Disclaimer: So, I just got back after seeing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and in all honesty, I thought it was pretty good in the end. Probably, not as good as Sam Ramie's Spider-Man 2 with Doctor Octopus as the main villain, but I will say that Dane DeHaan was delightfully creepy as Harry Osborn.
Anyway, here's another chapter that is mostly filler for now but necessary to advance the story.
Of course, Spider-Man is the property of Marvel.
Chapter VI
Harry was nervous after what happened to his dad at the OsCorp conference yesterday. Since the attempt on Norman's life by Shocker, he'd been tight-lipped and reclusive just like he'd been in the months prior. Harry hadn't the slightest idea why he was even bothering to meet his dad at all. They weren't exactly close in the sense that Norman preferred Peter Parker over his own offspring, and Harry was usually an afterthought. But he was still Harry's father, like it or not for both parties and Harry was still devoted to him. Even that was never enough for someone with the ego of Norman Osborn, but it didn't stop Harry from trying.
Coming into the living area where Norman kept all of his creepy masks, Harry wasn't surprised to see the room was mostly devoid of life. That wasn't entirely accurate; Hendry, the family butler, busied himself with his daily duties of maintaining the cleanest living space possible. He always did so with fervor and devotion and he'd been doing so for years. Since Harry was a still just a young child, actually. Hendry was 63 years old, about 20 years older than Norman and older still than Harry. Yet, he appeared in prime condition. Hell, Hendry still had all his hair. It was graying but he still had it. The lack of noticeable wrinkles betrayed his advanced age. That, and Hendry operated as if he were still in his 30's. Harry sometimes thought that Hendry was immortal, but that would've been a stretch.
It wasn't until Hendry turned to see Harry that he stopped doing his duties. "Harry, how are you?"
"I've been better, Hendry," Harry said with honesty. "Is my father here?"
"Yes, he is. He's in his office right now but he's asked not to be disturbed, even if it's…" Hendry trailed off since he knew what Harry's response would be.
"By me? Yeah, I figured as much. Thank you, Hendry." Harry said before he headed for his father's office despite Hendry's warning.
Harry began the short but slow climb up the spiral steps to the upper balcony where Norman's office was located, perhaps to try to at the very least check to see if his dad was okay. Norman was obviously okay; a sudden attack from a dangerous super criminal like Shocker hardly fazed him. This was Norman f'ing Osborn for God's sake, Titan of Industry. Harry knew that better than anyone from experience alone since for Norman, his career came first and Harry came last. Sometimes Harry wonder how in the hell he was Norman's Osborn offspring and he was certain Norman wondered the same about being Harry's father.
At the top of stairs and on the balcony, Harry walked down the hall toward the numerous doors. He knew already which down he was looking for and stopped right in front of it. Rather than open the door and enter the room, Harry pressed his ear to the door and listened as closely as it would be possible. He could vague hear the sounds of arguing and cursing behind the door and it seemed mostly one-sided. That meant Norman was on the phone with somebody about something that had gone wrong. Given the incident at OsCorp, Norman was likely giving the riot act to Donald Menken and trying to determine how Shocker got passed the security Menken provided.
Harry knew he was wrong though once he heard a familiar name; Fisk. Again, Harry wasn't surprised. He knew how much his dad despised Wilson Fisk, but not enough about their business dealings to suspect that Fisk had something to do with Shocker's attack. Then the words stopped coming, and then Harry heard a loud crash from inside. His first instinct was to burst into the office with figurative guns blazing, but that would've upset Norman more than he already was. Another crash quashed any hesitations Harry had and he prepared to enter. His dad could reprimand him later in case the door was broken but a second later, the door opened on its own and Norman appeared complete with an angry scowl.
"Harry, what the hell are doing here?" he bellowed.
"I just came to see if you were doing alright, Dad." Harry replied as Norman slammed the door behind him.
"Don't pretend like you give a damn; it doesn't suit you," Norman snapped at Harry while he pushed passed him. "I'm expecting Dr. Hamilton later, the same psychologist that I wasted money on for you. If you've got any sense in that thick skull of you, you'll be gone."
Harry followed Norman, struggling to keep pace with him. "That's a hell of a way to treat your son, but did I expect," he said and when Norman didn't reply, Harry continued. "That was Fisk on the phone, wasn't it? He sent Shocker to kill you, didn't he?"
"That's none of you concern, Harry." Norman argued without turning to face his son.
"Bullshit! When my father's life is threatened, it becomes my concern. And don't assume that I don't give a damn." Harry snapped.
