Chapter 66: The Winning Team Part Two

Chapter Sixty Six: The Winning Team Part Two:

Peter sat outside on the steps of Midtown High, as he looked at his camera with a sigh. While he managed to snap some pictures, he might has well have just scribbled something on a piece of paper by hand, a drawing and handed that in to Jameson.

Ned Leeds had informed Peter that he had the easy job. Leeds had to actually write about the exhibit, which there was some information, but not enough to make it the blockbuster news story that would sell papers, that J. Jonah Jameson would want anyway. All Peter had to do was snap a few photos.

That he was likely to get the barest minimum payment that did not violate any labor laws on the state and city levels.

"Hey," said Gwen sitting down right beside him. "So what did you think?"

"Pretty lousy," said Peter. "That was a waste of time."

"Kind of was," agreed Gwen, but her face screwed up in thought. "You don't suppose...."

"That Doctor Octopus is up to something," replied Peter and Gwen nodded. "I thought so for a minute, but I can't jump to conclusions. His student could have turned over a new leaf."

"Maybe," agreed Gwen, as she looked at Peter, slight dubious. "Don't worry, Peter, you're bound to get something."

"Worried, I'm not worried," said Peter with false cheerfulness. "See, my face."

"Well if that's your not worried face, I'd hate to see what you look like when you are worried about something," said Gwen dryly.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do, I had this planned out, but now I can't get my hands one scholarship," said Peter. "My grades are good."

"The best," agreed Gwen with a smile as she grabbed Peter's hand in a comforting manner.

"My attendance sunk me," said Peter in a saddened voice. "All of the times that I was late..."

"Saving people," interjected Gwen and Peter just shook his head.

"Yes, but what's the point of being Spider-Man, if Peter Parker suffers," said Peter and he looked at Gwen, who looked slightly amused.

"Is it that time of the month already?" asked Gwen in an off handed voice.

"What time of the month?" asked Peter unsure of where his girlfriend was going this.

"The woe is me, my life sucks, maybe I shouldn't be Spider-Man anymore time of the month," answered Gwen as she bit her lip in slight amusement. "We've gone through this about seven or eight times. Of course, I could be missing a few."

"Gwen, I really should, if I want to get into college," said Peter and he looked at Gwen, a bit miffed that she thought this was amusing."Gwen, I'm being serious."

"Right, Peter, you're being serious," said Gwen with a smile, as she patted Peter on the back. The truth told, she would be slightly at ease if Peter had given up being Spider-Man, but there would be a part of her that would be uneasy. Plus she knew it would never happen, Peter's sense of responsibility would never allow him to just take a step back and stop being Spider-Man. Even without the powers now that he had a taste, given the fact that he saved her from the Sinister Six despite the fact that he lost his powers. It was both his most admirable and frustrating quality.

"Are you patronizing me?" asked Peter with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not Peter," said Gwen with a smile and Peter just sighed. "You know that you don't really believe you can do it either. Of course, if you did, you'd know I'd support you no matter what, but really, you don't think that you can give it up any more than I do."

"No, I guess not." admitted Peter as he looked around, but there appeared to be a few people on the sidewalk but they appeared to be none too interested about the conversation between a pair of teenagers. "I just wish that there was some way to make this work better, because I doubt showing up late for class in college is going to cut it. Then again, if I don't have enough money, I'm just antagonizing over nothing."

"No, I understand, believe me Peter," replied Gwen in a sympathetic voice and Peter just looked forward, deep in thought.

"Spider-Man is both a blessing and a curse," thought Peter as he shook his head. "All of the people in this city that I've saved, I think some of them appreciated it but it really is ruining my future. Then again, how much of a future do I have? Especially with the anti-mutant sentiment in this city. I mean people aren't going to care if someone was born with their powers or got them in an accident. Even the Fantastic Four are getting criticized right now. I thought they were untouchable. If they ever connect Peter Parker with Spider-Man, I won't have any future. I'll be ruined. Likely sitting in some super powered prison. And if Osborn ever remembers, I'm really, really screwed. He's running the entire thing."

"Peter?" prompted Gwen.

"Oh, just thinking about, what's been going on lately, Gwen," said Peter and Gwen just nodded, she had a shrewd idea of what Peter was thinking about.

"So, you want to go get something to eat, its been a long time since lunch and its getting late," said Gwen.

