"As President Bush decides a course of action for the threat posed against the United States of America, the American people can only sit by and wait. The US government is currently releasing no information as to how it plans to handle the situation. Since the September eleventh attack on the Pentagon and World Trade Centers and with the war on terrorism abroad, the US has felt a pinch in government spending. Economic experts are split in speculations of the US's ability to pay the $100,000,000,000 ransom."

"Special forces have been dispatched in the cities targeted for the biological attack by the government in attempts to find the bombs before they will are detonated. As of now, they have had no success of finding the bombs positioned to destroy six of the largest cities in America. The largest evacuations in the history of the world are now taking place in these cities including our own New York City. Hundreds of thousands of people have clogged the roads leading out of the city, trying to seek refuge elsewhere from the deadly virus said to be housed in the biological bombs…"

Peter watched the newscaster continue as helicopter shots of the major roadways stemming from New York, jammed bumper to bumper with thousands of car, played over the man's shoulder. He had woken up only minutes before from a fitful sleep to find the TV turned to a local news station. Stretching his legs out, he winced as the movement sent a twinge of pain through his bandaged stomach.

Ignoring the now dulled pain, courtesy of half a bottle of painkillers, he let his feet dangle over the armrest of the couch to ease his cramped leg muscles. 'Maybe it's time to buy a more comfortable couch…' he thought to himself with a frown. Despite the uncomfortable arrangements, Peter was happy to be in his own apartment. Although he would have preferred his bed, the couch had been the only answer since he had been too weak to climb the stairs to his bedroom, even with MJ's help, when they had first returned.

Mary Jane had rushed to Jameson's apartment within fifteen minutes of Peter calling her. How she had made it across town in that time still baffled Peter. When he had staggered to the door of Jameson's apartment, he had been confronted by MJ's tear streaked face. It had taken a few minutes to finally convince the girl he was, for the most part, alright. They had managed to leave the apartment building unnoticed and had returned to Peter's. The young photographer frowned deeper as he remembered how he had almost passed out from exhaustion in the cab further upsetting the already troubled girl.

From behind him, he felt MJ lean over the back of the couch. "You feeling better, Tiger?" she asked in a worried voice as she placed the back of her hand against Peter's forehead tenderly, as if checking for a fever. He could tell she was concerned about him, making him smile at her sign of affection.

"A little. I think I needed sleep more then anything," Peter answered quietly as the young model walked around the couch as sat on the floor by the couch beside his head.

Eye level now with the wounded man, MJ stared at Peter for a long moment. He did look somewhat better then from before. When she had first saw him, bandaged and a complexion that looked like someone had walked up to Peter and dumped a pail of white paint on him, she thought she had been seeing a ghost. Only after touching him did she finally believe the object of her affections was still alive.

She had to give Peter's spider-powers credit, she had no doubt that had he been just a normal man he would not have survived the shooting. But then again, if it wasn't for his powers he wouldn't have been swinging down as Spiderman to step in the line of fire…

Breaking out of her thoughts, MJ noticed Peter again staring intently at the TV screen past her. Glancing over her shoulder, the red head listened in on the newscaster's report.

"Government officials are now investigating allegations of the ones responsible for these threats against America that have recently been reported to the US government by New York mayoral candidate, Donald Collins. Collins was recently targeted by a hired hit-man to be assassinated for his investigation into the selling of highly classified information and technology to hostile, foreign governments by government funded companies. Collin's assassination attempt was stopped, however, by the heroic intervention of Spiderman yesterday."

"Unfortunately, the city's web swinger was gunned down by the hit-man when Spiderman threw himself in the path of the bullets. Spiderman was immediately taken to a nearby hospital where he underwent over six and a half hours of surgery to repair the damage done by the near fatal bullet wounds. The gunman was apprehended by local authorities and was taken to be questioned, but was found dead this morning in his cell in the city jail, shot several times in the head. Police are disclosing no further information as to the murder of the man now identified as Richard Harper…"

Peter's head snapped up at those words. Murdered? Things were becoming more and more complex as things went on. This Collins must really have known some inside dirt…

"Police are also investigating the possible murder of Spiderman that took place earlier this evening in St. John's Hospital. Two police officers put on watch over the wounded superhero were killed in the attack. It is uncertain right now if Spiderman managed to escape or was killed or taken alive by the hit-men. One man was arrested and taken into custody after being found on the scene, trapped against a wall in what appeared to be the webbing used by Spiderman. The rest of the gunmen, suspected to have accompanied, him managed to escape capture by the police by apparently becoming lost in the crowd that had gathered in front hospital after receiving news of the web swinger's injuries. Police are investigating the situation but have released no information whether Spiderman is alive or not."

