Empire State University

“Sir, you can’t go in there!”

Norman Osborn ignored the secretary’s warning and walked through the door. Miles Warren looked up from his computer at the new arrival. The secretary followed Osborn inside and Warren signaled for her to leave.

“It’s okay,” he said. The secretary nodded and left, closing the door behind her. Once she was gone, Warren motioned to a chair in front of his desk. “Good afternoon, Mr. Osborn. Please sit.”

“Thank you,” said Osborn, taking the seat.

Warren leaned forward on the desk. “Now what can I do for you?”

“My son showed this to me,” said Osborn, dropping a newspaper on the desk. It was the very same issue Warren had been getting flack for since it was printed.

“Mr. Osborn, I can assure you that neither your son nor anyone else at this university is in any dan—”

“Can it, Warren,” said Osborn. “I’m not here about that.”

“Then what?” asked Warren.

“I want you to tell me everything you know about this Spider-Man and I want you to tell me now.”

Warren leaned back in his chair. “There’s nothing to tell.”

“Are you sure?” asked Osborn.

“Mr. Osborn, the only source on this story is a freshman football player with an overactive imagination and a dire need of attention,” said Warren. “So I’m more than sure—I’m positive.”

“What can you tell me about Professor Connors?”

“Again, nothing to tell,” said Warren. “He’s simply on sabbatical.”

“Seems extremely convenient,” said Osborn.

“What does?”

“That Connors would go on sabbatical right after his funding was pulled and his research halted. And then almost immediately after he leaves, this article appears about a man with superhuman powers.”

“I assure you, it’s just coincidence,” said Warren. “After he lost his funding, Connors felt this would be the perfect time to take a vacation.”

“A vacation?” asked Osborn. “Without his wife and son? Who have no idea where he is?”

Warren sighed. “Connors is missing, probably on a bender somewhere.”

“Then why did you—”

“Curt is an old friend of mine, Mr. Osborn and I’m simply trying to protect his reputation. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that he’s been under a lot of stress lately and I fear it may have gotten to be too much. Losing funding was just the final nail in the coffin and he disappeared.”

“I see,” said Osborn. He stood and held out his hand. “Well… thank you for your time, Mr. Warren.”

Warren shook it. “Glad to be of assistance. Call me if you have any questions, Mr. Osborn.”

“I will,” he said with a smile.

The moment Osborn left the office, he took out his cell phone and dialed a number. “Warren’s full of shit. Find me that lab assistant.”

BIG-TIME SUPERHERO

Part III: Digging For The Truth

By Dino Pollard

Midtown High School

Peter pushed his way through the crowd at the football stadium. It was more crowded than he expected. No one stopped to notice him or say hi or anything. He honestly couldn’t say he was surprised. Peter was always extremely shy in high school, more focused on his classes than socializing.

It was the first time he had actually been to a football game at his old school. He never cared much for these events and most of the time he didn’t want to be caught dead at one of them. Of course, MJ always liked them.

He pushed his way through the crowd, trying to catch some sight of her. No attention was paid by him to the game, which showed Midtown was in the lead. He craned his neck and finally caught a glimpse of her towards the top of the bleachers. There were a few other girls sitting around her as well.

Peter slowly made his way up the bleachers. As he did, MJ glanced in his direction. She did a double-take once she realized it was him and a big smile appeared on her face. Peter sheepishly smiled back and she maneuvered around the other people blocking her way.

“Peter!” she said as she threw her arms around his neck. Peter returned her hug. She broke it and looked at him, still smiling. “I almost didn’t recognize you without your glasses.”

“Yeah,” said Peter, a hand brushing his hair back. “They broke and I realized that I really didn’t need them.”

“That’s good,” said MJ.

A touchdown was scored and roars of applause and cheers burst out from the stands. Peter looked down at MJ. “It’s kind of hard to talk here.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” she said. “C’mon, I’ll buy you a hot dog.”

“You’ll buy?” asked Peter.

