted loudly. "In."
Sarah sighed. "What now?"
"Well, you can go home if you like. I'll get Peter to find the Bail-Card and get me out of here."
"Nah." Sarah smiled. "I'll stick around. This could take a wile and you could use somebody to t-"
"Gwen?" Stephen wasn't listening. He was looking over at a blonde coming out of an office. She heard him and turned around as he stood up.
"Stephen!" The blonde blurted joyfully, and practically jumped at him.
Stephen, who was suddenly sporting a humongous smile, met her halfway, and they were hugging each other tightly.
Sarah blinked. Stephen was smiling. Not grinning, smiling. He was hugging someone.
The pair parted. They were still smiling, holding each other at the waist, when Stephen leaned forward and gave the woman a quick kiss.
Sarah blinked again. He kissed her. It was a friendly kiss, not a loving one, but still he was so casual and easy about it.
"Gwen Stacy." Stephen beamed. "It's so good to see you. How have you been? You look great!"
"It's so good to see you too!" She beamed back. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, uh…I'm under arrest." He said blithely, as he gestured at the cuffs, still attached to chair behind him.
Gwen laughed delightedly and ruffled his hair. "Must be Tuesday. Who is this?" She was pointing at Sarah, who was looking the blonde up and down self-consciously.
"Gwen, this is…uh…this is…" Awkward Beat. "Sarah! This is Sarah Branson!"
"Girlfriend?" Gwen enquired.
"No."
"Good." Gwen beamed playfully and they both laughed. Gwen held out her hand. "Gwen Stacy."
"Sarah Branson." Sarah shook her hand, checked the hand she held. No agent ring. "How do you know Stephen?"
"You didn't mention me?" Gwen spun on Stephen, who still had a hand around her waist. "I'm crushed!" She turned back to Sarah. "He doesn't tell anybody about me, he's ashamed of me, you see."
"I am; she's horrible." Stephen announced jokingly.
Gwen swatted him with another laugh. "How long has it been?"
"Three or four years at least."
"Really?" She seemed surprise. "I thought you were out getting coffee."
"People lose all sense of time and space when I'm around." Stephen joked.
"Well we have catching up to do." Gwen announced. "Take me to lunch. Somewhere sinfully expensive, you're paying." Stephen smiled warmly and led the way.
He still has his arm around her waist. Sarah noted distantly. "Stephen!" She said, just a little too sharply.
Stephen turned to look. "Oh I'm sorry, I'm being rude. You're welcome to come with us Sarah."
I would rather have a tarantula lay eggs in my ear. Sarah thought distantly. Aloud she said: "No, that's okay. Somebody should be here to explain to the cops where you've gone."
Stephen suddenly remembered himself. "Oh that's right, I've been arrested." He looked at Gwen. "Raincheck?"
"Let me see if I can help speed this along." She went back into the office.
Stephen was still smiling when he noticed Sarah giving him the look. "What?"
"Old girlfriend? Or current one?"
Stephen shook his head. "Neither! She's just a friend."
Gwen had come back out. "Don't let him fool you. I'm carrying his baby." She told Sarah conspiratorially.
"You can't prove that!" Stephen fired back. "And until you swear to Obey, and that bit about for richer or poorer, I don't care."
Gwen laughed and pointed back toward the office she came out of. "They'll be ready for you in a sec."
"This'll probably take a while. Coffee later?"
Gwen shook her head. "No. But I'll meet you for dinner."
Stephen gave her another hug. "It's a date."
Sarah wished to die.
A cop poked his head out of the office. "Cranston."
Stephen quickly sat down and slapped the cuff around his wrist again. "Right here."
The cops came and took him away. Gwen smiled and turned to Sarah. "It was nice meeting you Sarah." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the office as she headed away. "Keep both eyes on him. He's a sneak, but he's my own personal superhero."
"I used to think so too." Sarah muttered uncomfortably.
The minute she was out of sight, Sarah pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed Peter. "Pete? Who's Gwen Stacy?"
"Gwen Stacy?" he sounded stunned. "How do you know Gwen Stacy?"
"More important, how does Stephen know her?"
"Stephen knows Gwen Stacy?!"
Scene Break
The Cobalt Club knew Stephen Cranston well. So well in fact, that when he arrived at the door with a blonde on his arm, the maitre'D didn't even blink before politely asking the occupants of the best table to get up and leave.
Stephen tipped him and held the seat out for Gwen, who sat down with a smile.
"So, if I order wine would it be violating your parole?" Gwen teased.
"Oh please," Stephen laughed. "Like I actually get charged with anything." He ordered some drinks, and the two sat down, gazing at each other with nostalgic grins.
"You always were good at dodging the law."
"I have two trust funds. One for me, one for property damages."
The two laughed.
"Speaking of the law, what were you doing there today anyway?"
"Looking up some old friends of my dad."
"I thought your dad was at the Turtle Bay precinct."
Gwen blinked. "Huh?"
"I said I thought-"
"Oh, he was, but some of his coworkers have been transferred since then."
Stephen looked nostalgic. "Lot's of changes since then."
"I know, when I saw you this afternoon, I started thinking about some of them. You know one of the best?"
"What's that?"
"You're now totally and completely stinking rich." Gwen said plainly.
"And being so responsibly." Stephen said snobbishly.
"Responsibly? Remember the time you stole your school principal's moustache?"
Stephen burst out laughing. "You dared me!"
"I just want to know how an eighth grader gets the senior faculty so drunk that he cant feel his own moustache being cut off his face."
"Where's there's a will, there's a way." Answered a voice.
"At least where Stephen's concerned." Added another.
Gwen turned around in her seat to see Peter and MJ grinning at her. Gwen jumped to her feet. "Peter! MJ! I don't believe it!" "
Peter laughed. "Gwen Stacy, this is your life!"
Stephen's jaw dropped. "You all know each other?"
MJ grinned. "The three of us went to high School together."
Peter looked at Stephen. "Sarah calls and asks me how you know Gwen Stacy and you could knock me over with a feather."
MJ looked between Peter and Gwen. "Come to think of it, didn't you two used to date once?"
"Yep." Gwen confirmed. "We broke up when I realized he was still pining over you."
Stephen burst out laughing.
MJ grinned at Peter. "You could have said something."
"Well you were dating the Quarterback at the time." Gwen pointed out.
MJ grinned at Gwen. "He tried to get your attention with a motorbike as I recall." MJ fired back with a grin.
Stephen spat out a mouthful of his drink in shock. "Peter." Stephen repeated blankly. "Had a motorcycle."
MJ and Gwen were cackling heartlessly. Peter shrank into his chair.
"Was it a good motorcycle at least?" Stephen asked Gwen.
"Nope." Both women responded.
"None of us had the nerve to tell him so, he just looked so proud of it!" Gwen explained.
The three of them burst out laughing again.
The band across the room started playing soft jazz.
Gwen glanced at Stephen. "Don't suppose you learned to dance while my back was turned?"
"Afraid not."
Gwen glanced at Peter and MJ. MJ nodded with a smile and peter stood up.
Leaving Stephen and MJ at the table watching them.
MJ grinned broadly at Stephen. "I can't believe you're friends with Gwen Stacy." he look turned coy. "You are just friends right?"
"MJ..." Stephen warned.
Scene Break
Sarah studied her screen intently. "Gwen Stacy." She muttered to herself. "Graduated high school, decent grades, got in trouble for fighting and causing trouble in class, sounds like Stephen's type.
She knew that she shouldn't be really checking up on Stephen's friends, but she thought she knew all his friends. She'd been inside his head after all!
No you weren't. A little voice nagged at her. You got inside his mind when you awakened, but every time you got close to something he forced you out remember? He didn't see half of your life either, just little pieces of it.
Sarah squashed that little spark of guilt. "I'm not checking up on her, I'm just being a good agent, looking to see if there's anything that I need to worry about. Anything that The Shadow needs to worry about. I might find out something about her that Stephen doesn't already know." She let out a breath. "And then I might sprout wings and fly around the room."
She was about to switch of the computer, when she found a Headline from an old edition of the Daily bugle.
"Spiderman Murders NYPD Detective." She glared hard at the screen, then went back to her notes. "Father a cop, killed on duty...by Spiderman. Linked Spiderman to Stephen have you Blondie? Not on my watch." She yanked out her cell phone, dialed Stephen. Switched off. Dialed MJ. Switched off. Dialed Peter. Switched off.
