Daddy's Girl (Part 2)
Title: Daddy's Girl Part 2
Author: quietprofanity
Fandom: Spider-Man
Warnings: Violence
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: Same as before. This story is an AU where everything after the clone saga (bar "Hobgoblin Lives") never happened. Other stuff happened. ^_^
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Pet Tigress and Mr. Sinister for doing the Betaing while Amy was away, and thanks again to J.R. "MadGoblin" Fettinger for coming up with the idea for this story.
~*~*~
"No!" Spider-Man grabbed the now burned-out lantern and hurled it against the wall. He glared as the pieces shattered and fell to the floor, trying to hold back his frustrated tears. If only he had given Mary Jane that lift. If only he had stayed with her. If only…
Spider-Man sighed. Whatever he might have done, it wasn't going to help him now. Mary Jane was gone. Norman got to her somehow.
It was up to him to get her back.
Spider-Man leaped to the window and swung off into the dusky sky. "This won't happen again," he thought. "I won't let you hurt her, Norman. I swear it!"
~*~*~
Mary Jane's eyes flicked open and closed as she struggled to keep her consciousness. Where was she? How did she get here? She shook her head back and forth, struggling to break through the effects of the drugs.
The drugs? Oh, yes. Now she remembered.
Mary Jane had been walking to her meeting when the six Scriers pulled her off the sidewalk and into the alleyway. They shoved her into the van; four of them holding her down while the fifth pressed the white rag over her nose and mouth. The world went black as Mary Jane felt the van drive off.
And now she was here in a pitch-black room. Her hands were tied behind her back, her feet to the legs of the chair.
"What am I going to do?" she asked herself. "If only I could reach my spider-tracer and call Peter, but…"
Mary Jane's thoughts cut off as the sound of heavy footsteps came toward her. She heard the flick of a switch and squinted as a dim light filled the room.
"Have a nice nap?" asked a sneering voice.
Mary Jane reeled back at Norman Osborn's condescending smile. Her hands struggled to reach the tracer.
"Looking for this?" Osborn reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a small, red, spider-shaped mechanism. "I think I'll borrow your little contraption for a bit."
"What do you want from me?" Mary Jane asked as Osborn strode over to the nearby wall.
"What do I want? You'll see. However, at the moment there are more pressing matters."
The old businessman pushed a red button on the side of the wall. In a matter of minutes, the door to the room opened and a young woman, masked and dressed fully in black entered the room.
Osborn nodded in approval. "Ah, Lydia. Right on time. Why don't you take off your mask? I'm sure our guest would like to see you."
Lydia shot a cold look towards Mary Jane. "Her?"
"Yes, her."
Mary Jane's eyes widened as the girl scowled and removed her mask. She had never seen this girl before, but something about her seemed so familiar.
Osborn took Lydia aside and pressed the spider-tracer into her hand. "This will bring him to you. Just press the button to activate it. It may provoke something in you, but if it does, ignore it."
"Provoke something?" wondered Mary Jane. "What could that mean? Unless she… but that's impossible."
"Remember." Osborn stared gravely into Lydia's eyes. "I want him alive."
The young woman sighed in irritation.
"Don't do that. Trust me. You'll see my meaning soon enough. Now go. Don't disappoint me."
Lydia gave a stiff nod and a "Yes, father." Then she left the room.
Osborn smiled as the door closed behind her. "I know you won't." The old businessman turned back to Mary Jane. A smirk appeared on his face at her confused look. "Something wrong, my dear?"
Mary Jane stared dumbfounded at the door, as if she could still see the one who had been there moments ago. "You… you have a daughter?"
"Oh, indeed. I adopted her quite some time ago." Osborn began to circle around Mary Jane's chair. "Pretty little thing, isn't she? Quite bright, as well. I'm very proud of her."
"But…" Mary Jane turned her head back and forth as Osborn walked around her. "Why haven't I heard of her? I talked to Liz all the time before her death. If she had a sister in law, I'm sure she would have told me."