"Yeah, but I need to take care of these photos, drop them off with Jameson, get yelled at for not getting anything good," said Peter before he added. "Oh, and I need to get more materials for webbing, as I'm completely out."

"Completely out," said Gwen, looking rather alarmed.

"I ran out facing the Enforcers today, no big deal," said Peter. "Don't be worried Gwen, I can handle myself."

"I know you can, Peter, believe me, I know," said Gwen, as she bit her lip but she shook her head. "It just...it makes things a lot easier, doesn't it?"

"I can't argue with that," conceded Peter, as the two teenagers rose to their feet, but a loud explosion from the distance had caused them to jump forward with a start.

"What's that?" asked Gwen, hoping, beyond hope that it was just a car backfiring somewhere.

"Trouble," said Peter, as he heard screams of horror and police sirens and Gwen looked at him.

"Duty calls, I know," said Gwen, as she leaned forward and kissed Peter briefly, before pulling away from him. "Good luck and be careful."

"When haven't I been careful?" asked Peter and Gwen just frowned. "Okay, stupid question, really stupid question."

Peter quickly rushed off, to become Spider-Man. Gwen watched him leave, without any web cartridges.

"He'll be okay, he's fought worse, at a great disadvantage," muttered Gwen, as she tried to be positive, as negative thoughts would only cause her to stress out.

XXX-XXX

Spider-Man managed to scale up the building and he saw a smoking cater in the middle of the street, along with a nearby helicopter whirling right down, as several bodies were removed. Two of them that Spider-Man saw were not moving and the other was screaming in terror that she could not feel anything.

"Everyone clear the area, we need to get these people out of there!" shouted a voice from behind. "And call for back up, we have to get that contraband back. This report says its potentially unstable."

There was no doubt what the criminals had in fact stolen.

XXX-XXX

"You have the package secured," said the Kingpin, as Shocker drove the truck, with Boomerang on the passenger's side, and Rhino sitting in the back.

"No problem, Kingpin," said Shocker. "The cops tried to stop us but we took care of them. We got a head start."

"And not a blooming bug in site," added Boomerang as he leaned back, as they continued to drive across the city, the sirens were in the distance, but the disaster that Shocker had caused would allow them to get the package to the helicopter right away.

A crash down right on the top of the truck had caused the villains to lean up with a start and suddenly, Spider-Man looked down from the top of the truck.

"You do realize that its against the law to drive an armored truck dressed like that," remarked Spider-Man, as he prepared himself for ha fight.

"Its the web head," grunted Rhino.

"Duck," ordered Shocker, to Boomerang, as Shocker held one of his gauntlets and blasted a concussive shockwave right towards the window, shattering it, causing glass to fly in every which direction, inside the truck.

"Are ya trying to slice me to ribbons, you nutter?" asked Boomerang.

"Shook off Spider-Man, didn't it?" asked Shocker but suddenly, Spider-Man came around from the other side, climbing on top of the moving vehicle.

"Sorry, but no, you're going to have to do more than that," said Spider-Man and Shocker slammed right on the accelerator, nearly throwing Spider-Man off. Spider-Man hung on.

"Yeah this would be a lot easier with webbing," thought Spider-Man as he struggled to hang on, as he avoided a sharp turn, hanging on the window mirror, barely able to keep on. "Much easier, but I got to slow these guys down, with those fabric samples, the Kingpin must have hired them to take care of this."

Spider-Man tried to grab onto the side, but Shocker once again raised his gauntlet and he braced himself for impact. He blasted up over Spider-Man, blowing up the side of the building, which caused debris to fly everywhere.

XXX-XXX

"That should get him out of our hair," cheered Boomerang, as Rhino grunted, as he tried to get a closer look at the spider going splat.

"Need to make sure," said Shocker. "Rhino?"

"Yeah," grunted Rhino.

"Crush him if the debris didn't," said Shocker and Rhino nodded, before the truck turned to the side and Rhino forced open the back to drop down.

XXX-XXX

"No!" shouted Spider-Man, as he avoided several pieces of debris flying, threatening to take him out but he spiraled around and landed on a piece of debris with a somersault, before he stuck a landing right on the ground. "Hello, hello, is everyone alright?"

He looked down at one of the pieces of the building, as he got no answer. He saw a slightly blasted, and charred sign but even in the wreckage, he was able to read the word "CONDEMNED" on it.

