All characters appearing in Spider-Man are copyrighted to Marvel Entertainment and Stan Lee. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of TVfan.
Note: this story begins shortly after the "The Other: Evolve or Die" story arch, which is recently completed in the Spider-Man comics.
A New Life
By TVfan
Chapter 5: A Quiet Saturday
Central Park
Peter quietly walked down a path in the middle of Central Park. His mind was still trying to deal with the recent twists life had thrown at him recently. Most important among these was the fact that thanks to Tracer and the Hobgoblin's attack on the Avenger's tower, Mary Jane had wound up with her own powers. He didn't want that to happen, and he knew that she didn't want that to happen, but it was something that both would have to deal with. At the same time, he wondered why he bothered thinking about whether or not Mary Jane wanted her powers. He hadn't wanted his when the spider bit him. Many people who had powers didn't want them when they got them.
None the less, the past several days, and Peter would have much rather stayed at the tower to be with his wife. He wanted to help her. Of course the fact that he had promised to meet Flash at three had made that impossible. So, here he was, walking to where Flash said he would meet him. Flash, himself, was an altogether different problem. As his mind wandered from worrying about MJ to the other various problems that Peter had to worry about, he wondered about what had happened to Flash and how he had wound up with amnesia.
"He was acting very strange on my last teaching day," Peter thought to himself, "It's not just that he has amnesia and has forgotten every meeting I've had with him since High School, he's forgotten some of the events of High School. We never got along in High School, but when he showed up and announced he was teaching, he acted like we had been the best of friends in High School."
Peter arrived at the spot first, and checked his watch, and found he was five minutes early.
"The one day I'm early for anything," Peter mumbled to himself and sat down on a park bench.
His mind still wondered about both Flash's condition and what was going on with him. It confused Peter beyond all belief. Flash Thompson had been his greatest tormenter in High School, but he had showed up at Midtown and acted as if their relationship was nowhere near what it actually was. Peter wondered how Flash could forget so much of his life because of one car accident. Of course, it also reminded Peter why he'd become a photographer and not a doctor. Then, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted.
"Hey, there Pete!" came Flash's voice from behind him, "How are ya hanging?"
"I'm doing alright, I guess," Peter lied, really he wasn't feeling all that great. He wasn't sick, but he felt down, considering everything that had happened.
"How are you doing?" Peter asked for the sake of being polite.
"I'm doing pretty good, actually," Flash answered, "The sports teams at Midtown could be better, but give me a year or two, and I think I could turn them around."
"You gonna tell them how you single handedly won 'state' for the football and basketball teams?" Peter asked trying to be humorous.
"Thought about it," Flash answered seriously, "Although I haven't gotten that far yet."
The two men sat on the bench in a somewhat nervous silence.
"So what happened to the nurse?" Peter asked, trying to generate some form of conversation.
"Well," Flash began, "I had recovered enough so that everything was fine, physically so I simply told her to get lost."
"You told a nurse to get lost?" Peter gasped.
"Do you think I'd go around with annoying nurse that wasn't hot?" Flash asked back.
Peter shook his head, "No, I guess you wouldn't, but don't you think that might have been a bad decision. You know? You took a pretty good 'whack' in that accident. A lot of times when stuff like that happens, it does more then break bones or cut skin. You could have gotten… I don't know… amnesia or something."
"Nah, I couldn't have gotten amnesia," Flash shrugged it off, "I'm too tough for that sort of stuff. And I don't think my decision was bad, but if you can find me a hot nurse, I'll take her any day."
"I'm sure you would, Flash," Peter half chuckled.
"So, where's the hottie you married?" Flash asked looking around, "She around?"
"Please stop referring to Mary Jane as a 'hottie', it's not polite," Peter answered.
"But she's hot!" Flash insisted.
"We're supposed to be more mature then our students, Flash," Peter pointed out.
Flash groaned, "Fine. Where's your wife?"
"She's currently busy with some stuff at our apartment right now," Peter answered, "Probably practicing for her next play."
Avengers Tower
Mary Jane meanwhile sat quietly in a rather uncomfortable chair with a very frustrated look on her face. Jessica had decided to start with the process of training Mary Jane with her recently acquired powers fairly quickly. Mary Jane would have preferred to work with Peter and with Peter only, but the fact that Mary Jane also had Jessica's pheromone powers, left Mary Jane with Jessica for the time being. At least until she could learn to control her own pheromone powers. This frustrated Mary Jane somewhat, because she didn't really think of the ability to arouse men as a super power.
