xXx
Mary Jane wore headphones, a tee shirt, sweat pants. She had the amp set up in the corner of the living room, and the head phones plugged in to it. She also plugged the electric bass guitar into it, and she was strumming to herself, her eyes closed. The moon dimly shone through New York's night-time glow, so she had all the audience she needed.
Over the sound of her guitar, she heard a clatter as the front door was kicked in. She tugged the headphones off and tossed them aside, ducking out of the guitar strap and tossing the instrument on the couch cushions. Spinning, she saw three men wearing masks as they piled through the broken front door.
One of them paused, cocking his head to the side as he looked her over. "Nice," he muttered. "Get her, boys."
Mary Jane's heart raced as she squared off against the three of them. As the leader pulled a syringe from his pocket and uncapped it, a bulky man tugged a taser from his coat, and the third brandished a stun gun.
The taser fired, spitting two wires at her. She leaped aside, landing in a roll and popping up by the overstuffed chair. Yanking its cushion off, she sprang at the man with the stun gun. He lunged for her, and she deflected the strike with the cushion and slammed a meaty knee strike into his ribs. As he grunted, she grabbed at his wrist and twisted viciously, adrenaline coursing through her. He let out a choked scream as his wrist broke, and the stun gun toppled to the carpet.
Tossing the spent taser aside, the big thug yanked a collapsible baton out of his coat and snapped it open. Mary Jane took a big step back, twisting and yanking on her attacker's broken wrist; he let out a gagging scream, breathless, as he twirled to the side and slung into the wall with a loud smack.
Whipping strikes at her, the big man moved in. Mary Jane ducked around the first strike, the second, and she stepped in close to him. Catching his wrist, she slammed her elbow against the hinge of his; stepping wide, she overbalanced him, and he tilted over, stumbling on her leg. He thudded down hard on the wood floor. Jumping back, Mary Jane scooped up the stun gun.
"I don't know who you yahoos are," she started, eyes mean.
The leader yanked a pistol from his shoulder holster. Mary Jane's eyes widened as he leveled it at her. She already knew she didn't dare to surrender. Peter's face flashed across her mind as she did what she had to do. Diving forward, she landed in a roll and whipped out a leg sweep.
She kicked the side of his knee hard as he fired where she had been half a second before. He staggered, and she corrected, planting her shoulder blades on the floor. As he lined the gun up on her, she fired a two-heeled strike into his crotch. The gunman's air left him in a whoosh as the force of the kick lifted him off the floor, airborne and off balance. His feet fluttered at the floor as he landed, but that just slowed the inevitable as he slammed down on the floor hard and curled into a ball.
Mary Jane rolled backward, regaining her feet as the big man staggered upright. She glanced down at the stun gun, held the trigger down. He reached into his coat, she glimpsed a gun butt as his meaty palm slapped down on it.
She took a step towards him, and he yanked the pistol out. Praying for speed, she snapped a wheel kick at him. The side of her foot caught his wrist hard, she kicked his aim totally off, and he fired into the floor as he staggered. She snarled as she thrust with the stun gun, poking its prongs into his ribs. He spasmed and gurgled unpleasantly, and she pushed harder, knocking him back into the wall.
Mary Jane backpedaled, and he slid to the floor half-senseless. She turned to the thin man who cradled his arm.
"No! No!" he squealed, but she kicked him in the belly, then zapped him too. She turned to the leader, who was struggling to uncurl himself. He squirmed around to reach for his gun, but she was on him in a flash, jamming the stun gun down between his shoulder blades. He let out a strangled yelp as electricity fried through him, too.
Breathing hard, Mary Jane stood over her three groaning attackers. She ran to the phone, slapping the stun gun down on the counter as she picked up the handset and dialed 911 on the cordless. She tucked the stun gun into her waistband, then ran over to pick up their guns as she waited for the call to get through.
"I have a break-in to report," she said quickly as a dispatcher came on the line.
xXx
Peter let go of the filament, sailing through open space, and he slapped against the side of a building and paused. Looking down at the front door to his apartment building, he saw police cars and a paddy wagon. He saw Mary Jane and two police officers; she ducked into the back of a squad car.
Peter dropped into free-fall, firing out a webline that slung him into a tree over the police cruiser. He sucked on his tongue and spat pheremonal tracer down onto the roof of the car. Then he darted through the tree, hopped at the side of his apartment building, and squirreled up at high speed.