"Oh Come on!" She complained. Sighing, she put her phone away. "Okay, get a grip Sarah, Peter's not a murderer, and Jameson blames Spiderman for Global Warming. There's probably nothing to this. Fine. Fine. It'll keep one night."
She snatched up her jacket and headed for the door.
Scene Break
"I had a great time tonight." Peter told Gwen and Stephen. "It was great to see you."
Gwen gave him and MJ a hug. "It was great seeing you too."
Peter and MJ get into the cab and drove off. Moe's cab pulled up seconds later. Stephen opened the door. "It was a good night." Stephen said.
"It was."
Long beat. The two of them stood, at the door to Moe's cab, staring silently at each other.
"Is the night over yet?" Stephen asked softly.
Long beat. Now that the question was asked, neither wanted to be the first to break the silence.
Finally, with a shy grin, Gwen spoke first. "Do you still keep the cookies on the top shelf back at that castle of yours?"
Stephen made a show of carefully considering. "Pierre seems to have forgotten that I'm tall enough to reach now."
"Does he still make them with eight kinds of chocolate?"
Stephen gave a broad smile. "Oh yeah."
"Let's go."
Gwen pushed past Stephen and got in first.
Moe, who had been following the conversation, saw her in the rearview mirror. "I know that face!" The cabbie cracked cheerfully.
"Hi Moe." She answered warmly. "You still follow this clown around?"
"Lady, he's putting my kids through college."
"You have kids?"
"No, but they're already set for life."
Scene Break
Several minutes later, at the entrance to Cranston Manor, Stephen got out of the cab and led the way to the door. "I did not!"
"You did so!" Gwen shot back. "You had it planned like a military strike. For crying out loud, it was a cookie jar!"
"As I recall, you were right there claiming your share of the spoils."
"Well you couldn't do it alone. The staff was onto you."
Stephen laughed as Gwen suddenly stopped walking. "Is Andrew still your butler?"
"Yep." Stephen said with a grin.
"Ah." Gwen started trying to walk backwards. Stephen moved faster and started dragging her forward. "No. Changed my mind. It's getting late!"
"Come on."
"Please!" Gwen begged. "You know that old monster hates me!"
The door opened, and Andrew immediately noticed Gwen. "Good evening Miss Stacy."
"Hi Andrew."
Stephen grinned. "Gwen's staying here tonight, Andrew."
"Yes sir. I shall remove the Ming Dynasty pitcher from the guest room at once."
"It was an accident!" Gwen shouted after him, and then glared at Stephen. "Told you."
Scene Break
Six hours later, Stephen was studying reports from his agents in his library. There was a light knock. Checking his watch he answered it, and in came Gwen, wearing a terrycloth robe. She was carrying a tray with two mugs and a plate of cookies. "Hey."
Stephen looked at his watch. "It's four am. Thought you went to bed hours ago."
"I did. Bed's as soft as I remember it."
"Still have insomnia then?"
"I could say the same."
"I don't sleep."
"So, what are you doing?"
Stephen quietly slipped a few notes out of sight. "Nothing important."
Gwen nodded. "You're lying." She said easily.
"Excuse me?"
"You always lie about the same thing. What you're working on, and where you go all night."
Stephen didn't deny it. "I have my reasons."
"I know." She set down the tray on the desk. "Thought you might like the company. And the hot chocolate."
Stephen smiled. "Thanks."
Gwen picked a book off the shelf and sat down; Stephen went back to the reports. After a moment, he was smiling again. "Just like old times."
"Yeah." She looked back at the book and started reading from it quietly. "What happens if, too early...
we lose a parent...
that party on whom we rely
for only everything?
What did these people do
when their families shrank?
They cried their tears,
but then they did the vital thing:
They built a new family, person by person.
They came to see
that family need not be defined...
merely as those
with whom they share blood...
but as those for whom..."
"They would give their blood." Stephen finished. "Charles Dickens."
Gwen wasn't smiling anymore. She closed the book firmly. "Did I ever thank you for taking me in when dad died?"
Long silence. Stephen finally came over and sat down next to her, neither of them looking at each other. "Did I ever thank you for being my family when my parents died?"
Gwen looked down. "Did I ever apologize for all those things I said about you last time we spoke?"
"Did I ever apologize for not talking to you for four years?"
Long silence.
Gwen slid over and leaned into him. Stephen put an arm around her and hugged her back. "I saw you today, and I didn't even remember what we were fighting about." He said quietly.
Gwen tightened the hug. "I was mad at you for writing stories about Spiderman."
"Spiderman didn't kill your father Gwen."
"I wish I knew for sure..." She sighed. "Spiderman was such a new thing then. Everybody was reacting without thinking."
"Gwen, Spiderman is a hero. He's not a cop, but he's not a bad person."
"That's what you said last time." Gwen said into his shoulder. "I was so awful to you then..."
"I don't want to fight with you any more." Stephen said quietly.
"Me neither."
They stayed that way for a while. Neither of them wanted to interrupt the peaceful moment, looking out the window over New York, listening to each other breath.
Feeling himself drift, Stephen spoke. "I'm really glad we're friends again sis."
"Me too, little brother."
Gwen yawned. Stephen yawned. "We should sleep."
Stephen considered that as his eyelids drooped. "Would that involve getting up?"
Gwen had her eyes shut against his shoulder. "Nah."
Scene Break
"All right detective, you can talk to him, but I promise you aren't going to get anything you don't have already."
"Mr. Cranston, somebody ripped that place. With all due respect, there are a lot more bodies than just your brother and his wife. This is one of the messiest bits of mob violence in ten years and that kid is the only survivor."
Stephen shrank further into his chair. He hated this place. Hated it. He hated everything.
Victor picked up on it. "Is there somewhere we can talk... without Stephen listening?"
Detective Stacy glanced down sympathetically at Stephen. "Sure. You can wait here kid." he looked back at Victor. "Speaking in the interview room won't intimidate you too much would it?"
"I don't intimidate easily."
They left Stephen in the office. He stared at the floor for a while.
It seemed like a long time when the door opened and in came a young girl about Stephen's age, carrying a school backpack. She looked at him. "You're not my dad."
Stephen looked up. Didn't speak.
She smiled at him. "I know you. You're picture was in the paper. My dad got your case. He was supposed to meet me here."
"You're detective Stacy's daughter?"
She nodded. "I'm Gwen."
"I'm Stephen."
Long silence.
"My mom died too." She said quietly.
"When?"
"Few months ago."
Silence.
Gwen pulled a lunchbox out of her bag. "Want a cookie?"
Scene Break
Stephen woke up, still on the lounge. Gwen was gone. Andrew had opened the curtains. "Morning Andrew."
"Good Morning Sir. Miss Stacy is in the dining room."
Stephen smirked. "She's still scared of you."
"It was a very expensive vase sir."
"I've broken plenty of more expensive stuff than that. Victor did too." Stephen noted as he straightened his sleep wrinkled clothes.
"Yes sir."
Stephen sighed and made his way to the dining room, where Gwen was eating breakfast. "Morning."
"Morning. Did you sleep?"
"Enough. You?"
"I don't sleep."
"Yeah. You don't drool when you snore either." Gwen teased.
Stephen started speaking very loudly. "That's okay Gwen; the stains are so small I'm sure Andrew won't notice them."
Gwen's smile dropped. "That's not funny! Why would you think that's funny! That's not funny!"
Stephen chuckled and the two stated eating.
After a while Gwen pushed her plate aside and leaned across the table to look at Stephen. "About last night..."
"Yeah?"
"I was thinking about what you said... Are you sure Spiderman didn't kill my dad?"
"I am absolutely positive."
"And you still aren't going to tell me now you know?"
"I can't."
Gwen nodded, having expected this answer. "Okay. I trust you, but I just wish I could be sure. There aren't any other suspects..."
"Gwen..."
"I overheard some of my dad's old partners talking yesterday...at the station... they say that somebody wants to kill Spiderman."
"Somebody always wants to kill the masked men."
"Seriously...they say that there's a new villain making noise about killing him."
Stephen thought for a minute, then set down his coffee cup. "Tell me what you know?"
"Not much, I was eavesdropping at the time. They said that a pair of cops got put in hospital a few days ago by a guy who called himself...Shock or 'The Shock' or something."
"Sounds like a Mask type to me." Stephen commented.
