Perenna rushed down the hall of a hospital corridor, looking frantic. She reached the last room on the right, ducked inside and saw Aunt May in a hospital bed, hooked up to a variety of urgently beeping machines. Doctors and nurses swarm around her, treating her and Perenna rushed in. "Aunt May!" Aunt May looked up at her, barely conscious. "What happened? Is she going to be okay?" she demanded.
"Miss, please. Let the doctors work!" A nurse said and lead Perenna out the door. The door started to close when she heard Aunt May start shouting,
"Those eyes…those horrible yellow eyes!"
Perenna sat on a chair in Aunt May's hospital room, sitting at a lonely vigil. She's brought a picture for her bedside, a framed shot of May, Ben and herself.
She looked at the picture. Ben was gone, Aunt May had nearly been killed because of her. Perenna leaned down to kiss her forehead as she blinked back tears. "I'm so sorry." 'It's all my fault.'
Perenna didn't know when, but she was sure she had fallen asleep in her chair, and when she woke up, she blinked the sleep out of her eyes. She saw Aunt May sleeping and she also opened her eyes.
"Perenna? Did you stay all night?"
"Apparently so. I fell asleep in my chair." Perenna answered sheepishly.
Aunt May stared at her fondly. "You always did worry too much. Go home dear, get changed. I'll still be here when you get back."
Perenna looked uncertain. "I don't…"
"Go." Aunt May insisted gently.
Perenna nodded and kissed Aunt May on the forehead. "I promise I'll be back." She said and left the hospital room.
After taking a quick shower and changing into a new set of clothes, she headed back to the hospital, briefly stopping at a dinner for some food. When she got back, Aunt May was sleeping again and she resumed her seat next to Aunt May's bed.
Later in the day, she heard a soft knock on the door and she looked over, her face lighting up as she saw that it was M.J. "Can I come in?"
Perenna nodded and M.J looked at Aunt May. She came over to Perenna, holding flowers and put her free arm around Perenna's neck, giving her a hug Perenna closed her eyes, almost breaking down then and there.
"I'm sorry. I just heard about it." M.J said still hugging Perenna. She looked over at the bed and moved closer to Aunt May, and laid the flowers at the bedside table and gently touched her forehead. "Will she be okay?"
"We think so. She finally woke up this morning. For a while. Thanks for coming." Perenna said gratefully.
"Who would do this to your Aunt May? Why would anyone want to hurt her?" M.J questioned and Perenna didn't answer. "I'm so sorry, Perenna, I know you've asked yourself these questions."
"It's okay, how about you? Are you alright about yesterday?" Perenna asked.
"I'm sorry about that. Made things worse for everybody." M.J said.
"You were fine. Have you talked to Harry?" Perenna asked.
"He called me. I haven't called him back." M.J said and turned away from Perenna, to look back at a sleeping Aunt May and tucked in her bed sheet. "The fact is, I'm in love with somebody else."
Perenna felt her hope rise. "You are?" she asked in a politely curious tone.
"At least I think I am." M.J said looking back at Perenna. "This isn't the time to talk about this."
"No, go on." Perenna said and asked two questions that would confirm her suspicions. "Would I know his name? This guy?"
"It's not a guy." M.J murmured quietly. "Anyway you'll just think I'm a stupid little girl with a crush."
"Trust me." Perenna implored.
"I'm like head over heels, it's whacked…" M.J trailed off, conflicting emotions crossing her face.
"Who is she?" Perenna asked pointedly.
"It's funny. She saved my life twice, and I've never seen her face, not really." M.J said.
Perenna tried not to look too pleased. "Oh. Her."
"You're laughing at me." M.J accused.
"No, I understand, she is extremely cool." Perenna said.
"But do you think it's true? The terrible things they say about her?" M.J asked.
"No way." Perenna insisted. "That isn't Spider-Woman, not a chance in the world. I know her a little bit. I'm sort of her unofficial photographer."
"How do you always manage to find her?" M.J asked curiously.
"Wrong place, right time, I guess." Perenna shrugged.