"If she had known," explained Osborn. "She never did."
"But why?"
Osborn stopped in front of Mary Jane and looked into her fearful green eyes. "Why? To protect her, of course. You know from experience what hounds the media can be, and my return from the dead gave me a good amount of press. I would never want to expose any sweet, innocent child to that. Would you?"
The old businessman gave his captive a sinister smile that forced Mary Jane to instinctively back up against her chair. Osborn chuckled at her reaction. "Well, never mind her."
Mary Jane gasped as she felt Osborn's burly hand grasp around the front of her shirt and pull her forward. Her lip trembled as she stared back into her captor's cold blue eyes.
"Right now, you and I have to talk."
~*~*~
"Norman!" Spider-Man cupped his hands around his mouth in hopes that his voice would travel further and find his foe, but his call, like the others before it, was left unanswered. He sighed and gazed sadly at the illuminated Daily Bugle building that stood in front of him.
"Where is he? I've been to the bridge, the Osborn foundation, and now the building where Ben Reilly died. God! What if I'm too late? What if Mary Jane's already…" he stopped himself and shook his head. "No, I don't think Norman would kill her without me to witness it. He'd want to see me suffer. At least I think he would. I hope he would…"
Spider-Man gazed into the darkening sky. A few white stars twinkled dimly. "Please," he whispered. "Please let me find her. I don't want this to happen agai-"
All of a sudden, Spider-Man felt his spider-sense tingle, leading him east. "The spider-tracer! Mary Jane must have activated it!"
His heart pounded with excitement as he shot a webline and swung towards the source. He could tell he was close. Spider-Man swore he could hear the motor of the goblin glider in the distance.
"The signal's coming from the roof," Spider-Man said as he jumped off his web and onto the side of a thirty-story skyscraper. Using all the speed he could muster, Spider-Man climbed towards the top of the building. "Don't worry, MJ," he thought. "I'll save you."
He grabbed the building's edge and pushed himself up and on it. The wall-crawler started as he saw who stood in front of him.
"No!"
The young woman's eyes showed an evil scowl as she pressed the button on the spider-tracer, turning it off. "Yours, no?" she asked as he threw the tracer back to him.
Spider-Man glared as he caught it. "Where are they? Where has Osborn taken my wife?"
"I'm sorry," said the young woman coyly. "That information is classified."
"I don't have time for games, kid!"
"What a shame. I have plenty!"
The young woman laughed as she thrust her hands at Spider-Man, sending jolts of energy hurtling straight towards him.
~*~*~
Osborn's mouth formed a wide smile at the sound of Mary Jane's shriek. "Ah, did I scare you, my dear?"
The question hadn't sunken in when Mary Jane felt the strong hand crack across her face.
"Good!" Osborn sneered. "You should be scared."
Tears stung Mary Jane's eyes as Osborn smacked her again. She gasped as her captor threw her back against her chair. His sadistic laugh rang in her ears.
"You foolish woman." The old businessman's teeth bared as he spoke. "You could have had everything, but you threw it all away."
Mary Jane could feel her chest rise and fall against her bonds as she struggled to breathe. Red and gray hair draped around her face as her head hung down from her shoulders.
"My son could have given you all you ever wanted. Money. Connections. You could have been the actress you always dreamed of being, but you bit the hand that so eagerly fed you."
Mary Jane shook her head. "It wasn't like that."
Osborn wasn't listening. "It was your fault he took drugs."
"But he took drugs before I ever…"
"It was your treatment of him that caused his downfall. Yours, your accursed husband's and that stupid, simpering wife of his!"
"You can't think it was your abuse of him, can you?" Mary Jane thought bitterly. She would have liked to say that, but she knew it would enrage him further and that was the last thing she wanted. Instead she said, "You killed her, didn't you?"
