Chapter 10

Disclaimer: All characters mentioned herein are property of Marvel Entertainment

MJ was glad to be finally revealing her alter ego to her best friend. After the clock tower incident, she found it was too difficult for her to maintain such a front. All of her work to get to know him would be brought to fruition tonight. She had a great plan in which she was going to surprise Peter with her second self at the diner where he gave her the silver pendant. She had rented the entire diner out so they could be alone. They would go together and she would get him to start talking about his day. She would sympathize. Then she would get up and get a special gift she had waiting in their car for him and come back bearing the gift as the symbiote woman. Excited, she called Peter.

Brrrring! Brrrrring! Peter's telephone rang. Reaching a hand out of bed, he picked it up. Before he could get out a single "hello" an excited voice came through from the other end.

"Hey tiger! How ya doin'?" It was Mary Jane.

"Oh, Mary Jane; fine, I guess."

"Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No; I had a tough night on the job." He still ached from the past two times he had fought Venom.

"Well get up! It's 8:00! Go to work! But work hard and don't work late…it's time for a night on the town!"

"Huh!" Peter was confused. He had never heard MJ initiate something like this before. "Uuhhhh, okay. What time?"

"Duh, silly! Seven o'clock! Be there or be square!"

"Ok, sure. Bye." Peter was now even more confused. Peter had never heard her play around with him like this before. Maybe the new part she was trying for required it. Maybe she was taking too much medication. Either way, it was a strange change for her, but she liked it. She had never been so cheerful before; it had always been melancholy and downtrodden. Now that he thought about it, this was something Peter was really looking forward to.

MJ walked into the jewelry store that was close to her apartment. Looking around, she marveled at the beautiful assortment of gems and stones. Finally something caught her eye—a heart shaped pin that looked identical to the one Peter had given her only a short few days ago. She bought it, feeling great happiness with herself, and smiled, knowing that this was going to be the best night they had ever spent together.

That day, Peter raced through work. He was ecstatic about just seeing MJ's surprises for this night! Even another threatened firing from Jameson couldn't get him down. Even being assigned to something as dull as taking photos of the annual youth squirrel chase couldn't keep him down. Tonight he was going to be able to just be himself with MJ, no fighting criminals, no trying to keep the peace. Tonight was their night.

Until early that evening. Peter had taken a cab because he wanted to keep his outfit looking nice and the cab had gotten caught in traffic on its way from Times Square, where he had picked out a bouquet of flowers, on its way to MJ's apartment. When he finally did get there, he was fifteen minutes late. As the cab pulled up, MJ was waiting for him on the curb. Peter stared at her in disbelief for a moment; she was wearing a small dress with white gloves and a matching purse.

"Bad luck with taxis?" she asked.

"Yeah; second one today. I was late getting back to the Bugle headquarters from shooting that ridiculous squirrel chase in Central Park. Jameson fired me twice today. These are for you."

"Oh tiger, they're beautiful!" she exclaimed. "And don't worry about the whole late thing. Let's just jump in my car and go to dinner."

"Car? You have a car?"

"Come on, silly. I just finished playing one of the major leads in a Broadway hit. You don't think they pay me well?" The two of them walked through her apartment complex to the garage in the back. There stood a beautiful red convertible, much like the one MJ had dreamt of that first night she had unknowingly been bonded to the symbiote. MJ took Peter by the hand, leading him excitedly to the passenger side. She all but shoved him in in excitement and jumped over the driver's side door, landing right in the seat. MJ started the car and they sped off into the night.

As they approached the diner, Peter saw that it was empty. Inquiring about that, MJ told him that she had rented the entire diner for the night, and so it would be a romantic evening all by themselves. Peter liked the sound of that. The two young people walked in towards a candlelit table in the far corner of the room and sat down.

After the waitress had taken their dinner orders, MJ asked Peter, "So, why don't you tell me about some of your webslinging adventures?"

"Wow MJ; you've never really been interested in that before; why now?"

"Oh I don't know; curious I guess. I know the real Peter Parker; tell me about his other half!"

"Well, uh, okay," Peter answered tentatively. Peter began sharing about his battles with past enemies, like Norman Osborne, Doctor Octopus his trials with Venom. He reminisced about always being close to defeat but managing to pull out a victory.

When Peter talked about Venom, MJ began to pressure him, asking, "So what all about this Venom character? What do you suppose happened after that night at the bell tower?"

