Chapter Fifteen

Lionel Luthor walked into a large business room in the OSCORP factory, followed by Lex, who was awkwardly limping behind him on a pair of crutches. In the middle of the room, looking over some paperwork, was Jason Macendale.

"Mr. Macendale," Lionel said, outstretching his hand.

"Mr. Luthor," Jason replied, reluctantly accepting the handshake.

"It's come to my attention that your employer, the young Mr. Harry Osborn, is no longer, shall we say, fit to run a corporation of OSCORP's high regard. I was hoping that, under the circumstances, we could revisit my prior, and extremely generous, offer to buy the company?"

Jason rolled his eyes and let Lionel's words hang in the air like so much dead weight. "You don't waste any time, do you?" he replied, coldly. "The Bugle just broke that story this morning."

"Yes… it's a real tragedy," Lionel said, trying to hide a smile. "The poor lad, locked up in a mental institution."

"It's a rehabilitation center, Mr. Luthor. Mr. Osborn is getting the help that he needs."

"Yes, I trust that he is. Now, about my offer…"

Jason shook his head. "I'm afraid you're too late. OSCORP's board of directors has already elected to sell the company to another buyer."

Lionel's face fell. "What? Surely you're joking."

"I'm afraid he's not," came a voice from behind them. "And don't call him Shirley."

Lex and Lionel turned to see a tall man with dark, slicked-back hair wearing a jet black Armani suit stroll casually into the room. He had one arm around a very attractive blonde, and the other around an equally striking brunette.

"Who the devil…?"

The man took his arm from around the blonde's waist long enough to shake Lionel's hand. "Bruce Wayne," the man said with a charming smile. "Wayne Enterprises."

Lex raised an eyebrow. "The Gotham City Bruce Wayne?"

Bruce winked. "One and the same."

"I thought I read you moved to Japan or something?"

"I did some traveling."

"What brings you back to the states?"

Bruce looked from the blonde, to the brunette, and then back to Lex. "You have to ask?"

Lionel leaned in close to Mr. Macendale. "I don't care what the hell he offered you, I'll double it," he whispered.

"I'm sorry, the deal is final," Jason replied.

Bruce was already distracted. He left his female companions and walked over to a large table where the two charred halves of Harry Osborn's Goblin Glider were resting, among various other items that had been pulled from the fire at the Osborn mansion.

"Our crew just had that stuff pulled from the wreckage," Jason called over to Mr. Wayne.

Bruce looked at it, fascinated. He pressed a button on the side of the glider's skeletal frame, and a single projectile shot out and embedded itself in the wall. Bruce walked over to it and pulled the projectile out and looked closely at it. It was in the shape of a bat.

He turned to Jason. "I want everything in this building packed up and shipped to Wayne Enterprises in Gotham City. Send the bill to me, personally."

"I'm afraid the glider and anything else from the fire is police evidence, Mr. Wayne. Someone is coming for it later this afternoon."

Bruce just smiled. "We'll work something out," he said, casually. Then he put his arms around the girls again. "Come on, um… what was your name again?" he said to the blonde.

She wrinkled her nose and giggled. "Heidi," she said, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Right…"

They walked out of the room, leaving behind a speechless Lionel and a very amused Lex.

. . . . . .

Peter Parker and Clark Kent sat side by side atop the roof of the Daily Bugle building, staring out over the vast city below them.

"What's it like?" Clark asked. "When you… y'know… swing around on the webs and everything?"

"It's great," Peter replied. "The wind in your face… the city below you… sometimes, when I let go of a webline, I wait an extra second before I fire off another one… and I just soar through the air for a minute, and pretend that I'm flying."

"Wow… that has to be such a rush."

"It really is. Sometimes it's the best part of this whole Spider-Man gig."

Clark thought for a minute about what that must be like, to soar above the city like Peter got to do. He was actually a little bit jealous.

"So, what will happen to Harry now?"

"I don't know," Peter said. "They took him to this place called Ravencroft."

"I'm really sorry, Pete," Clark said.

