Author's note – First I would like to thank all the anonymous readers and reviewers who have helped me and given me ideas. And of course my reviewers. I could never have been able to get myself this far out. You have given me confidence, inspired me – kindleflame5, Winterrain36, Highlander348. Thank you, once again.
I have been lacking a bit of inspiration so I took up quite some time to come up with this chapter. Hope you like it.
Reviews are comforting to me like snuggling inside a warm blanket on a cold day. Please leave them behind as they inspire me to write up more. Suggestions are welcome. Positive or negative it does not matter, really.
I don't own any characters of Spider Man os AOS.
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It has been a few days now and life was normal for the people of New York but not for Peter. Things were pretty messed up now. MJ was fine and was out most of the time, out with Harry, partying and god knows what else. Peter was really concerned about her.
Peter had been inside the school cafeteria having his lunch with Gwen when he narrated everything to her, what had happened to MJ.
Gwen was shocked to learn about the events that had taken place during the past forty eight hours.
As he narrated the events, he realised that the things outside their life seemed to be so insignificant sometimes, that it scared the hell out of him.
Life was trivial when he compared it to the frugal frivolous life that he led as Peter Parker and giving himself up for the greater good was a lot better option.
Gwen knew that and she could not argue to him about that. The world needed him more than she did. She just occasionally helped him out in his science projects and the steady supply of web fluid courtesy from Oscorp and of course the ingenious spider tracers that she helped Peter build, that was attuned to his spider sense.
Peter could make out her distressed eyes that she tried to hide it.
Gwen was tired of doing squat and not doing anything and she desolately tried to tell him something how desperate she wanted to be of help but how insignificant it was all was at the end. Nothing could be compared to the costumed hero that had saved the lives of countless people now. But then Peter comforted her telling her that her presence was what helped this costumed hero to do the work that he did. She was his song, she was the colour of his life so he didn't care if she did anything insignificant. Only Gwen mattered to him.
Nothing else. Ever.
And then suddenly, out of the blue, when MJ turned up of all a sudden and sat down beside Peter.
"Peter I have got to tell you something. Come and meet me at the back." So saying she quickly walked up to the exit at the periphery of the school cafeteria.
MJ seemed pretty scared, her eyes were terrified and Peter could almost guess it. It surely might have something to do something with his blood running in her veins. Peter looked at Gwen for approval and she nodded grimly knowing what it would be that concerned Peter.
Peter slowly walked up from his table and went up to meet MJ.
Peter found her near her locker, her palms were on the cold steel metal door and she was shaking violently. Her hair concealed most of her face. Peter paced up quickly and stood beside her.
"What is it?" Peter was concerned about her.
He knew of all people what she was really going through.
MJ was shaking. And then all of a sudden, heavy droplets of water fell from her face when she turned to face Peter. She eyes were bloodshot red, her eyebrows were joined at the centre almost angry and the red freckles on her face seemed more prominent than ever. She looked at Peter.
"Peter help me. I can't help it. There is something inside me. I am not well."
Peter already knew what it was all about what was it that pushed her to him in the first place. But he wasn't ready to face all of this. He expected this outbreak but he never thought how exactly she would handle.
He looked at her. He knew why she came to him of all people. And he himself was scared shitless out of his mind. He just wanted to do something ordinary for now. This week had been pretty extraordinary and on top of that he had to look out for his aunt May and Gwen too. God knows what lurked in the neighbourhood nowadays. And the last thing he expected was a blood sucking vampire. If he ever saw one, Peter knew that he would die a happy man at having seen everything that the world ever had to offer.
"What? You are not well, come let me get Gwen and we will get you to see a doctor."
"NO Peter. This thing in me … tells me stuff, my body catches on fire like I am about to do something exhilarating. And then there is thing weird stuff that keeps me up at nights, like witnessing a nightmare every day and then there is this weird connection when I see you and the vibes that I get when I am with Harry. I have learnt to ignore them but when I am sober, things try to get the better of me. And right now I see danger everywhere. When I mean everywhere, I mean it."
Was that her spider sense? So it has finally kicked in. Hell, I did not feel so horrible when it first happened to me. I have got to take her away.
"Come her MJ, I will take you home, you are just sick that's all, all the things that you had to face has been the real problem. Its just the traumatic stress acting up. The car accident had done something to you, you might have a condition there after but the doctors said that it would be dormant."
"Oh, you mean that female lady, Dr Simmons"
"Yes, maybe. Let me take you home, okay? I am sure a good night's rest is all that you need. And most of all, try to distance yourself from Harry. He is always trying to do something outrageous. Your safety is the main concern here. You could tell him that you are sick. I am sure that he would understand." said Peter as she tried to comfort her.
