Daddy's Girl (Part 1)
Title: Daddy's Girl Part 1
Author: quietprofanity
Warnings: Violence
Archive: Yes
Disclaimer: Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Mary Jane Parker, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, etc. are all property of Marvel Comics and are used without permission for non-profit purposes. And Lydia Osborn is… uh… kind of my character, but not really.
Notes: Okay, this fanfic is a very big AU. Now, everyone, we're going to do a little exercise. Let's all close our eyes and pretend that everything past Peter Parker, Spider-Man Vol. 1 #75 never happened. And, uh… different stuff happened. Yeah, different stuff. Um, except for "Hobgoblin Lives." That happened… yeah.
Acknowledgments: Thank you Amy for your great Beta reading, Sazu for all your support and J.R. "MadGoblin" Fettinger, for coming up with the idea for this story in the first place. Visit his Web site
~*~*~
Sixteen years had come and gone, but Mary Jane Parker could recall the pain as if it were yesterday. As she looked out the living room window at the children playing on the concrete sidewalk, the laughing, happy children playing ball and tag, she remembered when she thought her own child would be among them.
The year of her pregnancy had been difficult for both her and her husband. In what seemed like an amazingly short time, Peter's old clone, now calling himself Ben Reilly, had come back. Aunt May had died. Peter was revealed to be the clone. The two of them moved to Portland. Peter lost his powers. Then they returned to New York just in time for the Onslaught crisis.
That was just the Cliff Notes version. Actually, more like the Cliff Notes of the Cliff notes.
At any rate, the strain had been hard on both of them, but Mary Jane knew it was the hope of having their child that had sustained them.
She closed her eyes and could see again the nightly dreams she had of her little girl. May (that's what they wanted to call her) always wore a pretty little pink dress and wide-brimmed white sun hat. Mary Jane never saw her face, but she could somehow still cover May's eyes as she walked behind her child in the backyard of their old house in Forrest Hills.
Mary Jane remembered how excited May was, how May begged to be able to open her eyes. She remembered how she finally would open her hands. She remembered how she smiled at the sound of May's gasp of joy as her little girl looked upon her present.
"Thank you, Mommy!" May cried as she gave her mother a squeeze. "I love my new swing set!"
Then Mary Jane would pick May up and place her on a swing. They would be there for hours, just talking as Mary Jane pushed her little girl. Sometimes, Peter would be there and tell May jokes. Other times Ben Reilly would be there too and would make May toys out of webbing.
Perhaps it was a bit contrived, but nevertheless Mary Jane loved that dream, and when she told her husband about it, he loved it too. Once he even claimed to have the dream himself.
But it turned out to be only a dream. Her labor came unexpectedly and painfully, and in the end, it was all for nothing. May was dead before she drew her first breath.
It was on this day sixteen years ago that she found out she was pregnant. Mary Jane sighed. Would she ever have another baby? They had tried before, but all that came out of it was failure and three miscarriages. She stared at her reflection in the window glass. She was 43 now. Gray streaks ran through her formerly scarlet hair. Fine lines were embedded in her once flawless face. Maybe it was time to stop hoping.
But God, she still wanted to be a mother so much. Especially on days like today, that were a constant reminder of what had been lost so unfairly. No, she wouldn't give up hope! She just couldn't! She looked at her reflection once more.
"So you have a few wrinkles," she said to it. "And maybe you've gone a little gray. No reason to stop. The clock hasn't run out just yet." She sighed. "Has it? I don't know."
Mary Jane laughed to herself a little and shrugged. "Oh well. Even if I am getting older, I still look good, right?"
"Of course you do," said a voice behind her. Mary Jane smiled as she turned and wrapped her arms around the voice's owner.
"Peter, you're awake. How was your nap?"
"Good, but I'm hungry. Are you up for some eggs?"
"Sure."
Peter and Mary Jane made their way towards the kitchen of the apartment that they had lived in ever since Aunt Anna died twelve years ago. The apartment was modest: a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom with white walls and polyurethane floors. They put baby blue curtains on the three, very wide windows, which allowed Spider-Man to enter in and out as he pleased, for they no longer had the skylight in their old Manhattan apartment.
Their kitchen was small, but comfortable. You could invite two people over to eat maybe even four if you weren't claustrophobic. Six wooden cupboards hung above wooden counters, one of which held the stove, another the sink. The rest were littered with drawings of young women in fancy clothing, which were signed with a little "MJP."
"Do you have to leave these everywhere?" asked Peter as he collected them in a pile.
"Well, sorry. We can't all work solely on a computer," Mary Jane pointed out as she took her pictures. "You weren't exactly neat when it came to leaving your photos in one place."
"Yeah, I remember. I'll go work on the eggs now."
"Okay." Mary Jane ran her finger along the edge of the papers. The rustling sounded a bit like a sigh. "How long were you behind me, Peter?"
"Huh? Oh, just a couple of minutes."
"You really do agree with me?"
"Of course, MJ. Besides," his hazel eyes gleamed a bit mischievously. "It's not as if I look like I did when I was sixteen."
That was true. Fine lines had claimed the area around Peter's eyes as well, and a gray hair had appeared here and there.
