The following day, on the 15th floor of the Kingsley Unlimited building, a certain Mary Jane Watson was on the runway doing poses in an extravagent and expensive looking dress. Kneeling down on the ground was a photographer taking her pics. That photographer? Peter Parker, of course.

Watching them both in the back of the room in a chair was a thin man smoking a cigarette. Smoke blew out from his mouth as he glanced over a Daily Bugle newspaper. His hand clenched the paper as he read the headline, "THE ORANGE GOBLIN TAKES ON SPIDER-MAN!" His mouth contorted to a slight scowl as he thought, "That's the HOBGOBLIN. I'd never go under a moniker as uninspired and inane as the Orange Goblin. Might have to blackmail Jameson for that one. Osborn's journals have plenty of dirt on our flattopped friend."

Peter approached Kingsley with a camera in his hand. He handed it over to Kingsley as he asked, "What do you think of the pics, Mr. Kingsley?"

Kingsley looked over the pictures on the camera, fairly unimpressed.

"Quite the mediocre photography, Parker," he scoffed as he handed the camera back. "With how much Mary Jane talked you up, I expected better. I suppose that these will do, though."

"Well, it's good enough for the Daily Bugle at least..."

Kingsley lowered the paper with a disappointed glare, "Yes, maybe your photography works for that hack, Jameson, but we have higher expectations here at Kingsley Unlimited. We go for unlimited here, but your photography here feels quite...limited."

"Funny coming from someone reading one of his papers," Peter sarcastically mumbled under his breath.

Mary Jane stepped down from the catwalk and strode over, "Go easy on him, Roderick. I didn't realize that taking pictures of models would be completely different from his usual work at the Bugle. Thought it'd be easier, but I guess it wasn't."

Roderick sighed and nodded understandingly to fake sympathy, "It's a deceptively hard job to catch a person's good side. Parker here is lucky that you look good from any angle, Mary Jane."

"You're too kind, Roddy."

"Awww, but it's true. Now, I don't mean to disappoint when I say this, but this will be our last photoshoot for awhile."

"Why's that?"

Roderick completely set down the paper as he continued, "I'll be quite busy, you see. I'm broadening Kingsley Unlimited's international market. We've been building a new headquarters in Shibuya, Japan for the past couple months as we prepare to enter the Japanese market. So, I'm going to be busy with handling our opening over there. It's going to be happening very soon."

"Not to mention my business as the Hobgoblin," he smugly thought.

"That's fine, I could use a break, anyway."

Peter tapped MJ on the shoulder, "We should probably get going for our double date, MJ."

"Oh! Of course! We've simply gotta get going, Roddy. You don't mind if I wear this dress out, do you?"

Kingsley took another drag of his cigarette as he replied, "Of course not, dear. With how nice you look in it, that's the best publicity I could ask for. Just be sure to tell anyone who asks, you're wearing a Kingsley Unlimited!"

"You got it, Mr. Kingsley."

Before they left, Peter said, "I'll send you the photos in the mail, Mr. Kingsley."

"As soon as I get them, I'll send you your payment via check."

With that, the two walked out of studio. Kingsley watched them both intently as they went away.

When he was certain they were gone, he stood up from his seat and crushed the newspaper in his hand, "Now that that's taken care of, I must return to my mansion at Long Island and finish that formula."

He stormed out of the room with much vigor, more determined than ever to finish the Goblin formula.

Peter and MJ were more casual as they left the building together.

"I'll stop by my apartment to grab Tomoko, you'll get Flash, and then we'll meet together at the theater. Sound good to you?" Peter asked.

Mary Jane responded, "Absolutely. I never thought I'd be going out with Flash Thompson of all people, but hey. Why not give it a shot?"

"Yeah, I'll admit, I'm pretty surprised. Not that Flash is a bad guy, but I never thought I'd see you two together."

"Mmm, well, I guess I've been trying to move on. Date different people, y'know? I didn't want to get back with Harry either. He's a good man, but...you know how he can be sometimes. He's just not my type, I guess."

"Hopefully Flash will be," Peter said in an attempt to reassure. However, his voice didn't sound all too supportive. Instead, it came across as morose.

"Yeah. Well, uhhh, I guess this is it, then. Catch ya at the theater, Pete."

"You too, MJ."

