He took a long puff on his cigarette and blew the smoke directly into Peter's face. "My baby," he said, extending his hand and touching Mary Jane's face.
"Get off of her," Peter said through gritted teeth.
"She's my daughter. I can do whatever I want."
"That's what you did to mom . . . " Mary Jane muttered.
The man pulled his hand back and slapped MJ across the face. "Don't you ever mention that filthy whore!" he shouted.
Peter held MJ. "Get out."
"F*** off," the man said. "I don't need some drunk pissant college kid telling me what to do with my daughter!"
"She doesn't want you here," Peter replied.
"Then let her tell me. Or is she too drunk? Filthy wench. I knew she would turn out just like that bitch I made the mistake of marrying. Now, come here, Mary Jane," the man said, grabbing Mary Jane out of Peter's embrace. She resisted, and the end result was her getting knocked into the wall.
Peter reached back and decked MJ's father, not bothering to pull his punch or hide his incredible spider strength. The larger man went flying and was knocked into the desk on the other side of the room. Standing up, he wiped the blood from his mouth.
"I'll get you for assault, you little f**k," he said, pushing past Peter and leaving the dorm room.
Peter instantly went to Mary Jane's side. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Heh. Daddy dearest. Peter, meet my father, Brian Watson."
"MJ. We need to talk."
Victor awoke in a daze. He could smell the blood streaming out of his nose, but it wasn't enough to hide the burning smell permeating the air around him. He noticed a loud crackle, like the sound of pure energy in front of him.
"Wakey, wakey."
Victor looked up and saw something. It looked like a man. Except he was blue, and made of energy. "You . . . " he muttered. "You did this."
"Yes, little ol' me. Name's Electro. And somehow, you're the only person who knew what was going to happen. I have to know why."
"Wha . . . ?"
Electro bent down and grabbed Victor's head. He allowed his own electrical pulses to synchronize with the ones in Victor's brain.
Suddenly, he dropped Victor to the ground. "You! You're one of those superheroes!" With that, he kicked Victor in the face. The blow caused more blood to start gushing from Victor's nose.
"Why?" Victor asked.
"Something big's happening. You can't even comprehend. All must be made ready!" Electro said. His grand speech stopped sharply, as if he was distracted. "But I must go, more urgent business calls!"
Victor slipped back into unconsciousness.
Gwen Stacy woke up, still groggy. She lifted her head and looked around. She was in her dorm room, but it was foggy somehow. Looking at her clock, she realized that the room was not foggy, she was.
Gwen sat up, and ran her hand through her hair. She felt her hair band up there. She looked down and saw the same white shirt she had worn out the night before.
"Oh, damn," she muttered. "This must be a hangover . . . But how did I get back?"
Thinking back to the night before, she remembered drinking, seeing Peter, Peter leaving, and then things got cloudy.
She picked up the phone beside her bed and dialed Peter's dorm room. No answer. She hung the phone up. She dialed again, and this time waited for fifteen rings. Still no answer.
That can't be right, she thought. I think . . .
Her thoughts were interrupted by a thump in the main room of the suite. Gwen threw the covers off, made sure she was fully clothed, and ran into the other room.
"Ohhh . . . " Jason Todd moaned, as he lay on the floor beside the couch with his hand on his head. "I hate dorm couches."
Gwen rushed over and knelt beside Jason. "Are you okay?"
Jason opened his eyes all the way. "Yeah, just a slight headache. But what about you? You were the one really bad last night."
"Things aren't spinning anymore, but I also don't remember coming back here."
Jason noticed Gwen's outfit. "I can tell."
"Oh," Gwen said, blushing. "I guess it could have been worse."
"You gonna help me up?"
"I don't think I can do that very effectively."
Jason rolled his eyes up and bounced his head from side to side. "I suppose you have a point." He propped himself up on his elbows, and worked his way back up to the couch. Gwen stood up, and then sat down beside him.
"I think something might be wrong," Gwen said. "The last thing I remember is Peter leaving last night, but he's not answering his phone."
"Well, Mary Jane was pretty bad off. He was helping her home. He might have stayed there."
"I guess."
Jason pulled his cell phone from his pocket and quickly searched for Mary Jane's number. He dialed, but quickly hung up. "Busy," he said.
"You think everything is okay?" Gwen asked.
"I'm starting to wonder. Um . . . Do you remember anything at all after Peter left?"
Gwen thought for a moment. "Not really, but my head is pounding more than it feels like it should for a hangover."
"That's not a hangover. There was an explosion at the house. Some superfreak, I think."
"You think – ?"
"I don't know. But you go change and freshen up, and I'll try to figure some things out."
"Brian, no!"
Madeline Watson fell back against the bed, her hands in a defensive position in front of her face. She had gotten quite used to this position, living with an abusive husband for the better part of a decade. Usually one smack and it was over, but tonight, Brian had spent some extra time with the guys at the bar.
"You were gone again, woman!" Brian shouted.
"Hush, dear, you'll wake Mary Jane," Madeline pleaded through tears.
"I don't care. If she hears, maybe that bitch will understand how to be a good woman."
"She's your daughter, not some street urchin!"
"It wasn't my fault she was born," Brian argued back, backhanding Madeline again.
Outside of the bedroom, four year old Mary Jane was pressed up against the wall. She did not dare walk past the door to get to her own room. She heard her mother fall off the bed, though, and let out a gasp.