"Oh, but you're still a stud," smiled Mary Jane.
"And you're still the most beautiful woman in the world," Peter cracked two eggs into a frying pan. "Why are you thinking about this? I'd love you no matter how you looked, anyway."
"I know. It's not really about my looks. I'm more worried about my age and… well…" Mary Jane sighed. "Peter, do you remember what day it is?"
"What day it is? I…" Peter's eyes widened. "Oh, God… is it?"
Mary Jane nodded.
Peter shook his head. How could he forget? They had this discussion every year around both this time and Halloween. "My God. I… It's been sixteen years now, hasn't it? It seems like yesterday."
"I know. And I'm worried."
"Worried? Why?"
"Well, it's because… Pete, soon I'll be menopausal and…"
"Menopausal!" Peter nearly let the eggs slip onto the floor. "Mary Jane, don't worry about that. That's at least another five years away."
"I know, but… those five years could go by quicker than we think."
Peter slid the finished scrambled eggs onto two plates, then walked over to Mary Jane and gave her a kiss. "Maybe, but we'll use the time we have until then."
Mary Jane sighed, but nodded. "I guess you're right."
The two of them smiled and wrapped their arms around each other. Still, Peter wondered as he squeezed his beloved wife if maybe... just maybe... their time was running out.
Maybe all MJ said was true…
~*~*~
"Of course it's true!" snapped the young woman as she pointed accusingly at the one who had spoken. "If you doubt me, keep in mind exactly whom I, and you answer to."
In the dimly lit basement of the damp, waterfront warehouse Chris O'Shale's eyes widened in surprise, but he was far from intimidated by the black-clad figure that stood before him. Chris had fought men twice as large as him. This girl, whose figure was so slight and thin that she couldn't be more than twenty, didn't scare him.
"I know whom I work for," he spat. "I just question why he sends a little girl to do his job. If you ask me, someone should be at home playing with her dolls."
The other men laughed and nodded in agreement. The young woman frowned as she played with the idea of throwing Chris' smelly, fat bulk through the next few walls, but she knew enough to calm herself down. His reaction was expected. Indeed, if she were in his position, she probably wouldn't have trusted herself, a mere girl of sixteen years, either.
"Fine, but you know what? No one asked you. However, your employer gave me the orders for the mission, and he told you to follow him." The young woman's azure eyes brimmed like a glowing fire beneath her mask. "And I don't think I need to remind you of what happens to people who don't follow his orders."
The men murmured and exchanged glances. Yes, they all knew very well what happened. They had seen it themselves all too often.
"Good. Don't worry; I'm not leading the mission. You are all, of course, older and more experienced than I am. I'm simply the middle woman for the boss' orders."
"What are his orders?" asked Jack Punch.
"Simply this. The six of you are not only the best hitmen in New York City, but also loyal to the boss. You have all served well in his operations for years under the cabal. Now the time for revenge upon our greatest enemy is approaching. You are to be the ones to carry out phase one."
"What's phase one?"
The young woman's mouth formed a sinister smile beneath her mask. "The kidnapping of Mary Jane Parker, courtesy of Norman Osborn."
~*~*~
With a final scrape of fork against plate, Mary Jane finished her eggs, then rose to get Peter's plate.
"Hey, I can get that."
"No, it's all right. You cooked, so I'll do the dishes." Mary Jane turned on the faucet and started to scrub the dishes. "Besides, I bet you want to go out on patrol anyway."
"Woah, hold it!" Peter exclaimed. "You're actually letting me go out? Encouraging me to go out? Is this some alternate universe?"
Mary Jane laughed as she put away the dishes. "No, I have a meeting with some Calvin Klein people today. I'm going to show them my new line, so I won't be home anyway. Go have fun, and be careful."
"Aw, thanks MJ." Peter gave Mary Jane a quick kiss on the cheek and walked off to the bedroom to get his costume. Mary Jane continued to talk as she collected her portfolio.
"Just remember to do some work on the ESU web page, today. I don't want you losing your design job and having to go back to the Bugle."
"Don't worry," Peter called back as he pulled on his tight spandex shirt and pants. "I'll get it done. I know how to manage my time."
Mary Jane rolled her eyes. "Sure you do. And that's why you're always on time, right?"
"I've been on time before!"
"When?"
"Um…" Peter snapped his fingers. "Flash's party. Remember when we all sent him off to go to the army?"
"Oh, you cheater. That was ages ago," Mary Jane laughed. "Back when we were all in college."
"Yeah. I still remember how we were all there. You, me, Flash… Harry… Gwen…"
Silence hung in the air. Peter and Mary Jane's hearts felt heavy as they remembered their old friends. The places they went, the conversations they had, and the jokes they told. It was all so long ago, yet the memories made it all feel so near. As if everything they once had was in reach again, but that was never to be.
"I miss everyone," said Mary Jane.
Peter nodded. "Me too."
"God, even Flash and Liz are gone. Flash went off to that coaching job in Chicago and Liz… well… she was in that… that accident."
Peter's eyes darkened. "I doubt it was an accident," he said gravely. "I swear he had a hand in it."
