"No," Yelena says firmly.
"Yes!" Venom exclaims.
"'Wheel of Fortune' is on!" Yelena reasons. "I can't miss the 'Wheel!'"
"Fine," Venom says. "Watch 'Wheel,' then we go find and kill Spider-Man."
"Deal," Yelena says.
Meanwhile, Peter is in his apartment studying. His mind is at ease, now that he has someone in his life who can be his friend (and maybe his girlfriend). Things with MJ are taken care of. Everything is okay.
Kate is offended at MJ being offended when she tried to reach out to MJ, but she is fine with it. She figures to just give MJ some time to get over her having Peter, and MJ will be fine. Peter is hers. Kate wants to be with Peter for herself, because she really likes him, and for Peter, because it is obvious he needs someone to share things with, to process things with. Who better than her? They are both superheroes. They know what comes with the job. Besides, being superheroes aside, they like each other.
MJ still wants revenge on Kate. First, Kate took her boy after knowing that she liked him. Then, Kate made plans to go out with Peter THE EVENING AFTER she and Peter kissed. For that, she figures Peter is just a low-level, cheating scumbag. But to top things off, Kate, not meaning well and wanting to assert how Peter belongs to her, asked MJ if Peter had broken up with her yet. MJ interpreted this as all sorts of unkindness and malintent. For all this, she wants to hurt Kate. She is over Peter, but Kate still did plenty of damage. Kate took what she wanted, when Kate knew she wanted it. Twice. Then, Kate was incredibly mean to her about it. Just a few words can bring about a world of pain, however unintended the pain is. MJ wants Kate hurt.
MJ paces around in her room, tossing a baseball to herself. She tells herself, "I can't HURT hurt Kate. Nothing physical. That's too far, even for me. If I physically hurt Kate, I'd never forgive myself. If I physically hurt ANYONE, I'd never forgive myself. Except murderers. And politicians.
"If I let it go… nah, I can't look at Kate the same. She's low. That was a low blow. THOSE were low blows. I'll hurt her psychologically, like she hurt me. The heart, Jones! First we attack the heart!"
She cackles, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" She drops the baseball like a bomb, and it rolls a few feet before stopping.
"But how?" She asks herself. "I'd take her guy, if it wasn't Peter and I hadn't already talked to him about calling things off. Maybe I frame Peter for something. Make him look bad. The way Mysterio made Spider-Man look bad, even though Spider-Man DID kill Mysterio. What if Peter was Spider-Man? Nah, impossible. Maybe I frame KATE for something and make Peter break up with HER. But is that fair to Peter? He DID cheat on me, if we were together long enough for him to cheat. Eh, he's a cheater, he's fair game to get revenge on. But am I that low? Hmmm, yeah. Yeah, I am. But how?"
MJ really is hurt. Her friend took what was hers and replaced it with bleak chagrin. For that, Kate will pay.
Elsewhere in New York, Peter is swinging through the city on the lookout for crime. He feels like he is moving through the cold air extra fast, as if a weight that was never there has been taken off his shoulders. He breathes deeply, taking in the moment, the night, and the city.
Someone understands him. That is all he wants.
However, as great as an understanding can be, a lie can reach similar levels, though on the wrong side of greatness. A lie can be staged, just as Mysterio staged Spider-Man as his murderer.
Now, Venom is on the lookout for Spider-Man the murderer in the streets of New York, watching quietly behind Yelena's watchful eyes. Yelena walks down the street, hands in her pocket, wearing earmuffs, her hair tied behind her in a ponytail. She whistles as she walks, attracting the attention of a few pigeons who turn their heads. Yelena is turning her own head, watching out for Spider-Man. She does not know where exactly to look, but she figures that where she is must be as good a start as any place.
Spider-Man swings through the streets for a few hours, not finding any crime. Yelena and Venom walk through the streets for a few hours, not finding any Spider-Man.
Until midnight.
At the time when the calendar switches days, Yelena thinks she hears Spider-Man's webs nearby. She asks Venom, "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Venom asks.
"Listen," Yelena says. She and Venom are quiet. Again, she hears the webs, this time closer.
Venom exclaims, "I heard it, I heard it! That's Spider-Man!"
Yelena remarks, "It sounds like he's coming this way."
