Chapter Text
Behold true believers, I, the watcher Uatu, will guide you across the corners of the multiverse to show you a tale of what could have been. A Universe that is so similar to mine, one that is just a few weeks away from the spider queen's attempts at turning the island of Manhattan into her spider-kingdom with the help of the Jackal and his spider- virus giving many heroes, villains and common people alike a taste of the hero Spider- Man's life. But what if ... what if the last person to be given the vaccine at the end of the whole incident had been cured with the delay of but a single moment. A moment enough for the virus to evolve away from anything its creator intended. Our story begins one night, in a city going back to normal as a sadly familiar scene plays out once more...
The alley was dimly lit as the fog coming from the sewers made the cold winter night feel even more threatening, rats scurrying among the trash as silence reigned over the area. "Get back here!!" or so it would be if not for a group of thugs chasing after a young woman taking down many a bin. The escape of the red-haired woman is short-lived though as she runs straight into a dead end and the three criminals chasing her, start to slowly walk towards her a creepy leer on their faces. “Come on sweetie," the leader of the small pack of thugs said, his haunted eyes and broken smile glowing in the darkness. A switchblade came out from the sleeves of his dirty green jacket " We just wanted to ask you a question " The woman hugging the wall closed her eyes in fear ... and missed one of the criminals disappearing, being snatched upwards by a web line.
" You know " a voice resounded in the alley, the two thugs looking around in every direction " I see it's late and all and the economy seems real slow for the city right now " the voice continued, clearly female with a slight Brooklyn accent " but I have to ask." A sudden blur falling in front of the woman brought both criminals' attention to the fore, both angry and worried. The woman was decently tall but with plenty of curves, large hips, and a fit but generous physique clad in black and red spandex, silver-tipped on the feet, with a black jacket with red stripes in the semblance of a scarlet spider on top and a veritable mane of blonde hair falling to the small of her back, the eyes on her full mask made only of white circles in a rhomboidal soft shape. "Does mugging pay that much?" the woman quipped sassily, taking a fighting stance.
"Who's the spider-girl now?" "oh, no she is way shorter than me. I am Scarlet Spider." the woman replied cheerily. And quickly dodged a knife sweep with a crouch, before answering with an upwards kick. She stood back up ready for the next hit ... only to realize her opponent was already thoroughly knocked out. "...Ops" Turning to her final opponent, she saw him raise his hand with a resigned look on his face. "hey," he explained seeing the spider-heroine puzzled head tilt " last time spider-freak webbed me up I had to wait an hour upside down before the coppers got me. If I surrender could you just web my hands and feet, please " An awkward silence fell on the alley before the simple "Sure" answered the would-be mugger who sighed in relief and simply sat down.
After securing the man, scarlet spider turned to the woman who had by now recovered. "hey, thanks for the help, scarlet spider right ?" she asked in a tone thick with relief. "yep, do you need help getting anywhere or...?" scarlet asked before being dismissed with a wave "No, I'm gonna call the police and get a ride from them" The masked woman gave her a nod before turning to the unconscious thug to web him up to the ground. Done this she did pause to check the man's state Hope I didn't give him a concussion, I am still not used to the extra strength Luckily she gathered he was just knocked out before being interrupted by the voice behind her. "Hey," she turned looking back to the woman who was now giving her an uncertain expression " It's a rush, isn't it? I still remember during the whole spider virus mess I just walked on the ceiling of the apartment, giggling " Scarlet Spider smirked under the mask "Yeah, I did that too "
At least for a minute before I had to save Peter's bacon
She waved and leaped up the walls before shooting out a web line and swinging away in the night. Her speed and acrobatics getting faster with each block passed before spotting an overpass with an intricate square pattern of openings on each side. For a moment she hesitated before picking up speed and heading towards it. The overpass was empty given the late night. I can do this She slingshot herself, tucking in her arms passing right through, and ending up on the other side of the overpass with a loud whoop of joy... although having left behind her long blonde wig on a snag of the metal.
It took her just a moment to realize her mistake, recovering the wig with a web and quickly scurrying up the side of a building in the area. The wig quickly covered her red hair, held in a tight small bun, as fast as possible as she looked around quickly. After realizing no one had seen that she let out a sigh of relief and put a hand under her chin.
Like a lot of other things... that still needs some work
A buzz interrupted her musings, not from her spider-sense but rather from a pouch of her leather jacket holding her phone. The message reading WHERE ARE YOU ???? BOOZE EMERGENCY, NEED YOU ASAP "Crap" She quickly jumped up and headed fast in the direction of downtown Manhattan.
Well, let's take this from the top
As our spider-hero reached the alley near one of the newest and hottest clubs in new york she quickly recovered a hidden bag. And, after making sure of being alone, she started quickly changing. The wig and bun coming off letting her red hair down, the jacket and spandex put in the bag and exchanged with tight jeans high heels, and a pink blouse. Her emerald green eyes quickly scanned the alley a final time before hiding the bag out of the way once more. But right in front of the back fire door to the club, she froze realizing that she hadn't taken off her mask. She did so finally revealing the tense face of one Mary Jane Watson.
