Of The Twilight Hours
Sequel to 'Midnight is Meant to Be'
Disclaimer: I own none of Marvel/Stan Lee's creations, only the scenario and original characters in this story.
Author's Dribble: Thanks for the feedback guys and gals, its much appreciated. Its been a bit of a funny week, had a few emotional uncertainties which I haven't had for a while, although it was nothing major it was still pretty weird. I finished the punisher game, which was pretty cool, read both of Judith O'Brien's Mary Jane novels too, and the 12th edition of ultimate spidey, so I'm hyped for writing!
Mary Jane approached the small café, its subtle lights illuminating the pavement like the fading sun did her old back garden when she was a kid. It had a sense of nostalgia to it, for reasons both obvious and not. Then door opened with a chime from the bell above, revealing the dozen or so patrons dotted around on leather sofas and stools. It was a very homely place, rustic and worn in. Highly appealing compared to the crisp white and stainless steel of her penthouse, the café's faults were its charm, unlike her new effortless love life.
Standing at the bar and requesting a latte from the gnarled old man whom seemed to own the place, his gentle demeanour extending to his soft voice. Her life away from the theatre was so fake it wasn't even amusing, the thought of her only feeling of reality being in a place where you pretended to be somebody else, sheer insanity. Since she had met John she hadn't had an argument with him once, she hadn't gotten mad at him because he seemed to do nothing to challenge, to even critique any of her ideas or suggestions, it was like dating a butler. "Yes ma'am, No ma'am" Jesus he was so boring she had at one time actually tried to make mistakes in the theatre just so she could get some abuse from the director, some kind of genuine social interaction.
The small stage that the customers were all sat around was filled when a scruffy young man stepped up to the stool and picked up the battered acoustic guitar that leaned against the wall behind it. The song he started was a melon collie song about loss, not unusual but it was quite catchy. The aged barman returned with her coffee and she smiled as she paid him, it was possibly the biggest latte she had ever seen for $2.70. Turning to lean against the bar MJ watched with wandering eyes the scene before her, running her vision over the couples, the older people and the performer, her thought deep and yet vague. It was just one of those nights were she just felt numb, felt like her destiny had been planned, bought and kept by a man who had no idea she couldn't stand to hear his voice.
Over the last few days, her thoughts of not wanting to hurt him faded with the realisation that if she didn't she would grow old, she would have lost her life to the dollar, to a man whom she felt no connection to, somebody she didn't really even like anymore, let alone love. It was going to be done tomorrow, maybe it was her weariness talking, but she couldn't stand this anymore, the gut feeling of dread at the thought of going home, and then the desperate desire to flee anywhere but there, just like tonight. It had to end, and it had to end now.
Much to Spiderman's chagrin, it would appear that that a slight mishap at the prison had resulted in the release of two inmates, two friends of the family almost, Rhino and Shocker. Fair enough the two idiots weren't exactly the hardest cons ever, but it was still annoying considering they seemed to escape so regularly. After a 'fond' farewell from Felicia, whom was going after Shocker where he had been sighted last a few blocks over, Peter felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck, a pulse of anxiety burned up his spine to his head like a bullet. Rhino was a street or so back, it had to be him, but something wasn't right. Having learned his spider sense came in varying intensities, this was much too high for Rhino's usual bank job antics.
Turning and launching himself towards the source of his premonition, the serious feeling of dread began to swell inside his chest. Whatever was going on, it wasn't boding well for an early night with the Cat.
Launching into another heartfelt song as Mary Jane pulled up a stool to the bar, the scruffy musician was bringing feelings and the memories attached to them to the fore, something she could do without, but it was too late to flee.
Oh Peter…
Why did you run away, why couldn't you let me explain? All of this, all of this shouldn't have happened, we should have happened! I'd love to be struggling for money in your broken down apartment, as long as I had you to tell me it was all going to be ok, I'd believe anything you said, and I'd believe you would make it so. Believe. Trust. It was something which he had lost in her, he couldn't trust her, couldn't even stand to be near her, just like when he was in the penthouse, he had to get away from her. The feeling that she had hurt him so badly clawed at her very being, it felt like internal bleeding, a wound she couldn't see or heal, but it was killing her none the less.
With this newfound resolution to destroy her relationship with John Jameson, which came 8 months too late, she couldn't help but think of Peter Parker. She would be single again, and would have to put up with terrible advances of guys across NYC, but there was only one guy she was interested in, had ever been interested in. But it was too late, wasn't it? Had the only man she could ever see herself with be lost to her for good? It was a painful reality but she had the sickening feeling that he was in fact 'over her', that Peter Parker had moved on. But even if Peter hadn't and still felt something for her, he wouldn't trust her again, not ever, and it was that which really hurt, the feeling that no aspect of their complex relationship could be revived.
Just as she felt her mind lace with horror at the thought of him being forever out of reach, a soft pounding that had been growing steadily louder was quickly becoming deafening in its immediate echo. Huge earth shaking footsteps attracted the wide-eyed attention of the café's occupants, whom only saw a humongous grey behemoth hurtling towards the venue's front door. Some recognised the giant in grey as the Rhino, others just as a terrible omen of their impending deaths. Mary Jane however, saw the awesome force of the charging beat become subverted, a blur of red and blue cracking into the side of Rhino's skull. Veering slightly off course, the café still suffered the full impact of the psychotic attack. The Rhino careered into the left hand side of the establishment, crippling its supports and demolishing everything underneath him as he fell.
Rhino seemed to be out of it, a full on swing from a high rise office connecting with his head was enough to stop almost anybody. The smoke was starting to thin, and the customers ran for the freedom of the outside street, but a one woman was trapped underneath a fallen support beam half, and MJ regained her standing position so that she could help to move the fragmented beam. Having been thrown across the room MJ was bruised and bleeding from a bad carpet burn from skidding on the floor, but her adrenaline was keeping her going. She turned to see the silhouette of a man becoming subtlety more recognisable by the microsecond, until she locked eyes with the opaque shapes of Spiderman's mask. He stood there motionless, and she could have sworn she heard him whisper her name in surprise.
As she gazed at him, unsure of what to think, he stepped forwards when he noticed the trapped blonde Mary Jane was trying to free, only to be stopped 5 feet away. A fist the size of a large television connected with a sickeningly blunt crack to Spiderman's face, sending him spiralling into a parked SUV across the road. Indented in the vehicle Spidey peeled out of the metal and fell lifelessly to the floor as his giant opponent strode with crushing steps towards him. Diminutive in comparison, the limp body of her hero alarmed Mary Jane to no end, but not as much as the creak that came that second directly from above her, the one which was a prelude to the collapse of the building onto her and the trapped woman she was trying to rescue.
Hope you liked this first piece of action, and I hope you'll give me opinion even if you don't! Do any of you know if Judith O'Brien has been commissioned to write a third Mary Jane novel? I'd really like to know! The song I had imagined the café guy to be playing was Adema's 'Nutshell', just in case anybody was wondering! Back soon!