Chapter 3

Some place unknown…

Mary Jane Watson's green eyes flicker open. Her eyes start to adjust...before she shoots up, dressed only in her nightwear of t-shirt and shorts, to a sitting position as she recalls what happened. Someone snatched her right out her bed. A sudden jerk had woken her up, right before a cloth was placed over her mouth, smothering her, making her pass out. From previous experience it must have been chloroform or something similar soaked into the cloth.

MJ looks around. She's in the middle of a great glass...jar. Beyond that is what looks like the rather broken remains of some lab.

MJ does not outwardly panic.

Sadly this is not the first time she has been abducted. That's how she knows what chloroform smells like. Though for the life of her she can't figure out why they keep picking on her.

MJ explores her confines, looking for a way out...when she spots something moving in the shadows. "Hello? Who's out there? Why are you doing this?"

"I'm doing what I need to protect you."

MJ frowns. "Peter?" she queries at that familiar voice.

The shadow starts to pace. "All those years, living next door to you, wanting us to be far more than friends...but afraid to tell you how I felt. I'm not afraid any more MJ. We will be more."

Ok, he has surely lost it. "Peter. What are you on about? Why did you do this?! Where are we?!" she demands to know, getting more and more agitated, banging on the glass.

"I'm going to make sure we'll be together forever," he says creepily.

MJ swallows hard and pushes her fear down. "Peter," she says softly. "What do you mean?"

'Peter' walks closer, into the light and MJ gasps. This wasn't Peter. The left side of his face was all...deformed and twisted.

'Peter' smiles and then announces something that makes MJ terrified beyond belief. "I'm going to make you just like me."

New York…

Back on the rooftop the 3 teens stand in silence for awhile until Peter breaks it.

"You're...another clone," Peter says it.

"Yeah," Spider-Woman confirms, rubbing the back of her neck in an awkward gesture. "Wait. Another?" she questions as her mind catches up with what was said.

"Scorpion," Clark answers.

"You've seen him? Is he alright?" Spider-Woman asks, a renewed energy surging through her.

"He's at the Xavier Institute. Under heavy sedation. He's..."

"Unpredictably violent?" Spider-Woman fills in.

Clark nods. "Yep."

Spider-Woman's head falls. "That's how all this started. Well not exactly. It's how tonight happened."

"Wow. She really is you," Clark jokes at the babble.

Peter, for once, doesn't appreciate it. "Are there more?" he presses her.

"I'll tell you everything, if you want but you won't like it," she concedes to explain but with a warning attached.

"First off, do you have a name?" Clark asks her, his voice gentle. It seems like the appropriate thing to ask first, whether she has an actual name.

"Uh...Jessica. They called me Jessica Drew," she answers and then shrugs. "Good a name as any I suppose. Can hardly call myself Peter now can I?"

"Who is they?" Peter needs to ask.

"This sounds like a long story," Clark can guess.

"It is," Jessica concedes.

"I'll get the dohnuts. Give me two minutes," Clark says as he flies off in a blur.

Jessica watches him go. "There's something different about him," she remarks. "A...weight...sadness I don't remember," she tries to describe what she sees.

"Remember? You have my memories?" Peter cottons on to.

Jessica rolls her head from one side to the other. "Most of them, I think. I will explain when Clark gets back," she says, using his name, showing she knows who he is. "But about what I was saying?" she asks in relation to the difference she sees in Clark.

"A lot has happened to him. A lot of bad stuff. He's still trying to recover from it," Peter explains, completely serious and sensitive over what Clark has endured.

"Oh," Jessica says, unable to think of anything witty to say. Hating the awkward silence that follows she breaks it by asking, "Sooooo...still dating Kitty?"

"Yes," Peter answers with a severe frown.

"That's good. I remember we liked her but it was a new thing at the time."

"Don't say we," Peter snaps at her. "We nothing. I'm the one who loves her!"

"Alright, alright," Jessica says trying to placate him. "I was only just saying."

"Well don't. Ok. I'm freaking out enough as is, thank you very much."

