Peter Parker was usually a very calm fellow .
His calm patience was a virtue he had developed over years of dealing with high school bullying and bosses with anger issues . He could mantain a level head most of the time , aided by his wit from time to time .
At the moment though , that wasn't quite the case .
"THE HELL ARE YOU DOING NORMAN ?!?!"
he spat angrily trying to break free , unsuccesfully from the reinforced cable holding him .
Peter was livid , and not just for the usual reason like what norman had caused on that same bridge all those years ago and the fact he had trapped him with some big help , but also for the very simple reason that he now remembered what had happened just 8 years prior .
Back when his clone ben reilly had taken over the mantle of spider-man , and his wife mary jane ( metaphysical technicalities aside ) was pregnant with his child .
Only for norman to poison her and cause his daughter to be stillborn, in his bid for attaining vengeance on peter , also killing ben .
" why did you ally yourself with mephisto? aren't you the shrewd business man ? You do know he is going to stab you in the back, right ?"
Peter asked
" oh please ,'hero' . Don't lecture me on this , you did the same when it suited you after all ." Norman chided him with a small smile .
" but I have to admit ... I am glad that you did that " he sighed satisfied
" it makes me think that there is hope for you yet, my boy. Hope that you have the guts to be a real man. Throwing away useless burdens to achieve what you want is the path to greatness. I always tried to instill that lesson, in you and that other failure of a son of mine and it seems that at least you took some of my words to heart " norman said in a deranged but still paternal tone .
A hateful, silent glare is all Norman got in response from the younger man . Osborn continued calmly like it was nothing .
" You will need that kind of gumption after all from now on " he moved aside allowing spider-man to get a view of Manhattan Island , the superhero left stunned by the sight .
Boy , Damage control had their work cut out for them .
You couldn't see all the details from the spot they were , but the situation was quite chaotic . There were monsters everywhere . Overturning vehicles and destroying streets , flying in the air in swarms and on top of buildings . Even if new york was unfortunately used to these kind of messes this looked worse than usual.
Peter was just glad he had gotten every innocent out of there and especially Aunt May.
" Wonderful , isn't it ? " Norman broke the silence once again " a place where the strong thrive an the weak are crushed under their heel, a perfect world for gods like us .
" yeah I really wanna see how much you are going to enjoy this once mephisto stabs you in the back " peter responded, annoyed by the villains usual ramblings .
" hm, just like you , uh ? " osborn let out a healty chuckle after that .
" well he may not grant me another chance to make a man out of harry after all , true . But even if that's the case and I' ve been forbidden from killing you ..."
' Mephisto wants me ... alive ? Why? '
"... At least I 'll finally get to tell you a little secret " he smirked glefully , the expression haunting and deranged .
" wh-what are you talking about ? " peter stuttered out a weird shiver climbing up his back .
" You see , Peter , I'm glad I remember so much about you now , but even before remembering, you were quite the thorn in my side , even if I only blamed you for turning my son into a wimp. You and your Watson friend ."
" But still , it looks like I hated you enough . After all I still took away your daughter " peter went rigid hearing this .
" oh , yeah peter . She is still alive , although I don't really know now where or when she is "
Peter frazzled voice interrupted him " what ? "
"You see " Norman started explaining while removing peter's mask " I' ve recently come into posession of a certain item , I obtained it thanks to some back doors i still hold in s.h.i.e.l.d . A cosmic Cube , well a shard of it "
Peter blanched at this
"I wanted to use it to regain the ability to use the goblin serum, but it was unfotunately not stable enough for such a feat , so I just used it to gain a small petty victory "
Norman smirked like a cheshire cat as he spoke next.
" I used it on her "
Peter 's struggled against his restraints , trying hard to get free and charge norman , an expression of utter fury painted on his now unmasked face .
" oh, don't worry too much, I simply sent her away and erased all of her memories , somewhere far away , back in time , even I don't know where she is , altough she is probably dead , and oh dear she never even knew her parents .isn't that just sad " he concluded mockingly .
" it's Not even like I could recover her now , the shard crumbled into dust right after . Who knows maybe she ended up in salem during the puritan era or better yet the dark ages somewhere in europe . Maybe she just helped build the piram-"
The cable holding peter finally snapped , freeing him, and the hero tried to unleash his fury on norman who simply dodged and prepared himself to fight.
No more words were exchanged , each opponent putting their full superstrenght in every single hit . Every punch , every kick hitting hard and fast . Even with the spider-sense feeling off , not warning him of every incoming attack but flickering in a way , peter had thrown caution to the wind though, and just kept on attacking over and over again .
Despite the small exausthion still on his shoulders , peter's fury did the trick and norman was now kneeling on the edge of the pillar , gasping for breath and beaten , peter in front of him and just as winded .
He said nothing as he neared his opponent , hands held clawlike, headed for osborn's neck .
They tightened on his windpipe , the air coming short in norman's lungs and a manic satisfied grin on his face .
As the villain turned blue peter hesitates ... but only for an instant.
He throws him on the opposite side , letting out a frustrated scream.
After getting some air back , osborn just slowly started cackling before stopping and saying
" come on already , boy . Prove me right , prove to me that you have what it takes " he said imperiously.
Silence fell betweem them , only the whistling of the wind in the worsening weather could be heard .
Until peter raised his head , chin up and eyes defiant looking on the defenseless villain.
" No, Norman. NO. We are nothing alike , MY father taught me everything I need to know to be who I am, but I already know that you are not worth it , you never were ."
