I originally didn't intend on writing this epilogue, but I wanted to both catch up with the characters after a small time jump and reassure myself (and you readers, I suppose) that even with this devastating loss, they'd eventually be fine. Lots of headcanons here, so less canon-adjacent than the one-shot, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
I wrote a bunch of trivia for this fic, so it doesn't fit in the author's notes; I'll post a comment with it in this chapter! You'll find it below the fic :)
Spider-Woman watches on as a Quinjet flies overhead, on approach to Avengers Tower.
"Oh, now they show up." –Danika says, annoyed, leaning on the safety railing of the fire escape outside her apartment. They've just finished the latest episode of their podcast, so MJ's preparing to head out for the nightly patrol.
Theirs is an unlikely friendship – borne of her wanting to clear the air on what really happened during the Symbiote crisis with someone in media who could be trusted, without compromising her secret identity – but Danika has been a surprisingly nice addition to their inner circle. She's shockingly well-connected, has a very robust reach in the city, and while she's easy-going and friendly, her lack of prior history with the Spider team means she's not afraid to call them out if they need an attitude adjustment.
"I hear they were in space. Something about stopping a Kree invasion." –MJ says. Scream within her stirs with something approaching disdain at the mention of the alien race, so MJ assumes the Symbiotes have a history with them, too. Judging by their MO, they must have a history with a lot of races. "At least, that's gonna be the official statement."
The podcaster grumbles. "Sure, fine. Don't they have like, reservists or something, though? What's the point of collecting an army of people with superpowers if none of them are gonna be around when a catastrophe happens?"
"It was probably an 'all hands on deck' kinda situation." –MJ shrugs. "Which, if so, I can very much relate to."
It's been just over three months since the Symbiote crisis – since losing the love of her life, and joining the surviving Spider-Man in protecting the city that Peter so dearly loved. The people are calling her Spider-Woman – no points for originality there, but she appreciates the implicit trust in the name, at least – and though her publicly admitted use of a Symbiote has gained her no shortage of critics, she can feel herself winning people over. She strives to be strong but not cruel, determined without being relentless, and – when Scream does need to make an appearance – terrifying without scaring the wrong people.
She likes to think that Pete's proud of what she's accomplished, wherever he is.
"I guess. I'm still gonna write a petition to my congressperson to at least force S.H.I.E.L.D. to leave a detachment nearby, or something – if we have to live in a borderline surveillance state, they should at least pretend like they actually want to keep people safe." –she huffs.
MJ smirks, under the mask. "Oh, I don't know. I think we do an alright job of picking up the slack." –she says, nonchalant.
Danika tilts her head, conceding the point. "True enough. Even if you do cozy up to the deadliest pile of goo known to man a bit too much for my liking."
As if on cue, the news alert on Danika's phone goes off.
She checks it and snorts, shaking her head, then plays the clip out loud for them both. "Notorious Maggia gangster Silvio Manfredi, better known as the supervillain 'Silvermane', whose penchant for cybernetic enhancement is said to have inspired Hammerhead's recent Sable-tech rampage, was found dead in a Lower East Side warehouse last night." –the news anchor says. "The cyborg mafioso's body was said to be viciously mangled, and though police have yet to make an official statement, the reported presence of black Symbiote material at the scene suggests the perpetrator may, in fact, have been the deadly vigilante known as Venom."
MJ's not exactly surprised – the Maggia are low hanging fruit, criminals with a long, bloody history, few redeemable qualities, and mostly lacking the means to fend off someone as powerful as Venom – but she also can't help the wince that makes the eyes on her mask narrow. "Silvermane, huh? …didn't know he was still active." –she says, tone carefully kept neutral.
"Not anymore, clearly." –Danika scowls. "I feel like I have to ask again: you're really okay with this? Is Spider-Man?"
MJ purses her lips, resisting the urge to roll her eyes – she has asked the question in one form or another quite a few times by now, but she's not wrong to wonder. "He promised not to kill any innocents – I think a powerful Maggia Don, convicted of several murders and assaults, who only evaded life in prison because the law hadn't caught up to cyborgs when he was tried, is squarely out of that category." –MJ argues. "Besides, we still don't know who's under the goo."
It's technically not a lie.
Harry Osborn is dead, so far as the world knows. In the aftermath of the crisis, he was the only Symbiote-possessed 'victim' who 'perished' after Spider-Man, the newly minted female vigilante in red, yellow, and black at his side, and a Mister Negative beginning his path towards redemption, stormed a secret OsCorp lab in the subway system and stole the source of the Symbiote infestation, destroying it at the miraculously functional particle accelerator in the ruins of the Emily-May Foundation, which released some kind of physics-defying, hypersonic energy wave that eradicated all non-sentient Symbiote matter in the city.
