DISCLAIMER: I do not own Spectacular Spider-Man, its characters or stories, as I neither own any other Marvel character. This is a non-profit fanmade story. I don´t make any money out from this.
A/N: 50+ reviews! Thank you guys, this is awesome, hope I will be able to keep writing for all of you. As always, life hasnt been easy, so this chapter was put in the hold. But I decided I shouldnt let this slip, so here it is . As always, sorry about the delay. Classes have started, so I will be able to focus more on this (strangely enough... I get very sidetracked and this is where I end up.)
Now, i think it is pretty much ovbious that all of you prefer 616 Jessica Drew than Ultimate Jessica Drew. So you can all be sure I will use her, and I have already started to plan how to introduce her.
Another issue I wanted to adress is the fact that some have suggested this fic to be a harem. I´m not sure if I should go ahead with it. I mean, I love the idea, but a Harem fic rated T seems kind of boring. Besides, it´s fun to play with the whole romance drama thing. What do you guys think anyway? Maybe I should start another story, or change the rating, or just work with what I have? I dont know, to be honest.
Also, I think I´m slipping in the smartass department with all the drama and romance around, so expect to see more snark and witty banter than before. I really want to bring the Whedon in me, so yeah. Im not into Shakeaspeare, but I suppose I have to, in order to bring the Weisman out from me. Maybe it´s time to hit the web and check "Gargoyles". Maybe I should stop trying to sound interesting and get on with it?
Anyway. let´s move on, shall we?
Q/A: Remnant of the thirteen primes (is that a transformers reference?): Character relationships and development are what I like to write, so that makes for lengthy setup and conversations. Hopefully, you guys dont mind all of that, and the fights are rewarding enough. Your comment also made me realize that I should keep Jessica´s powerset creative and faithful, thanks for that.
JeremyVD: I knew you werent commenting about it, RELAX. I highly doubt I will kill Gwen. She getting with Peter is still a possibility, every girl deserves her turn with the spider-stud!
Cherrycloud456: The Hobgoblin and Scorpion are separate histories. but it is good you still have in mind that Gargan is still following Peter around. creepy, right?
GKoH: Ironman would be voiced by Eric Loomis, who voiced Tony Stak in the Avengers Earth´s Mightiest Heroes. To me, he is the second best Ironman ever (after RDjr, of course). It´s not that the movies are more important or better: my favorite Batman is Kevin Conroy for example.
Silentman87: Jessica has history with HYDRA, and i will keep that in mind. As I told you, Peter being framed is a great idea, I have to see how to use it. Also, I dont want to hint things about both Mary and Richard Parker yet, mostly because that brings in SHIELD too close to Peter, and I dont want this fic to be a carbon copy of Ultimate Spiderman. This is Spectacular Spiderman. Besides, SHIELD is supposed to be a bunch of assholes and assasins who mean good but always screw up; not some foster-school for annoying super teens.
I will probably get some flame for that, but its my opinion. Im not against people who like or write about that, I just dont like the idea.
But enough ranting...
LAST WEEKEND
As Ned Lee walked around the sea of people, he was standing on his toes and trying to find his work partner. He highly doubted he could find her before the press conference starts, but he had to try, nonetheless. He really hated to come to these crowded places, but as the (self-proclaimed) OsCorp expert in the Bugle, he had to assist in order to follow his story. After all, he was the (also self-proclaimed) best journalist at following up with super heroes (Peter didnt count, because he is a photographer).
After all, when Peter Parker had been framed to be Spider-man, it was Ned´s research that proved it had been only a confusion and a stupid gossip out of control. He had also been following the tracks of the Green Goblin, trying to guess his identity. He had been shocked to learn that it was no other that Norman Osborn, CEO and owner of OsCorp. Ned was the reporter that had covered the story, but he felt bad for not being able to decipher everything by himself.
Still, his gut feeling kept telling him that there was something else to the story, that there were still many mysteries shrouded about the whole Goblin thing. And what better place to find clues about it than in OsCorp. Therefore, he had volunteered to come to this Press Conference and asked both Robbie and Jameson to put him in any history concerning the Osborns and their company. J.J. only growled and grunted to him, but Robbie´s aproval was all he needed.
Alas, he was here; trying to walk without stepping or chrashing into the other reporters. After finally spotting her, Ned crossed the whole hall in order to meet up with his co-worker. When she saw him, she waved at him.
"Yo!" said the upbeat woman. She was asian-american (with a slight tan in her skin), slightly shorter than Ned himself. Her raven hair was very short, barely reaching her neck. She was wearing a white shirt with a V-neck that made it just before her bossom. She was using brown baggy pants, that held two straps that crossed from her front side to her shoulders, all the way back to her pants. She sported a black beret in her head, and a camera hanging in her front side by a strap in her neck.
