Part 1
Category: Max/Liz & Peter/MJ
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: This story takes place after ‘Smoke And Mirrors’, my first Spider-Man fanfic. All you really need to know is that Mary Jane now knows Peter’s secret ID, and there is this mysterious killer loose in NYC whose identity is still a mystery.
The Coffee Bean was hardly what New Yorkers would refer to as a ‘hot’ hangout. The words used to describe it were ‘quaint’ at best, or ‘lame’ at worst. It was a relic of a bygone era, with nostalgia hanging constantly in the air.
The décor was very retro, but that wasn’t the attempt at all. It just hadn’t been changed in almost four decades, so it became the Coffee Bean’s identity almost. Framed posters of Woody Allen and Fu Manchu hung on the walls. An old jukebox sat in the corner, with a sign reading ‘please help feed our starving jukebox’ hanging over it like a taunt. The booths were filled with college students, mostly from the arts and science departments, as the ones on football scholarships wouldn’t be caught dead there. Indeed, if it had been sometime in the 60’s, you would have expected some beatnik poetry reader being the night’s entertainment.
To Mary Jane Watson, it was a vast improvement over the Moondance Café. She definitely owed her roommate one for this. When Gwen had accepted an offer to work as Harry Osborn’s personal assistant at Oscorp, she immediately recommended MJ to her boss as a possible replacement.
MJ couldn’t be happier. The Coffee Bean was closer to campus, had a much friendlier atmosphere, and the owner treated her a whole lot better. Plus there was the added bonus of many of the customers being people she knew.
Chief among them, of course, being Peter Parker. She smiled, and walked up to his table. He had his laptop plugged into a nearby wall socket, and was looking at some sort of computer read-out. Mary Jane wasn’t that familiar with scientific stuff…actually, she flunked chemistry…but she recognized it as some sort of DNA helix that she’s seen in movies.
“What you working on, Tiger?” she greeted him, referring to Peter by her pet nickname for him.
“Long story,” he replied. “Something to do with my ‘night job’.”
Mary Jane raised her eyebrows. ‘Night job’ was a codeword they used for when he did something as Spider-Man.
“So, what is it?” she asked.
Peter looked up at her.
“I don’t know, actually!” he told her. “I think it’s some sort of new steroid, but I’ve never seen anything like it. I’d bring it to Doctor Conners, but he’d ask where I got it.”
She nodded, getting out her order pad.
“So what can I get you?” Mary Jane asked with a smile plastered on her face.
“I’ll just have a coke, thanks,” Peter replied, and then went back to his work.
Mary Jane brought is order in, and then went towards the next table. However, before she could get there, she noticed a familiar face standing in her path.
“Hey gorgeous!” Flash Thompson greeted her.
Eugene ‘Flash’ Thompson got his nickname on the football field when they attended Midtown High together. The guy was a slacker to be sure, and a bully. One of the worst mistakes MJ ever made was going out with him. It was out of some misplaced desire to please her father.
Unfortunately, Flash himself didn’t see it that way.
“I’m working,” she said, attempting to brush him off.
Flash wouldn’t hear of it. He followed her.
“Come on…” he encouraged her. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”
“No, Flash, I’m not!” she replied. “Could you just leave me alone?”
Back at the table, Peter was seeing the entire display. It made his blood boil. Flash Thompson had been the bane of his existence for a long, long time…never passing up an excuse to hurt or embarrass ‘Puny’ Parker. The fact that he was probably the first guy MJ ever kissed didn’t help matters, either.
“I wanted to offer you another chance, you know?” Flash told her. “Start over with you and me.”
She couldn’t believe the nerve of the guy.
“I thought I made it clear before that I’m not interested!” she argued. “It’s over, Flash. It was over a long time ago.”
She tried to get away from him, but he grabbed her arm.
“Maybe you just need some convincing!” he said.
Mary Jane struggled, but he wouldn’t let go.
“Let me go!” she ordered.
“You heard her!”
Flash turned towards the voice to see that Peter had gotten up to face him. He did not look happy.
He started to laugh.
“You gotta be kidding me!” he chuckled. “Come on, you can’t honestly have dumped me for the bookworm here. Boredom turn you on or something?”
“We’re just friends!” Peter answered for her.
Finally, Flash let her go. He walked up to Peter.
“Yeah, you better be!” he whispered.
And with that, he stormed out. Mary Jane looked around, to see that everyone had gone back to their meals. The excitement had passed, so she no longer held their interest.
Peter walked up to her, examining her arm.
“You ok?” he asked. “Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” she responded, rubbing her arms. “I gotta get back to work.”
She went into the back room, leaving Peter standing there.
*****
“I thought you said we were going to New York!” Michael Gurin grumbled as their van drove pass the suburban houses. “This doesn’t look like New York!”