Her captor's rage subsided. Osborn crossed his arms and gave Mary Jane a smug look. "She was in the way. I wouldn't have been able to educate Normie with her around."
Mary Jane's brow furrowed, "She was my friend."
"All the more reason. Revenge is a sweet, sweet prize and I shall soon have the ultimate revenge against your husband. Best of all, I have you to thank for it."
"Wh-What will you do to me?" asked Mary Jane.
"What will I do to you?" Osborn laughed. "You think I'm going to kill you? Murder you in front of him like I did to your little blonde friend? No no, Mrs. Parker. I have something far greater in store."
"What?"
"Look to your left."
Mary Jane did so. All she saw was the white wall. "But…"
She heard the click of a switch and the wall opened up to reveal a large screen. With another click, the screen turned on, showing a picture of a building rooftop where two figures faced each other.
"Peter?" Mary Jane's eyes widened. "And… is that Lydia?"
"Yes." Osborn moved back to his captive as he continued. "The camera is placed on a building I own not far from the Daily Bugle. Here."
Mary Jane gave a startled "Oh!" as Osborn roughly turned her chair to face the screen. His hand clamped her shoulder.
"Don't want you craning your neck the whole time. Now pay attention, for tonight the Osborn/Parker war comes to a close. Tonight my daughter and I shall destroy Spider-Man!"
~*~*~
Spider-Man sprung backwards as the blast shot towards him, then forward at the young woman. "Where is she, kid?"
The glider shot upwards before Spider-Man could reach its rider. He somersaulted in the air before landing on the roof.
"Like I said, classified information and telling you is not in my job description. I'm just the pest control."
As Spider-Man dodged the incoming bombs, he realized that if he were ever going to get that information out of her, he'd have to force it out. Judging by her speed, Spider-Man guessed it would probably be awhile before he caught her. He tried something else.
"Why did Osborn send you, then?" He shot a stream of webbing toward the young woman as he spoke. "Doesn't he have older and more experienced people for this?"
The young woman ducked, avoiding the webbing, then jetted towards her foe. "Don't underestimate me, old man. I may be young, but I'm more than a match for you."
"Old man?" Spider-Man grabbed onto the young woman's glider as it flew overhead. "Yeesh. Meanwhile, Wolverine's been doing this hero stuff since I was a kid, but does anyone call him an old man? Nooooo, but Spidey's the old timer."
Spider-Man pulled himself up on the glider, then grabbed onto its rider in an attempt to get her on the ground. The young woman struggled fiercely against him, but they still crashed onto the roof. She tried to escape, but Spider-Man quickly pinned her down by her upper arms.
"Get off of me!"
"Who are you? Why did Osborn send you?
The young woman cried out as she squirmed beneath her captor's grasp. "You killed my brother. Killed him before I knew him and you drove my nephew insane!"
Spider-Man blinked in surprise. He recognized these threats. Osborn had told him similar ones before. He knew she meant Harry and Normie, but…
"Your 'brother'? Your 'nephew? You don't mean Harry and Normie!"
"I do!"
"That's impossible. Osborn doesn't have any children."
With a sudden burst of strength, the young woman threw Spider-Man off her. She spun around as he tried to get up and kicked him in the face. "Maybe in the stories you've heard, but I am Lydia Osborn and I am Norman Osborn's daughter. And we will have our revenge for what you did to our family!"
Spider-Man quickly recovered from the kick and leaped towards Lydia. Unfortunately, she seemed to once again sense the blow and flipped backwards a second before he could catch her. Lydia turned and ran back to her glider.
"She moves almost as fast as I do," Spider-Man thought as he raced after her. "And she's just as agile. I still don't understand how she's reading my moves. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she had a… No, that's impossible."
The glider was almost in Lydia's reach. She activated it from a switch on her arm, sending the machine hovering into the air. The muscles in her legs tensed then let loose as he jumped in its direction, aiming to land on it.
Spider-Man wasn't about to let her get away again, though. He thrust his arm towards her, shooting a thin stream of webbing from his wrist. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me where my wife is!"