"It was hard to spot you, you know?" said a panting Ned Lee. "It has been a while, Whitney."
"Same here." replied the woman. Whitney Chang. Photographer for the Bugle, who most often than not was never in the Bugle. She usually justified it with not being able to fancy all the yelling and drama Jameson put in the office, so she received most of her assignments by e-mail or phone. She sent the pictures to the Bugle´s office, and they deposited her payment in her bank account. Easy and simple. "How is Grumpy doing back at the mines?"
"A Snow White reference? Really?" asked Lee. "You are slipping."
"Sorry for not being as knowledgeable as that little prodigy of yours." spat Whitney, possibly referring herself to Peter. "Well, if not for him, you would have never understood that one, thought. I should thank him... if I get to meet him someday."
"It´s not my fault, or his fault for that matter, that you never show up at the office to meet him." replied Ned. He had created a frienship bond with both photographers, so he usually talked about the other with each one of them. "Jonah and the others are doing fine, btw."
"Great. I can show up and ask for a pay-raise, then." joked the woman. Ned snickered. She was similar to Peter in many things, he thought. Both were quite the smartmouths, to begin with. Only difference was that she had no problem lashing out at everyone with her comments. Maturity? Giving up on people? Well, Peter was certainly more naive and idealistic than her. Stll, he enjoyed the company of both of them.
Soon, various OsCorp representatives and suits appeared in the front of the hall, signaling to all the reporters to take their seats. As both Ned and Whitney sat, a woman nobody expected to see appeared in the room. The recently widowed Emily Osborn walked towards the main podium, provoking the murmurs of the people in the room.
"Why is everybody so altered'" asked Whitney to Ned in a low voice.
"She is Emily Osborn. Widow of the former owner of the enterprise." whispered Ned. "She has been in rehabilitation for both alcoholism and depression during months, which consisted on heavy meds and therapy. Emphasis on ´heavy meds´."
"Yikes." replied the photographer.
"Yeah." said Ned. "Nobody expected her to appear here, even less, only weeks after the death of her husband."
As Emily reached the podium, she coughed in order to cease the whispering and murmuring of the journalists. When there was silence, she started. "Welcome, everybody. And thanks for assisting to this small reunion in such a short notice." Her voice was simple, lacked emotion and was almost robotic; she was looking at the podium, not trying to dissimulate at all the fact that she was reading a scripted speech.
"However, both the Board of Directors and me decided to give the good news to everyone as soon as possible." added the woman. "Now, as you all know: my late husband, Norman Osborn, was the CEO of our company, and it was him who took most of the decisions in our company. However, given the sad fact of his passing, we were afraid that the company would lose its edge; so the executives of our company quickly decided to look for someone that could fit the work profile we needed in a leader for our company. After various weeks of constant work and analysis, we have finally found someone who fits perfectly to the role and profile our company needs. Therefore, we have already selected who will be the new interim CEO of the company until further research and analysis."
As those words were said by Harry´s mother, the whole room blasted in questions and commentaries, but Emily Osborn remained unfazed. After a while, she raised her hand, motioning everyone to keep silent.
"Therefore, you are all cordially invited to the main building of OsCorp this wednedsay, where we will reveal the identity of the new Leader of our company. Thanks for your attention." just as she said those words, Emily walked out of the room, not concerning herself witht he many questions all the reporters launched at her.
"Wow." was all Ned could articulate after such a show. This changed everything. No matter what, he had to be there. This little spectacle only proved to him that he was right and there was something wrong inside the walls of OsCorp. And Ned Lee would make sure that the truth behind it would be revealed.
SPIDER-MAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD
CHAPTER 10: THE HOBGOBLIN PART 3
If Peter died right now, he would have no regrets. Well, of course he would have them, its just that they were being pushed to the back of his head thanks to the presence of a certain redhead hugging his right arm, laying her head in his shoulder, and walking with him at the park.
Both him and MJ had something right now. He didnt know what they were exactly, but he didnt want to worry about such things right now. He only wanted to enjoy the moment.
Him being Peter Parker, of course, things could never work as expected.
"Peter." said a person the web-head had been avoiding for the last weeks.
"Harry?" asked Peter.
"Can we talk for a minute." said Harry. "In private." added as he looked to Mary Jane, who suddenly let go of Peter´s arm.
"Sure thing." said MJ ackwardly. "I... will talk to you later. OK, Tiger?"
"Yeah... sure." said Peter. MJ leaned and kissed him in the cheek before leaving.
When the redhead left, both young men stood ackwardly, not knowing what to tell.
"So..." interrumpted Harry. "...you and Mary Jane?" asked Harry.
"Well, yeah. We are just, you know... seeing what happens." answered Peter.
"I see." said Harry. "That means you are through with Liz and any other girl, right?" asked Harry, adding some sarcastic emphasis on these last words.
