It was only the middle of the first semester, but Peter Parker and Victor Cranston had already found a favorite hangout near campus. Joe's Diner was a lot quieter than the Crib ever was, even though they held on to their old habit of sitting the booth farthest from the front.
On this day, though, there was very little discussion going on between the two occasional superheroes.
"You guys are pathetic."
Peter rolled his eyes up to see Gwen Stacy standing by the table. He nodded. Gwen motioned, and Peter slid to the inside of the booth. "I mean, really, can't you guys come up with something more exciting than the back booth of a 24 hour diner?"
"What can we say?" Victor replied with a shrug. "We're boring people."
"Pfft," Gwen said. "Hardly. If you were truly boring, I wouldn't be seeing you at parties."
"That was the exception," Peter interjected. "Victor had to pry me away from my books that night."
"Yeah. Because you were worried about one C on a test," Victor retorted. "I had to get you to lighten up."
"Just send him over to my place when he gets all uber-studious," Gwen said. "I can make learning fun."
Peter could feel his heart skip several beats. Meanwhile, Victor had to hold back a chuckle, as he said, "I don't know if Mary Jane would approve."
"I don't think Mary Jane is the type of girl that won't allow her boyfriend's only female friend be her," Gwen replied. "And if she is, then Petey here needs to dump her and move on."
"She's not uptight," Peter quickly butted into the conversation. "Maybe a tad bit jealous."
Gwen laughed. "Aren't we all? Well, we should all get together sometime. I hesitate to say party, since I think even I still have a hangover from that last one. But just something to get away from classes."
"Um . . . sounds great, I guess," Peter said, hesitantly.
"As long as it's not in our room," Victor added.
"Ugh, not in that dorm," Gwen replied. "Definitely in my suite."
"Yeah, not all of us are blessed with actual rooms," Victor said. "Some of us have to deal with shoeboxes."
Gwen turned to Peter. "And, you can bring Mary Jane. And we'll probably have a few other people around. So we don't have to worry about anyone stealing anyone."
Victor laughed. "Glad I don't have that problem."
"And when was the last time you even talked to your girlfriend?" Peter zinged back.
"Harsh, man. That was just – " Victor trailed off as he felt a vibration in his pocket. He reached down and grabbed his cell phone, looking at the display on the outside. "Hold on. It's Natalie." He flipped the phone open. "Hey, babe."
On the other end of the line, he could hear a sigh, then what sounded like the first part of "Victor" and then another sigh. Then the line went dead.
Victor's eyebrows crumpled together, in an expression Peter recognized as being perplexed.
"Dropped call?" Peter asked.
"I hope so," Victor replied as he scrolled down his phone book. He hit the button to dial Natalie's number again. The phone rang for about twenty seconds before going to voicemail.
Victor flipped the phone shut and slammed it on the table. He leaned his elbow on the table and rested his face on his fist.
Gwen reached over. "Vic, you okay?"
"It's probably just bad cell coverage," Peter added.
Victor shook his head. "She's in LA, and I'm in New York. We're in two of the best covered cities in the world for cell phones. Something's wrong."
Peter took a deep breath. He wasn't quite sure how to approach this situation. He wanted to support his friend, but the fact of the matter was that Victor and Natalie's relationship had been strained ever since she told him of her decision to go to the University of Southern California. And other than a few random, but scarce phone calls during the first month of the semester, Peter had not noticed any contact between the couple at all. In fact, the only visual reminder that Natalie was still a part of Victor's life was photo Victor had put up next to his desk.
Before Peter could offer any condolence, Victor stood up. "I gotta get to LA. Now." And then he stormed off.
Peter turned his head and watched as Victor rushed out.
"Aren't you going to stop him?" Gwen asked.
Peter turned back to face the table and sighed. "It's no use. He's a man on a mission, and I'm not going to interfere."
"But, going to LA? It's crazy."
"Probably. But at least he has the means to do it. His family is well connected and their bank account is nicely padded."
"Oh. But still . . . "
"The writing has been on the wall for that relationship for months now. It's just now that they have to finally read it."
"I hope things end well," Gwen said, standing up.
Peter followed her out of the booth. "Me too. They've known each other too long to just end everything completely. Can I walk you back to your room?"
"You sure MJ won't mind?" Gwen asked with a coy smile.
"Not when your dorm in on the way to hers," Peter replied. "Besides, I need to pick your brain about this week's chem lab."
Mary Jane sat on her bed, reading the latest chapter of some textbook. The words sort of blurred together on the page, and she kept glancing up at the mirror.