"Many people are now questioning if the city will escape the impending threat on our fair city with the disappearance if its local superhero. Some fear that Spiderman is dead. But even if Spiderman escaped the assassination attempt on his life, his assistance may not be much help in this threat against America…"
The news station's logo followed before the station switched to commercials. Grabbing the remote, Mary Jane lowered the volume on the set. Returning her attention to the man laying on the couch beside her, MJ saw the look in Peter's eyes she had feared she would see. It was the hardened gaze that meant only one thing: Spiderman.

"Don't even think about it," MJ commanded as she stood up from the floor and placed her hands on her hips, "You are in no condition to do anything. You'll only get yourself killed. What would you even do anyway?"

"MJ," Peter started slowly in a level tone, "I can't just sit here while some psycho holds the US for ransom and kills millions of people. The feds aren't going to be able to stop them in time. Those terrorists will be expecting them. But they probably won't be expecting your friendly neighborhood Spiderman to sneak in, especially since the rumors going around that I'm dead. I may be the only one that can stop them. I have to at least try."

The conviction in his voice was moving, but had little effect on MJ who was, by now, immune to Peter's heroic speeches.

Somehow the whole scene was amusing to MJ despite being totally frustrating at the same time. Here was a guy who had almost died in a near fatal assassination attempt--twice--and as he's laying on his back, too weak to even stand, he has the temerity to say he can save the country. She was beginning to wonder if Peter's powers hadn't somehow messed with his brain and made him lose all logic to his own limitations.

"Peter…" MJ said exasperated as she knelt beside him and looked the man straight in the eyes, "You need to get to a hospital. Those wounds of yours are very serious. Let the police and the FBI deal with this one. I think you're a little out of your league. Plus, there's always the possibility the government will just pay up and there won't be any more bomb threats."

"That's until the next psychopath comes along wanting to blow up the world…" Peter pointed out stubbornly.

Not deterred, she wrapped her arms around Peter's neck tightly, beginning to feel frustrated tears stinging her eyes as her emotions began to get the better of her. Whispering in a chocked sob she said, "If you go out there the way you are as Spiderman, you're going to get yourself killed. You're just too weak right now to do anything about this. I don't want to lose you or see you get hurt worse."

"Mary Jane, don't," he ordered gently as he twined a free arm around her waist and hugged back, "I plan on coming back alive. I promise."

"One of these days, you may not keep your promise," she muttered, distraught, into his shoulder, careful to keep away from the bandage around his stomach. She had seen Peter return multiple times from his nightly outings covered with bruises and cuts, a few times with broken ribs. But now he had been shot. How much longer could Peter outrun the laws of mathematics? Sooner or later, the odds would turn against him.

Pushing MJ back to look into her face, Peter smiled softly, "Come on. You shouldn't frown so much. It'll put wrinkles in your forehead." Cracking into a reluctant smile, MJ wiped the tears from her eyes and chuckled.

'Leave it to Pete to make me laugh when I should be mad at him,' she thought. That was one of the things she liked most about him; Peter's uncanny ability to make a wise crack in the most tense of moments.

"What are you planning on doing, Tiger?" MJ asked in a taut voice.

Laying back on the pillow propped under his head, Peter contemplated the ceiling before answering, "I think I'm going to pay a visit to Mr. Collins…"

*********

A steady drizzle showered down on the city of New York as thunder slowly rumbled in the black sky hanging low overhead. There was an unusual silence permeating through the damp, humid air. Usually thriving with the bustle of thousands of people and cars, New York lay in a subdued quiet. The once pulsating metropolis had been abandoned by much of its population. The threat of biological terrorism had turned one of the largest cities in the world into a ghost town.

Had an adventurous citizen, unable or unwilling to escape the city, decided to stroll through the abandoned streets under the glare of streetlights on the pavement, he might have caught the once inaudible soft 'thwip' of webbing against concrete over the steady patter of rain overhead and the following 'whoosh' of air whipping around a shadow clad figure. Had there been such a soul, an upturned head might have rewarded the curious bystander with the glimpse of a blue and red blur swinging fifty feet above the ground, seemingly defying gravity.

But there wasn't such a person then who was so ready to travel the empty streets. What few people were left in the hollow maze of concrete had holed up in their homes to silently wait for the outcome of the impending threat. Whether they believed they would live to see the day after next or not was uncertain.

Blending into then peeling away from the inky darkness that blanketed the puddled streets below, Spiderman slowly made his way into the concrete jungle. His movements were short and sluggish, his arms never fully extending from his body and his legs remained tightly tucked under him as he threw another line of web from his wrist and dropped the other.