"Me too. They said that he was demanding information about Spiderman. Where to find him, that sort of thing."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Gwen looked down. "Well... before yesterday... the last time we spoke..."
Stephen's face hardened. "I remember."
Gwen looked at him. "I thought... maybe if you had some friends form back then that might be interested... and if you were sure about Spiderman being a good guy, then maybe you could get word to the right people."
Stephen nodded. "I'll take care of it."
Gwen nodded. "Okay then."
Andrew came in. "Miss Branson to see you sir."
Stephen looked at Gwen, still in the silk dressing gown with a moment of panic. "Um. Send her in."
Gwen gave a huge grin at the reaction. "No. Surely not. Don't tell me you've finally gotten over that two-timing blonde and actually found yourself a girlfriend, little brother."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
Sarah came in, and saw Gwen. "Oh."
"Morning Sarah." Stephen began.
Gwen smiled brightly at Sarah who was still staring at her. "Hi again."
Sarah nodded politely. "Miss Stacy."
"Call me Gwen."
"Okay."
Gwen grinned at the look of discomfort on Stephen's face and stood up. "I should get dressed."
Once she was gone Sarah turned a look that would freeze lava on Stephen.
Stephen held up her hands. "It was late, I wasn't about to send her out into the night that early, she's stayed over plenty of times."
"Yes, she seemed quite at home." Sarah commented icily.
"I've got fourteen bedrooms in this place you know."
Sarah nodded, as though she knew this all along. "Yes. Of course."
Stephen changed the subject. "Listen, there's something I need you to do. Have Peter help you."
"Okay."
"Somebody's after Spiderman, sounds like a super-villain. Two coops were put in hospital last night. Track that down and see if there's any truth in it, then have Peter run down the usual sorts of hideouts, then report back."
Sarah sighed. "I should have known not to have come over on a Saturday morning."
"Then why did you?"
Sarah glanced at the doorway Gwen had gone through. "Nothing important."
"I can do it if you have something important to do."
"Nah, I was going to see if MJ was up for a movie or something." Sarah broke off, as Gwen came back in.
"So," Gwen said brightly. "So, what shall we do today?"
"I'm working." Stephen said.
"It's Saturday."
"Not in Europe. I have to be in for a conference call."
"Oh."
Gwen's cell phone started ring, and she pulled it out of her jacket. "Hello? MJ! Yeah. I had a great time too. No, I'm not doing anything. Love to. In an hour? Great. See you then." She hung up. "I'm going shopping with MJ."
"Have fun."
Gwen smiled at Sarah. "Care to join us? We can gossip about Stephen all day."
"Um, maybe another time, I have work to do as well."
Gwen sent Stephen a look. "You two are a good pair."
Stephen swatted her as she left.
Scene Break
"So, tell me more about Gwen." Sarah pressed.
"There's not much more than I've told you already, we went to school together, MJ, her and me. I dated her twice, lost track of her after graduation, and haven't heard from her since until last night. Why are you so worked up about this?"
"I don't know her, I don't trust her, and I don't trust how Stephen's so taken with her."
"I admit, I'm a little stunned by that too." He stopped and checked the admission records at the front desk. "Look, her mom died long time ago, and her dad was a cop, killed on the line about eight weeks after I became Spiderman."
"I know. Her dad was the detective assigned to Stephen's parents when they died."
"Really?"
"You didn't know?"
"I told you, I only met up with her again last night."
Sarah was opening and closing her fists at her sides. "She's been working part time as a waitress, doing modeling jobs, and living off her father's pension."
Peter was staring at her.
Sarah didn't notice. She was talking to herself. "Her father, that's the key. That's the point." She spun on Peter. "Was he an agent?"
"I don't know. Victor was the Shadow then, and Stephen was what, eight?"
"Yeah."
"Why don't you ask him?"
"I'm... not ready to do that yet."
Peter grinned broadly. "Jealous?"
"NO!"
"Can I help you?" Asked the nurse, heading into the room ahead of them.
"We're here to see Officer's Crane and Poole." Peter told her.
"I'll see if they're up to visitors." The nurse told them.
"Thank you." As the Nurse went into the room, Peter turned back to Sarah. "It's okay to admit it." Peter assured her.
"I'm not jealous!"
"I ask, because you seem to know an awful lot about someone you don't know and don't care about."
Sarah ducked her head. "I'm not jealous, because he say's he's not dating her, so there's nothing to be jealous of." Sarah said bluntly.
"He's not dating you either." Peter pointed out. "So Gwen shouldn't be jealous either."
"Right!" Pause. "W-Why would Gwen be jealous?!" Sarah snapped.
The nurse came back to the hallway. "They're on some pretty heavy painkillers, and they're drifting in and out of consciousness. They can see you, but be patient huh?"
"Will do."
Scene Break
Detective Stacy picked his daughter up from school. "How was your day?"
"Good" Gwen said. "We worked on history today."
His car phone rang. "Hello?" He put the phone in his shoulder and reached for a pen. "Yeah. Stankowitz? What the hell was Cranston doing working for him?"
Gwen looked up at the name 'Cranston'.
"No, I'm in the area, I'll run it down." he hung up. "I'm sorry sweetie, but we've got to make a detour before we go home."
"Okay."
Twenty Minutes later they were at Cranston manor. Gwen got out first, and saw Stephen in the window. She waved. He waved back.
Andrew opened the door for them. "Good afternoon detective."
"Afternoon Andrew." he glanced at the car. "Go back to the car Gwen."
"Detective." Victor said, appearing at the door. "Forgive me for not inviting you in, but after this long, I loathe the sight of you. What can I do for you?"
"I need to ask you a few more questions."
"This isn't a good time, and with all due respect, LET IT GO!"
"About your late brother's recent employment."
Gwen smothered a grin. Her dad was playing the cop handbook step by step. "Now Mr. Cranston, we can do this here, or we can do this downtown."
Victor didn't even blink. "Okay, let's go downtown."
Gwen almost burst out laughing. Her dad was now on the defensive. "Okay, let me drop Gwen off at-"
"She can stay here." Victor said shortly. "This'll probably take a while."
"No."
"Its okay dad, I don't mind." Gwen told him.
As the two left, Andrew took her bag and her jacket. "I'm Gwen."
"How do you do? My name is Andrew. Is there anything I can do for you until your father returns?"
"Where's Stephen?"
"Right this way."
Stephen was hunched over some papers, scribbling things down when Gwen came in. "Hi."
"Hi." Stephen returned without looking up. "Do you know the atomic number of polyurethane?"
"Uh...no."
Stephen shrugged. "Okay."
"Your butler didn't know my name."
"He never asked before. This is the first time you've been here by yourself."
"True." She grinned. "By the way, Elaine still hasn't figured out that I keep slipping out after dark."
Stephen laughed. "Told you. If she ever catches you, just mention my name."
Gwen smiled. "Got a reputation huh?"
"A well earned one. When's you dad's next night shift?"
"Friday."
"The movies again?"
"I'll meet you there."
"Good." He put down his pen. "So, what now?"
"You tell me."
"You hungry?"
"Sure."
"We're gonna have to get past the kitchen staff to do it."
"How do we do that?"
Stephen held up a hand drawn floor plan of the kitchen. "I have a plan."
And an hour later, they were hiding in one of the guest rooms, sitting on the floor behind the bed, with the cookie jar between them. "That was fun!" Gwen said.
"It worked well enough." Stephen said quietly, and pulled out a cookie.
"You're so serious all the time." Gwen said, and ruffled his hair. "I'll grant you, stealing cookies from Frenchmen and slipping out to the movies past babysitters is how Bonnie and Clyde got their start, but look where that got them!"
"Have a cookie."
There was silence as they munched. "Why does your dad still follow my case so close after all this time?"
"He wants to catch the man that killed your parents." Gwen looked troubled. "Don't you want him to?"
Stephen looked like a deer in headlights suddenly.
The phone rang.
"My dad saying he's gonna be late." Gwen guessed.
"My uncle telling Andrew to make sure I eat something with vegetables." Stephen countered.
"Got a TV?"
"In the study. I've got homework to do though."
"So do I."
Another three hours and the two were working after dinner. "Do you know the chemical makeup of kitchen bleach?"