Mary Jane shook her head. "I don't know, Peter. I wouldn't put it past him, but there's no proof. The train crashed due to track malfunctions. You checked it out yourself and saw that a section of the track had been destroyed. It's not as if the track exploded by a pumpkin bomb. How could Norman have-"
"He owns people, MJ. Ever since the day he killed Ben, he… I don't know how he did it, but he somehow convinced everyone that Urich's book was a bunch of lies and that he was really a good guy. Now he's back where he used to be. He has stock in everything, he influences everyone!"
"I know, Peter. But you and I both realize that there's no evidence to convict him."
Peter nodded gravely. "Yes, I do realize that. But still, the motivation was there. He had every reason to get Liz out of the way. After all, Normie became the Goblin soon after her death."
Mary Jane sighed. "I know. I'm… I'm not saying he didn't have a hand in it. It's just… I… I don't know what we can do."
"Neither do I."
There was a brief pause. Mary Jane picked her purse off the coffee table. "Well, I'd better leave now if I want to make that meeting."
"Want a lift?" Peter asked as he pulled on his mask.
"No, I'll take the subway. I don't want to lose any papers while swinging across the city. See you later."
"Okay. Bye." Spider-Man opened the window, shot a web line to the nearest building and swung off.
He was three blocks away in less than half a minute, but Spider-Man's mind was still back in that conversation he had with Mary Jane.
"Menopause?" he thought to himself. "God, it seems like only yesterday MJ and I were talking about going back to college (didn't go very well, but never mind that…). She's right, time flies so quickly."
Spider-Man swung left then right as he maneuvered around a building. "I really do miss everyone. Liz, Flash, Aunt Anna, Ben Reilly, Aunt May, Harry, Gwen, Uncle Ben… sometimes I even miss everyone at the Bugle. Speaking of which, I should call Robbie soon, I haven't talked to him in awhile."
He let go of the web, landing against a wall and sticking as soon as he hit. "Maybe we should adopt a baby. Oh, but MJ hates that idea. She's afraid the real parents will come back for the baby later. I don't know. I understand, but at this point it may be our only option. When I get back home-"
Spider-Man's speech cut off as he felt a familiar tingle in the back of his head. "My spider sense?" He leaped away from the building as the fiery pumpkin bomb exploded on the wall behind him.
"Damn!" exclaimed a voice. "I thought I had him!"
Spider-Man glanced upward to see who had attacked him. He blinked at the sight of a young woman dressed in black riding a goblin glider.
"Oh brother. You're supposed to be a goblin? Jeez, I know costume ideas can be hard to think up but at the very least you could have given yourself some pointy ears."
"God, he was right! You are annoying," spat the woman as she hurled another bomb. Spider-Man easily dodged the blast and leapt onto the adjacent building, but he couldn't help but be confused as he considered his foe's last throw. It was weird, because it didn't seem as if she had thrown the bomb, but rather that it had shot from her hands. He didn't have much time to think of that now, though.
"Annoying? Moi? Well, I'm sorry but you started the fight. If you're not having any fun, that's not my problem." Spider-Man pressed his two middle fingers on the button of his shooters, sending two globs of webbing straight towards the young woman. Unfortunately, she dodged just before the webbing could strike her, zipping downward on her glider and upward to renew her attack.
The young woman jetted towards Spider-Man, arms out, her hands curled into claws as if to strangle him. Spider-Man leapt at her, hitting her stomach with his shoulder and knocking her off her glider and onto a nearby rooftop. The glider crashed onto the roof behind them as they landed. The woman shrieked in pain as she hit the roof.
"Okay," said Spider-Man. "Now tell me what this is-AUGH!" he cried out as she delivered a concrete-hard punch to his jaw. She was stronger than she looked; it wouldn't have surprised Spider-Man if her strength were superhuman. No one as small as her could ever hope to produce such a blow.
"But she's not as strong as me," Spider man thought. He threw a kick towards the woman. She seemed to sense the attack and leaped, but she wasn't quick enough to avoid it.
"Gyaah!" The young woman groaned as her chin and stomach scratched against the dirty roof on her fall. For a moment she wanted to stay there, but forced herself to her feet. "You're going to get it now, you slimy bastard!" Her leg muscles tensed to spring, when…
"Lydia, stop!"
The young woman paused as she heard the deep, clear voice come over her mask radio.
"What? But he's our enemy," she protested. "I can bring him down."
"No. Now is not the time. Report to base!"
"But…"
"Report to base. That is an order!"
The young woman's brow furrowed and her lips curled into a disgusted scowl. She snorted as she turned around and leapt from the building.
"Hey!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he followed her. "You can't leave! We were just getting acquain-"
The wall-crawler froze as he peered over the edge of the building. She was nowhere to be seen.
"What?" he wondered aloud. Suddenly, his spider-sense began tingling. Spider-Man dropped to the ground at the last minute, his heart pounding as he heard the roar of the goblin glider as it flew overhead. He poked his head up to see where it went. However it, like the girl, was gone.
