Disclaimer: So, I just recently bought the Amazing Spider-Man 2 score on iTunes and I have to say, Hans Zimmer is a freaking GOD among composers. It has a much more electronic tone to it, (see what I did there) but it works. Again, Hans Zimmer = GOD!
As always, Spider-Man and all supporting characters are the property of Marvel Comics.
Chapter IV
OsCorp Industries had been more or less operating under the leadership of Donald Menken during Norman Osborn's absence. Despite some setbacks such as the economic crisis and rumors of the creation of numerous super criminals, chief among them being Doctor Octopus, OsCorp profited under Menken's watch. But it was time for Norman Osborn to take back the reigns of his company, and Menken was relieved. What better way to take back a multi-million dollar weapons manufacturing company than to reopen it? With OsCorp back under his watch, Norman could stand up to the likes of other weapons manufacturers such as Stark Enterprises, Hammer Industries and the beleaguered Quest Aerospace.
The upcoming press conference in Uptown Manhattan was the usual type of gathering associate with a grand reopening. Numerous news crews, interviewers and paid guests turned out for the reopening of OsCorp. The grand gateway, or the front gate leading into OsCorp, was closed for the moment. A large podium was set up directly in front of the gate with several key military figures waiting for the man of the hour to arrive. Much to his own personal chagrin, Harry Osborn wasn't allowed anywhere near the stage for the obvious reason; his own father didn't want him screwing everything up.
Instead, Harry was an island in sea of people who his dad likely bought just to be seen. Harry at least appeared presentable in casual street clothes and combed back, dark brown hair. He was sporting a light patch of facial hair across his normally youthful face. It made him look more like an adult and less like his father; he often told his on again/off again girlfriend and, Liz Allen. Naturally, Norman didn't approve, but Harry hardly gave a damn anymore what his father thought. Nothing Harry ever accomplished in his crappy life was ever, EVER, going to be good enough for Norman Osborn.
There was a sudden round of applause among the gather spectators, and Harry instantly knew what caused the adulation. Norman Osborn's big black limousine arrived and sure enough, the man himself appeared. He waved out to the crowd and smiled a fake smile, while Harry simply looked on was indifference.
"Enjoyed the show, Mr. Osborn?" a female voice, sensual and confident, said to Harry.
Harry spun around and was quickly greeted by the smiling face and shining red hair of Mary Jane Watson. "What're you doing here, MJ? Dad didn't drag you down here, I hope."
Mary Jane waltzed around Harry with that same infection smile and carefree attitude she'd always displayed. "Nope! A little told me that you'd been here for the grand OsCorp reopening and figured I stop by for a Meet n' Greet. And apparently, I'm not the only friendly face here."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, and Mary Jane tilted her gorgeous face straight ahead.
Sure enough, there was Peter Parker in the crowd of wolves dressed as paid guests taking photographs of Norman's arrival. "Always so hard at work. C'mon, let's go do the Meet 'n Greet." Mary Jane said and grabbed Harry by the sleeve.
"You want to do that while he's working." Harry said as MJ dragged him along.
Meanwhile as he was taking picture after picture of Norman entering the stage, Peter was thinking about one person and one person only: Gwen Stacy. He hated that his job came before his love life, and more so when Spider-Man came between him and Gwen. Gwen didn't know that Peter was Spider-Man, which was bad enough. Worse still was that Gwen blamed Spider-Man for the death of her father, Capt. George Stacy. She was affectively an orphan, just as Peter was when his parents died. Aunt May offered to take her in, but Gwen was independent and smart and beautiful. Those were the things Peter loved most about her. When the conference was over, Peter was going to have to find a way to make it up to Gwen.
As much as he hated himself for it, Peter refocused on getting photos of Norman Osborn's triumphant return to the limelight. At the same time, he was also greatly distressed. It was over a year ago now that Peter, as Spider-Man, learned a terrible truth about Norman Osborn; he was the Green Goblin. Key word: Was. Something happened to Norman at OsCorp to turn him into a twisted and insane megalomaniac and in the ensuing conflict that followed, Norman lost all memory of ever being the Goblin. He'd begun assuming that he was on some random business venture oversees, while popular belief among New Yorkers was that Norman was himself a victim of the Goblin.