“Yeah, I’ll buy—I know you’re a poor college student now.”

MJ led the way out of the bleachers with Peter following. There was a small stand set up off the side of the bleachers with people gathered around. MJ approached one of the ladies behind the counter and ordered two hot dogs. When they came up, she handed one to Peter.

“Tell me all about the college life,” said MJ.

“Not much to tell, really,” said Peter. “So far it’s nothing it’s cracked up to be. My roommate’s a pain in the ass and I spend most of my time studying.”

“You mean you’re not meeting any new people?” asked MJ. “No parties or anything like that?”

“Well… my R.A. is really cool. And there’s this guy from one of the frats I met, he seems okay,” said Peter. “But other than that, not much to say.”

“You’ve got a friend in a frat but you don’t go to any parties?”

“You know me, parties aren’t really my thing,” said Peter.

MJ leaned against a fence while the two ate their hot dogs. “I suppose I should find a way to get up there some weekend, drag you out to some of those parties.”

“You don’t have a car,” said Peter.

“I can take the bus. Or maybe I’ll just pick up some guy with a car, work my magic to have him drive me, then ditch him once I’m there.”

“How will you get back?”

“Y’know, most guys would be thrilled to have me stuck at their dorm room,” said MJ with a flirtatious smile. Peter just laughed.

“I’m sure my roommate would love it.”

“Yeah… he probably would,” said MJ. Her smile had initially faded and it now took effort to keep it present on her face.

“What about you, anything exciting happening out here?” asked Peter.

“Nothing much, auditions are starting soon,” said MJ.

“You starting to look at schools?”

MJ chuckled. “Not really.”

“You should get on that soon,” said Peter.

“God, you sound like my aunt…” MJ turned away from him for a second. Suddenly, she faced him again with a smile. “Hey, remember when we were little, how our aunts would always plan out our wedding?”

“Oh yeah!” said Peter. “And they joked how we’d get a house on the same street.”

“Those were fun times,” said MJ.

“Yeah, too bad we’d disappoint them,” said Peter. “I mean, you and me? Married?”

“Right… that’s crazy…” said MJ.

Another touchdown. More cheers. MJ looked off at the field, then back at Peter. “Well… I guess I should get back to the others. Liz is probably wondering where I ran off to.”

“Oh… okay,” said Peter.

“Why, is there something you wanted to tell me?”

“No, nothing I can really think of…” said Peter, scrolling through his thoughts.

“Nothing at all?”

“Well… there is something.”

“What is it?” asked MJ.

Peter opened his mouth, ready to tell her about the new powers he gained, about the experience with the Lizard. But then he remembered that he promised Uncle Ben he wouldn’t say a thing. Except now MJ was waiting to hear something from him. He sighed.

“It’s my R.A.,” he said. “She’s… well, she’s really great.”

“I… see?”

“Her name’s Gwen, she’s a junior,” said Peter. “And… well I think she might be interested in me.”

“Really,” said MJ. “A junior? Don’t you think that’s a little old?”

“I don’t think it’d be a problem,” said Peter.

“Oh… well… in that case I guess…” MJ stopped and looked away. She was an actress, she could do this. “I guess… good luck. I’m glad you’ve found someone.”

She started to walk away from him. Peter watched her, somewhat confused by her shift in tone. “MJ? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, just a little tired I guess,” she said. She motioned back towards the bleachers. “Look, I should really get back…”

“Okay… I’ll talk to you soon?” asked Peter.

“Yeah sure,” said MJ. She turned her back on Peter and up the bleachers. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him walk away from the stadium.

“Damn…” she muttered. “MJ, you’re an idiot.”

Queens

Peter took a turn and began walking down the street of his block. He wondered why MJ started acting strange at the game. It seemed like there was something she had wanted to say but for some reason couldn’t.

He shrugged it off. She did say auditions were coming up, so she was probably just nervous about those. Plus, Peter bringing up college maybe made her a little scared about graduation. MJ was always a bit of a free spirit and planning ahead with anything, especially her future, was not her strong suit.

