[Osborn Plot] It Begins.

[daretodo]

Continued from here

I walk faster than's strictly necessary, but not fast enough that she can't keep up. Even as we move further and further away from the field, I stay on the lookout, not wanting to risk the chance that I'll miss something -- or someone. People might call this paranoia. I call it being smart. The way I see it, my concerns – and boy, am I concerned -- are entirely called for. 'Cause, well, Norman Osborn isn't exactly your typical psychopath. Just before my three hour tour got extended, I spent months thinking Aunt May was dead because he had a few of my old pals bury her alive in Uncle Ben's grave,* all from the comfort of his prison cell. The prison cell Cat and I had to help him break out of. Long story. And that's not to mention the clones,** Mary Jane's miscarriage,*** Harry's drug addiction,**** Harry's death...*****

Gwen. Not only did he kill the woman I love,****** he apparently killed the mother of his own children.******* I wish I could say that was it. I wish I could say that list of things was finite, but that's only the tip of the iceberg.

And now he's here.

I let go of her hand abruptly – or what I imagine probably looks abruptly, seeing as MJ's not psychic – and I jump up onto the nearest boulder without breaking stride, using the extra height to grab onto a branch. Kicking my legs forward, I use the momentum to swing up and over, finally landing in a crouch. A normal person might be holding onto the tree for dear life. Me? I dig my elbows into my knees and hang my head in my hands.

I don't say anything for about a minute, too busy trying to not hyperventilate. Then: "It happened this morning."

*MKSM #9-12
** ASM #121, ASM #149,
***SM #75
****ASM #96
*****SSM #200
******ASM #121
*******ASM #509 What can we say? Norman's been a busy guy! – Notating Nix.

Comments

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"Okay," Mary Jane said, taking a deep breath in an attempt to steady herself, eyes wide as she looked up at him. "Okay. Alright. We can - we can do this." There were good people here, a lot of them. They would be able to stop Norman before he tried to hurt anyone. "What's he calling himself?"

[daretodo]

If you're just tuning in to today's race, sheer terror has taken the lead over blind rage. It's gonna be a real photo finish, folks.

Shaking my head, I say, "No. No, we are not doing anything. I am doing something. You are staying as far away from this as humanly possible."

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"So what do you expect me to do?" Mary Jane asked, frustrated, though the question was earnest. She got that this wasn't easy for him, but it wasn't for her, either, and frankly, he was probably better equipped to handle it than she was. Her only option was really to follow his lead, to do what would keep her safe. She just needed to know what that was. "I'm not asking to go out and fight him, but it's not physically possible to do nothing. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this."

[daretodo]

"Well, Mary Jane, you're in luck, 'cause the only thing you have to do is avoid a guy who looks like Norman Osborn, sounds like Norman Osborn, smells like Norman Osborn, yet inexplicably calls himself Alton Hartford!"

Gotta say, I wish that plan would actually work. Unfortunately, it's missing a few key components. Like, well, a plan.

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

Instantly, Mary Jane's expression went blank. She knew things had differed for the two of them -- vastly, in some instances -- but she had never before heard of people who looked completely different. There had to be some other explanation.

"...no, I met him," she said slowly, the syllables drawn out, her puzzlement all too obvious. "And he didn't look anything like the Norman Osborn I know. Are you sure?"

[daretodo]

Her expression goes blank and my follows soon after. "...what?!" Oh, this is just great. Not only is Norman on the island, MJ didn't even recognize him. It's like the rotten cherry on top of the worst cake ever.

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"I met someone who called himself Alton Hartford," Mary Jane said more slowly, her gaze fixed pointedly on him. Not only was she now confused, but far more worried, too, than she had been in the first place. This just wasn't right. "And Norman Osborn -- the Norman Osborn I knew -- looks completely different."

[daretodo]

Yeah, so sheer terror's just won the freaking race. They've already met, he already knows she's here, and he's probably already figured out the whole alternate universe shebang. The blood drains from my face and, without even processing the fact that I'm moving, I go from the tree to right in front of, hands finding her shoulders.

"What did you tell him?"