Peter half hoped that Harry would never show up. He was just bad news. He did not want her getting mixed up in his life. First, he witnessed a demonic transformation in his father and his spider sense goes all mad when he sees him. He was bad news and complication with MJ with his blood in her was another thing completely. He had to think it through. He had to see that. Peter pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and dialled in Gwen's number asking her to meet him.
He could not leave MJ here all alone, lest she tries something stupid. He had to be with her. This was crucial.
Gwen came running to meet the two of them. MJ gave Gwen a weak smile before she almost fell on the floor. Gwen rushed to her side as she put her arms around MJ protectively as Peter supported the other side of her. She felt her forehead.
"Peter, it looks like she has fever. A high one I should say. It's a wonder how come is still managing to speak right now. And how exactly it caught up to her. She was a fine moments ago in the trigonometry class. What is going on with her?" Gwen was as confused as ever trying to identify her condition.
Peter looked at her.
"Not now." He mouthed the words at her carefully so that MJ could not hear him.
"Ok, I help her up and take her home. Gwen, could you go up and file for her condition that she would be on leave?" Peter suggested.
Gwen walked away quickly to file in the necessary complaints and she looked on at Peter as she nodded at him with approval.
Peter looked at MJ once again and he saw her trying hard to keep her eyes open. She fought on with all the strength she had and she squeaked as she placed a hand on Peter face.
"Peter … Spider – muh ..."
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Peter took her back to her home she was greeted by both their aunts.
There he found Aunt May with Aunt Anna Watson hanging out together having tea and cake. Seeing MJ's weak body, supported by Peter and Gwen, they almost dropped their cups.
"My goodness, what had happened to her?" said Aunt Watson as she ran to her aid. Aunt May came rushing forward behind her. Both of them were scared.
Gwen kept quiet, afraid that she might say something else.
"Nothing. Heat stroke I guess." said Peter weakly trying his best to musk the concern in his voice.
"Heat stroke, during classes, come on you have got to be kidding me. She is a lot tougher than that." remarked Aunt May.
"Or maybe she could be dehydrated. She had a party at Harry's isn't it? Maybe it was something she had taken in." suggested Peter trying to make a straight face as possible.
"OR Maybe, Peter you should have taken her to the hospital. Why did you bring her here? She could be seriously dehydrated." said Aunt May seriously pissed off at him by now. Aunt Watson was already over MJ fussing all over her, clearly not knowing what to do.
"I assure you she is alright. Just a fleeting moment of weakness." said Peter trying his best to sound like he knew what he was actually saying, turning away from her.
"Peter get back here. I don't know what is going on with you lately, but this is not I expected from you. I warm you and get back here when I am speaking to you." Aunt May was already after Peter.
Peter quickly reached for the jug of water and splashed it on her face.
MJ woke with a start, sucking in huge gasps of air as though she has been devoid of fresh air.
"Told you she is fine." said Peter.
Aunt May and Watson looked at him as though he had completely lost it. People knew Peter to be kind hearted and considerate but what he did right then seemed to prove something else.
He was blunt about it and completely insensible. Peter understood that but they were just concerned about her about her health which was alright, they had a right to be concerned about her but little did they know that they had him completely wrong. Peter knew exactly what was going on with her and he was ready to turn himself into a cold steel hearted fellow if needed be. He knew that the world was better off not knowing all about it.
The first time during the course of his transformation when he had experienced the ache in body, the unpleasant tingling sensation in his fingers that felt during the shift in equilibrium and the senses in his mind when everything was all so magnified and well defined. He had a hard time dealing with all of it.
And MJ would probably go through the same thing but for now she was somehow holding up. She seemed fine. Peter wondered how long it would be before it started. She sat straight up and spoke up in a tired voice.
"I think I need some rest. I will be fine." said MJ meekly.
"But my dear, it would be best if we take you to the hospital." said Aunt Watson.
"No … I am fine. Am just feeling a little out of weather. I have not been having much sleep lately and I am fine otherwise, really. Gwen please take me up to my room if my aunt doesn't want me to." said MJ weakly as both of them tried to help her up to her room.
"Are you absolutely sure about this, dear?" asked Aunt Watson a bit suspicious now. She was never cranky when she spoke with her aunt.
"No... That's all." protested MJ diffidently.
"OK, take some rest and then I will take you to the hospital whether you like it or not."
Mary Jane was too weak to protest any more. She gladly took Aunt Watson, May and Gwen's help up to her room.
After tucking her in her bed Aunt May came rushing down stairs with Gwen behind her.
"You and me, we need to talk right now. Come on" said Aunt May as she pulled Peter's arm and practically dragged him to their home.
Gwen gave a small smile to Peter waving at him and gave him the best of luck. She knew that it would be rough for him now.
Aunt May scolded him and told him how immature he was and all other stuff and to make it worse, she grounded him for a week. No contact, not even with Gwen, or no more sneaking up at night in his secret liaisons.
