The Next Day

"As you may already know it is possible to convert from one unit of measurement to another. This concept is applied to Chemistry as well. Whether it be from converting Celsius to Fahrenheit, Kelvin to Celsius or many other conversions. In this class, you'll learn the plentiful number of conversions that are possible." Professor Williams said before changing slides.

"For starters, we will begin by looking at the conversions between temperatures. Each of these equations are ones that you don't have to memorize as they will be provided to you on your next exam. But, as many of my previous students have learned, knowledge of the formulas does not guarantee success. Rather, knowledge of the correct implementation of the formulas guarantee success." Williams explained.

"So let's start with an example." Professor Williams said. As she continued on with the lecture, Peter stayed laser focused. Not just for himself, but for MJ as well. As long as she was in the hospital, he would still have to send her notes to allow her to keep up with what was happening in that class.

It wasn't long until the lecture was over. Once the day ended for Peter for all of his classes, he and Harry went over to the hospital to have their normal chit-chat time.

"Did you see the news?" Harry asked MJ.

"Yeah." It was all MJ could say.

"Just can't believe it. After being gone for almost a month. Convincing everyone, even me that he was gone for good, he just shows up out of nowhere. What's funny is that he stopped someone from doing that exact same thing he did. Seems like a fake show of guilt to me. Wouldn't be surprised if that guy was working with him to stage this whole thing." Harry said.

"Staged acts? You really believe that Harry? I think that's just a bit too much." Peter said.

"I never said that that's what it was. Only that it was a possibility. If I didn't know any better it would have sounded like you were defending him." Harry said, now looking at him.

"I never said that. I'm just into facts Harry. Not conspiracies. I may send in pictures to the Bugle but that doesn't mean I believe in all those conspiracies Jameson puts out." Peter said.

"Oh yeah? Well that fact is he killed two people. And he's still out there somewhere in these streets, blending in with the rest of the free world instead of paying his dues for what he did. I may not be able to prove everything else the Bugle claims he did, but what I know he did, just doesn't sit right with me." Harry said.

"The doctors told me this morning that I'd be free to go this evening." MJ said. She wanted to keep it a surprise to the both of them by showing up in class the next day, but considering the tension rising between Harry and Peter, she felt that she had to say something to break it.

"That's great!" Peter said.

"Yeah. At least you won't have to write notes for two people anymore." MJ said.

"Ah. Don't worry about it." Peter said, waving it off.

"I'm sure I already said it before but, thanks. To both of you." MJ said.

Harry and Peter both look at each before looking back at MJ.

"For what?" Harry asked.

"For being the two best friends a girl could ask for." She replied.

"Heh. Anytime." Harry said. "You know Pete and I will always be there for you. And each other." Harry said.

As they left the hospital, Harry said, "Look, I know I apologized yesterday. But I know I did it again being passive-aggressive back there. And I'm sorry. Again. I know it seems like I didn't mean it last time. But I did. Just like I mean it now."

"You really want to apologize to me? Buy us some pizza." Peter said, grinning.

Harry punched him in the arm playfully. "You're lucky I'm a nice guy."

Toomes' Farm

Toomes was back in his farm, able to escape the police due to their hesitation to pull the trigger the minute he began to start flying off. He already began plans to find Gregory again. As he was modifying his suit, he was watching the news.

"After the actions of my friend Toomes, I have decided to completely sell the firm to Oscorp. I will continue to work closely with Oscorp for any assistance they require from me for future projects." Gregory said.

The news casting then cut to the police making a statement, revealing that the statement from Gregory declaring he was selling the firm was recorded and previously done earlier that day. "And now we have the New York Police Department here to make a statement regarding the situation that unfolded yesterday between Adrian Toomes and Gregory Bestman." An anchorwoman said.

One of the captains stepped up to the podium to speak. Three other officers stood to the side of him, two the left and one to the right. Media had already begun to take pictures. The captain was a Caucasian man that was in his mid 30s. He had black hair that was went slightly over his forehead. "Good afternoon. Today we'll be addressing the situation that transpired yesterday between Mr. Bestman and Mr. Toomes. From what we know so far, Mr. Toomes' acts against Mr. Bestman's life stemmed from Mr. Bestman's decision to sell some of the plans of their firm's work to Oscorp. And with that decision he acted out against Mr. Bestman, using an enhanced suit to attempt to take his life by dropping him to the ground from the rooftop of that firm. Although he was prevented from doing so and escaped, we will continue to search for him and bring him in as a second attempt from Mr. Toomes is possible. His actions are a threat to not only Mr. Bestman, but to the rest of the city and are not tolerated regardless of how right or wrong Mr. Bestman's actions were in his decisions regarding the firm. Rest assured that we will bring him to justice. Any questions?"

