Spider-Man had a very important date, or rather a meeting with a lovely young woman and he didn't really want to be late for that date. The web slinger flung himself through the air and went to an abrupt stop, landing on the ground.

The problem was that there were a pair of thugs that made him late for that date, or rather it was an interview. Regardless it was a good time to get his friendly neighborhood name out there and not get ran through the mug.

As for these gentlemen, they just proved that this was another day at the office, another day that ended in a "Y". The web slinger popped them down to the ground hard, the breath leaving his body once more.

"Okay, you guys are really not on my good list today," Spider-Man said. A swing with the pipe and a miss, before he webbed it to the wall, catching the thug off guard.

Like an idiot, the man tried to yank the pipe off of the wall. He struggled and strained but he was knocked back with a crack.

He fell to two knees and the web slinger rushed him forward, and kneed him in the face.

"Got him!" one of the thugs yelled, trying to grab Spider-Man from behind and hold the web head in place.

"Two words, breath mint," Spider-Man said, annoyed by his noxious breath up close and personal, elbowing him in the face. The web slinger ran up the wall, webbing into a trash can lid. He blocked the knife with the trash can lid and then rammed it into the ribs.

The man was doubled over, and he knocked him down.

"Oooh, that's going to leave a mock," Spider-Man commented, nailing his enemy with a rocket buster of a punch, doubling him over.

"The boss is not going to like it….."

"Man, who cares what Hammerhead likes, let's get out of here…."

"Really Hammerhead, does your boss have an affinity for sharks or maybe that's just a name because he's thick headed?" Spider-Man asked, webbing their ankles together and stringing them upside down, hanging from the edge of the ledge. "Oh you two look adorable together. We should put you on a wedding cake."

"Get out….get out of here….you motherf…."

"Hey, watch the language, what would the children think?" Spider-Man asked, webbing his mouth shut. He shook his head, with a sad look on his face. "Thugs these days, they have no respect."

"One escaped, he's trying to make a break for it," Gwen informed Peter.

"Right, I got it, don't worry Gwen, I'm on it," Peter replied, rushing forward.

The thug looked completely panicked; this was not going all of this way. He was just a punch clock, trying to pay his mortgage, getting beaten up by some freak in a costume was not in the job description. And he was only half in it for the dental.

"How are you doing?"

The goon nearly stumbled over in his abject panic and Spider-Man had him hanging upside down in seconds. He tried to crack wise, to ease the tension. "Oh, you know, just hanging around."

Spider-Man had to admit that having a thug with an actual sense of humor was actually different from the usual thugs that were trying to beat his skull in. It was kind of refreshing as well to be honest.

"Are you?" Spider-Man asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah, could you….you know get me down?" the thug asked, nearly pleading.

"What's your boss up to? Are you working with the Kingpin?"

"Kingpin, no….not that guy, Hammerhead's against that guy, some kind of turf war…"

"Let me guess, you were just in it for the dental," Spider-Man said and the thug nodded. "Yeah, I thought so."

Spider-Man didn't think that this guy really knew much of anything so he left him hanging, quite literally.

"You're still public enemy number one, despite all of you've done for this city," Gwen said, and she sounded exasperated.

"Well to be fair, every time the cops are around, I try and run," Peter said and Gwen chimed in, reminding him of something.

"Well, if you get guns pulled on you, the proper response is to run, obviously," Gwen said, with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, obviously," Peter agreed, with Gwen's smile getting more prominent across her face and she gave a long sigh.

There was something hovering over Peter. "I guess that the bad thing is that I'm wearing a mask and they don't invite all kinds of warm fuzziness and trust and fun times and….."

"I get it, Spider-Man, I really do but…..that's just the power of the press. Which is why it's a good idea that you get that interview with Betty. I think that she would be a good asset."

"You don't…OWWW!"

"What happened Peter ,who attacked you?" Gwen asked, her temper was on a hair trigger for a second.

"I'm not really sure what happened," Peter said, and it was almost like something pinched him. He spun around for a little bit.

That was weird, perhaps some kind of insect attacked him, and nearly took a chunk out of his arm.

'Hope this one doesn't give me weird powers,' Spider-Man thought. 'Might have been a wasp that stung me….and that codename is already taken….so I hope not.'


