Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All characters mentioned herein are property of Marvel Entertainment

Mary Jane Watson looked into the mirror with disbelief. A million thoughts ran through her head. What had happened to her? What had she done to deserve this? She would never be able to see Peter again! She would never work in show business again!

Looking down at her hands, Mary Jane saw two black sets of five digits. She screamed; only it came out as a loud, anguished howl. Sinking into a bare corner of her room, she began to cry.

Suddenly a mysterious but calming voice called to her. "Why are you crying?"

"Because my life is over! Peter will never face me again, I will never work again, and I—"

"Calm down," the voice said to her gently. "Walk back to the mirror. Take another look." MJ reluctantly walked towards the mirror. She saw the same ugly blackness, but it slowly started to recede from her, revealing the clothes she had put on just before the blackness had shown itself.

In fear, MJ backed into the bare corner of her room. "What's going on!" she asked the ceiling. Who's there? Show yourself!"

"As you wish." And with that, the black goo flowed back over MJ's body. From her corner, MJ could see what was happening, and she was now more confused than frightened. At this point, she made the connection between the voice and the black goo, which was obviously more than some oil slick "What are you?" she asked tentatively.

"We are an alien symbiotic organism."

"Okay, in English please? Wait a minute, alien!"

"You heard correctly."

"Symbiote? You mean you are living off me?"

"No. That would be a parasite. While we gain life from our host, we give life to our host as well."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Remember when your lover Peter had a suit of black? He was stronger, more powerful than he was without it. That was us. We will make you stronger, more powerful, more agile and graceful than you ever were before. Plus, we are always left with an imprint of our previous hosts. So, you will have the powers of your lover Spiderman, or should we say, Peter."

Suddenly, a white splotch appeared on MJ's chest. Stretching itself across her front, the splotch formed into a spider symbol much like the one that Peter wore on his red and blue suit every day. MJ was starting to warm up to this idea.

This is really cool! she thought.

We know, the voice responded.

Wait a minute, I was just thinking that. How did you know? she wondered.

All of our mind and body are one. We share everything; nothing is hidden.

MJ didn't know what to think about this. She stopped thinking for a moment and tried to concentrate on the feelings of her body. She felt like there was someone else there, someone else guiding her, someone else who knew her and when she was tired, hungry, or afraid. She could physically feel the symbiote wriggling itself around her body, filling her veins, encompassing her brain, cradling her mind.

We sense you are filled with doubt. It is alright; we will help you accomplish your goals, ambitions, and dreams.

Suddenly the suit produced the necklace and pendant Peter had given her earlier in the day. She clutched it with a black hand, feeling a love for him.

Having been bonded with Peter for a time, we know him. We know his thoughts and desires. He loves you inexplicably. He wants to be with you. Wants to share the rest of his life with you. Suddenly a new stream of thoughts came flowing into MJ's mind. She saw the city from high points as if she was looking through Peter's eyes. She felt exhilaration. She saw the hardness of J. Jonah Jameson as Peter kept getting fired. She felt anger toward Jameson. She saw herself, sitting across from the table, looking like a mess. It was the scene from the diner earlier today. She felt like she finally understood Peter—why he was often absent—minded, distracted, why he was so busy, why he was always missing her shows, why he was so rushed from place to place, why he was so sad on days where work had taken a turn for the worse. She cried again—this time not for herself, but for Peter. She finally understood why he was the way he was, and it broke her heart.

I never had any idea…

Yes. Peter has had a difficult life, one that has been filled with pain. But, he finds a certain solace in you.

Solace…yes! That's it! Together, you and I—we, will change Peter's life! We will help him with all the bad people that have done these things to him and love him, support him, cradle him in our arms. Our? Well, okay, yeah, I guess we can say our. Quick, let's find him. I bet he's out there now, trying to—

Slow down! We hardly know each other. You haven't even begun to discover our abilities. Let us go out on the town tonight and become acquainted.

Yeah, let's go! I can't wait! Lead the way!