Several voices were heard, asking him an assortment of questions or trying to get his attention. "Please settle down, and I promise he'll answer as many questions as he can." One of the officers said, which quelled the voices.

He pointed to one on the right, two rows back from where he was.

"Good afternoon. As many of us know Spider-Man was also seen during that time as well. He hasn't been seen for almost a month until then. What do you plan to do if he returns again?" A reporter said. It was an African-American man that was bald wearing a black suit jacket over his blue dress shirt and black tie. He looked to be in his late 20s.

"We are aware of Spider-Man's return and of his previous actions before his disappearance. Know that we will try our best to apprehend him and bring him to justice for his previous crimes." The captain said.

Multiple other hands were raised, while a mixture of voices, although quieter than before were heard. But the questions after weren't heard by Toomes as he turned the TV off. A razor-sharp green feather shot past the TV, barely missing it and hitting the wall.

Peter's Apartment

Peter was studying the Chemistry lesson that he just took notes on in class. Things were going smoothly, until he remembered that he forgot to take pictures of the Vulture.

"Great." He said. It was an opportunity for a decent amount of money and he missed it. He couldn't afford to keep passing these opportunities up. During his clash with Vulture, and with his suit suddenly turning black, the thought of him taking pictures was lost in that storm. He didn't even take pictures of himself.

But he realized that there was nothing he could do about it now. He briefly sighed and got back to studying.

2 Hours Later

After 2 additional hours of studying, he decided to take a break. He looked inside the washer machine and saw that the suit was back red and blue. He picked it up to observe it. "Well, I guess that's one good thing Spider-Man related for the day." He commented, before he heard a knock on the door. He quickly threw the suit back in the washer machine and quickly closed it.

"Who is it?" He called out.

"It's MJ!" Mary Jane called from the other side of the door. Peter went to the door and unlocked it before opening it.

"Hey." Peter said. He was grinning, trying to hide the fact that he was a little surprised and he had to admit a little afraid that someone was knocking on his door. Afraid because he had his Spider-Man costume out for anyone that walked in to see.

"Hey yourself." MJ said. She was wearing a cast over her left arm.

"I didn't expect to see you here." Peter said.

"I can see that." MJ said, thinking that he was looking like that because he was surprised to see her. Which Peter thought to himself was partially true. "The doctors gave me a final examination and decided to let me out early." She said.

"That's great!" Peter said.

"Can I come in?" MJ asked.

"Sure!" Peter said. He opened the door and allowed her to walk in before he closed the door back. He then goes back to his desk where he was studying.

"So, I got all the notes from each of the classes that you missed. You can take them now and I can go over them with you." Peter said, flipping through his binder.

"How about we put the notes to the side for a bit?" MJ asked.

Peter raised an eyebrow.

"Listen, you've been working nonstop. School, pictures. Do you ever give yourself time to, you know, relax?" MJ asked.

"Yeah. I played video games with Harry." Peter said.

"No Peter. When I mean relax I don't mean doing something fun once every couple of weeks. I mean doing something fun consistently." MJ said.

"Come on MJ. You say you know me. You have to know that I've always worked like this." Peter said. The amount of work that he was doing really wasn't that big of a deal to him. "If I want to be able to do more than just this one day, then I'm gonna have to keep working hard for it."

"Peter, I do know you. And this isn't how you normally work. You're not much of a party guy. You keep your head in books and your computer most of the time. But not as much as you're doing now." MJ said.

"That's just ridiculous MJ. I've been working the same way I've always been." Peter said.

"What's ridiculous is that you keep trying to push yourself like this. It's too much. Besides your grades, what do you really have to show for it?" MJ asked. "Look, I'm not saying you have to turn into Harry, but you have to loosen up. At least for a little bit." MJ said.

"Since I know I'm not gonna be able to talk you out of this what've you got in mind?" Peter asked.

"Well, we do something I suggest. Then, we do something you like. If it helps, we don't have to travel if you don't want to." MJ said.

"Alright. What have you got in mind?" Peter asked.

"Try your hand at a little acting." MJ said.

