Posted: 3/15/09.
Swear to Me.
It was late at night. Real late. So late it was early. Neither of them cared.
Mary Jane and Spidey talked on that rooftop for much longer than either of them expected to. Mary Jane didn't think she knew much about Peter. They only knew each other through Gwen and most of Mary's information came from her, not him. She was trying to relay this secondhand data to a person who both was Peter, and was not him. Later, Mary Jane would reflect on how surreal the situation was, but at the moment she took it all in stride.
Even though it shouldn't have been much information, it seemed like a lot. The two teenagers talked and laughed and discovered new things about their mutual 'acquaintance.'
And then it was over. And Spidey felt strangely unfulfilled.
Still in costume, but sans mask, the vigilante lay down on his back and stared at the sky, collecting his thoughts. Everything was quiet for a while.
Mary Jane worriedly looked down at the boy from her seated position. "What are you thinking?"
Spidey didn't answer at first. When he did answer, he said, "I'm trying to remember what I wanted."
"What you wanted?"
He suddenly sat up and stared out to the horizon. "I asked you to tell me about Peter, but now I'm wondering what to do with this information." He turned to her and smiled. "Not that I'm ungrateful you told me."
"Does knowing it upset you?"
Spidey thought about this for a moment. "Well... it does kind of suck that my other self is the school geek," he said in a half-joking manner.
Mary Jane smirked at his answer. She knew Spidey for even less time than she knew Peter, yet hearing his reply could make her think, 'That's just like him.' It was funny. They shared the same face, but Mary Jane had no trouble thinking that they were different people. They were more than two separate personae; they were two separate consciousnesses.
"I meant the split personality thing in general," she said. "Does it bother you to think that you're a part of somebody else?"
With shocking simplicity he replied, "No. Should it?"
Mary Jane didn't know how to respond.
"Actually, I'm starting to think that I suspected this before. Subconsciously, at least. Multiple personalities would have explained a lot of things about me, but I guess I was too nervous to confirm it. That might be why I was so hesitant to look for answers.
"You know, I didn't tell you this when we first met, but ever since I," he searched for the right word, "appeared, I've had really fuzzy dreams. Now I think they're about what Peter's doing during the day. It's just like how he's dreaming of what I do."
"So you're okay with everything?"
Spidey thought about it. "Yeah. I think I'm okay the way I am."
Mary Jane smiled. "Are you gonna keep being a vigilante?"
"Of course! I love it too much to quit!"
"But you know, not everyone in the city is pro-Spider-man," she informed him. "Some are calling you a loose cannon or a danger. You should hear all the stuff the Daily Bugle says about you."
The self-proclaimed superhero waved a hand dismissively. "They're just jealous. You and I know how rock-hard awesome I am."
Mary Jane laughed. They were more than just two separate consciousnesses. Peter and Spidey were two separate ends of the spectrum!
"Oh, yeah," Spidey interrupted her laughter. His tone was suddenly somber. "MJ, I actually have a request for you."
The redhead calmly looked at him. "What is it?"
"I need you to promise not to tell Peter about me."
"Hell no!"
Her rejection was so blunt it made Spidey fall over. He quickly sat back up. "What do you mean 'hell no'?! You kept my secret before!"
"That was totally different," she replied. "Peter deserves to know that he has a split personality. And don't think you can 'protect' him from the truth. Gwen taught me that doesn't work."
"I'm not trying to 'protect' him. I'm just..." He paused. "I guess I want to get used to the idea myself first."
I can't tell you my real reason. I like being a hero. But if Peter knew the risks I put his body through, he might try to stop me.
Mary Jane, trying to be sincere, said, "Being a superhero is dangerous. Isn't it fair to at least warn Peter about the risks you take?"
Spidey jerked his head in shock. It was as if she responded directly to his thoughts.
"I'm personally fine with being a split. I myself am surprised by how much in stride I'm taking it. But I have no idea how Peter would react. I guess I'm nervous."
Mary Jane smiled. "Peter's a nervous guy too. Maybe you're more alike with each other than I thought."
Spidey smiled. Then he suddenly hopped onto his hands and knees and lowered his head toward the girl. "Please, MJ!" he cried. "Promise you won't tell him--or anyone, really. It doesn't have to be forever. I just... I want some time to myself before I have to spill everything to him. Pretty please!"
She thought about it. Then she nodded her head. "Alright. I won't tell him 'til you're ready."
He quickly got up and pointed a finger at her. "You have to swear it. I want you to take this seriously."
The redhead sighed and rolled her eyes. Then she composed herself. "I swear, I will not tell Peter about you until you're ready. I also will keep Spider-man's secret identity a secret from everyone else." She pointed at him. "But he has to know eventually! I won't let you put it off forever."
Spidey grabbed MJ's hand and shook it. "Deal!" He stood up and stretched. "Wow. We've been here for a while," he realized.
Mary Jane stood up too. "Yeah. I should get home now." In the distance, she saw a pale light that heralded the start of a sunrise.
"You okay getting home by yourself?"