"A lucky break for once," thought Spider-Man but suddenly his spider sense suddenly began to blare into overdrive. "And I've got to learn to really stop tempting fate."

The thunderous footsteps signaled the arrival of Rhino and the large thug rushed forward, in an attempt to impale Spider-Man but the web slinger nimbly flipped out of the way and Rhino smashed right into the door. Rhino turned around, unfazed and swung a punch right at Spider-Man, who managed to dodge it.

"Come on, you can't out move me in that clunky suit," taunted Spider-Man, as Rhino began to continue to swing punches, but Spider-Man dodged all of them, before Rhino rushed forward and knocked Spider-Man to the ground.

"He's a lot quicker than he looks," managed Spider-Man, as he scrambled up to his feet, before he avoided another Rhino charge. Rhino crashed with the side of a parked car, his horn stuck right into it and Spider-Man quickly jumped right at Rhino.

"When, I get out of here, you're dead!" yelled Rhino, as Spider-Man took some free shots right at the body of Rhino, but he managed to wretch the car door off, and Spider-Man avoided getting the flying car door smashed right into his ribs. Rhino moved around and with great strength, he managed to hoist the car up. "Let's see how you like getting stuck in a car, web head!"

Spider-Man's eyes widened, as he saw the thrown car fly right at him. The web slinger avoided the vehicle smashing down right onto the ground and now he rolled over.

"No sweat, just got to wear him down," thought Spider-Man as Rhino walked over and hoisted up another parked car, with the alarm going off. "Or at least wear him down enough where he too weak to throw a car at me and go from there."

"Come back here and fight like a man, you bug!" growled Rhino.

"Do I look as stupid as you do?" asked Spider-Man and this caused the third car to fly right towards Spider-Man. Spider-Man slid underneath and he managed to catch Rhino off guard with a kick right to the face. It barely nudged him and with all of the strength he could, he began to pound Rhino with a series of strikes, which only backed up Rhino a half of a step, before Rhino grabbed him by the head and shoved him right back.

"Back to the drawing board," thought Spider-Man as Rhino charged him once again, but Spider-Man dodged, which caused Rhino to take out a row of mailboxes. Rhino picked up one of the mailboxes like a club and swung it, in an attempt to bludgeon Spider-Man with a vicious assault.

"Come on, you herbivore, is that the best you can do?" taunted Spider-Man and Rhino rushed him again angrily. He didn't know what a herbivore was, but he was pretty sure the web head was insulting him. Spider-Man dodged an assault and Rhino smashed right into a dumpster, denting it. He angrily ripped his horn out and rolled it right towards Spider-Man but Spider-Man dodged the attack. "As much as I'd hate to cut this short, I've got to take care of your two playmates."

"Forget get it, the only thing you've got to take care of, is your death certificate!" yelled Rhino.

"Oooh, good snappy comeback, could their be a few brain cells rustling around that head?" managed Spider-Man. "Anyway, time to web this up."

Spider-Man lifted one of his web shooters instinctively but had just remembered that he was still out of webbing.

Rhino just laughed and began to charge Spider-Man who dodged the attack, before he began to scale right up the building. With his spider strength, he wretched off of the bolts on a metal ladder and toppled it right onto Rhino's head.

"Okay no webbing, right, this is going to be a problem," said Spider-Man. "Last time I beat this guy, I unloaded all of my webbing into his face, wow that sounded far dirtier than I meant it to. Anyway, I caused him to pass out after I sprayed webbing all over his face and no webbing..."

A loud crash and Spider-Man staggered, as he nearly took a spill right off of the building. He managed to adjust his footing, as Rhino looked about ready to knock down the building.

"If I time my jump just right, I might be able to catch him off guard," thought Spider-Man. "Its worth a shot."

Another crash, as the building shook, as if it was being rocked from its foundations but Spider-Man grabbed onto a clothes line and snapped the end of it from its hook, before he swung down. He saw Rhino and managed to use his momentum to nail Rhino right in the face with the full force of his attempt.

Rhino reached forward, and grabbed Spider-Man right by the throat, undeterred. Spider-Man struggled, as he loosened the grip, before he did a somersault right into mid air and landed. He avoided the attack on Rhino.

"Come on, not done with you yet, going to rip your heart out on my horn!" growled Rhino.

"I prefer to leave all my organs intact, thank you very much," answered Spider-Man as Rhino's next charge, with Spider-Man ducking it, had caused him to crash head long into a metal gate and busted it open. "Well people would have a point if they accused you of being hard headed."