Peter was hoping that Norman would never relapse and remember he was ever the Goblin. So far, Norman seemed like his old self as he approached the podium where Donald Menken was waiting to shake his hand. Peter kept taking some pictures of the reunion of sorts when he caught movement within the crowd. He'd briefly sighted a loner in the sea of people; he wore a dark blue hooded jacket and his face was obscured by the hood itself. Before Peter could react, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to spot Harry Osborn behind him and Mary Jane Watson behind Harry.
"Working hard, buddy? Harry asked with a smile on his slightly bearded face. Mary Jane was beaming as always.
Peter was happy enough to greet his best friend with a light hug. "I didn't think you'd make it down here today, Harry."
"You know me; I can't get enough of Stormin' Norman making a big deal of something so trivial."
Mary Jane stepped in between the two friends and said, "Hold on there, boys. I must've missed the part where I was chopped liver."
Peter couldn't keep himself from grinning like a damn Cheshire cat at Mary Jane's ever bubbling personality. "Who could ever toss that kind of label on Mary Jane Watson of all people? You'd have to be insane to do that."
"Or madly head over heels in love from day one. Don't dare forget that day that you first hit the jackpot, Tiger," MJ said with a flick of her finger on Peter's chin. "So, where's Gwen? I want to see her."
"I want to date her." Harry added, earning himself a nudge from MJ.
"Well… Gwen is um… uh… she's not here now. I'm meeting later after the conference is over." Peter said.
"You're meeting her? As in later? Peter Benjamin Parker, you must be out of your mind to blow her off like that," Mary Jane said a punched Peter in the arm, causing Harry to chuckle. "No self-respecting boyfriend should ever blow their girl. I am so ashamed of you, Tiger." Then MJ produced a playing smirk.
"I know and I'm going to make it up to Gwen, but Jameson's been winding me tight and I have at least help Harry with my half of the apartment." Peter explained.
"Your half? Peter, there aren't any halves. The apartment's bought and paid for by OsCorp, remember?" Harry explained.
"Hey, be quiet. Mr. Osborn's about to speak." MJ said, and Peter returned his job. He briefly noticed that the hooded figure was gone.
Another round of applause was directed at Norman and he produced a fake smile while waving at the people. "Thank you, thank you so much, New York. It feels good to be back where I belong, very humbling. Thank you."
"Humbling, my ass." Harry muttered, although Peter heard him clear as day. Mary Jane didn't.
"Speaking of thanks, I would like to take this moment to thank my associate Donald Menken for taking the reins of OsCorp is my absence," Norman spoke with mock sincerity. "It's amusing in a way that no more than 20 years old, a young man laid down the foundation for what would become one of this country principal weapons manufactures, surpassing other such companies as Quest Aerospace and Stark Enterprises. Granted of course that no company is perfect…"
Peter continued snapping picture after picture as Norman rambled on about how OsCorp was facing a turn for a perhaps brighter future. Then his spider-sense went off; a tingling sensation in the back of his skull that warned him of a coming danger. Peter didn't stop snapping photos if only to avoid arousing suspicion. He covertly snapped the sea of people, each and every single person fixed on Norman's speech. Nobody seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary; not even the hooded figured slowly making his way toward the stage. Peter did notice and covertly slipped away.
Harry and Mary Jane meanwhile, were listening to Harry's father. "Pete, are you believing this…" Harry said only to just now notice that Peter was gone. "Pete?!"
"What wrong, Harry?" Mary Jane asked.
"I don't know. Peter just disappeared on us."
"Probably taking my advice."
Norman had failed entirely to notice the hooded figure approaching since he was caught up on his speech. "It's been said in the past that wars are fought with weapons, but won by men. Not by armored playboys, not by super soldiers or hammer-wielding gods or green-skinned monsters or sorcerers or mutants or cosmically enhanced families… but by men. With the reopening of OsCorp Industries, the best men with win with the best weapons…"
The hooded figure was now just a few feet from the stage where a pair of security officers confronted him. One officer grabbed his arm and the other follow suit. What happened next defied all manner of comprehension. The hooded figure's arm began to vibrate at a slow pace at first. Before either of the officers knew what happened, both were flung away from their assailant with enough force to send one officer crashing into a parked patrol car and the other into the front steps leading up to the stage. Norman, Donald Menken and several of the military guests back away from the attacker as he reared his right arm back. Norman briefly noticed a glinting metal gauntlet under the attacker's jack sleeve. Then, he only had a split second to move when the attack threw his arm forward.
