Disclaimer: I went and learned something recently; it's doesn't matter if this story is getting reviews or favorites as long as readers are taking notice. Either way, that's a BIG win for me. I've got Lady of Myth and Legends to thank for that reminding me of that.

As always, Spider-Man is property of Marvel Comics.

Chapter XI

Peter returned to his apartment looking defeated, and not by a random super villain or after being rejected for a spot within the Avengers. In fact, Iron Man and Captain America would've welcomed him with arms – and the Hulk would've squeezed the life out of him. No, Peter felt deeply dejected because, in actuality, Gwen just broke up with him. She broke with him because she was tired of Peter's inability to comment to her. But Peter knew the real reason was because he still had a responsibility to the people of New York City as Spider-Man, the one person Gwen hated the most. He couldn't tell her that he was Spider-Man, not out fear that she'd reject sooner but because he wanted to protect. Peter couldn't do that to Gwen, especially after he promised the dying Capt. Stacy that he'd protect. If protecting Gwen meant ultimately losing her, Peter would've done it and he did. It was just harder than he expected.

Upon reaching the door, Peter noticed the door was unlocked. Harry was probably inside, and his spider-sense hadn't gone off on him, so Peter walked through the door and closed it behind him. After hanging his jacket on the coat rack, Peter wondered almost aimlessly to the living room expecting to find Harry. There wasn't any sound which meant the television wasn't on. Harry usually was there watching the news or some reality show. Arriving at the living room, Peter was surprised to find Mary Jane sitting on the couch with her legs crossed Indian-style and reading a book. Mary Jane looked up from the book she was reading, which Peter noted was a novel from the shelf in his bed room.

"Hey Tiger, long time no see." she greeted was that same beaming smile and carefree attitude for which she was known.

"Hey, MJ. I though Harry was here," Peter said while he approached a chair across from MJ. "How'd you get in?"

Mary Jane reached into or pant pocket and produced a key. "Spare key, remember? You gave me one to get inside. Harry was already gone, probably to see his dad, so I let myself in."

"Great." Peter sounded gloomy, something Mary Jane noticed at once.

"You okay, Pete? You look like Flash destroyed your favorite Star Trek figurines." she joked to lighten the mood, which worked when Peter cracked a small grin.

Peter tried to play it off by rubbing the back of his neck and keeping up a decent smile before telling Mary Jane, "It's Gwen; we, um… we broke up. She's going to London and I'm not. She got angry and we, you know…"

Mary Jane was surprisingly speechless before she said, "Wow, Tiger. What in the name of Thor's hammer did you do to lose the girl of your dreams?"

"First of all, Thor's hammer is called Mjolnir," Peter stated, to which MJ simply shrugged nonchalantly. Becoming serious, Peter explained, "Anyway, I met up with Gwen and she confirmed that she would be flying to London. She asked me to go with her and…"

"…and you choked on another big decision," MJ finished, and Peter nodded. MJ threw her arms to each side and shouted, "Who the hell does that? Who in their right mind passes on the chance to fly all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to London, England? If it had been me, I'd literally swim all the way across the sea."

"What are you; the Little Mermaid?" Peter joked.

"Well, I do have the look and the voice," MJ joked back, while Peter threw his head back into the seat. "You know what you need?" she asked.

"Please don't say 'a date'."

"A date!"

"Damn!"

Mary Jane was already slipping her jacket on before she started to pull on Peter to get him out of his chair. "C'mon, Tiger. A nice walk through Time Square will do you some good. Get off your butt and let's go do whatever can be done."

Peter resisted MJ's attempt to get him up out of his seat. "Oh no! No, no, no, no, no, no!"

MJ argued, "Oh yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

"I'm still recovering from our first date, which was also a blind date." Peter pleaded.

"That was two years ago and it was also the day that you hit the jackpot, Tiger," Mary Jane added. "Now stopping being such a girl and let's hit Time Square. Move it, Parker?"

