By Peter
Part 2
Disclaimer: No, I’m not Stan Lee, so I don’t own Spider-Man. Peter, MJ, Harry, JJJ, and the rest of our colorful cast are the property of Marvel Comics. I don’t own them.
Rating: PG-13
Category: Peter/MJ. Come on…like there’s any other fan base out there yet.
Spoilers: Takes place after the movie. Say…a week.
“What the blazing hell is THIS?!” Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson asked out loud.
The Daily Bugle was one of the top selling daily newspapers in New York City. Many of its reporters had won journalism awards. However, it sometimes was shady in its stories.
The paper was run by a ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine. The city editor was Joe ‘Robbie’ Robertson, someone who believed it, above all, telling the truth. He was fair, and printed only what he believed it was right to print.
The publisher, Jonah, however…though he believed in the same thing, he was a bit biased on what it was. He tended not to trust that people had the best intentions…specifically Spider-Man.
He wasn’t crazy about his alter ego either.
“Parker?!” spat at the photographer in front of him. “This is all a plan to ruin me, isn’t it? You’re making me pay top dollar for lousy photos in order to bankrupt me. And after I took you off the street and offered you a job…”
“I’m a freelancer,” Peter reminded him.
“Well, I let you be that, right?” Jonah asked. “All I ask in return is some decent photos, and what do you give me? This!”
Peter took the photos, and his eyes went wide. On them were pictures on himself as Spider-Man, carrying MJ. However, the dinosaur was nowhere to be seen.
He stared at them, perplexed.
“Explain this to me, Parker,” Jonah asked. “We’ve got eye-witness reports of a giant T-REX in central park, but for some reason, I don’t have any pictures of it. Why is that?”
“I-I…” Peter tried to form words, having no luck. “It was there. I saw it.”
“What was that?” he asked, absentmindedly chewing on cigar. “Speak up, Parker.”
Peter didn’t answer. He simply walked out of the office, still looking at the pictures.
How did it happen? He was there. He saw a T-Rex. Heck, he was almost its dinner. Why didn’t that fifty-foot lizard show up on film?
“Hey, slow down son,” a voice called out, catching Peter’s attention.
Robbie walked up to him.
“I take it you heard?” Peter asked him with a frown.
“You mean Jonah’s bellowing?” Robbie responded. “I think they heard him at Macey’s.”
The two of them chucked for a moment.
“It was about that thing in central park, right?” he asked.
“Robbie, I swear, I saw a dinosaur,” Peter informed him. “A living, breathing dinosaur.”
“I believe you,” he said, taking the photos and looking at them.
Confused, Peter followed behind him.
“You do?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm,” Robbie continued. “Three eye-witnesses who don’t even know each other gave Urch the same exact story. That can’t be a coincidence. You’re a good photographer, Peter. You wouldn’t mis-shoot something that size. Which leaves me to believe that, whatever that was, it didn’t want to have its picture taken.”
“That’s a little far-fetched, isn’t it?” Peter asked.
Robbie grinned at him.
“No more than a flying goblin throwing exploding pumpkins at people,” he reminded him. “I’ll tell you what? We’ll take this photo here, with Spider-Man shooting the webbing at nothing, and print it under the headline: “mass hypnosis?” It’ll be on page three, so you won’t get the usual rate. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s ok,” Peter said.
He was going to keep the negatives, of course. He wanted to try and find out what went wrong.
*****
Mary Jane Watson looked in her mirror, applying eye shadow to her face. She was still shaken from the day before, and was trying to hide it.
MJ had never even had the chance to finish the play. Though, she should just be glad she was alive. If Spider-Man hadn’t been there…
Spider-Man.
Funny how it seemed he always showed up when she was in trouble, but took off before they could even talk. It was worse with Peter, who she didn’t see. Ever. Not since that day at Harry’s dad’s funeral.
“Hey, MJ?” he roommate called out.
Mary Jane sighed.
“What is it, Gwen?”
Gwen Stacy walked in, adjusting her earring with one hand, holding a cell-phone in the other.
“Call for you,” she said, and passed the phone to MJ.
“Hello?” she asked into the phone.
“Miss Watson,” a voice asked on the other line. “Hey, this is Johnny Jenkins.”
Upon hearing that name, Mary Jane almost fell out of her chair.
“You’re joking,” she replied.
“I only joke at parties, MJ” Jenkins responded. “Anyway, your performance was superb.”
She sighed.
“Yeah, too bad we didn’t get to finish it, huh?” she replied. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be,” Johnny told her. “I want you to come downtown for an audition.”
Mary Jane’s eyes went wide. Johnny Jenkins was a big-time movie director. No way did he want her in a part.
“What?” she asked. “But—“
“No ‘buts’ ok?” he asked. “What I did see was perfect. And the whole thing with the dinosaur and the guy in the tights…beautiful action sequence.”