And of course there was this extrimis problem, he soon had to take care of. He could not tell this to his aunt.
Peter slugged his way back to his room and plopped down on his bed with his aunt constantly shouting in the dos and don'ts that he had to do.
Peter looked at himself on the mirror and tried to manage his unkempt hair when something hit him mentally, like an overwhelming tide sweeping through his head. It was all very confused and scarred.
Everything was faded away from his vision fast.
He somehow made it to his bed before falling face down on his blanket.
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Things, thoughts, feelings all of them amplified moved around in his head like a tornado. He felt the same things that he had felt when he first experienced the spider bite. But this time it was a bit different. It seemed as though he was inside someone's head.
Who was it? Who is it?
And worst of all, he could tear himself away from the mind that was not his no matter how hard he tried to. He forced his mind to probe further into the mind he was in. These thoughts were similar once again. He travelled to similar places in the mind that he was on invading. Queens and … hang on … Did he just see himself? Playing and running around with a red headed little freckled face child. Torturous childhood days with her dad, sunny days with himself, fighting over petty things, the marvellous skyline of Philadelphia, meeting with Gwen and the fun nights with Harry and the most difficult and disturbing.
And then the scenery changed to somewhat modern. It was like taking a peek into what the future would be like. Everything modernised, cars, gadgets, buildings, people and also their dressing sense. They seemed broken to him, specks of a large memory the broken fragments of the day where she went with Peter hand in hand, her face was shadowed over, it was not clear … somewhere in the distant future … somewhere seemed so far yet so near. Made no sense to him.
Peter further probed and then he realised what he was seeing.
It was Mary Jane. He was in Mary Jane's head, he was in her consciousness. There was like this weird thread, a shadowy web that seemed to connect all his thoughts with hers and then his experiences, her quirkiness, her happy playful days and there was a foreign conscious creeping in his mind.
Peter could feel his anguish all over again, like someone was invading his conscience the day when he lost his Uncle Ben. The same anguish that MJ felt when her own father ill-treated her, all were one. Connected through the same pain. Like a single hemisphere of two sad but yet surprisingly potent minds.
Have their minds somehow linked together psychologically?
The terrifying scream … a dream that he never expected to stay in his head for this long … of Gwen, falling as though he tried to reach for her and she kept slipping between his fingers and she simply let go off him as though knowing nothing was ever going to come out of it.
There was darkness, an onyx planet, there was nothing this dark that was overloaded with hatred and malice.
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He woke up to find MJ sitting beside him. Peter could feel his head solid like a rock, like a very bad hangover. And for some reason, he did actually what is was like to have a bad hang over not that he actually ever had one but he felt that he knew the feeling or he could relate it to as though he really felt it.
He found MJ sitting beside his bed.
"Peter. We have to talk." began MJ silently.
"Yep, I believe we do." said Peter. He groaned as he rose up from his bed.
Things were pretty clear to him now. MJ seemed stable now. If Mary Jane wanted to speak to him, it could be only one thing and Peter was ready for it. He knew MJ had seen the same things that he did. The same experience he had in her as she had in him.
"Peter you are him. You are the one, the web slinger." She almost looked at him a bit shocked, a bit surprised and a bit scared.
"What … What are you talking about? You sure about it?" said Peter thinking of trying to play it a little for a little while.
"Come on. I had been pretty confused in the beginning. You had the sinking feeling too right, it was like I was in your head, all those thoughts, all your childhood, all your experiences, compiled and summed up in a most exquisite way that I had never imagined it to be. The spider bite at Oscorp and your in evident crush for Gwen. uugh… that was particularly gross but you were him all along, the dork who surpassed them all. You were the one who bashed up the hideous lizard that terrorised this city. You were there when things went south in that zombie case right. And you were the one who went with me there when …" MJ trailed off,
"Ooh.. ooh Oh my god." exclaimed MJ.
"I was dead and yet I survived, it was all your blood. That is why I have been having this funny feeling lately. It all makes perfect sense to me now. ooh .. What was that? Why is the honking so loud? Was that the kettle, its tearing my head apart, make it stop. Please make it stop." MJ clutched her head like she was hurting bad. She was clearly over her head. She had the same traits that he possessed, the spider sense, acute senses that was all she was showing right now.
"Peter make it stop. Peter make it go away, I can't, there is danger everywhere ... There are open electric sockets, possibility of getting electrocuted, you might accidentally knock that cup of tea by the table and that is hot enough to burn anyone at least a first degree burn and that lady she is sad, her little boy is nowhere to be seen. What is all this?" MJ was crying hysterically. She was completely over whelmed. Her eyes were sad. She was scared out of her wits.
"MJ just stay right there just try to concentrate on my.."