"I know...and I'm sorry. Truly I am. I never wanted this. I was..my plan was to keep out of your life...and to keep the others away but they ran off in different directions and I haven't been able to catch up to them..."

"And why don't you save that part of the story for when we get there," Clark interrupts as he returns, landing softly on the roof with a large box of dohnuts. "Lets sit, eat and you start from the beginning Jessica," he proposes.

Jessica nods and the 3 plant themselves down on the roof, sharing dohnuts.

"Hmm, this is good," Jessica says with her mouth full. "I've never had a dohnut before. I remember them from Peter's memories but I've never had one," she explains, savouring the sweetness. If anything they tasted better than she remembered.

"So how did you come to be?" Clark asks her, prompting her a place to begin.

Jessica looks into the distance. "It was a month ago now, give or take. That was when I was born..."

Flashback…

At first there is only darkness. Then there is a voice.

"She is coming out of it."

Eyes open and they see first a middle aged man with grey hair and a moustache in a lab coat get up with several other similarly dressed people behind.

"Hi," the man says. "My name is Dr Miles Warren. Now I need you to relax. Don't try to talk. You can't yet. Your body is still stabilising. We had to sedate you to stop you harming yourself. I know you may be freaking out about now in your mind...but don't worry about that, my dear. We're going to solve that. Now, you probably remember right now that you're Peter Parker, Spider-Man...but you're not. You're not him. You're not even a him. You're a her. You're a biological replication of Peter Parker. There's a story to that. It will all be explained soon, when you're stable. For now just rest. You're ok and you're safe."

Darkness envelops...her once more.

She doesn't know how much time passes before she wakes up. There's a nurse this time, caring for her, helping her sit up and telling her someone will be here soon for her.

Her.

Her?

She looks down at herself, dressed in a hospital gown. She can only remember being Peter Parker. She peers down her gown. Yep, she's a girl alright. No doubt about it. Her head snaps up, cheeks stinging red with embarrassment at seeing...what she just saw.

The door to her room opens and in walks…

"Norman Osborn?" she says, her voice barely a whisper.

Norman smiles genially. "Ah. You're awake. Good. And you're beginning to use your vocal chords. Excellent." He grabs a chair and sits himself down next to her. "I know you must be confused...which is why I'm here. To explain everything."

He reaches down into a briefcase he brought and pulls out a folder. It has a 'Top Secret. Confidential' stamp on it.

Norman opens it and begins to speak. "It's been a long held desire of many, shall we call them rather shady, government organisations to possess they're own version of a super soldier. One day, one of them...it really doesn't have a name, managed to gain into its possession a sample of Spider-Man's DNA. To meet their goal of creating a super soldier they desired to clone him. Shortly after the first 4 embryos were created SHIELD discovered what they were up to and shut them down. They discovered the clones...and also discovered they were dying. Rather than just let life, however it was created, fade away they sought out the best bio-geneticist in the world...who happened to be working for me."

Norman turns a page in the folder, not showing anything to her. "Using my company's resources we managed to stabilise you, allow you to grow to maturity...or at least the age Peter was when his DNA was taken. Unfortunately cloning is a pioneering frontier of science and can have some...unexpected outcomes. In your case the switching of gender from male to female but apart from that you are a remarkable success. By far the best of the 4."

"You keep saying 4?"

"Oh, yes indeed. The others are like you right now, slowly adjusting to their births but you'll meet them when it's time," Norman informs her.

"What will happen to me?"

"Ah, yes. That's why I came in person to talk to you. You know me, right. From Peter's memories."

She nods.

"And don't worry. My mouth is shut about his identity as Spider-Man. He has done...many remarkable things but my saving you does come at a price. One I must explain face to face. I made a deal with SHIELD to return you to them as soon as you were stable. SHIELD desires to use you and the others as a team. Special Agents. In that regard, your memories of Peter will be erased and you will be given new ones. It's a technique SHIELD developed. Let me see here," Norman says as he looks through the folder once again. "They already have a name picked out for you. It's...ah yes, Jessica Drew. Pretty yes?"

Jessica, as she is now apparently called, has not much to say. She doesn't know what to say to any of this.