With that said, the two split ways. Peter walked down the street with his posture lowered, his hands in his pocket, and a slight frown on his face.

"I still feel bad for how things went between us. No matter what I do, my secret identity as Spider-Man is going to come between me and the people I love. I just have to wonder, is my current relationship going to go the same way...?"

With these thoughts swarming around in Peter's head, he didn't even notice a familiar face in the crowd. Heading in the opposite direction of him towards the theater was Quentin Beck, wearing a green checkerboard dress shirt. He was carrying a briefcase and had a devious grin on his face.

"When I'm done," he whispered to himself, "Cosmos Productions will be finished!" After that, he resisted every urge to maniacally laugh in public.

Peter returned to the apartment soon afterwards. Rather than crawl through the window in his costume, he did just walk this time around. To his surprise, he wasn't harassed by Ms. Muggins or Mr. Ditkovitch for rent as soon as he stepped foot in the lobby.

"They must be out," he thought to himself. "Good for them!"

He walked up the stairs to his apartment and opened the door. He saw Tomoko sitting on the sofa, playing a video game. She was already dressed up to go out, so they could leave soon.

Tomoko looked up from her game. "Done taking pictures of hot women?" she asked with thinly veiled jealousy.

"It's not like that!" he defended. "I was only doing her a favor. Her boss' regular photographer was out sick and they needed a quick replacement. I only took pictures of one woman too. She's also my ex, so you have nothing to worry about."

"I would have taken the job too, honestly. Getting paid to ogle people and take their pics sounds like a good deal to me."

Peter laughed, "Well, I guess that's a way to look at it."

"Also, her being your ex just makes it more worrisome."

"Fair point, but you still shouldn't worry. Anyway, you ready to go out?"

Tomoko shut her game console, pocketed it, and stretched as she stood up, "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Then let us go!" Peter said, motioning towards the door dramatically, beaming.

He and Tomoko made their way back out of the apartment. As they walked down the street, Tomoko asked, "So, what movie are we seeing anyway? You forgot to tell me."

"Did I? Honestly, I can't remember the name. It was a movie Flash wanted to see. All I know is that it's a monster movie of some sort."

"Haven't you seen enough monsters in real life?"

"That makes it more amusing to see what Hollywood can cook up. I believe it's a movie made by Cosmos Productions? Actually, I think it's a reboot of, 'The Nameless Thing From the Black Lagoon in the Murky Swamp,' now that I think about it. Hasn't even been that long since the original and it's only been like, two years since the last sequel."

Before Tomoko could speak again, Peter went on a second, slightly related tangent, "Oh! Hey! Get this, I actually worked for Cosmos Productions once. They were gonna make a Spider-Man movie. First time I met the Green Goblin."

"You met that freak on a movie set? How?"

"He actually set the whole thing up in an incredibly elaborate scheme. To this day, I still don't fully understand what he was going for there."

Tomoko slowly nodded in an attempt to make it seem like she understood. But, the truth is, she didn't understand what he was talking about at all.

Neither did Peter, really. Still, it seemed like Peter had all these wild stories to tell. Of course he did, he was a superhero. He's probably had numerous crazy experiences he could recount. Tomoko felt she was boring in comparison. Surely, there had to be SOMETHING interesting that happened to her once that she could talk about.

Then it hit her! She too had her own celebrity experience. After all, there was that time that she met an otome game voice actor and had him record something for her.

"That kinda reminds me, th-there was this one time I met a voice actor at a special event. I shook his hand and had him say something for me into a recorder," she recounted with pride.

"Oh? What was that?"

Tomoko answer, "This bitch smells terrible...just kidding, Tomoko's hair smells really great and I love how silky it is."

Peter pursed his lips and his eyes widened as he replied, "Sounds like fun."

Tomoko could sense that he was suddenly uneasy so she tried to backtrack, "Hah! J-just k-kidding! Th-that didn't h-happen at all. You j-just got p-punk'd!"

"Really?"

Tomoko sighed as she admitted the truth, "N-not really. Th-that d-d-did actually h-happen. But th-that was a l-l-long time a-ago. I-I was m-m-more p-pa-pathetic back th-then."

At least she could take solace in the fact that she didn't tell the second half of that story when her mom walked in on her editing the voice clips and adding herself in as well.