Spider-Man took a deep breath and picked himself off the ground, his heart still beating wildly. That glider had almost gotten him. If he had waited another second, it would have gone through his back.
"Just like Ben," he sighed sadly. "Who was that girl, anyway? And whom was she talking to? Osborn, maybe? Kingsley? I need some answers."
He curled his finger underneath his chin as he considered his options. "Maybe I should give Robbie a call." Spider-Man shot off a webline and started for home.
The wall-crawler was rather pensive as he started off. What was that girl all about? She obviously had powers (mutant, maybe?) and knew of him, but had never met him before. And she had a leader, probably male (she said "he" before, right? Yeah, that was right.).
"Who on earth would send a teenager after me?" he said to himself. "Not that I have anything against teenagers, yours truly started off as a kid. Still, even if she is a mutant… sending her after me seems like a strange choice, especially if it is Kingsley or Osborn. Don't they have enough connections to send someone more experienced? Of course, Osborn sent Normie after me last year. And he's what… nineteen? But he had a motive behind that. What form of revenge would he-?"
Spider-Man stopped as he felt his spider-sense go off again. He looked around as he swung towards his apartment. Nobody was around him but he could feel his spider-sense continue to grow more and more intense as he kept going.
"Oh no," he whispered. Spider-Man kicked up his speed as quickly as he could.
As soon as his feet hit the apartment wall, he raced up to his window, ripping it open.
"Mary Jane? Mary Jane!"
Spider-Man gasped as he looked around the room. Sitting serenely on their coffee table, as if it had always been there, was Mary Jane's handbag, and a lantern shaped like a pumpkin.
~*~*~
The flick of the lighter echoed off the walls as Norman Osborn lit his cigar, illuminating for a brief moment the dark study. The old businessman's cold blue eyes glanced at the antique clock on the left wall as he breathed in the rich tobacco.
"She won't be long now," Osborn thought.
Sure enough, it was at that moment when a thick Russian accent came through the speakers.
"Meester Osborn?"
The old businessman exhaled the smoke that had been filling his lungs moments ago. It curled around Osborn's cryptic features as he pressed the red button. "Yes, Catherine?"
"Mees Lydia vishes to speak vith you."
"Send her in."
In a matter of minutes, Osborn could hear the pounding of Lydia's footsteps as she raced up the stairs, the click of the doorknob as she turned it, and the screech of the door as she slammed it open.
"I understand you're in the throes of a temper tantrum," said Osborn as he took another puff. "But if that door is broken, I'm taking it out of your money."
"Why did you have to call me off?" the young woman exclaimed as she slammed the door closed. "I could have handled him!"
"For one, no you couldn't. You were not prepared nor equipped to fight him at that moment. For two, it was not time."
Osborn's eyebrows deepened in a scowl. His voice boomed throughout the study. "I gave you specific instructions not to attack Spider-Man, yet you did it anyway. I told you to distract him at most. Distract him. And you deliberately disobeyed me!"
"But I thought…"
Osborn stood up and slammed his fist on the desk. "I don't care what you thought. You will follow orders!"
"I could have taken him!"
"If you think that, you underestimate him. I'll remind you of Harry and Normie…"
"Oh, not this crap again!" Lydia spat as she threw her hands into the air.
Osborn walked over to Lydia and grabbed her arm harshly. "Well, I think you need to hear 'this crap' again. Both of them underestimated Spider-Man. Harry lost to our enemy many times before the experimental serum Spider-Man drove him to use took his life. Normie, like you, fought Spider-Man against my bidding, before I was able to properly train him. His defeat, like the defeats of his father before him, drove Normie insane. You remember how I had to explain it to the press. How I had to publicly denounce him after I had put so much into him. After he had so much potential to hold the mantle of the Green Goblin!" Osborn loosened his grip on Lydia and lifted her chin up to meet her eyes. "Do you think I want to see that happen to you?"
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not Normie!"
"Normie said the same thing about Harry. We will not discuss this any longer." Osborn turned away from her and walked back to his desk. "You will follow my orders in the future."
"But-"
Osborn sat down and continued to smoke his cigar. "I said, 'You will follow my orders in the future.' Now if you have no more to say-"
"This is so unfair! I did what I did because I was trying to help us. I was trying to do what I thought you wanted. I don't even know why I try. Nothing ever pleases you. Nothing!"
"Lydia," Osborn said calmly.
"No, forget it!" the young woman turned to leave. "I'm going to bed."
"Lydia."
She sighed, then turned around. "Okay, what?"
"Come here."
"Oh…"
"Come here."
Lydia sighed, but obeyed. She walked over to Osborn and sat in his lap. The old businessman removed her black mask, letting her long, dark brown hair fall around her shoulders.
"You may be angry with me now, but think for a moment. Spider-Man is our mortal enemy. He killed Harry. He drove Normie insane. He ruined our chances for power and happiness. Would you have wanted to kill him as you were then? Would that have been the perfect and satisfying victory you and I so deserve?"
Lydia didn't say anything for a minute, but finally sighed and nodded. "No, you're right. It wouldn't have been a good victory."
Osborn pressed her closer to him as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We have already captured his wife. Our revenge will come soon, my daughter. Very, very soon."