Rounding the corner of the street, Spiderman held tight on the web line as his weight pulled against the end of the thread and shot him in a wide arc on top of the building's roof. Landing silently in a crouch on the parapet of the roof, twenty stories above the ground, Spiderman stood motionless as he waited for the searing pain in his abdomen to die down. Web swinging was not the most comfortable mode of transportation at the moment.

Hanging his head tiredly, Spidey clutched his stomach as the pain began to throb away gradually. His washboard stomach rested under multiple layers of ace bandages, slightly distorting his natural streamline form and giving the wall crawler a bulkier appearance. Luckily, his suit was water repellant or his bandage would have been soaked through from the downpour that had struck during his trip over.

'Maybe MJ was right about me being too weak to go out,' Spidey thought miserably in self pity for his condition. What should have been a ten minutes of web swinging to get to the apartment building he currently stood on had taken him over thirty, exhausting him in the process.

But taking a deep breath to regain his senses, Spiderman knew that he had to be there. It would have went against everything he stood for if he had just laid back and admitted defeat while passively letting the ones behind the threats against New York and the rest of America do whatever they wanted and possibly kill thousands of innocent people. He just couldn't do it. It was his responsibility to stop them.

Tipping over the edge slowly and carefully, Spidey gripped his fingertips onto the grimy brick surface and lowered himself face first towards the ground. Instead of falling, he easily adhered to the building and army crawled vertically down the wall. Moving his arms and legs in a rhythmical motion, perfected with time and practice that kept at least two limbs connected to the surface at one time, Spiderman slipped down the wall, weaving himself in and out of the shadows that played across the building.

Moving towards the center of the building, Spidey skittered towards the row of windows he believed belonged to Donald Collins' apartment. Crawling cautiously above the first window he came to, Spiderman lowered his head slowly down to look inside.

Detecting no movement from inside the darkened room, Spiderman grasped the bottom of the window and hoisted the glass pane upward with a strained grunt. Slipping down through the opened window, Spiderman landed on the plush carpeting of the room with a soggy squish from his rain soaked boots.

Letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, Spidey saw that he stood in what appeared to be a spacious office den. Large oak bookshelves lined two of the rooms wall, filled with thick, leather bound books. Sitting along the far right of the room, stood a large wooden desk topped high with stacks of documents and folders, bulging with papers. Amongst the controlled chaos of Collins' desk sat a compact, top of the line computer.

Striding over to the mess of paperwork, Spidey rifted through the first few layers of papers. Spiderman quickly assessed that tidiness was not high on Collins list of attributes. Quickly scanning the papers he sifted through in the darkness, Spiderman searched for anything that seemed to mention any terrorist activities or government conspiracies.

"Damn. There's nothing here but campaign ledgers and other useless papers. It's probably all in the computer if its anywhere in here," Spidey muttered to himself as he placed the documents back in order the way he had found them on top of the desk. But before he could move towards the PC, there suddenly sounded from the other side of the door leading out of the room, the muffled thuds of footsteps. Coming to a stop before the office door, there came a sharp click as the doorknob turned and the door swung open an inch, letting spill into the room a shaft of light from the hallway.

Leaping to the wall, Spidey scrambled as fast as his wounded stomach would allow up to the ceiling of the office. Holding himself tightly against the ceiling, he waited to see who would enter.

Stepping into the threshold of the room, the stranger reached a hand to the side wall where a soft tap was heard and the room exploded into light. Blinking back the sudden assault of brightness on eyes, Spiderman saw the unmistakable features of Donald Collins. The man was tall and well built, like that of an athlete almost, but distinguished in his appearance. Even past his prime, Collins would be considered handsome by many women.

'Probably why he's so popular…' Spidey ventured as he speculated the man's high popularity pole. But from his vantage point, Spidey stifled a smile of irony as he spotted the slightly balding circle of hair high atop the man head which many people would probably never notice.

Oblivious to his ceiling hugging guest, Collins walked slowly over to his desk and flopped tiredly into the chair positioned in front of it. Heaving a frustrated sigh, Collins dropped his head to hang over the back of the chair as he closed his eyes and slumped in his seat.

Seeing this as his moment for his signature surprise entrance, Spidey cleared his throat loudly.

Jumping out of his chair with a start, Collins whipped his head from side to side frantically as he searched the room for his unseen intruder.

"Who's there?" Collins cried as he stood fixated to one spot and circled 360 degrees around the room, visibly sweating in panic. "I…I can have the police here in…in…really soon if you try to do anything to me! They're right outside this building watching in case anything happens to me! So don't try anything because you're not going to get away with it!" he added in a false voice of fearlessness.

