"Shriek in the Night" Part 2 'Deadly Lullabies'

"Rock-a-bye Baby,

Paint the town red,

When Shrieky calls,

They'll all fall down dead.

When Shrieky breaks,

Ol' Spidey'll call,

And down will come Shrieky,

Baby and all."

Shriek laughed softly and rubbed her flat, decidedly un-pregnant stomach gently. "There now. Wasn't that lovely? I'll sing that for you whenever you want me to. We'll never get separated, sweetie. Nobody's going to take you away from me. Not anybody. Not even Spider-Man. You and me, honey - we'll always be together. Mommy and baby, always. I'll never let them take you away. I don't care how many people I have to kill." She smiled softly, a pleasant feeling wafting over her, and she looked up at the night sky from the rooftop she'd occupied since the early evening. The idea was a nice one, she decided. "You'll always be my baby. Mommy's going to teach you so much... you're going to have so much fun!"

Peter Parker tossed and turned in his bed, restlessly looking at the clock every five minutes - or so it seemed. This wasn't usual for him - it was before midnight and he was actually at home. MJ was asleep beside him, and he supposed he ought to count that as a blessing. After all, he didn't often get to watch her go to sleep. Usually, she was fast asleep whenever he got in, and he never got to say goodnight. But... it still felt a little odd, not being outside at this time of night. After all, this was usually his best time for foiling some nefarious mugging, street hustle or carjacking.

Although when you think of it like that, he pondered with a wry smile on his face, maybe it's best if I stay home after all.

MJ stirred next to him suddenly. "Go webslinging, darling, if it'll make you feel better. If it'll tire you out maybe we could both get some sleep for once." Peter kissed her on the cheek affectionately, and stroked her hair with his left hand.

"You mean that?" he asked. "You actually want me to go risk my life just to go find some petty criminals or some new nut in a costume?"

"If it gets me some peace and quiet, sure," MJ replied tiredly. "And if I get to have all of the duvet, then even better. Besides, you don't usually rustle up this much energy unless you want to go webslinging or do some snuggling. And I'm too tired to snuggle right now, capice?"

Peter laughed. "Oh, come one, honey, wouldn't you rather do that than think of me risking my life against hordes of men with big guns and attitude problems the size of Manhattan Island?"

"Don't push it, Tiger, or I might just have to prove you right." MJ gestured towards the window. "Go on. Maybe we can spend the morning in bed, or something. If I get some sleep, I can concentrate more in the morning, right?" She kissed Peter enticingly on the lips, and grinned. "And you know what happens when I concentrate."

"Oh yeah." Peter could feel a flush coming to his face despite himself. "So... you'll wear the French maid's outfit, then?" he countered mischievously.

MJ stuck her tongue out at him. "In your dreams, Peter." Then she stopped, and looked like she was reconsidering. "No. Wait. It probably is in your dreams. Forget I said anything, then." She pointed to the window. "Get going, Spider-Man. There's evil to fight and damsels to save out there. Don't want to disappoint them, do you?"

"I guess not." Peter sprang nimbly out of bed and found a clean Spider-costume on the rack of his closet, and then slipped into it with practised ease, slipping the mask over his head, to just above his mouth. Moving over to the bed again, he kissed MJ gently, and whispered "See you in the morning."

MJ smiled seductively. "You bet. Don't get too tired, stud."

"Gotcha, MJ," Peter replied. "I love you."

"Love you too, Peter," MJ said softly. Her face took on a more pensive expression as she continued "Take care, okay?" Peter smiled reassuringly, and stroked his wife's face gently with his gloved fingertips.

"I will. Sleep well, honey."

Moving away from the bed again, Peter approached the window sill and slipped it up enough for him to crawl out and squirt a thick strand of webbing towards the highest vantage point within his webshooters' range, and swung away from the house, towards the bright, shining lights of Manhattan Island, lights that illuminated up the night sky like torches.

