In this chapter, we're going to start to see what kind of powers Mary Jane has...you probably get the picture already. As I said, she will have many of the powers Spiderman does...incidentally, she also has the same weakness to pesticides, which for that very reason Spider Slayers use. Maybe she'll encounter a Bee Slayer one day.
Don't expect her to be as stealthy as Spiderman though...unlike spiders, bees are not particularly stealthy. They had to come up with a different way to protect themselves from predators...but since it's rather effective Mary Jane won't be up a creek without a paddle.
Chapter 2: Gaining Superpowers
After waking up from her nap, Mary Jane was feeling rather different. On the plus side, her bee sting seemed to have healed completely.
Not only that, but she was no longer feeling dizzy. She was feeling much better in fact. She even felt like a whole new person.
However, she got the feeling that her life was about to change forever. Since her father had decided to move her family in the past, she figured maybe that was it.
And yet, she got the feeling that they weren't moving this time...though she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe her father actually liked it here? He didn't seem to be complaining this time around.
The first thing that she noticed was unusual was that her eyesight seemed to be enhanced. Though unlike Peter she did not wear glasses, she noticed that she seemed to be seeing everything around her quite clearly.
Personally she was starting to feel like a bird of prey...which as she knew had very good eyesight to help them spot prey...and perhaps spot predators as well. Those cats of prey had surprisingly good leaping abilities, even if they could fly away from them.
Shrugging, she decided that it was time to go to school once again. She didn't want her friends to think that she was playing hooky.
Immediately, she boarded the school bus and sat down.
Unfortunately, her archnemesis Kylie Carrie was on the bus as well. She had long, black hair and like Mary Jane happened to be rather popular, and tended to put on purple lipstick. She also happened to have purple eyes. Unllke Mary Jane however, she tended to let this popularity go to her head. Apparently she was quite spoiled.
"Nice to see you again, Mary Jane! Not!" bellowed Kylie. She would love nothing more than to see Mary Jane cry...and would go to quite a few means to do it, even if they had been unsuccessful so far.
Mary Jane rolled her eyes. It was a shame that they couldn't simply get along. One time she had even tried covering her with pig's blood. It had hit her boyfriend on the head instead and he suffered a head concussion. Fortunately, she had not been covered with the blood herself. She was surprised how mean that she could be sometimes.
Every now and then she would start a rumor about someone that she disliked...thankfully, nobody tended to believe the rumors that she had stated about Mary Jane...not her friends anyway. She was still as popular as ever.
However, as soon as the bus started, she noticed that the bus appeared to be moving rather slowly.
"Since when does it move this slow?" asked Mary Jane.
Still, she wondered maybe if it was just her imagination. Nobody else on the bus was complaining...and there were a lot of people on the bus, no less.
Perhaps she was just being impatient?
In just a few minutes, the bus arrived on the school...so perhaps she was.
But for some strange reason, she got the feeling that maybe she should have just walked to school. It didn't seem like that much of a trip to be honest with her.
Immediately, she went to greet her friend Peter Parker. Personally she did not mind when he was still wearing glasses...though admittedly he did look handsome without them.
"Hello, Peter." said Mary Jane.
"Hey, Mary Jane! How are you doing!" exclaimed Peter.
"Pretty good, Peter. I got a job at Oscorp..." stated the teenage girl.
"I'm still working at the Daily Bugle..." answered the teenage boy. Personally he wished that Jonah Jameson would treat his alter ego with respect already. But at least he seemed to treat him with respect whenever they talked. Maybe he would stick around and take pictures of Spiderman a little longer, even if he knew what they were going to be used for.
Realizing that she needed to get her school supplies, Mary Jane decided to go to her locker and get her things.
However, when she went to open her locker, she accidentally ripped it off completely.
"What the-" exclaimed Mary Jane.
Personally she wondered what had just happened. Maybe the locker had gotten rusty? Or maybe someone had punched it one time too many.
Still, it was very unusual.
This in fact made Mary Jane rather worried. She didn't want her teachers to get mad at her for allegedly committing an act of vandalism.
How was she going to fix it?
Suddenly, she noticed that there appeared to be a strange substance oozing from her hands.
"Wait a minute...this is honey!" exclaimed Mary Jane.
Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, she decided to put her hand in the mouth and consume it. It was rather delicious.
Yet at the same time, it appeared to be rather sticky.
Shrugging, she decided to use it to see if she could repair her locker that way. As it turned out, she was right on the money.