My name is Mary Jane Watson
A loud dance floor greeted her, the music pumping, the crowd dancing on the floor of one of the more modestly popular nightclubs of the city even if it had barely gone past the year since its opening, people dancing, drinking, and talking as Mary jane made her way to the bar, a slightly younger woman, her light brown hair in a punkish pixie cut that framed her round face with her lip piercing gleaming every time a near disco ball turned just the right way, noticed her approach as her previously worried expression perked up seeing the approaching redhead. "Boss, thank god you're here " she greeted MJ with a relieved smile as she got behind the counter "Hi, Jesse. So what's the emergency? Are we running out early or...?" "Well, actually boss, " Jesse said leading them to the back where a veritable extra stack of beer and liquor boxes waited for them "We sort of overbooked "MJ let out a groan of frustration.
I am a business owner in New York. And if that wasn't scary enough I've had my spider-powers for a week. the supposed cure my ex-boyfriend had provided did work let's be clear... but only for a couple of hours. Finding out that you sleepwalk is a thing, finding out by waking up on the ceiling instead of your bed is a whole other reality.
"Alright, Jessie," she said after giving it some thought " take Barney and reneè and put them behind the counter, you and I are gonna take half of these and put them in my office, I can deal with less space for a while " as she headed past the girl hanging from the door grabbing a megaphone she put on one of the shelves.
IAnd so, as soon as I realized I wasn't turning into an overgrown spider, possessed by some spirit of responsibility (which you can blame on one Peter Parker) and a measure of frustrated recklessness (same culprit ) I fight crime as the one and only Scarlet Spider. .
"what about the other ha-" her young employee started to ask before mary jane shouted into the crowd " ATTENTION PARTY PEOPLE !!!! THE NEXT TWO ROUNDS ARE ON THE HOUSE FOR EVERYONE " A loud whoop answered the redhead before she continued "AND REMEMBER TWEET ABOUT YOUR NIGHT WITH THE HASHTAG #HITTHEJACKPOT !!!! " which was followed by another whoop of joy from the crowd. " PR boost " the manager answered with a smirk at the surprised expression on Jesse's face before the girl answered in kind "Did anyone tell you how cool of a boss you are ?". "First time being one so... does the mirror count ?" the redhead said picking up 3 boxes at once. She turned to see Jesse and her shocked expression clued her in on her mistake. "Wait how are you-" "Pilates"
Mary Jane's exhausted sigh of relief resounded in the empty apartment, her flatmate Carlie Cooper was still at the precinct for the moment having a night shift for the week, finding her super stamina to be a very, very close second to web-slinging in her power repertoire rankings.
Having the energy to both keep the Jackpot afloat and stop muggers is great and all but I wonder how I am still gonna find the time to learn how not to give myself away. You'd think covering for Peter would give me an edge and yet...
Convincing Jesse of her excuse had taken a tense couple of minutes but the girl had a good deal of respect for her so it wasn't too hard. The small stab of guilt for exploiting her trust though, she wasn't a fan of that for sure. But she quickly reminded herself of her experience with Peter, all the years when he protected her by not revealing himself, all until that moment in his apartment when Puma attacked him while he was injured. Those moments from behind his front door had her heart racing with fear and worry that led to... well Her phone ringing stopped her musings, and one look at the screen produced a sound of amusement out of her lips before she answered "Hey, Tiger " the smile could be heard from her tone " Hey, MJ" Peter's voice held a measure of relief and exhaustion as a low hum could be heard in the background " So how was Japan? And is Cyclops done throwing a hissy fit ?"
After the Avengers had to call to arms a good chunk of the superhero community because of the Phoenix and then the Phoenix five they didn't have much time to see where they went after the end of the whole spider-island incident, Peter felt he owed Cap after the mess with the jackal even if he wasn't exactly a major member of the Avengers at the moment, so he had followed the team around for the past week with some small texting keeping them in touch during. Although the pic of his burnt and bruised form on a bed with the text " grilled spider" had been very, very Not funny.
It was the reason she had finally taken the plunge and protected the city while he wasn't around, the nervous energy had done a real number on her. " Well, the street food is a lot more fish-based honestly but aside from that same amount of people who needed a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, really " he paused at this " and yeah, Cyclops is in cuffs and the Phoenix is no longer an issue. Although all the new mutants may need an adjustment period ."
"Whoa, really? " MJ asked surprised "Yeah, Hope and Wanda used the big flame bird to reactivate a bunch of x-genes so now, new mutants. Have things been alright in the city? No major shakeups while everybody was gone?" "Nah, it's been a quiet night. Weirdly, new york was basically out of the way during this whole thing" "Well small favors... How about you Red? Anything of note ?"
Mary Jane hesitated before answering " Depends Pete, are we still on for that coffee and talk ? " her tone just flirtatious enough and with a small drop of longing. A longing that came a lot clearer in Peter's stuttering response of " Y-yeah, we are but... you sure ?" the redhead sighed "Yeah Pete I am sure, I know things are going well at Horzion, but you still need someone in your corner ... and I wouldn't mind having you back in mine. Besides who else could you tag in when you are in a really bad spot? " That got a chuckle out of the spider-hero "Yeah, next time the shocker shows up I'm gonna have you put the fear of God in him " he joked "You'd be surprised, Tiger " she smiled knowingly "You'd be really surprised "