"Girl!" Brian shouted. "Why aren't you in bed?"
Mary Jane started crying, and ran to her room, shutting and locking the door before leaping into bed.
Even at four years old, Mary Jane was old enough to understand that a locked door would not keep her dad out. But it would slow him down, and maybe he would calm down.
Mary Jane curled up into a ball on her bed and started crying . . .
It took years, but Mary Jane was finally able to put most of her abused past behind her. Madeline had died, mostly because of Brian's abuse, or so Mary Jane believed. Whatever the actual case, it was enough to send Brian away, and Mary Jane lived with her aunt until going off to college.
But all of the defense mechanisms she had put into place to keep from reliving those terrible early years had all shattered in one chance encounter.
Peter put his arms around Mary Jane as she sat, huddled up on the bed. She was nearly catatonic. Tears streamed down her face.
"You could've told me," Peter said. "That's what I'm here for."
"No . . . " Mary Jane tried to hold back the tears enough to talk. "Truth is, I sort of forgot about most of it, except for a few nightmares."
Peter kissed Mary Jane's forehead.
Mary Jane started crying again. "But, why now? I mean . . . "
Her thought trailed off, and she laid her head against Peter.
Then there was the knock at the door.
Peter got up to answer it. As he pulled the door open, Victor Cranston fell through the door into Peter's arms. He was covered in dirt and blood. Peter helped him to the nearest chair.
"Vic, what happened?"
"Right after you left . . . explosion . . . he's back."
"Who's back?"
"Electro. And he knows my secret."
Lamont Cranston, Jr. - or Monty as his family called him - had been through a lot in the last two decades. Although, after spending the majority of that time away, he had just resurfaced in the lives of his family. Still, his absence from society was too much for him to ease back into, so he remained at the institution he called home since his "accident."
Things were looking up, but there was still some work to be done before he could leave – a few loose ends to tie up.
Monty sat in the main sitting room of the institution, reading the newspaper. A man in a trenchcoat walked up and sat beside him.
"Been a while," the man said.
"I've been busy, Burbank," Monty replied. "As I imagine you have as well."
"Not as busy as I thought I would be now that your son got into the family business."
"Well, I bet he doesn't even know about you. And there's no reason for him to know."
"Are you trying to protect him?" Burbank asked.
"He can protect himself. I'm just leaving him to his own devices. Let's see what kind of network he can establish on his own."
"He doesn't seem to be making a network. And most of the adventures of the Shadow I hear about usually involve him being a sidekick to that Spider-Man character."
"Victor just needs some time to get out on his own."
"Does he know the truth yet?" Burbank asked.
"Not completely. His mother and grandfather did tell him about the Doomsday Weapon."
"Did they tell him who pulled the trigger?"
"I don't think so."
"You probably should tell him."
"Why? I thought you took care of Khan for me."
"I thought we did too. But apparently your feud with Khan is one of the great generational conflicts."
Monty sighed. "He has a son out there?"
"I do not know for sure. But there have been some spikes out there that look like they could be very similar to Khan's brainwaves. But as far as I know, Khan did not survive long enough to reproduce."
"There was that theory that the Khan I fought was just a genetically modified version of the one my father faced."
"Which is why I am looking into this one. But he appears to be on the move again. There have been some sightings at museums."
"Still looking for the artifacts of his ancestors?" Monty asked.
"It appears so."
Monty stood up. "It was nice talking to you, Burbank. Come and see me again soon."
"I hope with better news."
Monty rolled the newspaper up and carried it back to his room. He opened his door to find a well dressed Asian man sitting in the chair beside his bed.
"Hello, Mr. Cranston. I trust you know why I am here."
Monty scowled. "Looking to finish the job you started twenty years ago, Khan?"
The Asian man smiled. "I am not your nemesis Khan, Mr. Cranston, although he does send his regards. But I am surprised. The foe that I have heard so much about would have been able to pick up on that instantly."
"Well, I haven't really been at my best recently," Monty said, tossing the newspaper onto his desk. "Your boss sort of saw to that."
"He wanted you to know that we have been following your son, keeping an eye on him."
"I'm not surprised."
"We did not expect you to be. But, he is nearing that critical time."
"He'll never join your cause."
"His mind is very susceptible at this point. But if not, I'm sure his body will not be able to survive a hit from the Doomsday Weapon."
"You bastard."
The Asian man stood up. "Just remember, you started it," he said as he walked out.
Monty slammed the door hard behind him.
Peter was running across campus, back to his own dorm room. If Victor had been attacked, and Electro knew his secret, there was no telling what could have happened to their room.
As he rounded the corner of his building, he ran into a familiar figure.
"Well, well," Brian Watson said as Peter backed up. "My offspring's guardian angel."
Peter could not contain his rage anymore, so he took a swing, straight for Brian's face. Once again, he did not even bother to pull his punch, and put the full force of his spider strength into it. As his fist was about to connect with Brian's face, Brian Watson faded into a mist.
"No!" Peter exclaimed under his breath as evil laughter started echoing in his ears.
The mist swirled around Peter, and reformed in a guise of purple and green. Peter was very familiar with the glass domed figure in front of him.
"Silly boy," Mysterio said, laughing. "You have no idea what you're involved in."
The laugh lingered in Peter's ears for a long time, even after Mysterio vanished into thin air.
Next issue: The action continues as friends and foes return. Plus, Detective Chimp guest stars!