Norman glared at him with narrowed eyes, hands joined above his head . Before sighing and saying in a dejected tone
" very well then , stay up your high pedestal even when you didn't hesitate to throw away who you are when you got desperate enough.speaking of, I suppose i'm about to break my own business arrangement . I wonder what it will feel like to anger a demon lord. "
A loud beep was all the warning Peter got .
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
A large explosion was visible engulfing the top of one of the bridge pillars just as mary jane and rise swinged into view of it .
Both women stopped on the pillar closer to the island , looking on as the fireball quickly dispersed .
" Did you see that ? " Rise asked flabbergasted , unused to witnessing things like this in the real world .
Mj nodded and headed for the connecting cable , starting to crawl on it .
"Yeah , lets hurry " she answered as she felt her chest tighten . Worry and concern for her husband gripping her heart like a vice .
' Peter ...'
The younger girl quickly followed the older spider-woman , feeling some of the same anxiety rolling off her mother in waves .
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
When he later thought back on that moment , peter couldn't quite believe the sheer luck of his flickering spider-sense activating long enough to warn him at the last moment of the two missiles launched from the goblin glider that osborn had remotely maneuvered behind him .
He sometime couldn't help but think he had gotten some help from up high, maybe from the young blonde girl he hadn't been able to save on that very bridge .
Nevertheless , when the spider-sense buzzed that strongly , he did the thing his guts suggested and jumped up high in the air dodging the two missiles that exploded on the ground near Norman , the shock wave bouncing the madman off the edge , falling in the water at full speed furthering the concussion he had just gotten .
He would later remember nothing of the past few days, when he was fished back from the river by the police .
Peter landed back near the small crater and looked to where Norman disappeared in the waves , knowing all too well that he was still alive, even if out of commision .
Before setting his sights back on the ravaged Island of manhattan , and letting everything that just happened ( and remembered ) settle on his shoulders .
He knelled and covered his face with his hands , the enormity of his actions finally hitting him in full force .
' I did this , this... is all my fault, ... and now we lost two '
He kept berating himself in this fashion , for some time , walloving in guilt and despair .
That is until a voice he knew well , broke him out of his reverie .
" Tiger ..."
He raised his gaze to the side and there she was .
Her full figure, clad again in the iron spider suit, was standing there just like when they fought Regent only her scarlet hair was free now and in the open , whipping in the strong wind like a dream , and her chin area was visible showing her relieved smile .
"...Mary Jane ? "
For a few moments neither moved , until MJ broke the stalemate and flung herself in peter's arm , hugging him tight.
Peter hugged her back , crying in her shoulder , whispering apology after apology .
" I'm sorry, I'm sorry , i'm sorry. I'm sor-" he was interrupted by MJ 's lips crashing on his own .
The electric contact he had missed like water, rebooting his brain enough to stop apologising .
MJ took his momentary silence , to take off her mask , showing him her green emerald orbs .
He saw tears in them but no hate , neither anger , just her love for him and ... understanding .
" I know Pete , I know . You aren't the only one that agreed to that. We'll fix this somehow . We are in this togheter , don't you forget it ." Her frazzled voice relied her own fears , guilt and... determination.
Those words renewed peter's vigour , allowing him to get back up and get ready to get back into the fray , with mj's hand held tight in his own .
But first ...
"There is another thing " his voice uncertain , unsure if he should burden her with this other revelation before remembering that she had often shown a strenght of heart that rivalled his own more physical one . " it's about little may " he saw her tense up before she nodded him to continue.
" she ... was alive all this time . Norman had hidden her but... a few days ago he ... threw her back somewhere in time without any memories . She is gone."
Peter closed his eyes letting out a sigh . He expected anything. A cry of sorrow , anger , the recusations she had given him up until this point.
What he didn't expect was what happened next .
" Uh" MJ softly let out in understanding before turning towards some one peter hadn't noticed before and adding " well that explains that I guess "
He finally turned towards this person , a puzzled expression on his face , puzzling that only got thicker at the sight of the girl a few feet away from them .
First of all was the fact that she was wearing something he tought would never see again, ben reilly's spider-man suit; that he had given to MJ when he didn't find it in him to get rid of it despite what ben had recently done .
Second was the fact that the girl seemed to be really young and kinda small in size .
Third was the mane of brownish in shade , red hair coming out of the back of her head , which were kinda similar to MJ's in texture .
She was fidgeting on the spot, body language indicating how shy she was feeling .
" MJ ... who...? "
The woman gestured for the girl to get closer , which she did after a little hesitance .
Now standing in front of them , the girl slowly removed her mask.
Her face was round in shape and cute , her nose buttony and her brown eyes were-
Realization hit Peter like a freight train thrown by the Rhino .
He started gaping like a waterless fish , completely stupefied .
" peter " mary jane said with a smile " meet Rise , she lives in Japan after she appeared there 8 years ago without any memory , she also just discovered that she has spider-powers which makes us pretty sure that she is also May parker the second , our daughter."
Rise gave him a small wave before saying, in a voice that reminded Peter of a airheaded , redheaded party girl he had met a long time ago,
" Hi , Dad" .
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIA.N. : well there you go , Norman is out of bounds and my version of the spider-family is reunited .I wasn't super sure about this chapter but I hope it turned out nice to read . I didn't go in much detail for the fight with the goblin because it's mostly a clash of wills and the important part was peter starting to face his mistake and the revelation about little May . Anyway let me know what you think about this , I need more reviews , they always feel nice to read .RR and see ya