Wednesday morning and Peter had to deal with an early morning emergency on the way to school so he had to change into being Spider-Man; a diamond store being robbed by an orange haired woman wearing a white corset; a blue fancy looking coat, bunny ears and even rabbit face paint. "Wasn't too long before I had to face the indignity of Leap-Frog but now someone who has clearly experienced Alice in Wonderland a few too many times. You ask me I would say the best versions are the American McGee games. But don't feel too bad; at least you didn't lead to your own defeat without me even attacking." Peter drawled at the woman he had tied up in web and struggling against her restrains and the web covering her mouth as Peter tossed her to oncoming police and then left.
He considered himself lucky to find a place to change into his normal clothes and get to school on time.
Inside his main office Norman was hard at work testing a sample off his own blood; he gave a cough and grimaced as he saw that the rare genetic disease that could one day end up killing him was still growing strong. "OZ... I need to see about getting faster progress on the experiments..." Norman said as an assistant came into his office and he glared at the poor hapless assistant. "If someone wants to see me or if it's a report then it can wait!" Norman snapped but then the doors barged open making him furious but he got it under control when he saw who it was.
Four men in green business suits, sunglasses and bowler hats; "I believe that you can make time in your busy schedule with us Norman." one of them said as Norman straightened himself up and nodded. The four men were the board of Viper Worldwide the infamous private military company that had been successful in quickly crushing rebellions by various governments around the world; Oscorp worked with them discretely as they had backed a lot of projects that were dubious in ethics and legality.
"We came here today because we have to say patience can be quite finite. How many years ago was it did you promise us a new breed of fighting machines: a new species of soldiers that are harder to kill?" another of them said and Norman nodded.
"Off course and I promise you that there are promises of results... I know how important OZ is for you and for me off course. Remember that I have more at stake for the success of OZ than the four of you." Norman replied as OZ was also being developed for applications of enhanced soldiers with OZ to be the first client as per their agreements before Norman would pitch it to the military.
The four men didn't look amused and said "I don't think so Norman; don't think of you... Think of God and country! An army with each soldier just like Captain America; I think that's more valuable than you. We heard of you making the suit that helped the Mayor's son become that Colonel Jupiter mascot and we are starting to think that you care more about creating supposed 'superheroes' than honouring our agreement!"
"Ah yes; the Scorpion project was a failure and I can imagine you would have problems..." Norman said and they rolled their eyes.
"Don't forget about Spider-Man; you made that vigilante and now the Mayor ended up hiring you to make more to hunt him down." one of the men said and Norman looked taken aback. "Don't play dumb Norman; someone with that abilities and we know full well about your animal test subjects with OZ. We are starting to suspect that you are holding out on us so we are here to tell you that you better have something for us to use soon or else... Remember all the dirt we have that could ruin you!" he said with the others nodding as they then left together.
"Spider-Man... Could he be the work of OZ... If so how?" Norman pondered as it was something to think about.
"I can't believe it..." Peter muttered later once the school day was done at Midtown and he decided to look at his phone; the rabbit woman from this morning calling herself 'the White Rabbit' had been released on bail by her parents who it turned out were wealthy; the Dodsons gave some sort of excuse for their daughter Lorina to the press and authorities about her acting out due to stress of personal family business.
"You know my dad knows the Dodsons; works with them and their firm and from what I hear they don't give her much attention. Considering that on my Birthday my dad ended up getting gifts mixed up so I got a bottle intended for a business partner." Harry told Peter as they saw Flash talking to the football team and Liz leaving with Sally. "You ready to try and earn you some actual school halls cred with how it goes at Liz's party?" Harry asked and Peter gave a nod thinking that it was best for his reputation to try and not mess anything up at the party.
Peter had arrived at Liz's fancy looking house and most of the other guests were already there with loud music. He did his best to mingle as he spotted Flash showing off some football poses; "You be careful Mr Thompson! You pay for anything you break!" Liz's brother Mark shouted as he was there to be the chaperone as Liz was looking at Peter while next to Sally who was cheering Flash on.
