The Marvelous Spider-Man
Chapter Thirty Five
By
Jason Richard
"I'll be back," said Peter, putting down his controller. "You know. When you've gotta go, you gotta go."
"Okay Pete," said Harry, casually lying down on the couch.
Peter quickly ducked into the bathroom…which was almost as large as a public bathroom, though much cleaner. It even smelled like roses, which Peter thought was weird. Having put his Spiderman costume on under his clothes he quickly got out of everything but his suit, put on his gloves and mask on, and jumped to the window. He knew he had to move fast, or Harry would get suspicious. He opened the window and crawled out. It was a bright sunny day outside, and even up there he could hear the noise and the horns of the cars below him. He looked down at the incredible view he had from the side of the building.
Gee, thought Peter with a mockingly cheerful attitude, good thing I'm not afraid of heights.
Peter then crawled around the building to the window where he knew Norman Osborn's study was. Peter figured that if Mr. Osborn was up to no good he'd want to keep any evidence, like files and documents, in a safe place that he could keep an eye on. For that reason, Peter figured the study was the best place to look. High above the ground Peter was indeed moving fast, but he wasn't worried about being spotted. After all, he figured no one was looking for him on the top of Oscorp tower.
….
Hidden in the shadows, in an alley near the base of Oscorp tower, Montana looked up and watched Spider-Man crawl to the window through a pair of powerful binoculars. He was dressed in full costume; orc suit and cowboy hat all ready.
"You know Beck," said Montana. "Give me a good sniper rifle and I could take care of our little bug problem right now."
"There are three problems with that," said Mysterio in the deep voice his suit gave him. "First of all, we are here to direct attention away from Mr. Osborn, not towards him. Killing Spiderman on our employer's doorstep would be counterproductive, don't you think?"
The holographic image that Quentin Beck wore grinned with his usual jovial energy. Sadly that face, which essentially amounted to a blonde model, didn't look right with such a grin. Fancy Dan, still dressed as a samurai, sniggered while Felicia, in her Spiderman disguise, hoped for his sake that Beck would be acting more in character once he made his public appearance. Of course she also had to wonder why she would hope anything for his sake.
Montana just stared blankly and Ox…it was hard to tell what he was thinking in the minotaur suit.
They were hidden in the alley by a single sheet of holographic glass that had a metal sheet at its base. One side showed the street, while the other side showed an empty alley.
"Secondly," said Mysterio. "While we may not have expected Spiderman to show up right at this moment it doesn't change much. We can still frame him, we'll just make certain Spiderman is at the right place at the right time to take the blame. Lastly, spiders aren't bugs. They're arachnids."
Montana just grunted an, "Uh huh." He wasn't very impressed with this Mysterio character, and couldn't help but think that the attractive face he was looking at now was a product of a stupid looking glass dome that Beck wore over his head. The dome was invisible now, showing the Asgardian wanna-be, but All Montana could think was a nerd in a space suit.
"Alright," said Mysterio, "Mr. Osborn will be here any moment. Felicia, you have everything you need?" he turned to the Spiderman imposter. "You've taken your serum? You're wearing you web shooters? The electromagnetic adhesive on your gloves and foot coverings are in working order?"
"Yes," said the imposter. "I can shoot webs, walk on walls, and even move like Spiderman now. Happy?"
"Indeed I am," said Mysterio.
"How do you have this webbing stuff anyway?" asked Felicia. "I doubt Spiderman posted the formula online."
"Oh," said Mysterio. "I've gathered Spiderman's webbing a few times and studied it quite thoroughly, but that's not important. Right now, Miss Felicia, I want you to swing away and get everyone's attention so that we can slip inside and occupy Spiderman. You will be signaled when you are to return here."
"Alright," said the Spiderman imposter. She jumped up and swung away. She had been practicing swinging in that warehouse, but that was nothing compared to the real thing; swinging between buildings high above the ground. It took a few swings to get into the rhythm, but after a while she started to get the hang of it. It was actually kind of exhilarating. She suddenly understood why Spiderman tended to shout, "Woo Hoo!" when he swung.
Not that she would do the same thing. Ever.
"Let's go gentlemen," said Mysterio as he faced the street. While nearby people were distracted by the fake Spiderman he threw a small device up to a nearby streetlamp. The device projected a holographic image of a car coming out of the alley. Mysterio and the enforcers quickly turned the holographic glass like a door, stepped into the image of the car, and casually walked across the street, hidden by the hologram. The image disappeared around the corner as the four of them reached the base of Oscorp tower and entered into an emergency exit that had conveniently been left unlocked for them.
….
Sometimes old fashioned ways are the best, Peter thought. He had initially thought about making some sort of complicated chemical acid to get through the window, but he figured glass cutters would do the trick. Standing on the window sill he sized up the surprisingly large window and chose the area he would pull out. He then cut a circle in the glass, put the tips of his fingers on the surface, and pulled the glass out with his adhesive spider skin. Spiderman then put the glass carefully on the window sill next to him. He didn't want to drop the glass on anyone below him after all.
He then stepped inside and scanned the room. There was a locked desk, an electronic safe, and few paintings that other safes could be hidden behind.
Behind the mask Peter grinned. This shouldn't take too long, he thought.
….
Harry was getting bored just sitting there waiting for Peter to get back. He put down his controller and took a walk around the room, eventually ending up at a locked desk. He paused, and then found the key to the desk under a potted fern, unlocked the desk, and looked inside.
He then pulled out a picture of his mother.
She was brown and blue eyed with dimpled cheeks and a bright smile. Harry always thought of happy memories when he looked at her picture, but he could never bear to look at it for long. The few unhappy memories…that day…
He put the picture back quickly.
He sighed and walked back to the couch, when the elevator door bell rang. Harry looked over, figuring his dad had returned. He hadn't. What Harry saw was two men…one of whom looked like a samurai, while the other looked like an orc in a cowboy hat.
Harry just stared with his mouth open.
The orc looked at Harry and said in a gruff voice, "Kid, you're gonna want to move away from that wall."
The orc pointed to the wall next to Harry, so Harry nervously stepped away. Still wearing a look of complete shock, Harry asked, "Is there something I should know?"
"Yeah," said the orc. "Our third man was too heavy to use the elevator…and he's too big to use the door anyway."
Harry then slowly looked towards the wall, as he heard the footsteps of something very large running at the wall.
….
Peter, in full Spiderman costume, wasn't having any luck. He had searched just about everywhere in that office and had found nothing. Not one file, one cd with an incriminating video file, or anything tying Oscorp to underground neogenic research…apart from Dr. Connor's basic work. However, no one could accuse Dr. Connors of making all the neogenic mutants. No, he didn't have the missing link from Peter's blood. Peter was certain, so certain, that Norman Osborn had it.
He just couldn't prove it.
It was when he stopped searching the room and put his hand on his hips to think over his next move when it happened. He sensed the footsteps of something large running through the top floor of the building, and his whole body tingled as he heard it crash through a wall. Spiderman whipped his head around towards the door.
Something really bad was happening.