"A little bit more, Gwen! I wanna see some attitude."

Gwen Stacy did her absolute best to keep a straight face as the photographer snapped picture after picture. She was again posing for the next major magazine, perhaps one of a million magazines on a million newsstands around New York. Roderick Kingsley was watching from afar, almost seemingly glaring at her with wandering eyes. It made her nervous, being stared at like that, but she remained focused on the photo shoot. Kingsley continued to keep a watchful eye, when he then received a phone call.

"Roderick Kingsley speaking," a pause followed, before Kingsley said, "That's very interesting, good work. I'll be there to assess the findings personally, keep me posted," Kingsley hung up the phone and turned back to the shoot. He clapped his hands together and announced, "Okay everybody, that's enough for today. We'll pick this shoot up at a later date."

Gwen breathed a sigh of relief as she threw on a nearby robe. She was really wanting to go see Peter that day so that she could get a little closure. She was still curious though, so she approached Kingsley. "Roderick, why are we ending early?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Gwen," Kingsley said while almost not really meaning it. "Something has been brought to my attention and I can't exactly be in two places at once."

"Well before you go, I want to talk to you about Peter." She said.

Kingsley sighed, "We've been over this already Ms. Stacy, and I've not the time to discuss it again."

"I just think it's ridiculous for you to ban Peter from coming to these photo shoots on the basis of him being a distraction." Gwen stated.

Roderick Kingsley sighed again, much deeper this time as he was becoming annoyed. "Gwen, please don't misunderstand me when I say this; I have nothing against Peter Parker. I'm simply looking out for your best interests."

Kingsley turned to walk away, but she wasn't close to finished on the subject. "It seems more like you're trying to drive us apart from each other," she said in defiance. "Peter may not be perfect, but he's always been there for me where it counts. That's the best thing about Peter Parker."

"And will he be there for you when you're a famous model in Paris," Kingsley asked. He then gently brushed a finger against her cheek which abruptly gave her the creeps. "Peter Parker is your past, Gwen. I'm your future."

She then watched as Roderick Kingsley calmly strolled out of the studio and out into the night. The more she contemplated about it the more she thought that their was more to her boss than met the eye. She wasn't entirely sure that the more was exactly a good thing and she wasn't entirely sure that he had her best interests at heart.

Peter Parker paced back and forth in his room and looked at the clock periodically. The day had grown late and he was beginning to think that Gwen wouldn't be coming over, after all. He supposed that was fair, seeing as he had disappeared on her several times before as well as not showing up on more occasions than he'd like to admit.

Then a knock came at his door and he rushed to answer it. Sure enough, their was Gwen Stacy looking beautiful as ever, standing in his doorway. He smiled wide and gave her a hug, having missed her these past few days. It was not lost on him that she was not returning his hug.

He released her and commented, "Guess you didn't miss me as much as I missed you, huh?"

Gwen entered and shut the door behind her. She held up a bag, "I've got your clothes here that you left underneath a dumpster. Care to explain that?"

Peter paused, unsure what he was going to say. He went with, "I decided to go for a run. You know, to clear my head."

Gwen tossed the bag of clothes to the side. "No, I don't understand that at all, Peter. Did you go for a run stark naked? Because that's weird, if you did."

Peter chuckled, "No I didn't go for a run naked. I... had my running sweats underneath the clothes I was wearing."

Gwen sat on the bed and sighed. "I know you didn't go for a run naked but I also know that what you just told me was not entirely the truth either. You're not as good of a liar as you think."

Peter sat beside her. "Gwen, I want to be more open with you but it's not that easy. There are things in my life that I can't tell you about."

Gwen angrily shot up off of the bed. "I'm going to make it extremely easy for you, Peter. You don't have to come up with lame excuses to me ever again. I officially took the job in Paris. I love you and I wanted us to work out but I see now that it just isn't possible. I'm not going to be seeing you anymore."

Peter got off of the bed, "This isn't what I want, Gwen."

Gwen opened the door to his room and stepped out. She turned back with tears in her eyes. "Well, we don't always get what we want, now do we?" With that, she closed the door and exited his life.

Peter ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He was angry at the circumstances as well as at himself. He was just trying to protect her, couldn't she see that? Of course she couldn't because she had no idea and that was his doing. He punched the nearest wall, leaving a nice sized hole. Great, giving Mr. Ditkovitch something else to complain about was not the answer, he thought.