Doctor Otto Octavius thought that he should feel triumphant right now, from what he accomplished and maybe he should have been. But the problem that he saw it was that, he would not get all of the credit. If this worked, then Norman Osborn would be the one that would get all of the credit.

If this failed, Norman Osborn would give him all of the blame and he hinted what would happen if Otto failed this time. It was not going to be something that Otto relished thinking about.

Norman Osborn would never be employer of the year and a lot of people worked for him because they had no choice. Otto was one of these people. One day, the servant would become the master.

He saw the DNA that he managed to acquire from Spider-Man. He had been slowly reproducing the OZ serum, using the notes. Osborn was getting more manic by each day and it was not hard to see why. He was dying and when he was dying, he wanted to ensure that everyone suffered a horrific torment.

"This is power," Otto whispered, holding the serum vial in his hand. It bubbled once again and he added it to the latest batch.

"I trust that latest batch is on schedule."

"Yes," Otto whispered, he wondered when the man would present himself to downgrade him. It was all that he had did. Otto was his servant and nothing more, nothing less. The man's eyes flickered dangerously before he spoke.

"Good, I don't want any further delays."

"I finally acquired the DNA sample that you requested from Spider-Man and….well you can see for yourself how unique it is," Otto said and Osborn stepped forward into the light.

His DNA looked uniquely mapped. It was hard to tell the effect that the spider bite would have on a human until now but seeing was in fact believing.

"Fascinating," Osborn whispered, his teeth contorting into a nasty grin and he traced every inch of the DNA with his eyes. Greed flashed through his eyes and he could sense green of two different kinds.

The first kind of green was the obvious one that people would think about. The greed that would cause men to do the most evil and foulest things. Money was the prime motivator for men at their cruelest.

The second kind of green was the power of the OsCorp chemical that was going through him. The batch that had been destroyed a couple of months ago in the same accident that gave birth to Spider-Man, he knew that was close.

And he was close to replicating it, and curing himself. The power swam through his eyes as his teeth gritted into a smile.

"Very well, you've done sufficient work, Otto, but don't get too comfortable yet, we still have much to do," Osborn told him and the scientist looked at him. "Is the test subject ready?"

"The prototype….yes she is…..we've spent months brain washing her, all we need to do is give her the power, and do you want Spider-Man after her….."

"A small sample of his DNA will not give us the army that I can shop around and make millions," Osborn told Otto. "Don't forget that I've made you….."

"I know what you think, sir," Otto told him and there was a second where it looked agitated, but he didn't show it.

"Just remember that if it wasn't for me, you would have rotted in obscurity, like a miserable spineless weasel that you were and still are," Osborn said and he looked at Octavius for a second, contempt flashing through his eyes. Rage burned through the eyes of Octavius in response.

"Your opinion, sir, I respect that," Octavius said, he looked at one of the robotic arms. It would be so easy to take the edge of it, and impale it through Osborn's foul throat. It would be just like that, as easy as pie. "But yes she's ready and she's being injected with the serum."

"You've made sure that her memories don't get in the way of her mission….."

"No sir, the drugs that I used wiped her mind of all hints of her past life, and she has no one to report her missing…..many think that she's just a runaway anyway….."

"Well that works into our plans," Osborn told him and once again, Octavius remained calm.

"Twelve hours," Octavius told him.

"Perfect, by that point, we'll have Spider-Man and OsCorp will reach the heights that only people have dreamed about," Osborn said.

It might have seemed vindictive, nasty, and cruel but that was just what Norman Osborn did. He did not become one of the top names in the New York city business world by being a nice person and playing by the rules.

He left Otto to put the finishing touches on his project, but leaving such a man to his own devices could be a dangerous proposal.


"So, I think that the first question all of our readers want to know is….why do you do what you do?" Betty asked as she sat down with Spider-Man and a tape recorder. "I mean…..you know, a lot of people with your powers….well you know there's a lot of super powered villains out there. And people like Doctor Doom, the Red Skull, and Magneto who have gone mad with power."

"Well that's an auspicious group to be roped in with," Spider-Man told her.

"Do you think…."

"Yes, I can answer the question, best I can anyway," Spider-Man replied, leaning back and relaxing. He looked pretty chilled out all things considered really. "I think that someone close to me taught me all about responsibility and that stuck with me. A good upbringing can even up a lot of things and it does help that I have a good support group outside of this costume."