Norman spun around to face his son and he said, "I'm not assuming anything. I'm stating a cold, hard fact of life; that you're just like every other person in this God-forsaken city that wants me dead and buried. Fisk is just putting more effort into it."
While Norman turned away, Harry replied, "I don't want you dead; you're still my father even if it still infuriates you."
"I know," Norman shouted without turning around. "Believe me; I know."
The Bloomingdales Department store in Gramercy wasn't the sort of spot Gwen went to in order to buy new clothes, and she usually chalked it up to being Liz's idea. As attractive as she was, Gwen, according to Liz, should've strived to look as good as Heidi Klum. But Gwen wasn't into the supermodel idea and besides that, Peter always thought that Gwen looked perfect the way she was. Gwen smiled at the thought of Peter thinking about her so much even after the death of her father. At the same time, Gwen worried that Peter may not have been capable of making that all-important decision on what they discussed. And that bothered her.
It was supposed to be a simple, easy, yes or no answer; would Peter leave with Gwen to fly to London? It was so simple as to be almost hilarious. But Peter seemed frozen by the mere concept, and his indecision irked Gwen. At the very least, Gwen understood that Peter felt he needed to live up to the memory of his Uncle Ben and be a more responsible man and that he had school and work at the Bugle. He didn't necessarily need to worry about Aunt May; she was doing quite well given all that had happened over the last two years. So in that respect, flying to London with her would've been a no-brainer. Again, Peter's indecision irked Gwen.
It bothered Gwen so much in fact that she didn't see the redheaded woman with the green eyes and beaming smile sneaking up behind. "Well, well. This is a surprise; Gwen Stacy at a Bloomingdales in uptown Gramercy. Not a place I'd associate you with. I like it."
Gwen had to force a smile when she greeted Mary Jane, AKA, her number 1 frenemy vying for Peter's affections. "Funny, MJ. It's about the same sort of spot you could be found in. That and maybe a catwalk."
"So cruel, so very, very cruel of you to say, babe," Mary Jane said while sauntering around to face her. "Where's your boyfriend? Is he off trying to catch of his elusive pics of Spider-Man?"
"Where else would he be?" Gwen asked rhetorically, and Mary Jane didn't need to reply to it.
"Okay seriously, Gwen, did you break the big new to him yet about you flying out overseas to London?" Mary Jane asked, while Gwen simply turned away from her to focus on the clothing rack.
Gwen simply replied, "Yep."
MJ was getting antsy and wanted more information, even playing hopping around Gwen like a rabbit. "Well, how'd he take the news? Was he super happy, flabbergasted? C'mon, spill the beans, Miss Stacy!"
Gwen reached into the rack and pulled a bright yellow jacket out. As she studied it closely, she said to MJ, "Peter was… totally speechless."
"Seriously?" MJ sounded disappointed.
"That's not the half of it," Gwen continued. "I told him that I wanted him to come with me and I swear to God, he just stood there completely at a loss for words. It was like someone came up and smashed his camera right in front of him."
"Wow, that's heavy," MJ chuckled. "So when do you think you'll be leaving?"
"Next week most likely. I'm hopeful that Peter can actually make a decision by then. But if he doesn't, I'm going without him." Gwen clarified.
Mary Jane seemed to understand where Gwen was coming from with regards to Peter's indecisiveness, even as she followed Gwen to the Woman's dressing room across the floor. While Gwen disappeared inside the dressing room, Mary Jane leaned against the wall and contemplated the first meeting she had with Peter. She never forgot the look of pure disbelief on his face when Peter first saw, or the statement she made that he'd hit the jackpot. The moment brought a huge smile to MJ's face, knowing she'd rocked Peter's world right then and there. It was also the first time she'd called him Tiger. It was just too bad that after their first date, they never full hit it off. Peter wanted Gwen, and MJ willfully stepped back. It didn't stop her from teasing him or Gwen.
Hence, Mary Jane's little rivalry with Gwen for Peter's affections. While Gwen was busy in the dressing room, Mary Jane said out loud, "To be perfectly honest, I can't blame Peter for the position you put him in."
"I didn't put him in any position," Gwen said from behind the certain of her dressing room. "It's just a simple decision; come with me or stay in New York. It couldn't be any easier than that."
"Some guys have trouble with commitment, honey," Mary Jane replied and checked her fingernails. "Of course if it goes downhill for you two, I'd be more than happy to take Peter off your hands."
After a few minutes of silence, Gwen poked her face out through the certain and leered at Mary Jane. She snarled, "Don't even think about it."
