Chapter 9

Disclaimer: All characters mentioned herein are property of Marvel Entertainment

It was unusually a slow night. Peter sat atop the Daily Bugle, waiting for some new incident to alert his Spider—Sense. Yet, there was still nothing to be found. No burglaries, no assaults on young people walking home in the dark alone, no car chases, no nothing.

Then he realized, Wait a minute, the symbiote was able to attack me the last two times without me realizing she was there. I bet she's out somewhere wreaking havoc like we—I did when I was bonded with it. Hmm…I better make rounds for a better look.

And with that, Peter set out to patrol the city. But it was exactly as it had been before—quiet, without disruption of the peace. There was not even a sign of any symbiote activity. Still Peter felt uneasy, but he returned to the top of the Daily Bugle.

An hour passed, and still there was no activity to be found. Peter grew weary of being a guard without work to do. Giving up his post, Peter decided to go to Mary Jane's apartment, hoping she would at least be there, and if she was there, that she would be awake to talk with him.

With jet black skin, Mary Jane paced her apartment bedroom. She was really beginning to enjoy being the symbiote. She loved the powers, loved flying, loved being stronger and faster. She loved that she had been getting to know Peter's alter ego and was even becoming grateful to the symbiote for the time. The rising anger that had built in her since the last fight replaced her skepticism towards the symbiote with trust.

So what's the next move? She asked the symbiote in thought.

Let's play with Peter again.

Don't you think it's becoming a little repetitive? Can't we just reveal to him our identity?

Let's not be hasty; that time is going to come. Peter is not ready yet.

Not ready? We want to be with him now!

Ah, we see our tendencies are becoming one. But we must wait until we are fully one for that.

Fully one!

Yes.

As in, one consciousness?

Yes; is that frightening?

No…Mary Jane replied, not wanting to disappoint her new friend.

Taking intiative, the symbiote spoke aloud with the voice it shared with MJ: "We can see your anxiety; just trust us; when we are one, we will share everything. We will integrate pasts, present, and our futures. We will be perfect. We will be venom. Then we will be ready to have Peter."

Mary Jane quipped, "But when will that day come? We want Peter now!"

"Relax, it's practically around the corner. We just need a day to finish bonding minds. We already share bodies and powers."

"Alright; a day of waiting. We can take that—"

Quiet! Someone is watching us! the symbiote called to her in thought. We must hide! No one must know of our connection yet!

Yes! We will wait for Peter! And with that, Mary Jane willed herself into a puddle and slid under her door into her hallway, out the window, and onto the roof of the complex. Reforming into her slender shape, Mary Jane continued along the edge of the roof to a corner and leapt to the adjoining building where she could look into her bedroom window.

Having not seen She—Venom even on his way over to Mary Jane's apartment. However Peter stopped when he saw a mysterious figure in the room. Taking a closer look, he saw that it wasn't Mary Jane; it was his black—clad nemesis. Suddenly the figure liquefied and slid out of the room. How does she do that? Peter asked himself. Seeing that the figure had left and fearing for Mary Jane's safety, Peter approached the window and entered Mary Jane's bedroom. Panicked, he looked for signs of a struggle. Oddly enough, there were none. He opened the bedroom door and walked through the living room and kitchen. Nothing; nothing but sparkling clean dinnerware and neatly organized appliances. Peter pulled the apartment door open and looked out into the hallway. There he saw an open window and realized the symbiote had left through it. Relieved, Peter thought to himself, Phew! This is one time I am glad MJ wasn't home! Still missing her, Peter stopped to write Mary Jane a note:

Mary Jane,

Missed you tonight. I was hoping maybe we could go

out to dinner again, but I guess you were out. Good thing

too; when I came by, She—Venom was in your room.

Don't worry about that thing; she's just out to make my

life miserable; I am sure you will be fine.

Peter

As was his custom, Peter wrapped the note in a thin layer of webbing and left it on her pillow. As he walked back towards the window from whence he came, he stopped. I bet this has something to do with that girl Gwen Stacy. Maybe she is the symbiote and is trying to get me to date her again. I'd better be careful; maybe she is after Mary Jane. I'd better go warn Mary Jane myself. Peter stepped up onto the windowsill and shot a web line towards a nearby building. Right as he leapt from the ledge a black clad foot drove itself into his side, causing him to lose his grip on the web line. Falling without a safety line, Peter tapped his wrist to shoot a line but found he was out of webbing. Suddenly a black web line shot down at him from the windowsill and wrapped itself around him. The line pulled taut and Peter's fall was stopped just inches short of the ground. Peter realized, She-Venom! I should have known! But why did she save me? Immobilized, Peter could only speculate as to the creature's mental state as the line holding him was pulled up towards the roof.