The webbing stuck in a clump on Lydia's back. Spider-Man yanked on it, aiming to bring her back to the roof. However, the line was too long and he didn't use enough strength. Lydia knocked against the wall of the building. She shrieked as the webline snapped on the roof's edge and she began to plummet towards the ground.
"No!" Spider-Man raced to the edge of the building and reached over to try and catch her.
The young woman had her own plans, though. She turned around mid-air and touched her fingers to the wall. At first, Spider-Man thought she was trying to catch the upcoming ledge, but he noticed that the rate of her falling started to slow, then stop completely. His eyes widened in shock as he realized what was happening.
Lydia was sticking to the wall.
"What-? How-?" Spider-Man started to say. He was so shocked that he ignored his Spider-sense. He barely realized what was happening when the stun blast hit him, the world going dark as he struck the ground.
~*~*~
In the dimly lit room, Mary Jane Parker's flesh turned pale and cold. Her green eyes bulged. Her heart pounded in her chest.
Not because her husband just fainted. Not because Osborn's fearful laugh celebrating his daughter's victory. And not because she feared what would happen next.
She was afraid because she now realized that Lydia was about sixteen years old. Her dark brown hair was the same color as Peter's. Her bright blue eyes resembled the late Ben Parker's. She had Mary Jane's own high cheekbones and nose. When she moved, she was just as fast as Peter, just as agile. She fought just like him. She sensed his attacks.
And she stuck to walls.
"No…" Mary Jane whispered. "She can't be… she's dead. I…" A deep sob broke off her speech. Tears formed under her eyes. "I felt her die. No… she can't be her!"
Osborn's sinister grin revealed the answer Mary Jane didn't want to hear. "Remember when I said I would have you to thank for my ultimate revenge? Thank you for my lovely child, Mary Jane. She has truly been a joy to me."
Mary Jane's scream echoed throughout the room, then dissolved into heavy, choking sobs.
To be continued…
Author: quietprofanity
Fandom: Spider-Man
Warnings: Violence
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: Same as before. This story is an AU where everything after the clone saga (bar "Hobgoblin Lives") never happened. Other stuff happened. ^_^
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Pet Tigress and Mr. Sinister for doing the Betaing while Amy was away, and thanks again to J.R. "MadGoblin" Fettinger for coming up with the idea for this story.
~*~*~
"No!" Spider-Man grabbed the now burned-out lantern and hurled it against the wall. He glared as the pieces shattered and fell to the floor, trying to hold back his frustrated tears. If only he had given Mary Jane that lift. If only he had stayed with her. If only…
Spider-Man sighed. Whatever he might have done, it wasn't going to help him now. Mary Jane was gone. Norman got to her somehow.
It was up to him to get her back.
Spider-Man leaped to the window and swung off into the dusky sky. "This won't happen again," he thought. "I won't let you hurt her, Norman. I swear it!"
~*~*~
Mary Jane's eyes flicked open and closed as she struggled to keep her consciousness. Where was she? How did she get here? She shook her head back and forth, struggling to break through the effects of the drugs.
The drugs? Oh, yes. Now she remembered.
Mary Jane had been walking to her meeting when the six Scriers pulled her off the sidewalk and into the alleyway. They shoved her into the van; four of them holding her down while the fifth pressed the white rag over her nose and mouth. The world went black as Mary Jane felt the van drive off.
And now she was here in a pitch-black room. Her hands were tied behind her back, her feet to the legs of the chair.
"What am I going to do?" she asked herself. "If only I could reach my spider-tracer and call Peter, but…"
Mary Jane's thoughts cut off as the sound of heavy footsteps came toward her. She heard the flick of a switch and squinted as a dim light filled the room.
"Have a nice nap?" asked a sneering voice.
Mary Jane reeled back at Norman Osborn's condescending smile. Her hands struggled to reach the tracer.