"No." Gwen said plainly then started reading aloud from her book. "He scratched the back of his neck and began to dress. He put on a thin white union-suit, grey socks, black garters, and dark brown shoes. When he had fastened his shoes he picked up the telephone, called Graystone 4500, and ordered a taxicab. He put on a green-striped white shirt, a soft white collar, a green necktie, the grey suit he had worn that day, a loose tweed overcoat, and a dark grey hat. The street-door-bell rang as he stuffed tobacco, keys, and money into his pockets." She broke off, embarrassed. "Sorry."
"It's okay."
"We're studying styles of writing in school. Still can't quite figure this one out. I mean, do we really need to know what he was wearing that much?"
"Yes." Stephen said coldly. "The details make it a mystery, because in any mystery, it's the details that don't fit which mean something. Don't worry. Not everybody needs to know how. You can use my notes."
"You did this book for your school?"
"No, I read the book." Stephen explained, went to the bookshelf, and pulled a notebook down. It was full of his notes. "Wanted to solve the mystery."
Gwen stared at the barely pre-teen boy and the notebook full of detailed notes. "Freak boy."
Stephen looked at her. "Y'know, nobody ever talks to me like this. Why do you?"
She gestured at the family photo on the wall. "Because you never had a big sister and you really could have used one."
Stephen seemed to take that far too seriously. "You have any brothers?"
"No."
"Think you could use one?"
"Sure."
Stephen smiled. "Keep reading. Maltese Falcon is a good book."
Scene Break
Gwen woke up sharply. "Ow!"
The manicurist looked up with the heavy emery board. "Sorry."
MJ glanced over from the next chair. "You seemed to be pretty relaxed over there."
Gwen smiled. "MJ, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Have you ever made a mistake, and held onto it so long, that you just can't believe you were ever wrong?"
MJ smiled sadly. "I invented the feeling."
"What do you do?"
"What anyone does. I try to make it right." Long silence. "You talking about anything in particular?"
"Stephen. I made such a mess of that four years ago."
MJ looked shrewdly at her. "What's the story there anyway?"
Gwen thought for a moment. "Okay. You know that Spiderman killed my dad right?"
MJ reacted. "What?"
"Yeah. In was pretty broken up about it too, spent every night getting drunk and every day throwing up. Stephen sort of took me in."
"You can't tell me that Stephen just ran into you in the street one day..."
Gwen smiled. "No. Not like that at all."
Scene Break
Peter led the way into the room. The two police officers, surrounded by flowers and get well cards were sitting up in bed, covered in bandages and casts.
"Officer Crane?" Peter said quietly. "My Name is Peter Parker, and this is Sarah Branson; We're with the New York Classic."
"We'd like to ask you some questions. If you're up for it."
"Yeah." Croaked Officer Crane. "It's like this, Poole and I were walking the beat last night, when we saw two men meeting in an Alleyway. Something about it seemed illegal, the way they stood, the way they glanced around, that sort of thing. We went to take a look, and when we got there, all of a sudden there was only one guy. We started to talk to him, when suddenly this... I don't even know what to call it."
"It was like a massive vibration. I could feel it shaking my wisdom teeth!" Poole added. "I felt blood coming out of my nose, and then it all goes black. When I wake up, we're down on the ground, and this guy, wearing a full mask and matching costume, is talking to the first guy, about how to track down Spiderman."
"Right. I remember that." Crane agreed. "Then, I think I make some noise, and he spins around, then we get hit with that vibration again, and the last thing I remember is my body getting picked up and thrown into a wall."
"Did you recognize either of them?"
"The muscleman was masked like I said, but the other guy looked kinda like a pawn broker slash loan shark in the Bronx named Max."
"Max?" Peter said, stunned.
Scene Break
"Max?" Stephen said in shock. "He's not the type to get his hands dirty, he's strictly a behind the scenes man!"
"Well not last night apparently." Peter said into the phone. "And you know what else? The MO doesn't match anything I recognize. I got a look at the x-rays? There are micro fractures across every single bone in their bodies. Nothing too serious, but they're everywhere. My guess is it was those vibrations they're talking about. Like when an Opera singer can shatter a crystal glass with a high note."
"How dangerous would that be as a weapon?"
"A blast like that would be easy enough to recover from, but a sustained blast could cause mini aneurysms, maybe shatter bone, definitely be enough to toss you around a fair bit. A higher power blast could be enough to wreck buildings, knock out power sources..."
"Sounds like we have to take this one fast, before he decides to make a grand entrance."
"Agreed. Max seems like the best place to start."
Sarah leaned closer to Peter so that Stephen could hear her through the cell phone. "If Max has been ID' by two cops, isn't he about to be arrested any second anyway?"
"Two cops, who have been beaten to within an inch of their life, see a guy when they're only half conscious, in a dark alley, and you'll have four people swearing that Max was with them at the time?"
"That's what he said Stephen!" Peter insisted on the other end of the phone. "And you know something? The way he described the attack, either it was a bushwack, or it was an incredible coincidence."
"Max was bait?"
"Which means he knows who this guy is, or at least, a way to contact him."
"Peter, I can get to Max in about ten minutes. Meet me there."
"Right."
Sarah pulled the phone over. "Stephen? There's something about this that just doesn't sit right. If you needed us to track this down for you, then how'd you find out?"
"Gwen tipped me off. Said she overheard-"
"Gwen?" Sarah blurted, and pulled Peter's cell phone over closer. "You're following this whole thing because of Gwen?"
"Yes. Yes Sarah, nothing but the word of Gwen, and two horribly wounded cops lying in hospital beds right now."
Sarah shut her eyes against the wave of embarrassment. "Sorry."
"Race you there Pete."
Scene Break
Spiderman sat on the side of a skyscraper, about forty five stories high, with the breeze blowing gently. "Y'know, it's nice to get away from it all for a while. Down there, everything's in such a rush, everybody hurrying back and forth, working themselves up... that's not healthy, it's no way to live." He looked below him "You know what I mean?"
Hanging upside down about ten feet below him on the end of a webline, Max looked at the ground far beneath, and finally gathered the air needed to let out a shriek of pure terror.
"Yes sir." Spiderman continued, oblivious. "You've gotta take the time to rise above all that. You get up here, it makes all the tension, all the chaos seems kind of trivial."
Max starting clawing at the window behind him, kicking and punching madly. Miraculously, the window opened, and max was able to clamber in.
Breathing hard from the panic, max scrambled away from the window...
...only to find The Shadow waiting for him.
Max stared for a second, considered his choices, and then decided to jump out the window.
Max moved fast fore the window. The Shadow moved faster for Max, and pinned him hard to the wall. "I don't know what you're after, I'm not involved I swear!" he screamed.
"You're making friends with cop killers now Max?"
"Nobody died!" Max protested helplessly.
"I thought you didn't know anything." Hissed The Shadow.
"Oh help." Moaned Max.
"Who is he?"
"His Name's Shocker." Max explained.
Spiderman appeared at the window. "And why does he want to kill me?"
"Because you're Spiderman of course. Your a Superhero, he's a super villain, it's what you guys do!"
"Well, he's an amateur if he doesn't know to meet you away from beat cops."
"He does." The Shadow hissed. "And if he doesn't, Max would. It was a trap wasn't it?"
"He was told that if he hit somebody like a cop, you two would be onto it."
"Told by you?"
"No! Not by me! By the Marocini's."
"The Marocini family?" Spiderman said in surprise. "What have we done to annoy them lately?"
"Nothing lately. But they know better than to attack cops if it could be traced to them."
"That wasn't their idea and it wasn't mine!" Max swore. "The Marocini's are paying for his toys, but that's all. They wanted him to pay them a cut of everything he took. That's why I was meeting with him, to set that up."
"So this guy plans to be the big super villain in town, so he wants to kill me first just to make himself look good, but for whatever reason he needs money."
"To build his equipment." Max said. "Somebody told him to go to the Marocini's, said they were looking for a new enforcer."
"They pay this guy, and he starts looking for Spiderman, gets tipped off that hitting a cop or two would be a good way to get our attention."
"Right."
"So where is he?" The Shadow demanded.
"Somewhere in the Warehouse district. He has a workshop there."
"Okay Max, thanks for the help." The Shadow picked Max up and dusted him off. "We're going to go run this down now, and if I find you've lied to us, or if one of those two cops dies, I'm going to send three of your toes to the Marocini's, and I'm going to make you pick which three."
Max swallowed as the two heroes vanished.
Scene Break
"So who do you think the one pulling strings is?"