Of course, that’s what it had to be. She was just nervous. Plus it had been a while since the last time they saw each other. Maybe they were just beginning to drift apart from one another?

While Peter walked down the street, he felt a slight buzz. He remembered this feeling before, but it was much more subtle this time. That warning sense he had. That’s what it was. He turned around and saw a long, black limo slow down as it approached him. It stopped with the back door right in front of Peter. The tinted window rolled down and there was a man inside, probably in his 50s, with short, red hair and green eyes. Peter also noticed the man bore a striking resemblance to Harry.

“Mr. Parker I assume?” asked the man.

“Who are you?” asked Peter.

He held out a business card and Peter carefully took it.

“Norman Osborn,” he said. “CEO of Oscorp.”

Peter read the card then looked up at him. “This have anything to do with Harry?”

“…you know my son?” asked Norman.

Peter’s eyes went from left to right in a bit of confusion. “Isn’t that… why you’d want to talk to me?”

Osborn smiled as he opened the door to the limo. “Why don’t you come for a ride so we can have a chat.”

“I dunno,” said Peter. “I think this is all a little weird for my tastes.”

“It’s about Professor Connors.”

“What about him?” asked Peter, his mind flashing back to the battle with the Lizard.

“Get in and we’ll talk about it. I’d rather not do this in public.”

Peter climbed inside the limo and closed the door. Osborn signaled for the driver to go. Once the car was in motion, Osborn turned to his son’s friend. “First off, how do you know Harry?”

“We go to school together,” said Peter.

“Are you in his frat?”

“No, but I met him when he tried to get me to join.”

“I see.”

“…you said this was about Professor Connors?” asked Peter.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” said Osborn. He picked up a folded newspaper and handed it to Peter. “Can you tell me what this is?”

Peter opened the paper and saw the artist rendition of him battling the Lizard on the front page of ESU’s campus newspaper. “Well, it says in the article that it was someone named Spider-Man.”

“And what can you tell me about Spider-Man?” asked Osborn.

Peter handed the paper back. “Nothing.”

Osborn looked at him quizzically. “Nothing?”

Peter shook his head.

“You have no knowledge of this Spider-Man.”

“Only what’s in the article,” said Peter.

“I see,” said Osborn. He took the paper and tossed it aside. On his lap was a folder which he opened and produced several papers and handed them to Peter. “Do these look familiar to you, Peter?”

Peter looked them over. “Yeah, they’re reports filed by Professor Connors.”

“They were also dismissed by the board of trustees at ESU, as well as Connors’ outside benefactors,” said Osborn. “These reports were deemed inconclusive and it seemed as if the good doctor had went a little mad. Until this Spider-Man incident.”

“What do you mean?” asked Peter.

“Let me make something very clear to you. I am not, by any definition, a stupid man, Mr. Parker. I know Connors was working in the field of genetics. I know he was experimenting with hybrid DNA and stem-cell research. And I know his reports were inconclusive. Which means either he went mad or he left something out.”

Peter shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “L-like what?”

Osborn smiled. “A human subject.” He motioned towards the paper. “This Spider-Man seems to fall into that category.”

“I… I really think I should go now…” said Peter, reaching for the car door.

“I’m not trying to hurt you, son. I just want your help.”

“I don’t know anything!” said Peter.

Osborn reached out and grabbed Peter’s wrist. “Peter, you and I both know that’s not true. You do know something about this.”

“Let go of me!” said Peter.

“Just tell me—who is Spider-Man?”

“I said let go!” said Peter. Instinct took over and from his wrist, a glob of webbing shot out and hit Osborn in the face. The CEO pulled it away and looked at it in surprise. He then looked at Peter.

“So… you’re Spider-Man,” he said.

Peter sighed.

“Relax son. I don’t want to hurt you,” said Osborn. “In fact, I want to offer you a job.”