"What? Why are you shouting, there is too much going on, why can't the people be just quiet why are they shouting."
MJ had already started a racket and Peter would be in major trouble. His aunt would come in any moment and if she heard her scream and it would be bad.
This is not happening, you are screwed up.
"What who said that? Shut up. I am not screwed up." screamed MJ at the top of her lungs.
Peter was stunned.
Did she just read my mind?
"Speak of whose mind." MJ looked at him tearfully.
Peter realised what it was all about. They were somehow linked, now that both of them had a common DNA. He had to make her learn how to help her, control her overwhelmed senses. Peter spoke to her, invoked her, tried to calm her down by accessing her most calm memories and the only memory he could ever find of her was with himself. And so he concentrated on them inside her head.
The way they ran around each other below the sun kissed earth, the lilies and daffodils, swaying with the wind. Peter concentrated on that a lot, hung on to that till he almost started to sweat in exhaustion when her loud crying was no more than a few hiccups and chocking sounds that she now made.
Peter now slowly spoke to her.
"Hi MJ."
"OOOOO. Who was that?" She was almost on the verge of crying again hearing a voice that he knew so well was Peter's but when she looked at Peter and Peter mouth was not open nor was he making any lip movement, other than gazing into her steadily. She was scared further more.
Peter knew that this was not the way. It was not the way he could help her. He had to try a more personal approach.
Peter went near her placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke to her in her mind.
"MJ, everything is fine. This is not what it seems. I will help you control you all of these. Let me help you"
Peter forced his memories, the first time when he learnt to control his senses, the first time when he had them like cold water pouring over his brain, everything were so well defined for the first time, what he had been missing for so long, when he saw it for the first time. And imparting the same his experiences unto her, like a child seeing the world for the first time. Her eyes shone with terror and transfixion that she had never seen, the way he saw things, his senses, how he controlled them, his ability to stick to walls, and everything he had experienced, something that could be so ghastly yet be intangible at the same time.
And when it was all over, she sat down silently, staring back into Peter's caramel brown eyes, panting a little.
She suddenly got up and hugged him hard, like he was going to leave her.
None of that mattered anyway, Peter could feel the pain, her emotions as he tried to sooth them, make her see the reason. Most of the time they remained quiet, like mental therapy, pouring their thoughts in each other.
"So you are him, and there I would have the same things like you do, right? Like your strength, jumping and the sense, you call it a spider sense right?"
"Yes, you should have those and I am not sure if you might even have them because I know that your sense is a bit different than mine. Your sense is stronger than mine. I can sense it. Your sense probably extends a few blocks if I am not mistaken but mine goes as far as a few rooms at the most."
"Nice, and thank you Peter truth be told, now that I am able to control it. You helped me out."
"Yeah what are friends for."
"Hey, what do you think I can really do?"
"I can't say anything more, you have to seek it for yourself."
"And you are going to help me." said MJ cheerfully aloud almost startling him.
"And how do you propose we do that?" said Peter out loud.
MJ looked at her wrists, scratching it absent-mindedly like an itch, a rash. She looked at it and then turned to Peter.
"And Peter, what is this? This has been messing with me for quite some time." said MJ as she turned her wrists over inspecting them, Peter came near her when he saw the red slightly swollen area that had small holes in it, like small spinnerets, that had started to develop on her wrists like small holes, pores. Something was oozing out of it.
MJ touched it. It was sticky. She pinched the area and attempted to pull it away from her hand. The thing was long sticky, transparent mucous, a small web line that extended from her wrists like it was a part of her. MJ was shocked and Peter was vivified.
"Oh, now she has her own web now." stuttered a stunned Peter.
"Oh yes, my dear I do then, isn't it awesome, we could check it out? What do you say?" said MJ with enthusiasm.
"We could I guess could. I know that place near my apartment, we could do our try outs there as much as we like. And best of all it is completely secluded."
"We have got to figure it out how this thing works exactly. And we can swing side by side and fight crime." MJ spoke up with spirit.
"Well, don't get too excited now. But yep, let's do it." agreed Peter.
Peter and MJ sneaked out and jumped out of his window in to the garden that had not been tendered for weeks. Weed and unwanted plants grew all over the garden and the hedge was completely overgrown. It was not at all trimmed to shape and it was something that his aunt asked him to do a long time ago.
It was already dark and the evening sun had a strange magenta orange hue in tin the sky. It was inky in certain places like patches.
"Let me see what you have got now, try to keep up with me." Spoke Peter in her mind as he leaped forward and started to sprint along alleyways.
"Hey, wait up …. Oh yes, don't wait for me. Lets see what I really do have" said MJ accepting the challenge.
Peter ran quickly and he slowly pushed his consciousness inside MJ. He could see himself in her as she jumped forward and ran forward with all her strength. She caught up to him easily after a few seconds and was already at par with him.