"Well," he answered tentatively, "I have fought Venom three times now, and it seems like the host keeps getting stronger. I am wondering if she realizes that the symbiote will lure her into believing she is in control and then turn on her to take over her mind."

Peter was completely oblivious that MJ was bonded with the symbiote and so was unaware that he was striking a nerve as he spoke. MJ felt a swell of anger come up in her, but she held it back, knowing that this would never happen to her.

"What, all of a sudden, makes you so interested in my exploits as Spiderman?" Peter asked.

"Well, let me just say that I am trying to understand you. I mean, I want to be closer to you; I feel like I know about Peter Parker, but I don't know anything about Spiderman. I want you to know I am here for you; I love you tiger." Leaning over, MJ pressed her lips against Peter's. The two kissed for a moment, and then MJ pulled back, saying, "Wait here just a minute tiger. I've got something for you in the car and I will be right back." Peter flashed her a slight grin as she walked out the door to get the small box that held the pin.

Meanwhile, Peter sat in the diner, not really knowing what to think. On one hand, he was glad MJ was curious. He was glad to hear that she cared about how well he was doing at fighting crime. But at the same time, he was confused. After all, this really was the very first time she had asked. Furthermore, the kiss they shared seemed so awkward; it was as if she was not really there. She just seemed to be so scattered as she talked. No matter though; Peter figured it was just excitement for the night. It really was great, and MJ really had gone to a lot of trouble to pull it off. Dismissing the inconsistencies as bravado meant to impress him, he simply sat there and waited for her like he had a few days ago when they had planned to meet for breakfast.

Back at the car, MJ reached into the back for the small box. Pulling it from the seat cushion, she quickly willed the symbiote back over her body. The black gown flowed down her legs, up and over her torso, and finally over her head. But something was different. She felt it thrusting itself forward, pervading her mind while it shouted over her now soft thoughts. The symbiote no longer cradled her mind; now it melded with it, creating one mind, one mix of Mary Jane and alien creature.

MJ physically struggled for control of her body as the symbiote kept wriggling around inside of her. She felt it filling her up in a new frightening way. In a fit of desperation, she let out a fierce scream. But, instead, it came out as a half—human howl as the symbiote changed from the simple suit of blackness. Long, slender tentacles flowed out of her head where her hair once was. The oval white eye patches sharpened into jagged lightning bolts. A hideous maw full of jagged white teeth appeared where MJ's mouth once was. Out from that maw came a long, slender pink tongue, darting from side to side. Green ooze dripped from the tongue as it slithered around. MJ watched in horror as her muscles grew to gigantic ovals and veins bulged out along the sides of them. MJ looked down at her hands as she had done the first time the symbiote had shown itself. Razor sharp claws slowly grew and replaced her fingers.

Suddenly the soft voice that had been helping her, instructing her, grew into a shouting one. MJ fell to the ground, her head throbbing with pain. In a final act of desperation she thrust her hand up into the air, but it suddenly stiffened and dropped back down. The new figure stood to its feet and gave out a cackling laugh. What was left of the old MJ was trampled with the small box that held the pin. Now there only stood an enraged, savage, beast with traces of a former young woman slowly flaking away. The new MJ exclaimed, "We live! She-Venom has risen!"

Peter was beginning to grow worried at his table. What if MJ had been grabbed by a mugger? Before he could react and his Spider sense could warn him, the front window of the diner shattered into small pieces. Following the mess, a dark figure jumped in. Peter moved to fire a web line at the figure, but it dodged the line and brought a wedge-shaped hammer down upon his head. Peter, with fuzzy vision that was quickly fading, looking up at a black figure. The figure stopped for a moment, seemingly gloating in its work, and leapt back through the window.

Splash! Peter felt wetness on his face. Gradually he woke up. Looking around, he saw the owner of the restaurant dabbing at his face with a cloth. Remembering the dark figure, Peter got up and proceeded to run towards the broken window. But something caught his eye. A folded piece of paper sat on the bar. As Peter picked it up and unfolded it, MJ's heart pendant fell out. Something had been hastily scribbled onto the back of it. It read:

Parker you fool! You left us!

You gave us ultimate dishonor!

Now we have your precious Mary Jane!

Come to the site of the laboratorywhere we first met

Or MJ will be seeing black…