Their Symbiotes, of course, survived. Harry and Venom, newly freed of the Hive Mind, knew that Norman would be coming along shortly; unwilling to risk being separated, and needing to strike out on their own and forge their own path, they molded the majority of Venom's biomass into a lifeless facsimile of Harry's body, fleeing the scene, not to be seen for weeks – MJ assumes, while Venom recovered and Harry worked on setting up his new life.
Venom then proceeded to debut as New York's self-described Lethal Protector by brutalizing the few Hunters still in the city, beating them all within an inch of their lives, and ending the Hunter threat for good. It wasn't pretty, but…MJ was kinda surprised by his restraint, what little there was.
The technicality exists on the basis that Harry has neglected to tell her anything about his new identity on the few and brief encounters they've had since. MJ could find out, of course – she'd be a real crappy independent journalist if she couldn't – but as long as Venom manages to stay on the edge of this particular knife, she's willing to look the other way.
Miles isn't quite as convinced, to be honest, but he at least seems to understand, on some level, that there are much greater evils in the world worth focusing on, at least for the moment.
"I don't like it." –Danika says, as she has every other time. "I don't…completely…disagree that some bad guys kinda…need a heavier hand, but I prefer my criminals behind bars and hopefully in the process of rehabilitating into productive members of society."
MJ snorts. "This coming from the girl denouncing the evils of the American justice system every other podcast."
"And I'll continue to do so!" –she says dramatically, holding up a fist in defiance. "But, y'know, there can't be another Lonnie Lincoln or Quentin Beck – or hell, Martin Li – if your much toothier brother in goop keeps 86-ing criminals."
The redhead (whose hair hasn't recuperated, much to her chagrin) nods. "Which is why it's important to keep Venom within arm's reach, so we can make sure he isn't offing anyone who doesn't deserve it. Keep his sights squarely on the Screwballs of the world, y'know?"
Danika clearly wants to argue, but stops herself, wincing. "…man, she really is the worst, isn't she?"
"She makes a complete mockery of the noble art of online entertainment." –MJ says, faux-indignantly.
Peter's homebrew police scanner app crackles to life on her phone – she still hasn't been able to get Scream to integrate with Spider-Man's tech, despite the fact that Venom was clearly able to do so perfectly fine. She's kind of…snooty, for a bundle of alien goop. "10-34: report of shots fired at West 47th and 11th. Suspects bearing Roxxon armor and weapons."
"Roxxon? In the Devil's turf, too?" –MJ mutters. "Someone's looking for a fight."
Danika groans. "Can we seriously not catch a break?" –she grouses. "Listen, I do not endorse gratuitous violence, but...gah, just go beat 'em up already! We do not need those second-rate Stormtroopers to go on a comeback tour."
She laughs, spotting the blue crackle of Spider-Man's evolved Venom power (she's still unsure of why he calls it that, despite the obvious elephant in the room) a few blocks away, already booking it towards the crime scene. "I'll edit the next episode, promise. Don't stay up writing that petition of yours!" –she says, and vaults away.
Spider-Woman soars through the city's skyline as Peter Parker once did, crimson webbing pulling her towards her next adventure. There may come a day when she regrets her choice to partner with Scream, or letting Venom stay as themselves, but she is confident that today is not that day – and she's reasonably certain that tomorrow won't be it, either.
This is her life, now. A life she never expected, or even really wanted, but one that she's proud to carry on in his spirit, nevertheless. Spider-Woman will keep helping people, and Mary Jane Watson will keep fighting for the truth.
For Peter.
I wrote too much trivia, but here you go:
-The Scream Symbiote has a significantly narrower band of sonic frequencies she's harmed by, compared to other Symbiotes - and, in fact, she can shriek at frequencies safely outside that narrow band as her own sonic attack. She's still well within range of Pete and Miles' sonic devices, though, as demonstrated in the fic.
-Pete smiles as he's dying because he sees that his death broke the hold of the Symbiote over MJ, so he dies hoping news of his passing will do the same to Harry. It doesn't quite happen that way - and I don't know whether or not he'd be happy that they kept the Symbiotes - but at least things worked out.
-Miles could read MJ's body language, of course, but he'd also checked on Pete's vital signs through their shared OS beforehand.
-The idea with the Symbiote drones/zombies is that they are pure instinct, barely a step above the Symbiote tendrils/nests, and would eventually evolve into full-fledged Symbiotes. They need constant maintenance from the nests, and have no reasoned thoughts of their own, merely fulfilling their function of kidnapping more people to be turned, defending and expanding the nests, whereas full Symbiotes are self-sufficient (with a host, obviously)
-I'm really bad at describing clothing, but I basically imagine MJ's hero suit as looking very similar to comics Jessica Drew's modern Spider-Woman costume (red torso, black spider design filled in with yellow, black sleeves and knee-high "boots") with red gloves, a full red mask and the big-ass yellow lenses from ATSV's Jessica, and no webbing. As Scream, obviously, she looks the same as she does in-game.