"Ahh, don't be so hard on yourself. You were desperate for affection back then. I know the feeling."

Tomoko didn't respond with words, only giggling while scratching the back of her head.

Finally, they arrived at the cinema. Waiting for them in the lobby was Flash and MJ. Looks like those two got there before them. Flash was playing a claw machine game with MJ standing beside him. She waved at Peter and Tomoko as they walked in.

"Hey, guys. Good thing you got here, the movie's about to start. Not to mention, Flash has been playing this game for too long."

"Hey! I can't let this thing show me up," Flash responded as he once again tried to grab a Spider-Man plush that was buried beneath a couple others.

Peter looked at the plush and sighed as he wistfully thought, "If only I could get royalties for things based on my likeness. I'd never have to take pics for Jameson again."

"Just let it go, Flash," MJ said, "It's so deep in there, you'll never get it."

"Not with that attitude." Flash snapped back.

Tomoko snickered to herself at the obvious innuendo. When she was done being immature, she tapped Flash on the arm and asked, "M-may I-I try?"

Flash stepped aside, "Aww, why not? Good luck!"

Taking a deep breath, Tomoko prepared herself. She was a master of the UFO catchers back at home, so this should be no problem. Peter inserted a quarter for her, and she was on her way. While it seemed it'd be easy, it actually wasn't. Not only was the plush buried, the claw's grip was incredibly ineffectual. It barely grabbed whatever it was latched onto.

Despite her best efforts, not even she could get it. So, that was that. She groaned in frustration and grumbled, "This thing's rigged!"

"That's what I'm starting to think," Flash concurred.

MJ sighed, "Can we just get to the movie already? The commercials are probably almost done."

"Alright, alright," Flash said, "let's get going."

Peter and Mary Jane opted not to get anything at the concession stand. Conversely, Tomoko and Flash chose to get some snacks for themselves. Once they got their sodas, popcorn, and candy they went on down to where the movie was screening.

After going down the aisle, they miraculously spotted a row with four seats open. Stumbling their way through the people sitting, they sat down and prepared to watch the movie.

That's when Peter's Spider-Sense went off. He looked around the room for any immediate threats, not that he could see any. Still, something was doing to happen. He looked to his three friends and whispered, "I really have to go to the bathroom."

He stood up and made his way out as quickly as he could. With how panicked he was, Mary Jane could tell that SOMETHING was going to go wrong. She knew Peter long enough to know when his Spider-Sense was going off. Tomoko, however, was fairly oblivious by comparison. Suspicious, but uncertain. Her suspicions didn't stop her from gorging down on her snack. Flash didn't know Peter was Spider-Man, so he genuinely just thought his friend had to go to the bathroom.

Suddenly, just as the movie began, a green haze overwhelmed the auditorium. The movie projection cut out and was replaced with something else. Appearing on the screen was Mysterio.

"Do not be alarmed, fair moviegoers! I am Mysterio, I am certain you've heard of me!"

People started booing and hurling their snacks at the screen in protest. In particular, Flash shot up and yelled while pointing at the screen, "We aren't gonna take this from you! We all came here to see a movie! Paid good money and everything! So let us watch the damn movie!"

MJ tugged at his sleeves and said, "Settle down, Flash!"

Tomoko, meanwhile, looked around in pure confusion. Still, she did at least recognize the domed guy from one of Peter's pictures. Hard to forget such an unusual visage, after all. So now she now knew for sure why Peter left.

"Though this projection is pre-recorded, I am certain that all of you here are bound to be upset by my interruption! However, you shouldn't be! This hackneyed production is not worth seeing! It could not dare to stand with the original and it's mere existence is an insult to the original classic! I am doing you a favor by ensuring you do not watch this trash! For this reason, I have taken everyone in here hostage! Rest assured, you will not be harmed! I am only doing this to send a message to one BJ Kosmos! Cancel this movie's run or there will be consequences."

People stood up from their seats in a panic and attempted to escape by running out their doors. However, they would not be so lucky. The doors were locked, or at least blocked by something. It looked they were trapped. That was, until Spider-Man bust down the door.

"Show's over, Dunderdome!" Spidey quipped. Everyone came flooding out towards the exit. With that many people crowding around it, escape was not easy.

