As the group arrives at the hospital, Peter makes his way in a few minutes later. "What kept you Petey?" Liz asks him as she sees he is exhausted.
"We might have a little problem." He whispers to her as they enter the room and are greeted by Mary Jane Watson, who now has much shorter hair.
"Hey guys, glad you could make it."
"Hey MJ, how are you holding up?" Peter asks
"Pretty good actually, the doctors say I should be able to come home tomorrow."
"That's great." He says then turns his attention back to Liz as Gwen and MJ start to talk. "Liz, mind if I talk to you for a minute?" she nods as the two leave the others to converse. They head outside as Peter tells her of Sally and the symbiote.
"You're kidding right? That's impossible."
"I wish it was. But I have the bruises to prove it. She kicked my butt up and down the classroom." Just then Eddie Brock approaches the two. Peter moves in front of Liz and faces Brock. "What do you want?" Peter says angrily.
"I came to warn you, the symbiote its back. It got Sally."
"Yeah and I wonder who we have to thank for that."
"Listen I know I did a lot of stuff but…"
"Oh you mean when you tried to expose me, when you tried to make my life a living nightmare, when you tried to kill Gwen? Listen I don't care what it is you have to say but you've done enough to try and screw up my life. And now thanks to you I have an alien monster to catch on top of everything else. Like you said, we're not bros anymore. So if you don't mind, I have work to do." Peter says as he pushes past Eddie and leaves the building as Liz follows him.
"Peter maybe you should listen to him. He really seems like he wants to help." Liz says as she runs after him.
"I seriously don't want to talk about it Liz."
"Then don't talk, just listen. Eddie is trying okay. He didn't have to warn you. He could have just sat by and let Sally tear you a new one."
"Which she did anyway."
"Not the point. The point is maybe you should try trusting Eddie the same way you trusted me." As Peter stops and thinks he is instantly struck by Scream as she swings down and carries him onto a rooftop, throwing him down on the flat surface.
"You know Peter we could have done this nice and clean, well not really clean, we mean your guts would have been all over the place, but we digress." She chuckles as she jumps on top of him and forms an axe from her left hand. Before she can bring it down a ball of fire shoots close to her side, causing her to flinch as the alien suit weakens. She looks up at a fiery figure standing over her. "Who the …"
"The name is…uh actually I'm still working on the name." she shoots a stream of fire at Scream who jumps back. She then looks down at Peter. "You might want to get dressed for the occasion." He jumps off and leaves the two to fight. The flame girl fires another blast to keep Scream at a distance. The symbiote easily evades the shots and darts off, with the hero in hot pursuit. She follows the villain to a rooftop where she seemingly disappears. "Come on, afraid you'll get burned by Fire Star? Hey that's not bad actually." She says as Scream appears on a higher rooftop, unseen behind a water tower. She morphs both of her hands into blades and easily cuts through the supports, causing the tower to tip over and bursts open, dousing the heroine with water, extinguishing her flames.
Scream jumps over to her, blades still extended. "You said something about getting burned, but now it looks like you're all wet. We could unmask you but we think this will be so much more fun." She picks up Fire Star who is still struggling as two tendrils protrude from the sides of her head and connect to the sides of the heroine. Instantly images and memories from the girl rush through Screams head and seconds later she releases her and staggers back. "L…Liz?"
"Yeah Sally it's me. Why are you doing this?"
"We're getting what I want. The symbiote, it…it gives us what we want, whatever we want." She says seemingly in a daze.
"Sal, listen to me that thing is dangerous. You have to take it off."
Sally comes out of her daze and turns her attention back to Fire Star. "You'd like that wouldn't you? Give up our power while you keep yours, exactly what we thought." She extends another tendril that wraps around the girl's neck lifting her in the air and choking her. "We used to think of you as a friend, but this, this is all the friend we will ever need."
"Uh I'm not interrupting something… weird am I?" Spidey says as he fires several web balls at Scream. She quickly drops the girl and charges at Spider-man, tackling him onto a lower roof. The two engage in a furious hand to hand fight in which Spidey finds himself increasingly outclassed. "Hey you don't mind if I ask you a question do you? What exactly do you have to accomplish with getting rid of me?"
"Oh Peter, always so naïve. All I want to do is gut you like a fish, then once you're out of the way I take and do whatever I want when I want, simple as that. It's not entirely original, we know, but what are you gonna do." She jumps over him, webbing his back and repeatedly slams him against the ground. She continues to beat him until he stops moving. She then walks over to him and lifts him by the throat. "Any last words?"
"Sally don't do this, please." He says weakly. "You said it yourself. You're not a monster."
She stops momentarily as her face softens. She peels back the symbiote from her head then looks back at him with a grin. "You know what, I feel like a monster. And we like it." She says as the alien covers her face and she begins to squeeze his throat. Before she can finish him Scream is blasted by a ball of fire and knocked into a power conduit on the roof, electrocuting her, the symbiote dissolving in the process.
Fire Star lands down and helps Spider-man up. He immediately fires a web onto Sally and pulls her out, receiving the backlash of the electricity. Fire Star powers down and catches her. "We need to get her to the hospital."
Hours later the entire Mustangs team, cheerleaders and all are present in the hospital waiting room as they go to visit Sally in her room in small groups. "How're you holding up Sally?" Liz asks as Peter and Mary Jane stand behind her.
"Do I look okay?" she shouts, most of her hair gone.
"Yeah she's feeling better alright." Peter jokes as MJ nudges him.
"Sorry, I'm just not feeling my best. What happened anyway?"
"Uh…" Liz tries to come up with an answer.
"You got caught in the middle of a fight with Spidey and some monster. It's a good thing he got you here when he did." Peter says as he covers for Liz.
"Well I'll have to thank him the next time he rescues me."
"Glad you have a sense of humor Sal." MJ says.
"Yeah, well I guess it is a little ironic. You're on your way out and I'm just checking in. I'll see you guys tomorrow okay, my doctor wants me to rest." The group says their goodbyes as they leave. Sally lies back in her bed and looks at her right arm that has been slightly burned as the symbiote slowly covers her arm as she smiles wickedly.
Elsewhere in the city, Bernard Gou and two of his men move down an alley way as they wait to meet someone. "Où est-il? Il a dit que dix heures." One of the men says as they suddenly see a doorway open on the wall to the left of them.
"La patience est une vertu Andre." Gou says as they move inside and the door closes behind them.
"Greetings gentlemen. So glad you decided to contact me." The Jackal says as he walks down a long ramp. The group looks around in the room filled with large tubes filled with a thick green liquid with what seems to be bodies inside.
"Yes, I was hoping you could help me with a little project of mine. I need something to kill Spider-man with." Gou says as he moves his hand over one of the cylinders. "And I heard from my former associate Mr. Marston that you are the man to see."
"Indeed. I may have just the solution to your problem. You can come out now." Jackal says as three figures appear from the shadows across the room as the trio of thugs look over.
Gou's two compatriots start to talk to each other in French. "Are you certain about this? They seems a little…small." Gou says as he looks over the figure.
"I assure you, they will be quite adequate for the task at hand."