"How often would Jessica use this 'power' in a fight anyway?" Mary Jane wondered to herself, "I could see using it on the nights that Peter and I are active in bed together, but not for anything else."
"I don't smell anything," Wolverine commented.
Mary Jane cringed as the hairy man who was both an Avenger and an X-Man spoke. Of all the Avengers, Wolverine was the only one that Mary Jane didn't like. Captain America was an historic superhero. She'd never admitted it to anyone, but she remembered doing a report on the Star Spangled super soldier in elementary school. Largely saying that he saved the world during the Second World War. Iron Man was a respected businessman. True, Tony Stark had his faults, as everyone does, he was someone that Mary Jane respected. She would respect anyone who willing put themselves in a cramped metal container to help people. She got along well with Luke Cage, although he largely went his own way and was rarely around to talk with Mary Jane. She respected Jessica like a friend, not because the two now shared powers, but the fact that Jessica had seemed to be very nice, and she obviously loved Peter.
But Wolverine was different. He was vulgar and sometimes cursed for no apparent reason. Peter had uttered a few choice four letter words from time to time, but usually after something had totally frustrated him beyond the limits of his temper, and resulted in a quick lecture from Aunt May. Peter would also apologize shortly afterward as well. There was also something that seemed animalistically aggressive about Wolverine. His claws, the fact that his canines were slightly longer then normal human's, the hair, and occasionally his own behavior frightened Mary Jane. She preferred to keep her distance from Wolverine for that reason. She knew he was a good guy, and somewhere deep down a friendly person, but she was still fearful of him.
"You need to focus, Mary Jane," Jessica instructed from behind Wolverine, "I know this isn't something you're fond of, but you will have to learn how to control it."
"This isn't any easy subject for me," Mary Jane answered, "Not because it involves having 'super-powers' because I don't feel this is a non-private matter."
"I know this isn't a common super power, but it's one you'll have to master," Jessica insisted, "Or else whenever you get overly angry or excited or frustrated, you might release your own pheromones, and any male in the room will be automatically attracted to you. And this isn't 'hey she's cute' attracted, it will be, 'she's turned me on' attracted. Trust me, I know this from personal experience."
"Could I ask you what you might use this power for anyway?" Mary Jane asked.
Jessica shrugged, "I've haven't used it in fights all that much really, but when I have, I've used it to distract them. They become distracted by my pheromones to notice a punch that I throw or one that a teammate throws."
"Can we get this going along," Wolverine grumbled, "I had other things I intended to do with my day."
Jessica nodded, "Okay, Mary Jane, you can do this. Just relax your outer self. Try to focus your mind on something that you find somewhat attractive. That's what I've had to do in situations where I'm trying to use this power to my advantage."
"What if it works?" Mary Jane asked.
"If it works, you should release your own pheromone powers on command," Jessica explained.
"No, what do I do when it works?" Mary Jane rephrased her question, "I'm not the scientist in my family, but I do know that pheromones attract members of the opposite gender. I…"
"Once it is obvious that Logan has picked up the scent, all you need to do is use the same concentration and focus and think of something that you find unattractive," Jessica sighed, "in emotion intense situations the same tactic should work to prevent you from releasing any pheromones, although a lot of this is a trial and error system. It took me a couple of years to master all of this fully. Now, of course I was also discovering all this, so since you're learning it should go much quicker, but you'll still have to practice. So give it a go."
"Okay," Mary Jane answered with a very skeptical look on her face, and at the same time looking very nervous.
She sat back in her chair and let her thoughts wander back to one thing she found particularly attractive. Interestingly enough, that was of Peter in his Spider-Man costume. She wasn't sure if that was simply because she was a woman and Peter's costume was very form fitting or if she simply liked the design, but she found Peter in his costume to be very attractive. She sat there quietly trying to focus on what she had been instructed focus on.