It took him very little time to slip into the apartment, web up a bundle of clothes, and slip out again. He swung through the scent trail of the pheremones, agile and strong. Swinging through the city, he got a sense of the car's direction. So he fired a filament high against a building and tugged on the elastic material. Soaring up into the night, he looked ahead, his senses probing at the collection of buildings before them. He located the precinct, and as the police car stopped at a light he slung out more filaments. Peter raced the police car back to its base, and he won.
A matter of minutes, and Peter Parker stepped out of the alley. In the darkness behind him, the stripped-off mesh suit was already dissolving now that it had been removed from his skin.
Peter jogged over to where Mary Jane was climbing out of the back seat of the police cruiser. She spotted him, ran to him. One of the policemen followed her.
"You must be Mr. Parker," he said.
"I am," Peter replied, absorbed in the wonderful sense of Mary Jane's heartbeat as she hugged him fiercely.
"How did you know to find us?" the cop asked. "Did you call him, Mrs. Parker?"
He touched her arm, and she looked at Peter. His mind raced. "One of my reporter friends monitors police band radio. He called me on my cell phone," Peter said.
"Well, if you'll excuse us, Mrs. Parker has to give a statement."
"No problem," Peter said as Mary Jane let him go. "No problem at all. I'll just wait." He followed them into the station.
Once inside, he stepped into a phone booth and pulled his cell phone out. He dialed Brilhart's office number, got voice mail.
"This is the SCU," he said. "Checked out the Fawkes situation. Fawkes is dead, but he's walking around killing people. He's behind the Twilliger murder tonight. One way or another, it's over tomorrow night. You have my word." He disconnected, then stepped out to the bustling precinct main floor. He sat on a bench, and sighed.
"I am positively made of patience," he muttered.
xXx
Peter led the way back into the apartment. He was alert, senses honed for danger. "Stay here," he murmured as they paused in the foyer. He prowled deeper into the apartment as Mary Jane let out a jaw-cracking yawn.
Peter returned a minute later. "All clear," he said. "Just get enough stuff for a weekend trip. I hope to have this wrapped up tomorrow. In the meantime, I want you at a hotel, somewhere safe. More thugs might come after you."
"You worry too much," she said. "I can take care of myself."
"I'm in the tights less than a few hours and already you're in danger," Peter said softly, brushing his fingers along the side of her cheek. He shook his head. "MJ, you're precious to me."
"Hello?" she said. "Why do you think I've been busting my butt in these martial arts classes for the last year? Peter, nobody is 'safe.' But I'm not a victim, either, and I never will be," she clarified, her eyes very green, the set of her jaw determined. "Don't you dare make me your excuse," she added, a slight quiver in her voice.
Peter blinked; for the first time, he saw the raw hurt in her eyes.
"See, it's like this," she said firmly. "The guy I fell in love with? He was man enough to fight the spider ghost, tooth and nail, to be the kind of man he wanted to be. And you not believing in yourself is killing you. So don't you dare hang up the mesh because you think you're protecting me."
"Even if running around in my pajamas means dealing with aliens, mob bosses, and the undead?" Peter asked wryly.
She looked him right in the eye, and he felt her heart rate jump. "I'm so glad you asked," she said, and he sensed a dam about to burst. "You know, there are a lot of people who say they'd do anything for their true love. Me? I'm not just talking." She planted her fists on her hips. "I mean it. I'll put up with all that and more, to be at the side of the man I love."
Adrenaline tingled through Peter's blood as he realized she had never said anything she meant more. He had to blink at the tears that filled his eyes, unshed.
And he pulled her close, held her to him, felt her racing heart as she gripped him like she would never let go.
"You are amazing," Peter whispered.
"Damn straight, I'm as good as it gets, so you better not let me go," she said, her voice rough with emotion. She looked up at him, and Peter kissed her deeply.
Eventually, they let each other go. "I think it's time to head up towards the bed room," Peter mused. "We'll be safe enough tonight, I'm not going anywhere. But tomorrow, I'll take you over to Harry's place. He can look after you until I'm done. Okay?"
"Okay," she nodded. And they headed up the stairs, padded to the bedroom. Once Peter double-checked it again, they started getting ready for bed.
"MJ," Peter said, slightly troubled as he shrugged his shirt off. "About tomorrow. Somebody is going to die. I don't know what to do about it… Part of me wants to stop it, and part of me wants to help the killer. See, the—"
Mary Jane put her cool finger on his lips. "I trust Peter Parker," she said, looking into his eyes. "You keep him front and center tomorrow. And he'll do the right thing."
Peter's eyes were almost curious as he studied her. He tossed his shirt aside.
"Well," he murmured. "Right now Peter Parker knows what the right thing to do is."