She looked at him grinning madly at him.
"Well, I guess that means I can run as fast as you do."
"Nice, now try this." said Peter as he leaped on a building started to crawl quickly on it like that of a lizard.
MJ was still down staring at him when he felt the equilibrium in her shift as she tried to access the experiences that he had already fed her.
She leapt up the wall and almost caught up with Peter with a single leap.
It seemed that she had the same ability like him to achieve a sense of perfect equilibrium in any position imaginable. He could adjust his position by instinct which enabled him to balance himself on virtually any surface or any object no matter how small or how narrow it was.
"Nice, so you have webs and strength and crawl on walls like me too."
"Yep, OH MY GOD. This is fun. All these senses and I wonder why you stay such a dork all the time. You could been a so famous in our schools that people would be all over you. You could have been their hero or a budding stud."
"I know but I know that it is not right." countered Peter.
"Come on, now, don't be a pussy."
Peter helped her see the reason what he wanted, why he was so quiet and why he never indulged in activities that could have made him the coolest kid in his school. Why did he not choose to do it?
Everything, for the death of his uncle, how lives could really be at stake, if he would showed off, and of course the thought that was unbreakable in his mind, like a tombstone, a foundation so strong that could never be bent or broken even if he wanted to.
"With great Power, comes great responsibility."
He could never forget this, this was what his Uncle Ben wanted him to realise before he passed away and for that he was grateful, of all that was worth.
MJ understood him, why he remained the way he was. Why he never succumbed to the merits and the strengths that he had.
"Race you ahead, MJ" Peter ran forward catching her completely off guard.
"OH you are so on."
MJ followed Peter as he leaped from one building to the other. She did a pretty good job in following Peter as he leaped, and dodged obstacles and stayed away from the street lights. MJ followed him following and leaping like a kangaroo.
He turned around to check on MJ.
He did not find her anywhere. He did not see her anywhere.
Peter stopped and reached for her mind.
"MJ where are you?"
"Why? I am near you? You can't see me? There now I am standing, right near you, four eyes"
"Oh come on, this is not funny MJ. Come on out wherever you are." Peter spoke out loud.
"Hey I am right here. I am not joking." MJ's voice sounded surprisingly near him as though she just a few feet away from him.
Peter was spooked out. He groped around in the air absent minded as though she was there somewhere near him.
"MJ this is very dirty. Come on now, I am not liking this. Come out now. I can't even sense you." said Peter a little scared.
Then he felt a soft pair of hands holding his hand.
But Peter was looking at the empty air. He could feel something, a presence lingering near him but he could not see it.
And then Peter almost screamed.
Out of the thin air, MJ materialised out as though she had been there standing there, near him all along.
"What? That was really not funny?" said MJ rather drawn aback completely oblivious to the fact that she had actually not been there.
"Well I should be the saying that to you, MJ. You were invisible."
"What? I am invisible."
MJ looked at her hands. She could see her hands and then then slowly her hands were clouded, milky before they slowly become transparent and then disappeared thin into the air.
"Whoa … I am invisible." exclaimed MJ.
There was a small puddle of water beside her feet. There were occasional ripples over the surface as one of her foot touched the edge of the puddle. She could no longer see herself on the clear water of the water. She really was invisible.
Peter was a bit concerned about her. She was invisible and she could no longer control herself, all these sudden power development was a bit and the most of what intrigued him was her range of powers. They were way different than him. As though the spider DNA had a completely different way of expressing itself in MJ body, like a DNA that everybody has a unique printing ability, making him realise that she needs to be careful. God knows what she might develop now.
She might have hoards of abilities that were latent inside her now and now she had started to develop them all of a sudden. Almost like tampering the frequency of a radio, Peter had a different frequency and MJ's was different, way different. And he knew that there was no one better than himself and he could really help her harness all of them.
They had reached the place where Peter thought he could help her, use her own biological webbing, to blend in the shadows which she already excelled at, be silent, show her the perks of having them, how to use them to her own advantage. And she of course was in a more advantageous position in terms of her unique skillset. And that itself spoke out for her. And that itself paved a way for her ingenuity, how different she was from Peter.
They reached the site that Peter promised her. A place where he could help her train, harness her abilities. It was an old dilapidated warehouse, almost on the verge of complete breakdown encased them as they stepped into the cracked linoleum. There were steel linked chains that hung from the air attached to rungs that were fixed to the ceilings. AT the centre there was a dim incandescent bulb that tried its best to illuminate to extremely large warehouse eating away the darkness everywhere. And almost half of the place there lay an intricate system of pipes that were all over each other with small gaps in the middle. It was impossible for a normal human to get through the series of pipes without getting hurt as all of them had nasty jagged ends all throughout its length.