“It’s Queens, Michael,” Max replied from the front seat. “Manhattan’s across the river.”
“So this Aunt of Liz’s…?” Isabel asked Kyle. “What’s she like?”
Kyle shrugged.
“Don’t look at me…before my time,” he informed her.
She then turned to Maria, who was more than willing to explain.
“Liz’s dad used to bring me and Alex up here during the summer,” she informed them. “It was fun. Alex used to joke how it was the only time he ever got to hang out with another guy.”
“They have a kid?” Michael asked.
Liz shook her head.
“No,” she said. “He was my uncle Richard’s son. He died when I was really young, so Uncle Ben and Aunt May took him in.”
Max looked over at her inquisitively.
“You’ve never mentioned them before,” he pointed out. “Your dad never even mentioned he had any brothers.”
Liz looked downwards, recalling a painful memory.
“He likes to pretend he doesn’t,” she explained. “A few years ago, he just stopped taking us to New York. I think something happened between him and uncle Ben, and they stopped talking. It was about a year before I was shot.”
“Any idea what happened?” Isabel asked.
Liz shook her head. She had no clue.
“Here…this is the place!” she announced suddenly.
Max pulled into the driveway of one of the houses. It was small, but quaint. A neatly trimmed lawn, and a few bushes here and there. It was a huge contrast to the mile-high skyscrapers that Max remember from his last trip up here.
In his eyes, it was a definite improvement.
“You sure it’s a good idea to just waltz in there?” Kyle asked the others. “We didn’t say we were coming or anything.”
“It’ll be ok,” Liz assured him, as they headed towards the door. “I’ll just say we were passing through. I’m more worried that she won’t recognize me. It’s been years since I’ve seen them.”
She knocked on the door. A few minutes later, someone answered it.
The woman on the other side looked to be in her 70’s. She was somewhat thin, with silver hair, and wore a light shall on her shoulders. She looked at Liz curiously.
“Elizabeth?” she asked, her mouth forming into a smile. “Good heavens…Elizabeth!”
Without warning, the old woman wrapped her arms around Liz, holding her in a tight embrace.
“Hi Aunt May,” she greeted her. “It’s good to see you.”
May smiled at her, and then noticed the others behind her.
“Well, this is certainly unexpected,” she remarked. “Come on in, all of you. It’s smouldering out here. Come inside before you dehydrate. I’ll fix you something to drink.”
Michael looked to Isabel and shrugged. They then followed the others inside.
*****
“No, you listen here, Kingsley!” Harry Osborn spoke into his phone. “This company has invested a lot of money and manpower into this project, and I’d hate to see it fail because you not being up to the task. I may not be my father, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let Oscorp go into ruin! If you have a problem, come down here and take it up with me!”
He hung up the phone, and then collapsed into the leather chair behind his desk.
“I can bring you a paper bag, if you want?” the blonde-haired woman entering the room asked.
Harry smirked at her.
“No, I’ll be fine,” he sighed.
Gwen Stacy brought him a glass of water, which he downed as quick as he could. She’d only been working for him for two weeks now, but already she had a handle on how things ran around there. It amazed Harry. The only reason he met Gwen was because she was his ex-girlfriend, Mary Jane’s, roommate. If it wasn’t for her, he just knew he would have collapsed by now.
“I’m starting to understand what dad went through,” he told her. “Running this place takes a lot out of you.”
His father had died a few weeks back, during a battle between Spider-Man and the mysterious Green Goblin. Now, with the board of directors also killed by the Goblin, Harry had inherited complete control of Oscorp. There had been offers to sell, of course. But deep down, Harry knew his dad would never have sold the company he built himself from the ground up. All those people who depended on it for jobs, or even its name in the community, now depended on a young man who was still in college.
“How many meetings do I have today?” Harry asked, picking himself back up.
“Only two today, Harry!” Gwen replied, looking at her clipboard. “After lunch, you have the Bestman Electronics meeting. Then dinner with Mr. Shaw.”
“Ok…ok, I got it!” he sighed.
It was funny…Harry had never actually been in this office when his dad was alive. Norman Osborn had always been one for privacy, so he always locked the doors. He didn’t even have an assistant.
Really, though, Harry didn’t blame him. The view of the city out the giant picture window was awe-inspiring. Almost like being king, and looking down on all the adoring subjects.
Harry smiled to himself. If that was the case, he’d better start acting like ‘king’, shouldn’t he?
“Care for a cup of coffee, Gwen?” he asked his companion.
Gwen raised an eyebrow.
“Sure, you buying?” she asked.
“Come on…” he responded with a smirk. “I’m ‘Mr. Moneybags’, remember? Do you even have to ask?”
With that, they left the office together.
*****
“No way!” Mary Jane explained, as she adjusted her earring in the mirror. “You went out with Harry? And he asked you?”
