Chapter 14: Sweet Dreams are Made of These
The strange woman's sonic boom had thrown Spider-Man into the air. He landed on his back; the air rushing from his lungs with an audible "ugh!" His body skid across the floor from the extreme power of the sonic boom and it didn't stop until his skull cracked loudly against the steps leading up to the platform where Mary Jane was being held hostage. Images of Uncle Ben's pained face still rushed through his mind and only when the dark veil of unconsciousness threatened to drop over his immobile body did the memory begin to fade away.
A terrible groan escaped his strained lips as he rolled onto his stomach, fighting unconsciousness. Every drop of energy fled from his limbs and he dropped his head down onto the floor.
The dark, blurry place between conscious and unconscious is a cold and lonely place.
'You have to get up'. Spider-Man stared at the cement floor his cheek rested upon. His thoughts commanded movement from his body but his body, tired and broken, could not comply.
The Kingpin's deep, booming voice interrupted Spider-Man's thoughts. "Finish him, Shriek."
'You have to get up.' Uncle Ben's kind voice called out with ringing clarity.
"I can't." Spider-Man whispered, eyes staring blankly at the blurry figure of Shriek as she moved towards him.
'Peter, brush yourself off and stand up.' Uncle Ben's voice surrounded him until it was all he could focus on. 'Peter, why are there bad people in this world?' Uncle Ben's voice commanded, growing louder with each proclamation. 'Why are there bad people in this world?'
"And here I thought you were going to at least put up a fight." Shriek shoved the stiletto heel of her boot into his back until she heard him scream out in agony, but she did not relent; rather, she dug the heel deeper into his flesh.
As consciousness slipped further away from his grasp, the man within the suit remembered a time long ago... Middle school had just gotten out. After waiting thirty minutes for his uncle, Peter Parker began the long walk home. A group of boys, the same age as Peter but twice his size, begin to mercilessly bully him. One large boy yanks the glasses from Peter's face then crushes them under his tennis shoe. When young Peter attempts a meager lunge at the bully in the slightest form of retaliation, the group of boys lunge on top of the boy, kicking and punching his small body.
"Damnit, Shriek!" The Kingpin growled, taking a step towards her. "Stop playing with him and just get it over with already!"
Shriek stared at the overweight man shouting at her from atop the platform and anger flashed in her eyes like lightning before the storm. Sensing her agitation, The Kingpin switched tactics. He spoke again but in a softer voice, "You don't get the heroine until he's dead."
The word "heroine" caused her to melt, eyes widening like that of a child whose parents had just bribed them with the old adage, "You can't have your dessert until you finish your vegetables."
'Well, this is the end.' The young Peter Parker thought to himself as the group of bullies pummeled him into a soupy pulp. As if on cue, he heard his uncle's angry voice above the raucous and one by one, the boys were lifted from his broken body.
"Fine!" She stepped back from Spider-Man's body. She swung her leg back then forward, shoving the toe of her boot deep into his gut.
-OOMPH!-
Spider-Man rolled to his back. He shut his eyes to the black-haired woman looming high above him.
Uncle Ben spoke softly, "Peter, brush yourself off and stand up."
When Peter only cried out and curled up into fetal position, Uncle Ben spoke again. "Peter, why are there bad people in the world?" Wallowing in his self-pity, Peter refused to answer. Uncle Ben continued, "There are bad people in the world because good people failed to stand up to them. You see, son, evil can only win if good people let evil break their spirits. We don't always have to fight evil but we can't let it break us... because that's precisely the moment evil wins."
Shriek stepped over Spider-Man's body, one foot on either side of him. Her left eye began to glow with a blinding golden light. She clapped her hands together and between her palms, a ball of shifting energy began to form.
Ever so gently, Uncle Ben reached down and placed his hand on his young nephew's shoulder. "Peter, are you going to let evil win?"
"...no..." Peter whispered as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Alright then... Brush yourself off and get up."
Life fluttered back into Spider-Man's limbs. His eyelids flew open to see the growing sonic boom between Shriek's hands directly above him.
He had to act quickly.
Shooting out a webline to the rafter high above them, he pulled his broken body from under her and as he lifted himself into the air, he shot out another webline to force Shriek's hands together. Unable to dispel the energy she had created, the sonic boom exploded within her hands. She fell to her knees, holding her bloody face in her hands and moaning in terrible agony.
Dropping back to the floor, Spider-Man stood in front of her trembling body. He straightened his spine then winced and hunched over again, the pain of multiple broken ribs too much for him.
When he spoke, it was not the voice of the man within the suit. Rather, the Spider spoke through him, all vengeance and rage, his voice cold. "I don't know who you are but if I ever see your face again-" He paused, lowering his voice to a menacing level, "I will personally tear you limb from limb, Shriek."
With a few flicks of the wrist, Spider-Man cocooned the trembling villainess in a thick blanket of webbing, securing her to the floor of the warehouse.
Spider-Man whirled around to face the platform. While Shriek did his dirty work, The Kingpin had fled. Although The Kingpin was gone, he had, thankfully, left his hostage behind, still handcuffed to the metal beam.
"Mary Jane!" Spider-Man limped up the stairs as quickly as he could manage. He limped to her then reached behind the beam and gripped her wrists, ripping the handcuffs apart as easily as tearing paper. Released from the handcuffs, she began to fall forward. Spider-Man's quick reflexes allowed him to jump forward and cradle her limp body against him before she could collapse against the floor. "Mary Jane, what's wrong?"