When the web line reached the roof, Peter gained a look into the face of his assailant. She wore that same black suit he was had; it had two ovular eye patches and the white spider symbol stretched across the chest. There were no signs of sharp rows of teeth or a long, slimy tongue; apparently the symbiote had not fully taken possession of the host's mind yet.

"What do you want with me?" came Peter's frustrated voice.

"Nothing. We just want you! You will return to us and we will again feed off your superhuman strength!"

"Okay; not happening. I will never bond with you again!"

She-Venom inched closer to Peter. Forming a tentacle from its left side, it reached out and caressed Peter's head, saying, "Don't you remember what it was like with us? Don't you miss us? Don't you miss the power?"

This last statement caught Peter off guard. He had always figured the symbiote had become overwhelmingly angry with him after he forced it off. Thinking about who the host could possibly be, he remembered that the host's interests are combined with the symbiote's and came to the conclusion that Gwen Stacy had run into the symbiote at some point after he had disengaged it. Remembering that Gwen had been following him that night he was able to free himself, he figured she had simply been in its way. It all made sense. But it would be foolish for him to reveal that knowledge know; he would have to wait until later.

The symbiote kept moving that tentacle around his head and eventually forced it into his ear. As the black substance wriggled around in his head, Peter remembered the power, the exhilaration, the constant energy the symbiote provided, and a part of him did miss it. A part of him wanted to have the strength again. Suddenly he realized that the symbiote was trying to influence his mind and he focused himself again.

The symbiote pulled the tentacle from his head and hissed, "We see the truth! You do miss us!"

Peter answered back, "Try again, tar head." In a fit of anger, the symbiote let out a menacing howl and whipped Peter, who was still wrapped in the webbing, back against a brick wall. As the webbing hit the wall, small fissures formed. Peter, sensing the opportunity, wriggled around just enough to weaken them, realizing She-Venom would probably whip him back the other way.

Just as he figured, She-Venom pulled on the webbing to whip him back towards the edge of the roof. But, as she pulled, the webbing around Peter tore and instead hit her in the face, releasing Peter. Realizing his moment of opportunity, Peter shot two lines of webbing toward the surprised symbiote woman in an attempt to subdue her. One lines attached itself to the symbiote's chest and the other attached itself to the symbiote's right arm. However, instead of subduing the monster, the webbing only served to anger it, and it grabbed the web lines and flung Peter over its head, over the side of the building, and onto the roof of the adjoining building.

Peter struggled with all his energy to get up, but he could not. The two impacts had robbed him of his normally superhuman strength, leaving him exhausted. Just before he passed out, he looked up and saw She—Venom. She again shot out webbing at him, encasing all of his body in black webbing.

"We will meet again, and next time you won't leave the same person!" She-Venom cackled. To add insult to injury, She-Venom formed a mouth complete with jagged teeth, stuck out her tongue, and licked all over Peter's mask, causing it to dissolve. As soon as she had done that, the tongue, teeth, and mouth disappeared. She-Venom then shot out a new web line and swung away.

Landing back at her bedroom window, Mary Jane willed the symbiote to recede and form the usual pajama ensemble she wore to bed. Mary Jane walked towards the bed to get in for a good night's rest, but suddenly the symbiote formed itself back over her.

"What now? Are we out for more? Look, we went too far tonight. Peter got hurt pretty badly this time. And since when do we have a long tongue?"

"The tongue and mouth are another aspect that we are now close enough to share. We are now fully bonded."

"Cool!"

"Yes."

"Okay; I really think we should reveal our secret identity to Peter tomorrow."

"Yes; we are ready."

"Let's surprise him with dinner. We shall go as Mary Jane and then come in later as She-Venom."

"Yes; a great idea. "

…

"We sense you are conflicted."

"It's just that…I don't know," Mary Jane remarked.

"About what?"

"We really did hurt him pretty badly; then we humiliated him; was that really necessary? I mean, couldn't we just have left him there?"

"Yes, we could have left him there. But now he will be curious as to our human identity and will be all the more eager to see you."

"Are we sure?"

"Yes; Peter was going to do the same thing with you in showing you our true identity, but we became separated."

"Oh…we guess then that that would be okay…Yeah! We'll surprise him tomorrow!"

"Yes, but for now," the symbiote answered, forming her pajama ensemble again, "we must rest."

"Agreed." Mary Jane climbed into bed and pulled the covers over her head. It had been a long but fun day. She couldn't wait to finally reveal her alter ego to Peter.

But inwardly, the symbiote grinned. It knew the time had come to make its move. As Mary Jane drifted off to the sanctuary of her dreams, the symbiote burrowed deep into the recesses of her mind, layering itself over every synapse, preparing itself for the battle that would soon come. There would be an intense mental struggle, and it would have to fight valiantly to win. The day of reckoning was coming…