"Sure. It's not far from here."
Spidey put his mask back on. "I'm gonna do a brief skim through the area, then I'll head home too. Peter has a busy day at school today, right?"
Mary Jane smirked. "Yeah, and you must hate the fact that you have to 'sleep' through it," she said with a small laugh.
She couldn't see Spidey's smirk, but knew it was there. "Oh, it's absolutely tragic," he replied.
They waved, and went their separate ways. Mary Jane got home faster than she hoped. Dawn hadn't even broken yet. She snuck into her room, removed her jacket and her street clothes, and got into bed to get whatever sleep she could before school. Just as she started drifting off, she realized something.
"I never asked him... I meant to ask him how he got his powers." She shrugged it off, too tired to dwell on it. "Oh well, I'll just ask him next time. I know I'll see him again."
Dim Smith, the liaison of the Fake Kingpin, opened the door to a small lab in Oscorp.
"Knock first!" Backyard and Quarter sternly said in unison.
Annoyed, Smith knocked on the open doorframe.
"We meant you're supposed to knock first. There's no point in knocking now," Backyard said.
Smith replied, "Then there's no point in complaining now." He closed the door and walked into the center of the room. "Any progress?"
Howard Backyard looked up from his papers. "We haven't been able to steal any new material because security's gone up. We think Osborn might have noticed that the previous samples are missing."
"Can't be helped." Smith looked over to Natasha Quarter, who was examining something under a microscope at another table. "And you?"
She didn't look up her microscope. "This is a piece of the bio-suit that was left behind when the suit was stolen. We... might have a problem."
"Problem?"
Quarter turned around and looked hard at the dark-haired man. "The bio-suit was an experiment to create a non-permanent biograft; something that can be attached or removed from the body as needed. But as we told you in the beginning, we never expected the result to be perfect."
Backyard continued her explanation. "Judging from our sample, the whole suit may be flawed in its detachable aspect. If it stays on too long, it could permanently fuse with the body. And we have no way of knowing how often Spider-man removes it."
Smith nodded. "So if Kingpin wants the first suit for himself, he needs to get it away from Spider-man as soon as possible."
"Is that so?" Jason Philip Macendale spoke on the phone with Dim Smith, allowing his specialized cell phone to alter his voice. He was driving a small truck as he spoke, making yet another weapons delivery for the real Kingpin.
"They haven't confirmed it," Smith replied, "but it is possible that the suit will fuse with his body if too much time passes. We may already be too late."
Macendale thought to himself for a moment. "I want to use one of those bio-suits to eliminate our boss, the Kingpin. But if Oscorp has its guard up now, getting the suit from Spider-man is my only other option. I guess we need to start acting fast."
"Things might get hectic from this point."
The Fake Kingpin laughed. "You should be used to hectic by now... Chameleon."
The Chameleon, with the second alias of Dim Smith, ignored the comment and said "Perhaps I can get some data on Spider-man from the real Kingpin. He might have learned something through the vigilante sightings."
"You do that, but be careful. We wouldn't want him to know that you were double-crossing him." Macendale hung up.
The Chameleon closed his cell phone and took off his disguise, revealing the white mask underneath. "What an idiot," he hissed.
"You can't blame Mr. Macendale for not figuring things out," said the real Kingpin as he took the cigar out of his mouth. "After all, you're an excellent actor."
Wilson Fisk casually sat behind the desk in his office. The Chameleon diligently stood before him. "It has nothing to do with my deceptive skills," the masked man said, "he's just so overconfident it's pathetic. He never even tested my loyalty. He just hired me because he thought I hated you."
"As I understand it, you do hate me," the dark-skinned crime boss replied. "And yet, after Macendale brought you in on his big scheme to overthrow me, you told me everything and volunteered to be a double agent against him. Why would a man who hated me do that?"
"Obviously to stay in your good graces," Chameleon replied, "...just in case his plan fails."
The Kingpin laughed, briefly. "So you are burning the candle at both ends."
"How so?" he asked. "I'm only pretending to help him. If I really was on his side, he wouldn't have let me tell you his plans."
Kingpin took a deep breath from his cigar before speaking again. "Macendale needs the suit to get past my security and still have the power to finish me. Without it, he can waste his off hours playing his silly games and never grow the spine to attack me. On another note, I'm interested in getting this suit for my own purposes. I think we should start the Spider-man hunt ourselves."
"This is just speculation, but I suspect that Backyard and Quarter also want to capture Spider-man. That way they can still sell their first prototype to Macendale."
"So we're all after the same thing. This will be a race against time. And Spider-man's power is the prize."
Mary Jane was worried that it would be difficult keeping her promise when around Peter. But she didn't have to worry about that today because she didn't see him.
But Peter saw her. She was seated a few rows behind his desk, sleeping in class.
Peter leaned over and whispered to Gwen. "Is she okay? She never did this before."
Gwen shrugged. "Maybe your sleepiness is contagious?" she said jokingly.
Author's notes: Writing this chapter was a lot harder than I expected it to be, but I think the final version is all right.