“It wasn’t like a date or anything, MJ!” Gwen corrected her. “He just bought me some coffee. In the company cafeteria, no less.”
MJ looked at her, a smirk on her face.
“Besides, it’s not like I’m into him or anything,” Gwen continued, disregarding the notion. “And even if I was, I wouldn’t go after him. He’s your ex, and friends don’t go after other friend’s ex’s.”
MJ nodded, then headed into the kitchen. It was only a few seconds before Gwen followed her inside.
“But, hypothetically, let’s just say that I was into him…which I’m not!” she continued. “If, for some idiotic reason, I was into Harry…which wouldn’t happen in a million, zillion years, would you have a problem with it? Hypothetically?”
“No, I wouldn’t have a problem with it!” Mary Jane replied.
“Whew…” she sighed. “Um…well, that’s good to know. Not that it matters, because I’m not…”
Mary Jane began to giggle. Gwen was completely transparent.
“Oh my god…you like Harry?” she asked, grinning ear-to-ear.
“I do not!” Gwen replied, crossing her arms. “He’s, like…my boss.”
“So, you still like him!” she teased her. “That is so cute.”
Gwen blushed.
“So, what are your plans tonight?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Nothing much,” MJ replied. “Just going to meet Peter.”
Now it was Gwen’s turn to grin. The tables had been turned.
“Ouu…anywhere specific?” she teased. “A nice, secluded spot where you can be alone?”
MJ rolled her eyes.
“Mind out of the gutter, Gwendy!” she replied. “We’re going to have dinner at his Aunt’s house. Purely platonic.”
“Oh, I see…” Gwen sighed. “You know, this ‘hands off’ WB-inspired longing approach sounds good on paper, but I’m betting you’re getting somewhat impatient. Just jump the guy and get it over with.”
Mary Jane’s face then changed to a hue that almost matched her hair.
“Bye Gwen!” she said, as she headed towards the door.
“Play safe!” Gwen warned, half-joking, as her roommate left the apartment.
*****
Meanwhile, back at the Parker’s…
“Thanks for having us in, Mrs. Parker,” Max told the elderly woman as she brought him a cold glass of lemonade.
May simply smiled.
“My word, so polite,” she commented. “Max, is it?”
Max nodded. May then turned toward Maria.
“Maria DeLuca, correct?” she asked. “Why, I remember when you were just a little girl. You were so adorable with those pigtails in your hair…”
In the back, Michael snickered. Maria rolled her eyes.
“Gee, thanks Mrs. P.!” she groaned.
Then May looked at Kyle.
“And you’re Alexander, correct?”
Kyle’s face fell.
“Uh, Kyle actually,” he corrected her.
“Alex died just over a year ago,” Liz said, sadly. “It was a car crash.”
Aunt May took Liz’s hand gently.
“Oh dear…I’m so sorry,” she said.
“You didn’t know?” Isabel asked. “I thought Liz’s dad would have told you.”
May shook her head.
“Jeffrey and I haven’t really communicated,” she admitted. “I guess that’s why I didn’t call when my husband passed away.”
A horrified look came over Liz’s face.
“Oh my…!” May exclaimed, realizing her mistake. “I forgot…I didn’t want you to have to learn this way…”
“Uncle Ben’s dead?” she whispered. “I…how did it happen?”
“A car thief,” May informed her. “He was…shot. In the chest.”
Liz placed her hand on her stomach, as a phantom pain returned. She remembered the feeling of a bullet piercing her skin, and how she had almost met the same end her uncle did. But she had been saved.
She couldn’t help but wonder if, had she been there, she could have made a difference.
*****
At that moment, downtown…
There’s something to be said about the theory that ‘they always return to the scene of the crime’. The reason is simple: that’s the last place anyone will think to look. If you’ve already been busted, the cops won’t even bother searching the same place they caught you. They think they’ve cleaned you out.
However, the NYPD didn’t think to search the warehouse as well as they could have. The fake floorboards were still in place, where that experimental steroid was being kept in crates twice the size of the ones they confiscated. They were lucky, though. Spider-Man caught them, so the cops didn’t feel the need to search.
Even so, they needed to move the crates onto the truck as quickly as possible. There was no telling whether or not the wallcrawler would be back.
“Mind telling us what this stuff is, anyway?” one of the men, Mark, asked. “I’d like to know what my boys got busted for.”
Their supervisor smiled at them, like a shark almost.
Mark couldn’t help but feel weird around the guy. He was young. Not high school dropout young, but YOUNG. He was a freaking kid, but gave orders like he was born to do it. Most of all, his bodyguard obeyed his every command. Even though he looked like a kid, there was something in his eyes that demanded obedience. Like he could kill you without even trying.
His name was Nikolas, and he was probably the most dangerous man in New York.
“Something powerful, my friend,” Nikolas informed him. “I can tell you this much…it’s truly out of this world!”