"This honey is awfully sticky..." noted the teenage girl. Why exactly was it coming from her hands?
Well, it looked like she was off to class.
Oddly enough, everything appeared to be in slow motion in there, much like the school bus seemingly was. Apparently there was something up with her reflexes.
"Am I dreaming?" asked Mary Jane.
Still, the clock appeared to be operating like normal, as the class was over after forty-five minutes.
"I still can't believe how slow class is today..." stated the teenage girl.
A few hours later, she noticed her boyfriend Eugene was up to his old tricks again.
This time, he was giving a nerd a wedgie.
"Heh heh heh..." laughed Flash.
"Hey, Flash...I think that you need to be nicer to those who are smaller than you..." said Mary Jane.
"But it's fun!" exclaimed the jock.
"I don't think it's fun for those who are smaller than you..." stated the teenage girl.
"Fine! I'll stop...until tomorrow." said Flash.
"Thank you!" exclaimed Mary Jane.
Immediately, she gave her boyfriend a hug...
...but a few seconds later, she heard the sound of bones cracking.
"Um..." said Mary Jane.
As it turned out, her boyfriend had passed out on the floor, shocked that his girlfriend would apparently do such a thing.
"What happened?!" screamed the teenage girl. Did this have anything to her accidentally tearing off her locker door?
Fortunately for Eugene "Flash" Thompson, a stretcher appeared to take him to the hospital...so it appeared that he would be alright.
Unfortunately for Mary Jane, she was subsequently called to the principal's office. Apparently they thought that she had become a troublemaker.
Sure enough, there was the principal, who was sitting at his desk.
"I heard a report that you gave your boyfriend a bearhug...did you do so?" asked the principal.
"I didn't mean to...I just wanted to hug him. I have no idea how his bones broke, I swear!" answered Mary Jane.
"Has everything been going alright at school?" inquired the man.
"Yes." nodded the teenage girl.
"And your boyfriend?" asked the principal.
Mary Jane nodded once again.
"Things are alright with my boyfriend and I...though admittedly I did catch him bullying a nerd again..." answered Mary Jane.
"Ah yes...I've been considering suspending him for quite some time now...but since he might be away from school for a while that might not be necessary anymore..." noted the principal.
"Yeah..." stated the teenage girl. Personally she was starting to feel terrible about this.
"I also heard a report that honey was oozing from your locker...I have no idea why..." stated the man.
"I broke my locker, so I tried to fix it..." answered Mary Jane.
"Well, it seemed to have done the trick...but I'm worried that your locker will eventually become foul-smelling..." said the principal.
"About that...honey never goes bad...it has no expiration date..." explained the teenage girl.
"Oh really? Well, I hope you're right." answered the man.
"Am I in trouble?" asked Mary Jane.
"Since you didn't seem to be deliberately doing so...I'll let you off the hook. However, I did decide to tell your parents about both of those things. I figured they would want to know." stated the principal.
"I suppose that seems fair..." answered the teenage girl. However, she was worried that her father would be angry at her again.
As it turned out, he was. He was rather grumpy that he had to miss his favorite TV Show so that he could pick up Mary Jane and take her back home.
"Can we please get home already? I'm sick of waiting..." asked Mary Jane's father.
Mary Jane nodded. Perhaps she should go home before she caused any more accidents.
Unfortunately, as soon as the car started, they realized they had a problem.
"Damn it! There's something wrong with the engine!" bellowed her father. Perhaps he shouldn't trust shady car dealers.
"What's going on?" asked Mary Jane.
"How should I know?" inquired her father.
Sighing, it looked like she was going to have to walk home while her father had to try to repair his engine.
However, much to her surprise, she was able to walk quite quickly. In fact, she got the feeing that she could outrun a car...which much like the bus were going in slow motion.
"Maybe I don't need to ride the bus after all..." noted Mary Jane.
First the superhuman reflexes and super strength...and now the superhuman speed. She was starting to know how Spiderman felt.
And yet, she got the feeling that she didn't obtain these abilities by being bitten by a radioactive spider. She got the feeling that it was something else...but what?
Sure enough, her mother was surprised to see her get back home at foot.
"How'd you get back home without your dad's car?" asked her mother.
"I...walked?" answered Mary Jane.
Her mother scratched her head.
"Do you think your boyfriend will be alright?" asked her mother.
"I hope." stated the teenage girl. She was surprised how strong she had gotten as of late. It was as if she was an Amazon warrior now.
Shrugging, she decided to go outside and relax. All of a sudden, she felt the urge to sniff some flowers, much like her sudden craving for honey earlier.
