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Spectacular Spider-Man #25 (288)
WRITER:  Samm Barnes
PENCILLER:  Scott Eaton
COVER BY:  Greg Land
INKER:  Cam Smith
STORY TITLE:  Sins Remembered: Sarah's Story - Part Three
REVIEW: 
Peter Parker recently learned of a secret affair between Gwen Stacy, his late girlfriend, and Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, during which Gwen became pregnant. Osborn arranged for her to give birth to their twins in France. These twins – Sarah and Gabriel – are now fully grown, the Goblin formula in their blood resulting in superhuman strength, but also in extremely rapid aging.

After Peter informed the twins about the truth of their parentage, Gabriel became violent, eventually injecting himself with Goblin serum and becoming the Gray Goblin. After being shot by policemen and receiving a blood transfusion from Peter, Sarah shot her brother rather than letting him harm the man who saved her life. Gabriel's whereabouts are currently unknown.

Weeks later, Peter received a phone call from a doctor in Paris, informing him that Sarah was hospitalized after trying to commit suicide. He left immediately for France, feeling responsible for Sarah's well being. After becoming worried about Peter being alone in another country with a dead-ringer for his former girlfriend, his wife Mary Jane decided to follow Peter to France.

Meanwhile, Sarah and Peter have left the Stacy estate in France, where Peter is reluctantly staying, to take a tour of the city. Little does Peter know, Sarah is becoming increasingly dependent on painkillers, and a mysterious figure has been following the pair, threatening them at every turn.

ACT 1: Peter and Sarah are sitting down for their picnic at the Père Lachaise Cemetery. A sniper appears to be aiming a rifle at Peter’s head from somewhere in the cemetery. Peter's spider-sense it set off when the gunman pulls the trigger and he instinctively dives towards Sarah and tackles her just as a bullet zooms past them. Telling Sarah to stay down, Peter swings off to go after the sniper. Peter does not find the gunman but Sarah does find him, just as he's about to take his leave. She grabs him by the throat and what she does with him is not revealed.

ACT 2: As Mary Jane makes her way through Charles de Gaulle Airport, she is unaware that someone is spying on her. Back at the Osborn Mansion (or Stacy Estate), Peter demands to know why somebody would want to kill her. Sarah evades the issue and tells Peter there is no need to overreact and that THEY are only trying to scare her. Peter replies that one way or another, he is going to find out what's going on with or without her help. Back at the airport, Mary Jane is accosted by a Frenchman named Luc Beldron who offers to help her find Peter. They get into a cab together and go out in search of Peter.

ACT 3: Back at the mansion, Sarah finally explains why these people have been trying to kill her. One night years ago, she and Gabriel were out looking for fun when they ran into a guy named Bruce, a known drug-dealer, smuggler and gambler. She liked Bruce at once but Bruce couldn't care less for either her or Gabriel. That is until he saw what they were capable of and what they could offer the group. So Bruce adopted them into his gang. This was around the same time that she and Gabriel started having headaches all the time. Fortunately, Bruce had drugs to make them go away but they were very expensive. Since she and Gabriel did not get an allowance from Norman because they were technically not supposed to leave the house anyway, they started delivering packages for Bruce and got paid for it. But about a year ago, Bruce and his guys disappeared and were never heard of again. That's when Monsieur Duprés arrived on the scene and took over what was left of Bruce's operation. The word on the street was that he was connected to organized crime; either you worked for him or you paid the price. They didn't want anything to do with him so they tried going independent but they ended up spending more on the drugs they needed to make the headaches go away than they were bringing in. So they had no other choice but to start working for Duprés. After a while, Gabriel concocted a plan in which they would still a huge shipment of drugs from Duprés, sell it themselves, and keep all the money. She didn't want to go along with it so Gabriel went without her and now he’s gone and she's left holding the bag. Peter asks how much she owes them. Sarah replies one million Euros (1.5 million US dollars). Peter is flabbergasted and asks Sarah if THEY know that she is involved. Sarah replies that THEY don't want her but Gabriel. She adds that they're only after her to try and find him and maybe recover their money or the drugs. Peter replies that the last time he saw Gabriel is when he disappeared into the East River. He asks Sarah if she heard from him or if she has any idea where he is. Sarah screams that she doesn't. Peter asks her then if she knows where the money or the drugs are. Sarah tells Peter that it doesn't make any difference where they are. As she walks away from him, she tells him to go home, since he's done what he came to do. Peter tells Sarah that she is being unfair and that he came all this way because he didn't want to lose her.