"One at a time, everyone! One at a time!" Spidey tried to remind them. However, his request fell upon deaf ears as they all still overwhelmed both him and the exit. He tried to hurry the process by shoving people through the doorway, but it seemed like there were still so many that needed out.

Suddenly, from the projection room, a large cobra flew out and hissed angrily. Spidey gulped as he looked up at it. Everyone else started screaming. Spider-Man swung out from the crowd and over the cobra. It wasn't really doing much other than flailing around and hissing. Seems like it was a simple hologram.

However, what was very real was the nasty dark green liquid that spewed out from the projection room, directly at Spidey. The liquid splashed him onto the movie screen and it suddenly hardened around him. He was completely stuck to the screen.

Meanwhile, everyone who ran out of the theater suddenly came flooding back in.

"What happened out there?!" one of the people still inside the theater asked.

Another one answered, "I saw these creatures! God, I can't even describe them!"

Then, walking out from the green fog was Mysterio himself. He dramatically raised his arms over his head and triumphantly laughed, "Take a seat, everyone! While I'm afraid I can't allow you to see the reboot of The Nameless Thing From the Black Lagoon in the Murky Swamp, I can allow you to watch as I destroy Spider-Man once and for all!"

Everyone was still panicking, causing Mysterio to turn around towards them and snarl, "You're ruining my moment! If you do not sit down, I will be forced to make you sit!"

He was only met with a half empty large cup of soda being thrown at him. The fizzy drink spilled all over his costume, getting all over his cape in particular.

Sitting in her seat with a smug little grin on her face was Tomoko as she thought, "[He'll never be able to pick me out from the crowd!]"

That's when she saw Mysterio hovering over her with his arms crossed menacingly, "You dare to make a mockery of the great Mysterio with your sugary, bubbly liquids?! Bah! Such insolence shall not be tolerated!"

He raised his arm up and she flew high into the air. Tomoko screamed as Mysterio boasted, "Just for this, you shall not be allowed to see the death of Spider-Man! Prepare yourself!"

That's when Flash Thompson came in and tackled him to the floor, "Leave her alone, freaky-o!"

"Freaky-o? Such childish namecalling! Begone, simpleton!"

Mysterio gestured towards the fire exit. The door opened and Flash was dragged out kicking and screaming. Mysterio flew back up, his arms at his sides and his legs stuck together, "Now! Where were we?"

Before he could continue, Mary Jane grabbed his cape and ripped it. Mysterio gasped, "My cape! My beloved cape! Feeble wench, have you any idea what you've just done?"

MJ's hip swayed to the side as she crossed her arms, "Did you just call me a wench?"

"And that is not the worst thing I shall do to you! Begone from this realm!" Mysterio cried out as he motioned towards the fire exit again. Against her will, MJ was dragged away.

Mysterio finally looked back to Tomoko as he said, "Let us hope that will be our last interruption! Now, for your insolence, YOU TOO SHALL BE TAKEN TO THE SHADOW REALM! BEGONE!"

Tomoko was sent flying out the fire exit too, all as she screamed in terror. Mysterio chortled as he turned his attention back to Spider-Man. At least, he thought he was. Unfortunately for him, Spider-Man had somehow broken out of his cocoon.

"He has escaped? This cannot be!"

Spidey dropped down onto Mysterio's shoulders as he said, "Oh, but it can!"

Mysterio attempted to spray gas at Spider-Man via one of his gauntlets, but Spidey simply leapt back onto the ceiling, using Mysterio as a springboard. The domed illusionist was sent careening onto the floor, as Spider-Man sprayed web at him. Yet, Mysterio effortlessly tore through the webbing like it was nothing.

"That's unusual," Spidey noted to himself, "someone of Beck's strength level shouldn't be able to just tear through my webbing like that..."

He dove back down at Mysterio, tackling him to the floor, "You been eating your Wheaties, Quentin? Or is it that it isn't you under that dome?"

"Well met, Spider-Man! Always so clever! I'm afraid that, if you want the real Quentin Beck, you must solve my riddle. Despite all his lies, you will find he is somewhere very REEL. Hahahahah!"

"Oh get REEL, will you? Even without your riddle, I know he's in the projector room. Somebody had to replace the film reel, shoot out the holograms, AND spew out that green liquid. Nice try, though!"