Rhino ripped his horn from the lock and felt it. It was slightly bent, but mostly intact. He charged right at Spider-Man once again but Spider-Man once again avoided the attack and Rhino crashed right through a road sign.

"Once I get my hands on you, I'll rip off your skin and floss my teeth with it!" yelled Rhino and Spider-Man dodged another attack and Rhino put the breaks up and Spider-Man caught him with a kick from behind.

"So close, come on Rhino, you can do it! cheered Spider-Man mockingly and Rhino turned, before he charged at Spider-Man once again. Spider-Man jumped into the air but Rhino stopped suddenly and Spider-Man landed right down, into in front of Rhino, who slammed a huge beefy fist right into the chest of Spider-Man and knocked him down and then Rhino hoisted up Spider-Man and threw him high into the air. He braced himself, as he crashed right onto the pavement.

"Guess I finally knocked the wisecracks outta ya," grunted Rhino as he stepped forward and thrust his head forward, in an attempt to impale Spider-Man on the end of his horn but Spider-Man avoided the attack. Spider-Man tried to slap Rhino away, but Rhino blocked it and picked up Spider-Man before he threw him right through the door of a shop.

"Did anyone catch the license place on that escaped zoo animal," murmured Spider-Man as he rolled himself over, as Rhino rushed forward, smashing shelves in every which direction and Spider-Man began to dodge the attack. Several items scattered around the room and Spider-Man hit the ground, and rolled. He just barely avoided being squashed by a shelf.

Rhino gave another growl, as he continued to smash up the shop, in his frantic attempts to get Spider-Man. Spider-Man managed to propel himself using the flying debris, before he gripped a tool box and flipped it right off the shelf onto Rhino. Rhino staggered, but he continued to move forward, with Spider-Man rolling away from the attack, and evaded another attack from Rhino, before he crawled over the smashed up shelves, before he stepped on a roll of duct tape that had been dislodged from one of the shelves.

"This may either be my most brilliant idea ever or my stupidest idea ever," thought Spider-Man, as he picked up the duct tape.

"You couldn't hit the broad side of the barn door with your attacks!" taunted Spider-Man and Rhino once again charged Spider-Man but Spider-Man propelled himself out of the way and Rhino crashed right into the shelf, before Spider-Man dropped down and quickly taped Rhino's feet together and then taped them right to the floor.

Rhino staggered, in an attempt to move forward.

"What the..." started Rhino, as he reached down, but Spider-Man taped his hands to his feet and then gripped the wall, before he used it to kick off and send Rhino flying right into the wall, which caused a pair of elevated shelves to crash on the head of Rhino.

"Well, all in a night's work," said Spider-Man but suddenly, Rhino angrily teared the tape away from his hands and then off of his feet, before he got to his feet, face reddened in absolute rage.

"YOU TRY AND HUMILATE ME BY BEATING ME WITH DUCT TAPE!" growled Rhino angrily, spraying the ground with saliva "YOU'RE DEAD BUG!"

"Duck your head, Spidey!" shouted a voice, as several windows broke and several grenades busted on the ground, releasing gas right to the ground. Rhino began to cough, and sputtered, as a net shot out on a cable, to wrap around Rhino and an electrified charge blitzed right through him.

"You dirty cowards," slurred Rhino, as he collapsed to the ground, as Spider-Man pulled himself to the ground, as the smoke cleared, as Rhino was fast asleep, and Spider-Man pulled himself to a standing position, as several riot cops moved forward, shields and cattle prods in hand, as they took a few steps towards Rhino.

"All clear," said the lead riot cop. "Take him in."

Spider-Man looked over his shoulder, but he did not have all that much time to stick around, there was still Shocker and Boomerang to deal with.

XXX-XXX

The van skidded to a stop, as Shocker exited, along with Boomerang.

"I'll get the package, you keep an eye out for anyone and take care of them!" ordered Shocker and Boomerang nodded, holding his preferred weapon close, as he watched Shocker open the van, before he pulled out the crate and tucked it underneath his shoulder. "Our ride should be here in a few minutes."

"You're right Shocker, your ride back to prison!" yelled Spider-Man as he managed to run forward, slightly out of breath, it was much harder to catch up with criminals on foot, than it was web slinging across the city. "The game's up..."