ACT 4: Outside the mansion, the cab carrying Mary Jane arrives at the mansion, closely watched by an individual sitting in a car alongside the road. MJ climbs out of the cab and Luc tells her that he will stick around since it doesn't seem that there is anybody home. MJ makes her way to the front door and slowly enters the mansion. As she does, she hears Sarah's voice and Peter's coming from the study. Sarah is telling Peter that she's been looking after Gabriel and the mansion her entire life, and that she doesn't him or anybody else. She also tells Peter that if he's going to walk out, then he should do it now and get it over with. Peter replies that he is not going to walk out on her and that he plans to be in her life as long as she'll have him. He tells her not to cry and that they'll get through this together. Sarah asks if he means it. Peter replies that he does and tries telling her that he loves her as a friend but Sarah doesn't let him finish his sentence and assumes he's saying that he loves her. So she replies that she loves him too and kisses him, just as MJ enters the room they're in. Peter pushes Sarah away from him while MJ turns around and storms out of the room. Peter runs after MJ to try and mend their relationship. MJ stops dead in her track and tells Peter that she cannot believe he was kissing Sarah who, despite how she looks, is still just a kid. Peter replies that he agrees with her in what she says but tells her that she got it all wrong and that he can't leave right now because Sarah's in trouble. MJ tells Peter that someone is always in trouble but that right now, it's them. Peter replies that someone is trying to kill her and that he can't leave her alone, not now. MJ tells Peter that if that's true, then she should help too. Peter replies that it is too dangerous so MJ tells him to give her his hotel key so she can wait there until he's done. Peter's dumbfounded look tells MJ that he doesn't have a hotel room and that he's been staying at the mansion with Sarah. Ticked off, MJ makes her way out of the mansion. Walking away, she tells Peter that she couldn't compete with Gwen when she was alive and now it seems that she can't compete with her memory either. Peter implores her to stay but MJ leaves.

ACT 5: Meanwhile, in another part of the mansion, Sarah is having another bipolar moment where she curses Mary Jane and wishes THEY had killed her when THEY had the chance. Sarah is not alone however; another voice is heard in the room: that of Gabriel, who is complaining that his head hurts. Sarah replies that she left him the last bottle full of pills she had. Gabriel retorts that he needs more but Sarah explains that there aren’t anymore and that he is going through them too quickly. She goes on explaining that she's been trying to get some and even brought in Peter with her, so that Duprés' men would leave her alone. Gabriel once again replies that he needs more. Sarah replies that so does she but that there aren't anymore. Suddenly, Gabriel seems to also have some kind of bipolar moment and starts asking Sarah who she is. He then screams at her to get out, as she is not his sister Sarah. Sarah replies that she is but Gabriel continues screaming that Sarah will be there soon and that if she finds her there, then she better watch out. He goes on yelling at her to go on and get out of there. Sarah implores Gabriel to calm down but Gabriel punches her in the face. Sarah tells him that she doesn't want to leave him like that again and that she didn't have any choice. Having said that, she grabs some shackles lying on the floor and she quickly cuffs Gabriel, telling him that she is going to go see Mr. Duprés to try and strike a deal with him. Gabriel begs her not to leave him again but she tells him that she has to. Before leaving, she tells him not to worry because she'll work something out or die trying.

ACT 6: Somewhere else in the mansion, Peter is searching for Sarah, who disappeared when MJ caught them kissing. He knocks on her bedroom door but there is no answer. As he opens the door, he finds shards of glass covering the floor. Within seconds, he slips into his Spider-Man costume and web-slings into the night. Outside the mansion, the man that was sitting in the car alongside the road when MJ arrived at the mansion is on the phone with someone and tells the other person that there’s somebody home and that they should move in.

ACT 7: Meanwhile in some fancy French restaurant somewhere in Paris, MJ is having supper with Luc, whom she met at the airport. But she is lost in her thoughts, pondering about what she just witnessed when she walked in on Peter and Sarah kissing – although it was unintentional for Peter's part. After talking with Luc for a little while and hurling on his jacket, she pretends to have to go to the bathroom and she ditches Luc by escaping through the bathroom window. While she makes her way back to the mansion, some guy who was apparently spying on her enters the women's bathroom and realizes that she has escaped through the window.

ACT 8: Back at the mansion, Spidey confronts the man who has been spying on them from his car parked outside the mansion. The man, named François Benoit, shows his badge and tells Spidey that he works for Interpol, which is an acronym for International Police. He asks Spidey what he is doing there. Spidey replies that he is there to help a friend. François realizes that Spidey is talking about Sarah and tells him that he should come with him, as he has some information he might find useful. Spidey agrees to tag along.

ACT 9: MJ returns to the mansion and finds the whole place in complete darkness. She enters the mansion and is confronted by a shirtless Gabriel who is seemingly ready to kill her if she doesn't find his sister.

To be continued.