"Looking for this?" Osborn reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a small, red, spider-shaped mechanism. "I think I'll borrow your little contraption for a bit."
"What do you want from me?" Mary Jane asked as Osborn strode over to the nearby wall.
"What do I want? You'll see. However, at the moment there are more pressing matters."
The old businessman pushed a red button on the side of the wall. In a matter of minutes, the door to the room opened and a young woman, masked and dressed fully in black entered the room.
Osborn nodded in approval. "Ah, Lydia. Right on time. Why don't you take off your mask? I'm sure our guest would like to see you."
Lydia shot a cold look towards Mary Jane. "Her?"
"Yes, her."
Mary Jane's eyes widened as the girl scowled and removed her mask. She had never seen this girl before, but something about her seemed so familiar.
Osborn took Lydia aside and pressed the spider-tracer into her hand. "This will bring him to you. Just press the button to activate it. It may provoke something in you, but if it does, ignore it."
"Provoke something?" wondered Mary Jane. "What could that mean? Unless she… but that's impossible."
"Remember." Osborn stared gravely into Lydia's eyes. "I want him alive."
The young woman sighed in irritation.
"Don't do that. Trust me. You'll see my meaning soon enough. Now go. Don't disappoint me."
Lydia gave a stiff nod and a "Yes, father." Then she left the room.
Osborn smiled as the door closed behind her. "I know you won't." The old businessman turned back to Mary Jane. A smirk appeared on his face at her confused look. "Something wrong, my dear?"
Mary Jane stared dumbfounded at the door, as if she could still see the one who had been there moments ago. "You… you have a daughter?"
"Oh, indeed. I adopted her quite some time ago." Osborn began to circle around Mary Jane's chair. "Pretty little thing, isn't she? Quite bright, as well. I'm very proud of her."
"But…" Mary Jane turned her head back and forth as Osborn walked around her. "Why haven't I heard of her? I talked to Liz all the time before her death. If she had a sister in law, I'm sure she would have told me."
"If she had known," explained Osborn. "She never did."
"But why?"
Osborn stopped in front of Mary Jane and looked into her fearful green eyes. "Why? To protect her, of course. You know from experience what hounds the media can be, and my return from the dead gave me a good amount of press. I would never want to expose any sweet, innocent child to that. Would you?"
The old businessman gave his captive a sinister smile that forced Mary Jane to instinctively back up against her chair. Osborn chuckled at her reaction. "Well, never mind her."
Mary Jane gasped as she felt Osborn's burly hand grasp around the front of her shirt and pull her forward. Her lip trembled as she stared back into her captor's cold blue eyes.
"Right now, you and I have to talk."
~*~*~
"Norman!" Spider-Man cupped his hands around his mouth in hopes that his voice would travel further and find his foe, but his call, like the others before it, was left unanswered. He sighed and gazed sadly at the illuminated Daily Bugle building that stood in front of him.
"Where is he? I've been to the bridge, the Osborn foundation, and now the building where Ben Reilly died. God! What if I'm too late? What if Mary Jane's already…" he stopped himself and shook his head. "No, I don't think Norman would kill her without me to witness it. He'd want to see me suffer. At least I think he would. I hope he would…"
Spider-Man gazed into the darkening sky. A few white stars twinkled dimly. "Please," he whispered. "Please let me find her. I don't want this to happen agai-"
All of a sudden, Spider-Man felt his spider-sense tingle, leading him east. "The spider-tracer! Mary Jane must have activated it!"
His heart pounded with excitement as he shot a webline and swung towards the source. He could tell he was close. Spider-Man swore he could hear the motor of the goblin glider in the distance.
"The signal's coming from the roof," Spider-Man said as he jumped off his web and onto the side of a thirty-story skyscraper. Using all the speed he could muster, Spider-Man climbed towards the top of the building. "Don't worry, MJ," he thought. "I'll save you."
