By Peter
Part 6
Disclaimer: No, I’m not Stan Lee, so I don’t own Spider-Man. Peter, MJ, Harry, JJJ, and the rest of our colorful cast are the property of Marvel Comics. I don’t own them.
Rating: PG-13
Category: Peter/MJ. Come on…like there’s any other fan base out there yet.
Spoilers: Takes place after the movie. Say…a week.
Mysterio casually let his two captives drop, as the ground beneath them suddenly transformed into a mattress. Mary Jane couldn’t help but wonder why. If he wanted to kill them, why not just let them fall.
He noticed her confusion, and laughed in amusement.
“Oh, don’t worry young lady!” he chuckled. “Make no mistake…you’re going to die. However, your death scene needs to be slightly more dramatic. We want to give the viewers a worthy climax!”
Show business? Death scene? Climax? It was almost as if he believed this was some sort of movie he was producing. MJ wished it was…but the danger was very real.
“Beck?” Jenkins asked, finally finding his voice. “What…what is this all about? Why are you dressed in that stupid…?”
The costumed giant motioned to the sky, at which point a bolt of lighting struck only inches away from Jenkins’ feet.
“First of all, it’s Mysterio!” he corrected him. “Secondly, I realize the outfit is a bit theatrical. That’s the whole point. I wanted to make an impression.”
Mysterio shifted his cape around himself dramatically.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” he asked. “You haven’t seen anything yet!”
A slight hissing sound came to their attention, as Mary Jane looked behind her. A coaled cobra sat there, fangs at the ready.
She screamed, stumbling back to escape the lethal predator…only to find another one on the adjoining side. Soon, they were joined by another, and another, until the entire area around them was covered in snakes.
Then the struck, and passed right through them.
“HAHAHAH!!!” Mysterio laughed with glee. “In case you’re wondering, it’s that mist you see floating around the room. It’s a chemical compound I’ve developed. When someone breathes it in, I’m able to beam an illusion directly into their brains. No more failing projectors, or malfunctioning animatronics. I am, of course, immune thanks to my helmet. You, on the other hand…”
Almost as quickly as they appeared, the cobras vanished. MJ and Jenkins sighed in relief. Though that relief was short-lived.
The platform they were on suddenly inclined itself, throwing them into a shallow pit. It wasn’t deep enough to hurt them much, but they couldn’t climb out either.
“In twelve hours, that mist is going to be let loose in central park!” he informed them. “Imagine, dozens…maybe hundreds…of New Yorkers screaming in terror when they see their skin start to melt off their bones, and their hair turn to spiders. Then they’ll see how magnificent my talents truly are. You, unfortunately, won’t be around to see it!”
He crossed his arms smugly, and hundreds of spikes began to protrude from the sides of the pit. The walls started to close in, like something out of an ‘Indiana Jones’ movie.
“OH GOD!” Jenkins screamed. “Oh god, please Beck…!”
“MYSTERIO!!!” the illusionist corrected him.
“Mysterio, please!” he begged. “I’ll give you anything you want. Money. Power. Anything!”
Mysterio paused for a moment, as did the walls, as if obeying their master’s every whim.
“Really?” he asked. “Anything, you say?”
Jenkins nodded, fear in his eyes.
“Well, there is one thing!” he chuckled. “There are recorders in this studio. When you die, give me the most bloodcurdling scream you can come up with!”
Mysterio laughed once again, as the walls resumed their deadly advancement.
But only for a moment…
A solid stream of adhesive flew through the air, stopping the gears inside the pit from moving.
“What?!” Mysterio asked, outraged.
He quickly turned towards where it had come from. Near the room, at a newly opened window, was Spider-Man.
“Do you have any idea how many clichés you’re perpetuating?” the webslinger asked.
The giant lunged at him, but Spider-Man was too fast. He leapt, cannonball-style, under Mysterio’s reach, and into the pit.
“I mean, the maniacal laughter, the deathtrap…”
With one arm around MJ, and one around Jenkins, he leapt back out again. Then he looked up his frustrated adversary.
“I may be wrong, but I think I also overheard you announcing your ‘master plan’ on my way inside,” he pointed out. “And don’t get me started on the fishbowl!”
“You think this is FUNNY?” Mysterio spat.
He pounded towards the ground with his massive fist, but by then the three of them were already somewhere else. Spider-Man had deposited Mary Jane and Jenkins near the far wall, out of harms way, while he anchored himself to a nearby crate. He hoped that Beck would be so preoccupied with him that he would ignore the other two for now. That would give him the chance to beat him without worrying about protecting MJ for the moment.