John Jameson racked the slide on his Beretta and felt a hollow-point round click satisfyingly into place. He didn't want to have to use it (Ashley chewed him out for even carrying lethal ammunition, and he didn't like making her angry), but if it came down to a choice between his life and the life of a whacked-out crazy with a mad-on for human life, he knew which option he'd pick. He clicked on his torch and disembarked from the Ravencroft van, along with the Doctor herself, and about thirty (or so it seemed) Ravencroft security men, all decked out in Stark Industries' finest Guardsman armour. Jonn envied them. He'd always wanted to be like Iron Man, and now they were getting the chance while he had to rely on a fifteen-round magazine and his own reflexes.

He reflected on that for a moment. On the other hand, some might have said that he had the better end of the deal, after all. If he couldn't rely on himself, he didn't deserve to be head of security at Ravencroft at all.

Suddenly, he heard a hollow thump from behind him, and he spun, automatically cocking the hammer of his pistol and raising it to a suitable angle. His heart hammering in his chest, he saw that what he had thought was Shriek was simply Spider-Man. He let out a relieved breath, while Spidey relaxed his own posture.

"Geez, John, I know it's late, but I was only trying to help," he said in such a way as to make John feel as guilty as possible. "So what's up? Bugs Bunny escape that nice padded cell you reserved for him, or what?"

"It's Shriek," John replied dejectedly. "She escaped this evening after she perforated two guards and took a walk out of the hospital's grounds. We think she's somewhere in the city, but we don't have any way of tracking her past waiting for her to kill someone and following her that way."

"Which is unacceptable, as you might imagine," Ashley chimed in. "Spider-Man, I - we need your help. Frances is a very disturbed young woman. She needs constant care, and this won't help anyone - least of all her. Please, you have to help us."

Spider-Man's mind rewound itself to a time he'd been grateful to forget, when Carnage and his disturbed "family" - Carnage himself, Shriek, Demogoblin, Carrion, and the Doppelganger - had taken virtual control of New York and forced it into a state of emergency, and had nearly cost him his sanity, as well. He shuddered, and shook his head slightly to try and wipe away the returning images of blood and gore that Carnage had painted across his mind with every passing moment. He knew that if he didn't, he'd probably puke, so he took a deep breath and composed himself.

"Sure, Doc," he said, his voice a little shaky for a moment or two, before he was able to settle its quaver. "Whatever I can -" At that moment, his spider-sense screamed at him to move, and without thinking twice about it, he obeyed the overwhelming impulse. At the same time, he grabbed both Ashley and John, and as he did so, the car behind them exploded, flames suddenly erupting from its framework as its fuel was touched off by some unknown energy - but Spidey knew who it was the instant he turned around after setting Ashley and John down. "Wait here," he said emphatically. "I'll deal with this."

"At least let me try and get some help, man," John pleaded, unhooking his belt radio. "I can narrow this down to this area, and keep it here so no one else is endangered." Spidey nodded.

"Do it," he replied. "But don't go anywhere until I know what's going on, okay?"

John clicked on the radio, but nothing happened. All that he could hear was meaningless static. He hung his head, and slammed his gloved fist into the wall of a nearby building in frustration. "Damn it!" he snapped angrily. "She must be jamming me somehow."

"How could that be?" Dr Kafka asked frantically, her professional detachment rapidly evaporating as the gravity of the situation started to sink in.

"I don't know. Microwaves, maybe - some other kind of radiation... I can't be certain. All I know is, she's holding all the cards and we've got nothing. I don't believe this!"

"Don't panic, John," Spidey replied. "It'll be all right. I promise."

At that moment, like the phoenix, a crowd of men and women seemed to rise from the flames, almost from nowhere, all of them voicing hate, rage and anger towards authority, and towards masked vigilantes, their faces twisted with unnatural emotion and their eyes hollow with seething anger. They were clearly not themselves, and Dr Kafka moaned with fear as they began to move in a mob towards her and the rest of the Ravencroft staff. "Oh, God... she's taken them over," she whispered, almost in awe. "Her powers are increasing. They're all under her control. She must be nearby..."