"I'm not going, MJ. I'm not…" Peter couldn't finish his argument before his phone suddenly rang.

"It's the Eye of the Tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor..."

"Let me go. That might be Gwen."

Peter dug into his pocket to grab his phone, which apparently had an "Eye of the Tiger" ringtone right when MJ grabbed the device. "You have Eye of the Tiger as your ringtone? You do care," she cooed before putting the phone on speaker and answering in a very sensual tone. "Hello…"

"Who the hell is this? Where the hell's Parker? This better not be some kind of a phone-sex line. PARKER… WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Mary Jane held the phone out and said to Peter, "It's for you."

"Gimme that," Peter snatched the phone from Mary Jane's hand and replied, "Hey, Jonah. Sorry about that. That was a friend playing around."

"It doesn't matter, Parker. What matters is I need you at the Bugle ASAP. It's important, so get your ass over here." Jonah hung up before Peter could ask further.

"Okay, that was weird," MJ said. "What'd Jameson want?"

"I don't know, but I'd better head down to the Bugle before he fires me and then rehires me. He's does that." Peter said and headed for the door.

"Great, I'll tag along." MJ declared.

"I don't think so, Mary Jane." Peter said.

"Oh c'mon, Tiger. What's the worst that could happen?"

"PARKER, WHAT IN THE BLAZES ARE YOU DOING BRINGING YOUR GIRLFRIEND HERE?" Jonah exploded in Peter's face, right in front of Mary Jane.

"Sorry, Jonah. She kind of… insisted on coming. And she's not my girlfriend." Peter explained, and MJ rolled her eyes and pushed by Peter.

She held out her hand and introduced herself, "I'm Mary Jane Watson, fabulous supermodel and soon-to-be famous Broadway starlet. I've heard a lot about you, Jonah, and I've read all your editorials about Spider-Man and the X-Men and the Avengers – Thos is just dreamy, by the way."

"Is there a point to this drabble?" Jonah snapped impatiently.

"My point is you're 100 percent dead wrong about every single super hero that has put their butts on the line so jerks like you can spew your guts about them." MJ said with enough defiance and courage that she could probably stand up to the Juggernaut.

"Is that right?" Jonah asked with an equal amount of anger that could frighten Loki.

"It's not just my opinion, J.J. So maybe you should start giving Spider-Man and all the other heroes the praises they all so richly deserve." MJ claimed and remained defiant.

All that time, Robbie was in the corner thinking, This girl's got guts.

Peter was thinking, She's so going to get me fired.

Jonah eyed Mary Jane with a small pinch of annoyance, while MJ returned the glare with one of sheer confidence. It seemed like an old-fashioned Wild West shootout that would've involved John Wayne against Clint Eastwood… and everyone was caught in the crossfire. Through it all, Peter was practically in pure fear for his job security if Mary Jane pushed the issue any further. He was really hoping Robbie would step in to defuse the situation before Jonah flipped out and started handing out pinks to everyone in the Bugle – starting with Peter. Jonah tapped his fingers one at a time on his desk, while Mary Jane pulled back and crossed her arms in continued defiance.

Finally, Jonah eyed Peter, stuck out a pen in his free hand and told Peter, "You and I are going to have a very long conversation later that you won't enjoy," Turning to Mary Jane, Jonah added, "As for you, there's the door. Get out."

Mary Jane remained defiant, arms still crossed and a grin on her face. She replied, "If you insist. Nice meeting you, J.J."

"This way, Miss Watson." Robbie said and escorted MJ out of the office.

Just outside of the office, Mary Jane was escorted to a seat right by Betty's desk while Robbie returned to the Editor-in-Chief's office. "Wow," MJ said to Betty. "Your boss is a real charmer."

"You get used to it after ten years or so." Betty replied.

"How long have you been working for him, honey?" MJ asked.

Betty rolled her eyes and claimed, "Long enough to start aging pre-maturely."