Jessica meanwhile paced behind Wolverine while Wolverine took periodic sniffs to test the air. After a few moments whiff of a particular scent that was new to the room. It was weak, but Wolverine's heightened sense of smell could pick it up. The X-Man cataloged it in his brain and compared it with the scent that he had picked up off of Jessica when he, Spider-Man, Spiderwoman, and Luke Cage had gone to apprehend one of the various super criminals that had previously escaped a top security jail. The new scent was similar. It shared the same sort of allure that Jessica's pheromones did, but the scent obviously had some differences to indicate that the pheromones weren't Jessica's.
"I'm getting something," Wolverine announced and worked to restrain himself from acting on the pheromones that Mary Jane was using.
"Did it work?" Mary Jane asked, not able to smell anything.
"You're not producing a lot, but you are releasing pheromones, yes," Wolverine grumbled, "Now, if you're quite done with the biology, I got things to do."
Wolverine then left grumbling something that neither Mary Jane nor Jessica could hear.
"So, do you smell anything?" Mary Jane asked.
Jessica sighed and sat down in the chair that Wolverine had earlier been occupying. She could just barely detect something, but it didn't seem to be very strong.
"Well, you've made a start," Jessica commented, "You'll need to keep practicing though. You aren't using your pheromones to their fullest potential. In theory you could use them to make any male within a room of this size very attracted to you while making every woman jealous."
"As I've said before I don't want to do that," Mary Jane insisted.
"I know," Jessica nodded, "But for the sake of training purposes, you must practice doing this until you have ability. The process of turning it on and turning it off when then allow you to prevent having an accident with this power. It can be frustrating, and believe me, I know, but it's better to have mastered this power if only to prevent putting yourself in an embarrassing situation."
"Yeah, you've said that a couple of times today," Mary Jane sighed, "but to be honest, I don't see this as a super power and if I were given the ability to get rid of one of my powers, but only one, I'd get rid of this one."
"You and me both," Jessica commented back, "I know you don't want this. I know you didn't want any of this. But you've got it now, and you're going to have to deal with it and master it."
"Well, I could try it on Peter," Mary Jane commented, "I'd be more comfortable practicing this with him."
"Wouldn't he be someone you'd want attracted to you?" Jessica asked.
Mary Jane gave a weak smile, "Well, yes, but I'd still be more comfortable practicing this with him."
"We're gonna have to leave it at that, since Wolverine left," Jessica commented, "I guess that leaves the rest of the afternoon for you to work with that special 'stress ball' that Tony gave you."
Mary Jane nodded with a sigh and decided to return to the room she shared with Peter. She could have some privacy to think about everything and squeeze a special 'stress ball' that Tony gave her the night before. On the outside it looked like any other stress ball, but it had various technological pieces of equipment that would let Mary Jane know how much pressure she was applying to the ball, and thus help her practice reign in her newly gained 'spider-strength'. She hoped Peter's meeting with Flash was going okay.
Outside the tower, the recently hatched creature clung to the side one of the tower's windows. As it looked in it could see empty hallways, but it was not limited to sigh alone. The creature had an uncanny ability to sense its 'Other'. That 'Other' was not present at the tower. It could detect two beings similar to its 'Other' and sensed that the other two were friendly with its 'Other' but they did not concern the creature. The creature was not the 'Other' of the two that it sensed. It was the 'Other' of its 'Other'. Following its own senses, the creature then leaped from the wall of the Avengers Tower and began to move toward Central Park.
Under Manhattan
Kingsley quietly worked on repairing his glider in the underground base that had once belonged to Tracer. Ricky was taking a nap out of boredom by one of Kingsley's stockpiles of weaponry. That however was not the thing that was currently annoying Kingsley. The one who was annoying him was none other then Tracer, himself.
"If you had reactivated me, you would have to be doing all this work to repair your method of transportation," Tracer said from the computer screen that his personality was currently trapped in, "I would command it to work perfectly."
"And command me to be a lackey," Kingsley grumbled back, "We entered our deal as equals. Equals do not use the other as a lackey."
Kingsley didn't mention the fact that he was using Tracer for the same purpose. The answer, however, didn't suit Tracer who continued to try and argue his case.
"I never said anything about you being a lackey," Tracer said defensively, "That was solely my robot's comment not mine."
"You built the robots to serve you," Kingsley countered, "Now I doubt you gave them much individual thought. They're robots, and the last thing any conqueror would want is someone who has a mind of his own. A conqueror wants someone who merely repeats the thoughts and ideals of the conqueror."