And with that, the voice instructed MJ to walk towards her doorway. She reached for the handle, but the voice stopped her. Suddenly, she felt a weird sensation as her point of view began to drop to the floor. She was melting into a puddle of black goo! This was so cool! MJ willed herself forward and under the door. Out in the hallway, she spotted a small window. Sensing no one around, she willed herself forward again. Slowly and tentacle by tentacle she reached the window and slipped through the tiniest of cracks. All of this was amazing! As she reached the outside of the building, the voice instructed her to will herself back to her original form. MJ focused on a picture of herself and the puddle began to form her feet and worked itself up into a human form, covered in blackness. Realizing she was on a vertical wall, she panicked for a moment but realized she was not falling. Amazing! she thought. She experimented with her arms and legs as she crawled across the wall. MJ climbed down the wall to a dark alley. Leaning against a fire escape, there was a long, steel pole, reaching twenty feet into the air. MJ walked over to it and picked it up. Realizing she was picking up a steel pole over ten times her size, she dropped again in surprise, and it left an indent in the pavement. Picking it up again, MJ lifted the pole above her head, wielding it with the utmost grace. She began to swing the pole around, flaunting her new-found strength, until it slammed into the fire escape, knocking part of it to the ground. She didn't know her own strength.

Then, as the voice began to instruct her again, MJ made her way to the top of the high—rise her apartment was located in and looked out over the New York evening skyline. It was breathtaking! She had never been there by herself; only could she see such a sight when Peter carried her. Suddenly she felt prompted to shoot a web line with her hand. Playing around with several different finger configurations, MJ finally found the correct and shot a line toward the next building. Grabbing the line, she looked over the edge of the building and, for a moment, felt her heart jump into her throat; she was terrified! She began to back way, but the symbiote pushed her forward. Down she plummeted, still holding the thin line of black webbing from the shot. Suddenly MJ felt her left arm jerk up and fire another line of webbing. Still swinging awkwardly across buildings, MJ allowed the symbiote to take care of the web shooting while she took in the city. Amazing! she thought. She had never seen anything like this before. So this was what it was like to be flying freely through the town, unhindered by traffic lights, pedestrians, traffic jams, or buildings. This was what it was like to be free!

MJ kept playing around with the webbing until she became comfortable with it and could sustain it on her own without the "autopilot" of the symbiote. Finally coming back to Earth, she landed back on her building.

You were amazing! she thought.

No, we are amazing. We together have power greater than any force on this planet! the symbiote corrected her.

Okay, so let's have some fun! Let's try, uh, say, fighting something! MJ couldn't believe she had just suggested this. She was always the timid one, being taken advantage of by men like Flash Gordon or even her father.

Sure, but there's no one that will prove a challenge to us. No one except Spiderman…

My best friend? Our best friend? Let me get this straight, we want to fight our best friend?

Not fight, play with. And besides, we love him, right?

Yeah…

And we want to see the best for him, right?

Yeah…

Well, isn't the big thing that created the connection between the two of you us?

Uh…yeah!

Well, wouldn't there be an even better connection if we were all together?

What do you mean? Bond with Peter?

No, of course not. Just make him like us this way; make him miss us. You know, play hard-to-get. You knock him around, he knocks you around, we all have fun!

This idea of "knocking someone around" was new to MJ.

Besides, the symbiote continued, we will all get to know each other more intimately through spending time with each other, right?

Right…

And you both spend lots of time together as a couple, right?

Right…

So, you should spend time together as a superhuman pair!

Hmm...yeah, that sorta does make sense…that sounds fun! We should definitely do this! I—er—we—are glad we came up with this! Besides, we're in full control in full control and can stop fighting him at anytime. And, Peter could stop us if he really wanted to, right?

Right. Peter will be eager to see us and will even play along. All the more reason to.

Alright, so when do we want to do this? Tomorrow?

Sure! But during the night; it will be more mysterious! And, let's keep this a secret. We don't want to spoil the surprise!

Right right! Tomorrow night! But we want to spend time with him as normal Mary Jane tomorrow too.

Sure; we can definitely do that. Let's go see him for lunch.

Lunch! Okay, but for now, I'm exhausted!

And so the symbiote woman climbed down the wall, liquefied herself into a puddle, and flowed through the window and door until she returned to her bedroom. Struggling to find her pajamas without success, the symbiote receded and formed the t—shirt and bottoms that she loved wearing.

Wait. We can form clothing?

Sure. We can create any set of clothing, attire, and even mold objects from our hands. The symbiote demonstrated reasserting itself over her and molding her left hand into a large sledgehammer. Quickly it receded and turned back into her pajamas.

MJ leapt onto the ceiling and lowered herself into bed from a short line of webbing. She was exhilarated by the new powers, new freedoms, she had acquired. She couldn't wait to go and play with her best friend in his alter ego. She imagined the two of them finally understanding every part of each other and living as a happy superhuman couple. Tired but elated, MJ drifted off to sleep.