He looked toward his closet which held his biggest secret. The secret that has made him sacrifice so many things in his life. He thought for several moments before coming to a decision. He determinedly walked toward his closet.

"It's time to come out of the closet for the woman I love," he commented to himself.

Gwen Stacy couldn't stop the tears from escaping as she hurriedly walked down the street, leaving Peter Parker in her rear view forever. That was not the amicable ending that she had wanted but he was just so damned insufferable. What secret could he possibly have that was so damaging that he couldn't share it with her.

No sooner had the thought entered her mind when she screamed in fright as she was suddenly snatched up from off the ground and found herself soaring through the air, being held onto by none other than Spider-Man himself.

The feeling of soaring through the air was mesmerizing. She'd only experienced it once before back when she had been plummeting to her death just before Spider-Man had caught her and saved her life in the nick of time. She had to admit that it was much more exhilarating to be swinging through the city when her life was not in mortal peril.

Spider-Man swung them to the top of a six story building that she was shocked to realize also just so happened to be where her apartment complex was located. He let her go and watched her, looking as if he were debating what to say next.

Gwen said, "I appreciate the quick lift but I've gotta say that I am a little creeped out that you know where I live."

She knew of Spider-Man and his quick witted comebacks but what he said to her next was the last thing she had ever expected to hear. "You need to know something before you go to Paris."

She was utterly speechless for a solid fifteen seconds before she commented, "Now I'm really getting creeped out, Spider-Man. Look, I know you and I shared a kiss that one time but it didn't mean anything. It was for the publicity and it just is not cool at all for you to be stalking..."

Without saying a word Spider-Man removed his mask, revealing the face of Peter Parker underneath.

If she thought she had been speechless before she was even more so now. She finally managed to exclaim, "Peter!?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Surprised?"

Gwen reached over and touched his face, as if to verify that it was really the face of the man she loved. "Yes...and no. It explains everything."

"I've wanted to tell you for so long."

"Why wait until now to tell me, Peter?" She asked.

"Because you were literally walking out of my life," Peter explained. "If you still want to go to Paris I understand and you deserve this career opportunity but I couldn't let you go without at least telling you the truth about me."

"Did you not trust me with the truth?"

"Of course I trust you," Peter argued. "It was never a matter of trust, I was trying to protect you. Knowing who I am is dangerous and if any of my enemies learned who I was that would also make them your enemies."

"Did Mary Jane know about this?"

"Not at first," Peter explained. "I kept it from her for a long time until she found out after nearly getting killed by one of my enemies. Me trying to keep my secret identity from her was what kept us apart for so long also and even with her knowing that I am Spider-Man, we still didn't work out in the end."

Gwen kissed Peter passionately for a long time before stepping back and smiling, "You are a beautiful man and you're a genuine genius, but you're also incredibly stupid."

Peter was taken aback by her statement and he remained silent.

Gwen continued, "You've made all of these sacrifices in your life as Spider-Man and you thought keeping the truth from the ones that you love most as being one of these noble sacrifices and that it protected them. You just said yourself that Mary Jane found out your identity after nearly getting killed by one of your enemies. It didn't matter if she knew your secret or not, danger is a part of life and whether we know you're Spider-Man or not, nothing changes that fact."

Peter thought on her words for a long moment before nodding. "You're right, Gwen. It's not the secret that is dangerous...it's me. I should stay away from those I care about so that they won't be in danger. Mary Jane realized the truth and left me and now I should let you leave and live your life."

He then put his Spider-Man mask back on and stepped closer to the edge of the roof, about to swing away.

Gwen reached over and grabbed his arm. "No dummy, that's not the answer at all."

Spider-Man looked at her in confusion.

"The answer is that you should trust the ones you love with the truth and let them decide whether or not to remain in your life."

Spider-Man stood where he was, wondering if he should still swing away. Gwen lifted his mask up over his nose and kissed him again. Time stood still for the both of them as they embraced each other and nothing else in the world mattered except for the two of them.

J. Jonah Jameson hated being stuck at home like he was at the moment. Not that he didn't welcome the reprieve from the chaos that was Daily Bugle offices, but he couldn't quite afford to be there right now anyway. Considering the ramifications of his involvement in creating Scorpion, the Bugle was the last place he needed to be. He worried that the lunatic would track him down and rip him apart, hence the leave of absence he'd taken.