“That was sort of real,” she informed him with a smile.
“Yeah, and that’s what makes it so great,” he responded. “Just be here at five, ok?”
“Ok, wait,” she said, and took a pad and paper off her desk. She wrote the address down, and then hung up the phone.
Mary Jane turned around to see Gwen staring at her.
“Well?” Gwen asked her.
“I got an audition,” she said with a smile.
Immediately, the two girls screamed and hugged, jumping around in circles.
“Ok, this calls for a celebration,” Gwen said. “Come on.”
She grabbed MJ by the arm and led her towards the door.
*****
A few minutes later, on the street.
Mary Jane and Gwen are walking out of a coffee shop, smiles on their faces.
“Ok, what do you want to eat?” Gwen asked her. “Italian, right? You’re in the mood for Italian.”
“You can’t afford that,” MJ reminded her.
Gwen simply lifted up her credit card.
“Daddy’s paying for it,” she informed her with a grin.
Mary Jane rolled her eyes. Captain George Stacy was pretty sharp, but he was completely gullible when it came to his daughter.
“Hey, babe?” a voice called out from an alley. “Got any change?”
Gwen sighed.
“Get lost,” she spat.
Bad move on her part. No sooner had those words escapes from her mouth, than two pairs of hands grabbed her and MJ from behind and pulled them into the alley.
“What…?” MJ asked, shocked. “Oh god…HELP!!! Somebody help!!!”
*****
Only a block away, Peter Parker and Harry Osborn left the Coffee Bean Barn, a local coffee house. Peter still had the photos in his hands from earlier.
“You’re going to burn a hold in them if you keep doing that,” Harry told him.
“I saw it, Harry,” Peter insured him. “I know I did. I wouldn’t screw up a picture like this.”
“Yeah, well…”
“HELP!!!” a voice called out from down the street. “Somebody…!!!”
Both of their eyes went wide.
“That sounded like…” Harry started to say. Peter, however, took off running.
Instantly, Harry started to follow him.
“Pete, wait up!” he called.
“Harry, call the police!” Peter called out to him, starting to unbutton his shirt.
“No way, man!” he answered. “You call the police.”
Sighing, Peter did his shirt back up.
This was going to be harder than he thought.
*****
Back in the alley, two thugs held onto MJ and Gwen.
“My dad’s a cop!” Gwen warned them. “He’ll hunt you down until…”
The third thug took out a switchblade.
“Shut up, lady!” he warned her, as he opened MJ’s purse. “Five bucks? You gotta be kidding me?”
“Let them go!” a voice called out to them.
All five turn around to see Peter Parker standing in the alleyway, staring them down.
“Get lost, kid!” the leader warned him. “Just turn around, and pretend you didn’t see this.”
“I won’t ask you again,” he said, coldly.
Loosing his patience, the thug with the switchblade lunged at Peter.
Peter sidestepped the blade, and swiftly kicks him in the stomach. He had to be careful of how he was fighting. He couldn’t be too fast or too agile, otherwise they might realize that he wasn’t completely human.
Especially with MJ a few feet away, that was a chance he didn’t want to take.
The thug lunged at him again. This time he ducked the blade, and punched into his solar plexus. Peter was so strong that he broke a rib with one punch, causing the thug to go unconscious.
Seeing their friend hit the ground the other two advanced on him. Peter didn’t waste any time. He dodged the first punch one of them threw, so that he’d hit his friend by accident. Then, with a sweep of his foot, knocked the other one on the ground.
Then with a backhand, he knocked out the first one who was sneaking up behind him.
He turned towards the girls.
“You ok”, he asked.
However, that was when it hit him.
His most mysterious power. The one no one even knew about, and that saved his life countless times: his spider sense.
The one with the broken rib hadn’t been completely knocked out, and was preparing to lunge his blade into Peter’s back.
But before he could, a garbage can lid hit him on the back of the head, knocking him out.
Peter spun around to see who it was.
“Hey, look at me, I’m Captain America” Harry said with a grin. “Watch your back, Peter.”
Peter laughed, as he walked over to Mary Jane, helping her to her feet.
“Hey,” he said in a soft voice. “Are you all right?”
The two of them stared at each other for a minute. She gave him the same hurt look that she had given Spider-Man the day before.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“You are an idiot,” a voice said from behind him.
Peter turned to see a blonde girl staring him down, with her arms crossed.
“Gee, thanks,” he commented sarcastically.
Harry started chuckling.
“She told you, huh?” he quipped, causing the girl to look at him. Her eyes moving up and down, taking Harry’s appearance in.
She smiled at him.
“Hey,” she said, giving Harry her hand. “Gwen Stacy. You are…?”
“Oh, uh…” Harry stuttered, trying to regain his composure. “Uh, Harry. Harry Osborn. This…the ‘idiot’ is Peter Parker. We’re friends of MJ’s.”