"Not quite, mate," said Boomerang, as he quickly threw his weapon right at Spider-Man but Spider-Man veered to the side, ducking the weapon, before he grabbed Boomerang, preparing to take him down.

Spider sense went off and Spider-Man ducked once again, before Boomerang's eyes widened, as his own boomerang just walloped him right between the eyes. He collapsed to the ground, dazed and rather confused. Spider-Man turned around, only to see Shocker attempt to blast him but the web slinger ducked.

"You're not beating me, not this time, web slinger!" cried Shocker, as he fired another blast towards Spider-Man but the web slinger nimbly avoided i

"You know, if I had a dime for every villain who's told me that, I'd be able to retire," said Spider-Man as he avoided another attack from Shocker.

"Yeah, too bad, because you'd have enough to cover your funeral!" shouted Shocker, as he blasted the van, causing it to fly right into Spider-Man who dodged, and rolled around, to avoid the explosion, before Shocker quickly ducked into a parked taxi cab and stuck his gauntlet right in the back of the head of the driver. "Get me away from here. Step on it, or I'll crumble your skull to dust!"

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled the taxi driver, used to the ingrates of this city by now, as he stepped right on the gas, but Spider-Man managed to catch up, dust flying from his body.

"Web head won't give up!" yelled Shocker, holding one hand steady in the cab driver's head, before he held his other arm backwards, and blasted full power, blowing the entire back window out and caused glass to fly through the air, right towards Spider-Man.

"Hey, that's going on your tab!" shouted the taxi driver.

"Just shut up, or that will look mild compared to what I do with your head," said Shocker, as the cab sped up but Spider-Man managed to land right on the hood of the cab, which caused the driver to stop suddenly and Shocker to slam forward, shooting right over his head, shattering the window into pieces, causing more glass everywhere.

Shocker kicked the door opened and quickly grabbed the case. Swinging it, Spider-Man blocked it and knocked Shocker back to the ground. Spider-Man stepped right on Shocker's hands, preventing him from grabbing it.

"Let go of me," yelled Shocker, but Spider-Man picked him up, before he ripped his gauntlets off and slammed him against the side of the taxi cab and the police arrived, with Shocker being dropped right down to the ground by a Spider-Man punch. He crawled to his gauntlets, but Spider-Man kicked them to the side, out of reach.

"So, what does the Kingpin want with this?" asked Spider-Man, as he held the case.

"Nose out web head!" yelled Shocker, as he found himself on the business end of several guns, as the police had arrived. He saw Boomerang handcuffed right in the back of the car.

"Freeze Schultz!" yelled a voice and Shocker, knowing that he had been licked, took a step back, giving a very brief hateful look. "Come forward, nice and quietly."

Without another word, Shocker stepped forward, without his gauntlets, that had slid away from him, he was about as useless as a common thug on the street against Spider-Man.

Spider-Man slumped, taking a deep breath, as he saw Captain Stacy walk right by him.

"Alright, Spider-Man," muttered Captain Stacy.

"Fine, just give me a moment to catch my breath," said Spider-Man, as he held out the case, right towards Captain Stacy. "Take this, I'm sure you and the rest of the fine cops of this city, will be able to take care of it."

"If it wasn't for you, Spider-Man, we wouldn't have anything to take care of, so thank you," said Captain Stacy, as he took the case from the rattled web slinger. "Things are getting rather dangerous out there, and while we do our best, the rules of the game have changed. Despite what others may say, you're very much appreciated."

"I do what I can," said Spider-Man, as he rubbed his side, he would not be surprised if he had a few bruised ribs as a souvenir from that fight.

"Captain, I need to ask you a question?" called a voice from the distance and Captain Stacy moved forward, to allow Spider-Man to slip off into the night, to nurse his many wounds and muse about many questions that he had on his mind.

"I'll take that off your hands, Captain," said a young cop to the side and Captain Stacy handed him the case, as Spider-Man moved off.

"Don't have anything answered tonight, if nothing else, there are many more questions," said Spider-Man. "You would think that something's going to break."

XXX-XXX

"So Spider-Man managed to foil my plan," said Kingpin, as he sat back, calm and icily looked forward, as he read a report sent by one of his informants on the police force. "The plan had potential but the execution was lacking. So much the pity, the value of that fabric would have added substantial value to my organization."