Mary Jane simply cracked a sly smile and replied, "Too late!" Then she playfully skipped away.
But Gwen was determined to get the last word against her ever cheerful rival. "You know Mary Jane, not everyone can live in the same perfect little world as you."
Mary Jane spun around, walked backwards with her arms out and replied to Gwen, "Then everyone's doing it wrong, babe. Give Tiger my best; I'm sure I'll see him soon."
Then MJ spun back around and sauntered, while Gwen muttered, "Bitch!"
Mary Jane didn't hear Gwen's remark of her and simply kept on walking with a sly grin on her face. But it wasn't until she reached the front end of the store that she stopped short of the large spinning doors, and her smile suddenly faded away. She looked around to be sure that nobody was looking in her direction, not she'd secretly stolen anything from the store itself. She wasn't a shoplifter anyway, but Mary Jane did have something more personal to hide. Pulling up the end of the sleeve that was part of the denim jacket she wore, Mary Jane closely examined a relatively small scar on her right arm. That scar was really only a grim reminder of deeper scars that weren't visible anywhere else on her person.
While Gwen assumed Mary Jane led a seemingly perfect life, Gwen didn't know about Mary Jane's childhood. Peter and Harry didn't know. Nobody knew because Mary Jane didn't want them to know about her own childhood and how messed up it was then. Just thinking about it made Mary Jane sick to her stomach, all the anguish she'd been put through. It drove her and it haunted her all the same. That was why Mary Jane always put on that beaming, infectious smile and that party-girl mentality that her closest friends had grown so accustomed to. But if they ever found out about her childhood, Mary Jane doubted she would ever be able to live it down.
Electing to give her trouble past no further thought, Mary Jane started on her way down the busy streets of Gramercy. As perpetually packed on the street was at this time of day, Mary Jane was able to move at a relatively brisk pace. The day itself was relatively cloudy but warm, but Mary Jane still kept her jacket on out of necessity. As she walked along, she suddenly had this odd feeling of being followed. She glanced back briefly but saw no sign of pursuit by anyone out of the ordinary. Still, she kept pace while a few feet behind her, and pair of men in slightly disheveled clothes maintained a reasonable distance from her.
Mary Jane glanced back a second time and this time she caught a brief glimpsed of the two men following him. Deducing that they were likely a pair of desperate purse snatchers looking for a quick buck, Mary Jane picked up the pace without appearing to be in a hurry. It seemed to work as no one around her appeared to notice, but the two stalkers picked up the pace themselves. Growing nervous, Mary Jane kept walking at the pace she'd set until she reached and round the next corner. The sidewalk wasn't as crowded, allowing her to move a little bit quicker. She glanced over her should and spotted one of the stalkers still following her, but the other one was missing.
Staying as calm as she could be amid the crowds, Mary Jane continued on at a steady pace while her stalker did the same. Eventually coming up to an alley ahead of her, Mary Jane quickly ducked in and that was the moment that she began to job toward the other end of the alley. The stalker followed her in, forcing her to move faster. Then she stopped in her track; the other man was waiting at the other end for her. They closed on her slowly, trapping her between them. Mary Jane's back was against the wall, literally, as the two thugs approached her. If she at all nervous, she didn't show. But she was shaking in her shoes right now.
Then she tried to play it off and appear calm and cool. She told the thugs, "Okay, boys. I know where you're going with this; you're going to threaten me and demand that I hand over my stuff, right?"
The thugs looked at each other and one replied, "Nah, girl. We can tell you ain't got a cent on you."
"Besides, I've got other thing in mind for you, sweetheart." The other thug added, and MJ didn't like the sound of that at all.
They came closer to MJ until one was almost on top of her and took a strand of her in his filthy hand. Mary Jane covertly reached into her bag, suddenly pulled out a can of pepper spray and sprayed the hapless hooligan in the face with it. The other thug took a swift kick to the groin from MJ, who attempted to make a break for the alley's end. The first goon, despite being only temporarily blinded by MJ, grabbed her ankle and tripped her. Mary Jane fell to the ground, barely managing to get her hand out front to break her fall. The thugs pulled her up and MJ drove her elbow into the face of them. She swung her bag at the other and tried to run again, but they stopped her and pinned her against the wall face first.
