IX. Alteration

That very night, at the stroke of midnight, Norman Osborn and Miles Warren met within the mazelike depths of the Oscorp Industries R&D facility. Dr. Warren entered the lab, carrying with him a small, lead-shielded case. Osborn stood in the observation room, smiling to himself, as if he were enjoying a private joke.

"The evening news was… most entertaining," said Warren. "It seems that every influential citizen in New York City just witnessed the Green Goblin attack Norman Osborn in his own home."

"Indeed," said Osborn, who finally burst out laughing, a deep-throated chuckle of mirth and victory. "It couldn't have gone any better! Our new Goblin was in fine form. Miles, I must congratulate you: you do excellent work."

Warren adjusted his glasses and placed his hands behind his back. "Well, then. Onto the next phase of our plan."

"You've brought it?" asked Osborn.

Warren held up the case and removed the shielding, revealing a small glass enclosure which contained an elaborate little spider-web… and a single, tiny red-and-blue spider. "To my great annoyance, Dr. Connors took most of his own specimens with him when he left ESU. Fortunately, I was able to secure this little beauty without his noticing. It's rather remarkable, you know, Connors' work. And yet, he never even suspected what he had, under his very nose, all this time."

Osborn was honestly curious. "Then how did you figure it out?"

"It was something that Sergei Kravinoff said to me, when he first came to my lab, asking for my, erm, assistance with a genetic upgrade. He said that my lab smelled just like Spider-Man; that he must have gotten his powers from there. Naturally, I let Kraven believe that I had been the one to give Spider-Man his powers, for a considerable sum of money. Then I merely offered him the same deal, and, well, he jumped at the chance. You know as well as I do how that turned out." Miles set down the case, removed his jacket, and put on a white labcoat which had been hanging over a seat near a control panel.

Then he continued. "But he got me to thinking… was it possible? Were Connors' super-spiders responsible for the existence of the Web-Slinger? I've run numerous tests on this specimen's venom, and all my data point to one conclusion: yes. We can make our own Spider-Man."

"Can this… specimen be replicated?"

Miles stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Without Connors? Not likely. I'm afraid we only get one chance at this. We'd best make it count."

"Well then," said Norman, turning to one of the control panels, "all that remains is to wait for our test-subject." He pressed one button on the panel before him, causing the opaque shielding between the control room and the larger test-chamber beyond to rise slowly up into the ceiling. Now that the test-chamber was visible to them, Norman touched another control, and the ceiling of that chamber divided in two and opened wide, exposing the starry sky overhead.

"When Kingsley returns, what shall we do with him?" asked Warren. "Do you intend to let him keep being the Goblin?"

"There's no need," said Norman. "I'm sure to be cleared of all suspicion by tomorrow morning. Kingsley's served his purpose. We'll let him go back to his life… unless, of course, we should have need of his 'services' again."

• • •

A while later, the skies over the Oscorp research campus were filled the sounds of goblin-laughter and the dull roar of a high-speed glider. The Green Goblin, carrying an unconscious Mary Jane, landed right in the middle of Osborn and Warren's test-chamber. "One guinea-pig, delivered as ordered," giggled the Goblin. "Don't worry; she isn't damaged. Just fainted dead away from fright!"

"That's enough, now, Goblin," said Osborn into a microphone in the control-room. "Put her down on the slab."

The Goblin did as he was asked, depositing MJ onto an operating table. Then he turned to face the window (which was mirrored on the test-chamber side) and shouted at his own distorted image, "What about me, Osborn? Do you have my payment ready?"

Osborn smirked and turned to Warren. "Give the man his 'payment', Miles."

Now Dr. Warren turned to the microphone, depressed the button, and spoke in a clear, commanding voice: "The rain in Spain."

Upon hearing that hypnotic trigger-phrase, the Green Goblin instantly fell into a waking trance. His arms and head slumped down, and the stood there in the test-chamber, as motionless as a mannequin.

"Remove your costume, and wait for us in the lobby," commanded Warren.

Zombie-like, the Goblin did as he was asked. First he pulled off the green rubber goblin-mask, revealing the face of New York businessman Roderick Kingsley. Then he stripped off the purple armor, casting it aside in pieces as he exited the test-chamber.

Osborn smiled and stood up from the control panel. "I'll go tell Kingsley that we met for drinks at the country-club, and he had one too many. Then I'll call him a cab. In the meanwhile… proceed with your work."

"Of course, Norman," said Miles. "I'll see you tomorrow." Then he reached for a syringe and the case with the spider.

• • •

Oh God, oh God, oh God. Mary Jane! The Goblin… he just… he just took her. At random? I think he picked her at random, out of the crowd. Just because. For no good reason. He couldn't possibly suspect… could he? Does he know who I am? Did he take MJ because of me? No… no way. It doesn't make sense. He didn't gloat, he didn't dangle her in front of me like bait. He just took her, and, zoom! Gone!