"It's okay," Peter said. "There are people there who will be able to help him."

"Yeah, but still… I can't imagine what it must have been like to have your best friend try to kill you. That had to suck."

"Okay, I won't lie to you, that did suck," Peter admitted. "I hope you never have to go through anything like that, Clark."

They sat in silence again for a moment, just watching the people below them hustling and bustling about the busy New York streets.

"Clark," Peter said. "How did you know that I was Spider-Man? And how did you know to come help me?"

Clark just laughed. "Pete, I think you and Mary Jane have a lot to talk about."

He nodded slowly. "She knows, doesn't she?" He didn't really seem all that surprised. "I kinda thought that maybe she did. I wonder when she figured it out."

"There is something you should know… she's in the hospital. She ran all the way to my hotel room on a broken ankle the night the Goblin kidnapped you, because she thought I was the only person who could help you."

Peter was stunned. "Oh, my gosh… Wow, I really need to go talk to her."

"Yeah, I would say that you should do that."

"Does Chloe know about you? About your powers and all?"

"No," Clark said. "She doesn't. Although sometimes I wonder how long that will last, what with her journalistic instincts and all."

"Why don't you just tell her? I think you could trust her."

Clark shrugged. "I don't know. I don't want to burden her, I guess."

"Your powers aren't a burden, Clark. They're a gift. They are what you make of them… and I think you'll do really great things with yours one day."

Clark grinned. "Thanks, Pete. That really means a lot… especially coming from the 'Amazing Spider-Man'!"

Peter laughed. "Yeah, well… hey, we need to give you a name, too! And a costume wouldn't hurt either!"

Clark shook his head. "Oh, no… I've had my fill of wearing tights, thanks."

"We'll see," Peter said. "Believe it or not? You get used to them."

. . . . . .

A few hours later, there was a knock at the door of Mary Jane Watson's hospital room. The door opened, and in walked Peter Parker with a bouquet of flowers.

"Peter!" she cried. She was so excited to see him that she almost jumped out of bed, despite having most of her lower leg in a cast.

"Hey, pretty lady," he said, handing her the bouquet. "How're you feeling?"

She brought the flowers to her nose and breathed in their sweet smell. "Much better now," she said. "Stargazer Lilies… they're my favorite!"

"I know."

"How?"

"You mentioned it, once."

"And you remembered? Wow…" Mary Jane blushed. "Peter… that's really, really sweet of you."

"Aw, you're welcome," he said, blushing a little himself. Then he added, "I guess we know all kinds of secrets about each other, huh?"

She looked up into his eyes. He knew that she knew... and he was okay with it.

"Yeah…" she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I guess we do."

. . . . . .

Clark Kent sat beside Chloe Sullivan on their bus ride to the airport, thinking thoughts of their return to Smallville, Kansas. After spending a few days in the big city, they were more than ready to get home to their families and friends.

Chloe held in her hands that morning's edition of the Daily Bugle.

"Can you believe this?" she said to Clark. "This story that Mr. Jameson wrote claims that he was kidnapped by Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, and that he and some teenager named Flash Thompson outwitted them and somehow managed to 'escape their insidious clutches!' I mean, who in the world does he think he's kidding?"

Clark pointed to a smaller article below Jameson's story. "Hey… isn't this…?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Yes, it is… well, it SORT OF is the essay that won me this whole trip in the first place. Though apparently once Jameson realized it wasn't all anti-Spider-Man sentiment, he went over it with a fine toothed comb and edited out every other word. Honestly, with this on my resume I'll be lucky to get a job writing for the National Register."

Clark just laughed. He skimmed over the story that Jameson had written.

"Y'know," he said, "with all the bad press that Spider-Man gets, I wonder why he even bothers. If he's just going to keep getting slammed, then why does he do it?"

"Because, Clark," Chloe replied. "With great power, comes great responsibility."

Clark blinked a few times. "Wow. I like that… where did you hear it?"

Chloe grinned from ear to ear. "A little spider told me."