Reading for class felt like a chore, but that was the norm. There was only so much information her brain could process at once, and every single textbook she had even so much as flipped through seemed to bombard her with information.
But it was normal. Mary Jane was feeling herself again. At least she hoped.
While the experience with her father was very taxing on her emotionally, she had finally been able to get back to the normal routine. Today, she had even decided to put on nice clothes and a little bit of make-up. She had gone to all of her classes, and this late afternoon was going to be spent with the completely normal, mundane task of homework.
MJ smiled and looked back at the textbook, only to hear a tapping on her window. She looked over to see the familiar red masked face of Spider-Man, who was waving at her.
With a start, Mary Jane put the book down and stood up to open the window.
"Get in here," she said. "Before someone gets suspicious!"
Spider-Man jumped down into the room. "Or everyone just thinks I have a crush on someone in this building."
Mary Jane quickly closed the curtains and Spider-Man tapped his wrist, deactivating his outfit. In his place stood Peter Parker, who turned around and put his arms out. Mary Jane, no longer concerned, smiled and hugged him.
"I guess you're feeling better," Peter said.
"I'm always feeling better when you're around," MJ replied, reaching up to kiss her boyfriend.
After a long passionate kiss, the two broke their embrace, and Mary Jane sat down on the bed again. Peter turned around to face her.
"You look concerned," MJ noticed.
"Just a lot going on," Peter answered. "And Victor's on his way to California to talk to Natalie."
"Ouch. I know that things haven't been paradise for a while."
"I honestly don't think they've had a meaningful conversation since we started college. Or really much of any conversation."
"Poor guy."
Peter looked at his watch. "Victor's probably already on his way, so I might as well just spend some time as Spider-Man. Wanna go webslinging?"
Mary Jane looked up at Peter, and then back at her book. "Uh . . . not right now. I'm not sure jumping around skyscrapers is a good idea at this point."
"Probably got a point," Peter replied, activating his Spider-Man outfit. He climbed up onto the window sill. "Always a pleasure, pretty lady," he said with a salute as he jumped off and fired his webline.
Mary Jane chuckled at how corny Peter could be. Or was he Spider-Man? Did that mask cause her boyfriend to transform into another person completely?
Unsure of the answers, she got up and walked over to the vanity area and pulled a bottle off of the shelf behind the mirror. She opened it and popped two pills into her mouth.
Above the roofs of New York City, Spider-Man swung from building to building. Everything down below seemed to be under control, so he was able to just use the time to clear his head. Surprisingly, the only place that stood out to him was the diner next to the street where he had gotten pounded by heralds of Galactus over the summer.
Spidey could not remember exactly how he got involved in the first place, but he could definitely remember when the crazy one with a lot of chains made a Spider-Man shaped hole into the pavement of New York City. Amazingly, there was no marks left on the road, not even where it looked like the transportation department had repaved the road.
But for the life of me, I cannot remember how that whole Galactus mess ended, Spidey thought as he swung over the diner, and to the next block.*
*(check out Ultimate Crisis for the details on that little incident)
Spider-Man shot another webline, but it did not come out of his wrist. Before he could react, he had already let go of his old line, and was fully prepared to start falling. But instead, he was still hovering in mid air.
"Okay, who's screwing with me now?" Spider-Man asked.
"It's only me," a female voice said behind him. Spidey turned his head to try to see, but the female had already floated around to face him. He recognized the black hair and outfit. But the white spider on her chest really stuck out.
"Oh, you again," Spidey muttered. "Madame Web."
"I'm glad you remembered."
"You know, this whole vague and cryptic routine is getting old. I didn't like it when Ezekiel did it, and I like it less when you do it."
"I'll try not to be cryptic," Madame Web replied. "But I may have reasons for being vague. I'm not as all knowing as you might think. I can just predict a few things."
"Well, if you're predicting I'm gonna fall when we're done with this chat, you're probably going to be right. I'm hoping you're freezing time or something."
"Something," Madame Web replied. "I can't maintain this trick for long, but it's the only way I can be safe in conversing with you."
"And hovering ten stories in the air isn't dangerous?"
"You know what I mean. Look, I know what's been happening with you, but you have to be careful."
"Careful with what?"
"Your father."
"How do you know about my father?"
"I was a . . . an associate of Ezekiel's. So I know most of your secrets, Peter."
"Who doesn't anymore? But why do I have to be careful of my dad? Is he a clone or something?"
Madame Web chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous. He's definitely your father, as far as I can tell."
"Did you know him?"
"A long time ago. In fact, he's part of the reason I am who I am now."
