AN: When I read the reviews I have to say that some times you guys seem to read my mind, other times not. That's quite funny. I also want to point out about our main characters strenght which I gave a number on earlier, I don't know exactly how much Spider-man can lift in the main comics but I do know that Ultimate Spidey is a little weaker then him, being younger and all. So I just came up with a number that sounded reasonable, and I did mention that both Spidey and Jackpot would become stronger as they grow older. Besides, strenght-level usually change up and down depending on the writer.
When at school, MJ couldn't help to think every one were looking at her. And she was right, because the word had spread quickly. Some of her classmates had talked about MJ's new anatomy to their friends, and by now, every kid in school knew about it, and they wanted to check out for themselves. Luckily Mary Jane was wearing a baggy shirt and carried her books close to her chest so no one outside her class could tell the difference on her upperbody, but that was unfortunatetly not the case on her backside. Her derriére caused all the guys to stare and all the girls to say mean stuff behind her back, and the fact that her blue jeans were tighter around her now more feminine curves did not help. She felt so embarrassed, being eye-candy for every one.
The last hour before lunchbreak was warm, actually hot, the sunrays was broiling through the windows. MJ looked at her left and saw Peter with his nose down, busy taking notes after their teachers words. She bit the end of her pencil, Peter was looking so good in that light. Images was starting to pop up in her head, and not G-rated ones. She imaged Peter taking his shirt of, showing off his pecs and those gorgeous arm-muscles of his. She felt a tingle move through her body and she instinctivly grabbed hold of her desk with her right hand. In her head, Peter was now only wearing his briefs, and he was standing on the beach. No, in a waterfall, moving his hands through his wet hair. She imaged moving closer to him, letting her hands move over his iron hard muscles. She took a firmer grip of the desk. Pete layed his hands on her hips and started to gently caress the lower part of her back while their lips met in a kiss. He then moved one of his hands and let it slowly slide inside her--
KRACK
Everybody in class turned their heads towards MJ. They, and she, were shocked to see that she held one big piece of her desk in her hand. AND she had bit off the top of of her pencil.
"Miss Watson, what just happen'd?" the teacher asked.
"Um... I don't know, Mister Hershach. It just... broke off." MJ answered after spitting out the pencil eraser.
"By it self?"
"Y-yeah. I mean... I just in leaned against it and it broke."
Mr Hershach shaked his head. "Just go down to the janitor office and see if they can get you a new one. And don't try to lean this one broken the first thing you do."
MJ then had to do the walk of shame out of the classroom, even though most her classmates didn't think there was anything to be shamefull about it. It sure was strange but nothing to be ashamed of. MJ on the other hand was so glad they didn't went to the same class as a mind-reader.
"I feel so embarrassed." MJ said as she and the man of her fantasy finally left class for lunch.
"Tell me about it." Peter said as he took out his lunch packet. "My powers made me brake two desk in one week. And one school locker."
They took their seat at their regular spot, at the top of the football bleachers. At least there they were free from any ogling eyes. Peter had a simple lunch with a sandwich and a coke, but MJ had brought a small fast food restaurant. A one foot hero sandwich (no pun intended) with extra everything, some of her mothers macaroni and cheese with small bits of bacon in it, an apple and a pepsi to drink.
"Wow. That's incredible." Peter said as his girlfriend finished her last bite.
"What? I didn't gross you out, did I?" MJ said after she rinsed down her food with the soft drink.
"No, I'm just amazed. How do you fit everything into that flat stomach of yours?"
"I burn it quickly. Don't you eat a lot too?"
"Yeah, but I tend to eat smaller portions more often. If I didn't, we could both be having an orgie every lunch."
MJ raised one eyebrow. "Don't give me ideas, Tiger."
"So..." Peter said. "You wanna tell me what really happen'd in there?"
"Oh that." MJ said as her blood started to travel to her face, making it match her hair. "I don't know if I wanna tell."
"Come on. We tell eachother everything, right?"
MJ sighed. "I kind of... you know... had daydreams. About you. In a... you know, adult way."
Peter first didn't understand what MJ meaned, but it finally came to him, he started to laugh.
"Oh my god. Hahaha... That's incredible."
"It's not that funny." MJ said. "I made a fool out of myself."
