Hey, kids! It’s me, your favorite wall-crawling… wallcrawler. Sorry, been worn out the last few days. Between super-villains out the yin yang, my clone skipping town to find himself, and my young friend A.J. getting slaughtered by the Lizard, your ol’ pal Spidey hasn’t had time to catch a nap. Hopefully, things start looking up real soon. I mean, I don’t how much worse things can get around here. Oh, hang on, someone’s at the door…

CHANGES

By Tobias Christopher

“A baby? We’re having a baby?” Peter asked as he started to blow into a paper bag while hyperventilating. “How? Why?”

“Peter, you’re one of the smartest men on the planet, I’m pretty sure you know how,” Mary Jane told him as she sat at the table across from him. “It was when you came to L.A. and we spent that time up at the Hollywood Sign. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I wasn’t sure how.”

“Do you know what it is?” Peter asked her as he put the bag down.

“I was hoping to wait until the baby was born to know the sex,” Mary Jane told him.

“No,” Peter said as he leaned forward, whispering to her. “Do you what the baby is? Is it going to be half Spider-Man and MJ or half Peter Parker and MJ?”

“Well, it’s been a pretty normal pregnancy so far, so this baby might not be crawling up the walls instead of crawling across the carpet,” Mary Jane said as she put a hand on her stomach. “Riley’s been a dear and been getting everything I need. He says it helps him into the mindset to play Spider-Man by making late night runs.”

“He’s a good kid,” Peter said. “Is he coming out for the premiere?”

“He’s doing some last-minute reshoots, but he hopes he can make it,” Mary Jane said. “Peter, are you… okay with this?”

“Of course I’m okay with this,” Peter smiled. “We get another chance to be parents. And this time, I’m going to be there for you. For both of you. I’ll never let anyone harm my family again.”

“And what about your… other job?” Mary Jane asked. “Spider-Man can’t be here to protect us 24/7.”

OsCorp

Norman Osborn stood at the window of his office, just watching the sunset. He was waiting for news on his associate Rhett Carson, who had been missing for quite some time. Osborn didn’t like it when his plans deviated, and he needed Rhett for his Sinister 6 once he had suited them with all of their new weapons. Just as the sun had finished setting, the phone started ringing in his pocket.

“Osborn,” the man said as he answered.

“We found him, sir,”

“I can’t believe I’m going to be a father again,” Spider-Man said to himself as he swung through the city. Mary Jane was craving ice cream, Pringles, peanut butter, and cheesecake. Since Peter’s cabinets only had peanut butter, he had to make a late night trip to the market. “Another chance to be a dad, to give a kid the same love that Uncle Ben and Aunt May gave to me growing up. But Mary Jane was right, how can I be Spider-Man, hold down a job, and still be a full-time father?”

As he passed by overhead, Spider-Man webbed down a mugger without having to slow down or even look back as he continued on.

“Then there’s the whole situation with Drew. I have a grown son that I never knew about, and he’s in pain over losing what he thinks is his only family. I’m fighting every urge to sit him down and tell him that he’s the cloned son of me and Gwen Stacy. But he’s also grown closer to Flash, who’s treating Drew like his own flesh and blood. Flash needs someone in his life right now more than ever. I can’t just rip Drew away from him just to make me feel like a good father.”

Spider-Man held out his hand to shoot a string of webbing and stopped a car from ramming into a light pole.

“Don’t drink and drive!” Spider-Man shouted as he continued on his journey. “And there’s Ben. He truly loved A.J. That kid dying really hurt him, enough so that he had to leave town to try to heal. My whole surrogate family is falling apart, and it’s all because I didn’t work harder to get the Lizard off the streets. If I’d just found more clues, taken more time to find him. A.J. would probably be alive right now. Just another person I’ve let down.”

Flash walked through the door of his apartment, seeing Drew laying on the couch in his boxers, where the young man had been all day since they returned from the funeral. Unmoving and silent, Drew just stared at the blank TV screen ahead of him. He had long since run out of tears and was now just looking for any other emotion to feel besides emptiness.

“I brought pizza just in case you were hungry,” Flash said as he put the box down on the table. “I even bought the stuffed crust, I know it’s your favorite. Me, I like the garlic cheese bread pizza, but the stuffed crust works, too.”

Flash sat down on the floor next to Drew, folding his arms around his legs as he leaned his head back.

“I miss him, too,” Flash said, the tears welling up in his eyes. “You and A.J. are like my little brothers. I should have watched out for him more. I’m so sorry, Drew. Please, say something, anything, I need to know that I haven’t lost you, too.”

Drew just remained silent as Flash closed his eyes.

“Drew, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s about the night you got shot.”

Tommy headed to Peter Parker’s apartment, needing someone to talk to. He had fallen in love with A.J., only to have him coldly taken away just as they had begun to get close. Not wanting to bother Drew, Tommy thought that Peter was his only option, even though the two barely knew each other. Tommy had just started at Midtown High before the school had to close its doors until the investigation was closed, leaving Peter out of a job as a teacher and the students having to be transferred to different schools across the city.

Tommy took a deep breath and knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. He was about to walk away when the door opened and Mary Jane looked out at him.

“Tommy?”

“Aunt MJ?”

“So you can see my dilemma. I mean, that kid was my friend. He didn’t deserve to die like that. He was going to be a famous musician, and I don’t mean like a lot of these kids that say they’re going to grow up to be famous. This guy was good, like Michael Jackson before he turned into Latoya Jackson good.”

