Peter Parker was glad when he got his boxes in his new... or rather old room. He could unpack tomorrow. It was getting late and he and Flash both had work tomorrow. Peter plugged in a radio type device that was patched into a police scanner. He figured that maybe New York could live one night without Spider-Man... but where was the responsible thinking in that? Suddenly he heard something about alarms being heard in a jewelry store. Peter got out of his bed. Sure, the cops could probably handle this.. but stopping this crime would probably help him start a full on patrol. Peter put on his Spider-Man costume and decided it was time to get to work.

As Spider-Man swung to investigate the alarms at the jewelry store, he saw a figute in black leap out a skylight to escape. Spider-Man leaped after her.

"You know, jewels are probably the most cliché thing a.... whoa.." Spider-Man said before the woman in a cat suit turned to face him. The woman smiled at his reaction.

"What's wrong, Spider? Cat got your tounge? I must say I'm flattered to get such a reaction from you." The Black Cat teased before he leaped off the building. Spider-Man shot a web and gave chase as she swung on the buildings herself with grappling hooks.

"Hey the swinging through the city thing is my bit!" Spider-Man yelled before he fired a few web balls at the cat burgler.

"What? Afraid someone will say I do it better?" the woman teased as she dodged the web balls.

"More afraid of Jameson saying something stupid like I'm training the next generation of cat burgler." Spider-Man replied jokingly before he webbed one of her hands to a wall and landed onto the wall himself in a way that his head was upside down to hers.

"Now about those jewels..." Spider-Man said. The cat burgler gave Spider-Man a flirtatous look and giggled.

"You really are quite amazing, Spider. This will be the night you will always remember as the night you ALMOST caught the Black Cat." the cat burgler teased before some kind of bright light flashed into Spider-Man's eyes. The Black Cat was able to tear the webbing off of her hand and leap off the building. When Spider-Man regained his sight, the Black Cat was gone.

"Did she just do a modified Jack Sparrow quote?" Spidey asked himself as he was now alone on this random building.

The next day:
When Doctor Curtis Connors entered his lab, he felt great. Not only did he hit it off with the new employee Martha Doris, his mysterious funder kept his lizard DNA project going at a faster rate than projected, but now there was a feline powered individual that proved that his lizard DNA project was more plausible than ever before. He almost felt like leaping for joy.

"Well look whose feeling happy today!" said the voice of Max Modell as he walked inside of the lab.

"Mr. Modell, it's good to see you this morning? Are you here to see the progress on the Lizard DNA project?" asked Connors. Modell shook his head.

"No. Actually I'm here because I just wanted to get out of the office for a while. You know I used to be a scientist at Quest Aerospace." Modell told Connors as Peter Parker walked into the lab. Hearing Modell mention Quest Aerospace caught Peter's attention.

"Wasn't Wilson Fisk a holder of stock at Quest Aerospace?" Peter asked as he walked in, remembering that Ben Urich had informed him of that months ago. Modell nodded.

"He was a large part of the funding of the exoskeleton suit that ended up being blown up by the Green Goblin. Shortly afterward a video leaked with Fisk supposedly killing a man... but no one talks about that." Modell explained as he sighed.

"I don't truly believe that Mr. Fisk is capable of doing what the media had accused him of... but still... if there is a chance that the rumors of old are indeed true, I will not have Horizon Labs affliate themselves with Fisk." Modell said.

Suddenly, Felicia Hardy walked into the lab, a happy smile on her face.
"Did you all hear the news this morning?" Felicia asked the Horizon Labs scientists. Peter looked at Felicia in confusion.

"About the cat burglar that escaped from Spider-Man?" Peter asked. Felicia shook her head.

"As fascinating as the woman is, no I am not talking about the woman who escaped from Spider-Man. I'm talking about the fact that my mother has finished negotiating with Wilson Fisk to allow us to take some of Oscorp's more unfortunate experiments from their past so we can change them into more positive inventions in the world. This just happens to be the most fascinating." Felicia explained before she showed them a container filled with a green substance that Peter instantly recognized as a substance that had been in Harry's Goblin lair in the Osborn mansion.

"What is that?" Dr. Connors asked.

"It was a performance enhancer Norman Osborn and his team was working on around the time when Quest Aerospace was trying to prefect their exoskeleton experiments. However, some notes discovered by the late Dr. Stromm showed that in the serum enhanced many animals when in the animal testing process, however in one of the trials came a risk of insanity. I believe that fresh new minds could use this and eliminate the risk of insanity, leading humanity into a new era. Perhaps we could implement this in medicine or..." Felicia explained before she was cut off by Max Modell.

"I'm not sure we should be experimenting around with things Wilson Fisk handed to us. With the rumors still never disproven..." Modell started to explain before Felicia cut him off.

"None of the rumors were ever proven. Why act as if the man is guilty of crimes when the fabric of our nation is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty? Besides, can you really pass up on scientific progress for some rumors of incidents that supposedly happened before Spider-Man ever appeared in the city?" Felicia asked. Max Modell sighed. Felicia had a point. Fisk was never proven guilty, but he was worried he was never proven innocent either. Regardless, Modell couldn't deny the scientific potential of improving upon Norman Osborn's work. Peter in the other hand felt weary about this, because if Jameson and Ben Urich is to be believed, Wilson Fisk never did simple favors. Horizon Labs would owe him. And the performance enhancer could very well be the same substance that gave the Osborns their Goblin abilities. Both were possibilities Peter didn't want to mess with.

Meanwhile:
"Are you sure sending the enhancer serum to Horizon Labs was the smartest move? You did buy one of the top scientific companies in the world." Wesley pointed out to Fisk as they spoke in what was once Norman Osborn's office at the Oscorp building. Fisk smiled.