Over all the entire place was dusty, the distinctive odour of rusty nails and the squeaking of rats were distinct, cobwebs hung from the ceiling at small dark corners where no human could possibly think of looking. The entire warehouse was sun deprived and hence a musty smell hung in the room.
"Oh this is some place you have got." spoke MJ out aloud, her voice echoing through the four dilapidated room. She cringed her nose at the unpleasant smell that hung around in the air.
"This is the place where I first came when it first started for me." said Peter as he looked around. The old memories came flooding inside his head. The old skateboard which lay broken on an old had worn down table. And on the table lay a few buckets of dried paint that almost looked like tar now.
"It has really been so long. I can't remember the last time I came here", thought Peter
"Oh, has it has really been so long?" MJ's thought in his mind almost scaring the crap out of him again.
"Jesus, MJ…" said Peter rolling his eyes at her. He had to get used to the fact that both of their heads were connected.
"Twice in a row now hasn't it." said MJ cheerfully.
"Okay, now we need to concentrate on the facts at hand. I will help you learn to use these abilities of yours." spoke out Peter.
"You are boring. Let us just play a game. I have borrowed all your experiences. So I don't think we need any introductions on what I can actually do. Let us see who wins in a race." said MJ with a challenging voice.
"A race? A race through the pipeline network. You are sure, you are up for it?" said Peter his thoughts were a bit conflicting should anything happen to her. He had already been grounded and he didn't want another set of rules to his already existing ones.
"Oh, Pete. Always a pussy, always a pussy. As if I would wait for you." so saying MJ suddenly took off. She sprinted forward with ferocity.
Peter took off behind her heels. She ran with an alarming speed but soon Peter caught up to her as she made her way through the intricate pipeline network. She leapt through it without a slightest hint of hesitation.
Peter, himself was impressed at her confidence.
Even though she shared all the same experiences as Peter, still she seemed to be more amble bodied than him.
He leaped into the pipeline mess attempting to follow her. Peter went into the mess ducking and jumping with ease, using his hands to haul himself through the old pipes that now bend under his weight.
And further ahead in the front he saw MJ swinging on forward like a lithe monkey with a precision and vigour. Peter tapped in her consciousness as he kept following her. She was leaping jumping like she had been doing this for so long and the happiness in her head was like spring season, warm and fuzzy.
Peter smiled and he saw her laughing and leaping like a small little girl as though she has been promised a candy. Peter followed as she leaped through the last pipe.
Peter completed the pipeline maze and found MJ elated and snickering.
"I won, web head. You should be ashamed of yourself. I just beat the Amazing Spider man at his own race."
"MJ that was cheating all the way. You used my memories as shortcuts to get past me and that was no way fair." defended Peter.
"I don't care … and this was way too awesome. You have been enjoying this for years, haven't you?" said MJ as she neared him attempting to say something funny and embarrassing.
"NO things have been more than complicated than that. I …" countered Peter.
"Wait Peter … you hear that?" spoke up MJ suddenly. Her eyes were suddenly wide open in concentration.
"What?" Peter accessed her head, her spider sense that picked up the anomaly that he could never have picked up.
Somewhere a few blocks ahead, there was a woman screaming, the scene was hazy, there was an infected. A rogue infected who seemed to have separated from the pack and now thriving on its own. It hissed at her loudly. The infected had square broken blackened teeth, one of its eyes missing. It took a step at her and the woman screamed and took off running. The infected followed her, mad with hunger and untamed rage. It was obvious what the result would turn out to be. She would be torn apart by the infected unless they intervened on time.
"Pete, we have to go save her. And it was one of them wasn't it? The one who put me in the hospital?" enquired MJ.
Peter didn't have to say anything to her. She probed in his mind and the scene came to life when she had been hurt when she almost died.
"What is all this? You told me that there was an accident. A car accident. There was no accident was it?" MJ probed further into his mind where she now found out everything. Peter tried his best to conceal the incident in his mind by putting as many barriers as he could but her mind invaded everything ferociously, he fell down on his knees clutching his hair to hold the immense pain that erupted in his head. The entire incident played again on his head like watching a bad motion picture.
Everything from the freaking kung Fu ninjitsu master, the freaky creatures, how she survived, the SHIELD aircraft materialising thin from the clouds. The turmoil of emotions that Peter had to go through when she was in intensive care, all the agents, the secret base, the zombie fight, how much Peter cared for her and then how he spent some time near her, held her hands pleading with all his strength for her to wake up from the slumber that she was on. Everything that Peter thought of keeping it a secret was no more constrained. She knew everything now. Why all the agents keep their existence a secret. It was all for the greater good.