Kingpin leaned back right now, one plan failed was not going to set him back. Quite the contrary, it would serve as an inspiration to come up with further plans. With Silvermane being released in a matter of months and the Master Planner putting a strain on his territory, it was a tight corner. Not to mention that accursed mysterious guardian devil, who still after all of these months had put many of his best men behind bars.

The Kingpin of Crime always had one supreme trump card, one that would wipe out or cripple anyone who threatened his empire. When the time was right, he would gain more power and his enemies would be cut off at the knees.

XXX-XXX

Carolyn Trainer swept past a doorway, down into a darkened hallway, off to the side of the main laboratories of a facility at the edge of the town. To those with a more mundane mindset, it was merely just a research facility, where the greatest achievements in many forms of science were being fond. The true purpose was more sinister, although many of the people recruited were blissfully ignorant about who they were working for.

Taking a deep breath, Trainer raised an arm and knocked three times on the door.

"You may enter."

Trainer slipped inside, to a darkened miniature lab, with equipment all of the round. There were no windows in the room, there was no way in the room, except for the door that she had just entered. It was a cold and sterile environment, with only a very dim light illuminating it and a figure stood in the shadows.

"Your little presentation. Report on it, please."

"The press seemed to be pacified, despite nothing extraordinary being said," reported Trainer in a calm voice. "Enough interest for mostly no one to nose around, but enough to get us funding. It worked as you had expected Doctor..."

A loud scrape of metal interrupted Trainer.

"Master Planner, Ms. Trainer. The walls could have ears. Until I can execute my plan. I have nothing to chance. And what do you mean by almost no one?"

"Captain Stacy's daughter was asking questions," said Trainer. "She seemed to be awfully curious about what the nature of our project. Oh and her boyfriend, Peter Palmer or something or other, the one that takes photos of Spider-Man."

"Parker, Peter Parker, a bright young student of Midtown High School. Could potentially be of use, providing he is broken of that annoying habit of following obnoxious do-gooders around. A couple of teenagers, of no concern to me. Who would even guess that this was a front to my master plan."

"Norman Osborn also attended," added Trainer as an afterthought and a click and a scrape of metal was heard. "He seemed interested."

"He would be. Our front has barely begun and he's already looking for ways to put us down and buy us out. Osborn could be valuable, if he learns the true order of things and learns that I am vastly superior at an intellectual level. If not, he shall be dealt with, like Spider-Man and the Kingpin, as you well know."

Trainer nodded, as she slowly stepped back. She thought that her teacher was a little too obsessed with Spider-Man for his own good and it was causing him to lose sight of the goals that he had set forward, but it wasn't her job to question.

"Will that be all that you need, Master Planner?" asked Trainer.

"Yes, Ms. Trainer, that will..."

The door creaked open and a robotic tentacle light arm shot from the shadows, and hooked onto the shoulder of someone.

"Do come in, please, since you seem to be snooping around."

The door pushed open, as the tentacle slowly retracted and a rather shell shocked Mark Raxton stepped into the room.

"What are you doing here, young man?"

"Dr. Trainer dropped this notebook, I followed her here to give it back, I wasn't snooping around, I swear," said Mark as he held it out towards Trainer, but she looked from the Master Planner to Mark.

"That was very careless of you Carolyn. I'm disappointed. You should know to take better care of your possessions. And who is this young man who decided to come into a building after hours."

"Mark Raxton, he's one of the scientists that we hired on the work program from ESU," said Trainer in a slightly nervous tone.

"Ah yes, Mr. Raxton, your biological mother remarried a Mr. Allan, you have a step sister that's about to graduate from Midtown High, I do recall, and you are one of the most brightest students in your class at ESU."

"Yeah, I know that, you don't need to tell me my life story," said Mark but then he caught a look at the robotic arm in the shadows. "And you're...you're..."

"I know who I am, Mr. Raxton. No need to tell me thank you, I'm well aware. And I'm sure that you may also be well aware that Ms. Trainer has told me where your family lives. I believe you're smart enough to know what happens if you breathe one world of my involvement here to anyone. Ms. Trainer says they seem like such nice people. It would be a pity if anything happens to them."

"Y-y-es, of course, I won't say anything and I'll do whatever you say, just don't...don't hurt anyone," said Mark.

"Good to see that my faith in your intelligence has not been misplaced. So why don't you head on home, its getting rather late out there. Don't forget to buckle up and drive safely."

"Right, sure, sure," said Mark, as he backed up and walked away, leaving the room.