A wave of compressed air shot forth and ripped the podium to shreds. Another blast of compressed air blew out a portion of the stage itself, sending Norman, Menken and the guests spiraling down to the ground. The assailant then ripped off his jacket as he was stalking toward Norman, revealing the familiar brown and yellow, foam-lined costume along with the metal gauntlets associated with the super villain Shocker. Norman quickly deduced in his mind that Kingpin sent Shocker after him, and that was made clearer when three more officers stepped between Norman and Shocker. Shocker easily dispatched them with a moderate air blast and stalked Norman until he was right on top of him.
Shocker aimed his right arm down at Norman and declared, "Nothing personal, Osborn."
"Kingpin sent you after me, didn't he?" Norman snarled.
"I don't care what the boss's got against you. For me, this is all just business. Now hold still." Shocker charged his gauntlet but before he could take the shot, Harry tackled Shocker to the ground.
Holding Shocker down, Harry shouted, "Dad, get out of here."
And Norman got out of there, giving his own son little thought. Shocker batted Harry off of him. "Not a smart move, kid. Now, you're going to pay for it."
"You take checks?" From out of nowhere, Spider-Man appeared and kicked Shocker to the ground.
Spider-Man landed beside Harry, grabbed him and then swung clear of a blast from Shocker. Shocker caught sight of Norman escaping into his limo just as was driving off, taking a shot and missing. Spider-Man returned to the fight but Shocker kept him at bay with another blast. The he took aim at Harry, forcing Spider-Man to get Harry out of harm's way. Shocker fired a number of heavy blasts to keep Spider-Man from fighting back, all the while reaching a police motorcycle and taking to the road after Norman's limo. Spider-Man landed among the stunned crowd with Harry in tow, while Mary Jane rushed toward them.
"Harry, are you okay?" she asked, genuinely scared for Harry.
"Yeah, but my dad…" Harry said before Spider-Man interrupted.
"Don't worry; I'll get to your father before Shocker does." Then Spider-Man took off swinging after Shocker.
Norman's limo made it into the surprising like not-so busy streets of Manhattan and quickly veered down 5th Avenue. From the back seat, Norman looked back through the rear window and spotted a lone police motorcycle in pursuit. He quickly determined that it was Shocker coming to snuff him out on Kingpin's orders. A couple of squad cars were in pursuit of Shocker, but Shocker focused purely on catching the limo and the target inside. Norman also noticed something else in the sky above; Spider-Man.
Outside on his stolen ride, Shocker cut loose with an air blast on a parted Chevrolet Impala and sent it flying into the air. The Impala flipped while it was airborne before crashing to the street. One of the police cars served to the side of the crashed car and continued pursuit. The other police vehicle wasn't as fortunate, sideswiping the fallen car and spiraling into the sidewalk. Amazingly enough, there were no pedestrians walking by and the officers got out of the car unscathed. That was at least one thing Spider-Man didn't need to worry about as he continued his chase.
Shocker unleashed another blast, this time on an incoming Suburban SUV. The SUV, much like the Impala, went flying in the air and landed directly in the path of the pursuing squad car. This time, the squad car wasn't able to swerve away. The two vehicles collided with each other, and the squad car got the worst of it. Spider-Man was conflicted at that moment; catch Shocker and save Norman or stop to check on the officers and the SUV driver? To his relief, all three parties stepped out of the vehicles, hurt and stunned but no worse for wear. An encouraging wave by the SUV driver allowed Spider-Man to continue on.
Meanwhile, Shocker managed to pull up behind Norman's limo and blasted the rear wheels and axel clean off. Norman instantly felt the jolt despite having worn his seatbelt while the limo skidded to a halt. Stepping from his stolen ride, Shocker approached the busted limo until he stopped by the passenger door. Placing one hand onto the finish, he vibrated the door off its hinges and peered inside. To his surprise, Norman was gone, having escaped out the other side. Shocker quickly spotted Norman attempting to get away and stalked after him. Norman collapsed on the ground, allowing Shocker to reach him and aim both gauntlets down on him.
"Try to hold still and this won't hurt… much." Shocker said. Before Shocker took the shot, both of his gauntlets were webbed up and he was yanked backwards.
Shocker was slammed hard onto the ground hard when he quickly found Spider-Man crouched atop a street light. "So when did you become a hired gun, Shocker?"