"No, it's just... Oh come on, that IS funny. And I have to say, a little flattering."
MJ just looked down at her feets.
"You know, now when we're being honest, and on the subject, I have to tell you something." Peter told her.
"What?"
"Before, you know, when I didn't know you were Jackpot... I kind of... Boy, this is a little more awkward then I thought."
MJ looked at him with a sense of wondering. "Peter, what are you talking about?"
"I think I... I had a crush on Jackpot."
Now it was MJ's turn to laugh.
"I knew it!" she bursted out.
"You knew?"
"Yeah, I noticed it in the way you acted around me when we were in costume. You acted the same way when we first got together."
"Uh-huh..."
MJ leaned back on her bleacher and smiled. "I can't believe I made you fall in love with me twice, that's hilarious."
"Well, yeah, now afterwards I'm just glad it was you after all. I felt so guilty, having all these unfaithful thoughts like some two-timing snake. I can't believe I did that."
"You want to know what I believe, Tiger?" MJ said as she friendly bumped her shoulder against Peter. "I believe you're thinking with your little webshooter."
"Wha... my what?"
"Your little webshooter. You know."
"Oh... Now that's a euphemism I rather not think about. Besides, my webbing is synthetic, not organic."
"I'm glad for that, otherwise that would mean you have been spreading your body fluids all over town."
Peter was just to give a snappy comeback, when they both heard an army of sirens passing by their school. Enough police cars to support a small country drove by in great speed.
"Oh my god... What was that about?" MJ asked.
"I don't know. But I think we should go and check it out." Peter told her.
"But... we have class in thirty-five minutes."
"Can't help it, we have to go. Come, we need to change somewhere."
"I think the girls locker room is empty by now."
"Then come on!"
"You sure no one saw us?" MJ asked as they sneaked into the locker room.
"I think so. Huh, so this is how the girls locker room looks like. Smells much better then the boys."
Peter pulled out his suit from his bag and started to get dressed, meanwhile MJ took her bag and stepped into the ladies room.
"MJ, what are you doing?" Peter asked as he put on his pants.
"I don't feel like stripping in front of you." MJ's voice came from inside the lavitory.
"Okay, but hurry."
Peter waited outside the door for a short while, but when you're in a hurry, even that little time seems like forever.
"Hurry up, MJ!"
"Okay okay! I'm coming, I'm not as used to this phone booth changing like you are. There, done."
MJ stepped out of the toalet fully dressed in her costume.
"Come." Peter said. "We have to sneak out that window, otherwise someone might see us."
They climbed out the window and got up on the gym roof. From there the two young heroes quickly swinged away towards whatever awaited them.
The two teenager landed on a street that was almost totally demolished. There were large holes through the buildings, cars (both police and civilians) had either been crushed or thrown upside down, a fire hydrant had been turned into a fountain and people was heard screaming not far away.
"Oh my god!" said Jackpot. "Who could have done this!?"
Spider-man looked down on the ruined road and noticed something familiar in the concrete, namely giant footprints.
"Oh no... MJ!"
"What?"
Peter held MJ by the shoulders and looked straight at her. "MJ, I want you to stay out of this one."
"What!?!"
"You gotta trust me, this is not going to be a walk in the park. You could get seriously hurt."
"So can you!" MJ almost yelled. "I'm not leaving you just to sit on first row and watch you get killed!"
"But MJ--"
"I said I'm staying with you." she interrupted him. "And there's no way you can talk me out of it."
Peter took a deep breath before saying anything else. "Okay... You can come. But you gotta do as I say, okay? If I say hide, you hide. If I say run, you run, okay?"
"Okay."
The two of them jumped further down the street, and now gunshots could be heard.
"I can't believe you tried to talk me out of this." MJ said as they kept moving.
"Oh give it a rest. Don't get you panties in a knot." Pete said.
"Actually, I'm not wearing panties."
"What? Why not?"
"I took them off when I changed."
Spidey looked at his partner, his mask hiding the weird look he gave her. "Why?"
"Because my regular ones chafe when I'm wearing this. I tried to change into the more comfortable ones back there but you rushed me."
"Oy."