"Right, you would….of course," Betty said, that was obvious. Not that she thought that super heroes were some anti-social people that didn't have lives outside of the costume. That would be rude of her. Plus people like Tony Stark were personable, even though a bit arrogant at times, along with the poster child for ADHD. And tended to get involved with women that he shouldn't, but that was neither here nor there. "But…..you're going up some really powerful people….The Kingpin….there was a rumor that he caused an undercover police officer to disappear."

"Well, with all due respect….and I'm sure that the NYPD are the best at what they do but….." Spider-Man said and he paused, shaking his head. "You know, I can't really come up with any statement other than one that sounds a bit defamatory."

"That's unfortunate," Betty said with a sigh. "You do seem to respect them, even though they've wasted valuable time and resources on a manhunt for you."

"Well, I wouldn't say that they wasted time, I mean Captain George Stacy, he thinks that he's doing the right thing, and….I heard from a very reliable source that he's getting a lot of pressure put on him by the mayor. You know that this is an election year, don't you?"

Betty sighed, she was well aware of that fact. That did tend to account for ten percent of the bone headed decisions that happened during this time of the year. She took a few more notes.

"So…..do you think that you would enjoy being on a team like the Avengers or the Fantastic Four or something like that, or go for your own team?"

"That's a good question, although I think that I'd throw off the dynamic of the Fantastic Four with me being there," Spider-Man said. "Five people in the Fantastic Four doesn't really have the same ring, now does it?"

"Well to be fair, the Fantastic Five still has the same alliterative appeal," Betty reminded him.

"Plus, I don't think the cosmic threats would really be my thing, if you read some of the news reports, they've gotten into some really freaky stuff," Peter said and Betty corked her eyebrow, smiling at him.

"That's just scratching the surface, isn't it?" Betty asked with a smile.

"Yes….but I'm sure that there are a lot of rumors about me, and I'm sure that people would like me, if they got to know me," Spider-Man said and he decided to add a point. "As long as the mask is on, there are going to be people who always wonder."

"Exactly how much do you think it will be take before people stop calling you a threat or a menace?" Betty asked.

"That was a Jonahism, isn't it?"

"Yes, it was, but you didn't really answer the question," Betty said. She wondered if the air conditioning was broken in the apartment, things were getting a bit too hot and heavy for her liking.

"Well, I don't know, I just got to keep doing what I'm doing, and people can make their own opinions," Spider-Man said. "If I was in this for the fame, that would make me as bad as the bad guys."

'Or as bad as some so called heroes, really,' Betty thought but she scratched down the rest of his quote.

"So, it's time to ask you something off of the record….you're not really disfigured underneath the mask, are you?" Betty asked and she could almost see his eyebrow raise. Well she couldn't really see it because the mask was completely on.

"Well, would you like a peek?" Peter asked her.

"I'm guessing by that request, you're no one famous."

"No, I'm just a normal guy, who likes to kick back with his friends and hang out," Peter said as he pulled his mask off.

"So, I'm guessing that you're about eighteen, nineteen, or so?" Betty asked, looking at him. He did carry himself like he was a young adult.

Peter smiled, Gwen did state that he could pass himself as older with the mask off, after the growth spurt of his spider powers. He just hoped he didn't look like he was eighty in about a year or something like that, because that would be bad.

Betty assumed that he was that old, for all she knew, he could be sixty and just looked really young for his age, or sixteen or something. She wasn't about to check his ID to verify. Plus hormones did wonky things to a person's brain, and the pheromones that he was giving off, unintentionally, it was causing her to grow weaker with desire.

"Trust me, I know to be discreet…..but….first of all…..yeah I can't really see why you would wear a mask other than keeping your identity a secret," Betty said, pleased with the level of trust he showed her. Although she would keep the fact that he showed her a secret.

"Now, I did save you a few times, Miss Brant….."

"Only once, maybe twice," Betty said and Peter ran his hands down towards her lower back and that caused her to close her eyes. "Okay, more than a couple of times."

"I think that that we can come to some sort of arrangement where we can see the full benefits of a business partnership between the two of us," Peter told her. "And I'm…"

Betty kissed him, the least that she knew, the better. Yet, her mind went haywire at his kiss and the fact that he touched her body, tormenting her. He really did wind her up a little bit and his hands roamed underneath her skirt.


"I think a couple of follow up interviews might be in order."