To be continued…
Author: quietprofanity
Warnings: Violence
Archive: Yes
Disclaimer: Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Mary Jane Parker, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, etc. are all property of Marvel Comics and are used without permission for non-profit purposes. And Lydia Osborn is… uh… kind of my character, but not really.
Notes: Okay, this fanfic is a very big AU. Now, everyone, we're going to do a little exercise. Let's all close our eyes and pretend that everything past Peter Parker, Spider-Man Vol. 1 #75 never happened. And, uh… different stuff happened. Yeah, different stuff. Um, except for "Hobgoblin Lives." That happened… yeah.
Acknowledgments: Thank you Amy for your great Beta reading, Sazu for all your support and J.R. "MadGoblin" Fettinger, for coming up with the idea for this story in the first place. Visit his Web site
~*~*~
Sixteen years had come and gone, but Mary Jane Parker could recall the pain as if it were yesterday. As she looked out the living room window at the children playing on the concrete sidewalk, the laughing, happy children playing ball and tag, she remembered when she thought her own child would be among them.
The year of her pregnancy had been difficult for both her and her husband. In what seemed like an amazingly short time, Peter's old clone, now calling himself Ben Reilly, had come back. Aunt May had died. Peter was revealed to be the clone. The two of them moved to Portland. Peter lost his powers. Then they returned to New York just in time for the Onslaught crisis.
That was just the Cliff Notes version. Actually, more like the Cliff Notes of the Cliff notes.
At any rate, the strain had been hard on both of them, but Mary Jane knew it was the hope of having their child that had sustained them.
She closed her eyes and could see again the nightly dreams she had of her little girl. May (that's what they wanted to call her) always wore a pretty little pink dress and wide-brimmed white sun hat. Mary Jane never saw her face, but she could somehow still cover May's eyes as she walked behind her child in the backyard of their old house in Forrest Hills.
Mary Jane remembered how excited May was, how May begged to be able to open her eyes. She remembered how she finally would open her hands. She remembered how she smiled at the sound of May's gasp of joy as her little girl looked upon her present.
"Thank you, Mommy!" May cried as she gave her mother a squeeze. "I love my new swing set!"
Then Mary Jane would pick May up and place her on a swing. They would be there for hours, just talking as Mary Jane pushed her little girl. Sometimes, Peter would be there and tell May jokes. Other times Ben Reilly would be there too and would make May toys out of webbing.
Perhaps it was a bit contrived, but nevertheless Mary Jane loved that dream, and when she told her husband about it, he loved it too. Once he even claimed to have the dream himself.
But it turned out to be only a dream. Her labor came unexpectedly and painfully, and in the end, it was all for nothing. May was dead before she drew her first breath.
It was on this day sixteen years ago that she found out she was pregnant. Mary Jane sighed. Would she ever have another baby? They had tried before, but all that came out of it was failure and three miscarriages. She stared at her reflection in the window glass. She was 43 now. Gray streaks ran through her formerly scarlet hair. Fine lines were embedded in her once flawless face. Maybe it was time to stop hoping.
But God, she still wanted to be a mother so much. Especially on days like today, that were a constant reminder of what had been lost so unfairly. No, she wouldn't give up hope! She just couldn't! She looked at her reflection once more.
"So you have a few wrinkles," she said to it. "And maybe you've gone a little gray. No reason to stop. The clock hasn't run out just yet." She sighed. "Has it? I don't know."
Mary Jane laughed to herself a little and shrugged. "Oh well. Even if I am getting older, I still look good, right?"
"Of course you do," said a voice behind her. Mary Jane smiled as she turned and wrapped her arms around the voice's owner.
"Peter, you're awake. How was your nap?"
"Good, but I'm hungry. Are you up for some eggs?"
"Sure."
Peter and Mary Jane made their way towards the kitchen of the apartment that they had lived in ever since Aunt Anna died twelve years ago. The apartment was modest: a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom with white walls and polyurethane floors. They put baby blue curtains on the three, very wide windows, which allowed Spider-Man to enter in and out as he pleased, for they no longer had the skylight in their old Manhattan apartment.
Their kitchen was small, but comfortable. You could invite two people over to eat maybe even four if you weren't claustrophobic. Six wooden cupboards hung above wooden counters, one of which held the stove, another the sink. The rest were littered with drawings of young women in fancy clothing, which were signed with a little "MJP."
"Do you have to leave these everywhere?" asked Peter as he collected them in a pile.
"Well, sorry. We can't all work solely on a computer," Mary Jane pointed out as she took her pictures. "You weren't exactly neat when it came to leaving your photos in one place."
"Yeah, I remember. I'll go work on the eggs now."
"Okay." Mary Jane ran her finger along the edge of the papers. The rustling sounded a bit like a sigh. "How long were you behind me, Peter?"
"Huh? Oh, just a couple of minutes."
"You really do agree with me?"
"Of course, MJ. Besides," his hazel eyes gleamed a bit mischievously. "It's not as if I look like I did when I was sixteen."
That was true. Fine lines had claimed the area around Peter's eyes as well, and a gray hair had appeared here and there.