Spidey leapt up and over the fake Mysterio, back onto the ceiling. He managed to contort himself in through the small projector window. Albeit, while also knocking over the camera in the process.

Meanwhile, Flash, Tomoko, and MJ were still in the 'shadow realm' as Mysterio dubbed it. It was a void of nothingness, with only the sounds of growling and the visual of red eyes in the distant telling them that they were anywhere corporeal.

Tomoko shook her head while huddled up, "I'm going to die in here."

"You'll be fine," MJ comforted, placing an arm around Tomoko's shoulder, "Spider-Man will get us out of this."

Flash gave a thumbs up, "That's right, he always does!"

Yet, Flash couldn't help but wonder what the source of those red eyes was. He couldn't stand not being the hero in this situation. Mysterio made him feel like a coward. Flash Thompson was no coward.

He gulped, standing up.

"What are you doing, Flash?" MJ asked.

Flash slicked back his hair, rolled back his sleeves, and balled up his fists, "I'm gonna show this bubble brained freak how we do things!"

Taking a deep breath, he charged forward with his eyes closed. He thought back to what he faced in his time in the army. Whatever it was waiting for him on the other side, it couldn't be anywhere near as bad. It's a good thing Flash didn't open his eyes as he charged, for if he did, he'd see himself running through all kinds of freaky creatures such as insects, demon-like imps, and all sorts of other things meant to discourage him from going.

Then, he felt something. It felt like some kind of nylon material. Whatever it was, he tore right through it and stumbled onto the ground. He couldn't be happier to land on what felt like concrete. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the streets New York just outside the theater, home sweet home.

He looked back and saw that the 'shadow realm' was just a large, black tent-like structure that encompassed the alleyway that the fire exit led out to. Flash rubbed his chin in a quizzical manner, "That's unusual."

Even more unusual is that he saw Mysterio himself running out of the hole in a hurried manner. Flash tried to chase after him, but Mysterio turned back and sprayed a load of gas in Flash's face as he made his escape. Flash knelt down, tears leaking out of his eyes with his teeth gritted.

"Gonna take more than that to knock me out!" he screamed as he struggled to stand back up. He collapsed soon after, entirely out cold.

Mary Jane cautiously walked out, Tomoko nervously following behind her.

"The thing with Mysterio," MJ said, "is that almost everything he throws out isn't real."

"B-but, it f-felt so real!" Tomoko objected, still quivering.

"This tent must be lined with projectors. Bad at imitating most environments, but a smoky void of nothingness? It does a pretty good job there."

"H-how c-can you t-t-tell?"

"I can't! That's just my best guess."

Back with Spider-Man, he cornered Quentin Beck in the projector room. Not Mysterio, but Quentin himself. He was wearing sunglasses and a tuxedo. Beck groaned, "You ruined my big debut! It wasn't supposed to go like this!"

"Sorry, but this movie's getting two thumbs down!" Spidey quipped as he webbed Quentin to the wall, making sure to have his thumbs pointing downward as he did so.

Spidey got face-to-face with Quentin as he said, "Alright, I know you're in league with the Hobgoblin. Probably supplying him with all of his new weaponry. Tell you what, I'll let you off easy if you tell me where he is."

Suddenly, Beck's hand tore clean through the webbing as his grabbed Spidey by the throat as he responded, "You're not in any place to be making demands, bug!"

Spider-Man was completely taken aback by this. Even moreso when his Spider-Sense didn't detect this. It looks like that some of the smoke going around in that theater was the type that deadened his Spider-Sense. Yet, that still didn't explain how an average human like Quentin was able to do this.

That was, until Quentin's sunglasses fell off, revealing glowing red eyes beneath them. "Guess what, Spider-Man? You're terminated!" he bragged with his voice growing deeper and more ominous.

Quentin's vice grip only squeezed harder around Spidey's throat. Spider-Man responded in kind by grabbing onto the robotic duplicate's wrist and squeezing it like a soda can. The hand was quickly reduced to scrap, causing it to let go of Spidey. Spidey then tore the head clean off to completely dispose of the android.

He leapt back into the theater room and as soon as he arrived, he could see that it thankfully had been completely evacuated in the chaos.

"A fine second date," he sarcastically noted to himself, walking out the fire exit. He was so dejected, he barely noticed the holographic baddies chasing after him.