"Special Agent Jessica Drew of SHIELD. Codename; Spider-Woman. Ugh, not very original I must say. Then again these government agencies aren't known for their original thinking." He places the folder down and puts a hand on her shoulder in an act of comfort. "I know this must all be overwhelming my dear and I dearly wish to give you much more time to adjust but Director Fury is a harsh task master. He wants results and he wants them yesterday and as soon as you are able we must begin a proper assessment of you physically and of your abilities so I can report them to SHIELD. Once that is done...all this confusion and shock will go away when we adjust your memories. In one sense that sounds terrible and horrific but, in another, I think for you and your 3 siblings it will be for the better. You can forge your own path without being haunted by someone else's memories."

Jessica is just too overwhelmed.

Norman smiles sympathetically. "Rest up. I'll be back," he promises her as he departs for now.

The present…

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter stops her. "Mr Osborn knows who I am!" he cries in shock. He means...he's met Harry's dad...recently. After such time he must have known who he was. He never gave anything away.

"Yeah," Jessica says.

"We'll deal with that Peter," Clark assures him. "But we need to let Jessica finish. What happened next?"

"The assessments. The training. They began to prepare us...I mean myself, Scorpion, Kaine and Tarantula to be Special Agents."

"That's where the costume comes from," Peter guesses.

Jessica nods as she looks down at said costume upon her. "Yeah. They supplied it to me."

"Kaine and Tarantula are the other clones?" Clark seeks to clarify.

Jessica nods. "Yes. The 4 of us. You've seen Scorpy and myself. The others...they were mutated, disfigured, mentally unbalanced but they kept saying that was ok because they would adjust our memories. The day we were told that was going to happen...Scorpion snapped. He went crazy, attacking everyone and everything. There was an explosion...and we escaped, the 4 of us. I tried to get us to stay together but Scorpion was too far gone and the others fixated on their obsessions."

"Obsessions?"

"Every fibre of my being tells me I'm Peter Parker, even when I know I'm not. I remember everything you have ever done, Peter. Everything you have ever eaten, smelt, felt. Everyone you know I feel like I know. It's the same for the others...only as I said they're disturbed, mentally unbalanced."

"Professor Xavier said that the memories in Scorpion's mind are all fragmented, disjoined, chaotic in a sense," Clark mentions.

"That would explain why he snapped like he did," Jessica can see.

"What about these obsessions?" Peter asks.

"This relates to MJ. Kaine was always focussed on her. He would babble about how much she meant to him. I think it's due to our crush on her when we growing up as neighbours. Those are the memories that are most dominant within him. He's obsessed with thinking she needs protecting."

"So he took her to protect her?" Peter says incredulously.

"I did say he was unstable."

"So where would...Kaine take MJ?" Peter wants to know.

"I have no idea. I'm sorry. I know you don't want to hear that but I don't," Jessica says apologetically.

"And you were chasing after him, right?" Clark tries to put the pieces together. "That was your webbing we found outside?"

Jessica nods, confirming that. "I was too late. He had already been and gone. I was just trying to figure out my next step when Little and Large showed up trying to capture me."

"Huh."

"What's with the huh?" Peter inquires.

"The Molten Twins….they were trying to capture Scorpion, remember," Clark prompts Peter to think back.

"Yeah."

"And Mark let slip he was working for someone."

"They want us back," Jessica says, a darkness falling over her face.

"By using supervillains?" Peter questions that. That's...not right. Not that he thinks Liz is really a supervillain...though it's hard to recall she's his friend when she's trying to turn him into extra crispy spider.

"What about Tarantula? Any idea where he went? What may be driving him?" Clark wonders, changing topics for the moment but his thoughts are in tune with Peter's. Something is very wrong about this whole thing.

"I...don't know actually. He was never very talkative. So unlike us at all. I have no idea what is driving him," Jessica has to admit.

"It's ok, Jessica," Clark tells her, seeing clearly how upset she is. He reaches over and places a hand on her shoulder.

Jessica sniffles a little as her emotions threaten to overwhelm her. She can't really relay the real emotional distress she's gone through since she woke up and was told she was just some freaky science experiment and that her memories are not really hers at all.

