In this chapter, Mary Jane is going to encounter Professor Squid. At this point his exploits are on the Daily Bugle. He's been a very naughty scientist. Maybe one day he'll be able to cure his condition...but just maybe.
Incidentally, she just so happens to know Professor Squid's secret identity already. Funny how that works, eh?
Chapter 9: Profession in Evil
Mary Jane was flipping the channels, trying to see if she could find something interesting. Maybe if she was lucky she would see herself or Spiderman on television. Of course, she doubted J. Jonah Jameson would approve of Spiderman being on TV unless it involved him being utterly humiliated by a member of his rogues gallery such as Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus.
She decided to check the news channel. Maybe there was a kitten stuck in a tree and its owner was trying to get it down. Couldn't they simply land on their feet?
What she found was much more alarming...and something that she had grown to expect in New York City.
"Whoa! I better check this out!" exclaimed Mary Jane. This was something that she wanted to hear about. Maybe she should get some popcorn and soda while she was at it...though admittedly she wasn't at the movies.
Maybe one day there would be a movie based on her exploits. Spiderman had several movies these days...though J. Jonah Jameson gave each of them a negative review on Rotten Tomatoes. Admittedly, some were not as good as others...but J. Jonah Jameson despised them all.
As it turned out, there appeared to be a criminal on TV, robbing a laboratory. She was under the impression that criminals in New York City were stealing money instead of science...but she decided that she wasn't going to question that. Those poor scientists were in trouble.
Why exactly did they want to steal from a laboratory though? Were they building a superlaser? If so, it might require her immediate attention. Superweapons + supervillains was not a combination that the world wanted to experience.
She decided to investigate the Daily Bugle for more information. It would be helpful to learn more about the criminal instead of rushing in blindly. That way she wouldn't end up being caught off-guard. You never knew what crazy supervillain you would end up dealing with in her line of work.
Mary Jane realized that she was going to have to go out and save the day once again. People were counting on her to be a superheroine. There appeared to be another supervillain on the loose. Psychotic was not the only one in New York City that was causing trouble, it seemed.
She probably wasn't going to hit retirement anytime soon. Not while there was still crime in New York City. At this rate they were going to have start calling it New Crime City. There seemed to be so many criminals roaming the streets.
Of course, Spiderman would likely know what other supervillains are in the city given that he was rather experienced with dealing with them. Maybe she should ask him if she encountered a supervillain that she hadn't before. However, she got the feeling that she was going to have a rogues gallery of her own sooner or later.
Speaking of which, at least she wasn't living in Gotham City like Batman was. There were criminals everywhere you looked in that city...at least until Batman stepped in. What was wrong with Gotham?
Immediately, she went outside to look for the perpetrator. Someone was about to be brought to justice. After all, that was what she did whenever she wasn't being a normal high school student.
"I might be having calamari tonight..." noted Mary Jane as she examined the newspaper. Apparently, this supervillain had tentacles...really big tentacles in that. He had four of them in all. Unfortunately, although she was part insect, she only had two arms. In other words, the supervillain had four more arms than she did. It might be best not to engage the evildoer in hand-to-hand combat.
Aside from being the supervillain, the criminal in question was also a mad scientist. Perhaps one of his experiments had gone wrong. Or perhaps he was trying to create Frankenstein's Monster.
"Maybe after this I could do some shopping." remarked Honeybee as she donned her outfit. Maybe she could come up with a better costume than the one she had on at the moment.
Apparently, this particular squid man wanted a cure for his condition so that he wouldn't stand out in public. He looked like he belonged in an aquarium rather than out on the streets. Of course, considering that he was a criminal, maybe he SHOULDN'T be allowed to walk out on the streets.
Strangely enough, MJ did not feel the same way. At this point, she had decided that she would be simply be a superheroine and not worry about being different from everyone else.
Little did she know who exactly that squid man was. The newspaper simply referred to him as Professor Squid. Apparently they didn't want to refer to him as Edward Squillium because who would think that he would become a crazy psychopath?
Of course, the same thing had happened to Otto Octavius a few months prior. Why were scientists going crazy around New York City? Maybe they needed to stop experimenting with dangerous chemicals.
Currently, J. Jonah Jameson was whining about how Spiderman was sitting on his butt while Professor Squid was rampaging through the city. Right now he was currently dealing with Doctor Octopus...but J. Jonah Jameson hadn't mentioned that in the Daily Bugle.
Maybe if he simply drank his coffee he wouldn't be so grumpy.
Immediately, Honeybee flew to where Professor Squid was. He was at another laboratory, with many scientists evacuating the building and screaming like little girls. At this point he had gathered quite a few chemicals.
Sure enough, she noticed that Professor Squid had run into some police officers. It looked like they had gotten fed up with all the robberies in the area...though supervillains were a bit out of their league; they would probably be better off sending the military.
For a moment, Honeybee wondered if she was going to have to lift a finger...however, she then remembered that the supervillain was literally armed and dangerous. Things probably wouldn't be so simple.
"Those chemicals are not for you! Put your hands up!" bellowed one of the cops, pointing his gun at the mad scientist.
"Shouldn't you be in the ocean somewhere?" inquired another police officer.
"You're probably going to have to ask me to put my tentacles up to..." answered Professor Squid.