AAAARRRRRGGGHHH!

Why-why-why did he do that?! Okay… okay, Pete, get a grip. Calm down. First off, the Green Goblin does not know who you are. If he did, he would have said something. He would have gone off and threatened Aunt May or something. No, this was just some random… weird, goblin-crazy weirdness.

He said that he wanted a 'playmate'. What on earth is that supposed to mean? If he hurts her in any way… I'll do what? I can't do squat until I find him! All I can do until then is swing around the city, worrying to myself like a neurotic nutcase, until the Goblin decides to come crawling out of whatever creepy hole he's hiding in.

WHAT—THE—CRAP!? I can't take this! Goblin, where the hell are you hiding?

MARY JANE! Where are you…?

• • •

Peter had been web-slinging around the city for hours. Even his spider-strong arms were starting to get tired. He wasn't going to be able to keep this up much longer. Then he spotted the Human Torch, hovering above a nearby building, waving his arms and trying to get Spidey's attention. Peter steeled himself against the prospect of bad news and swung over to where Johnny was waiting.

"Anything?" he asked, landing on the building. He was so tired, he felt like collapsing in a heap right there.

"Nothing," said Johnny. "Sorry." He floated over to the side of the building and sat down, extinguishing his flames. His own suit had been burned away entirely, leaving only his well-known blue Fantastic Four uniform. After a while, he said, "You really care about this girl."

Peter tensed up and tried to think fast. "Er, uh… yeah, of course I do. I mean, she's an innocent civilian, who knows what the Goblin might—"

Johnny held up a hand and said, "No, I mean you really care. Like it's personal." He looked Spidey straight in the mask and said, "Are you Peter Parker under there?"

Peter said nothing. Had his secret identity just been figured out… by Johnny freaking Storm?

"You don't have to tell me," said Johnny. "But… you know, you could trust me. If you wanted to. I wouldn't tell anyone. Super-hero professional courtesy."

Inwardly, Peter sighed. It would be nice to have another confidant, someone he could really talk to about this. Normally, he only had MJ, and, well, that wasn't an option at the moment. "All right," said Peter, taking off his mask. "Maybe I'm not exactly thinking straight here, but I'm—I'm freaking out because the Green Goblin has my girlfriend—my best friend—and I—I—I just don't know what to do about it!"

Johnny rested a hand on Peter's shoulder. "He probably took her for a reason. Do you think it was because the two of you…?"

"I don't know. Maybe. But I don't think so… because, like, he didn't act like it, you know? He didn't say, 'Spider-Man, I have your girlfriend, bwahahaha,' or anything like that."

"'Bwahahaha'?" echoed Johnny.

"That's… how villains laugh, right?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, they do. Doom sure did." Then Johnny shook his head and said, "Look, we'll figure this out. I'll get my sister and Reed to help with this; they're the two smartest people in the world. In the meantime, just… sit tight and wait for the Goblin to show up again. He'll probably have, like, ransom demands or something, and we can nail him then."

Peter took several deep breaths and nodded. "All right… all right. You're right. We've just gotta… calm down and think this through."

"Go home," said Johnny. "Get some rest. Unless… you want to come stay at the Baxter Building until we sort this out?"

"Oh, man, I would love to see the—but, no. I've got… family to worry about. Mine and MJ's. They'll be worried enough as it is without me disappearing too."

"I understand. And, hey, if you ever need anyone to talk to about, you know, super-hero craziness… swing by, look me up."

"Thanks, Johnny. I mean it."

Before Johnny Storm took off, he grinned at Pete and said, "Hey, I'm not just doing this for you. You've got to give me that Gwen chick's phone number, you hear? Man, she's… really something else."

Smiling sadly, Peter nodded. Then Johnny flew away.

• • •

The next twenty-four hours were an unmitigated hell for Peter Parker. He had to deal with Aunt May's fussing and Maddie Watson's worrying and Phillip Watson's impotent yelling. He had to give his statement to the police concerning what he'd witnessed during the incident. He had to see Jameson about photographs of the press-conference, and the after-party, and the battle with the Green Goblin. And since his girlfriend's kidnapping was the biggest news of all, he had to put up with a certain infuriating, quiet sympathy from all the Daily Bugle personnel who knew exactly what he was going through. Even J. Jonah Jameson had muttered a word of condolence before kicking Peter out of his office.

And then there were Harry and Gwen. Peter didn't go to school that day, and neither did his two friends. They were all excused, on account of possible traumatic stress from having been witness to a super-villain attack and the kidnapping of Mary Jane. Good pals that they were, Harry and Gwen both chose to spend their time off from school visiting Peter at home, and so he was forced to commiserate and worry along with them, all the while never letting on that he would much, much rather be swinging around New York City on webs, actually looking for MJ. But, of course, he couldn't get away without compromising his secret identity. In a word, he was trapped.