"You ever talk to her?" M.J asked again in curiosity.
"Sometimes." Perenna replied.
"Does she ever talk about me?" M.J asked.
"Uh…yeah…once." Perenna said thinking it up on the spot. "Once she asked what I thought of you."
"What did you say?" M.J asked.
"I said…" Perenna quickly searched for the right words to say. "I said, Spider-Woman, the great thing about M.J is when…when you look in her eyes and she's looking back in yours and smiling, well, everything feels not quite normal because you feel…stronger. And weaker at the same time, and you feel both excited and terrified. The truth is, you don't know what you feel, except the kind of person you want to be and what it is, is, it's as if when you're with her, you've reached…the unreachable…and you weren't ready for it." She looked up blushing as she spoke her inner thoughts and saw that M.J was staring at her with tears welling in her eyes.
"You said that?" M.J asked.
"Uh…um, something like that." Perenna mumbled.
Neither noticed that Aunt May had opened her eyes and looked at them. Perenna is still blushing, mostly from embarrassment, but to her surprise, M.J reached out and took her hand. The door suddenly opened and Harry Osborn came in, carrying a bouquet of flowers. His eyes went immediately to M.J and Perenna, holding hands.
"Hello." He said and Perenna hastily withdrew her hand, causing his face to harden.
Harry came in through the front door. "Dad?" he called but received no answer. Harry stood at the bottom of the staircase and heard faint angry muttering. "Dad? Is that you?"
The voice abruptly stopped and a moment later, his father appeared at the top of the stairs. At the distance, Norman is just a dark shadow. "What is it?"
"You were right about M.J. You were right about everything." Harry said. "She's in love with Perry."
Osborn looked truly surprised. "Parker?" he asked as he began to move down the stairs.
"Yeah." Harry replied.
"And…how does she feel about her?" Osborn questioned.
"Are you kidding? She's loved her since the fourth grade. She just acts like she doesn't. But there's no body Perenna cares more about." Harry explained.
Osborn's eye lit up at the information. "I'm sorry." He said and paused. "I haven't always been there for you, have I?"
"Well…you're busy, you're an important man, I understand that." Harry replied.
"It's no excuse. I'm proud of you." Osborn said. "And I lost sight of that somewhere. But I'm going to make it up to you. I'm going to rectify certain inequities…" he slipped an arm around his son and hugged him. "I love you, son."
Perenna jolted awake in her chair and looked around startled as if she had just woken up from some horrible nightmare. Aunt May looked at her in concern, the flowers M.J had brought inside a vase on the bedside table.
"Perenna. Perry?" she asked.
Perenna looked at her. "Huh? You're awake. That's good. Good. You okay?"
"I'm okay, but I think you should go home, and get some sleep. You look…awful." Aunt May said taking in the dark circles under Perenna's eyes and disheveled hair.
Perenna smiled slightly since she knew her aunt would never say something like that to hurt her feelings. "And you look beautiful." She replied. "But I don't like leaving you."
"I'm safe here." Aunt May assured her.
"I should be here." Perenna insisted. "Maybe I could've done something."
"Done something?" Aunt May repeated with a light-hearted chuckle. "You do too much. College, a job, all this time with me-you're not Supergirl, you know." Perenna also chuckled as she found the comparison funny. "A smile, finally. Haven't seen one of those since Mary Jane was here."
Perenna looked scandalized. "Hey, you were supposed to be asleep. What did you hear?"
Aunt May smiled enigmatically. "You know, you were about six years old when M.J's family moved in next door. And when she got out of the car and you saw her for the first time, you grabbed me and said, "Aunt May, Aunt May! Is that an angel?""
Now Perenna just felt embarrassed. "Gee, Aunt May, did I say that?"
"You sure did, Perenna." Aunt Mau replied.
"Harry's in love with her. She's still his girl." Perenna replied morosely.
"Isn't that up to her?" Aunt May questioned.
"She doesn't really know me." Perenna replied.
"Because you won't let her. You're so mysterious all the time." Aunt May said. "Tell me, would it be so dangerous to let Mary Jane know how much you care? Everyone else knows."