"Wouldn't you fall under the same category then?" Tracer questioned, "Wouldn't you try to use me as a lackey then?"
"I'm a business man," Kingsley answered, "My goal is not to conquer, but to make money. I would actually prefer a follower with brains. They tend to come up with better ideas on how to procure more money, be it legally or illegally."
"What about loyalty, then?" Tracer asked, "Wouldn't you worry that your followers wouldn't be loyal?"
"That's a risk all leaders," Kingsley answered, "A smart leader sets up his scheme so that if a follower betrays him, that betrayal still helps the leader, and if the follower never betrays the leader, the leader is still helped, regardless. Only those of low intelligence set up followers as mere lackeys where their sole purpose is to distract the leader's true opponent."
"What if the leader fails to set up his system correctly where the smart follower helps his leader, regardless of what he does?" Tracer asked.
"Then the leader must hope his capable of beating his follower when his follower betrays him," Kingsley shrugged, "And if he isn't, then he shouldn't have been the leader to begin with."
Kingsley then moved to hammer a panel of metal out so that it would cover the hole that Spider-Man's fist had made in his glider.
"Neither situation would have worked in our relationship because we entered as equal partners," Kingsley told the robot god.
"No society can have two leaders," Tracer commented.
"Who said we were a society," Kingsley growled back, "We were two individuals. We entered a partnership. Once Spider-Man was defeated and I had capitalized on the opportunity that presented itself with the destruction of the original Avengers and Osborn's fall from power I would have left and you could have challenged any and every hero under the sun if you wished."
"I allowed you to undertake those goals," Tracer answered from his screen.
"But you didn't," Kingsley answered, "I got you your robots, and not only did they say I was your lackey, but in the process of constructing them, I bankrupted the company that I came here to retake. I'm going to have to stay here longer now just to get the company's profits back up to where they were before I came here."
Kingsley inspected the piece of metal he had been working on and then added a few minor adjustments to correct mistakes he had made on his first attempt.
"You betrayed me," Kingsley concluded, "So I'm not going to reactivate you. You can quit arguing for that."
"Your glider would still be repaired by now if you had," Tracer pointed out.
"No it wouldn't," Kingsley tried to keep from laughing.
"Are you trying to say I'm powerless?" Tracer demanded, "I'm the god of robots! I can control any mechanical device."
"Can you control parts that aren't there?" Kingsley asked.
Tracer's face took on a look of curious puzzlement.
"Please explain," Tracer urged.
"When Spider-Man decided to punch a hole in my glider, he not only damaged the glider's external frame and dented some of the surrounding devices," Kingsley smiled in personal triumph over Tracer, "But he also ripped out a device. Specifically the glider's main stabilizers. Without which, the glider can not hover in one spot. Those stabilizers allow the glider to act like a helicopter despite the fact that the glider's engine acts like a jet engine for aircraft or like a rocket, depending on how the glider is configured. Without the stabilizer, the glider is like an airplane. It must move forward in order to maintain lift. In ripping out the device, Spider-Man also damaged several wires and a few minor parts to the glider itself."
"Some jets can hover the way a helicopter does," Tracer pointed out.
"Yes," Kingsley sighed, "But the stabilizer performs the functions that allows helicopters or jets like the Harrier to hover. Without that stabilizer, my glider is like a 747. It's got to go forward. And that is still beside the point. The point is that you can't control what isn't there."
Tracer's image appeared to sigh, as he knew he couldn't win that way.
"So what do you plan to do?" Tracer asked, "If you're missing a part, you'll have to replace it. Do you have a spare?"
Kingsley smiled, "No. But I know who does."
Central Park
Peter sighed as his conversation with Flash hadn't seemed to go the way he wanted. They talked some about the weather and about a few harmless subjects, but those weren't the subjects that Peter wanted to tackle. He kept looking for some way to try and bring up the fact that Flash was wrong. That Flash did in fact have some sort of amnesia. Flash had met MJ before the other day in front of Midtown High. He wanted to help Flash. He felt he owed it to him, since it was Osborn, the Green Goblin, who put him in his current state.
"So, did you get any good pictures yesterday?" Flash asked.
"Huh?" Peter asked back.
"Of the big fight at the Avengers Tower," Flash explained, "The Hobgoblin and a bunch of robots attacked the tower. Did you get any good pictures of Spider-Man fighting those guys?"