Suddenly Trainer stood, her teacher's eyes were on her.

"You better get going yourself. Its late and you need to get to work bright and early in the morning. A rested mind is a productive mind after all."

"Right, indeed, good night, Master Planner," said Trainer as she stepped out and the Master Planner turned, a moment later, a call that he expected at midnight on the dot was coming in.

Click.

"Speak."

"We have it Master Planner. As we planned. When the fools were distracted by disposing of those useless fabric samples, thinking they're dangerous, we were able to smuggle this into the city."

"Very good. As if anyone with half of a brain cell would leave something that valuable lying where the place would find it. It was already moved to this location. All the police destroyed were fakes. I will have members of my organization pick it up. The money has been wired to your account already."

"Its a pleasure doing business with you. The second component will need to be stolen from Stark and it will take some time to do that discreetly."

"Take as much time as you need, genius cannot be rushed. So for, AIM has been satisfactory with the equipment that you have given my game.. Soon once I have taken control of this city, you will be legitimized."

"It is a pleasure as well Master Planner. You are a true credit to science."

The Master Planner disconnected the communication.

XXX-XXX

The next morning, Peter Parker sat, a small sample of fabric underneath the telescope, in his bedroom, and he looked at it with a frown, trying to look for anything out of the ordinary.

"Well after studying this for about two hours, I have to conclude that both the Kingpin and I...have been played for complete and utter saps," thought Peter in frustration as he winced, still rather banged up from the fight with Rhino. "I should have known that AIM wouldn't have let something like this be found. Yet, what's their game? Just seems like that the more answers I look for. The more questions I get."

Carefully, Peter scooped up the vial and dropped it right in the trash, given the fact that it was useless, he had no part of it. It was bad enough when the criminals got away, but in some ways, it seemed even worse when fighting the criminals over something useless. As he left to spend a full day hanging out with friends, at least until duty called, Peter Parker bemoaned some of the unfortunate necessities of the great power that also can with great responsibility.

XXX-XXX

Norman Osborn sat at his desk in his Private Office at Oscorp. He had expected better from the presentation, but there appeared to be nothing of value. It seemed more like something a fifth grader would slap together the night before to achieve a borderline passing grade for a school project. He leaned back, with a twisted smile, as the phone rang on his desk. A frown appeared on his face, this was a private line, only a fair few had it.

"How did you get this number?" demanded Osborn.

"It doesn't matter, Osborn," said a voice at the other end of the line. "I have valuable information that you might want..."

"If you're fishing for a job Warren, you can forget it, I'm not interested," said Osborn coldly. "Yes, I know its you, so don't try and deny it."

"Well you'd be interested in this, Essex has planted a spy in your organization, he's trying to figure out what your angle is with the mutant issue," said Warren.

"I'm well aware of this as well, Warren," said Osborn crisply. "Miles Warren, you did show promise at one time. I'll admit that. So I need you to answer me one question. Why are you working as a lap dog for someone like Natheniel Essex?"

"He's got resources and knowledge beyond everything else," said Warren but he seemed unsure.

"Knowledge, given the fact that in his centuries, he still hasn't perfected genetic cloning or wiped out the weak or anything he's aimed to do,," said Osborn. "He has you slaving away, to try and unlock the secrets, secrets that he has not managed to unlock as of yet. He's rather dependent on you, Warren, yet he seems to give you an impression that you need him. If you had a bit more of a spine, you would do something that prove your superiority over him. But I doubt you do. Therefore you'll always be underneath someone else's foot, Warren. And you'll never been anything."

"I don't work with you anymore, Osborn," said Warren, extremely agitated, his voice shaking. "I don't have to put up with this abuse."

"Yet you do," said Osborn. "Unlike you, I answer to no one and I don't wait around for someone to tell me what to do, I do it. Has nothing you learned when you worked for Oscorp stuck with you. Take an idea and bring it several steps beyond what a simple mind could think possible. Until that lesson sinks in, you're be nothing but a lowly scientist toiling in a dark dingy laboratory. No one will remember your name when you die, because you're nothing. You've done nothing, because you are nothing."

Osborn heard Warren hang up, an indifferent look on his face. The man was always easy to manipulate. Osborn turned back to the computer, and continued to double check the variables in front of him, as he read the new and improved formula.

A few tweaks and it would be ready. Spider-Man would be reunited with an old fiend all too soon.

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