He grabbed the building's edge and pushed himself up and on it. The wall-crawler started as he saw who stood in front of him.
"No!"
The young woman's eyes showed an evil scowl as she pressed the button on the spider-tracer, turning it off. "Yours, no?" she asked as he threw the tracer back to him.
Spider-Man glared as he caught it. "Where are they? Where has Osborn taken my wife?"
"I'm sorry," said the young woman coyly. "That information is classified."
"I don't have time for games, kid!"
"What a shame. I have plenty!"
The young woman laughed as she thrust her hands at Spider-Man, sending jolts of energy hurtling straight towards him.
~*~*~
Osborn's mouth formed a wide smile at the sound of Mary Jane's shriek. "Ah, did I scare you, my dear?"
The question hadn't sunken in when Mary Jane felt the strong hand crack across her face.
"Good!" Osborn sneered. "You should be scared."
Tears stung Mary Jane's eyes as Osborn smacked her again. She gasped as her captor threw her back against her chair. His sadistic laugh rang in her ears.
"You foolish woman." The old businessman's teeth bared as he spoke. "You could have had everything, but you threw it all away."
Mary Jane could feel her chest rise and fall against her bonds as she struggled to breathe. Red and gray hair draped around her face as her head hung down from her shoulders.
"My son could have given you all you ever wanted. Money. Connections. You could have been the actress you always dreamed of being, but you bit the hand that so eagerly fed you."
Mary Jane shook her head. "It wasn't like that."
Osborn wasn't listening. "It was your fault he took drugs."
"But he took drugs before I ever…"
"It was your treatment of him that caused his downfall. Yours, your accursed husband's and that stupid, simpering wife of his!"
"You can't think it was your abuse of him, can you?" Mary Jane thought bitterly. She would have liked to say that, but she knew it would enrage him further and that was the last thing she wanted. Instead she said, "You killed her, didn't you?"
Her captor's rage subsided. Osborn crossed his arms and gave Mary Jane a smug look. "She was in the way. I wouldn't have been able to educate Normie with her around."
Mary Jane's brow furrowed, "She was my friend."
"All the more reason. Revenge is a sweet, sweet prize and I shall soon have the ultimate revenge against your husband. Best of all, I have you to thank for it."
"Wh-What will you do to me?" asked Mary Jane.
"What will I do to you?" Osborn laughed. "You think I'm going to kill you? Murder you in front of him like I did to your little blonde friend? No no, Mrs. Parker. I have something far greater in store."
"What?"
"Look to your left."
Mary Jane did so. All she saw was the white wall. "But…"
She heard the click of a switch and the wall opened up to reveal a large screen. With another click, the screen turned on, showing a picture of a building rooftop where two figures faced each other.
"Peter?" Mary Jane's eyes widened. "And… is that Lydia?"
"Yes." Osborn moved back to his captive as he continued. "The camera is placed on a building I own not far from the Daily Bugle. Here."
Mary Jane gave a startled "Oh!" as Osborn roughly turned her chair to face the screen. His hand clamped her shoulder.
"Don't want you craning your neck the whole time. Now pay attention, for tonight the Osborn/Parker war comes to a close. Tonight my daughter and I shall destroy Spider-Man!"
~*~*~
Spider-Man sprung backwards as the blast shot towards him, then forward at the young woman. "Where is she, kid?"
The glider shot upwards before Spider-Man could reach its rider. He somersaulted in the air before landing on the roof.
"Like I said, classified information and telling you is not in my job description. I'm just the pest control."
As Spider-Man dodged the incoming bombs, he realized that if he were ever going to get that information out of her, he'd have to force it out. Judging by her speed, Spider-Man guessed it would probably be awhile before he caught her. He tried something else.
"Why did Osborn send you, then?" He shot a stream of webbing toward the young woman as he spoke. "Doesn't he have older and more experienced people for this?"
The young woman ducked, avoiding the webbing, then jetted towards her foe. "Don't underestimate me, old man. I may be young, but I'm more than a match for you."