When he finally made his way out of the illusionary void, he could only look back in confused disappointment, "He has the technology and smarts to make a tent with hidden projectors that convincingly makes it look like you're in god knows where and he uses it to commit crimes? Oh, Quentin, if only you worked in the fun house industry..."

It looks like MJ, Tomoko, and Flash cleared out. Spidey shook his head as he swung away. It looks like Mysterio just narrowly evaded Spidey's capture. Which was to be expected of Quentin, he was quite the wily one after all. Moreso than most of his villains.

At least he saw one bright side in this dark moment. He saw Tomoko walking down the street, alone. He swung down, picked her up, and went back up. Tomoko was shocked by this.

"Wh-where did you come from?!"

"I just swung on by," Spidey answered cheekily.

Tomoko didn't respond. She wasn't able to. Normally, this was a nice experience. She loved all previous times Spidey took her swinging, but yet...this time felt different. Peter's swinging felt more hurried and aggressive. Like his mind was somewhere else. But that wasn't all.

Tomoko also felt surprisingly sick too. Looks like you shouldn't eat and drink so much before you go swinging.

Try as she might, Tomoko couldn't hold back and she threw up over Spidey's shoulder and his chest.

Spidey looked over to her in shock. She turned away in embarrassment, "I-I'm s-s-s-sorry! I-I'm r-r-really s-s-sorry! I-I-I-I've just b-been s-s-so n-nervous and I-I ate t-t-too much j-junk a-at the t-th-theater! P-please f-f-forgive m-me!"

"Hey, it's better that I was the only one to be in the splash zone rather than anybody on the streets. The last thing I need to see the Bugle report is that I'm dropping puke on people."

"Also," Spidey began, "I'm sorry for how poorly that date went."

"What?!" Tomoko asked, unable to hear over the wind blowing in her face and her own sickness.

"I said I'm sorry for how poorly that date went!"

"I-I c-can't h-hear y-y-you!"

"I'll just tell you when I get to the apartment!"

Not much longer, they arrived at the apartment. Peter crawled in through the back window into his bedroom. He gently laid Tomoko on the bed, then quickly removed his top and mask, throwing them into a nearby laundry basket, "I'm gonna need to clean that costume asap, that's for sure."

He sat down next to Tomoko, who still looked incredibly woozy. Her eyes were twirling around and she was moaning.

"I am so sorry for how this date turned out," Peter said. "I hate it whenever a supervillain interrupts like that."

"Ehhh? I-it's fine. Heheh, I-I'm s-sorry I-I p-puked all o-o-over you."

"It was bound to happen eventually," he reassured, patting her on the shoulder. "I uhhh, I was actually planning on kissing you after the date, but I guess that's out of the cards."

Tomoko shot up and stumbled out of bed, landing on her hands and knees. She staggered her way to the bathroom to wash her face. After a quick rinse, she ran back to Peter's bedroom and pointed to her face, "Aheheheh, w-well I-I'm still a-accepting!"

"Did you use mouthwash?"

Tomoko sighed, running back to the bathroom. After swishing the mouthwash around, gargling it, and then spitting it into the sink she ran back into the room.

Peter shrugged, "Well, you put in the effort, so..."

He pulled her in for passionate kiss on the mouth, his hands wrapped around her head. At first, Tomoko's eyes went wide in shock, yet she eventually shut them in complete ecstasy. After a few seconds, Peter finally let go. Tomoko sank to the floor with a big smile on her face.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Couldn't be better."

Peter picked her back up and set her on the bed, "You stay right there, okay? I'm gonna go take a shower."

Peter walked out of the bedroom to do just that. Tomoko dreamily sighed as she said quietly, "I couldn't even count how many times I've embarrassed myself today and he just doesn't care."

Peter turned back to her and said, "Hey! I forgot to thank you for throwing that soda at Mysterio! That distracted him for enough time for me to break out of that nasty green stuff he wrapped me in!"

Tomoko didn't reply, she was too busy thinking about how wonderful the day was. Peter smirked, turning back around.

He facepalmed as he realized, "Mysterio's web dissolving solution! That's how he broke out of my webs so easily! I can't believe I forgot! That was the real Mysterio! Oh man!"