"Shouldn't be too bad." Peter said.

"You're a member of this crooked business. But someone's been messing with your money. You're pissed as you're on the phone with one of your employees. You want him or someone else to find out who it is. And you could be taking out your anger on the poor guy that's on the other side. I'll be playing the role of the person on the other side of the phone." MJ explained.

"So you want to see me when I'm angry. You're not gonna like it trust me. And I mean that in a bad way." Peter said, grinning.

"Come on, you don't have to be Tom Cruise or Vin Diesel. Just do your best. This is supposed to be fun." MJ said.

"If you say so." Peter said.

"Ready when you are." MJ said.

Peter takes a deep breath before saying "Ready".

Peter and MJ grab their cell phones from out of their pockets. Peter flips open his phone and pretends as if he's dialing MJ's number but he doesn't actually call her. After a few seconds, MJ flips open her phone and answers. "Hello?" MJ said, putting on a different voice to personify that she was playing the role of a different person.

"I've been hearing that a bunch of the shipments have been stalled or have ended up missing." Peter said, trying to put on a mobster voice. "What I'm also hearing is that nobody knows who it is."

"Just say the word. I'll find out for you." MJ said.

"Say the word? I shouldn't have to. You should have been finding that out before I called." Peter said, anger rising in his voice. He tried to continue with the mobster voice, but was failing horribly at it, so he decided to drop the voice and instead just use his own.

"Right. I'll get some of my guys. Whoever it is, they'll be sorry for trying to cross us." MJ said.

"Forget your guys! I'm sending over a team myself to go with you." Peter said.

"Now, there's three ways this ends. One: You bring him in to me. Two: You take him out yourself. Or three: I take you out. So if you don't come back saying the job is done, then you're not coming back at all. And I'm not just talking about me. I'm talking about to your family too." Peter said, before pretending to hang up.

MJ pretends to hang up as well. "Wow Peter! I never knew you had that in you!" She said, returning to her normal voice. She claps for him.

"Honestly, neither did I." Peter said, eyebrows raised a little in surprise that he was even capable of showing a darker side like that.

"You never cease to surprise me." MJ said. "Okay, your turn. What's something you like to do? And no, studying or anything school related does not count."

"Acting and theater aren't school related for you?" Peter asked.

"For me, yes. But it doesn't have to be. Besides, acting in general is fun. Studying is not something I would consider fun."

"Well, I mean you can make it fun. Games, flashcards, etcetera." Peter reasoned.

"Look, no studying." MJ said.

Peter puts his hands up in surrender. "Okay, you win!" He said. He began thinking of where they should go. Until an idea popped into his head after a few seconds. "I think we'll be heading out after all."


Peter and MJ are in an arcade.

"This is what you enjoy doing other than photography and studying?" MJ asked.

"Well, yeah. Not here exactly, but yeah." Peter said. "Even though I don't have much time for games these days, they're still fun."

"That one's pretty obvious." MJ said.

MJ follows Peter to an arcade cabinet. This cabinet in particular was a fighting game. "This is the millionaire fighting 2001!" was heard from the arcade cabinet.

"Things are definitely different since the last time I was here." Peter said. He inserted coins. As he inserted them, the title screen reappeared.

"Capcom VS SNK 2! Millionaire Fighting 2001!" The announcer said.

"Huh. Looks like they teamed up for a crossover game. Two from the looks of it." Peter said. MJ stands next to him to use the controls on the right side of the machine as Peter uses the left.

"This should be fun." Peter said, pressing start.

A screen showing groove select appeared. "This is the first dream event of the 21st century! If you choose the wrong groove you may just lose!" The announcer said.

Not sure which one to pick, Peter choose the A-Groove.

"Great! I knew that groove was in your heart!" The announcer said. It moved on to the character select screen. A lot more characters were there than he imagined.

"The millionaire fighting 2001 is about to begin! Hardcore fans have been eagerly anticipating this event! And now the waiting is finally over!" The announcer said.

"So, when do I get to pick?" MJ asked. Peter noticed the screen said at the top right corner said, "2P Press Start to Join In".

"You have to press start to join in." Peter said.

"Oh ok!" MJ said. She pressed start. The game allowed her to choose her groove.

"Hmm... which one should I pick?" MJ said, reading the info about what each one can do on the right side. After reading them, she made her decision and chose the S-Groove.

They began to pick their characters.