Unless, Peter thought. He grinds me into spider paste. Yep…that’d definitely be a bad thing.
Suddenly, he had a thought. How the heck did Beck get twenty feet tall? This was a special effects guy, not an outright magician. Something wasn’t clicking. Unless…
“Head’s up!” Spider-Man warned, as he shot a webline towards the glass dome that served as Mysterio’s head.
The giant backed up a step, letting the web shoot right past him.
“Ha!” he exclaimed. “You missed!”
Gets them every time… Peter thought, giving a nice, strong tug on the line.
The result was a steel beam came loose, crashing into Mysterio’s head. With a loud crash, and a spark of electricity, he fell to the ground.
Spider-Man leapt over to take a look inside the fishbowl. Just as he thought…it was full of gears and circuits…something that didn’t escape the two onlookers.
“A robot?” Jenkins asked. “He was a freaking robot?”
The mist started to move again, collecting at a podium in the centre of the room. After a few seconds, it evaporated…and Mysterio stood in its place. Though this time he was the same size as all of them.
“Do you have any idea how much that thing cost?” he sighed, sounding like it was more in disappointment than frustration.
He then clicked a few studs on his glove, activating some hidden mechanism.
Immediately, a trio of buzz saws exploded out of slots in the walls. All three were coming straight towards Spider-Man.
“No way!” Spidey exclaimed. “I’m not falling for that trick again!”
However, his spider-sense soon told him that it wasn’t a trick at all. He did a back flip, twisting out of the way at the last possible second. No sooner was his back on his feet than three more came towards him.
Leaping over the second barrage, he fired to weblines towards two of the slots. Unfortunately, there was still one left. One last saw blade was headed straight towards his face.
Moving faster than humanly possible, Spider-Man shot a web directly at it. The force of the impact sent it flying in a different direction, burying itself into a nearby wall. With one last web to block the third slop, he turned his full attention towards Mysterio.
“Awww!” he said mockingly. “Did I break your widdle toys?”
His answer was another warning from his spider-sense. A large hanger door opened near the sealed exit, where a tyrannosaurus rex charged out at him. He could already tell this wasn’t another projection. The mechanical noise gave that away.
The dinosaur was joined by a squadron of miniature ships, similar to the ones that had attacked the audition the other day. They fired their lasers at him, even while he was trying to avoid the robotic t-rex. If not for his spider-sense, he wouldn’t stand a chance.
“What’s with this?” Spider-Man asked. “I thought you were an FX guy? Why the heavy artillery, Mysterio?”
“Oh, illusions have their purpose,” he admitted. “But sometimes the direct approach is more useful. I’m almost glad you showed up, Spider-Man. This gives me a real chance to test out my talents. Make Mysterio a name to be feared. What better way than eliminating the city’s goofily-dressed defender?”
“Goofy?” Spider-Man asked. “I can’t believe I’m having my wardrobe insulted by a guy with a fishbowl for a head!”
“Touché, wallcrawler!”
Then they started moving faster. Even Peter’s spider-sense was having trouble keeping up.
However, he did something that Mysterio wasn’t expecting. He ran towards the t-rex, clinging to its mechanical chest. He leapt off, just as the ships began to fire.
Their lasers cut through the robot like butter. It’s internal workings damaged, he crashed to the floor…crushing the ships beneath it.
“NOOOOO!!!!” Mysterio yelled. “You’ll pay for that!”
Without another word, he clicked a switch on his belt buckle. The palms of his hands began to glow yellow.
“Uh oh!” Spider-Man muttered, as he leapt towards the ceiling.
Beams of yellow energy erupted from the irises in the palms of Mysterio’s gloves. Spider-Man had to keep moving, like a human pinball, lest one of the random bursts of energy hit him.
Finally, he somersaulted up to the platform, dodging the energy beams with ease. Before Mysterio could use them again, Spider-Man clasped his hands around the villain’s wrists. Using his superhuman strength, he crushed the circuitry inside them.
“Ahhhh!” Mysterio screamed, indicating that he’d crushed something else. “My hands…you broke my hands, you miserable insect!!!”
Spider-Man wasn’t listening, though. He now had the upper hand. He punched Mysterio in the gut, then swept his feat out from under him. Beck may have been a genius, but his fighting skills were almost null. His costume was armour, so it dulled the hits, but underneath it he was just a normal person.