Overall, Peter thought that was a productive meeting all things considered. The web slinger launched his way half across the city, recharged.

It was getting closer to dinner time and he needed to make his way home soon.

'Don't have to rush too much,' Spider-Man thought but he mentally added something his head. 'But at the same time, we're kind of cutting things pretty close.'

Too close as Spider-Man reminded himself. The web slinger quickened his pace above him and suddenly he could see something swing behind him.

"Spider-Man to Goblin Girl, we've got a….."

WHACK!

That didn't even trigger his spider sense, which caused the web slinger to be thrown for a complete loop. The truth was, one could argue that Spider-Man was getting a bit too reliant on his spider sense and that kind of screwed him over on this particular time.

The back of his head felt numb as he was down on the ground and there was an adversary that was perched over him.

He looked up and he could see a female figure, dressed in a skin tight black suit. He seemed to be running into a lot of figures dressed in a skin tight black suit as of late. That was a recurring theme in his life.

She hit him so hard that she cracked the headset, which was going to make dealing with this fight a bitch and a half.

"Um….what are you….."

She tried to kick him in the head. The web slinger dodged the attack, her foot nearly cracking against the wall. The web slinger's mouth hung halfway open, and he tried to punch her.

She blocked it. She was as quick as he was, agile as he was, and she had his spider sense as well.

The web slinger found himself knocked face first into the concrete, and she rolled him over, only to wrap her hands around his throat, trying to squeeze the life.

"What's….your….problem….." Spider-Man gasped as her hands tightened around his throat but she looked at him, barely acknowledging that she heard him.

She had her orders, they blinked on through her mind. She had to capture him, bring him in. There was no other way….no other way.

She didn't speak, rather she punched away at him, in a pattern like well-practiced routine. His attempts to avoid her left him open for more abuse.

"Okay, you need to calm down," Spider-Man said, wrapping his webbing around her but she used her spider strength to break out. "And I should have really saw that coming."

She rushed him, hitting him in the side of the head. He thumped down onto the ground, and she grabbed him around the back of the head, forcing him down.

"Just who are you?" Spider-Man damaged and she disappeared. "And she's not one for talking, that's about….."

He heard something behind him, and she stabbed him with something in his shoulder. He became dazed and delirious.

"What….what did you do to me?" Spider-Man whispered, her voice becoming slurred. He could feel the back of his head thump and he searched around for something, anything to grab onto her.

His adrenaline began to pump through and he rushed her.

The spider themed enemy was surprised to see that he grabbed her just like that and rammed her almost through the wall. She gave a surprised yelp, and a groan of anguish with him hurling her down to the ground with a modified judo throw.

"So, you speak, don't you?" Spider-Man asked to her.

"Get away," she confirmed and she kicked him hard in the ribs. Despite his adrenaline working, a kick to the ribs at spider strength wasn't pleasant.

Spider-Man blocked the second attack, and then pushed her hand back. The struggle continued to go, in a titanic manner, pretty much back and forth.

She propelled herself up over his head, wrapped her hand around his head, and forced him headfirst into the wall.

The side of his mask pulled back and exposed his neck. She sank her fangs into him, biting down on the side of his neck.

The pheromones were released but in a way that paralyzed Spider-Man to the point that he couldn't move. He didn't think that his powers worked like that, he wasn't sure his powers worked like that but yet his powers worked like that.

Where was he again?

He didn't know, he was in a daze, and she smiled, perched over him. There was something unsettling about this. Her mouth and a bit of black hair was the only thing that he could see on the other end of the mask.

"Who?"

"You're coming with me," she told him and it was almost like she was robotic, like someone else was pulling the strings.

She pulled the headset that he had on underneath his mask and crushed it like a grape in her hands. Her handlers wanted to make sure that no one followed her and if they did….well she would kill them.

She didn't want to kill them; hence she wanted to decrease the chance that someone was going to follow her. It worked out this way rather well she thought.


Peter Parker, Spider-Man, whatever you wanted to call him, jerked himself awake. His mind was buzzing with something. Trouble perhaps but never the less he shook himself away.

"You know, I should really speak to my agent about the dreadful accommodations that I have here," Spider-Man said to no one in particular. "And I'm talking to myself, that's wonderful, just shoot me, I'm kind of insane. And by kind of insane….well you know what's going on here, don't you?"