"Can I go to the park? I need some time to relax..." answered Mary Jane.
Her mother nodded. Fortunately, it appeared that she was rather understanding.
Since she was capable of running extremely fast, it didn't take her long to get there at all.
Shrugging, she decided to sit on a bench. It was nice to get to relax after a rather unusual day at school.
However, someone quickly disturbed her peace.
As it turned out, it was a mugger, who wanted her purse.
"Gimme that!" demanded the mugger.
"But that's my purse..." complained Mary Jane.
"Give me your money!" exclaimed the man.
Immediately, Mary Jane and the mugger got into a game of tug-of-war.
However, it appeared that she was winning spectacularly.
"Why can't I get this purse away from you?" asked the mugger.
"Let's just say that you might have chosen the wrong victim..." answered Mary Jane.
Getting desperate, the mugger tried grabbing her palm...
...but he ended up suffering minor paralysis shortly afterwards, falling on the floor.
"Are you...OK?" asked the teenage girl.
Curious, she decided to examine her palm...
...and gasped in shock.
As it turned out, there was a stinger now attached to it. How had it gotten there?
"What is happening to me?!" screamed Mary Jane.
On the plus side, it appeared that the stinger did not become detached when she stung, and she would not lose internal organs...unlike a regular bee.
Curious, she decided to see if she could retract it...which she could.
"I am so frightened right now..." said Mary Jane. But at least the mugger wouldn't take her purse...in fact, she doubted that an ordinary criminal could.
When she got back home (which only took a few minutes), she discovered that her family was not at home.
Apparently, her mother and sister had gone grocery shopping, and her father was still trying to repair her car.
The former was confirmed when Mary Jane checked the letter that she had left behind.
"So...they're off grocery shopping. I guess I have the house for myself for the time being..." stated Mary Jane.
It was just as well. Mary Jane wanted some time alone after her rather unusual day. She was becoming some sort of freak.
"I honestly don't see how my day can get any weirder than this..." noted the teenage girl.
Suddenly, she heard buzzing coming from the kitchen.
"I've got to stop tempting fate..." answered Mary Jane.
Reluctantly, Mary Jane entered the kitchen...
...and screamed.
As it turned out, there were many bees inside the kitchen, flying around and collecting honey from the pantry.
"I need to call the exterminator pronto!" bellowed the teenage girl. Fortunately, since she was rich, it seemed likely that she would be able to pay him.
However, as soon as she mentioned the exterminator, the bees appeared to be in panic.
"Wait...you can understand what I'm saying?" asked Mary Jane.
One of the bees nodded.
"On second thought, maybe I won't call the exterminator." answered the teenage girl. Perhaps they would leave if she asked nicely.
Sure enough, the bees stopped panicking.
Immediately, they saluted Mary Jane with respect.
"Why are you saluting me, anyway?" asked the teenage girl.
"Buzz buzz buzz!" exclaimed one of the bees.
As it turned out, she could understand what they were trying to tell her as well.
"What? I'm your queen? Now why would I-"
Suddenly, she remembered the bee queen that had stung her yesterday. Apparently, it had been radioactive.
"Things are making a lot more sense now..." stated Mary Jane.
Perhaps this was what was happening now.
"About that...I think that you should leave before my parents come home. They'll probably panic if they see you...maybe you can meet me at the park later?" asked the teenage girl.
The bees nodded, and they all left as quickly as they entered.
"Well, that was easy." noted Mary Jane.
Once again, she decided to lie down in bed. There was no doubt about it now. That bee that had stung her had given her superpowers. So far, she had demonstrated superhuman strength, superhuman speed, and was able to sting those that wanted to harm her.
Still, she had no idea what she was going to do with those new powers.
Perhaps if she saw Spiderman, she could consult him on the matter.
But since she wanted to remain anonymous, she decided that she would wear a cloak.
Perhaps he would be able to help her with her new superpowers...though admittedly hers were not quite the same.
"Off I go." stated Mary Jane, putting on the cloak.
Well, it looks like Mary Jane's gained bee powers. She even has the ability to control bees. And yes, she won't die when she stings...it would be a bit anticlimactic if she did so, am I right?
In the next chapter, Mary Jane's going to meet Spiderman...who will give her some advice. And yes, she will decide to be a superheroine. That's what you want, right? I figured it would be fitting considering how regularly bees sacrifice themselves for their queen. I'm a bit surprised how many bee supervillains there are to be honest.
See ya!