CHAPTER 9

PARKER APARTEMENT, 4:30pm

Mary Jane was just coming around. Her head felt like a box of hot frogs (does anyone understand what this means? Anyone? Ah, well…) and her body felt like it had been given a hug by an affectionate anaconda.

She pulled the blanket from around her and noticed that she was still dressed in her, erm…y'know, that dress she wore in chapters three, four and five. And six. She was still wearing it in chapters seven and eight, but she wasn't in those chapters. Besides, she was under a blanket then. So there! Ha! Ahem…

Examining her yet-again bare feet, and planning a shoe shopping trip, MJ stood up to see Peter on the other side of the room, driving an armchair, armed with a newspaper. Not literally, it's an expression. I mean, have you ever heard of someone driving a piece of furniture, harming people with the day's news? You have! Aw, nuts!

Stepping closer, she noticed an expression of extreme concentration and thought mask Peter's face; a nice change from the red, white and black one he usually wore. But this face meant that something was up, and that was never a good sign.

The paper was the afternoon's addition of the Daily Bugle and, for once, the picture on the front was not of Spider-man; in fact it wasn't even a photo.

There was a pencil-drawn picture of a three-eyed alien covered in armour and netting, posed in mid-roar. The crude sketch was coupled with a rather large headline below it that read:

ALIEN 'PREDATOR' STALKS PREY IN NEW YORK

Spider-man's new partner wreaks havoc.

The subtitle was typical of the writer of the column; Mary Jane knew that it was J. Jonah Jameson without even reading it. She also then realised why Peter was pssd (I don't approve of language in a K+. Actually I do, but my little brother's watching me type and, for all I know, my mum's on the net reading this, so there you go) and set about to take his mind off of the story.

"Erm, Pete…you okay?"

"Mm? Oh, hi MJ. D'you sleep okay?"

"You tell me, I don't remember anything except tentacles and Venom, so I must have been asleep since then." He gave her a small grin, but continued to stare at the article in the paper. "So, er, I got this offer for a movie last night. 'The Amazing Lobsterman' or something-"

"It's unfair!" Peter suddenly cried. "I go out to check the scene, and I get attacked. I protect people from this 'Predator' thing and I get blamed for what happened today! Not only that, but I get majorly beat up!"

A thought crossed MJ's mind; "How did…how did you get back if you were too beat?"

Don't mention Black Cat, don't mention Black Cat, dontmentionblackcat! Peter thought. He was unsure how MJ would react if he told her that an 'ex-squeeze' had a) taken him to her apartment to patch him up and b) had been in the room they were in right now. Especially the 'patch him up' bit; MJ couldn't stand another woman's hands on her man, spider or otherwise.

"I…caught a cab."

"In your costume?"

"Wha? Heck, no, I had enough energy to get changed, MJ. I wasn't that weak!"

"Then why were you complaining about it? And what have you done about recovering-have you got any scars that need the 'MJ-touch'?" Mary Jane paid attention for evidence of any sore-spots.

"No, I'm okay, promise-ow!" As Peter sat up to look at her, he jerked forward slightly, but noticeably, and clutched his stomach in pain.

"Oh my god, are you okay!" said MJ as she leapt forward to comfort her husband. "Lemme see!"

"No, it's okay, really. I'm fine" Peter insisted. As he sat back in his chair, he made sure to pull his shirt down at the back, and Mary Jane noticed a bandaged wrapped around his waist, fastened at the back with tape.

How the hell could he reach to fasten it like that? He's had help, I know that much, thought MJ, but who would Spider-man ask for help? Wait a min-no, it couldn't be. Could it…?

She put the thought aside for a moment to ask Peter a question; "Hey Pete, d'ya wanna go and see a movie or something coz you look like you could do with a bit of fun?"

After several moments of pure silence, Peter Parker answered. "Yeah, 'k. I'd like that, sure, let's go!"

"Hey. Lemme get changed first; I'm not going in this gear, it's so yesterday! Literally! I'll go put a t-shirt and jeans on, probably…but I better have a shower first; symbiote stinks like hell!"

As MJ made her way to the bathroom, not forgetting to look all around the furniture and down the drain for any snake-like tendrils o' terror that may try and grab her, she glanced back at Peter to see him deep in thought again. She shrugged; she had tried to occupy his thoughts with something other than his job, but now that was all she could think of as well.

It seemed like a black cat was continuously crossing their path…

SPEAKING OF BLACK CATS…

Black Cat had spent the afternoon searching for the 'Predator' that was after her boyfrie-sorry, her 'co-worker'. Normally she would have been able to find it on any of the thirty motion-trackers she had placed around this area of the city, but it seemed that the creature had moved on.

She sat down on the ledge of a building rooftop and sighed. Apart from the Predator attack, that morning had been the best in a while; she got to touch her Spider-man. Touch him! Not the suit, but the flesh!

Sometimes she wished that things hadn't worked out between the spider and Mary Jane Watson. What did she see in him anyway? They don't have as much in common as we do. I could give him thrills equal to his own! We could share our job, lookout for each other. I mean, what has she got that I don't!

Then it hit her: Peter Parker. Mary Jane was in love with the man behind the mask, the guy behind the scenes. The one in control. But Cat only felt for Spidey, not the anti-thrill-ride that was photographer Peter Parker. Maybe if she had a shot at Spider-man, she'd have to accept Peter at the same time. They couldn't be too different, could they?

Felicia was woken from her thought-trance by a long, slimy tentacle that wrapped itself around her ankle and held her in mid air.

"What the hell? Hey, let go of me, you crazy-" Cat discontinued her complaint when her eyes settled on her attacker. White eyes wide with psychotic hunger, teeth large and shark-like in a huge grin, it became clear to Black Cat that Venom had a reason for ambushing her.

"Hello baby! How've you been?"

"Get off o' me, slimeball!"

"We're fine, thank you. We suppose you're wondering why we're here? We have a favour to ask of you."

"Yeah, like I'd help you! Get real, Venom."

"You will help us, meat!"

"Or what?"

It was hard to tell since she was upside down, but Cat could've sworn that she saw Venom's grin grow by a good few inches. "We hoped you'd say that…"

Several large tendrils extended from Venom's back and coiled around Cat's waist and hips, pushing her forward over the ledge of the building. "If you don't give us what we need-"

The coils loosened except for the one around Felicia's ankle and she slipped slightly, getting a good view of the several hundred feet drop below her. "-we'll see if you really do land on your feet."

Cat sighed again and felt more tendrils coil around her upper body and neck. She had no choice. "Okay, what do you need?"