Part Two

            "That went horribly." MJ said as she and Peter entered his room. "Why didn't you tell Gwen?"

            Peter sighed and threw his coat on the end of his bed, "I could never get a chance. She kept on going on about how glad she was to have me back." He sat down on a chair and lowered his shoulders somberly, "I couldn't bring myself to say it."

            "Yeah, I know what you mean." MJ replied. "I was able to dump all those guys with a guilty-free conscience because they were shallow. Did you see the way Gwen kept on staring into your eyes?"

            "Don't remind me." Peter brushed his hair back, "Uncle Ben cleared out everything with the school. I need to do an extra month during the summer to make up for the days I lost. I go back, Monday." It was currently Saturday. 

            MJ shrugged, "Could have been worse. Speaking of Gwen, I've got an idea."

            Peter raised an eye, "Which is?"

            "Gradually but surely, you're going to start showing disinterest with Gwen. Have a petty squabble or two." MJ smiled, "Then when the time comes let her off easily and say it's not working. I'll try to do the same with Harry."

            Peter rocked his head back, "Do you think that will work?"

            MJ nodded confidently, "It did with half the guys I dated."

            "What about the other half?"

            "They needed some physical abuse."

            Peter laughed.

            Norman Osborn stared at his son holding the façade in his hands weakly. "That should get you through school fine. Its durable so don't worry about the exterior tearing on you."

            "Did you see Peter?" Harry inquired.

            "Yes. He's in good health." Norman replied, "How do you like it?"

            Harry touched the material and was startled by how life-like it felt. "I-I'm a little afraid."

            Norman grimaced, "Don't be. Only cowards are afraid."  He turned away from his son and stared out the window, "I see possibilities, Harry. Perhaps, you'll finally be of some use to me. Things are becoming so complicated. I could snatch Peter any time I wished if it weren't for that old fool."

            He tapped the glass and contemplated scenarios in his mind. "Wait, I think I've just had an idea." Norman turned to his son as a light bulb went off in his mind, "What's the number for Mary Jane's family?"

            Dennis Watson grabbed his crutches and slowly rose to his feet, careful not to injure his foot. He slowly made his way to the ringing phone and placed it against his ear. "Hello?"

            The voice on the other line seemed pleased to hear Watson's voice. "Hello?" The caller said formally, "I believe I have something that will of great use to the father of Mary Jane Watson?"

            Dennis frowned, "Do you know where that slut has run off too?"

            "Yes and I trust that you, as a father, know what to do with such information."

            The criminal Enforcer, Ox, starred at the Japanese crime lord with suspicion. They were meeting in his private club, the Lotus, a small-Asian joint on the Lower East Side. "I think you know why we're here." Ox said with a dozen men at his back.

            "You are Ox, one of the Kingpin's men, correct?" Asked the Japanese boss; Takagi. His men lines the sides of the club and watched from the catwalks that led to the private rooms above.

            Ox smiled, "I'm sure that was a tough one." He clenched his fist, "Kingpin sends us with a polite suggestion. He wants you to stay out of his territory."

            Takagi smiled, two guards stood in front of him, ready to take a bullet each. "Does he?" He laughed, "Go back to your Kingpin and tell him that I will consider your request."

            "He said he'd like a reply immediately." Ox remarked, "If you want my advice, I'd say pull out with what you can."

            "Then it is good thing that you are not my advisor." Takagi replied grimly, "My family has been a leading member of the Japanese syndicate for years, while the Yakuza moved in and were promptly expelled by the old families we survived and thrived here. I will not throw that all away because some self-declared master of crime says I must!"

            Ox shrugged, "If that's how you feel fine." He pulled a gun slowly out of his pocket, "But you're not going to be walking out of here alive." The men behind him slipped sub-machine guns and the like out of hidden pockets in their jackets.

            Takagi's men responded by drawing their own weapons. The scene for a bloodbath was set.

            "How lucky am I?" A voice called out from the shadows of the club's ceiling. "Looks like I've found the set of Dumb and Dumber." The source of the disturbance appeared from the shadows.

            "That's Spider-Man!" Ox said in shock and turned his head to Takagi, "You're working with him?"

            Takagi looked offended, "I would never associate myself with that freak!"

            "See we can agree to disagree." Peter remarked taking note of the position of several of the gangsters. "So who's first?"

            "Kill him!" Takagi roared.

            Peter immediately found himself flipping through the club dodging the bullets that flew by. "Hey, it seems I've become a bond of unity." He ducked his head avoiding a bullet meant from his skull, "Lucky me."

            He dived down into the crowd of mobsters before they even realized he was already moving. Peter landed his fist into the gut on one thug and brought down another with a roundhouse kick.

            Another brought the butt of his pistol down on Spider-Man's head with all his might. Peter shook his head in response to the blow and shrugged it off. He reached for the muzzle of the weapon and crushed it with his bare hands.

            Two more bullets whizzed by but missed Peter as he rolled on the backs of an enemy. He grabbed one mobster's arm and flung him into the crowd. He fired a web-line and swung through the club, smacking thugs aside with his powerful legs.

            One of the mobsters got lucky and they fired a bullet that cut Peter's web-line in too. Spider-Man came back down, a victim of gravity. He landed both his feet on Ox's chest and pushed off, hurtling into a pack of gunmen with his fist outstretched. He broke through the flood of mobsters and landed on the side of the wall.

            "Okay guys, this has been fun, but I've got dishes to do at home, so how about I take a rain-check." Peter said mockingly covering the entire club in a dense layer of webbing.

            "You can't do this to us!" Ox yelled from under the layer of filament, unable to move, struggling to reach his gun just a few centimeters from his fingers but failing. "You'll pay for this! Look what you did to my nose!" He said referring to the blood pouring from his nostrils. 

            Peter shrugged crawling up the wall towards an open window near the ceiling, "Look at it this way, when women scream at you from now on, you'll have a legitimate excuse." He fired a line that connected with a building across the street, "Until then, losers."

            Landing against the side of his home, Peter immediately frowned at the police sirens flashing from the patrol cars. "What the hell?" He crawled in through the window and quickly changed his clothes into something more presentable.

            The last time this had happened, aunt May left the house in a body-bag. A million ideas were flashing through his mind.

            Peter walked out of his room and descended the stairs, his hands trembling in fear at what might be. When he reached the front door he found Ben speaking to a police officer. "Where's MJ?" He barked realizing her absence, "What's happened?" He asked Ben who was startled by his arrival. "Uncle Ben, what's going on?"

            The elderly uncle turned away from the officer, startled by his nephew's arrival. "Mary Jane is being taken back to her parents, there's nothing I can do to stop them." He took a deep breath, still shaken by the news, "I'm being brought up on charges of kidnapping."