Chapter 5
Disclaimer: All characters mentioned herein are property of Marvel Entertainment
It was thankfully the end of the day for Peter Parker. He sighed in contented relief knowing that he had spent himself protecting the city he lived in, the city he loved. He wasn't always able to say he loved being Spiderman, couldn't always say he wanted to be the protector of the city, but today was one of those days where he knew he was okay. Like he was meant to be right here, right now. Somehow, today Peter felt things were going to be alright. Maybe gangs would never stop forming and terrorizing innocent bystanders. Maybe unfortunate kids would never stop slipping into glowing symbiotic pools and need to be saved from the danger they posed to the city and themselves. Maybe his best friend would never find out the truth about his father's untimely death and keep seeking to wreak revenge on Spiderman. Maybe he would never be bold enough to stand before his girlfriend and profess his love for her since kindergarten. But today, somehow, for some reason, it was all worth it.
Peter sat on the edge of his bed, thinking about the day. He hadn't seen MJ that much; come to think of it, he hadn't seen her at all. He figured he would go over to her place and see her the next day. As for now, he was exhausted. Finding a pair of pajama bottoms, he made his way to bed and settled in for the night.
Suddenly a loud crash came about as a big, dark figure came through Peter's bedroom window. Eyes blurred from sleep for a moment, Peter struggled to see his assailant, only to discover the sight he feared most. A medium tall black figure stood in front of him. No flowing hair, no beautiful clothing; just a tall, black figure with two round oval eyes and a white spider symbol etched across her chest. The worst but inevitable had come: Venom was reborn.
The new monster picked up Peter by the front of his t-shirt and threw him across the room. Peter stopped as he hit the back wall of his closet and made a slight indent in the plaster. Needless to say, he was awake now. Peter struggled to grab a Spidey Suit and get it on while the creature prepared to attack again.
"Come and face us, you who have given up our might!" the monster cackled in a voice that seemed to sound like a man and a woman at the same time.
"God? You, a god? More like the guy…er…gal who cleans the gum off movie theatre seats!"
"You have forgotten what it is to be powerful!"
"I would gladly trade that any day for free will!" Peter was stalling for time as he stood cornered by the monster. He was formulating a plan.
"Free will? We have free will! We are all powerful! We are venom!" And with that, the creature lunged at Spiderman. Spiderman ducked out of the way just in time and made his way out the now empty window frame. It would be a long night.
As Spiderman fled from his upper apartment window, Venom stayed hot on his trail. Venom, though smaller and without the powers of Spiderman, was more graceful, agile, and cunning; she leapt from building until she collided with Spiderman in mid—air, sending him hurtling down to the roof of a high—rise building.
Spiderman stood up. Minimally affected by the fall, he fired short bursts at Venom's eyes and hands. The creature, still somewhat clumsy and reserved because of its recent bonding, was not able to dodge the shots and was temporarily disabled. Spiderman drove his foot into her chest, sending her flying to an edge of the high—rise. Spiderman then wrapped her in webbing.
"There! That will hold you for now!" he stated defiantly as he swung away. However, only moments later the symbiote liquefied itself and flowed through the webbing. The symbiote reformed the woman's appearance a few feet away from the pile of now empty webbing and let out a mighty howl, screaming, "You haven't seen the last of us, Spiderman!" Filled with a deep, piercing anger even more fiery than before, the symbiote fired a line of its own black webbing and swung off into the night.
Moments later the symbiote reached the window from which it had left MJ's apartment. Landing on the brick wall, it liquefied and returned under her door to her bedroom. The symbiote reformed the shape of the woman, laid itself into the bed, and receded into the pair of pajamas MJ thought she was wearing.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Suddenly, an alarm clock sounded its morning call to action. An arm reached out from under a set of pillows and slammed the alarm clock, smashing it to pieces. MJ was up, but she was dead tired. MJ saw the pieces of the alarm clock and assumed it had fallen off her nightstand. Stumbling into her closet as she was still half asleep, she forced an already buttoned up shirt over her head, donned a light pink jacket, and slipped into a pair of trendy jeans. Stopping to check herself in the mirror, MJ pushed a lock of hair out of her face, grabbed her keys and purse, and walked out the door. As she locked it, she looked down at her watch, seeing that it was eleven o'clock. Oh nuts, she thought, I was supposed to meet Peter for breakfast at 9:30! What will I say to him? Well, I guess I'll just tell him the truth…
…which she thought was that she had been so physically and mentally exhausted from performing The Importance of Being Earnest every night over the past six months that she had just slept in that day. After all, she was the female lead. It was a tiring, but fun job. She had loved every minute, acting alongside great actors she had previously only dreaming of getting an autograph from. So, she decided to go to the Daily Bugle and look for Peter, knowing that even though it was a Saturday he would still be there, pleading with J. Jonah Jameson to keep his job. MJ hailed a cab and left.
But, deep down, the symbiote was smiling again. It had thoroughly enjoyed its first romp with the new host, even though it had been temporarily beaten. She was inventive and cunning; she would be a rebirth of the symbiote, giving it new agility to add to the strength and powers that Spiderman had left it. And she was still oblivious! It was a great day, one that had gone perfectly as planned…