Speaking of the real Mysterio, he had returned to the mansion on Long Island some time later. He walked in, finding Hobgoblin lounging on the couch. Hobgoblin looked over to him as he jovially said, "Ahh, Quentin! You're finally back!" His voice shifted to a more grim tone as he asked, "Where have you been?"

Mysterio shut the door behind him, removing his helmet.

"I was trying to cause trouble for the reboot of The Nameless Thing From the Black Lagoon in the Murky Swamp. That hack BJ Kosmos can't disrespect the original like this! I was in it! I played the titular Nameless Thing in both the original AND the sequel, 'The Nameless Thing's Revenge.' Didn't come back for any of the other ones, though. Aaaaaaand I also didn't play it in the underwater scenes. But still, it's one of the biggest roles of my career! I couldn't stand to see it redone so soullessly!"

Hobgoblin got up and slowly paced towards Quentin, "Yes, yes, I understand. However, that was very risky! I still need you! Besides, if you got caught, it could get led back to me! If that happened? Then, well, that would be unfortunate...for you."

"With what I pulled, I pretty much made sure Spidey couldn't catch me. Trust me, I played this very cautiously."

"Did anybody see you come here?" Hobgoblin questioned, looking around in a paranoid fashion.

"Anybody that saw me was sprayed with knockout gas. There's no way."

Hobgoblin put his hands behind his back as he turned away from Quentin, "Yes, yes, of course. I should have known you'd be smarter than that. However, do something that risky again, then let's just say you'll be going into permanent retirement."

Quentin dropped his helmet, shattering it to pieces, "P-permanent retirement? Y-you don't mean...?"

"Oh, but I do," Hobgoblin bluntly replied as he approached Quentin. He placed his hand on Quentin's cheek, "And I would hate to do that to you."

Quentin gulped as sweat poured down his brow. He smiled and tried to play it off as a joke, "Hah! Good one! You're even funnier than the Green Goblin was!"

Hobgoblin snarled and shoved Quentin against the door, "You'll find that I'm not joking!"

He let Quentin go, looking at his glove in disgust, "Ohhh, look what you did. You made my gloves sticky! Did you spill something on your costume?"

"Someone threw soda at me," Quentin admitted with a degradated sigh.

"And just look at this, you've got glass all over the floor. Somebody's going to have to clean that up, you know. But, we can worry about that later. For now, let's get down to business."

"Business?"

Hobgoblin folded his hands, "Yes, business. The formula, Quentin. How goes progress?"

"In my studies, I...I've found that uhhh, that if you change the formula from a liquid to a gas, you should be able to simply absorb it through your skin. Doing so will avoid the explosive results of previous iterations."

Hobgoblin deviously grinned, "Excellent! I had suspected as much, actually. Going through Osborn's schematics, it looked like he was building a gas chamber to dispense the formula in such a way. For what reason? I don't know. Maybe it was to bring his son into the 'family business,' as it were, or to enhance his own strength. It doesn't matter now, though..."

Hobgoblin cackled maniacally as he finished, "What matters is that I now know the logic behind it! Soon enough, I will have the very same power Norman Osborn once wielded! Perhaps, I will even surpass it..."

So ends Chapter 13. Unlucky chapter 13. I'd say it's incredibly unlucky since it seems like this second date didn't go well for anybody involved! At least, it ended on a very positive note.

When better than unlucky chapter 13 to offically introduce the Master of Illusion, Mysterio, to the story? After all that build-up, I hope it was worth the wait. Mysterio is another one of my personal favorites. Did you know that in the timeframe I put this story, he's supposed to be dead right now? It's true! Well, partially. He actually faked his death, but still.

Let this be a lesson to all you fellow writers out there. No matter HOW much you're certain you have a grasp on the canon, odds are, you're still probably forgetting something. Let's just say that his attempt to fake his death didn't really pull through in this canon. It's not a great explanation, but it's all I got for all of you continuity sticklers out there.

OrionStar7 - Thank you for the kinds words, I'm glad you've been enjoying the story so far. It's always nice seeing new reviewers too.

Guest - Thanks! Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving too!

That goes to anyone reading this too. Unless you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, that is. In which case, I hope you still had a great day last Thursday.

I'm thinking that'll do it for this chapter. As always, I hope you enjoyed reading it and that I'll see you in the next one.