The pain in Peter's head subsided as she let go of his consciousness gently now, like a gust of sweet wind that was beautiful to Peter, that he was almost thankful. Peter looked up at her, half expecting her to run away and shout at him, but she stood right there with silent tears in her eyes. Peter got up slowly as he looked at her.
MJ was sorry for the way she behaved, there was no telling required, and she knew why Peter had to go at great lengths at keeping his secret. He cared for her like any brother would, a selfless doting love that he had over her.
Before MJ could say anything, Peter spoke up.
"We have to help her. The woman does not have much time." Peter spoke to her sincerely without letting himself to succumb to any of the emotions that he had going through within him
MJ nodded at her silently as the two of them left the warehouse and disappeared in to the black night.
Peter did not have his costume on and so he had to do something to about it.
But fortunately, he had his web blasters on him and quickly strapped them to his wrists and offered to carry MJ. She did not like that, true she had her own webbing and she wanted to use that. But there was enough time to do that. Now they had to save the woman who had her life lined up if they did not reach her in time.
MJ put her arms around Peter and hoped on Peter's back as he steadied himself. Peter leaped off into the air and shot at web line to a nearby building as he moved like a black hulking silhouette into the cool moonless night.
Peter locked his conscience onto MJ as he tried to follow her using her sense as a radar.
Peter followed her senses as he swiftly travelled to the destination. It was almost half a kilometre away. Her senses were really strong enough to sense a threat that was this far away.
Then MJ spoke on Peter's ear.
"I see her, she is down below."
True to her word, there she was running wildly and the infected almost catching up to her.
Peter let go of his web as the two of them fell down head first.
Then all of a sudden, MJ shot a web from her wrist. It responded to her like moving her finger or twirling them, as though it had been in her all this time.
Peter could sense her gasp with excitement at being finally being able to shoot webs. Peter smiled at her and she at him.
"We need a disguise and since you don't have yours … We could try this." MJ spoke to Peter in his mind.
"What? A new idea?"
MJ shot a web that covered her face completely leaving sufficient gap for her nose, red hair, mouth and hair. She did the same for Peter leaving his arms chest and legs intact as she did for herself. Like a silver spider outfit that was snuck and comfortable. There was no way anyway could recognise them.
Peter felt for his face as he kept falling down.
"Nice. A perfect cover." said Peter to her in her mind.
The two of them now were just a few feet away from the ground when Peter twirled in the mid-air and rolled on the ground to absorb the severe impact that would have been to his body.
Easy.
Peter turned around to look for MJ. She did the same but she was a bit shaken. Obviously the impact had done more damage to her than she expected it to. Her mouth was distorted, a slight frown upon her lips as her body struggled to absorb the impact.
Soon that discomfort in her subsided and she looked at Peter once again. She looked at her and nodded at him.
She was all right. Peter heaved a sigh of relief.
She was weaker than him physically. She could have a hoard of extra strengths and abilities than him. Her precognitive sense was way enhanced than his, the invisibility cloaking technique was unique and she could possibly be more resilient than him because the way she moved between those pipelines was a sight to behold. Like a pro ballet dancer. It looked like she was literally swaying with the wind, as if her body become one with the surrounding, like the surrounding was a part of her. This was another perk that she had. She could possibly be more agile than him but she was not as strong as him although she could be stronger than even the strongest human there was. And he was sure of that now.
Her only weakness.
She had to look out for her. This would be her first maiden take down as a vigilante.
The woman was in front of them was screaming and crying hysterically. Almost tripping on her way she ran forward at Peter and Mary Jane who were beyond recognition, MJ's web providing a very effective shroud.
"Pete take care of the lady. He is mine." hissed MJ before she took off before she could say anything else.
Peter quickly held the lady firm in his arms, right before she tripped to avoid having a bad fall. She fainted right in Peter's arm rendering him helpless. MJ was way ahead of Peter and there was no way he could aid her, not in this state. She was in a fervent state.
She leapt and ran like an antelope. She was confident enough, confident that she would tear the man apart. She wanted revenge, a score to settle from the previous time when she faced them. They broke her, disabled her and she wanted to do the same to them.
"MJ, please remember that they were humans beneath this monstrous façade, Please keep that in mind before you try to do anything harsh. They have been turned against their will and this would be good if you do something harsh to him"
"What? Now you are supporting him?" cried MJ as she ran forward as she tried to figure the most gruesome way to bash him up.
"MJ I know you have every right to get back at him. And I would never know the pain that you had to go through but remember the greater good here. What I have been trying to achieve, no matter people might hate me but that has never made me falter from my way, my path, although I found it extremely difficult sometimes. Forge your own path of your own understanding and I know that somewhere deep inside you will always try to do the best and the right thing."
Peter saw her now face to face with the infected. Peter entered inside MJ's mind, sliding in her consciousness ever so slightly that she would never ever notice his invasion in her mind.