Gwen’s eyes lit up upon hearing Peter’s name.
“Oh, so YOU’RE Peter,” she said. “Yeah, you do know those guys were armed, right? And you just happened to be around.”
“Well, I was in the neighborhood,” Peter said.
“Hey, why don’t you two catch up?” Gwen said. “MJ’s got an audition to go to, so you can walk here there, Petey. You know, just in case there’s another enthusiastic mugger out there?”
Peter’s eyes go wide in surprise.
“Uh, well, you see…” he stuttered. “Me and Harry were on our way to…”
Quickly, she took Harry by the arm.
“Oh, Harry just promised to take me out for coffee,” she interrupted him.
“I did?” his confused roommate asked. His answer was a quick jab in the stomach by Gwen’s elbow.
“Knock ‘em dead, red,” Gwen added, as Harry and her left the two alone in the alley.
After a moment of awkward silence, Peter finally turned to face her.
“Hey,” he said.
His response this time was a warm smile.
*****
“Your roommate’s…interesting,” Peter told Mary Jane as they walked along the street.
“Yeah, Gwen’s a character all right,” she responded. “We sort of have a class together at ESU, and we both needed a place, so…”
Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“You’re going to Empire State?” he asked. “How come I haven’t seen you there?”
“Maybe you weren’t looking hard enough,” she said, sadly.
Ouch.
“I’m sorry,” he told her. “We…really haven’t seen each other since…well, since Mr. Osborn’s funeral. I don’t really know how to explain myself.”
“Try me,” MJ asked.
“All I can ask is that you trust me,” he said. “That’s all I can say. And I hope we can still be friends.”
They stopped, and he looked at her intently.
Who was he trying to convince? Mary Jane, or himself. As he stared into her deep, green eyes, all Peter wanted to do was take her in his arms and never let go.
But he didn’t have the right, did he. He couldn’t put her…he couldn’t put anyone in the line of fire ever again.
“We’re here,” she said, indicating that they had arrived at the audition studio. “Wish me luck?”
“As if you’d need it,” Peter responded with a grin. “You’re a shoo-in, believe me.”
She turned to go inside, but then turned back towards him.
“Wanna watch, Tiger?” she suggested.
Every instinct told Peter to just look the other way. Fortunately, his body just refused to comply.
He followed her.
*****
Back at the Coffee Bean, Harry and Gwen sat at a table together.
“Wait…wait a second,” Gwen said. “You’re an Osborn, right? Any relation to Norman Osborn?”
“Yeah,” Harry said, proudly. “He was my dad.”
Gwen smiled, but her smile soon faded.
“I read about what happened,” she said. “I’m so sorry. God only knows what I’d do if I ever lost my dad. They used to work together, you know?”
“Not George Stacey?” Harry asked.
She nodded.
“Wow, he was, like, head of security back when I was three,” he said. “What’s he doing these days?”
“A captain on the NYPD,” Gwen informed him. “He likes it. But I probably sound really insensitive.”
Harry shook his head.
“No, it’s nothing,” he assured her. “I’m not to crazy about talking about my dad. It’s bad enough that I’m in charge of Oscorp now.”
“You are?” she asked. “You wouldn’t happen to have any job openings, would you?”
“For a secretary?”
“Assistant,” she corrected her. “It would definitely beat flipping burgers.”
Harry smiled at her.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
*****
Meanwhile, back at the studio…
“Next!” director John Jenkins sighed as the girl in front of him left sadly
Almost reluctantly, Mary Jane walked up.
“Hey, dinosaur girl, right?” he asked, extending his hand. “Johnny Jenkins.”
“Hey,” MJ said, slightly blushing.
In a corner, Peter gave Jenkins an evil look.
The nerve of that guy. Yeah, sure he wants MJ around for her acting skills.
The guy was slime. Not that Peter was jealous or anything.
Jenkins took Mary Jane’s hand and kissed it gentlemanly.
Oh no, not jealous at all.
Behind his back, Peter was slowly crushing a steel pipe in his fist. Not noticing a FedEx guy brush past him.
“Watch it, twerp!” the guy spat, as he brought the package over to Jenkins.
Taking it, Johnny’s aid paid the FedEx guy.
“These the props?” the aid asked, taking it. “There you go.”
“Hold it, don’t I know you?” Jenkins asked the FedEx guy. “Wait, never mind. You looked a bit familiar for a second.”
He shook his head, and turned to leave.
As he left, the aid opened the box. As it turned out, it contained miniature X-Wing jets. They looked almost identical to those from the ‘Star Wars’ films.
“What’s this?!” he demanded. “Do I look like Lucas?! Hey, I’m talking to you!”
The FedEx guy didn’t answer. He just continued out the door, walking past Peter again.
And the second he did, Peter’s spider sense started to blare.