Before they could do anything more to Mary Jane, something suddenly yanked one of them up into the air above. Mary Jane and her other attacker looked up and found Spider-Man above them, and Spider-Man dropped the first thug to the ground. Spider-Man dropped down to confront the second thug, who brought out a knife with jagged teeth. The first thug got up behind Spider-Man and brought out a gun and aimed it. Spider-Man back-flipped over the thug, yanked the gun out of his hand with a web line and then took him down with a head scissors move. After that, Spider-Man dropped to the ground on one knee, pulled the knife from the other thug and clocked him in the face with a hard kick.
The first thug recovered and tried to attack Spider-Man from behind, but Spider-Man knew it was coming and leaped up over him. From behind, Spider-Man grabbed the goon and threw against the wall where he webbed him upside down. Then he crouched down to meet the goon's face.
"Now, you goofballs should know better than to pick on defenseless young women like that. You never know when she might have friends in high places," Spider-Man joked. Then he added, "See what I did there; high places, get it?"
"C'mon, man. Let me down. The blood's rushing to my head; I'll pass out." the thug begged, and Spider-Man webbed up his mouth for good measure but left his nose uncovered.
Spider-Man rose to his feet, crossing his arms. "Huh, I thought I had comedy gold right there." he said moments before he backhanded the other thug in the jaw and knocked him out.
Mary Jane was slow to rise up from the ground and her eyes were as wide as an open plain in Africa. Spider-Man had actually come to her rescue; hers of all people. She'd seen him in action so many times on TV or on the big screen in Times Square, marveled at his constant heroics and stood in awe whenever he swung by. And he was standing right in front of her in all his sensational glory. Then Spider-Man turned toward her, and Mary Jane had an awkward feeling in the pit of her stomach like she was on the verge of an orgasm. Spider-Man snapped out a quick line down on the thug he'd just knocked out to make sure he didn't get back out.
"You okay?" he asked MJ.
Mary Jane was swooning over the web-slinger like a school girl over a star quarterback on the Midtown High football team. "Yeah; thanks for the help," she said. "That was amazing, by the way."
"It's what I do best; all part of the job. I don't get paid for it but hey, action's the real reward here." Spider-Man said with a shrug and was prepared to leave when MJ stopped him.
"Wait, don't go," she said. "I'm sorry, but I just have to savor this. I didn't think I'd actually meet you in person. Those photos for Bugle; they don't do you justice."
"I bet you say that to all the web-slinger's out there, Ms. Watson." Spider-Man exclaimed, and then bit his tongue when he dropped MJ's last name.
Mary Jane caught it long before Spider-Man could retract it. "You know me? Did Parker mention me?"
Spider-Man, knowing MJ was taking about Peter, about him, played it off by saying, "Peter Parker; the guy that sells photos of me to the old Flattop at the Bugle? He – might've made a passing reference to you. Mary Jane Watson, right? I wasn't paying attention, but we're not that tight… not exactly."
"Well, screw Jameson at the Bugle. As far as I'm concerned, you're a hero." MJ said, and Spider-Man smiled under his mask.
Then he noticed the scar on her arm and said with concern, "That's a nasty cut you've got there," Mary Jane saw that her scar was exposed and quickly covered it, while Spider-Man was quick to apologize. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to pry."
"It's nothing; not from these nimrods. It's just an old scar from a long time ago; nothing serious." MJ claimed, while she was desperately trying to avoid talking about the origins of the mark.
Spider-Man decided to roll with it, but behind the mask, Peter was stunned. This was the first time MJ had kept something from him, but he wasn't going to pry further. Instead, he declared, "Well, I better get swinging. This town's not going to save itself. It was nice meeting you, Ms. Watson."
As he was about to leave, she said, "Mary Jane. My friends call me Mary Jane, or MJ for short."
Spider-Man replied, "It was nice meeting you – MJ." Then he leapt into the air, shot a web line and a second, he was long gone.
Mary Jane jogged to the alley's end and caught sight of Spider-Man swinging away along with several other bystanders, many of them in awe of the hero. Under her breath, Mary Jane whispered, "Amazing!"
Author's note: Like I said, a mostly filler chapter to advance the story overall.
I made mention of a Dr. Hamilton, as in Barton "Bart" Hamilton and not Emil Hamilton. Bart Hamilton was Harry's psychologist in the comics who later became the third Green Goblin. Hamilton is set to appear in the story.
Also, this chapter featured a lot of interactions between all of the main characters: Norman/Harry, Gwen/Mary Jane and Spidey/Mary Jane. Plus, there was a small hint at MJ's troubled past.
All in all, nothing too world-shaking although it's still quiet early in the story. So drop a review while I work on the next chapter. See you soon.