"The one tipping Shocker where to find money, find bait?" The Shadow guessed. "If I had to guess I'd say maybe one of Kingpin's people. If we're unlucky, maybe Harry Osborn. Most likely it's a new guy. Doesn't matter really. Plenty of middlemen around. Nobody likes to get their hands dirty directly, so there are plenty of people looking to earn favors without actually getting involved."
"Fine with me, middlemen usually play both sides."
"Yeah. Think this is it?"
"I do. Why is it always a warehouse?" Spiderman asked The Shadow.
"Beats me."
Scene Break
Sitting in the middle of the warehouse, watching a small television was a man in a trench coat and hat.
A wicked attuned laugh ran out and he was on his feet in a heartbeat, he discarded the hat. His entire head was covered in a mask which allowed only his eyes to show.
The trench coat was gone in the same instant. His costume matched the mask exactly in a grid of yellow padding, with thin black wires crisscrossing his entire body, with heavy black boots, belt and gloves. Completing the look were two huge, elaborate silver gauntlets that covered his knuckles and wrapped around his forearms.
Spiderman landed on the wall above him, looking down at this new foe.
"So...you must be... Quilt-man." Spiderman mocked. "Captain Couch! No, no, wait! I've got it." Dramatically, he gestured with expansive gestures, as he intoned melodramatically, "The Cushion!"
Static electricity crackled around the silver gauntlets he wore. "I'm the Shocker. I'd tell you not to forget the name, but in a few seconds you're going to be nothing more than dust and tooth fillings."
He lifted his fists and pointed them at Spiderman, as a blast of power hurtled up at the Arachno-human. Spiderman leaped clear as the wall ripped open savagely under the blast.
The Shadow leaped at Shocker from behind and crash tackled him into the desk. Both got upright very quickly. The Shadow threw the first punch and it landed against Shockers padded chin. The Shocker moved with it and swung back.
The blow was slow enough that The Shadow could prepare easily, but when the punch met his block it seemed that a solid wall of air rushed to impact as well, and The Shadow was forced back.
Getting to his feet, The Shadow drew his automatics.
Shocker aimed his gauntlets down at the ground and fired a burst, which did no damage, but seemed to gather a blast of energy in a pulse and launched the villain straight up into the air.
Spiderman was waiting in the rafters, and caught him by the wrists, swinging him back and forth against the rafters, till Shocker fired his gauntlets. He had no target, but Spiderman's grip was close enough that he was forced to let go as the energy flew around his hands.
Thus released, The Shocker dropped, and landed hard.
The blast he had fired had gone wide, and hit the lights. Sparks rained down thorough the room, and fire caught alight everywhere, quickly spreading.
Hurt badly from the fall, The Shocker struggled to his feet.
The Shadow was in front of him, guns drawn.
Spiderman was on his other side, ten feet above on the wall.
Neatly surrounding him, both heroes lunged.
Shocker brought his wrists together and crossed them, power growing around him like a rushing vacuum of air that whipped up the smoke and flame.
Spiderman's danger sense told him to get back, and he fired webs to hurl himself backward.
The Shadow wasn't quite as fast.
The energy built around Shocker, and he threw his arms akimbo, releasing a blast of power on every direction, the shockwave catching the Shadow and throwing him up into the air.
Shocker fired a blast of power down again with one arm, ripping up the floor viciously, and fired up at the thrown Shadow with the other arm, throwing him viciously against the wall, dropping him down toward the flames.
Scene Break
Stephen opened the door and found Gwen standing there, looking awful. "Gwen." he stepped forward and took her in a tight hug. "I just heard. Are you okay?"
"No." Gwen answered brokenly. "I... just didn't know where to go. And I didn't want to go home."
"Come in. Stay as long as you want."
"I'm sorry to do this..."
"No, it's fine. Have you eaten?"
Four hours later, she had gone to bed, and Stephen had gone to Cranston industries. he knocked lightly on the CEO office door. "Uncle?"
"Hey. You done with patrol already?"
"I'm wasn't on patrol, I was at home."
"What?"
"Gwen's there. Her dad was murdered tonight."
"I heard."
"Y'know, Gwen told me that he never bought the cover story you gave him, about me mom and dad just being kidnapped. He stopped asking FINALLY, but I don't think he ever stopped digging."
"No, he didn't."
Stephen came in and sat down across the desk from his uncle. "Okay, Uncle? What I need you to do right now is look me in the eyes and tell me that you had nothing to do with this."
Victor did so. "I didn't."
Stephen nodded. "Okay. Then find out who did."
"There's very little to go on, looks like a random hit."
"I want a name. I want a location."
Victor regarded him carefully. "You'll never be able to tell her."
"I know. I don't care."
"It may take a while."
"I want it within two days."
"Okay."
Stephen took a breath. "Uncle, she's pretty broken up about it. Can she stay at the manor for a while?"
Long silence. "We get pretty busy around here Stephen."
"Uncle... she's family to me. Please?"
"Okay."
Stephen went home and found Gwen in his study, with a mug of hot chocolate. "Hey."
She looked up. "Where do you go at two in the morning anyway?"
"No comment. I thought you went to sleep hours ago."
"Cant sleep. Thought I might keep you company for a bit."
"Okay. I'm working on a story for the Classic. Looks like I might just have a shot at getting a job there."
"My little brother the big shot New York reporter."
"Yeah. What're you reading?"
Gwen held up the book. "The Invisible Man."
Stephen smirked. "One of my favorites."
Gwen started to read aloud quietly, while Stephen started typing at his desk.
Scene Break
Stephen woke up with a start and immediately groaned.
The sound drew the attention of Gwen and Sarah, who were sitting on opposite sides of his bed. "Stephen?"
Stephen saw them both leaning over him and fought to think. One of them was in on the whole secret, the other was not. "What happened?"
"Peter said you found the Shocker." Gwen reported, rubbing her hand over his forehead anxiously. "When I said I wanted the right people told, I didn't think you'd run it down personally."
"You don't know him very well them do you?" Snarked Sarah.
"Sarah." Stephen shushed her. He sat up. "What happened?"
"Peter said that the two of you went looking for Shocker, and you found him. He wouldn't let us call a doctor."
"Gwen, if I'm sitting up then it wasn't that bad, and you know how I despise hospitals."
"I guess..."
"It's fine Gwen. Don't worry about it." Sarah interrupted and got up.
Stephen sent Sarah a look. "How's Peter?"
"Peter's downstairs. I'll tell him you're awake." Gwen put in.
Stephen nodded. Gwen got up and headed out.
Sarah started to follow. Stephen grabbed her wrist.
As Gwen left the room, Stephen gave her his full attention, and Sarah wanted to stare at her shoes.
"What is your problem with her anyway?"
"I don't trust her, and I don't like how quickly you've brought her in."
"I haven't brought her in Sarah. I knew her a hell of a lot longer than you, MJ and Peter put together."
"Then how come I haven't heard of her before?"
"Doesn't matter. Sarah, it's important to me that she doesn't know you distrust her."
Sarah blinked. "Huh? Don't you mean that it's important to you that I do trust her."
"I mean what I said." Stephen told her firmly. "Sarah, she's important to me, she's a friend, and I've just settled a four year argument with her last night. I don't want it to turn out like this."
"An argument over what?" Sarah pressed.
"Over something far less important than my fight with you concerning Victor." Stephen said pointedly.
Sarah suddenly felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water in her face.
"It took me weeks to make peace with you." Stephen told her. "It took me years to make peace with her, and I've known her far longer. Get my point?"
Sarah did. "Yes. Your point is that you don't want this screwed up."
"That's right."
Sarah chased after Gwen. "I'll take care of it."
Scene Break
"Hey." Sarah said.
Gwen turned. "Something I never liked about this place is how many rooms there are to sit and wait in."
"I hear ya."
Gwen stopped looking through rooms for Peter and turned to Sarah. "Listen, have I done something to offend you?"
"Oh good I was wondering how to bring this up." Sarah commented. "No. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so..."
"I'm sorry too, about the other day at the Police Station? I was teasing you, and maybe I shouldn't have..."
"It's just... Stephen doesn't make friends. He just never bothers, and I thought I knew all of them."
"Oh." Gwen commented and started grinning. "I see."
"What?" Sarah demanded.
Gwen held up her hands. "Nothing, I'm not saying anything. But... if you wanted to know a few other things about Stephen..."
"Such as?"