That could only mean one thing…trouble.
Without another thought, Peter took after him.
*****
Out in the hallway, Peter’s eyes darted back and forth. The FedEx guy was nowhere to be seen.
He must have went outside.
Peter ran towards the nearest window and leapt out, his fingers clinging to the top of the frame. With one powerful swing, he propelled himself upward onto the roof of the building.
There, on the street, was the FedEx guy. He was walking…make that running…as far away from the studio as he could. One Peter switched to costume, he could…
“Hold the phone!” Peter said out loud.
His spider sense had warned him about the FedEx guy. That meant that there was danger involved. But why would he be dangerous if he was leaving.
Unless…that package…
His eyes went wide once he realized what he had just done.
“MJ!”
*****
Both Jenkins and his aid were completely perplexed. The miniature ships inside the package started to move, their lights illuminating, and their engines blazing. Almost as if they had a life of their own.
“What the hell?” Jenkins asked, as all five of them took to the air.
They flew around, almost like mechanical insects. Once in awhile, they faced one of the various would-be actors. They seemed to be ‘looking’ at them.
“Is this somebody’s idea of a jo--”
However, Jenkins’ aid didn’t get to finish his sentence. Because, at that exact moment, the seemingly lifeless weapons onboard one of the X-Wings fired.
The only thing that remained of him was a charred skeleton which collapsed on the floor.
“OH MY GOD!” Mary Jane screamed as the pile of bones landed right at her feet.
As if on cue, all four began to fire simultaneously. Their intended victims scattered around the room, hoping to avoid the grisly fate that claimed Jenkins’ aid.
Jenkins, of course, was the first to get out. He scrambled to the door the second the first shot was fired. However, not everyone was as lucky. Two more bystanders were hit by the crimson beams, killed instantly.
Mary Jane tripped, attempting to get to the door. She tried to get to her feet, however, one of the ships cornered her…preparing to fire.
THWIP
A single strand of webbing snagged her would-be executioner by the tail, pulling it backwards. As a gloved fist slammed into it, shattering the device into a dozen shards.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said.
Then the amazing Spider-Man leapt into action.
Noticing what had happened to their companion, the other jets suddenly ignored the bystanders. They directed their total attention, and weapons, to the newcomer.
Luckily, Spider-Man’s reflexes were twenty times faster than an ordinary human’s. He sidestepped the blasts, giving a swift kick to another of the machines.
“This isn’t your fight!”
Spider-Man looked around to see who had said that. The voice was deep and eerie. Almost ghost-like.
That’s when he realized that it was coming from the miniature X-Wings.
“They talk?” he asked. “That’s brilliant…every kid in America is going to want one. They talk…they fly…they shoot real death rays…”
Obviously, whoever was controlling these things wasn’t amused by Spider-Man’s humor, because they started to move faster.
“Just leave, and you’ll get to live, wall-crawler!” the ghostly voice called out again. “You have absolutely no idea what you are dealing with.”
“If only I knew the power of the dark side, huh?” he joked. “Sorry, James Earl…no dice.”
And with that, he snagged the remaining jets in a large blanket of webbing. He retracted it, forming it into a bag.
Spider-Man swung the bag over his head several times, building up speed. Then, with one fluid motion, he smashed it into the ground. Sparks flew everywhere, as the sound of collapsing metal drowned out the fading roar of engines.
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “Bet the force never saw THAT coming.”
He looked around, not seeing anyone there.
“Anybody still here?” he asked.
Mary Jane reluctantly poked her head out from behind the desk. Behind his mask, Peter gave a small sigh of relief. She was okay.
“We’ve really gotta stop meeting like this,” he said, and started to walk towards her.
That’s when his spider sense started to tingle again. He had missed one of the jets, which was speeding right towards him.
“PETER, LOOK OUT!” Mary Jane warned, at the top of her lungs.
In an instant, Spider-Man jumped into the air, spinning twice, before he landed feet-first onto the machine. It was crushed by the impact.
“Missed one,” he said, kneeling down to inspect it. He picked up the cockpit area, and studied it closely.
Then something occurred to him, as he slowly turned towards MJ in shock.
“What…what did you call me?” he asked.
MJ bit her lip. The cat was out of the bag.
“I…I…” she tried to say, but words failed her.
She knew.
“Oh boy…” Spider-Man said, taking it in.
Before he could act on it, though, a pair of police officers barged into the room, aiming their weapons right at him.
“Hold it, freak!” they hollered.
As if on cue, he made a swan dive out the window. Catching a flagpole, he swung around it three times, acrobat-style, and then leaped upwards into the air. With a sudden tap of his middle and forefinger on the palm of his hand, a webline erupted from his wrist, letting him swing away.
All MJ could do was watch him go, wondering just what he was thinking.
Because she did know.
Peter Parker and Spider-Man were one and the same.