“You expect me to feel sorry for you?” Spider-Man questioned, a serious and angry tone coming to his voice. “You killed people with those flying things…you probably would have killed more if I hadn’t stopped you.”
“What makes you think you have stopped me?” he mocked, as green mist began to his out of the ‘eyes’ that held his cape on.
It clouded Spider-Man’s vision, filling his lungs.
Well, with this and the Goblin, I’m pretty sure I’m never gonna take up smoking, Peter thought.
When his eyes cleared, Mysterio was gone. He looked again, and saw him somewhere else. Many other places. There were at least ten ‘Mysterios’ stationed around the room, all of them pointing guns at Mary Jane and John Jenkins.
“Only one of these are the real me!” Mysterio mocked. “By the time to realize which one, I’m afraid you’ll be too late. I may go to jail, but not before I claim my revenge!”
He laughed again, but by then Spider-Man had gone into action again. Leaping into the air, he did a triple summersault, and swung a kick at one of the Mysterios.
“What?!” Mysterio exclaimed. “NO!”
It was too late. The kick connected with the glass dome on top of his head, shattering it, and sending him flying against the wall.
He slumped to the ground, unconscious. The other Mysterios faded into nothingness immediately. The green mist faded as well, revealing the face of Quinton Beck underneath the shattered glass.
“Cut, print, and that’s a wrap!” Spider-Man announced, and Mary Jane ran up to him excitedly.
She hugged him with all her might, before looking down at the person who caused all this.
“What happened to Jenkins?” Spider-Man asked her.
She pointed towards the wall, at another unconscious body.
“He fainted when the guns were pointed!” she informed him. “How in the world did you know which one to go after.”
Underneath his mask, Peter Parker smiled.
“Simple…I closed my eyes!” he announced.
Mary Jane looked at him, horrified.
“You did WHAT?!?” she exclaimed.
“Beck works with illusions,” Spidey reminded her. “He likes to fool the five senses…but there’s one I have that he can’t fool. I knew that he was trying an illusion when he hit me with that gas, so the only way to get past it was to trust my spider sense. With my eyes closed, it signalled out where the real danger was coming from.”
MJ smirked at him.
“Ok, I’m impressed!” she admitted. “Can we get out of here?”
He nodded, then swung back up to the window. Webbed to a corner was a miniature camera, which he quickly removed.
One name clearing coming right up.
*****
By the next day, things had pretty much settled back to normal. Quinton Beck was sent to jail, after evidence of his crimes were found in the studio. The truth about what Jenkins had done had also came out, thanks to his own confession…brought on by the trauma of what he went through.
Spider-Man, of course, was cleared of all charges once Peter brought in the photos…much to Jonah’s disappointment. Nevertheless, things were back to normal again.
Well…almost normal.
As Mary Jane Watson wandered out of the arts building at ESU, she saw a familiar face sitting in front of a tree, reading a copy of the Daily Bugle. On the front page was a picture of him…or rather Spider-Man…delivering that final kick to Mysterio’s helmet.
“You were there!” she reminded him. “Why do you have to read that?”
Peter smiled, then put the paper down.
“Guilty pleasure!” he admitted. “How are you holding up?”
“Well, for someone who’s been thrown of a bridge by a goblin, almost incinerated by a crazy FX guy, and knows someone who sticks to walls…” she replied. “I think I’m handling it pretty well.”
Peter sighed in relief.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he told her. “My life can get really weird sometimes. There are days when I’m convinced it’s all just a dream. That I’ll wake up, and find that I’m still in High School, just plain old ‘puny Parker’…where all I had to worry about was my crush on the girl next door.”
She smiled at him. MJ paused for a moment, then spoke up.
“I noticed you then,” she told him unexpectedly.
Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“No you didn’t,” he argued.
She nodded.
“I noticed how I was always the first person you wanted to sit with, but then Flash was always there,” she continued. “How you acted all nervous around me. How you always smiled at me whenever you walked by…and how much I wanted to smile back.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Peter inquired.
“I don’t know…afraid, I guess!” she answered, slightly ashamed. “That, if someone as nice as you knew the ‘real’ me, you wouldn’t feel that way anymore. It’s something by dad drilled into my head. That I was worthless.”
Peter shook his head.
“Don’t let anybody ever tell you that,” he argued. “You know, most days I’m not sure which ‘me’ is the real me…so I choose to be both. Norman Osborn may have been nuts, but he was right about one thing. We are who we choose to be. You can be anything…or do anything…you want, as long as you don’t give up on yourself.”