"Jessica, I need a favour," Clark says.

"Sure. What?"

"What's your last memory?"

"Huh?"

"I mean Peter's memory. What is the last memory of Peter's life you have?" Clark clarifies what he means.

Peter looks at Clark questioningly.

"It'll narrow down the time frame of when your DNA was stolen," he explains. This is in line of trying to figure out what's wrong with Jessica's story.

Jessica's face screws up as she tries to recall the last thing before she woke up in that bed. "Stark. The Halloween party. I remember arriving...that's it."

Clark cocks his head slightly as his inhumanly perfect memory recalls that night. "The Green Goblin," he says.

"Who?" Jessica asks.

"What?" Peter asks.

Clark looks at his friend. "The Green Goblin," he repeats. "He cut you," he reminds his friend of that evening.

Peter's eyebrows rise. "That's right," he remembers. Across his chest. "With a razor bat."

"Who is this Green Goblin? Is he related to Hobby?" Jessica wonders, in relation to the Hobgoblin. She remembers that Halloween costumed clown but has no idea who this Green Goblin character is they are on about.

"Same aesthetic, different levels of insanity," Peter answers. "Gobby is also as strong as we are and he just keeps reappearing over and over. I've lost count of the number of times we've met now. He's like that piece of bubblegum that you can't get off your driveway no matter how hard you try to scrape it away."

"He gatecrashed Stark's party with a few friends, abducted Peter and when they fought, cut him," Clark summarises events.

"He wanted me to join him. Fat chance. There wasn't even a dental plan on offer," Peter jokes about it.

"And you seriously need one considering how often villains are trying to smash your teeth in. It's like they don't like to hear you speak or something," Clark jokes along.

"Nah. That can't be it. I have the voice of an angel."

"A fallen one."

"Ouch. Some friend you are."

"It could be worse. Claire could be here."

"You're right. That would be worse. Plus I could do without the 3rd degree burns."

Jessica grins at the banter.

"But back to being serious," Clark brings it to an end. "If that is the last memory you have of Peter, Jessica, then that suggests it was from that cut you were cloned."

Jessica frowns in confusion. "But what Osborn said."

"Doesn't add up," Clark just has to say it. "I didn't think it did. Fury would never allow something he saw as an 'asset' to be under anyone's control but his own assuming he would even let you live at all. And if it was SHIELD it would be their agents trying to recapture you. Fury would never trust a supervillain with the job," he lists a few of the many things that don't add up.

"But that means..." Peter starts to say and doesn't want to finish it. He does so anyway. "That means Gobby and Osborn must be working together. Gobby knows who I am!" he cries in a deep and sudden panic. It's his worst nightmare one of his villains knowing who he is and the Green Goblin is just about the worst of the worst. Insane but brilliant all at the same time.

"Why would they do this? Create us?" Jessica has to know, to understand the reason she exists.

"I'm not sure," Clark answers for Peter. "Though you spoke of obsession. Gobby has one in regards to Peter from how he tells it."

"Yeah. I've been meaning to get a restraining order taken out on him. My number 1 stalker," Peter tells the joke flatly.

"And you spoke of memory adjustment," Clark recalls. "If Gobby's behind it...well from personal experience I know for a fact that sort of thing is never good."

"It would definitely not be," Peter confirms with a slight shudder at the idea, based on his personal experience of just what sort of person Gobby is.

Jessica stares at Clark. Personal experience? That must relate to the 'bad stuff' Peter mentioned.

"As for how Osborn fits in...there I admit I'm clueless," Clark will admit.

So is Peter. He means he knows Norman does some amoral things. See creation of evil symbiote as prime example but for Norman that was about business and money. Creating a weapon for the military. To ally outright with a nut-job like Gobby...doesn't make sense. God, how would he explain any of this to Harry?

"Then the whole thing...from when I woke up...it was a lie, a deception," Jessica concludes, getting angry now.

"It seem so," Clark says, sympathetic to her plight. He knows all about being screwed with. See Apocalypse and 2 entire years of his life as proof. And don't even get him started on Patricia.