"I have personally met every girlfriend, every blind date, and every socialite bimbo that he's had to get rid of. All six of them. Believe me; I've got the full dirt on him."
Sarah grinned, her ill feeling toward Gwen Stacy gone in an instant with this new opportunity. "I'd like that. And Peter and MJ are this way."
Gwen smothered a laugh.
Scene Break
Peter stuck is head in as Stephen pulled a shirt on. "Gwen see any of these scars?"
"Wasn't easy but we kept her out of the room long enough to hide them."
"Good. What happened with Shocker?"
"That blast put you into a wall and sent that warehouse up like a matchbox. He blew a hole in the floor and made his way through the subway lines. No cover in those tunnels, so I could either let him get away or let you die."
"Then why didn't you let me die?" Stephen asked bluntly.
Peter took a moment to react and Stephen shook his head. "No, never mind, forget I said that."
"I brought you back here; you were more bruised than anything else. Told Gwen that we looked for Shocker and you found him, he zapped you and you ran."
"Those blasts are pretty heavy, but that suit slows him down."
"He didn't seem to have any enhanced speed or reflexes. Those gauntlets give his punches some power, but other than that..."
"He's a one trick villain. Okay, we need to find him again."
"He won't be at that warehouse anymore."
"No. If he still wants a showdown, he'll find us."
"I'd rather not let him go smashing his way through civilians if I can help it."
"Agreed. Go find Gwen. Make sure you and Sarah are in the room too."
"What?" Now Peter was confused. "Why? What would Gwen know about-"
Stephen got up and stretched the aching limbs. "Peter, just trust me will you?"
"Okay, the three of them are downstairs."
"Oh boy, the girlfriend and the ex in the same room."
Peter grinned broadly at the choice of words.
Stephen gave him a look. "Not me and Sarah dummy, you and MJ!"
Peter laughed and led the way out.
Scene Break
"Tell me, does he still get onto an idea, talk about a mile a minute, then look at you like you just drooled on your shirt when you have no idea what he's talking about?"
Sarah cackled. "Yeah. All the time."
MJ laughed and looked at Gwen. "Hey, when you knew him was he always so dramatic and full of himself?"
"Yes always!" Gwen laughed and the three of them laughed harder.
Stephen walked in and MJ and Gwen both started laughing harder.
Stephen fixed a forbidding glare. "Listen, funny as this is, we have work to do."
This time all three of them started laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.
Stephen sighed and sat patiently till they calmed down.
He looked at Peter and Sarah. "We need to find Shocker again. You two work your sources; see if you can find him."
"Our sources?" Sarah repeated in confusion, glancing at Gwen. It wasn't hard to think why she was confused. Stephen had resources far beyond both of them
Stephen shrugged. "I can't think where else to look."
"There is a place." Gwen piped up. "I don't know for sure, but my dad talked about a bar called Rikers over near Hells Kitchen. Say's it's not really a rough place, but because of its location, some newer crooks go there to get connected to people."
"Sounds like a good bet." he looked at Sarah. "You should start there. Come to think of it, didn't you used to work there once MJ?"
MJ had never worked at Rikers and Stephen knew it, but the look he gave her made her pause. "Yes. Once, for a few weeks, but the commute was a nightmare so I had to quit."
"Then you should go with Sarah. Peter, I want you to go back to the hospital, see if you can get anything else from those policemen." He glanced back at Gwen, and then sent Peter a message. "That should take you about four seconds, and then make sure the girls are well protected. Hells Kitchen isn't a place to go for a stroll."
Peter nodded discreetly.
Scene Break
MJ was asking the waitresses questions, and Sarah was giving the bartender her best Ditz act, while Spiderman hovered outside the window and kept watch, when suddenly his Spidersense told him to look down at the entrance.
Two men were getting out of a cab. They each had two photos; one was a staff photo of Sarah from the New York Post website. The other was a picture of Mary Jane from her perfume ad.
They were heading into the bar.
Horrified, Spiderman scaled down toward the door and pulled his radio. "MJ?"
Scene Break
"Yes?"
"You've got company, get out of there!"
MJ grabbed Sarah and they headed for the door, when the two men in question came in and spotted them. "There!"
The two of them turned and went the other way, heading for the kitchen, when a third came out of the kitchen, also with pictures in his hand.
MJ saw the picture and turned to find that she and Sarah were neatly surrounded. "Any ideas?"
Just then, Spiderman came in. "Hi. I'll have a beer thanks."
The entire room came to a screeching halt.
The bartender was completely nonplussed. "Let's see your money."
"Can you start a tab for me?"
"Do you have someone who can vouch for you?" The bartender returned.
The patrons had divided neatly down the middle when Spiderman had appeared. The door was at the far end of the room. The various drunks, toughs and thugs were at the opposite end, and in the middle, Spiderman with MJ and Sarah edging around him.
Spiderman turned to face the crowd. "Anybody here willing to give me a character reference?"
Beat.
"Get 'im!" Someone yelled, and everybody lunged forward.
Sarah and MJ ran for the door, and Spiderman put himself neatly between them and the rushing thugs.
Moe's cab came rushing up as they exited the bar. They got in and Moe peeled away fast.
Scene Break
Stephen picked up his cellphone. "Hello?" he listened briefly. "Yeah. Okay. Meet me at the Jonas office."
Gwen looked up from her magazine. "Something wrong?"
"Get your coat. We're going out."
"Where?"
"The Jonas office. It's an office building on 38th street." He looked at his watch. "I've got a late meeting afterwards so you should bring your own car."
"Okay."
Scene Break
MJ closed her fingers around the coffee cup as they briefed Stephen, Gwen on his left, Peter on his right. Stephen always kept the Jonas office stocked. "Fortunately, our cab was still around, so we were able to slip away."
"So Shocker's been assigned a hit on Spiderman." Stephen started to sum up. "He's getting financed by Marocini, and Shocker was told where and when to meet Spiderman? Who's setting up the hit?"
"Marocini himself?" Gwen suggested.
"That's what I thought, but no." Peter said. "See, a lot of bad guys have a bounty on Spiderman's head, but most of them don't get anywhere, for the simple reason that Spiderman's hard to track. Shocker's an egomaniac, like all the masked villains around town. He could hit armored cars, banks, museums, the only way he stays on a hit like Spiderman this long, is if he knows he's actually going to get a shot."
Sarah nodded. "That's true. Shocker isn't drawing Spiderman, he's waiting for him."
"Exactly!" Peter agreed. "If he wanted to fight Spiderman, he could just start blowing things up, but instead he's letting Spiderman find him. Why? Who's setting this up?"
"We don't know, but the real problem is us." Sarah said.
"Us?" Peter said in confusion.
"Those guys at the bar, they had my picture." MJ said.
"Why would they be looking for MJ at that bar?" Peter demanded.
"That will be made clear in a moment."
Everyone turned to the door, and found three men in ski masks, with very large rifles. "Sorry it has to go this far, but we can't have you getting in the way of our work."
They pointed their rifles at MJ, Sarah and Stephen. One of the men looked at Peter. "They will not be harmed, if you go and find Spiderman. Tell him that Shocker is waiting at the East River pier. Tell him to be there by midnight, or we will kill them."
"How did they find us?!" Sarah hissed. "This place isn't connected to any of us."
"That's easy." Stephen said, and Peter jumped. He'd been so quiet; Peter had almost forgotten he was there. Stephen stood up and faced his friends, as though the three thugs weren't there. "They found us the same way they had your picture an hour ago."
Gwen nodded. "Someone has betrayed us."
"Yes." Stephen said to her, the picture of calm. "You did."
Stunned silence.
"Stephen…I…" Gwen stumbled over the words.
Stephen shrugged like it didn't matter. "It's the only conclusion that makes any kind of sense. You were the one that showed up at the station when I happened to be there, despite the fact that your dad worked at a different precinct, you were the one that brought up the subject of Spiderman, you were the one that gave me information about the new player called Shocker, you were the one that told MJ and Sarah about that Bar where they might find info about where he hid, and you knew that MJ and Sarah would meet us here, with information that might reveal the existence of a mole."
Hearing the calm, logical conclusions drawn from the facts, everybody just gaped at Gwen.
Gwen's face crumpled. She was caught and she knew it. "You knew?"
Stephen nodded slowly. "Now!"