One of the police officers tried shooting him, but it appeared that the tentacles were too thick in order to be affected by bullets. He was wasting his time.
Professor Squid smirked in satisfaction. Perhaps he was above the law so long as he had those tentacles. He could get used to this...or maybe not. He wanted to get rid of those tentacles so that he didn't end up in a freak show. He belonged in a laboratory, not a circus.
"I need a better gun..." pouted the police officer. He might as well be shooting at a man that was wearing a bulletproof vest...or at the Sandman.
"They're standard issue..." pointed out his partner.
In retaliation, he picked up one of the police officers and tossed him a fair distance with one of his tentacles. He could lift them as easily as he could lift a piece of paper.
"I'm not getting paid enough for this!" screamed the police officer as he was sent flying. Why couldn't he be working as a police officer in a city that DIDN'T have supervillains?
Strangely enough, the cops in Gotham City had it easier since they all took bribes from villains such as the Penguin. If only he were a dirty cop rather than a clean one.
"These tentacles are super-strong..." acknowledged the professor. Something told him that he was a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps he wouldn't have to worry about the authorities after all.
However, he got the feeling that there were more than police to worry about.
At that very moment, Honeybee showed up. She decided that Professor Squid had caused enough trouble as it was.
"Alright, it's time for you to go behind b-Dr. Squillium?!" exclaimed Honeybee.
"Until I manage to cure my condition, I'll be calling myself Professor Squid, thank you. You did this to me!" bellowed Professor Squid, shaking his tentacle at her in anger.
"How did I-"
She then remembered that she had wrecked Edward Squillium's lab during her scuffle with the criminals trying to kidnap him.
"Oh, that's right..." recalled Honeybee. She sure had caused a lot of property damage. Maybe she needed to stop being such a vandal.
"I will have my revenge!" exclaimed Professor Squid.
"If you want I could simply rip off the tentacles..." suggested the bee girl.
Professor Squid noted that wasn't a bad idea. He wished that he had thought of that. Maybe he could get some horses and then scare them so that they would be sent off in different directions?
Unfortunately, he was a scientist instead of a jockey.
She decided to do so by starting the upper tentacle on the right side of Professor Squid.
With her superhuman strength, ripping it off wasn't hard to do. Normally she wasn't one to dismember her opponents...but if that was what Professor Squid wanted, she would do it.
Eventually, she began to pull it off. Professor Squid was grimacing, so apparently that hurt. Sometimes you had to be cruel in order to be kind. It was one of the ironies in life.
"Alright, now to remove the other tentacles and-"
Suddenly, she noticed that the tentacle she had ripped off was starting to regenerate. Apparently, the tentacles came with their own healing factor.
"This might be harder than I thought..." acknowledged Honeybee.
Professor Squid groaned. For a moment he thought that would work. But apparently it was simply too good to be true. He was back to square one.
Something then dawned on Honeybee.
"Wait...if you have tentacles, does that mean you can shoot ink?" inquired the superheroine.
Professor Squid decided to give that a test run.
He squirted Honeybee with ink which went into her eyes.
As it turned out, he COULD shoot ink from his tentacles. Rapidly, in fact.
"Agh! My eyes!" exclaimed the superheroine. In retrospect, maybe she should have seen that one coming. She was going to have to wash her face later.
Professor Squid then decided to make a getaway.
When Honeybee rubbed the ink out of her eyes, she realized that he was gone.
"Darn it! I let him get away!" bellowed Honeybee. He sure could move fast on those tentacles.
This was not going to look good on her superheroine record.
It looked like catching Professor Squid was going to be harder than she thought.
And unfortunately, she had no idea where she was headed. How many laboratories were there in New York City?
Not only that, but she was responsible for Professor Squid's transformation.
She started to wonder if she was cut out to be a superheroine.
"I think maybe that's enough superheroics for one day..." remarked Honeybee.
Her bees buzzed sadly.
Immediately, they flew away, ready for when Honeybee called them again.
She then changed back into Mary Jane and decided to take the bus home.
She entered her house and resumed watching TV. Maybe that would cheer her up.
Still, she felt rather guilty about letting a criminal get away.
Not only that, but J. Jonah Jameson was complaining that she was losing her touch. Apparently, he had found out that she had managed to let Professor Squid get away.
Of course, she had been more successful in apprehending Psychotic, but she got the feeling that she was going to break out of jail sooner or later.
Overall, today had been a big disappointment. Now that she had let a criminal get away, the crime rate was probably going to go up.
Still, she seemed rather young to retire. Nonetheless, she decided that she was going to take a break from crimefighting for the time being. Maybe Spiderman could handle himself.
For now, she was going to eat some Honey Nut Cheerios. Strangely enough, they were her favorite cereal BEFORE she became a bee superheroine.
She let out a sigh.
"I sure hope that I can do better next time." thought Mary Jane. People in New York City were counting on her.
It would be best not to let them down.
Oh dear...it looks like MJ messed up trying to catch Professor Squid. Now she's feeling rather depressed. Well, she'll get another opportunity. Professor Squid's not retiring from crime just yet.
In the next chapter, Honeybee's going to see if she can avoid having Professor Squid give her the slip this time.