"If only your brother wasn't here and we could get away with putting you and the Parker dweeb in a closet for Seven Minutes of Heaven..." Sally whispered to Liz who jumped. "Come on Liz; I already know you're crushing on him, I don't really understand why but if you want to pursue him I am here for you." Sally continued to whisper and Liz took a moment to smile at her.
"Thanks Sally... You always had my back..." Liz told Sally remembering.
In their final year at elementary school Liz and Sally were taking part in a gymnastics competition and Sally had scored very well and shared a hug with Liz as she went to take her turn. Sally went to the lockers to get something to give to Liz; putting on her jacket as she was cold; he ended up spotting this vain mean girl Bonnie who liked to pick on people and entered the competition as well, she was breaking into Liz's locker to plant something and Sally ended up getting her phone to be able to record the footage of her planting the thing in her locker.
Bonnie ended up going to her seat smirking waiting as Liz was scored veruy well for her performance but the Principal angrily called her up and asked for her to explain as Sally smirking was with him to show the phone footage of her planting the thing in Liz's locker. The locker was checked and it turned out to be drugs; Bonnie was taken away and Liz and Sally along with their parents where met with an elderly man with glasses and a moustache; acting as Midtown's dean to give them an offer for a place at the school.
Then there was a commotion heard as Mark caught one of Flash's football friends Seymour O'Reily going into a high cabinet; "You don't want to do this young man!" Mark snapped as Seymour ignored him and took a bottle of wine. Seymour managed to open it up as Mark tried to snatch it away, Liz was annoyed and the bottle ended up smashing onto the ground and came on fire.
The partygoers were freaked out and Peter ended up becoming as calm as he was able to and helped to shout for everyone to get out. Soon the fire department came and took care of it; people were being checked on as their parents were called and the Allans came home to scold Seymour once they had been told of what happened.
"Hey Liz; sorry for how your party ended. I did enjoy myself beforehand..." Peter said and Liz smiled at him as she came over.
"Likewise Petey; thanks for being the best tutor and a cool guy..." Liz said and May was one of the last ones to arrive in her car looking frantic. Peter dealt with May checking him over and asking if she could count on Peter going anywhere without something happening. Peter and Liz were saying goodbye to each other and before they looked away they looked close in their eyes, they ended up smiling and sharing a kiss.
In his office at Oscorp; Norman had spent a lot of time going over all available footage of Spider-Man and it seemed that he could very well be the product of OZ but the question was how? Was there a mole or a leak in his company; he couldn't afford to if that was the case. Toomes allowed himself to be careless and to be betrayed by an employee who brought his own downfall together but Norman Osborn wasn't going to make that mistake. He was going to get to the bottom of this.
Plus he was going to have to accelerate the OZ product and he didn't just need to save his company's reputation, his life but also his legacy. If he ended up dying to his disease then his fortune and ownership of Oscorp would go to his son who didn't seem to inherit his brilliance and if his grades were to be believed likely wouldn't be developing it anytime soon. He needed OZ to be a success for her benefactors and to allow him to live love enough to secure his legacy.
If you are like me who is so obsessed with Spidey that you are willing to revisit an origin story you have already experienced countless times then there is the children's novel Spider-Man: An Origin Story by Ned Hartley. I admit that when I first learned of it I thought it would be a short little children's storybook with pictures especially since the cartoonish cover uses the design of Spidey from Marvel's Spider-Man the cartoon but it's a little written novel retelling on the origin. I got it cheap from Amazon and I do reccomend giving it a try.
Plus I was going to mention this last chapter but the Assembled episode for She-Hulk when talking about their version of Leap-Frog; pointed out that off course in a world with more and more superheroes then some spoiled rich kid is going to try and use their parents' wealth to emulate them. Typing this I realised this is the exact same line of thinking behind Princess Morbucks: a selfish rich brat who can't stand not having something she wants. Also Viper Worldwide came from the infamous Turn Off the Dark musical; basically they take the role that Slocum and the military had in the first Sam Raimi movie. Bonnie mentioned was the bully in Firestar's backstory in the original Spider-Man & his Amazing Friends cartoon.