His words began to tremble. He held her at arm's length to search for any wounds. "MJ, talk to me." Why were her eyes closed? Fearful of the worst, he pressed his index and middle finger against the carotid artery in her neck, checking for her pulse. Satisfied by the heavy pulse he felt pulsing through the artery, he dropped his hand.
Shriek began to laugh an ear-piercing, blood curdling laughter. Spider-Man gently laid Mary Jane's body down against the ground.
"Come on, beautiful," Panic caused his hand to shake as he gently patted her warm cheek. "Come back to me. God, please... MJ, come back to me."
"She's sleeping in Dreamland, Spider-Man!" Shriek cackled, "You don't know what I've done to her! She'll never feel peace again and she only has you to thank!" She continued to laugh as though this were the most comical thing anyone had ever spoken. "Death would have been too gentle for your little whore!"
Spider-Man carefully scooped up Mary Jane's body and held her against him. Reaching under his glove, he pressed the transmitter he had built into the side of the web-shooter secured around his wrist. A signal went out, notifying all police officers of the disturbance at his GPS location.
He turned his head towards Shriek one final time, "Enjoy your stay in Ravencroft Asylum, Shriek." Her laughter ended abruptly with the slightest mention of Ravencroft Asylum, the jail specially designed for New York City's most heinous villains. Her lips quivered in fear as he spoke. "The police have been notified and will be here within the next five minutes."
As Shriek began to sob and curse his name, Spider-Man raised his arm towards the broken window he had used to enter the warehouse then shot out a webline and swung himself and Mary Jane through it.
Spider-Man had begun to panic as he swung through the sleepy city towards Mary Jane's apartment, her limp body still held tightly within his grasp.
'She's just unconscious.' He reasoned with himself as he neared her apartment building. He clung to this thought as the thread keeping his sanity stitched together.
"Mary Jane," He pressed his masked cheek against hers, whispering softly, "I'm so sorry."
Spider-Man landed gently on the fire escape outside of Mary Jane's window, careful not to make any noise as to alarm Gwen sleeping in the bedroom next door. One arm still tightly wound around her, he used his other hand to open her bedroom window. He stepped through the window and inside the small bedroom. It was a sparse bedroom with only a lamp, without even a lampshade, and a mattress laid against the wood floor. The lamp was turned on, illuminating the miniscule room.
As he laid her body down onto the single mattress bed, her fingers began to stir and he breathed a blessed sigh of relief.
For a moment, he lingered. She would be waking up any second now but he couldn't tear his gaze from her beautiful face; her rosy cheeks, long dark lashes brushing her warm ivory skin, the halo of tousled windblown red hair framing her slender, delicate face. He kneeled beside her mattress and bowed his head.
"I never meant to cause you so much trouble, MJ." As tears began to fall down his cheeks he pulled the mask from his face. He cried for the loss of Uncle Ben, a wound that never healed, but he also cried for the predicament he had put Mary Jane in. Feebly, he wiped the tears with his closed fist. "I'm cursed. Trouble follows me wherever I go but I swear, I'll do anything in my power to keep you safe."
He stood from her bedside and took a step towards the window. He paused then turned back and kneeled again. Careful not to disturb her, Peter brushed his lips ever so gently across hers. Quickly, he pulled away before his tears spilled upon her cheek. He turned and pulled the mask over his face, crawled through the window and swung off into the night.
Mary Jane
It was nightmare after nightmare... each memory of my father beating the life out of me as a child strung together for me to relive and experience in painful detail.
I couldn't wake up from this nightmare, no matter how hard I tried. I made several attempts to remind myself that this was only a dream but as soon as my father's heavy fist fell against my back, the dream felt more real than anything I'd ever experienced.
But then I heard Spider-Man's voice calling my name. His voice was muffled like he was speaking to me on a phone with a bad connection but as he continued speaking, his voice grew stronger. The nightmares ended and I was left standing in a dark room with only Spider-Man's voice.
"God, please... MJ, come back to me..."
Something strange happened then that made me sure this was only a dream... Spider-Man's voice began to sound like Peter's.
"Mary Jane, I'm so sorry." Peter spoke softly, apologetically, like he had done something wrong. The dark room began to lighten. I felt myself beginning to wake up.
"I never meant to cause you so much trouble, MJ." Peter continued to speak and with each word, the room was illuminated brighter. "I'm cursed. Trouble follows me where I go but I swear, I'll do anything in my power to keep you safe."
The dark room disappeared and I felt myself being pulled back into my body. I tried to wiggle my toes and when they moved, I flung my eyelids open... just in time to feel someone's lips gently touch mine.
Peter pulled back and I immediately closed my eyes again. After a moment, I heard him crawl through the window and onto the metal fire escape. I opened my eyes again and turned towards the window to watch Spider-Man swing away.
I felt nothing, not even the kind of profound confusion I'd expect from witnessing something like that.
I closed my eyes and nestled deeper into the mattress, days upon days of no sleep finally catching up to me.
'Surely,' I told myself as I recalled Peter's kiss and Spider-Man swinging away from the fire escape, 'it was just another dream.'
Author's Note: so, guys, what do you think? :)