That reminded Peter of what he had to do earlier that day. He couldn't get into the Bugle Friday evening because of what had happened to MJ, so he had to go in early in the morning before the Bugle began delivering to deliver his pictures to Jonah. In truth, most of his pictures were actually taken from his belt camera, which got some good shots of the Hobgoblin and of the robot that he had with him, but he had to rely on some photos taken by the tower's own security cameras to get pictures that had himself in them. The security pictures weren't that great, but they were better then nothing.
Jonah threw his standard temper tantrum that the pictures weren't good. That he was late in getting the pictures in. One threat that he'd go to another paper, however, was enough to get Jonah to pick the marginally best photograph and rush it to the printers. Jonah had also been in a hurry, so Peter found himself paid a little more then normal as Jonah wasn't paying too close attention to what he was writing on the check. Peter didn't mind that part. He also saw Ben Urich on his way out, the senior reporter gave him a wink as he left.
"I got some pictures but they weren't all that good," Peter commented, "I had to rush getting there just to get the picture."
"I thought you'd just follow Spider-Man around," Flash commented.
"You make it sound like I'm stalking the guy," Peter answered.
Flash half chuckled, "Man, why weren't you like this in High School? You were always stiff and doing geeky stuff. What happened to you that got you to start being normal?"
Peter wasn't quite sure how to answer that. To a certain extent he was still doing a lot of the same things he did in High School. He was also tempted to laugh and Flash's use of the word 'normal'. Getting bit by a radioactive spider and becoming Spider-Man wasn't exactly normal.
"I'm not sure what you're getting at here, Flash," Peter answered, "I don't think I've changed all that much since High School. Maybe you've matured to the point where you understand that there is more to life then sports."
Flash then turned and grabbed one of Peter's arms and held it up.
"You've got about as much muscle as I did in High School," Flash commented seriously, "Now considering that you were a tenth of that size in High School, you've obviously been working out. On top of this you've married a… a very attractive woman. No one in High School thought you'd have a chance with any woman, period. Even the ugly chicks would have turned you down. Something had to have happened between High School and now."
"Late bloomer, I guess," Peter shrugged, trying to sound sincere.
"That must have been one heck of a growth spurt," Flash commented.
"In more ways then one," Peter answered with a weak smile.
"Have you given any more thought to my request?" Flash asked.
"What request?" Peter asked, somewhat confused.
"To introduce me to Spider-Man," Flash answered, "Come on."
"Why do you want to meet Spider-Man?" Peter questioned.
"You told me the other day he was a hero," Flash answered, "He sounds like my kinda guy. And since you know him…"
"I don't know him," Peter answered, "I just take his pictures."
"You said he knows you're taking his pictures," Flash pointed out.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I know him," Peter sighed, "Lots of photographers take the President's photograph and while he knows which photographers took his picture, he may not know them personally."
"Yeah, but the President's job is to be on display," Flash answered, "Spider-Man, I bet wants his privacy every now and then and isn't going to let just anyone take his photo. The Bugle is the only paper that gets any pictures of Spider-Man and you're the one who takes his pictures. You got to know Spider-Man."
Peter inwardly chuckled. At least Flash believed that he only knew Spider-Man. He looked off into the park surroundings that were around the bench they were sitting on and quietly sighed to himself. This didn't sit to well with Flash and Peter's former High School bully snapped his fingers in front of Peter's face.
"Hey, Parker, snap out of it," Flash urged, "What's up with you there? You zoned out on me."
"I was just thinking," Peter commented.
"About what?" Flash asked.
"Just things," Peter replied, "To be honest I'm not entirely sure you're amnesia free."
"What?" Flash growled, almost aggressively at what he perceived as an accusation that he couldn't remember anything.
"It's nothing against you," Peter answered quickly, "But I can swear that we've met a couple of times since High School. I can also remember that you've met MJ before."
"You need to go see a head doctor if you're remembering stuff like that," Flash answered, "I know I haven't seen you since High School and before the other day I've only seen Mary Jane Watson in magazines."
"Yeah, she was a model for a while," Peter answered, "Now she's into acting."
"So are you gonna introduce me to Spider-Man?" Flash asked, bring the conversation back to the earlier point.
Peter sighed, and decided to give in. Maybe he could get Tony or Steve to dress up like him and pretend to be Spider-Man.