Spiderman felt a twinge of guilt for bringing the man to such a panic. The poor guy was probably on edge for fear of his life. No doubt thinking it was some hit-man out to silence him forever for his findings. Still…Spidey couldn't help find amusement in how no one ever has the foresight to look up.

"You know, being this jumpy probably isn't that good for your blood pressure. Maybe you need a vacation," Spidey stated in a affable voice as he dropped from the ceiling from a single thread of webbing and dangled upside down before the frightened man.

"Spiderman!" Collins stuttered in a mixture of surprise and relief as he recognized the white eyepieces against the scarlet cloth of the wall crawler's mask.

"The one and only," the arachnid answered as his body swayed slightly side to side in the air as Collins stared at the superhero in complete shock.

"You're alive! But I thought you were dead! That's what all the news stations are saying. They said you were probably killed in the hospital. How did you get out?" the man said, still recovering from his initial shock.

"I had a little help from Jonah Jameson, if you can believe that. Ask him about it sometime. It's a dozy of a story," the web slinger answered. There was a change of emotions on Collins face at the mention of his friend's name. Forgetting his panic, Collins became serious. He hadn't forgotten what the wall crawler had done for him. Stepping closer to the man hanging upside down from his ceiling, Collins squinted his eyes at Spiderman's stomach skeptically.

"I thought you were shot," he stated in confusion. How could the man before him be hanging from his ceiling yet have, not even a day before, been shot five times?

"I heal fast," Spiderman replied hurriedly, not wanting to go into great explanation. Despite the assurance he had just given Collins, his bandaged stomach throbbed painfully, reminding the wall crawler he was in fact no where near being completely healed.

Collins noted the strained tone of Spiderman's voice as being that of a man in concealed pain. Regarding the web swinger in heightened esteem for venturing out in his condition, Collins said, "I never got the chance to thank you. I would be dead right now if it wasn't for you. Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Spidey smiled under his mask. Although he wouldn't admit it, it felt good to be thanked for risking his life. It was one of the few and far between perks of his after hours hobby. But there were more important matters. Turning serious he said, "But I didn't come here for you to thank me. I need some information. Specifically on the company selling technology and information to these terrorist groups and any other info that could be useful in stopping these guys."

"Right. It's the least I can do for you," Collins declared as he turned to his desk and switched on the computer screen. Flipping himself upright, Spiderman alighted from his strand of webbing and landed noiselessly on the carpeted floor of the office. Coming up behind the older man, Spiderman looked over Collin's shoulder. On the computer screen flashed a series of windows that Collins clicked through deftly and punched in a series of passwords.

'Good thing I didn't try to look for this stuff myself,' Spidey thought to himself, 'I would have never found it.'

Coming to a particular screen, Collins stopped and swiveled in his chair to allow Spiderman a better view of the window. Filling the screen was a long list of numbers and numerous letter codes.

"So…what exactly am I looking at?" Spiderman asked in confusion.

"This is the banking transactions of a certain New York based, government funded company. I assume you've heard of Oscorp Industries?" Collins asked impartially as he scrolled down the long list of numbers.

"Unfortunately I do," Spidey muttered under his breath, not liking where this was heading. The thought of his old friend, Harry Osborn, being possibly involved in illegal acts didn't sit right with Peter Parker beneath his Spiderman costume.

"Well, over the past few months, Oscorp has been receiving more revenue then otherwise expected. Its bringing in over twenty million dollars more then what the federal government is funding the company with for military technology and development. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be such a big deal except that it has underwent no expansions of the company and hasn't been able to produce any hard money trails to reputable sources for its sudden gain of income. Rather suspicious, don't you think?" Collins asked rhetorically as he leaned back in his chair while Spiderman scanned over the numbers on the screen.

Skeptical, Spiderman questioned, "So you're telling me you have no other evidence then a large Swiss bank account for Oscorp? They could have gotten that money multiple other ways then by selling information to foreign terrorist groups. Don't you have any other hard evidence?"

"That's just what the CIA asked me too. But there's more," Collins said as he closed the one window and opened another. Filling the screen came the schematics of what appeared to be a missile or torpedo of some type.

"What's this?" Spidey asked as he bent to closer examine the technical plans of whatever he was looking at.

"Those would be the plans for a highly destructive nuclear bomb Oscorp has developed recently. It could literally level a hundred mile radius from wherever it's detonated," came the mayoral candidate's matter-of-fact response.

"But isn't that what Oscorp's paid to do? It's funded by the government to develop things like this," Spiderman stated from his secondhand knowledge of Oscorp's business from Harry.