The doors to every entrance and exit in the room burst open and in swarmed ten of New York's Finest in full riot gear, guns drawn. The three were quickly overwhelmed, disarmed, and hustled out. Anybody looking would have noticed they all wore girasol rings.
But Gwen never took her eyes off Stephen. "You knew all along?"
"Roughly four seconds after Spiderman's name came up again at breakfast." He sighed, as though he'd just lost a well-played game. "I love you like nothing else in the world Gwen, but I couldn't believe for a second that you actually came back just for me."
Gwen had a tear rolling down her face. "Then why?"
"Because…I hoped I was wrong, because I knew you'd continue your hit with or without me, and because I was praying you'd change your mind before it went this far. I always leave room for people to disappoint me." He gestured out after the police. "They don't know, about your involvement. I told them everything, except who contracted the hit."
"Why?"
"Don't know really. I guess, because I don't want to see you get hurt any more."
Peter couldn't hold his tongue. "You did this? You set Shocker on Spiderman; you got a crime boss to pay for a murder? You…you were the ones that sent those men after MJ?"
Gwen was crushed. "I had to Peter, Spiderman killed my dad."
"No he didn't." Peter, Stephen, and Mary Jane all snapped in unison.
"It's okay Gwen." Stephen said with cold indifference. "It's not like you ever actually had me fooled."
"I'm sorry…I never meant it to go this far, I just…"
"I know." Stephen sighed. "Just go Gwen. We'll speak again."
Gwen looked around beseechingly at them all, and found no allies anywhere. She turned and left.
Peter was just staring in shock after her. MJ came over and gave him a hug. Sarah watched them together, took a breath, and then glanced over at Stephen, who was also staring after her. She started to reach over…
But Stephen was already moving. He picked up his jacket and looked at Peter. "Shocker's at the pier. Let's go make him eat his own eyeballs."
Peter nodded.
Scene Break
Shocker was waiting at the pier as promised. Spiderman swung as close as he could, but the docks had very few tall things to swing from.
Seeing him coming, Shocker fired a blast up at him, and Spiderman had to release the webline in a hurry, still a good forty feet shy of his target.
Grounded now, Shocker had a clear shot, and was about to fire again, when a savage laughter that echoed around him rose from the shadows.
Whipping around, Shocker came face to face with a black-gloved fist that knocked him down. Getting to his feet, he aimed his gauntlet, and The Shadow drew his weapons too. The Shadow fired first.
Shocker quickly charged his gauntlets and launched himself high into the air, the bullets whizzing past harmlessly.
Just as a leaping Spiderman met him in midair.
The blow knocked him away soundly, but unlike Spiderman, he didn't have to land before he could launch himself again, and he quickly regained the high ground, firing blasts back down at them steadily.
The boardwalk beneath The Shadow shattered, and he fell through.
Spiderman lashed out with his webs, bringing his opponent back down to earth in a hurry.
Spiderman was quick to get in close quarters, and swung a punch at Shocker, who threw up an arm to block it.
The electrical charge crackled where their forearms met, and Spiderman snatched it back fast in pain.
Shocker threw a return punch, the solid wall of air crackling around it, and Spiderman had to bend over far further than he intended to dodge the full shockwave.
Putting his hands back on the ground as he bent, Spiderman turned the dodge into a flip-kick, sending Shocker reeling.
Before he could get up, Spiderman lashed out with a web attack, neatly smothering both of the silver gauntlets.
The Shocker tried to fire anyway, and the charge exploded like a hand grenade around his wrists. "ARRGH!"
Thrown back by the blast, Shocker twisted in agony, as a pair of black gloves smashed up through the wooden ground, and yanked him savagely though, to where The Shadow was crouched on one of the supports.
"Let me tell you what you did tonight that was really stupid." He hissed. "If your only talent is based on a powerful electrical circuit? DONT start a fight so close to water!"
And with that, The Shadow threw Shocker into the New York harbor.
His gauntlets short-circuited around his arms instantly, and the Shocker howled before finally going still.
Scene Break
Peter put his mask away and sat back. Stephen folded up his cloak and slid the drawer shut. There was a long silence.
Stephen spoke first. "Peter, if she genuinely did this out of spite or rage I'd wipe her mind in a second but...she really didn't know."
Peter nodded. "She said it wasn't meant to go this far. I think I believe her."
"Me too."
"What do we do?"
"I want to tell her the truth about her dad."
"What?"
"I'll keep our names out of it. She knows I have sources, she won't ask how I know."
"Stephen...MJ and Sarah could have gotten killed tonight!"
Stephen glared. "Listen, who was your best friend before I came along?"
Peter sighed. "Harry Osborn."
"And you were so eager to share the truth with him after his dad died."
"That's different!"
"Why?"
"I promised! I didn't know Harry was going to turn on me that way, I just did what I could."
"And I didn't do even that much" Stephen sighed. "I could have told her the truth about what happened that night, and I didn't, because... I don't even know why not. This was as much my fault as it is hers."
"But..." Peter struggled to talk. "But you're talking about forgiving her?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Stephen was silent for a moment, then started to speak in a measured rhythm.
"What did these people do
when their families shrank?
They cried their tears,
but then they did the vital thing:
They built a new family, person by person."
"What's that from?"
"Nicholas Nicolbey." Stephen sighed. "I used to have a family Peter, I had to find a new one. You, MJ, Sarah...you're my family now, and its great having you around, but I only met you six years ago. My family, my old family, died on the floor of a broken warehouse, and nobody can ever know why. I met Gwen that week. I never had a sister and she knew I could use one. I didn't know it, but I started rebuilding a family right there. Moe and Andrew are all that's left from my old team... I can't keep losing family Peter, maybe once I could, but it's so small now, and I can't keep sending people away."
"Is that why you forgave Sarah so fast after Victor?"
A small hesitation. "Yes."
Peter smiled ruefully. "Just when I think I have you figured out..."
"Maybe... maybe it's not such a bad thing to forgive someone you..."
"Someone you love?"
"Yeah."
Scene Break
MJ was waiting in the foyer of Cranston Manor when Stephen got back.
"How'd it go?" She asked.
"Fine. Peter's still at the pier, just in case Shocker tries to give the police transporting him to jail any trouble. Why are you here?" Stephen asked without breaking stride.
"Sarah wanted to talk to you, but I think she's… well… I think she's scared to. We took my car to the Kitchen, so I gave her a ride here."
"Really?" By this time, Stephen had made it to his office and started pulling filing cabinet drawers open."
"I'm not sure why, but I got the impression she thinks you're mad at her."
"Must be Tuesday."
"What about Gwen?"
"She's my problem now."
"Your problems are my problems now. This one especially. She was our friend before we knew you existed."
Stephen nodded and pulled out a thin file. He handed it to her. "What do you make of this?"
MJ opened it. There were two newspaper clippings inside. One was a report about Spiderman killing a New York Police Officer; the other was a report about an unidentified man killed in an alley two days later.
MJ looked up. "Well. I guess that explains that huh?"
"Yep."
MJ sighed and leaned closer. "Victor would have seen this coming and stopped it before it got half this far."
"I know. It's not like I hadn't seen it coming myself you know, I let it continue because I couldn't let Shocker just announce himself in the middle of a pizza place one day."
"Is that all?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're honestly telling me that the reason you let it play out has nothing to do with the fact that you missed having her around as much as Peter and I did?" MJ said.
For the eleventh time since he's met her, Stephen just stared at the audacity.
MJ swallowed. "Not that you…. I mean, not that I… it shouldn't…"
Stephen sent her a grin. "You got guts lady, you know that?"
"I've had enough super villains offering to show them to me."
The Shadow's laugh rang out loud and long. "Well, since you're feeling brave, meet me for breakfast tomorrow."
MJ blinked. "Huh?"
Stephen sent a glance out the window. No sign of Spiderman. "You're right. Victor would have seen this coming. Doing his job and mine means that I had to let Shocker find me so I could take him down. A waiting game that put you and Sarah in danger tonight. For that I'm sorry. I don't want to let that keep happening."
"You were expecting it to?"
"Yes."
This was not the answer MJ had expected. "Who? When?"
"I have a mission for you. Keep it quiet from Peter, from Sarah, from everyone for now. Meet me for breakfast tomorrow and I'll give you the details."
"Okay."
"Now. Where is Sarah?"
"Library."
Stephen took the file back and headed downstairs. "Go home. Peter will be waiting."
"And Gwen?"
"She's my problem for now."