"If I can get him to stay still for an interview, I'll ask him, okay?" Peter sighed.
"Great!" Flash exclaimed.
Flash then looked down at his watch and sighed heavily.
"Well, it's been great catching up with ya, Parker," Flash commented, "But I gotta get going. I'll see ya Tuesday."
Flash then got up and slowly began to walk away. Peter sighed as he watched Flash walk off. He hadn't gotten anywhere, and Flash still wanted him to introduce him to Spider-Man. He was certain that the man had partial amnesia. The two men had met several times since High School and Flash was continuing to act as if that hadn't happened. What frustrated Peter was that his own memories on the situation weren't good enough to try and trigger specific events. Peter then got up from the bench and began to walk out of the park and return to the Avengers Tower.
"I can't solve every problem with the snap of a finger," Peter thought to himself, "And Flash is right now is very low on the scale of troubles that I have to deal with."
As Peter walked back toward the Avenger's Tower he returned his focus to what had happened recently with Mary Jane. He knew that Jessica was giving MJ her training with her pheromone powers and he wondered how that was going. Although he thought the most about finding some way to reverse what had happened to his wife. He hadn't come up with anything.
Meanwhile, concealed within the branches of a nearby tree, the Other watched Peter walk along the path. It snarled silently to itself as it watched Peter walk off along the sidewalk that led out of the park. It had found Peter talking with another person whom the Other did not know, and nor did it care. Its care was dealing with its perceived injustice done upon itself.
"The Great Weaver was a fool for returning you," the Other snarled silently, "You do not evolve. It was your time and the fool returned you. I will have my chance."
The Other watched as Peter walked amongst a large crowd of people. It remained in its tree.
"You should have sensed me," the Other growled to itself, "you refuse to evolve! For that your time deserves to return! I will get you."
The Other then leaped to another tree and began to search for a lair of its own. It was intent on getting Spider-Man and taking care of its plan for vengeance, but for some reason it respected Peter's want for a secret identity and would not go after Peter while he was out of costume. It would wait until it had found Peter in costume and would strike then.
Avengers Tower
Mary Jane lay quietly on the bed that she and Peter shared staring up at the ceiling. She was still squeezing her stress ball, but wasn't entirely paying attention to how hard she was gripping it. She didn't like the fact that she had suddenly gained spider-powers and her mind still dwelt on the situation. She wished it was all just a horrible dream. She wished she was just sleeping and when she woke up everything would be fine. Peter would have saved her and Aunt May from Tracer before she could have been knocked into the tube that had now given Mary Jane her powers. Of course she knew that that wasn't possible. Peter had been fighting the Hobgoblin and she had gotten knocked into the tube and now had her own set of super-powers.
Mary Jane had decided that she would simply live out her life as normal as possible despite the development of her powers. She agreed to let Jessica help her to get her pheromone powers under control and would work with Peter with everything else. She presumed that this would only include training with her pheromones and with her spider-strength, and in that, learning how to properly restrain herself. She hoped that Peter wouldn't urge her to practice web-slinging or try climbing walls.
Then she suddenly heard Aunt May's sewing machine stop. The elderly woman had been sewing something all day, although Mary Jane didn't know what and didn't know why Aunt May was so focused on sewing whatever it is that she was sewing. The fact that the machine had now shut off made Mary Jane somewhat curious and she got up and began to move toward Aunt May's room. Just as she reached for the door handle, Mary Jane suddenly felt something buzz inside her head, like a slight warning and she quickly pulled her hand back. As she did so, Aunt May opened the door and stepped out.
"So, that's how Peter's spider-sense works," Mary Jane thought to herself as she saw that if she had continued on her way in, she would have bumped right into Aunt May.
"Oh," Aunt May spoke with some surprise in her voice, "Mary Jane. Is your training session over?"
Mary Jane looked down at the stress ball that was still in her hand. She read the special screen on the ball and saw that she was using nearly all her spider-strength to squeeze the ball. She relaxed her grip on the ball until the screen indicated that she was squeezing at what a normal person would when they were just barely gripping it.
"Well, the official part is over," Mary Jane answered, "Mostly because Jessica's volunteer got grumpy and left."
"So what are you up to now?" Aunt May asked.
"Nothing much," Mary Jane shrugged and showed the stress ball she had been given, "Mostly working on controlling my strength."