At the moment Jonah thankfully had the penthouse to himself. He was seated in a posh chair with a glass of scotch in one hand, a decent novel in the other and a cigar dangling in his mouth. His wife was out of town and thus was safe from any Scorpion reprisals; whether he cared about that sometimes insufferable woman or not was still a question to be debated at another time.

A large stereo was playing the same song from the planetarium party at which Jonah had witnessed his astronaut son John propose to Mary Jane Watson. He cursed that name under his breath as he hadn't heard much from John since then. His thought process was suddenly interrupted by a faint sound from elsewhere in the house.

"Barbara!?"

The name of his wife was the first thing that crossed his mind. That woman couldn't be home already? Jonah dropped everything he was doing and slowly started toward the source of the sound. If it was Barbara Jameson attempting to give him a damn heart attack, then it was divorce city for her.

Jonah crept further to where the sound came from but heard nothing more after the initial sound. He chalked it all up to his imagination and turned back toward his favorite spot, only to walk directly into a wall. He looked straight up and realized that it wasn't a wall he had hit, but Scorpion himself.

"Hi, boss!" He snarled at Jonah in barely controlled malice.

Jonah immediately attempted to get away from Scorpion, moving at a pace that would leave a Physical Education coach impressed. Scorpion slowly followed, knocking any offending furniture out of his warpath before stopping at a mirror. He stared blankly at his reflection for no more than a moment. Then with a single whip of his massive tail, he shattered the glass. Scorpion might've been oblivious to the notion of "seven years of bad luck." Considering the reign of hell he'd been put through in the past stretch of days, seven years would be a small price to pay. Scorpion was brought out of his turmoil when he noticed Jonah making a break for the door. Instinctively, he whipped his tail toward the old man and wrapped it around him like an anaconda. Jonah couldn't move his arms if he tried; the tail left them pinned to his sides.

"Gargan, please don't do something you'll regret." Jonah pleaded, only to be squeezed just enough so he knew Scorpion was for real.

"Regret?" questioned Scorpion. "You think I'm gonna regret this? The only thing I regret is having ever listened to a low life piece of crap like you. Did I tell you that I killed Stillwell?"

Scorpion lurched his way toward the balcony of the penthouse with Jonah in tow, who realized all too soon what the maniac was planning. "No, no, no! Gargan, don't do this. I'll get you the help you need, I swear. I didn't know this would happen to you." Jonah was cut off when Scorpion held him over the side of the balcony, some twenty stories above the city streets; and upside down.

Scorpion shouted, "Bull crap! You want me to stay this way so I can kill Spider-Man. You'd get all the glory and I would be trapped looking like this?"

"Don't do it, don't do it! Think about what you're doing, you idiot!"

A seething Scorpion quickly brought Jonah face to upside down face. "Don't you ever call me an idiot or any other name again. Not ever." Scorpion held him back over the side, bobbing him up and down and side to side. Jonah thought this could very well be the end but Scorpion pulled him back over.

At first, Jonah thought Scorpion, Gargan rather, had come to his senses. "I knew you wouldn't go this far, Gargan."

"Oh hell no, Jameson," Scorpion seethed. "You're not off the hook just yet."

"What!? What're you going to do?" Jameson asked, horrified out of his rational mind.

Scorpion climbed up onto the ledge of the balcony and snarled, "I'm gonna let you live long enough to find out."

With his unscrupulous hostage in tow, Scorpion leaped from the ledge and across to another building. J. Jonah Jameson could be heard screaming at the very top of his lungs and it was music to Scorpion's ears.

Scorpion scaled up the building until he reach the top, then it was a sprint across the rooftops. After several minutes, Scorpion disappeared over the side of a low level building, just as some storm clouds hovered overheard.

As ever, the sewers were almost pitch black except for a modest series of lamps reflected in the sickly sewer. The area was then brightened by a white light emitting from the far end, where the familiar silhouette of the Lizard stood. He stood over the DNA re-sequencer that he'd spent the past few weeks building; an elongated device constructed for the sole purpose of transforming every single person in New York into a reptile.

The Lizard gently stroked the metal of which the device was made, and perhaps the Curt Connors in him began to feel regret for his actions. He pressed a few more switches and the device whirred to life, making the Lizard smile as only he possibly could.

"It's ready," he whispered to himself. "I just need one important thing."

The Lizard shut the device down for the moment before covering it with a tattered brown sheet. After placing it in a safe area for the time being, the Lizard dove into the sewer water and swam downstream. There was only one thing that he needed; a test subject, and there was only one person that crossed his mind.