Spidey sighed. "Okay, I'll be careful. But one of these days, if you really want to be helpful, you're gonna have to do something more than just stand there and warn me."
"Technically, I'm hovering right now, not standing."
Spidey grimaced under his mask. As irritating as this woman was, Peter couldn't help but be intrigued by her. There was definitely something familiar and comforting about her. "Okay, you win that one. But I do get the point for the warning."
Madame Web smiled. "Trust me, you'll see me again before too long. You'll find that you probably can't get rid of me as easy as you think."
"Uh huh . . . Any more advice?"
"Yeah, shoot a webline now."
"Huh?" Spidey asked, just as he felt gravity take hold of his body once more. "Oh damn!" he exclaimed, shooting a webline to keep from becoming a spider-pancake on the street below.
As he slung away, Madame Web floated down to the ground, where she used the last bit of her energy to transform her outfit into street clothes. She was still in some pain, but she did have more control over her powers now.
"I thought you'd be halfway to California by now," Peter said, closing the door to his dorm room as he walked in.
Victor zipped up his backpack and slung in onto his shoulders. "I wish. I needed to pack."
"Oh, I figured the backpack was for . . . school stuff."
"I can't take anymore of this, man. I gotta know what's going on."
"Are you really prepared for anything?" Peter asked.
Victor sighed. Peter could see the tears he was trying to fight back. "I have to be."
"And if she does . . . cut you off?"
"Then at least I get a real answer, face to face." As Victor put his hand on the doorknob, he added, "Maybe even some closure."
"That's more than what some people get, I suppose," Peter replied. "Well, good luck."
Victor nodded. "Thanks, man." He opened the door, and was startled to see Richard Parker standing on the other side. "Oh, Mr. Parker. I didn't know you were there."
"I was just getting ready to knock, actually."
"Um, Peter's here. I'm actually on my way out. Nice to see you," Victor said as he rushed off.
Richard stepped into the room. "Nice to see you, too." He turned to Peter. "Is he late for class?"
"I wish," Peter answered. "Girl problems. Long story. What brings you here?"
"Business, actually. It's come to my attention that SHIELD has undergone a change in management during my absence."
"Yeah, I sort of ran into them a few months back. Not the most friendly bunch, except for maybe one or two of them. I figured it wasn't the same guys that you worked for."
"I believe a rogue element actually took over. Unfortunately, Ollie Queen was not as strong a leader as Nick Fury was, even though he was a damn fine field agent."
Peter sat down at his desk. "But what does any of that have to do with us now?"
"Have you ever wondered what Oz and Scarecrow were?"
Peter nodded. "I also wondered if we were ever going to find a tin man, lion, or Toto to go along with it."
Richard smiled. "No, the parallel ends at Scarecrow. That was a special compound that caused all sorts of different problems with whoever it affected. Each person infected with it had a different reaction, some stronger than others. But it specifically targets the mind, either inducing a strong fear element or shattering the brain somehow."
"With Scarecrow in the Doomsday Weapon, and Victor's dad was hit with it, that's what happened to him. Since his mind was so well developed with his Shadow powers, it froze him."
"And it took him years to regain his mental capacity back. But, we also learned that Scarecrow could be used as a catalyst in a number of other compounds."
"Including Osborn's designer drug," Peter offered. "Except no one knows what Oz does. All I know is that it made Harry Osborn really sick."
"The reason SHIELD was so interested in Scarecrow and anything connected to it, is because it does have its origins with Captain America."
"Scarecrow was part of the super soldier serum?"
Richard shook his head. "Not exactly, but it is connected somehow. Basically, SHIELD scientists developed an early drug similar to Oz and found out it could be used in the development of super soldiers."
"That's why you were chasing after it in Russia. Height of the Cold War, the US didn't want the Communists to get it."
"Exactly. And often times, to keep Communists from getting something, it took extreme measures on our part." At this point, Richard's voice became heavy, and his eyes became glossy. Peter knew something was wrong.
In fact, Peter thought he might have felt a slight buzzing of his spider sense. It was not very large, but it was almost as if his spider sense was telling him that he should be worried it was not buzzing more.
"Dad? What happened? And why didn't you tell me this the other night at the Cranstons?"
"Because I wanted to tell you in private that I know."
Peter looked at his father, confused.
"I know that you're Spider-Man," Richard finally confessed.
Peter stood up with a start. "What? How?"
Richard looked his son in the eye, unquivering, and said, "Because I created him."
Next issue: You think that was a bombshell? You haven't seen anything yet! The Spider Wars continue with two major revelations!