"Oh, but you're still a stud," smiled Mary Jane.
"And you're still the most beautiful woman in the world," Peter cracked two eggs into a frying pan. "Why are you thinking about this? I'd love you no matter how you looked, anyway."
"I know. It's not really about my looks. I'm more worried about my age and… well…" Mary Jane sighed. "Peter, do you remember what day it is?"
"What day it is? I…" Peter's eyes widened. "Oh, God… is it?"
Mary Jane nodded.
Peter shook his head. How could he forget? They had this discussion every year around both this time and Halloween. "My God. I… It's been sixteen years now, hasn't it? It seems like yesterday."
"I know. And I'm worried."
"Worried? Why?"
"Well, it's because… Pete, soon I'll be menopausal and…"
"Menopausal!" Peter nearly let the eggs slip onto the floor. "Mary Jane, don't worry about that. That's at least another five years away."
"I know, but… those five years could go by quicker than we think."
Peter slid the finished scrambled eggs onto two plates, then walked over to Mary Jane and gave her a kiss. "Maybe, but we'll use the time we have until then."
Mary Jane sighed, but nodded. "I guess you're right."
The two of them smiled and wrapped their arms around each other. Still, Peter wondered as he squeezed his beloved wife if maybe... just maybe... their time was running out.
Maybe all MJ said was true…
~*~*~
"Of course it's true!" snapped the young woman as she pointed accusingly at the one who had spoken. "If you doubt me, keep in mind exactly whom I, and you answer to."
In the dimly lit basement of the damp, waterfront warehouse Chris O'Shale's eyes widened in surprise, but he was far from intimidated by the black-clad figure that stood before him. Chris had fought men twice as large as him. This girl, whose figure was so slight and thin that she couldn't be more than twenty, didn't scare him.
"I know whom I work for," he spat. "I just question why he sends a little girl to do his job. If you ask me, someone should be at home playing with her dolls."
The other men laughed and nodded in agreement. The young woman frowned as she played with the idea of throwing Chris' smelly, fat bulk through the next few walls, but she knew enough to calm herself down. His reaction was expected. Indeed, if she were in his position, she probably wouldn't have trusted herself, a mere girl of sixteen years, either.
"Fine, but you know what? No one asked you. However, your employer gave me the orders for the mission, and he told you to follow him." The young woman's azure eyes brimmed like a glowing fire beneath her mask. "And I don't think I need to remind you of what happens to people who don't follow his orders."
The men murmured and exchanged glances. Yes, they all knew very well what happened. They had seen it themselves all too often.
"Good. Don't worry; I'm not leading the mission. You are all, of course, older and more experienced than I am. I'm simply the middle woman for the boss' orders."
"What are his orders?" asked Jack Punch.
"Simply this. The six of you are not only the best hitmen in New York City, but also loyal to the boss. You have all served well in his operations for years under the cabal. Now the time for revenge upon our greatest enemy is approaching. You are to be the ones to carry out phase one."
"What's phase one?"
The young woman's mouth formed a sinister smile beneath her mask. "The kidnapping of Mary Jane Parker, courtesy of Norman Osborn."
~*~*~
With a final scrape of fork against plate, Mary Jane finished her eggs, then rose to get Peter's plate.
"Hey, I can get that."
"No, it's all right. You cooked, so I'll do the dishes." Mary Jane turned on the faucet and started to scrub the dishes. "Besides, I bet you want to go out on patrol anyway."
"Woah, hold it!" Peter exclaimed. "You're actually letting me go out? Encouraging me to go out? Is this some alternate universe?"
Mary Jane laughed as she put away the dishes. "No, I have a meeting with some Calvin Klein people today. I'm going to show them my new line, so I won't be home anyway. Go have fun, and be careful."
"Aw, thanks MJ." Peter gave Mary Jane a quick kiss on the cheek and walked off to the bedroom to get his costume. Mary Jane continued to talk as she collected her portfolio.
"Just remember to do some work on the ESU web page, today. I don't want you losing your design job and having to go back to the Bugle."
"Don't worry," Peter called back as he pulled on his tight spandex shirt and pants. "I'll get it done. I know how to manage my time."
Mary Jane rolled her eyes. "Sure you do. And that's why you're always on time, right?"
"I've been on time before!"
"When?"
"Um…" Peter snapped his fingers. "Flash's party. Remember when we all sent him off to go to the army?"
"Oh, you cheater. That was ages ago," Mary Jane laughed. "Back when we were all in college."
"Yeah. I still remember how we were all there. You, me, Flash… Harry… Gwen…"
Silence hung in the air. Peter and Mary Jane's hearts felt heavy as they remembered their old friends. The places they went, the conversations they had, and the jokes they told. It was all so long ago, yet the memories made it all feel so near. As if everything they once had was in reach again, but that was never to be.
"I miss everyone," said Mary Jane.
Peter nodded. "Me too."
"God, even Flash and Liz are gone. Flash went off to that coaching job in Chicago and Liz… well… she was in that… that accident."
Peter's eyes darkened. "I doubt it was an accident," he said gravely. "I swear he had a hand in it."