Perenna thought about that, before the full meaning came to her. A concerned look, touched with a tinge of fear came over her face. "I'll be right back." She said getting off her seat and raced out of the room and snatched up a pay phone in the corridor of the hospital. She put a quarter in, dialed, and waits while t ringed. "Come on, pick up." She muttered, feeling a knot tighten in her chest.
No luck as she got M.J's voice recording. "Hi, it's me, sing your song at the beep."
"M.J, it's Perenna, you there? Hello? Alright, well, I'm calling to check up on you, so call me when you get in, and…don't go up any dark alleys." There's a click as the phone is picked up. "Hello?" she asked more hopeful. There's no answer, then a sound, no…a cackle, and Perenna's face paled.
The cackle grew louder and the Goblin finally spoke. "Can Spider-Woman come out to play?"
Perenna scowled at the wall. "Where is she?" she hissed. Her anger faded as she heard something that made her want to die.
"Be of love, a little more careful, Spider-Woman."
M.J opened her eyes upon regaining consciousness and pulled herself to her feet, disoriented and holding her head in pain. She took a step backwards, but stopped suddenly and windmilled her arms for balance and looked down to see the road of a bridge, hundreds of feet below her!
She gasped and stepped back horrified as she figured out where she was. On top of the western tower of the Queensboro bridge!
Spider-Woman landed on the side of a building and saw the Green Goblin soaring past toward the top of the west tower of the Queensboro bridge where she saw M.J standing.
M.J heard a whining and had to duck as the Goblin flew overhead and she watched him rocket to the Roosevelt Island Tram Station.
The red tram with ten eight year olds and three chaperoning dads wear all wearing New York Rangers caps and watched in awe as the Goblin zipped by and they all rushed to the window for a better view.
The Goblin cackled as he raced toward the tram station and rocket launchers emerged from the glider. The rocket launched and headed toward the station. The Goblin peeled off just as the rocket barrelled into the tram station, obliterating it in a massive ball of smoke and flame.
M.J and Spider-Woman both watched from their perches as the flames spread higher and revealed the charred remains of the tram station. The costumed woman leapt off the building and swung toward the bridge.
Cars came to a screeching halt, other cars crashed into each other and the eight years and three dads in the tram are suspended several hundred feet about the river, watching as the cut cable whips toward them, and the tram suddenly drops. They all scream as the tram plummeted to the water below. The Goblin though grabs the cable and zoomed away, halting the trams descent.
On the bridge, Spider-Woman dropped onto a vertical high-tension wire that held the bridge aloft, and took a giant leap onto the bridge.
"Spider-Woman!" Said woman looked up and saw the Goblin standing at the edge of the bridge tower, clutching M.J in one hand and the cable holding the tram full of children aloft in the other hand. "This is why only fools are heroes!" Spider-Woman froze. "Because you never know when some lunatic will come along with a sadistic choice…"
He shoved M.J out further, so her toes are actually over the edge. "Let die the woman you love…" The Goblin loosened his grip on the cable, letting it slip a little and causing the tram to drop a bit as the children scream. "…or suffer the little children."
Spider-Woman watched in horror as the tram swayed and saw the pleading faces of the children and their fathers as they pound on the glass, begging for help. She looked over at M.J, who was teetering over the edge.
"Make your choice, Spider-Woman, and see how a hero is rewarded!" The Goblin yelled. "This is your doing! You caused this! This is the life you've chosen!" Spider-Woman looked impossibly between the tram and M.J, agonizing over her choice. "Chose!" The Goblin let go of the tram cable and M.J at the same time, sending them to their deaths below.
Spider-Woman watched them fall and in a split-second decision, she jumped after M.J and grabbed her in mid-air and shot a web at the undercarriage of the bridge, swinging underneath it with M.J. "Hold on!" she ordered and the redhead complied, tossing her arms around her neck as Spider-Woman reached out her now free hand and grabbed the tram cable. The tram bounced and Spider-Woman tried not to wince as she swore she was going to be feeling this in the morning.
If she lived to see tomorrow, that is.