"Well, yeah. Of course." replied Peter, trying to sound unaffected by Harry´s tone.
"So, with that out of the way, let´s get into business then." added Harry. "Peter, I wanted to ask you a favor."
"A favor?" asked Peter.
"Yeah... you know, I saw the Bugle´s pictures about the death of my father, and of course noticed the name of the photographer who took them."
"Oh..." replied a shocked Peter. "Harry, I´m sorry about that."
"It´s OK, Peter." interrumpted Harry. "It was your job, I get it. You did write me after it apologizing too. What I want to ask you is if you can please hand me the pictures you took that day."
"You want the pictures?" asked Peter.
"Yes." said Harry, in a somber voice. "I want to study them. Analyze every single shot; find any small detail that helps me in my purpose."
"Purpose?" asked Peter, worry in his voice. "Harry, what are you planning to do?"
"Pete..." said Harry, "What would you do if you´d meet the killer of your uncle?"
"Wh-what...?" asked Peter.
"If you had the man who took away of your most precious person in front of you... what would you do, Peter?" growled Harry. "Would you try to make him pay for what he did!? Would you, given the chance, make him feel what you felt!? Answer me, Peter! Be honest, please!" yelled Harry.
Honest? There was no way he could tell Harry the truth. That Peter had already met the one person responsible for the death of his uncle. Peter hated every single time that the image and memory of Felicia´s father came to his mind. The memories of hsi late uncle. Of the betrayal of his daughter. Peter felt his face instantly grow red from anger.
However, he breathed to call himself. He shouldnt allow himself to lose his calm. Especially now that Harry was in front of him. He understood that Harry was going through a hard time in his life, so Peter should try to be an example for him. He had to be a good friend, and help Harry out to go throught his problems.
"I... I dont know." replied Peter. "I´d like to think that I wouldnt do anything impulsive. Or that brings any more harm."
"So you would forget him?" asked Harry.
"Never!" yelled Peter as a reflex. "I... i mean..."
"It´s OK, Peter. I understand." reassured Harry. "Look, you just proved my point Peter. You will never forgive the man who took the live of your uncle. And I will never forgive Spider-man for killing my father. Never!"
Those words were not reassuring at all. Harry still believed his father had been killed by Spider-man, when it all was Norman´s own fault (thought Peter had concluded he was also responsible for it.) He knew there was no point in trying to talk him out of that assumption, so it would be better if Peter didnt say anything to Harry.
"Harry..." said Peter, before being interrupted by Harry.
"Pete, I´m not going to do something stupid like try to fight against Spider-man." reassured the son of the late Osborn. "However, that doesnt mean there is nothing I can do, is it? Just as you take pictures of Spider-man stopping crimes, I have decided to do the opposite: find pictures of him committing crimes."
"Harry-" tried to argue Peter, before being cut by Harry.
"No, Peter. Dont even try to defend him. You are my friend, right? You have to be on my side." replied an angry Harry.
Peter couldnt believe it. Now Harry was behind him; well, not him exactly, but his alter-ego. Hopefully, it will stay like this. Peter sighed while closing his eyes. "Ok, I´ll send you the pictures as soon as I have some free time, OK?"
"Really?" asked Harry "Thanks, Pete! I knew that I could count on you." Harry then saw his phone and reacted to the time. "Sorry Peter, I have to go. I´ll see you at the OsCorp´s conference wednesday, right?"
"If good ol´ Jonah allows it, yeah." quipped back Peter.
"Good." said Harry, before turning and running towards his limo. "See you later."
Stupid thieves! Didnt they knew that Peter had a 10:00 PM curfew? Then again, they would probably make fun of him for that. None of them would be as mean as Flash would be if he knew, thought. Peter sighed mentally as he swinged towards various warehouses that were being assaulted by a group of criminals near the dock. He couldnt help but notice that this was a Stark warehouse, so it probably meant that it was the same kind of thieves he had faced early in the morning.
When he made it close to the warehouse, he noticed various men already unconscious close to a back door. He followed the trail of K.O.´d men until finding two familiar people sneaking into the building. He walked towards them, and put his hand in the shoulder of one of the women.
"Hey Colee-" was all he was able to say before his spider-sense kicked in too late for his body not to be handled like a ragdoll with a powerful judo throw by the asian-american woman.
"Spider!?" asked Misty Knight to the hero in the ground. Peter could only muffle a nod, as the air was taken out from him with such a hit.
"Oh my god! Spider-man, I´m so sorry." gasped Coleen Wing, after seeing who was the one she had attacked right now. "I reacted without thinking, I didnt know it was you, I swear." She then crouches and helps the hero to his knees.
"It´s OK... I´m fine." said the web-head, while standing up. "Every girl I hit on always answers like that, anyway." jokes the hero.
"I´m really sorry." said Coleen, blushing of embarassment. "But it was your own fault for sneaking up on me."