Mary Jane shook her head. "I don't know, Peter. I wouldn't put it past him, but there's no proof. The train crashed due to track malfunctions. You checked it out yourself and saw that a section of the track had been destroyed. It's not as if the track exploded by a pumpkin bomb. How could Norman have-"
"He owns people, MJ. Ever since the day he killed Ben, he… I don't know how he did it, but he somehow convinced everyone that Urich's book was a bunch of lies and that he was really a good guy. Now he's back where he used to be. He has stock in everything, he influences everyone!"
"I know, Peter. But you and I both realize that there's no evidence to convict him."
Peter nodded gravely. "Yes, I do realize that. But still, the motivation was there. He had every reason to get Liz out of the way. After all, Normie became the Goblin soon after her death."
Mary Jane sighed. "I know. I'm… I'm not saying he didn't have a hand in it. It's just… I… I don't know what we can do."
"Neither do I."
There was a brief pause. Mary Jane picked her purse off the coffee table. "Well, I'd better leave now if I want to make that meeting."
"Want a lift?" Peter asked as he pulled on his mask.
"No, I'll take the subway. I don't want to lose any papers while swinging across the city. See you later."
"Okay. Bye." Spider-Man opened the window, shot a web line to the nearest building and swung off.
He was three blocks away in less than half a minute, but Spider-Man's mind was still back in that conversation he had with Mary Jane.
"Menopause?" he thought to himself. "God, it seems like only yesterday MJ and I were talking about going back to college (didn't go very well, but never mind that…). She's right, time flies so quickly."
Spider-Man swung left then right as he maneuvered around a building. "I really do miss everyone. Liz, Flash, Aunt Anna, Ben Reilly, Aunt May, Harry, Gwen, Uncle Ben… sometimes I even miss everyone at the Bugle. Speaking of which, I should call Robbie soon, I haven't talked to him in awhile."
He let go of the web, landing against a wall and sticking as soon as he hit. "Maybe we should adopt a baby. Oh, but MJ hates that idea. She's afraid the real parents will come back for the baby later. I don't know. I understand, but at this point it may be our only option. When I get back home-"
Spider-Man's speech cut off as he felt a familiar tingle in the back of his head. "My spider sense?" He leaped away from the building as the fiery pumpkin bomb exploded on the wall behind him.
"Damn!" exclaimed a voice. "I thought I had him!"
Spider-Man glanced upward to see who had attacked him. He blinked at the sight of a young woman dressed in black riding a goblin glider.
"Oh brother. You're supposed to be a goblin? Jeez, I know costume ideas can be hard to think up but at the very least you could have given yourself some pointy ears."
"God, he was right! You are annoying," spat the woman as she hurled another bomb. Spider-Man easily dodged the blast and leapt onto the adjacent building, but he couldn't help but be confused as he considered his foe's last throw. It was weird, because it didn't seem as if she had thrown the bomb, but rather that it had shot from her hands. He didn't have much time to think of that now, though.
"Annoying? Moi? Well, I'm sorry but you started the fight. If you're not having any fun, that's not my problem." Spider-Man pressed his two middle fingers on the button of his shooters, sending two globs of webbing straight towards the young woman. Unfortunately, she dodged just before the webbing could strike her, zipping downward on her glider and upward to renew her attack.
The young woman jetted towards Spider-Man, arms out, her hands curled into claws as if to strangle him. Spider-Man leapt at her, hitting her stomach with his shoulder and knocking her off her glider and onto a nearby rooftop. The glider crashed onto the roof behind them as they landed. The woman shrieked in pain as she hit the roof.
"Okay," said Spider-Man. "Now tell me what this is-AUGH!" he cried out as she delivered a concrete-hard punch to his jaw. She was stronger than she looked; it wouldn't have surprised Spider-Man if her strength were superhuman. No one as small as her could ever hope to produce such a blow.
"But she's not as strong as me," Spider man thought. He threw a kick towards the woman. She seemed to sense the attack and leaped, but she wasn't quick enough to avoid it.
"Gyaah!" The young woman groaned as her chin and stomach scratched against the dirty roof on her fall. For a moment she wanted to stay there, but forced herself to her feet. "You're going to get it now, you slimy bastard!" Her leg muscles tensed to spring, when…
"Lydia, stop!"
The young woman paused as she heard the deep, clear voice come over her mask radio.
"What? But he's our enemy," she protested. "I can bring him down."
"No. Now is not the time. Report to base!"
"But…"
"Report to base. That is an order!"
The young woman's brow furrowed and her lips curled into a disgusted scowl. She snorted as she turned around and leapt from the building.
"Hey!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he followed her. "You can't leave! We were just getting acquain-"
The wall-crawler froze as he peered over the edge of the building. She was nowhere to be seen.
"What?" he wondered aloud. Suddenly, his spider-sense began tingling. Spider-Man dropped to the ground at the last minute, his heart pounding as he heard the roar of the goblin glider as it flew overhead. He poked his head up to see where it went. However it, like the girl, was gone.
Spider-Man took a deep breath and picked himself off the ground, his heart still beating wildly. That glider had almost gotten him. If he had waited another second, it would have gone through his back.