"Think I'll get someone I'm familiar with." Peter said, choosing Ryu. He picks Vega next. Finally, he chooses Kyo.

"He looks interesting." MJ said as she chooses Terry. She then chooses Athena. "What about this guy?" She chooses Rugal as her third and final character.

Neither of them change anything on the ratio screen. After the transition, they are shown to be in Nairobi. 2 characters are shown to be on top of a van loooking at a desert race in the background. These characters were Edward Falcon from Capcom's Power Stone and Leona from SNK's King of Fighters.

"This battle is about to explode! Fight!" The announcer said.

"So how exactly do you play these characters?" MJ said as she and Peter were essentially just pressing buttons. Although Peter had a better idea of what he was doing.

"Well, you've got your punch and kick buttons. Then, if you do certain inputs with the stick and press a button sometimes a special move will come out." Peter said.

"So is there like a move list or anything?" MJ asked.

"Nope. Gotta find em out yourself." Peter said as he throws out a hadoken.

"Well at least that hasn't changed." Peter said.

After several attempts, she was able to get a special move out. The Power Wave.

"I did it!" MJ said. But seconds after Terry was knocked out, causing MJ to be the first to lose a character.

Peter didn't know how to do any of the super moves. However, MJ was able to perform one with Rugal, But it wasn't enough as Peter was still able to take the match.

"I wanna go again. I'm going to beat you one of these time" MJ said. And that she did. On the 4th game. Their last game was the 5th one.

"Huh. That was pretty fun." MJ said as they walked out of the arcade.

"Welcome to the wonderful world of games MJ." Peter said.

MJ laughs a little.

Peter's Apartment

MJ gets the notes from Peter. "We can go over the notes tomorrow. I'm gonna go see see Harry and Sally and then head back home."

"Okay. I'll see you later." Peter said. "Thanks again MJ. I'll try to take it easy on the work a little." He added before she walked out the door.

"Glad I could help. And I'm glad you'll at least try." MJ said before walking out the door.

He still wondered though; Why was he so angry earlier? MJ thought it was acting. No, it was real. Peter knew it was real when he felt like he was burning up. But from what? Nothing, not even the criminals he faced, including the twins, made him that angry. Or... did it? He thought about resting on it but decided against it, believing that he had no time to rest. But then he thought about what MJ said about him working too hard. So he decides to take a nap for a bit. As he was sleep, he saw his Uncle Ben, Indy, and then Bestman. One by one, they were all killed. By each of their would-be killers. Then MJ appeared.

"MJ?" Peter said in his dream. Then the man that broke in her apartment appeared. He grabbed her. She tried to struggle and get free but couldn't.

"Stop... moving!" The man said with an accent.

"Let go of me!" MJ said before screaming.

"Scream again and I'll kill you." He said. But she screamed anyway. Rather than comply and be taken by him, she'd rather have a chance at someone hearing her. And that was when he shot her. Peter, as Spider-Man, ran to where he heard where the action was. It was in the street. A street that was oddly empty.

"MJ. MJ!" Spider-Man said. He quickly ran to grab her and pick her up.

"It's going to be okay Mary Jane. I'll take you to a hospital." He said. He was immediately about to start swinging, until MJ said something.

"Spider-Man." She said.

"Yes?" He said.

"I'm glad... I was... able to meet you... in person... one last time." MJ said, she was starting to go unconscious.

"No!" He started swinging. "Stay with me Mary Jane."

"I just... want to... sleep." She said.

"No. Don't go to sleep." Spider-Man said. He kept swinging.

"We're almost there. Just hang on a little longer." Spider-Man said. But there was no response. He looked down and saw that her eyes were closed.

"No!" He said. He landed down into the hospital. He ran into the door, almost barrelling over the people in front of him.

"She needs a doctor. Now!" Spider-Man said to the attendant at the desk. After about 30 seconds, which felt like three hours to Peter, doctors and nurses came in with a stretcher. He set her down. "Why didn't you get here faster?" He said, angry.

"Forget it! Just make sure she stays alive!" Spider-Man said.

Peter, Harry, her family and Sally are outside waiting. Eventually a doctor walks out. He was a caucasian man who looked to be in his 40s.

"Will she make it?" Peter asked. The doctor shook his head.

"What?"

"We did the best we could. But she was already dead. There was no pulse." The doctor said. "I'm sorry."