The webs sound louder and more frequent for a few seconds.
Venom says, "He is totally coming this way."
Yelena runs to the corner of a building on the corner of the street. She puts her back to the building and peaks her head around the edge. Spider-Man is swinging down the street in her direction. She asks Venom, "Are you ready to catch a spider?"
Venom yells, "Ohhh, yeahhh!"
Yelena transforms into Venom.
Venom now in control, he makes a fist with his right hand and waits for Spider-Man to come around the corner behind him on his left. As Spider-Man gets closer, he climbs the building quietly and waits for Spider-Man to get there. He gets about ten stories high.
Spider-Man rounds the corner. As he turns right, he runs right into Venom's fist, which sends him straight to the ground, landing hard on the street. "What the…?" He reacts, groaning. He gets up on his feet and puts a hand out to swing another web when he sees Venom hanging on the side of the building. Peter calls, "What are you?"
Venom chuckles to himself and leaps off the building, landing on the ground. "I am Venom," he growls. "And you are a murderer."
"Huh?" Peter responds. "No, I'm not a murderer, I never killed anybody!"
"Mysterio!" Venom yells. "You killed Mysterio, the greatest and coolest and most awesomest superhero of all time!"
"Okay, I don't know where you got your news," Peter replies, "but I didn't kill Mysterio. The courts disproved that. There's no proof!"
"There's video proof!" Venom says.
"It was staged," Peter explains, sounding rather calm. "The whole thing was deposed."
Venom is quiet for a moment. Then, he adds, "It seemed rather convincing."
"Yeah, it did," Peter agrees, "and that's how it fooled a lot of people."
"Okay, then," Venom says, literally sitting down in the street cross-legged, his hands on his knees. "Sit, be comfortable. Explain exactly what happened." He smiles, showing all of his sharp, threatening teeth.
"Um, okayyy…" Peter replies, awkwardly getting down and sitting cross-legged.
"You can come closer," Venom says, patting the street directly in front of him. "I won't bite your head off or eat your kidneys."
"I'm not sure I believe you," Peter says apprehensively.
"At least take off your mask," Venom pleads.
"That kind of defeats the whole anonymous superhero thing," Peter says.
"Good point," Venom says. He puts his elbows on his knees and makes his hands into fists, resting his cheeks on his fists. "So, Spider-Man, how did you NOT kill Mysterio?"
"His own drones shot him," Peter explains. "He was using illusion drones to make these, well, illusions of giant monsters, and he was destroying cities."
"But why?" Venom asks.
"To get power," Peter says.
"And why would he frame YOU?" Venom asks menacingly.
"I tried to stop him," Peter says.
"To stop him or to kill him?" Venom questions. "Answer carefully, Spider-Man."
"To stop him," Peter goes on. "He tried to shoot me with the drones, but he was in the line of fire."
"If you just ignored Mysterio," Venom ponders, "then would he have reasons to shoot the drones and be in the line of fire?"
Peter thinks for a moment before answering, "I guess not."
Venom stands up, his large figure casting a shadow on Peter, blocking out the midnight moon. "So," Venom muses, "if you never interfered, Mysterio would not have died. You may not be his murderer, but you are still responsible for his death. His blood is on your hands."
Peter stands up, too, holding out his hands as if he is about to shoot webs, ready for battle. "It was his fault for shooting at me," he says. "If he didn't try to kill me, he wouldn't have killed himself."
"You still interfered in the first place!" Venom exclaims, charging at Peter.
Peter shoots a web at the closest top to a building he can, shooting upwards as Venom lunges at him. The tips of Venom's fingers brush his leg, but he gets up and past him to the rooftop and starts running. He puts his hand up through the bottom of his mask and grabs his phone, which was held against the back of his head by his mask. He realizes he never got Kate's number, but quickly types an email saying that he needs help against a giant black monster.
Meanwhile, behind him, Venom reaches the rooftop. Peter reaches the end of this building's roof. The next one is two stories higher. He casts a quick web and gets up to the next building's roof.
His phone buzzes and he checks it. He has received a surprisingly fast response from Kate, saying she's on her way and asking where he is. Peter gives her the street he is at, and she responds back quickly, saying that she is on her way.