In the shadows, a hidden pair of eyes watched the situation with a mixture of amusement and a wish that it could be augmented somehow. But no, he thought. Better that the Spider be weakened before the trap is sprung. He chuckled softly, and continued watching the unfolding tableau as the shadows curled around him, concealing him in their comforting cloak. He'd stay here until the commotion had passed, and then he would continue on his way towards the fulfilment of his long struggle. The connection he felt with the Spider would finally be broken, and he would feel free - for the first time in far too long.

And the Spider will pay for what he's done... oh yes, he will pay...

As if to confirm Doctor Kafka's fears, meanwhile, a pair of yellow-tinted beams of energy slammed into the concrete in front of Jameson, Spidey and Dr Kafka, angled from a good way about the street. Spidey looked up to see Shriek standing atop a fire escape, her eyes glowing with her peculiar energy and her body clothed in her familiar skin tight black leotard, her bosom heaving with the excitement of the situation and her face pulled into a deranged little smile.

"Peekaboo, I see you," she cooed happily, as she somersaulted down to street level, and stood a few metres away from the three of them. She waved with the little finger of her right hand at Spider-Man, and fluttered her eyelashes at him, in what might have been an attempt at assuming a seductive attitude. "Hiya, Spidey," she continued huskily. "Good to see you again. I always loved a man in red, you know. Wanna play mommies and daddies?" As if to accentuate her point, she rubbed her stomach. "She's growing all the time, you know. My husband's in jail and I can't raise a family all by myself. I need you, Spider-Man - I need you to be my sugar-daddy." She licked her lips lasciviously, and rubbed her hands over her breasts and thighs like a stripper. "You know I'd pay my way..." Then her face hardened. "Besides, sweetie, you don't have a choice. You don't do that, I'll kill all of these people. I'll kill them if you try and take my baby away from me. Understand, big boy?"

Spidey swallowed, and leaned over to Ashley. "Her what?" he asked, incredulously.

"She's incubating a strain of the Carrion virus inside her," Ashley whispered back, " but she's treating it like her unborn child. It kept her docile while she was in the Asylum, so we indulged her while we were trying to help her."

Whoops, Spidey thought acidly. Aloud, he said "Okay. Leave this to me, Doc..." Moving towards Shriek, he held his hands out in front of him to show her that he meant no harm. "Shriek?" he asked softly. "Why don't you come back to the Asylum with us. Nobody's going to hurt you -"

"Liar!" Shriek's voice was a scream, and she opened her hands and fired a couple of searing blasts from her fingertips. Spidey had to react quickly in order to shove Ashley and John aside once again. Shriek didn't appear to even notice, still throwing energy blasts in all directions. "They'll take my baby!" she screamed in anguish.

I gotta put a stop to this before those people get hurt, Spidey thought quickly. Raising one hand he found a nub of metal on a fire escape and squirted a thick line of webbing up towards it, and then swinging quickly towards Shriek as she focused her energy on a shop window to her right. He let go of the webbing at the apex of the swing, somersaulted a couple of times to kill his momentum just slightly, then unfurled one leg, extending it to its full length and kicking Shriek right in the stomach. As soon as he'd done it, he realised he'd just made a big mistake, and that was confirmed as Shriek's eyes glowed an even brighter shade of yellow, even as she was doubled over from the impact of the blow, and her hands ignited in yellow fire.

"You killed her!" she screamed. "You took my baby! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" She clasped her hands together and fired a hugely strong blast towards Spidey, one that moved so fast not even Peter's spider-sense could warn him in time. The energy hammered into his body and knocked him to the ground, where he skidded for a little while before coming to rest at the feet of Shriek's horde of mind-controlled minions.

"Kill him," she said coldly, and before Spidey could get up, he was overwhelmed by a flurry of punches, kicks, and grasping, tearing motions. All he could hear were curses and insults directed towards him, everything else drowned out by the mob's assault. His muscles begged him to fight back, but his body still burned from Shriek's blast. He could do nothing as the mob bore down on him except think of Mary Jane, and how she would be so crushed that he didn't come home.

MJ... I'm sorry...