"Old man?" Spider-Man grabbed onto the young woman's glider as it flew overhead. "Yeesh. Meanwhile, Wolverine's been doing this hero stuff since I was a kid, but does anyone call him an old man? Nooooo, but Spidey's the old timer."
Spider-Man pulled himself up on the glider, then grabbed onto its rider in an attempt to get her on the ground. The young woman struggled fiercely against him, but they still crashed onto the roof. She tried to escape, but Spider-Man quickly pinned her down by her upper arms.
"Get off of me!"
"Who are you? Why did Osborn send you?
The young woman cried out as she squirmed beneath her captor's grasp. "You killed my brother. Killed him before I knew him and you drove my nephew insane!"
Spider-Man blinked in surprise. He recognized these threats. Osborn had told him similar ones before. He knew she meant Harry and Normie, but…
"Your 'brother'? Your 'nephew? You don't mean Harry and Normie!"
"I do!"
"That's impossible. Osborn doesn't have any children."
With a sudden burst of strength, the young woman threw Spider-Man off her. She spun around as he tried to get up and kicked him in the face. "Maybe in the stories you've heard, but I am Lydia Osborn and I am Norman Osborn's daughter. And we will have our revenge for what you did to our family!"
Spider-Man quickly recovered from the kick and leaped towards Lydia. Unfortunately, she seemed to once again sense the blow and flipped backwards a second before he could catch her. Lydia turned and ran back to her glider.
"She moves almost as fast as I do," Spider-Man thought as he raced after her. "And she's just as agile. I still don't understand how she's reading my moves. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she had a… No, that's impossible."
The glider was almost in Lydia's reach. She activated it from a switch on her arm, sending the machine hovering into the air. The muscles in her legs tensed then let loose as he jumped in its direction, aiming to land on it.
Spider-Man wasn't about to let her get away again, though. He thrust his arm towards her, shooting a thin stream of webbing from his wrist. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me where my wife is!"
The webbing stuck in a clump on Lydia's back. Spider-Man yanked on it, aiming to bring her back to the roof. However, the line was too long and he didn't use enough strength. Lydia knocked against the wall of the building. She shrieked as the webline snapped on the roof's edge and she began to plummet towards the ground.
"No!" Spider-Man raced to the edge of the building and reached over to try and catch her.
The young woman had her own plans, though. She turned around mid-air and touched her fingers to the wall. At first, Spider-Man thought she was trying to catch the upcoming ledge, but he noticed that the rate of her falling started to slow, then stop completely. His eyes widened in shock as he realized what was happening.
Lydia was sticking to the wall.
"What-? How-?" Spider-Man started to say. He was so shocked that he ignored his Spider-sense. He barely realized what was happening when the stun blast hit him, the world going dark as he struck the ground.
~*~*~
In the dimly lit room, Mary Jane Parker's flesh turned pale and cold. Her green eyes bulged. Her heart pounded in her chest.
Not because her husband just fainted. Not because Osborn's fearful laugh celebrating his daughter's victory. And not because she feared what would happen next.
She was afraid because she now realized that Lydia was about sixteen years old. Her dark brown hair was the same color as Peter's. Her bright blue eyes resembled the late Ben Parker's. She had Mary Jane's own high cheekbones and nose. When she moved, she was just as fast as Peter, just as agile. She fought just like him. She sensed his attacks.
And she stuck to walls.
"No…" Mary Jane whispered. "She can't be… she's dead. I…" A deep sob broke off her speech. Tears formed under her eyes. "I felt her die. No… she can't be her!"
Osborn's sinister grin revealed the answer Mary Jane didn't want to hear. "Remember when I said I would have you to thank for my ultimate revenge? Thank you for my lovely child, Mary Jane. She has truly been a joy to me."
Mary Jane's scream echoed throughout the room, then dissolved into heavy, choking sobs.
To be continued…