-It's a lot easier for the Symbiotes to just...yeet themselves in the direction they wanna go than try to reproduce the patented Spidey web-swinging, but it's also a lot more unsettling for people. Hence why Scream does her best to try and replicate it, with mixed results.
-Venom genuinely doesn't believe that Peter's dead for the first half of the confrontation. That disbelief does turn into denial, though.
-Venom did leave a small part of itself within Peter when he ripped it out; I don't wanna rob this story of its impact, of course, but in a perfect world that sliver manages to resurrect Peter (maybe with Connors' assistance?) and we have a very strange but happily ever after. Maybe if I ever write in this universe again and people are okay with that!
-I want to make it clear that I have zero love or care for Knull, so when Venom gets possessed (with the spiral symbol and everything), it's just the overriding nature of the Hive Mind at work, not Knull himself getting involved. As Venom says, he's long dead, but his command lingers.
-Scream does not speak because she was technically a newborn when she was traumatically severed from the Hive Mind. She can project images and feelings, but can't communicate verbally. It's half an homage to her Silence comics' incarnation, and me not wanting to write even more dialogue for this fic haha.
-MJ still quit her job at the Bugle and went into the podcasting business - though instead of doing The New Normal, she became co-host of the Danikast. She moved in with Danika, too, because she could no longer afford her own apartment - most of her money goes to repairing May's home, which she inherited from Peter (I bet he was surprisingly good about keeping his will up to date, considering his line of work).
-The Symbiotes are pretty adept at navigating mental simulations like Mister Negative's mindscape, for obvious reasons, which is why Venom and Scream kinda strike out on their own. Miles and Li are actually off reconciling/fighting off Symbiote zombies elsewhere in the mindscape, which the Hive Mind itself has infested it with as a defense mechanism, unbeknownst to Venom. Harry's initial grotesque form being rooted to some goo going into the ground is a hint that, even within Li's turf, Venom's still anchored to the Hive Mind.
-I don't think Harry is fully conscious of what he's doing as Venom - he understands that he's giving everyone a Symbiote, but he doesn't quite get the steps being taken to get there. Thus his confusion when MJ breaks down how bad it's gotten in the basketball court - he's kind of turning a blind eye to the bad stuff in service of fulfilling the 'heal the world' promise.
-In her speech, MJ references, in order, Beast, Wolverine, the Hulk, and Daredevil
-Once again, not to rob the game of its impact, but I actually do hate that they killed off so many villains. So let's say that through some fluke of destiny, Herman's tech somehow restarted his heart and he was barely able to survive after Kraven left him for dead. #LetShockerLive #AndRobBanks
-I actually really like Danika, unlike most people! I find her podcast very pleasant, and I think she'd be a really good friend to have. I do wanna make it clear that I'm not shipping her with MJ - I honestly don't think MJ would date anyone for a very long time, if at all. I debated whether or not she'd know Spider-Woman's identity, but I think she's trustworthy enough.
-You guys are gonna kill me, I'm sure, but the mention of Kree is, in fact a reference to Marvel's Avengers (the game), which I headcanon to be in the same universe as Insomniac Spidey. I know, you need to change a lot of details to make them fit together, but a) their version of Spidey kinda sucked anyway, b) the game has a decently similar visual aesthetic, and c) it kinda explains why the Avengers are never in NYC perfectly - they mostly operate out of their Helicarrier base ever since they reformed, unwilling to put people in danger by living at the Tower.
-I freakin' hate cyborg Hammerhead. This is my attempt at making it make a bit more sense, at least, having Silvermane do the cyborg thing beforehand and inspiring HH to do it when Sable International ditched the city. I doubt Hammerhead has an original thought in that blockhead of his, anyway.
-I imagine Martin Li went right back to prison (I imagine he has a VERY hefty sentence), but he's allowed to use his powers in a very controlled environment to help other inmates process their traumas, hang-ups, etc., hopefully setting them on a better path.
-Also, to clarify, Harry was the only victim of the energy wave that dissipated the Symbiote matter. He was not the only victim of the crisis itself (mostly law enforcement and armed civilians who fought back against the hordes), among which Peter was counted.
-I picked Roxxon as generic baddies that look cool. Don't think too hard about it, I have no plans for another adventure in this 'verse at the moment.
Thank you for reading! If you like what I do, please leave a comment, or feel free to reach out through my ask box on tumblr (darthkvznblogs), it's open to everyone!
I don't have plans to continue writing this universe at the moment, but let me know if you'd like to see more down the line! You never know, haha.
Until next time!