"I was feeling somewhat hungry," Aunt May commented, "You feel like having an afternoon snack?"
Mary Jane shrugged and turned to follow Aunt May.
"You've been doing an awful lot of sewing today," Mary Jane commented, "What are you working on?"
"Oh, it's nothing really," Aunt May answered, "Just a little patch up job on some old things."
"I don't think you have anything that's been ripped," Mary Jane commented.
"Not ripped, but the thread is old and were giving way," Aunt May explained, "I simply removed the old thread and sewed the seams back together."
"So, what's brought up all this?" Mary Jane asked.
"It's been a very slow day today," Aunt May answered.
Mary Jane sighed in agreement, "Yeah, a very slow day."
Warehouse, Bronx
Jeff Langly was board as he stood on guard duty around an Osborn Industries warehouse located in the Bronx. The warehouse was in a decidedly bad neighborhood. There were other warehouses nearby that anyone could hide in or behind and there were numerous street gangs that operated in the general area. On top of this, the warehouse was the temporary storage place for all of Norman Osborn's goblin paraphernalia until it could be properly disposed of. Which meant that Jeff Langly and three other guards were always on duty making sure that no one broke in.
He stood quietly at his post waiting for his shift to end. He was nervous because of the gangster activity in the area, and combined with the recent activities of the Hobgoblin, all Osborn Industries employees were now nervous.
"You seem to be rather frightened there, mister," a voice commented from beside him.
Langly turned to see a man in a long trench coat with a hat covering his had and blocking Langly's view of his face.
"Well, if you knew what we here are responsible for guarding, you'd be frightened too," Langly answered.
"What?" the man asked, "Is this some sort of doomsday device or something?"
"You could think of it that way," Langly answered, "Now that's all I can say on the matter. Have a nice day."
"That's an Osborn Industries warehouse, isn't it?" the man asked.
Langly nodded.
"What's Osborn got in there that's got you guarding it like Fort Knox?" the man asked.
"I am not at liberty to say," Langly answered, "Carry on."
Langly watched as the man then gave a rather cruel looking smile.
"If you insist," the man smiled and delivered a powerful punch that knocked Langly out at once.
The man then removed his hat to reveal that it was in fact Kingsley. He was not wearing his Hobgoblin gear however, as it was likely to draw more attention. He did have some of his weapons though, and threw a gas grenade towards the second guard outpost that he could see. There was a brief explosion and soon Kingsley could hear the man inside the outpost coughing. He hadn't heard any signs that the other guards had noticed anything, so Kingsley began to walk straight into the warehouse.
"I just love these warehouse sales," Kinglsey commented with a smile as he stepped inside.
The interior of the warehouse was full of crates. The lids to the crates were all shut, but it was obvious that they were not shut tight, which meant that the current CEO of Osborn Industries was still searching for all the various pieces of Goblin gear that Norman had had produced and stashed throughout the New York area. Much to Kingsley's delight, all the crates were marked to indicate what they contained. He was about to check the first box when he heard a voice shout from behind him.
"Freeze!" a man shouted.
Kingsley turned to see the remaining two guards aiming their guns at him.
"Step away from those crates," the first guard ordered.
Kingsley put his hands in his pockets and stepped away.
"Fine by me," Kingsley answered, "I was just looking."
"Put your hands where I can see them," the second guard ordered.
Kingsley smiled again, "If you insist."
Kingsley quickly pulled his hands out of his pockets producing two more gas grenades. He tossed them both at the two guards and then dove away to stay out of the area that the gas would cover. Once the guards fell to the ground unconscious Kingsley moved over to the main door opener and pressed the main button. When the main mechanical doors had finished opening, they revealed a moderately sized truck, with Rickey behind the wheel parked and waiting.
"I waited till I say you go in, sir," Ricky reported, "Are these all the guards?"
"It appears so," Kingsley nodded, "Okay, let's get to work."
Ricky then went around the truck and opened up the cargo hold, while Kingsley began grabbing various crates and carried them to the truck.
"We should have plenty of weaponry already," Ricky commented as he noticed the first crate that Kingsley loaded.
"You can never have plenty," Kingsley answered, "Besides, it's free. You can't beat the price."