Back in Jonah's office, Peter was inwardly wishing that Sandman came around and produced a massive sandstorm or for the Lizard or Scorpion to rampage through the Bugle. Hell, even Deadpool would've been a welcome distraction at that point. Peter was now just standing in Jonah's office, right in front of Jonah's desk where Jonah himself was chomping on a cigar like nothing happened. Jonah was eyeballing Peter like a caged animal would've eyed a piece of raw meat. Jonah spent the next few very tense minutes puffing smoke from his cigar and making Peter wait, prompting Peter to consider diving through the nearest window and swinging home. That would've been a bad idea in every sense, especially since his secret identity would've been revealed… if Venom hadn't revealed it first.

Jonah finally jammed the cigar bud into an ashtray, hard, and said to Peter, "Word of advice, Parker; never bring your girlfriend or your family members or anybody to your workplace. It doesn't do well for business."

"That's good advice but I already told you she insisted on coming – and that she's not my girlfriend." Peter clarified for what had to be only the second time.

"Yeah, fine, but now on to the business at hand," Jonah leaned back into his seat to get as comfortable as possible before he continued, "Norman Osborn just announced today that he's hosting a charity party at his penthouse tomorrow night. All the bigwigs of New York are going to be there, including yours truly; me."

"We've also confirmed that Wilson Fisk, Martin Li and Capt. DeWolff will be in attendance as well." Robbie added.

"Exactly. High Society means I need a High Society photographer to snap photos of me with every one of them. That's where you come in, Parker." Jonah explained.

Peter was stunned by the announcement when he protested, "Me? But I'm Freelance. I don't do High Society; that's Hoffman's department."

"Hoffman's out with a concussion; took a polo ball right to the back of his head." Robbie explained, causing Peter to rub the back of his own head.

"Hoffman's an idiot anyway; couldn't photograph a license plate on parked car up close. Sorry kid, but you're the best I've got. So you'd better be at Osborn's penthouse tomorrow night whatever dress blues you've got, 8PM sharp. Got it?" Jonah said to Peter.

"Yeah, I've got it. 8PM sharp. No problem." Peter confirmed and started on his way out of the office.

"And Parker," Jonah bellowed and stopped Peter in his footsteps before approaching him and opening the door. "Bring a date. You look like you could use one."

"A date?"

"Yes, a date. At least try to look presentable."

Then Jonah pushed Peter right on the door and out of the office before shutting it behind him. Peter didn't even get the chance to either protest or at least ask for a bonus for the job. He also wondered how Hoffman managed to get a concussion from a polo ball of all things. Then Peter recalled how his day took a complete 180 degree turn from excellent to not-so-much so quickly. He apprehended Beetle and told off Wilson Fisk, but ended up losing Gwen because of his own indecision, and now he was set to be on assignment at Norman Osborn's home for a charity party with his boss and Wilson Fisk in attendance. And on top of that, Jonah told him to bring a date.

Then Peter realized that Mary Jane was still there… and standing right behind him with Betty at her desk. Both of them cracked wide grins directly at Peter, which meant they'd heard every word from Jonah. Mary Jane appeared especially mischievous, given her little confrontation with Jonah right from the start. Peter started to think that his boss's suggestion to bring a date was punishment for allowing MJ to meet him and putting Peter in an awkward position. Then Peter finally decided… what the hell?

"Hey, MJ?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?"

MJ replied, "I thought you'd never ask."

At a waterfront warehouse on Staten Island, Adrian Toomes was hard at work perfecting the flight harness he invented when he worked at OsCorp. OsCorp was the same company that tried to take credit for the design Toomes spent years of his life to put together. Norman Osborn was the man responsible for the attempt while also seeking to quietly get rid of Toomes. At first, Osborn rejected the harness. But when he fired Toomes, Osborn announced OsCorp as the power behind the design of the harness while Adrian Toomes was left disgraced and denounced as another old man. Toomes vowed revenge against Norman Osborn, thus stealing his own invention and returning as the Vulture.

