Chapter 15

Political Maneuvering

Peter Parker walked down the hall of the Osborn mansion to speak with Norman. He was nervous about the discussion, since it could quickly turn sour. He was at Harry's house because they had just seen "Superman Returns" and they were there to chill. Peter thought this was a perfect time to put his plan into action. He walked into the room with Harry and saw Norman Osborn and a blonde-haired man that Harry didn't know. Norman frowned but Peter put on his best smile.

"Hi there Mr. Osborn, I haven't seen you in ages!" Peter looked happy at Norman, who was clearly taken aback. He had been expecting confrontation.

"Well hello there Peter. What do you mean we haven't seen each other in a while?" Norman said this to test how Peter would answer.

Peter answered him in a sincere voice. "Well, I think the last time I talked to you was when I was talking to you about Gwen and her being my girlfriend about a month ago. I don't remember seeing you before then?" Norman's eyes widened. Peter actually smiled for real. Norman was taking the bait.

"Oh I remember. I'm sorry about that. I've had a lot on my mind lately. Oh, how is your health! How rude of me to not ask. Harry was in an uproar about me using all my resources to find you!" Peter looked confused.

"Well, I don't remember much actually. I remember Gwen not meeting me for a date, and then I think I went to her house, but then everything is really fuzzy… I appreciate all that you did to help." Peter said this with an actor's quality. And Norman was buying every word of it. Norman's features seemed to lighten.

"Oh my boy, don't try to remember so hard, you might hurt yourself! Actually, I don't know if you've heard but I bought the daily bugle. So now I'm your boss. Better then old Jameson right?" Peter smiled a fake smile. He hated just letting this madman sweet talk him, but he knew he had to do it.

"Oh you have no idea. I guess I should be thanking you! No wonder I haven't been getting my paycheck!" Norman laughed at this.

"Unfortunately I fired all the staff and hired new ones, but you're not out of a job yet. I need a personal photographer for the election, and I think you're the perfect one!"

Peter was stunned. This man was so evil that he fired all of the people like Robbie and Betty, who had put there whole, lives into that paper. He even felt bad for old Jameson, that paper had been his life. But Peter had to stop this man, and this job would give him the means. "I'd love the job Mr. Osborn, I mean boss! When do I start?" Norman smiled a sinister smile.

"Excellent Peter. You'll be a great addition to the staff. I won't be able to direct you personally, but you will be under this man, Edward Brock." The man held out his hand.

"Please, call me Eddie. It's much less formal that way. As Mr. Osborn's official photographer, you're going to need to get lots of good shots of him. I'm sure you're up to the challenge. Right Peter?" Peter didn't like this guy all ready. He smiled another fake smile.

"Of course. You just tell me what to do and I'll do it." Norman smiled.

"That's what I like to hear. Peter, could you please excuse me and Eddie, we have much to discuss. I'll call you when we need you." Peter nodded and left the room, pretty happy with how things had just gone. He ran home to tell Ben, Gwen, and George the development. Back in the room, Norman spoke to Eddie.

"Eddie, make sure any of Peter's assignments are no where near my plans with Senator Lang." Eddie nodded and wrote it down in his pompilot. "He can't interfere with any of my plans. Also, what is the status on Mr. Gargan's new suit?" Eddie looked up.

"It's already on him. He seems to like it. I'm still amazed you were able to influence all these events into your plan. And it's very fortunate Peter doesn't remember your identity." Norman smiled.

"It is indeed Mr. Brock. I think Spiderman will find it hard to stop me when he will be actually doing all my work for me. If I play it right, I could have all my enemies destroy each other before any of them can finish there plans…"

Peter's house

Aunt May was out shopping while Peter, Gwen, Ben, and George planned their next moves. Peter just had finished telling them how he had a new job and George had started telling his developments.

"I just started a more detailed investigation of Octavious and Gargan, since they just broke out of prison. All of my forces are on catching those two. With them being the focus of the entire department, we should be able to find one of the breadcrumbs Osborn left behind. And I wonder how much Eddie Brock knows?" Peter shrugged.

"I couldn't really get much of a feel for Brock. He seemed innocent, but he had this creepiness to him. He also seemed to have something to hide. I don't know what to do about him."

Ben's eyes widened. "Peter, I wonder. Do you think you could call Osborn right know? I think I have a plan. If you can convince him to hire me as his security director, we'll have two people on the inside. Plus, I can pretend to not know your identity, so we can pick up different info at different times." Peter smiled at his Uncle. He picked up the phone and called Osborn.