Mind you, it was not exactly invading but at least it would give him some consolation. She was facing an opponent that was not human. True she had pulled up all his experiences from him but fighting but then again, it was person to person and was a completely different was altogether.
Peter was in MJ's eyes seeing the foe as he would see as though he was fighting it but thorough someone else's mind even though he was in no control of the body that he was in.
There were serious hissing and spitting made by the infected severely pissed off about missing his dinner. It lunged at her and then it started for MJ.
Peter felt it. All her senses strengthened and powerful without any weakness, like something that had never felt before.
It was amazing.
It was exhilarating.
He saw her ducking neatly as the infected flew overhead her.
She took all her sweet time and threw a punch with everything she had into his stomach. There was a sickening crunch as the intestines and other vital organs churned and lurched under her knuckles. He screeched and screamed. The howling was a stronger than the most irritation alarm tone that could have ever been discovered. He flew straight up into the atmosphere.
By the time the infected was on his way down in to the asphalt, MJ looked at it giving it a very dirty look.
"You messed up with the wrong gal, pal" said MJ viciously.
The infected was screaming and its expression was something that he had never seen before.
Was he scared? Well this would be the first one that was scared or was it MJ? Did she do something that scared it?
MJ scared the infected with a single blow.
She was a hard candy, Peter had to accept it and then something amazing happened. Something gruesome, yet extremely deadly.
Where MJ's fingers had once been, there were claws now, webbing flowed from her wrists and accumulated on her finger tips turning it into something solid and sharp. Long fingernail claws that shone with whatever meagre light the place had. She bent pulled her hand back balling her right fist and waited for the right moment.
"No MJ no. Don't do it" screamed Peter in her head but it was way too late. It was done. Her hand flashed forward like lightning, like a long sniper bullet ready to strike its target, and then the impact. It was like plunging her hands in hands in water, so smooth was the impact, there was a tiny puncture mark where her hand had made contact.
The infected fell down unmoving and still. Its eyes completely rolled over and its tongue dangling from the corner of its mouth, yellow gooey stuff along with saliva was dripping from the corner of his mouth.
"You killed him didn't you?" asked Peter a bit disappointed that she had killed although he knew that she had done the right thing according to her but self-control here was the key.
MJ could hear the faint pulse throbbing on its neck. He was not dead, that was for sure.
And then it dawned upon Peter.
Okay then she did not kill the infected nor did she severely beat him up. And of course her last stupefying punch was one of a kind.
Was it some kind of a knock-out punch? A sting?
The way her fingers turned into claw like fangs. That was something very uncanny and unbecoming. Something strange and sinister. Something that he had never seen before - a venom sting punch?
Peter already knew about the various pressure points of a human and none of the points were the ones that MJ hit at. He knew that MJ did not take in information about the human physiology and certainly not about pressure points. Or else he would have felt it. He was certain about it.
A complete mystery.
A punch that could be the most graceful of all punches, the effective of all, packing enough power to knock the infected out.
Or was it a different technique. No it could not be a technique.
If not a technique then what was it?
A life force attack. An impact energy wave where all her strength would be concentrated at a single point or a poison sting so potent that it could knock an infected.
MJ finished him in just two blows.
Fast, agile, lithe, strong and God knows what techniques and powers she has had manifested in her body. A complete wild card, like combining all the qualities of a spider and adding a few extra more. MJ came rushing back to Peter.
"Did you see that? I kicked his ass." said MJ all giddied up.
"Wow, I am impressed. You were better than me I think." said Peter looking at her. This was the first time the two of them looked at each other in the webbed mask façade.
"Uugh …Peter you look like a serial killer, you webbed mask suits better on you. Let me get that for you" said MJ as she tore off the web that covered Peter's face
"Yup much better" said MJ as she help Peter tear off the remaining web of his body. And as for MJ all the web fell off her body like they only abided her likes and dislikes.
Peter had nothing to say. This had taken an interesting turn in events.
MJ displayed superior strengths than Peter and not to say that she had a series of her new found powers. Peter had never thoughts of such abilities like hers to have been manifested and that to a girl like MJ. Was it a coincidence? Was it something else? All these events was it a part of something big? Would it culminate into something extraordinary? Did fate have something have something in store for all of them? They were all about to find out.
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Hope I have been able to satisfy you. MJ would have powers and as you have guessed the difference in her powers would be like a body operating on different frequencies.
I got that idea from the manga One Piece. The part where Chopper invents the rumble ball that it alters the frequency of his devil fruit powers. I hope I have made everything sensible to you. And I have tried to match the powers of MJ with Silk (Cindy Moon) and a bit of the modern spiderman.
If I get anything wrong please feel free to mention it. PM or post a review.
And as for Gwen she would do something big I assure you but not right now. Her time would come.