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"Nothing," Mary Jane replied sharply, going visibly tense. It wasn't strictly true, but it was difficult to keep from getting defensive with the way he was acting. Anything she had said, it had been unknowingly; she understood that he was scared, but she was, too, and he had no right to take any of it out on her. Pausing, she bit at her lower lip, racking her brain to try to remember the conversation. It had seemed so unimportant at the time. "Mostly, I just... told him about this place. He'd just shown up. And..." She sighed, lowering her head, as if remembering something she'd done horribly wrong. "He knows I have a boyfriend named Peter. That's it, though."

[daretodo]

"Dammit."

I let my hands drop, spinning on my heel so my back's facing her. For a brief second, one glimmering second I thought we could twist the alternate universe thing in our favor. If Mary Jane Watson was nothing to Peter Parker, she wouldn't have been a person of interest -- not to Norman, anyway. He goes after the people he knows'll hurt the most. A virtual stranger wouldn't fit that criteria.

"$*!&#@*)#$(*!"

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

He'd seemed so innocent. And though Mary Jane knew she'd had no way of knowing, she still thought she ought to have known better, should have seen something wrong. She never would have guessed that the Norman Osborn she knew was the Green Goblin, but if this was that bad, there should have been some way of avoiding it. Anything that happened now, she knew she was partially responsible for, and that hurt.

"There's got to be something we can do," she said, but weakly, lacking the usual conviction of her optimism. "You know? Some way to just... lay low or something, I don't know." For a moment, she paused, expression incredibly serious as she looked at him, though it was at the back of his head. "You're positive it's him? There's no chance that it could be a clone, or something?"

She doubted that he would be this worked up if he hadn't been certain, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

[daretodo]

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

I got the yelling out of my system -- for now -- so my voice is low, but not inaudible. My hands ball into fists. It's only through sheer willpower that I manage to uncurl my fingers, stretching them out, because I really don't need the added stress of making her afraid of me. I'm not the Hulk. I can keep myself in check.

Mostly.

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"Look, I just needed to be sure," she said, figuring that, once he calmed down, it would be an understandable concern. It happened all the time, around here. It didn't happen like this, though, and if he was certain, she was going to take his word for it. "Like I said, though. We'll... we'll figure something out."

[daretodo]

"Tell me what your Green Goblin was like," I say, turning around just enough so I can see her out of the corner of my eye. "Tell me what he was like, because I need to make sure we're both on the same page, here."

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"Peter, he almost killed me twice," Mary Jane replied tersely, her jaw set. There were more details she could've gone into, of course, but it didn't seem necessary. Physical appearance aside, she had a feeling there wouldn't be much difference. "Believe me, I'm not cutting this guy any slack."

[daretodo]

"No, I'm talking more in the general sense," I say, annoyed, and I shake my head. "This isn't about what he's done to you, it's about what you know about him. Because -- and trust me, I know how awful this sounds, MJ, but it needs saying --if he only tried to kill you twice...you got off lucky."

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

For a long moment, Mary Jane shut her eyes, taking breaths as deep and even as she could make them, which wasn't very. There was no denying that the subject was a touchy one for her. Considering all that had happened, she supposed she was fairly well-adjusted, but that didn't mean she had come to terms with all of what had happened. It was made even worse with the knowledge that it hadn't just been a villain, but her then-boyfriend's father who had done all of that.

"He... he told you you could either save me, or a whole tramway car full of kids. Dropped us both over the edge of the Queensboro Bridge," she said slowly, not opening her eyes as she spoke. It made the memories that much more vivid, but it was easier, somehow, to keep herself in control that way. "At the World Unity Fair, he... destroyed some buildings, killed a whole bunch of people." She paused there, expression growing even more serious, and when she continued, her voice was considerably quieter than it had been before. "He wasn't around for very long. You killed him."

[daretodo]

You killed him. Three little words are enough to send me hurtling back into the past, back to the day after Norman died and Jameson sent Luke Cage after me.* Three little words are enough to send me back to each and every time Harry accused me of the very same crime, even after he learned Spider-Man and Peter Parker were one in the same.

It was one thing for the people back home to think Spider-Man killed Norman Osborn. They didn't know any better. All they saw was this menace to society, believing every bit of garbage and vitriol the Bugle saw fit to publish. It's another thing entirely for Mary Jane to still believe that. She's said again and again that I'm the same man she knew, but if that were the case, she couldn't possibly think I killed him.