And so, when Mary Jane reappeared that very evening, one can only imagine how amazed and relieved and entirely confused Peter Parker was.

This was how it happened.

At about eight o'clock that night, the Watsons and Harry Osborn had finally gone home, but Gwen stuck around to hang out with Peter and Aunt May and wait for any news. Peter, itching to get out there and look for MJ himself, could feel the seconds ticking by. As long as Gwen was around, he couldn't really think of an excuse to get away. Aunt May, he could maybe sneak away from, but Gwen was there for his sake.

Then they all heard a car pull up to the curb outside the Watsons' house. Peeking out the window, Peter and Gwen saw that it was, in fact, Captain Stacy's car, and the police lights were flashing.

"What in the world…?" wondered May Parker aloud.

Then, two car doors slammed, and George Stacy appeared, escorting a very shaken-looking Mary Jane up to her front door.

Before one of them could even ring the Watsons' doorbell, Peter and Gwen and May were all dashing outside and over into their neighbors' yard.

"Mary Jane!" shouted Peter. "Peter!" she shouted at precisely the same instant. They were in each other's arms and embracing tightly, just as MJ's parents were coming outside. The next several minutes were a jumble of relieved hugs and tears and unanswered questions. Then, finally, at long last, Capt. Stacy calmed everyone down and let Mary Jane tell her story.

"The last thing I remember from that night," she said, "was the Goblin flying away from Harry's mansion. He had me in his arms, and we were so high up that I just… I guess I just checked out. Fainted. The next thing I knew, I was all alone, on a cold, concrete floor, still wearing the dress from the party." As it turned out, Mary Jane had awakened in an abandoned warehouse, somewhere in Brooklyn.

Peter wondered aloud why the Goblin would leave her in Brooklyn, but MJ didn't have an answer for that. She went on to explain that after getting her bearings and realizing that at least a day must have passed, she wandered around a rough-looking neighborhood until she found a police station and went in. Pretty much as soon as she was able to explain who she was, they were on the phone to Captain Stacy, who had taken over the investigation (since MJ's home was in his precinct, in Queens). He, in turn, had raced over to Brooklyn to confirm that it was indeed the case that Mary Jane Watson had reappeared, confused and fatigued but otherwise unharmed beyond a few scrapes and bruises. After that, he had lost no time in bringing MJ straight home.

"I just don't get it," said Peter, more to himself than anyone else there. "What was the Green Goblin up to?"

Capt. Stacy took Peter aside and said, "You never can tell what motivates these nuts in costumes, can you? I'm sure you understand what I mean, Peter."

Peter looked up at Stacy's piercing gaze. There was that little twinge of suspicion again: sometimes, Peter wondered whether the good captain didn't have him and his little secret identity all figured out. But, even if it were so, he'd never let on. At any rate, Peter didn't say anything. Stacy merely nodded, as if that were sufficient to get his point across and end the conversation.

Then the captain turned to Gwen and said, "Gwendolyn, honey, with all this excitement, it's nearly slipped my mind, but I have to leave for a criminology conference in Atlantic City tomorrow. I don't want to leave you alone for the whole week, but you can't miss anymore school. Is there any chance you might be able to stay with one of your friends for a while?"

May Parker overheard this and broke away from Mary Jane, who was still being coddled by her parents on the front porch. "I don't mean to pry, but wouldn't her mother…?"

Stacy turned a bit red and said, "Mrs. Parker, the truth is, my wife… will very soon be my ex-wife. And I honestly have no idea where she is right now."

"I did tell you," mumbled Gwen. "A real piece of work."

"Well, then, it's settled," said May. "We adore Gwen. She can stay with us for the week."

"Are you sure it won't be any trouble?" asked Stacy.

"None whatsoever," said May. "Now, I'm sure the Watsons want to be alone with MJ, so… would you care to come inside? Maybe have some coffee? Also, I'm sure I must have baked at least ten dozen cookies today, while we were all still worrying about Mary Jane… It's kind of a nervous habit." Now it was Aunt May's turn to look embarrassed.

"Ah… no, thanks, Mrs. Parker. Honestly, Gwen and I should both be going now, so that we can both pack what we need."

"All right, then. You can bring Gwen by tomorrow morning, and I'll make sure she gets off to school." Then May instructed Peter to go inside and clean his room; he'd be giving his bed to Gwen for the week and sleeping on the couch downstairs.

Peter did not mind that one bit. Mary Jane was back. She was okay. He didn't understand it, but he was too relieved to worry about it.