Scene Break
As promised, Sarah was in the library. She had a drink in her hand, and her eyes were red. "Hey."
Sarah turned. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
Sarah took a sip. "I hated her."
Stephen sighed, poured a drink, and sat down next to her. "Okay. Tell me."
"You don't make friends. I thought I knew them all. I thought I knew everyone you knew and everyone you cared about, and then…"
"Sarah, I trust you with me secrets, I trust you with my life, I trust you with the only two things I've got left in my existence, but don't think for a second that I tell everybody everything."
"I know, but I hated her. I hated that you two were close, and I hated that you didn't tell me about her, and I hated that she could make you laugh and I just wanted her to go away and let everything get back to normal."
"You were jealous?"
"I was guilty. I hated that you had people who made you feel better and made you laugh and it wasn't me. I gave you straight talk, and fought with you on things we disagreed about when nobody else would. But I never just made you laugh about things."
"I don't make friends Sarah, you're right about that. This is why. What happened tonight is why."
Sarah rubbed her eyes and turned to face Stephen fully. "You have to make it right."
Stephen was stunned. "Huh?"
"I'm feeling pretty terrible about this, I don't want you to lose more friends, because you don't have many to spare. Go and make it right, go make peace, and I'll deal with it because you will." She took his drink off him and put it down. "You've lost a lot over your mission, don't keep doing that."
For a microsecond, Stephen considered telling her that he had made this conclusion less than an hour before, and said so to Peter. Then he wondered if simply playing along was the better part of keeping the peace and stood up. "Good idea. I'll go do that now."
"And if it comes up, tell her I'm sorry I gave her grief."
"Will do."
Scene Break
Gwen stormed into the study and threw the Bugle down on the desk. "Is it true? Was it Spiderman?"
Stephen looked at the headline, announcing that Spiderman had killed Detective George Stacy. "Gwen, Jameson blames Spiderman when his dinner gets cold. Spiderman didn't do it."
"How do you know?!" Gwen shouted.
"I just do."
"Don't give me that. You've been writing stories about these costumed freaks since you started at the Classic, don't tell me that you don't know what they can do."
"I do know what they can do and don't talk to me like I sold out."
"You DID sell out, you should have told me abut this. If you can prove it wasn't Spiderman you would have told me that too, but you DIDNT! Which means that you were hiding it from me. You don't hide this from me Stephen! Not from me! I told you everything my Dad was doing when he was working on your parent murder, why couldn't you do the same for me!"
"Gwen, your father wasn't murdered by Spiderman Trust me on that."
"Like hell! Are you not paying attention? They've got photos!"
"That photo could mean anything. The caption's twisting the image to-"
"Oh like you haven't twisted a fact or two in your life." Gwen snarled. "My father was MURDERED Stephen! When everybody else forgot you, forgot your family, forgot what you went through, my dad kept searching, kept trying to solve the case, even after you and your sainted uncle stopped caring! Spiderman just walked up to him and killed him in an alleyway four months ago, and you're actually defending the maniac? WHY?"
Stephen was about to respond, when he suddenly paused, seemed to think for a moment, shut his mouth and didn't answer.
And Gwen realized he wasn't saying anything. Hurt and angry beyond words by the betrayal, she turned and stormed out. When she got to the door, she turned back and leveled a glare at him. "Don't ever talk to me again. Ever."
The second she slammed the door she wanted to take it back, and actually turned around to go back in and make amends, when she could hear voices from the other side. She was surprised to hear Victor. She hadn't seen him there.
"You can't tell her." Victor was saying firmly.
"I know." Stephen said evenly.
"You can't. After Monica and Diane..."
"I'm not arguing Victor. I'm not telling her anything. Secrets are my life now. And what would I tell her anyway?"
"Spiderman's a new figure. She's looking for someone to blame." Silence. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I don't need friends Victor. I've got you."
"Ah, but I wont be around forever."
"Neither will I. Listen... I was thinking, with my new jobs and all, that maybe I could move back to Manhattan."
"Oh? Anywhere in particular?"
"Yeah."
Gwen shut her eyes and turned to quietly leave the Manor before they found her.
Scene Break
A hand shook her awake gently. She sat up a little straighter in her chair. Stephen was holding out a cup of coffee. "How'd you get in here?"
"I have my ways." He sat down across from Gwen. "One thing is missing, how did you pay for this?"
"I got some work with a modeling agency."
"They wouldn't pay enough for this, unless it's the kind of modeling you don't want to tell your little brother about…"
"No." Gwen snapped. "I… I paid them off by signing over my dad's pension."
Stephen's jaw dropped. "Oh Gwen…"
She buried her face in her hands. "I know. He'd hate me for it, but I didn't care!"
Silence.
"The man who killed your father was a low level thug named Edward Martinez, hired by a drug dealer." Stephen said matter-of-factly.
Gwen looked at him. "What?"
"Your father had busted a dealer in the East end, and found that there was a new meth lab supplying him. The dealer in question was scared enough to name names, so the supplier paid off a fairly unimportant thug to kill him first. He wore the Spiderman mask, because he knew that the Bugle was ripping the masked man apart. At the time, there was any number of people taking advantage of his reputation to rob liquor stores, hijack cars. Spiderman caught the first few crooks that did that, and made them eat the fake masks, piece by piece, so that trend died fast and quiet. Your dad made the poor choice of trying to protect his source, and was killed as a result."
Gwen had a tear rolling down her face, completely numb. "How long have you known this?"
"A long time."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I had my reasons."
Gwen's face twisted spitefully. "No. You don't get to hide behind that this time. Everybody has secrets and I'm okay with that, but now it concerns me, now it's personal, now you're lying to me about my dad, and because I didn't know, it led to tonight. Tell me the truth."
"I can't do that. I will tell you, that after my parents died, Victor volunteered a number of resources to helping the NYPD. Money, information, sources... things that can't quite be put on a NYPD memo, so we agreed to keep it quiet. Victor and I became... freelance informants for your dad. But it had to be kept secret from everyone."
"I'm not everyone!" Gwen yelled.
"I know."
"You tell me these things!"
"I know."
"What happened to the man who killed my dad?"
"Funny thing, a few days after your dad died, Martinez was found dead in an alleyway."
"Then how can you be sure..."
"I am. Let's leave it there."
Long silence.
Gwen turned to Stephen. "After high school, Peter, MJ... we drifted apart. But you...my big little brother..."
"I know."
Gwen swallowed emotionally. "When dad died... when I was lying face down in a Bar's parking lot, drinking myself into a coma every night, you were the one I called."
"I know. I wanted to tell you... but secrets are what I do."
"I never meant to put them in danger Stephen..."
"I know you didn't."
"When Victor died... I didn't even call you. I wanted to see you so badly, tell you it was all okay, and that I wasn't mad, but I just couldn't make my fingers pick up the phone!"
"I didn't call you either. I needed my big sister that day."
Long silence.
"You do know that I'm actually six months younger than you right?" Gwen said finally.
It was enough. Stephen burst out laughing. Gwen laughed too.
As the laughter faded, Gwen cleared her throat and gave Stephen a look. "Who killed my dad's killer?"
Stephen gave her an even look. "Do you really want to know?"
Gwen looked straight back. "No."
Stephen smiled gently. "Let the past stay dead."
"I think I could live with that. And I think I'd like to have my big little brother back."
"It'll take a while to convince the others that it was all a horrible misunderstanding, but... yeah."
"You'll apologize to MJ and Sarah?"
"For the rest of my days."
"Might be a good idea if I stayed out of their way till tempers cooled."
"I think that's a good idea." He looked at her warmly. "What's next for you now?"
"I'm going back to school." She smiled. "I need a better job than waitressing if I want to stay in New York now that my dad's income is gone. And it's a long term thing too. I looked at what Cranston Industries was doing with that homeless shelter, and I like the way you looked up there. Everybody looking grateful, you were looking proud... I'd like to do something like that too. Might get a degree or two; see if I can find somewhere to do some good."
"If you like, I could help out with that... school fees or something, maybe place a call, CI could always use some good people."
Gwen shook her head. "Thanks, but this one I'm doing myself, this one's gonna feel good."
"Okay." Stephen stood up, and gave Gwen a tight hug. "Take care of yourself Sis."
She hugged him back fiercely. "You too little brother."
Stephen walked out of her kitchen, and Gwen sat back down as the sky lightened with the coming dawn.
The End.