"Trust me, Spider-Man, I do."

Spider-Man wondered who was speaking and then he looked up.

"So, you've finally come home, where you belong, Spider-Man," Norman Osborn said as he stared him down. "You're one of the few to come face to face with me in years, the privilege is all yours."

"Yeah, well you're kind of….."

"No, I'm not kind of anything Peter….mind if I call you Peter?" Osborn asked and Peter's mouth hung halfway open. "I'll tell you how I found it out….it was very easy to narrow these things down. One of my interns….a Gwendolyn Stacy, showed you in, and….you got exposed the spider. It bit you, you lived….why did you live?"

"I eat plenty of fruits and vegetables?" Spider-Man asked, trying to make light of this situation.

"Yes, I'm sure your Uncle Ben and Aunt May Parker made sure you ate a well-balanced diet….they must be worried about you right now, maybe I should send someone to check up on them," Osborn said with a malicious grin on his face.

"You….you stay away from them!" Peter yelled, feeling like he was staring in the face of some demonic entity himself.

"I don't think that I need to check up on them, if you give me what I want," Osborn said to him. "What makes you different?"

"Haven't you been able to figure that out?" Peter asked him.

"A dozen test subjects….all of them died within forty eight hours," Osborn told him and Peter's mouth widened. "Except for the one that I sent to capture you…..there's something similar in both of you….it's ingrained in your DNA."

"I don't know….you might want to ask any government agencies because they could have a good idea about what's different about me, but you know what, I don't really know!"

Peter once again tried to escape but he saw the female spider stand to the side through the other side of a glass window. He tried to appeal to her, he saw something in her, she was being controlled. The only hope that he had was to break that control.

"Look, you're just as much of a pawn as I am….do you think that you can….."

"She can't hear you, no one can hear you," Osborn commented, staring Peter down with malice dancing through his eyes. "It's just you and I in that room and she's been conditioned…..but it might be a bit more difficult to condition you. Therefore, there's only one thing that I have to do….."

Peter managed to pull himself free, breaking the restraints with a burst of adrenaline, and he rushed forward. He slammed Osborn into the ground hard.

"You're not attacking anyone, you're not hurting anyone, do you hear me?" Peter asked, looking angered behind believe.

Osborn slipped a stun gun from his sleeve and shocked Peter with it.

"This….is what your friend got," Osborn whispered, holding a vial with a bubbling green system. "But she only got a smaller dose….maybe even a whiff or two of it. Nothing to drastically change her too much. Nothing where she can't blend into society, nothing that can drive her too mad."

Osborn let those words hang and his smile grew wicked.

"What does not kill you, makes you stronger."

Without another word, Norman Osborn stabbed the OZ serum into his exposed right arm. The vessels in his forehead looked fit to pop and his eyes bulged large. His breathing intensified.

"Osborn, what are you doing?" Peter demanded and he could see the man having dropped down to the ground.

The serum, was too much for him. Peter couldn't hear a heartbeat, feel a pulse anything.

He turned around, it was over just like that. Osborn injected himself with an experimental drug and it didn't enhanced his DNA, it enhanced his diseased.

Peter reached over to the console, frowning. One of these buttons had to release him from this room, but the problem was, which one was it?

"What does not kill you, makes you stronger!"

Peter nearly jumped ten feet in the air, and turned around. Osborn's right hand began to pulse and turn an ugly discoloring shade of green.

"Osborn, are you…."

"I feel good, I feel amazing!" Osborn yelled, and he looked up, his face was contorted into a gnarled green misshapen mess. It was almost like it completely melted off and it reformed. His fingernails were claws, his teeth were fangs. His shirt ripped, and his skin had patches of green flesh. It looked like he suffered radiation burns.

He picked up a large piece of equipment, and flung it with ease, nearly crushing Spider-Man.

"You know, I'm pretty sure Bruce Banner has a good case against you for copyright infringement," Spider-Man joked and the Goblin laughed.

"Pretty soon you'll be laughing out of the other side of your head when I knock it off."

A hot blast of fire was just barely dodged.

Spider-Man winced, they were near dangerous chemicals and he didn't know what exactly was going to happen. He figured that he wouldn't like it.

"Spider-Man you've finally met your match, behold the one true goblin….THE GREEN GOBLIN!"

To Be Continued on July 12th 2014.