“That’s real great, but uh, can you stop punching me? I think I’m getting a concussion.”

Spider-Man pulled his hand back, realizing he’d been droning on for several minutes about his problems. The Mad Cow was being held in the other hand, with his lackeys all passed out around him, dressed up as baby calves. The group had just robbed the Cheesecake Factory when Spider-Man happened upon them on his way home from the store.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to milk the conversation,” Spider-Man told him.

“It’s alright, you’re hurting over the loss of a loved one,” the Mad Cow told him. “I, too, have lost loved ones in my time. Just let it out, it’s better than holding it in.”

“Thanks,” Spider-Man said as he punched him again, trying to limit the blows to the giant foam cow head the villain was wearing.

Osborn walked into the panic room he’d had Rhett taken to. He smacked the young man hard across the face as Rhett was chained to a chair.

“Where were you?” Osborn demanded.

“I don’t know,” Rhett said in a tired voice. “I was visiting my brothers’ graves and the next thing I know, I’m in an alley somewhere with no clothes, no money, and no phone.”

“Put him through every test, I want to know the whole truth. Physical scans, mental scans, the works. I want to know if someone’s so much as plucked a hair out of his pretty little red-head. Keep him sedated and locked up until I say otherwise. I don’t want him roaming the streets if he’s unstable.”

Osborn left the room, followed by the guards. As the door closed, Rhett picked his head up and started laughing uncontrollably to the point of crying.

“I haven’t talked to your mother in a long time, not since she hooked up with Mr. Perfect,” Mary Jane said as she made some hot chocolate.

“Yeah, well, Mr. Perfect beat me up and threw me out of the house when I told my mom that I was gay,” Tommy told her as he started crying. “She didn’t even stick up for me. She… agreed with him when he called me an abomination.”

Mary Jane put an arm around his shoulder as she brought him a cup. “I am so sorry, Tommy. I’ve been so wrapped up in my own life that I never even bothered to check in on my nephews. You are not an abomination, Tommy. I wish you would have picked up a phone and called me.”

“I came to New York to try to find you, but you were already gone,” Tommy said. “I ended up living in a half-way house where they got me back into school and a part-time job at the hospital. Then I met the most special guy, and for the first time in my life, I was in love. Then he was murdered and I’m all alone again.”

“Stop it, you are not alone,” Mary Jane told him. “You have me now, and your Aunt MJ is going to help you from here on out. What about Kevin?”

“He joined the army as soon as he turned 18,” Tommy told her. “He got deployed overseas, but then… something happened. He’s MIA. He could be dead and no one knows.”

“I know people, we’ll find out what happened to him,” Mary Jane said as she hugged him. “I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten since the last time I saw you.”

Peter walked in with the groceries, seeing A.J.’s boyfriend hugging his estranged wife.

“Wow, I step out for five minutes,” Peter said.

“Peter, we need to talk about something,” Mary Jane told him. “This is my nephew Tommy.”

“This is your nephew?” Peter asked. “I knew you had a nephew with that name, but… I wish I’d known earlier, kid. I am so sorry about A.J.”

“Peter, would you mind if I stayed with Tommy in a hotel? He needs his family right now,”

“Yes, I do mind,” Peter told her. “Because both of you are staying right here.”

“I couldn’t,” Tommy said.

“Mary Jane is right, you’re family,” Peter told him. “And family takes care of each other. You’re staying, so drop it.”

Mary Jane got up and hugged Peter tightly. “Thank you. But what about your… night job?”

“I’ll just have to be extra careful for a while. This kid is important to you, so that makes him important to me.”

Drew had gotten dressed and packed a bag, tossing what few belongings he had into it. Flash had told him everything, from Mephisto’s deal to the phone call he had to make. It didn’t take long for the two to connect the phone call to A.J.’s death.

“I was trying to save you!” Flash told him.

“And you sold out my kid brother in the process!” Drew shouted with tears falling down his face. “He’s dead because of you! No one asked you to save me! If I’d died that night, he’d still be here! You murdered him!”

“I’m sorry, Drew, I was trying to do what I thought was right,” Flash said. “If I didn’t tell you, you’d be dead, too. I had one year to tell you what happened or you’d die of that gunshot wound. I couldn’t lose both of you.”

“You have lost both of us,” Drew said bitterly. “I don’t ever want to talk to you again.”

“Don’t do this,” Flash begged. “Where are you going to go?”

“Anywhere is better than here,” Drew said as he opened the door.

“That door is always open for you,” Flash said as Drew walked out. “No matter what. You want to come back, I won’t ask questions, but I will always be here for you.”

Drew raised a middle finger back at him as he walked to the elevator.

“Dammit!” Flash shouted as he started destroying the living room in a mad rage. He soon fell back on the couch and closed his eyes, wanting a drink now more than ever.

Hollywood California 

“And be here Thursday night for the New York premiere of the Family Circus movie, a film, which we will be covering live on the red carpet with the stars of the movie, including Mary Jane Watson, Jared Padalecki, and star of next summer’s Spider-Man movie, Riley Alexander.”

A knife flew into the TV set, just as a picture of Riley came up. A shadowy figure seethed angrily as he prepared his weapons, including a large broadsword.

“Enjoy your fame while it lasts, Riley Alexander,” the shadowed figure said as he ran his hand along the sword. “Minashigo Sureiyā thirsts for your blood.”

To be continued in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2!