They turned off the light.
Monday, December 20 2004
Harry met them at the elevator. "Good morning, Parkers," he said as Peter and Mary Jane stepped out of the elevator. "Welcome to Fortress Osborn."
"Hey, I appreciate you looking after Mary Jane for me. Just for today. I hope to be back before dawn," Peter said.
"I won't let anything happen to her," Harry nodded. "She probably won't let anything happen to her either," he grinned.
"Well, yesterday I beat up three guys who came to kidnap me," she said with an arch smile. "They had guns, too. Wanna see how I did it?"
"No thanks," Harry chuckled. "Down girl. I'm on your side. Okay, Parker, I'll look after MJ. You go do what you have to do."
Peter nodded. "Thanks," he said quietly. And he stepped back into the elevator.
The doors slid closed, and Mary Jane turned to Harry. "Peter is back," she said with a smaller, quieter smile.
"And that's a damn good thing," Harry nodded. "I missed him. He has more friends than he realizes, you know."
"I have this feeling he needs them all," she replied wryly.
"See, the thing is," Harry said as he led her down the corridor, deeper into his mansion, "Peter tends to be in the right place at the right time. And he can be counted on to do the right thing. Being Peter's friend is like giving to a charity; may not be easy, but you get a clean conscience because you know you're supporting a noble cause." He grinned.
"That's a different take on the Parker charity," Mary Jane said with a shake of her head. "I hope he comes through this alright."
"He will," Harry nodded. "As long as he makes up his mind. When that guy finally focuses on what he wants to happen? He's unstoppable."
xXx
Peter finished his examination of the apartment, then he opened the door to the study. He walked in with a handful of newspaper, and he shifted the child mannequin aside and set up fresh papers to catch the spray paint residue. He planted the mannequin back in place and tugged up his sleeves.
Then he hesitated. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the computer. For a wild unbalanced moment, the spider ghost lunged at the life it had been weaving; if he didn't tend to his accounts, shift his balances around, and maintain his web it would begin to fray from neglect.
"I was that close," Peter murmured to himself. He closed the door, and sat down in the chair. "Spider ghost, we gotta have a chat. I know it's not your fault, what's been going on the last few months. Because what you do is take over when I'm too hurt or tired to keep going. Whatever I get us into, you get us out of."
Right so far, whispered the voice in the back of his mind.
"Trying to be a hero… I guess I got too hurt. Too tired. So you got me out of that. Somehow, your freaky spider id was cunning enough to build me a real life while I was hiding."
But are you grateful? Of course not, the voice snipped.
"But, you see, I am." Peter tilted his head back, closed his eyes. "Thank you," Peter said softly.
For a long moment, it was quiet in his mind and in the room.
"I think I know how we can work this out," Peter said slowly. "But first Fawkes has got to be dealt with. And we gotta work together to make that happen. See, the reason I need to be in charge with this partnership? Because there's no room for anybody else in your life," he said to the spider id. "And my life has to be about more than just me."
Silence.
"Let's make some mesh," Peter said, standing and facing off with the mannequin.
xXx
The convoy of vans and trucks circled up in the spacious underground parking lot. Doors opened, and a small army got out of the vehicles and gathered around as one man strode out in front of them.
"Okay, people, listen up. Jack Ebony here. And we're gonna have us a good time tonight." He grinned ferociously. "Brass tacks. We're going to set up in the basement of this abandoned department store. I'm being stalked by one man, which is normally an evening of entertainment for me. But hey. I want to make this last. See, the thing hunting me us undead. Not living, not dead. Think vampires and zombies and that sort of thing. But there's no need to be afraid," he said, eyes bright. "Because there is just one. And check this out. When we bring him down? We can torture him as long as we want and he'll still feel it. Yeah." He rubbed his hands together. "Nothing to be scared of, boys and girls, just keep pulling the trigger." He was utterly fearless.
"When do we get paid?" demanded one of the thugs.
"In the morning, when the dust settles," Ebony shrugged. "Anybody has a problem with that, they can take it up with me. Now. Get to work. I've already briefed four of you on how I want the defenses set up. So we'll split you up in teams and get ready for nightfall. Let's do this!"
They got started.
A man in a bowler hat approached. "Sir. You wanted the sniper on the roof, it's arranged. Where did you want the trip mines?"
"Along the corridor leading into the lower level of the mall. And another sniper up on the fourth floor of the concourse," Ledge said. "Shooters along both sides on the second floor, we're gonna dance on the first floor. Get stuff set up, okay? I have an errand to run before it gets dark, and I want to check everything over before showtime."