Vulture's past attempts on Osborn's life brought the flying villain into several conflicts with Spider-Man. Some of these battles prompted Vulture to join the first Sinister Six with Kraven, Mysterio, Electro, Sandman and Doctor Octopus. Even those ended in failure. If it hadn't been for the assistance of the Chameleon, Toomes would have still been locked up in Riker's with the rest of those criminals. Now that he was out and in hiding, and Chameleon had successfully procured the needed equipment to modify his harness, Adrian Toomes was only a feather away from exacting his long-awaited revenge against Norman Osborn… and Spider-Man.

A lone dockworker approached Toomes as he worked, carrying a dark brown suitcase. But the dockworker was no dockworker at all and as he approached, he removed his face. It was Chameleon in disguise of course, more or less staying in-game shape in the even his talents would ever be needed. For what Toomes had planned, Chameleon's talents would've been valuable.

Without looking up from his workbench, Toomes said to Chameleon in Russian, "Dobryj den', Dmitri."

"Dobryj den', comrade," Chameleon returned. "You impress me with the rate with which you learn my language, Adrian. How goes the modifications of you harness?"

"Nearly completed, and with time to spare. I've increased the power output in the harness by nearly 35 percent. That should keep me in the air longer than what was normally achievable before, and long enough so I can dig my talons into Osborn's flesh." Toomes sounded like he was clearly looking forward to the coming moment of which he spoke.

Chameleon would've raised an eyebrow – if he had eyebrow on his pale, featureless visage. "That sounds… enticing." he winced.

Toomes chuckled before he stopped working and address his Russian compatriot face to face. "I assume you've managed to procure the floor plans for Norman's penthouse."

Chameleon threw down a blueprint layout of Norman Osborn's home, both inside and out. "The American swine made it all too easy to seize these plans. I expected better."

"Norman's always had a history of being arrogant; proved that when he thought he could take my designs while I faded away into obscurity," Toomes exclaimed with a hint of malice in his voice. "He's clearly proven my point further by announcing this ridiculous charity party to the public."

"Perhaps, but Osborn seems to be taking the security of his house seriously. He'll have guards stationed at both the building's ground floor and on the rooftop. And here," Chameleon pointed to a blueprint of a sensor. "These seem to be an indication that he'll have long-range sensor to detect any oncoming intruders. It would seem that Osborn isn't as arrogant as you suggest, Toomes."

"So it would seem. I guess news of my escape from Riker's reached him," Toomes said without seeming concerned. "But, I doubt Norman will be able to account for you, Dmitri. All you'll need to do is shut the sensors down – and then I can crash the party."

"And if Spider-Man were to become involved?" Chameleon wondered.

Toomes didn't give an immediate answer. Instead he continued working on the harness and set a series of sparks flying from the device. Then he put down the tool he used and took the harness from the bench. He slipped the harness on his back before stepping away from Chameleon. In one fluid motion of his arms, large green wings extended from the harness. A slight, mechanized whine sounded from the wings as they were extended and Toomes moved them ever so slightly to make sure they were operating perfectly. Chameleon stood by silently, mildly impressed by the sight of Toomes testing his wings. Eventually, Toomes turned around to address his ally's prior question.

"If… when Spider-Man gets involved as I'm sure he will, I'll have no problem sinking my talons into him as well," Toomes turned away and arrogantly proclaimed, "Norman Osborn had better prepare to reap the whirlwind… because the Vulture is back."

Author's note: Okay, I'm not ashamed to say that Mary Jane stole this chapter. Honestly, I think I did a great job with MJ's antics. But really, that's up to all of you.

Meanwhile, that old buzzard Adrian Toomes is putting his scheme into motion with a little help from Chameleon. So we'll see what happens in the next chapter.

I also made a few mentions of various Marvel characters, particually Thor, whom Mary Jane seems to like... alot.

Don't forget to review and/or favorite; I've still got a LONG way to go before the BIG BAD villain finally appears.