Vibrating the webbing off, Shocker took a shot at Spider-Man and missed when the hero bounded onto a nearby wall. "Hey, a hardworking guy like me has got to eat now and then." Then Shocker took another blast at Spider-Man, who swung clear and landed at the remains of the limo.
"Ooh, nice banter. You're aim still needs a little bit of work, though." Spider-Man mocked and leapt over another blast.
Spider-Man wasn't prepared for a second air blast to accompany the first, and he was sent flying into a parked pickup truck. The blast made Spider-Man's teeth chattered and his head spin, but that was more likely his spider-sense tingling. Shocker sent a controlled shock wave toward Spider-Man across the street. Spider-Man leapt clear of the wave which torn the pickup truck apart, bits of a steel clattering to the street. Spider-Man stayed airborne to avoid Shocker's assault of air blasts, all of which came in rapid succession and frequency. In return for the blast, Spider-Man unleashed an onslaught of webbing back at Shocker, pelting the villain and causing him to briefly lose focus.
As Spider-Man and Shocker battled it out, a new police vehicle arrived and Harry and Mary Jane exited from the back. Harry, headless perhaps of his own safety, head right where his father was hiding. Shocker continued to unleash air blast after air blast, while Spider-Man stayed on the move at all times by swinging in between the blasts. Harry and Mary Jane helped Norman to his feet, but Shocker spotted them and attempted to get to them. Spider-Man shot a web line that tripped Shocker, who quickly shot another air blast back at the web slinger. Shocker was upright again and took aim at his target, but again Spider-Man snagged one arm in a web line. A Tug-o-War ensued between Spider-Man and Shocker.
"Go! Get Osborn out of here, now." Spider-Man shouted to Harry and Mary Jane.
"Dad, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Harry asked.
"Never mind that; just get me the hell out of here." Norman snapped at his son.
Harry and Mary Jane escort Norman to the waiting car while Spider-Man and Shocker continued their Tug-o-War. After a brief stalemate, Shocker vibrated his arm free and took a shot at Spider-Man. Spider-Man wasn't able to move in time and took the blast head-on, sending him to the asphalt. Shocker again refocused on the job at hand but by that time, the squad car was already taking off down the road. Shocker attempted another shot with his gauntlets before Spider-Man swung in from behind and kicked him to the asphalt. Another air blast from Shocker sent Spider-Man jumping away, and then Shocker tried one more time to stop Osborn from getting away. But by then, it was too late.
Cursing under his breath, Shocker took a few more shots at Spider-Man. Spider-Man managed to dodge around the blast until one caught him in the abdomen, sending him through a the window on a salon. With Spider-Man momentarily incapacitate, and more police approaching the scene, Shocker quickly blew open an escape route in the street. He took a parting shot at the police car before disappearing into the hole he created. Spider-Man recovered from his bone-shaking ordeal, returned to the street and bounded into the hole that led into a steam tunnel. But by then, Shocker was already long gone.
Cautiously, Spider-Man clung up onto the ceiling of the tunnel, ready to react at a moment's notice if Shocker attacked. But there was nothing to suggest he was still present, and Spider-Man's spider-sense didn't go off. There was a beeping sound going off below the fabric of Spider-Man's arm sleeve, which he undid to show a digital wristwatch beside his web-shooter. It read 4:55. Peter suddenly dreaded the meaning; he was going to late in meeting Gwen. Again.
Crap; Gwen's going to kill me.
Author's Note: Holy Crap; I've got another chapter finished and it didn't take me as long. Hooray for me.
First up are the intros for Harry Osborn and Mary Jane Watson. Harry here has light facial hair ala James Franco and Mary Jane is a bubbly and carefree as ever. Donald Menken makes a cameo with no speaking lines. (Yet!)
Those of you getting antsy about Gwen Stacy appearing, fret not. She's in the story and she will appear. What is known about Gwen thus far is she's unaware that Peter is Spider-Man, and she also blames Spidey for the death of her dad, just like in the comics.
Finally, there's the appearance of the one and only Shocker. I originally intended for Hammerhead to appear, but I went for Shocker instead since he's clearly way more bad ass and something of a fan favorite.
So by all means, let me know what you think of this latest chapter or if you've got any questions, send them via my profile and I'll be back soon for the next entry.