Ricky nodded while Kingsley continued to load various crates. The last crate contained various glider components, including the one piece that Kingsley actually needed. When they were done Ricky drove off in the truck with Kingsley riding shotgun, even as sirens could be heard in the distance.
Osborn Industries
"What all was stolen?" Liz Osborn asked into her office phone.
The new CEO of Osborn Industries listened patiently to the answer. She sighed heavily as she did so.
"Could they identify who the man was?" Liz asked again.
She sighed again as she heard the answer.
"Great," Liz sighed as she slammed the phone down, "I'm trying to get rid of all the things that Norman has done and first the Hobgoblin steals the Kingsley ownership papers and now some man steals some of Norman's old playthings."
Avengers Tower
Peter returned to the tower without incident to find Mary Jane and Aunt watching television while snacking on a stack of cookies that sat on a plate on a coffee table between them. Mary Jane turned her head to look at him as he moved toward an open spot on the sofa next to her.
"Hey, you're back," Mary Jane commented, "How'd your meeting with Flash go?"
Peter sighed heavily, "Far from what I would have liked. He's got to have some kind of amnesia. I know it, but he is certain that he's perfectly healthy."
"The poor man," Aunt May gasped.
"Well, he's not doing too bad," Peter answered, "He can't remember any of the times that we had met after High School, so if that's all he forgets then there's no real trouble for him in the long run, but it's going to be frustrating for anyone that he knew in High School that he now believes he hasn't seen since High School."
"Have you told him what you think?" Aunt May asked.
"I tried," Peter sighed again, "All I got was that I should see a 'brain doctor'."
"He'll make the decision eventually," Mary Jane commented, "This isn't some guy you can punch out."
"What tops it all off is that he wants me to introduce him to Spider-Man," Peter grumbled, "I tell him I take his pictures for the Bugle and he wants an introduction."
"You didn't tell him these are self portraits did you?" Mary Jane asked with a weak giggle.
Peter shook his head, "No. So how did your lesson go?"
"Pheromones 101?" Mary Jane sighed, "Well, I know what I need to do to practice, but we couldn't do much. Wolverine got grumpy and left."
"Aren't pheromones supposed to attract a potential mate?" Peter asked.
"Well, first I didn't produce that much," Mary Jane said defensively, "And two, what are you talking about, 'potential mate'?"
"Sorry, just terminology speaking," Peter answered, "Humans generally don't use pheromones when a man and woman decide to make love and animals don't get married."
"You're not teaching science right now," Mary Jane pointed out, "No more 'terminology'. Ok?"
Peter nodded, "Okay."
"Good," Mary Jane answered, "Now, as much as I'd like to avoid this, I'm sure I'm gonna have to keep practicing this for awhile. If you behave yourself, you can see if I'm producing any pheromones."
"What will you be wearing?" Peter asked, somewhat humorously.
"Practically nothing," Mary Jane smirked back.
"Okay, that's enough of that, you two," Aunt May said from her chair, "There will be no flirting while we're watching old movies put on television."
Meanwhile in one of the labs in the tower, Tony Stark was finally able to begin running some basic disassembling of the second Tracer robot that Spider-Man had had to deal with.
"Okay, Peter 'killed' you once and yet you came back again," Tony commented as he started working, "Let's see what makes you tick."
Using a chisel and a hammer, Tony then pried the outer metal skin of Tracer's head to reveal the computer circuitry underneath. He smirked as the computer circuitry inside the shell of the Tracer robot was finally revealed.
Church Rafters
The Other had returned to the place where it had cocooned itself after its very first encounter with Spider-Man and had now begun setting up a nest. Several small spiders scuttled around it as the Other arranged webbing strands in a way that would warn it of any possible predator or of food. Using its claws, the Other had also carved a strange spider symbol into one of the wooden beams in the rafters.
"Spider-Man's time will return Dark Weaver," the Other spoke towards the carving, "He did not evolve, proving you right. He must die."
The Other then turned to several of the smaller spiders that had been crawling around the area and petted it like child would pet a cat or dog. It had made use of a special skill that it had by leaving various drone spiders throughout New York City and whenever Spider-Man had passed by one of them it would send psychic signal to the Other. Then once the Other had gotten to Spider-Man, then the Other could fulfill the Dark Weaver's promise, knowing that the Great Weaver couldn't resurrect Spider-Man again.
To Be Continued…