Lab 26 at the Facility
"What's happening?" Kai-on asked
"You see Kai-on, Tarantula only told you half the story." The head scientist responded
"What do you mean?" He asked
"Well Norman blamed Spider-man for what has happened to Harry and later in this issue cracks under pressure returning to the Green Goblin persona.
Peter on his way to the Daily Bugle building feels a cold coming on from the change of climate between Montreal and New York. While talking to Robbie Robertson at the Bugle dropping off some pictures of the Hulk from his Montreal assignment, J. Jonah Jameson walks in and tells Robertson about Parker to "get this disease ridden menace out of my building."[1] Before Peter leaves he points out that Robbie should have Jameson send him a bonus check for about two hundred dollars for the pictures.
When Norman leaves his son's bedside he begins to think how he has failed him as a father. Then he starts to hallucinate and sees his enemy Spider-Man coming at him, soon he flees from the apartment out into the street until he gets to Manhattan's lower eastside.
There in a place he had almost forgotten lies his Green Goblin paraphernalia.[2] Then after returning to the Goblin persona he decides to kidnap Gwen. She is standing at the window of Peter and Harry's apartment wishing there was some way she could do to help Harry when the Green Goblin comes flying into view.
When Spider-Man finally swings back to the apartment all he finds is a pumpkin lantern and satchel left behind by the Green Goblin. He soon realizes that Gwen has been kidnapped and that he must rely on his Spider-Sense to lead him to where the Goblin is. His Spider-Sense leads him to a New York city bridge which in the original comic Spider-Man calls the George Washington Bridge because it is Norman Osborn's favorite President but it is drawn like the Brooklyn Bridge (this has been later changed to the Brooklyn Bridge in future retellings but the original story was written to include the George Washington Bridge)[3] where he spots the Green Goblin standing next to a motionless Gwen Stacy.[4] [5]
At the bridge Spider-Man attempts to get to Gwen but must fight the Goblin with everything he has. Both Spider-Man and the Goblin fight until the Goblin swoops down knocking Gwen off the side of the bridge. Spider-Man then goes to save her and as his Webbing catches her, her neck breaks and she dies instantly.
Spider-Man praises himself as he cradles the lifeless body of Gwen until he realizes that she is dead. The Goblin taunts him saying that "she was dead before your webbing reached her! a fall from that height would kill anyone before they struck the ground".[6]
Holding the lifeless body of Gwen in one arm Spider-Man raises his fist into the air vowing to destroy and make the Goblin pay for the death of the woman he loved." She explained catching her breath.
"So?!" Wolf spider asked
" What she was trying to say is your are made of three parts. The superhuman know as Spider-man and our first Success X23 your drive and determination and thinking patterns come from our leader Mr. Osborn. you see When a top-secret program attempted to recreate the original Weapon X experiment that involved the feral mutant Wolverine, they failed to secure a test subject who could survive the bonding process of the virtually unbreakable metal Adamantium to their skeleton. Seeking to take the project in a new direction, the project's director, Doctor Marin Sutter, recruited renowned mutant geneticist Doctor Sarah Kinney and tasked her with creating a clone.
Using the only available genetic sample from Weapon X, which was damaged, they were unable to salvage the Y chromosome after twenty-two attempts. Kinney proposed they create a female clone, and though her request was initially denied, she still went ahead and produced a viable female subject, prompting Sutter to reconsider. Despite resistance from his protégé Doctor Zander Rice, whom Sutter had raised after Rice's father had been killed by a bestial Wolverine at the original Weapon X Project, Sutter allowed Kinney to proceed. As revenge for her insubordination, Rice forced Kinney to act as the surrogate mother for the clone, and she gave birth to "X-23".
Seven years later, raised in captivity X-23 was trained to be a weapon. Kinney did her best to ensure the child retained some semblance of humanity, but her efforts appeared to be in vain. After seven years, Rice had X-23 subjected to radiation poisoning in order to accelerate the activation of her mutant gene, and forcibly extracted her claws and coated them with Adamantium. After Rice realized the child was growing soft, he blamed her sensei, one of the few people who treated her with kindness, and tested a chemical compound called "trigger scent" on him. The "trigger scent" causes Laura to kill mercilessly anything in her path, and thus she murdered her best friend. Rice already had a replacement in the wings, a woman named Kimura. Kimura was harsh and strictly punished X-23 for the death of her sensei.
Three years later, X-23 was sent on her first field mission to kill Presidential candidate Greg Johnson. She was assigned the mission as somewhat of an "advertising" ploy. Numerous other missions followed, as X-23's services were sold to the highest bidder. She was left emotionally stunted as a result. Her missions took her to locations all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, Las Vegas, Japan, Colombia, the Congo, and many others. For one mission she was assigned to pose as the Kingpin's daughter and kill the ones who had captured her, bringing the head of their leader back. Rice, in an attempt to avenge his father's murder, abandoned X-23 on a particularly dangerous mission with A.I.M, but she survived against overwhelming odds and managed to return to the facility. After her return to the facility Kimura punished her for not coming back with Rice.
Sarah Kinney let her out once, not as an attempt to escape but instead to use X-23 to help her find Kinney's niece, Megan, who had been kidnapped. X-23 found and rescued her with ease. Ultimately, Rice persuaded Sutter to hand control of the program over to him, then secretly ordered X-23 to kill Sutter and his family. X-23 was able to kill Sutter and his wife but was unable to kill their son. Instead, she let him live. Later, Rice revealed to Kinney a chamber with dozens of incubation pods containing female clones before he fired her. Before fleeing the facility with X-23, Kinney gave her one last mission - destroy the pods and kill Rice. However, Rice was able to exact revenge on Kinney from beyond the grave, as he had earlier exposed her to the trigger scent, sending X-23 into a rage that caused her to kill her mother. As she lay dying, Kinney named X-23 "Laura".
X-23 traveled to San Francisco and tracked down Megan and Debbie (her mother's sister). Introducing herself as Sarah's daughter, she moved in with them. Although Megan experienced vivid nightmares of her abduction, her family believed these to be utter fantasies. X-23 informed Megan that the man in her nightmares was indeed real and that she had killed him.
Debbie's boyfriend turned out to be an agent for the Facility who had been instructed to manipulate X-23 into killing Megan and Debbie using the trigger scent. However, the agent fumbled the assignment and was killed by X-23. Facility agents stormed the house, led by Kimura. X-23 managed to get Megan and Debbie to safety by handcuffing Kimura to a radiator and then triggering an explosion in the house, buying some time. After X-23 and Megan parted, X-23 decided to confront the man who made her creation possible - Wolverine." He explained catching his breathe
"So your saying I was made to be your weapon? That I live and Breath to serve you?" Kai-on asked
"That is correct. Our new leader Norman Osborn wanted the perfect weapon. So we got started. We realized that Spider-man and Wolverine are two of Earth's mightiest heroes. So we made three clones. You were the only success." She said smiling
"What happened to the other two?" He asked
"Well our Wolverine/Spider-man hybrid could not cope and failed to survive the cloning process. Clone number X30 was A clone of our Leader Norman Osborn and Spider-man. This clone was genetically and mentally unstable so we put him on ice. For now." She explained
"So tell me why am I strapped to this pod?" He asked noting that he was strapped down.
"Well to prove you are our greatest weapon you will kill your "mother", But to do so we will bond the adamtium to your skeleton." She turning on the machine
"Will it hurt?" He asked as his head began buzzing
"Like hell." She replied as Kai-on screamed in pain."Don't worry when this is over you will be the best their is. Doing the bidding of your lord, your master, your father...Norman Osborn."
