Mary Jane Watson-Parker-supermodel, soap opera star, and overall survivor-was as strong a woman as they come. She had survived natural disasters, alien invasions, kidnappings, and personally punched more than one supervillain in the face.
But though she'd known full well of the weirder side of Peter Parker's life before she'd married him, there were certain aspects of being wedded to a superhero for which she was wholly unprepared.
A couple of months ago, one of Peter's longtime sparring partners, Sergei Kravinoff, had drugged him and buried him in a graveyard. Kravinoff had then proceeded to put on Peter's costume and parade around town at night. Mary Jane had lived in a cold sweat for days, knowing for certain that her husband was dead.
Then he'd finally shown back up, days later, mind broken, withdrawn, and barely holding it together. She'd learned later that the man she loved had clawed his way out of the ground with his bare hands.
Between the dad jokes, the goofy grin, and the terrible fashion sense, it was easy for Mary Jane to forget sometimes that the man she'd married was no longer what you'd call human.
It was days like that which reminded her.
Peter had never been particularly good at dealing with grief. But this brush with death had the made the task of dealing with the recent loss of Harry Osborn even more difficult.
What he needed was a good night's sleep. Instead, he had put on that ridiculous costume and was poised to once again jump out the window.
"Please, Tiger," she pleaded. "Stay here with me. You need rest and I need my husband."
"Sorry, Red," he said, pulling on the mask. "Can't sleep. No point in keeping you up. Not when I can do some good out there."
A flash of red-and-blue, and he was gone.
Mary Jane went to the couch, pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her purse and lit one. Peter hated it when she smoked, but it wasn't as though he was here to object.
She blew smoke out of an open window, and her mind went back to Peter's dream. She'd known Harry as one of her closest friends for as many years as her husband had. She'd had more than a few talks with him, trying to help him sort out his personal demons. She'd watched Harry blame all of his problems on Peter, create a deadly trap for him, then save them all from the peril at the last second. A change of heart, she had thought. One last act of redemption.
But then she thought of the death and destruction he had rained down during his times as the Green Goblin. It was easy to tell herself that it wasn't him, that the Goblin serum had created an alternate personality that had committed those crimes while commandeering the body of her friend.
But would anyone else see it that way?
Mary Jane had never been a big churchgoer. But her experiences with Peter had shown her how real the supernatural could be. She knew that Spider-Man had traveled to different Hell dimensions on multiple occasions.
More than that, his recent brush with death had not just cut into Peter's restful sleep. It had increased his sensitivity to the supernatural, his awareness of the realms beyond death.
Spider-Man had been dead for a whole week.
Had he passed his best friend's soul on the way home?
With all the stress he had been under, Mary Jane had no intention of asking Peter these questions any time soon.
But one thing she did know. If he was mentally fit to face this question, he would not hesitate to travel to the depths of Hell to save his friend.
The Parker family desperately needed a win.
Mary Jane reached for her cell phone. It was up to her to give it to them.