His words stayed with her, as she made an important decision.
“I’ll wait!” she said suddenly. “I’ll wait for you.”
Peter looked at her in surprise.
“MJ…” he tried to argue, but she cut him off.
“I know what you’re going to say, Peter,” she announced. “That it’s too ‘dangerous’ to be with anyone with the life you lead. Well, you know what…I don’t care. So, I’ll just wait until you realize that it’s worth the risk, too. Believe me…I can be VERY persuasive!”
Mary Jane gave him a seductive smile.
“Of that I have no doubt!” he replied. “So, what happens until then?”
“Until then, I think it’ll be good for you to have a friend you can talk to about your ‘other life’,” she responded. “Exactly how many people can you talk to about being Spider-Man?”
“Counting you?” he asked. “One.”
“Exactly!” she said with a grin.
“Maybe you’re right,” he admitted. “It’ll nice to have a confidant. Someone I don’t have to lie to. And really, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have in that role.”
MJ smiled, proud of her little victory.
“Face it, Tiger!” she told him. “You’ve just hit the jackpot!”
Peter stood up, and motioned for her to follow him.
“Come on, let’s grab a cup of coffee,” he told her.
They walked off together, leaving the paper behind.
“You know what?” she said as they walked away. “I think things are gonna be easier from here on out.”
If only she knew how wrong she was.
*****
That night, at the cemetery…
A quartet of boys entered through the rusty iron gates, each one being careful that no one spotted them.
“Come on, Steve!” the leader of the group whispered. “You wanna hang with us, you gotta go though the initiation.”
Another one threw a spray cat to the one in the back, Steve apparently. He caught it, but still looked unsure.
“I don’t know…” he replied. “What if we get caught?”
The third one rolled his eyes.
“Who hangs out in a cemetery after dark?” he asked Steve. “You’ve seen Night of the Living Dead, right?”
All three of them made ghostly sounds, causing Steve to sigh. He took the can and started to spray a nearby tombstone. The others quickly followed, defacing other graves.
“What about Spider-Man?” Steve asked after a moment. “He likes dark, creepy places…right?”
“Spider-Man?” the leader scoffed, opening his jacket to reveal a gun. “He shows up, we just pop the guy.”
“Guns can’t hurt the guy, can it?” one of the others asked. “He’s…I don’t know…invulnerable or something. Else somebody else woulda done it by now.”
“Spider-Man?”
All four of them froze in place. The voice was shallow and raspy…it didn’t sound like any of them.
“What the hell was that?” the leader asked. “I swear, if one of you is trying to pull something…?”
Before he could continue, amused laughter filled the air. He started to build, becoming a sort of cackle.
Then, without warning, a fist punched its way out of the ground, right beneath one of the graves.
They all started to scream. The leader emptied his entire gun, not realizing that they just ricocheted off the cold ground. Whatever this was, it was digging itself out with amazing strength.
Finally, it climbed all the way out, its clothes ruined from the dirt and mud. Its face was concealed by shadow, but they could tell it was human…mostly. Its size and its body looked like a man, but the cackle that came from his mouth sounded like the devil itself.
“You should learn to be quieter!” the creature warned them. “Noise like that could wake the dead….hahahahah!!!!”
The gang leader threw a punch at him, but this guy was too fast. He grabbed the fist, and crushed every bone in his hand. The boy didn’t even have the chance to scream, as the shadowed stranger threw him head first into a gravestone.
The blood leaking from his head told them the obvious…he was dead.
“Who’s next!” the monster cackled.
Steve bolted, while the other two took their chance at fighting. They figured that their leader had just been overconfident. As Steve approached the gate, the screams he could hear behind them told him different.
He struggled with the lock, but it was too strong. They had leapt the fence, but that was on the other side.
“Come on!” he begged the chains. “COME ON!”
Then he felt a cold hand grasp his shirt from behind. He turned to see his attacker. Much to his surprise…he recognized the face.
“Wait a minute?” I stammered. “I know you…you’re…?”
Before he could finish, the stranger snapped his neck like a twig. Steve’s corpse slid to the ground, as his murderer stepped over it.
“Now that’s what I call a warm-up!” he said, as he walked through a cemetery. “So tell me, Spider-Man…you ready for the main event?”
He walked off into the darkness, leaving his victims as the only proof he had ever been there. As he vanished, the night air was filled with his eerie cackle.
See you then.