"You're right. You are sorry." Peter said. "You call yourself a doctor? You're job is to help people! To save people! And you couldn't save her?" Peter said as he ran up to the man and picked him up by the coat collar which surprised everyone in the room including the man.

"Peter what are you doing man?" Harry asked.

"There's no way you did the best you could. Because if you did, she would be alive." Peter said, rage and sadness in his voice.

"She was already dead. There was no pulse!" The man said, hoping he would put him down.

"So you're saying it's Spider-Man's fault now?" Peter said, suddenly getting even angrier. He grabbed him by the throat.

"That's enough Peter!" Harry said. He and MJ's father went to try to get him off.

They were successful. Peter was breathing hard, trying to calm down.

"Look, we're all hurting, but taking it out on the people that were trying to help isn't going to do anything." Sally said.

"You said Spider-Man brought her here?" Harry asked, an eyebrow raised. "He should be the one you're mad at. He probably did this."

Peter turned and punched Harry before walking away.

"What the hell was that for Peter!?" He asked.

"We'll give you some space. We're all taking this hard. I'm sorry." Sally said to Mary Jane's parents and got Harry moved out of the room too.

"Look, I don't agree with Peter punching you, but you definitely deserved it." Sally said.

"Just let me-" Harry started.

"No, shut up! Can you just stop talking for once?!" Sally said. "Why would you say something like that out loud? I know why you said that, and Peter knows why you said it. It was coming from a place of your hate of Spider-Man. You don't even know if he even did it! No one here knows! Listen, I get it Spider-Man isn't a saint, but what you said back there was insensitive, and selfish." Sally said.

Harry sighs. "Which is probably why he punched me. I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." Sally said, arms folded. Harry walked out and went to talk to Peter, who was outside by himself.

"Peter?" Harry said.

"I'm sorry for punching you. I was just.. angry." Peter said.

"I should be the one apologizing to you. I shouldn't have said what I said back there. It was insensitive. And... to be honest, I was angry too. When I heard you say Spider-Man, it got me worked up. And I thought..." Harry said before trailing off.

"It's gonna take some time for all of us to get through this." Peter said. "I'm just thinking, that there's something I could have done to stop this from happening. Walk her to wherever she was going, confront whoever did this, maybe spook him. Just, something."

"Did you talk to MJ today besides school?" Harry asked as he walked next to him, facing the same direction he was. Peter shook his head no in response.

"Then it's not your fault. You couldn't have known where she was going or what she was doing unless she told you or unless you were with her." Harry said.

"Gonna take a bit for me to convince myself that." Peter said.

"When you're ready to talk again, I'll be here man." Harry said, tapping him on the shoulder twice in a friendly manner.

Peter never turned. He looked down and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was in his Spider-Man costume.

"It's really my fault, isn't it?" Spider-Man said out loud.

"Feeling sorry for yourself? For what, not killing her and gettint the recognition you wanted from it? Don't worry, you can sulk in jail." Harry said.

Spider-Man turned.

"Look, you can say what you want about me, but I did not kill Mary Jane or Indy." He said.

"The evidence says otherwise. You were caught by hundreds of people in person, pushing Indy off that rooftop." Harry said. "You're lucky New York only wants to arrest you and put you in prison. If it were up to me, you'd be dead after what you've done."

"For the last time Harry, I did not kill Indy or Mary Jane!" Spider-Man said, anger rising in his voice.

"If you didn't, then who? Oh wait, you can't tell me who killed MJ because you weren't there to stop them. Just like you weren't there to stop your Uncle Ben from getting killed. Just like you weren't strong enough to resist the Gaines Twins and stop yourslef from killing Indy." Spider-Man squinted and saw that it wasn't Harry that was talking. It was... Peter Parker? How was he talking about himself?

"You're weak Spider-Man. That's your problem. You want to stop Bestman from getting killed? You want to stop the criminals from killing anyone else? Then you need to get stronger. And to get stronger, you need to let go of your weakness. Those people out there? They don't care about your forgiveness. With enough money, or when they do their time, those same people that kill, steal, or commit other crimes will get out and do it again. That's why you need to make sure they get the message to never do it again." Peter said.

Spider-Man suddenly heard MJ screaming again before a gunshot was heard. And that was when Peter snapped up out of his sleep. He heard an alarm as the digital clock he had read 6:30 PM. He realized that it was only a dream.

He sighed before getting some water and decided to get some fresh air. And maybe find something interesting enough to get pictures of.