"Of course. This Curtis Connors is desperate to succeed with his lizard DNA experiments, he would be more than tempted to implement Osborn's formula into his project. Imagine it now... a successful test, our agents in Horizon could then steal the formula and then we would be able to produce the formula and sell to both the police and criminals alike. From both sides of the law, I'd be able to profit, then use that money to tear down the less desirable parts of New York City and form it in my image. However, should the test fail, we simply pretend like we did not know of the dangers the serum could cause." Fisk explained as he smiled at his desk. Wesley nodded before he put a laptop down onto his desk.

"Mr. Fisk, I was checking into Oscorp surveillance tapes to discover what I could about Norman and Harry Osborn's former projects... I discovered a hidden file within Oscorp's data banks... looking inside the file showed video footage of the day Doctor Mendel Stromm was murdered. It was hidden by the son of a previous board member that the Green Goblin had killed during the World Unity Festival all those years ago, probably as black mail material that never came into play due to Osborn's death." Wesley explained. Fisk didn't look too concerned about the footage but was inwardly curious about what the footage could possibly reveal that made Wesley so uneasy about sending the formula to Horizon Labs.

"Show me this footage then, Wesley." Fisk said and Wesley played the video. In the video, Norman Osborn and Mendel Stromm was in a lab. Despite Stromm's protest, Osborn was determined to do whatever test they were doing on himself. Fisk watched with interest as Osborn was put into some experimental table and put into a chamber. Green gas filled the chamber and Osborn seemed to have some kind of seizure that made Stromm fear that the serum could have killed his friend and employer, but when Stromm tried to save Osborn, Osborn chocked Stromm.

"Back to formula?" Norman growled before tossing Stromm out of the chamber window and onto electronics. The force of the throw killed Stromm and what Osborn did next intrigued Fisk even more. The out of control Osborn grabbed some kind of suit and flew on some kind of glider. Fisk then realized what this footage was. Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin that had terrorized New York all those years ago. Fisk had a great smile on his face.

"How interesting, so Osborn himself was the Goblin who terrorized the city all those years ago. And what we did was give Connors the secrets into the Green Goblin's power. No matter if Connors succeeds or fails.... we benefit." Fisk said in realization. Wesley looked at Fisk in confusion. How exactly did they benefit from the possibility of Connors failing to improve a product responsible for one of New York's greatest threats? But Fisk did not elaborate further. Clearly Fisk had a plan cooking up in his mind, considering all of the possibilities possible.

Meanwhile:
One thing Mary Jane Watson did not expect to be doing was going to the apartment of May Parker without Peter Parker being present, but after she called May about her feelings of remorse for much of the things she'd done over the years, May simply invited her over so they could talk things over in person with some tea. Mary Jane figures that if it worked for Peter, it may work for her, as she considered May to be one of the wisest people she knew. Mary Jane sighed nervously before knocking on May's door. It didn't take long for the door to open and there was May Parker, happy to see her.
"Mary Jane. It's been too long. Come in." May greeted cheerfully as she opened the door fully and stepped out of the way to allow the redhead to enter the apartment.

"Thank you, Mrs. Parker." Mary Jane replied as she walked into the apartment. May then walked over to the kitchen as Mary Jane made her way to the table and May put some tea in two small cups before giving one to MJ. MJ nodded in acknowledgment before May took her seat across from her.

"So, before we start the conversation you came here to start, I'm curious... how are you and Peter?" May asked curiously. Mary Jane sighed.

"Complicated as always. I still love him, he still loves me. The issue is we both needed time apart after the whole, getting kidnapped by super villains for the third time thing... and I feel neither of us feels worthy of the other anymore. I feel that both of us are being weighed down by our mistakes and feelings of being unworthy." Mary Jane explained as she thought of how she got angry at Peter and agreed to marry John Jameson to tick Peter off, only to stand John up the day of their wedding. May sighed.

"I know the situation I'm about to bring up is much different than yours, but there is a time in our lives where we may all feel that way. For me, I think about how I could have stopped Ben from taking Peter to the library. Maybe Ben would still be alive if I had convinced him to give Peter a chance to figure things out for himself. Every day I waste my energy on such thoughts, I remember what actually matters... Ben loved me, and I have to do the best I can to live a life worth his memory. Sure, Peter hasn't died, but he still loves you, and you just have to do your best to make sure you do not make the same mistakes that haunt your mind currently. Live a life worthy of the woman you want to be." May told MJ. MJ nodded.

MJ's phone then buzzed as she received a text by the director of the Broadway play she was in. Rehearsal would start a bit earlier than usual. MJ then looked up from her phone and noticed a picture of herself with Peter and Harry on one of May's walls. MJ walked up to the picture and sighed upon seeing how happy they seemingly were. Except for the fact that she had been talking to John Jameson at the time, Harry had still been bothered by Peter's apparent loyalty to Spider-Man, unknowing of the truth that Peter IS Spider-Man, Peter took a long time to find the stand so the picture could be taken.... most likely hiding feelings of guilt over having to keep the secret of the ages from them. Were any of them truly happy? MJ then decided from looking at that picture that she would be... Harry died saving her and Peter, giving them a second chance at life at the cost of his own.... and she now vowed that she wouldn't waste it.

Author note: Kind of a shorter chapter than I intended, but I did want to give this story any kind of update at a place where it would seem at least somewhat natural to stop. Anyway, Spider-Man 4 continues.... and now Peter's world starts to get more complex the more his fate gets tied with Wilson Fisk and Felicia Hardy. And what of Curt Connors.... his "mysterious benefactor" gave him yet another element to play with.... even now... the shadow of Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin haunts Peter's life beyond the grave.