Whatever amount of calm I managed a second ago disappears, but I don't yell. I don't shout. I don't even so much as move. Instead I draw into myself, my posture changing in hundreds of subtle little ways until it becomes readily apparent that there's no way in hell I'm just a science teacher from Queens. I've said before that it's never been about the mask, and it isn't. I am Spider-Man, plain and simple, and I don't need to cover my face in order for that to be any more or less true.

So it's those same three little words that make me say, "You don't even know me."

*ASM #123

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"Excuse me?" With that, Mary Jane was about as far from as quiet as she'd been as it was possible to be without yelling. This wasn't about them, or wasn't supposed to be. All she had done was answer a question as she best knew how to. If things had happened any differently that night, she wouldn't have known it; what she did know, though, was that Harry had seen Spider-Man with Norman's body, and she wouldn't have blamed Peter at all for killing the bastard, not after what he did to her and any number of others. "What do you even mean?"

[daretodo]

The fact that I have to spell this out for her almost proves my point for me, but I humor her nevertheless: "If you think I could possibly stoop down to that psychopath's level, that I could possibly kill someone outright, then you don't know me at all."

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"You say that like it would be a bad thing." Probably it wasn't the most advisable thing to be saying, but Mary Jane was scared now for a whole other reason than Norman Osborn's being on the island, and at the moment, this was a lot worse. It was making her justifiably defensive, more tense than angry, but teetering on the edge of the latter. None of this was her fault, and she wasn't going to let him make it out to be. "He was a killer, Peter. I didn't say you... stabbed him in his sleep or poisoned his drink or did something on purpose; I wasn't even there."

With a huff of air too frustrated to be a laugh, she tipped her head back, eyes turning skyward for a moment. There were way too many bigger things going on right now for them to be having a stupid fight like this, but she couldn't just ignore his saying something like that, either. Still, looking back at him, she softened, just a little, almost imperceptibly. "Besides," she pointed out, her voice making clear how constrained she was keeping herself, "it wasn't you, it was... well, the other you. You're really going to make this about us now?"

[daretodo]

"Yeah, I am."

There's no two ways around it. She said we'll figure this out, but we can't figure out a damn thing until she realizes I'm not a murderer. The whole world can think whatever they want, but not her, not Mary Jane, and definitely not now.

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

For a moment, Mary Jane fell silent, obviously expecting him to continue. When he didn't, though, saying nothing about the rest of what she'd said, she sighed, shaking her head. All of this was getting increasingly tiring, and it didn't help that she'd been on edge already.

"So what else do you want me to say, Peter?" she asked, not quite defeated, but more worn out than exasperated. "Because I'm trying here, I really am, and I'd really like to get this sorted out so we can go back to figuring out what we're going to do about the psychopath who will probably want to try to kill me again."

[daretodo]

Sometimes it strikes me just how young she actually is. Putting her life in peril even once is one time too many, but from my perspective, this isn't our first rodeo -- it's more like our one hundredth. She's tired, that's obvious.

I'm not.

"I don't want you to say anything. I'm not going to put words in your mouth, just so you can throw them back at me and make things better. That's not how this works. I'm not a murderer, Mary Jane. No matter what happened -- and you can't even imagine all of the sick and twisted things he's done -- I've never been able to kill him. I've never been able to cross that line. And the fact that you think I could makes me wonder what sort of a man you think I am."

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

Put like that, all of this made a lot more sense, though Mary Jane still didn't see what made it such a bad thing. She hadn't accused him of having some elaborate scheme to do it. She'd always just assumed that it had happened, probably during the course of some fight or something of the like. It shouldn't have reflected on him at all; if anything, it ought to have been a good thing, that she had thought him capable of defeating one of his biggest enemies once and for all.

Now she just had to try to convince him that that was all it was.

"I never said you were a murderer. I told you, it's not like it was... premeditated, or anything like that, or like you had some sort of unfair advantage," she sighed, shaking her head. "It's not even like you walked up to him and did it while he was unprepared. The two of you fought, he got killed. I'm sorry if I don't necessarily think that's so awful." It was more than she wanted to get into now, but as far as she was concerned, Peter had been doing everyone a favor. She had never endorsed violence or killing, but in putting an end to so much more evil because of it, it would've been supporting the greater good. "I'll never know what happened, because you aren't the Peter I knew back home, no matter how similar you might be. But for what it's worth? I don't think anything bad about you. He was the murderer, not you."