"Not when Oscorp has kept this technology closed to the US government," Collins said simply as Spiderman's head turned towards him, interested. Continuing with the arachnid's full attention, "This particular design is suspiciously similar to what would be necessary to spread a virus the way the terrorists said they were able to. On top of that, Oscorp is also known to dabble in genetic and biological research."

"But you just said these were the designs for a nuclear weapon," Spidey stated, still a little confused as he pointed a gloved finger to the blue prints on the screen.

"That's the kicker of this weapon," Collins said as he scrolled to a particular section of the schematics, "See here. The basic principle of it can be applied to multiple tasks. It can be rigged with explosives or be used to disperse a deadly virus with a large blast, just like what they're threatening to do if the government doesn't pay the ransom."

"I have to say I'm impressed," Spidey admitted as he nodded his head in appreciation for Collins' digging around, "The only thing I don't understand is why the FBI isn't looking into Oscorp and investigating this."

"Oh they are. Don't think for a minute they're not, what with all these biological bombs littered across the US. Only thing is, Oscorp and all its higher ups are very good at covering up their tracks. With all their high paid lawyers and the legal red tape, it'll take weeks before the FBI will be able get in and check into the company's records. But by then, six of America's largest cities will be infected by this virus or the perpetrators of this whole thing will have disappeared with their money. And it'll be almost certain that Oscorp will have completely covered up their tracks by that time," Collins sighed in exasperation at the hopelessness of the situation.

Feeling he had gotten a good start, Spiderman asked, "Think I can have a print out of this? It may come in handy later."

"Sure," he said as he pointed the mouse to the print button in the corner of the screen. As the paper slowly slid through the boxy machine, Collins glanced at the masked superhero out of the corner of his eye. "You're planning on going after these guys, aren't you?"

Only bobbing his scarlet shrouded head slightly, Spidey grabbed the printouts, folded them into a small square, and tucked it safely inside his suit. Leaping to the wall beside the window he had entered through, Spiderman paused as he hoisted the window open.

"You know, you would have made a great detective," Spidey called over to Collins who was still seated in his desk chair, "Once this thing blows over, instead of running for mayor you may want to consider going into a new career with government intelligence."

Breaking into a broad smile, Collins laughed back, "I'll keep that in mind, except I've been told that when the words 'government' and 'intelligence' are used in the same sentence, it's considered an oxymoron."

Unable to help himself from liking the guy, Spiderman smiled under his mask, "I think I've heard that somewhere too. But as much as I'd love to stay and talk, I have to be running."

Nodding his understandings, Collins called out to the retreating form by the window, "Thanks again for saving my life. I'll always be here if you need my help. Just swing by and ask."

Receiving a final mock half-salute from Spiderman as acknowledgment, Collins watched as the wall crawler slipped through the window and into the rainy night. Standing up and crossing the floor to the window, Collins stared out into the wet, inky blackness. Leaning his head out into the chilly air, Collins strained his neck for signs of his wall crawling guest.

Seeing nothing of the web swinger, Collins slowly brought his head back inside and pulled the heavy windowpane down. Standing in silence, the man listened to the rhythmic tapping of rain on the glass as he glanced back at the computer screen still projecting the schematics of the weapon he had shown Spiderman earlier.

"For everyone's sake, I hope you pull this off," he muttered to the long-gone superhero.

Swinging through the rain, blocks away from the apartment building, Spiderman was lost in thought and torn between his emotions. Could Harry really be involved in this fiasco? It was very probable that Oscorp was the one behind the assisted terrorist activities, Collins had dispelled any real doubt of that, but was Harry really involved? It was hard for him to believe that his old friend could be possible of such things.

"Well, no matter what, I need to check out Oscorp," Spidey muttered under his skin tight mask. Continuing on through the rain though, Spiderman felt his body rebel against the idea of investigating the company that night. His stomach and back felt like one giant open wound and his vision felt fuzzy from exhaustion.

But he couldn't go back to his apartment, no matter how nice of an idea it sounded. There was only a little more then a day left before the terrorists expected payment, leaving the web swinger little time to save the day. He couldn't stop now, not with the information Collins had just given him. Still, he knew he couldn't keep up the whole I'm-totally-fine act for much longer. He was going to need food and sleep soon or he was going to collapse.

"I'll take a look into Oscorp, and then I'll go to bed," he grumbled to himself in the form of placating his weary body with the knowledge he would soon rest. Shooting over the abnormally quiet streets of New York, Spiderman sped as fast as he could to the far west side of town where Oscorp Industries' main research and office complex stood.

To be continued…

Hey people, Spiderman should hopefully be appearing in another chapter in the near future, so keep a look out for it.

Signing out

-LAXgirl