Thanks to all of you who read and reviewed this story. I always enjoy reading comments. Oh, to those of you who strongly suggested continuing the story and not leaving the ending as it stands, you will have your wish in a couple of weeks. For right now, I am busy looking for a job and adjusting to non-college life, so there is little free time for me to writegrrrr. Well, thanks for the encouragement everyone and hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: The characters in this story (except the gang members) do not

belong to me. They belong to Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Marvel Comics. I really don't want to be sued by anyone.

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One Month after the conclusion of the Spiderman movie, we enter an alleyway

where Spiderman is breaking up an attempted mugging

"Didn't your mamas teach you not to hit women?" Spiderman cracked as he smashed two thugs' heads together. Although he was wise cracking on the outside, he was inwardly chiding himself. Why hadn't he gotten here before they could hurt her? It took all he had not to just grab MJ and web-sling her away from that ally. No, he couldn't do that. They would still be out on the street and could terrorize other innocent people if he didn't make sure they were put away. Turning to go after the other three gang- members, Spiderman heard Mary Jane scream to look out. Unfortunately, his spider-sense had failed to warn him of anything, and it was too late now. One of the thugs whacked him on the head with a crowbar. Shaking off the blow, he turned, right into a cloud of smoke.

Mary Jane, now free from her attackers while they concentrated on subduing Spiderman, used her cell phone to call the police. MJ had to help him. He had saved her four times already, and besides that, there was the slightest inkling in the back of her mind that Spiderman really meant more to her than she knew. She picked up a brick from the ally floor and hit one of the thugs over the head with it. He fell to the ground unconscious, but another one grabbed her. Watching helplessly as Spiderman succumbed to the knockout gas, MJ screamed, drawing Spiderman's attention to her. "Run, Mary Jane. Get out of here!" With the effects of the knockout gas beginning to take their toll on him, he forgot to disguise his voice. Even in the chaos of the moment, she realized the slip. She recognized his voice; it would have been hard not to- it was one she had heard since she was six. This was not just Spiderman- this was the man she loved. She was almost sure of it. She tried to fight her way out of the man's arms and squeezed her eyes shut against the brutal sight of the three

remaining men beating Spiderman, as he lay unconscious on the ground.

Just in time to save Spiderman from certain death, the police sirens began to wail in the background. The thugs turned and ran, leaving their fallen comrade to the mercy of the police. MJ quickly drug Spiderman between two dumpsters and prayed the police wouldn't search for him. Why should they, she thought to herself, he never stays around to get any thanks; he just delivers bad guys to the police, wrapped up like a present for them, and swings off, back into anonymity.

Running out towards the cars, MJ caught site of one patrol car in pursuit of the gang. She informed the remaining officers of the one lying unconscious in the ally and gave her statement to one of the patrolmen. When the police were finished reading him his rights and asking her questions, she declined an offer to ride with them. "No thanks, I need a minute to calm down. I'll just walk back over to the café and have a cup of coffee."

When the cops were out of sight, she called Aunt May. Spiderman needed medical treatment, and she knew better than to take him to a hospital. The safest place she could think of for him to recuperate was her apartment. There, no one would be tempted to sneak a peek under his mask to discover his identity.

Inside Mary Jane's new apartment, she began to remove Spiderman's costume. Still used to the layout and organization of the old apartment, which had been destroyed a month earlier by the Green Goblin, MJ frantically searched for her first aid supplies. She found her bandages, and wrapped his ribs, which were already showing signs of bruising. She was careful only to remove the part of his mask where she needed to clean lacerations on is face and scalp, and pulled the bottom up over his mouth so he could breathe easier.

She sat with him through the night, praying he would recover. He lay unconscious for hours, but Mary Jane couldn't tell if the gas he had inhaled was causing his state, or if it was from the beating he had endured.

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Harry Osborn sat behind his father's old desk glaring at the three returning men. "Where the hell is the other guy?" he demanded.

"The cops got him, sir. But we did manage to win the fight. I'm pretty sure he's dead - we beat him good," he said, laughing in the way that only his kind of people do. "That knockout gas you gave us really did the trick."

"What do you mean you are pretty sure he's dead? You either killed him or you didn't, it's as simple as that." Osborn grimaced as he thought about his man in jail. Offered a good enough deal, he might tell who his accomplices were, and more importantly, he might lead them back to Oscorp.

"Well, he was knocked out, and we are pretty sure we beat him bad enough to kill him, but some bitch called the cops on us. We had to run before we were sure or we would have all been caught." They told the new CEO of Oscorp the details of the operation.

"Who? Who was it that called the cops? Why didn't you get rid of her, too? That was what I paid you for. Lure Spiderman by staging a robbery, kill him and any witnesses. What part of that don't you idiots understand?" Even before they could tell him, Harry knew the answer. It was Mary Jane Watson. It had to be. Only she would have been concerned enough about Spiderman to risk her life to save his. Damn her. First she left him for his friend, Peter Parker -his best friend, and only remaining family, now this. When he killed Spiderman, he would make sure to use her as bait. Sure thing he'll come for her, and I might even get to kill her as a bonus.

"It's all right, fellas. You did the best you could," Harry said, his sour demeanor changing quickly. "At least now we know the gas is our best bet of defeating that wall-crawling menace." He started to reach for their checks, but hesitated. Realizing now that these punks were too much of a liability to him, he instead pulled a gun out of the top drawer of the desk and shot them, point blank. He didn't even flinch as he watched their lifeless bodies land with a thud on the floor. Wrapping them in the Indian rug they had been standing on, he drug the bodies out into the hall of the empty office. One by one, he dumped their bodies down the incinerator chute, followed by the rug. He didn't even blink when he pressed the activation button. Nothing would get in his way. Spiderman was going to pay for murdering his father.