"Yeah... guess it was my fault. I just didnt want to make any noise, to you know, alert whoever it is we are following."
"The thieves trying to steal Stark Tech from his own warehouse." said Misty, mocking the hero. "Tell me, why are you sneaking into two lone girls at this hour of the night, eh?"
"Yeah, two lone girls that were able to leave around 20 criminals down for the count in order to sneak to a warehouse." joked the hero back. "Well, I heard some ruckus when I was swinging by, so I decided to check it up. After all, this is the second warehouse that belongs to Stark Industries that is targeted today."
"Oh, right." said Misty. "We heard that you took care of a robbery attempt in the morning."
"Really?" asked Peter. After all, the news and pictures werent supposed to hit the newspapers until tomorrow, he guessed. "How did you know?"
"Stark hired us to take care of it now." replied Misty, a sing of disgust in her face. "He of course told us of your boy scout tendencies and told us to follow your example?"
"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Spider-man.
"Oh, you know what I´m talking about, Spider." spit back an angry Misty. "Sucking up to the big hero? You really think he´s gonna help you just because you helped him once?"
"I still dont get it." replied Peter, already confused.
"She´s calling you a sell-out and a fanboy." said bluntly Collen. "Iron Man has a tendency to... mistreat small-time heroes like us."
"What do you mean by mistreat?" asked Peter.
"Well, you know... Things like treating you as an inoffensive civilain." said Collen.
"Or leaving you to take care of his mess." added Misty.
"Make you deal with the cops." added Coleen again.
"Charge you with the collateral damage he caused by himself, even thought he is flithy rich!" spit Misty.
"Asking you to-" said Collen before...
"Ok, dont wanna hear that out." cut Spider-man.
"...to sign autographs or deal with his fans." said Coleen, in an amused and annoyed tone. "Tony Stark might be a millionaire, but I´m waaaaay out of his league." added Coleen.
"Of course you are." added Spidey. "Wow. I seriously had no idea he used to do these kind of things. No wonder he left me to deal with the cops."
"So he was playing you too, huh?" asked Misty. "Figures."
"Now, Stark isn´t a bad person himself, Spider-man," added Coleen, "but you could say that his downsides as a public figure are also his downsides as a hero."
"Well, he certainly isnt getting any more free favors from me." replied Spidey.
"Neither from us." added Misty. "So he is paying us big time for this."
"Huh... maybe I should ask him to get me on his payroll too." quipped Peter. "All the laundry I have to pay for hiding in sewages and being hit by trash cans is costing me my college fund."
"If you want that, you simply have to join my agency, you know?" added Misty.
"Once again, thank you." answered Peter. "But I really dont want to put you girls in any danger."
"We can take of ourselves just fine." added Collen, irritation in her voice.
"Tell me so when you are not being hit by a 60m/h attack of Rhino in your ribs." added Peter.
"Wait a minute..." cut Misty, "Web-head, are you looking down on us?"
"What!? No!" said Peter.
"Well, it certainly sounds like it." said Coleen.
"One meeting with the shell-head and you are already acting like him!?" asked a furious Misty.
"Girls, no!" said Peter, trying to calm donw both women. "I´m only trying to-" However, his spider-sense tingled, and he quickly launched himself towards the two women. Just as he pushed them off, the three of them barely avoided a bullet.
"Sorry to interrupt your little lover´s quarrel, but you are not invited in here." said the voice of a man pointing a gun towards the crouching heroes.
"I agree with him. We should discuss this later." said Spidey.
"Agreed." said both Coleen and Misty, reading themselves to battle.
A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter.
First, Whitney Chang: She has no relation to the other Whitney I introduced in the previous chapter. Except for her name. if you wonder who she is, well, she is a supporting character in the game of the Amazing Spider-man movie. Google her. I did change her looks, just because. Just another character I decided to introduce. Btw, i did forget to correctly name "Whitney Frost" in last chapter (Stark´s secretary), so I already corrected it, and sorry for such a dumb mistake. Cons of not being Beta´d I guess.
Second, more Tony Stark scenes. Even thought he didnt actually appear in here. Still, character development and all that. Did I make him look like a jerk? if not, I havent tried hard enough. Also, a small Misty and Coleen cameo... I dont think they have received enough spotlight.
As a side note, Martina Sirtis was supposed to voice Emily Osborn if the show would have reached a third season. Yep, Demona from Gargoyles would have been in Spectacular, this being a Weisman show and all. You can now reread her scene again. You´re welcome.
Would you like this to be a harem? Or should I write another harem history? Or both? Or neither? I dont know, this is written for you people (and my ego as a fic-writer, whatever that means) so I guess you should have a say on it. Let me know what you think.
Once again, sorry for the long delay. Crappy life is affecting my geek-time.
As always, dont forget to review.