"Just like Ben," he sighed sadly. "Who was that girl, anyway? And whom was she talking to? Osborn, maybe? Kingsley? I need some answers."
He curled his finger underneath his chin as he considered his options. "Maybe I should give Robbie a call." Spider-Man shot off a webline and started for home.
The wall-crawler was rather pensive as he started off. What was that girl all about? She obviously had powers (mutant, maybe?) and knew of him, but had never met him before. And she had a leader, probably male (she said "he" before, right? Yeah, that was right.).
"Who on earth would send a teenager after me?" he said to himself. "Not that I have anything against teenagers, yours truly started off as a kid. Still, even if she is a mutant… sending her after me seems like a strange choice, especially if it is Kingsley or Osborn. Don't they have enough connections to send someone more experienced? Of course, Osborn sent Normie after me last year. And he's what… nineteen? But he had a motive behind that. What form of revenge would he-?"
Spider-Man stopped as he felt his spider-sense go off again. He looked around as he swung towards his apartment. Nobody was around him but he could feel his spider-sense continue to grow more and more intense as he kept going.
"Oh no," he whispered. Spider-Man kicked up his speed as quickly as he could.
As soon as his feet hit the apartment wall, he raced up to his window, ripping it open.
"Mary Jane? Mary Jane!"
Spider-Man gasped as he looked around the room. Sitting serenely on their coffee table, as if it had always been there, was Mary Jane's handbag, and a lantern shaped like a pumpkin.
~*~*~
The flick of the lighter echoed off the walls as Norman Osborn lit his cigar, illuminating for a brief moment the dark study. The old businessman's cold blue eyes glanced at the antique clock on the left wall as he breathed in the rich tobacco.
"She won't be long now," Osborn thought.
Sure enough, it was at that moment when a thick Russian accent came through the speakers.
"Meester Osborn?"
The old businessman exhaled the smoke that had been filling his lungs moments ago. It curled around Osborn's cryptic features as he pressed the red button. "Yes, Catherine?"
"Mees Lydia vishes to speak vith you."
"Send her in."
In a matter of minutes, Osborn could hear the pounding of Lydia's footsteps as she raced up the stairs, the click of the doorknob as she turned it, and the screech of the door as she slammed it open.
"I understand you're in the throes of a temper tantrum," said Osborn as he took another puff. "But if that door is broken, I'm taking it out of your money."
"Why did you have to call me off?" the young woman exclaimed as she slammed the door closed. "I could have handled him!"
"For one, no you couldn't. You were not prepared nor equipped to fight him at that moment. For two, it was not time."
Osborn's eyebrows deepened in a scowl. His voice boomed throughout the study. "I gave you specific instructions not to attack Spider-Man, yet you did it anyway. I told you to distract him at most. Distract him. And you deliberately disobeyed me!"
"But I thought…"
Osborn stood up and slammed his fist on the desk. "I don't care what you thought. You will follow orders!"
"I could have taken him!"
"If you think that, you underestimate him. I'll remind you of Harry and Normie…"
"Oh, not this crap again!" Lydia spat as she threw her hands into the air.
Osborn walked over to Lydia and grabbed her arm harshly. "Well, I think you need to hear 'this crap' again. Both of them underestimated Spider-Man. Harry lost to our enemy many times before the experimental serum Spider-Man drove him to use took his life. Normie, like you, fought Spider-Man against my bidding, before I was able to properly train him. His defeat, like the defeats of his father before him, drove Normie insane. You remember how I had to explain it to the press. How I had to publicly denounce him after I had put so much into him. After he had so much potential to hold the mantle of the Green Goblin!" Osborn loosened his grip on Lydia and lifted her chin up to meet her eyes. "Do you think I want to see that happen to you?"
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not Normie!"
"Normie said the same thing about Harry. We will not discuss this any longer." Osborn turned away from her and walked back to his desk. "You will follow my orders in the future."
"But-"
Osborn sat down and continued to smoke his cigar. "I said, 'You will follow my orders in the future.' Now if you have no more to say-"
"This is so unfair! I did what I did because I was trying to help us. I was trying to do what I thought you wanted. I don't even know why I try. Nothing ever pleases you. Nothing!"
"Lydia," Osborn said calmly.
"No, forget it!" the young woman turned to leave. "I'm going to bed."
"Lydia."
She sighed, then turned around. "Okay, what?"
"Come here."
"Oh…"
"Come here."
Lydia sighed, but obeyed. She walked over to Osborn and sat in his lap. The old businessman removed her black mask, letting her long, dark brown hair fall around her shoulders.
"You may be angry with me now, but think for a moment. Spider-Man is our mortal enemy. He killed Harry. He drove Normie insane. He ruined our chances for power and happiness. Would you have wanted to kill him as you were then? Would that have been the perfect and satisfying victory you and I so deserve?"
Lydia didn't say anything for a minute, but finally sighed and nodded. "No, you're right. It wouldn't have been a good victory."
Osborn pressed her closer to him as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We have already captured his wife. Our revenge will come soon, my daughter. Very, very soon."
To be continued…