"Hey, Peter, what's wrong?"
Dr. Curt Connors patted the distracted Peter Parker and asked with concern.
"Have you been wearing yourself out lately? Why don't I give you a couple of days off?"
"Ah, no, that's all right. Thanks for your concern, Dr. Connors." Coming back to his senses, Peter waved his hand. "I'm fine. I was just, um, a little distracted."
With help from his friend Harry Osborn, Peter Parker had interviewed for an internship on a project funded by the Osborn Group and led by Dr. Curt Connors, researching human limb regeneration through cross-species genetics. His excellent performance had earned Dr. Connors's approval.
Aside from fighting crime as Spider-Man, Peter Parker spent most of his free time here, and Mary Jane had started to complain a little about it.
But Mary Jane wasn't the reason Peter was distracted. It was the issue concerning Martin Lee, also known as Mr. Negative, that had come up a couple of days earlier.
"Would you mind talking to me about it?" Dr. Connors could tell something was weighing on Peter. He stopped working and sat down across from him. "Maybe I can offer some advice."
Peter hesitated for a while, then decided to talk it over with someone and see whether he could find an answer along the way.
"If a friend or relative of yours had to engage in some, um, illegal activities because of certain unusual circumstances, but stopping him would very likely hurt him, what would you do?"
After giving Dr. Connors a somewhat vague account of Martin's problem, Peter looked at him hopefully.
"Oh... so it's that sort of problem..."
Dr. Connors smacked his lips. As a former army doctor, he had witnessed similar situations several times. Quite a few soldiers had disobeyed orders for personal reasons and