Just then police cars scream past on the street below.

Clark frowns. "They're in a hurry. It can't be good," he says before he's even had a chance to listen in.

Peter sighs and gets to his feet, pulling his mask back on. The sun was up now, he had had no sleep and it seems his lazy Saturday just isn't going to happen.

"Well lets get going then," Jessica says in demanding tones as she slips her mask back on, a determination in her actions. No matter how she was created, like Peter, if people are in trouble she has to do something to help. "Duty calls," she says as she runs to the edge. As she leaps off she yells, "Don't bust a spleen trying to keep up boys!"

"There's no way she is me," Spider-Man grumbles as he runs after her.

Superman takes to the air. "I can see it," he insists with a smirk. "And on the plus side I get to reuse all those jokes that we made up to annoy Logan after discovering Laura. Only on you," he says with an even larger smirk.

"Oh ha ha," Spider-Man responds with.

"People who say 'Oh ha ha' are ones who can't think of witty comebacks," Superman uses something Peter himself has said. Peter really is having a bad day.

"Bite me!"

"Now boys, behave!" Spider-Woman tells them off. "Don't make me come back there," she playfully warns them, like a parent scolding naughty children, as she swings onward after the police.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny," Spider-Man drawls sarcastically. "By the way what, with the, from your fingertips?" he inquiries about her webbing and where it comes from.

"Organic web-shooters in each fingertip," she explains.

"Ew," he complains childishly, thoroughly grossed out.

"I cannot believe I come from you," she complains.

"I can," Superman says because they were practically identical in their mannerisms.

"Oh bite me!" the two Spiders say in unison and it is all Clark can do not to bust a gut in laughter.

They reach the place the police were heading to and find them parked up outside a house as the two spiders land on the roof of a house across the street and Superman hovers.

"That's Gwen's house," Spider-Man says, a deepening worry filling his gut.

"Uh oh," Spider-Woman mumbles.

"Tarantula?" Superman guesses.

"I have a bad feeling, yes," Spider-Woman has to concede that is what may have happened

"He's taken Gwen?!" Spider-Man splutters in outrage. "What is it with you damn clones?! Are you trying to ruin my life?!"

"Spidey," Superman snaps, seeing how Spider-Woman goes stiff as a board at his outburst.

Spider-Man walks off across the roof, muttering, "Should have left you all in the test tube."

"He didn't mean that," Superman says to Spider-Woman. "He's just upset."

"I know he is," she says...yet you can hear a sniffle of upset in her voice. Her feelings are hurt. She then goes even stiffer still.

"Jess?"

"Spider-sense," she hisses.

Clark's head snaps around looking and can see Peter too has gone stiff, showing his spider-sense has also flared up but as for what is causing it...he finally sees but too late. A barrage of missiles striking down amongst the police.

The 3 heroes, despite their arguments, snap to it immediately, leaping down and helping who they can.

"Where did those missiles come from?" Spider-Woman asks as she lifts a destroyed car over to check underneath.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" a familiar, hideous, cackling laugh interrupts.

"I think I know," Spider-Man says in grave tones as swooping down on his glider comes the green faced stuff of nightmares until he is hovering over the 3 heroes.

It's the guy Peter is seriously considering labelling his nemesis.

The Green Goblin.

Author's Note: 'Peter' is Kaine, though in the Ultimate Clone Saga he was never named on panel. It was only ever confirmed off panel. For those that do recall I actually did a cameo with the other Jessica Drew, currently an Agent of Hydra, some time ago but there's no reason both can't be in my world. It leaves the possibility one day of the two facing off for the right to both the names Jessica Drew and Spider-Woman. Though I did toy with the idea of avoiding that and giving this Jessica the name of the other Spider-Woman; Julia Carpenter but nah. I'll keep to what they gave her in the comics. Also I reckoned that Peter and Clark combined would be able to pick apart the holes in Jessica's story quick enough to lead what the last scene confirms. The true force behind all this. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Clone Saga part 4 as the Green Goblin makes his presence felt.