"Mr. Osborn? Hi this is Peter Parker. I know this is kind of out of the blue, but I really need your help. My Uncle has been out of a job since the hospital burned down, and he was in the army, so I wondered. Could you hire him somewhere? Like in a security position? Yes it's Ben Parker. Really? You already ran a check on him? That fast, wow. You will! Why thank you! I tell him to come to work with me on Monday. Oh thank you Mr. Osborn! You won't regret this!" Peter then hung up the phone.

"Uncle Ben, you are officially the head of security for the Osborn administration." Ben smiled and hugged Peter. "Now we all have a way to keep tabs on Osborn!" said Peter. Both George and Ben looked at him and then at Gwen.

"Wait, what job is Gwen doing?" said George confused.

Gwen smiled. "I am the secretary of the official photographer of Mr. Osborn." She smiled and kissed Peter. Ben smiled.

"If you get a secretary, then I most definitely get a secretary!" they all started to laugh as the day turned to night…

Hidden facility

Miles Warren was amazed as he saw the genetic makeup of Electro and Sandman. He could use the type of genetic manipulation to clone Spiderman. He walked over to Justin Hammer.

"Justin, I need two specific pieces of machinery to start the process. Send Electro and Sandman to retrieve the first at Stark Aerospace." Justin nodded and told this to his two super soldiers. They nodded back and were off to get the part.

"Miles, are we just going to inject the symbiote into the clone? Or wait and then bond it with him?" Warren looked at Justin while he said this.

"I am going to attach it to his blood. That way he will be born with powers and the more he doesn't use them, the more the symbiote is restricted to him. SO as long as he doesn't use them in a large amount of physical stress, then we should be fine and 58 will never see the light of day…"

Oscorp tower

Peter was sitting at his desk while working on pictures when he saw out of the corner of his eye a building's window being smashed open with sand across the street. He saw that no one was looking and opened the window. He suited up and leaped to the building threw the now broken window.

Sandman turned to see Spiderman enter the window he had just broken. Spiderman stood up and looked Flint in the eye.

"Your not going to escape this time Sandman, I won't let you!" Peter then leaped at Flint and punched him so fast he didn't have time to dodge. Flint went crashing backwards and hit a wall. Flint smiled.

"So, you can actually fight now? Let's see if you can survive without a little red head to save you!" Flint then turned his hand into a mace and smashed Peter across the hall. Peter quickly flipped back to his feet and launched web balls at Sandman. Sandman turned to sand mode and the balls flew threw him. He rushed Peter and started to cover him, and attempted to suffocate him.

Peter had prepared for this attack as Sandman had used it before. So he used the strategy Uncle Ben had advised. He shot his webs so they formed a shield and protected him from the sand. He managed to stand as Sandman raged at his shield. He slowly walked forward with Flint impacting his web. Peter used the last of his strength to push Flint of his web and Sandman reformed on the ground looking exhausted. Peter ran at him and landed a series of powerful punches on the now solid meta-human. Flint fell backwards with no energy yet. Spiderman had won. He slowly got up and walked over to grab Flint and bring him to the police. He got about four feet away but was launched to the end of the room by a burst of lightning. He hit the wall and fainted out of exhaustion. The last scene he saw was Electro picking up the machine and Sandman getting up…

Peter awoke twenty minutes later with George Stacy above him lifting him. George looked at him and asked, "What happened son?"

Peter stood up and told him the story. George sighed. "So you managed to beat Sandman though? At least it's a start. I'll try to find out why they would have wanted this machine. It's weird, first a bank robbery without trying to steal money and then a random piece of machinery. You get home and tell this to your Uncle Ben." Peter nodded and swung out of the window and to home.

Ben heard Peter explain the story and he sighed. Peter was going through so much stress now that it wasn't fair. How come a fifteen year old boy was stuck with this responsibility? He then heard the part about how he had beaten Sandman. Ben smiled.

"Peter, you beat a super human. You should be proud. So you didn't stop the robbery, but you showed them they should fear you. This Electro guy was the reason you lost. If you face one of them one on one soon, you'll be able to beat them."

Peter smiled at Ben. "Thanks Uncle Ben. That Electro guy seemed stronger than Sandman though. I think if I work harder then I can win. Besides, I think that these guys are just a warm up compared to Osborn." Ben patted Peter on the back and he left his nephew's room.

Peter lay down and he dozed off. He opened his eyes to see he was in the Astral Plane. The symbiote was across from him as usual. Peter looked at him and smiled. "What is it now? I need my beauty sleep." The symbiote shook his head.

"Boy, do I have news for you. Ready for a costume change?"