Suddenly a police car came flying over their heads. They both ducked out of harms way before the vehicle took ground. Then something even bigger came charging towards them. The giant thing smashed several cars and sent police men fleeing, then it stopped to take a look of the two newly arrived heroes. When it stood up, one could see what it really looked like. This thing looked like a man in a giant mechanical rhino-suit. Standing eight feet tall, the behemoth towered over the two small heroes, shadowing them as it looked down upon them.
"Okay..." Jackpot said. "I think I just lost bladder control."
Across town, in a apperantly abandon warehouse, Vincent Gonzales were bissy doing the only thing he cared about. He filled a needle with dangerous subjects and injected it in his arm. As the empty needle fell to the floor, Vincent's mind left his body. He fell back in a chair, his pupils unnormally dilated and a wide smile on his lips as he started to guffaw. In his spaced out condition, he didn't notice that Doctor Hollister entered the room, carrying a briefcase.
The blond woman shook her head at the man in front of her.
"Pathetic." she said to no one particular.
She picked up a bucket from the floor and poured some water into it from a tap. She then emptied the bucket over Gonzales, who screamed from the shock of the cold water breaking his drug spell.
"Doc? Wha-what are y-you doing h-here?" he said, the water shocking him into half a sober condition.
"You truly are pathetic, Gonzales." Hollister said. "Growing up in the worst of neighbourhoods, you still manage to take yourself all to police school, you could have been somebody. But what happen? You get kicked out and sent to jail, and for what? Drog abuse! And now you have become what you was trying to fight, truly pathetic."
Gonzales, still not entirely down to earth, only managed to slur in response.
"Wha... wha-wha..."
"Do you know what this is, Vincent?" the woman said while holding something up for Gonzales to see. It was a small plastic bag, containing some red hair.
"It... it looks like..." Gonzales slurred out.
"It's hair, Vincent." Hollister said. "But it is not just any hair. This hair have traces of OZ in it, it has OZ in its DNA. Tell me, Vincent, how come there is an OZ-powered superheroine running around in this town?"
"I... uh, it..."
"I tell you how." Hollister continued. "Because you were stupid enough to actually do as that lunatic Octavius told you! You made that restructured formula, despite the fact that I told you not to, and you spread it out in public and endanger'd my plans! You pathetic little excuse for a human being!!!"
There was a twitch in Gonzales' blue eye, while his brown kept staring out into space. The blond doctor turned around, put her briefcase on a table and opened it.
"You have become to much of a risk for me and my employer, Vin. And we can't have that. I'm afraid I have to 'take care' of you before you ruin anything else."
Ther was something inside Vincent Gonzales that finally broke. Maybe it was the drugs in his system, maybe he was tired of being talked down to by this bitch, or maybe he just didn't like the term 'take care'. When Dr Hollister had her back against him, he grabbed a steel pipe laying on the floor and swinged it against her head.
Hollister's hand grabbed Gonzales' arm with lightning fast speed and twisted it, making him drop the pipe and fall to his knees in pain.
"You are an idiot, Gonzales!" Hollister said, this time in a much darker and raspier voice, while her eys turned yellow and her arm went from silk-smooth tan to scaly grey.
She grabbed the drug addict by the throat with her other hand and lifted his body up in the air. She pressed him against the wall and started to squeeze his throat harder. He gasped for air and tried to fight his way free, but her grip was to hard. Soon he passed out from the lack of oxygen. Hollister dropped him, checked his pulse to see that he was still alive, then he turned back to her briefcase while her body changed back to its normal.
"Let's do an experiment, shall we?" she asked the unconscious junkie. "You know, Vin. The OZ is really a remarkable drug. I'm sure you know that it could give someone superpowers, but did you know that it also depends on the situation? The serum itself is constantly evolving, always seeking a way to adapt to the body it's inhabitating. So the scientist in me are asking; What would happen if we inject it in a body that already have another drug in its system? You don't mind voluntare as guinea pig, do you? It's not like you're afraid of needles."
She pulled out an empty needle from the briefcase, sticked it into a phial filled with a orange liquid and draw out some of the liquid into the needle. She then kneeled down over the knocked out Gonzales, bringing the needle closer to the vein in his arm.
"You have always been, and will always be, a freak, Vincent."